Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/180800186?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Saturday, December 31, 2011
Drug Trafficker 'Whitey' Nabbed At Mexico City Airport
MEXICO CITY -- Federal police say one of the United States' most-wanted drug traffickers has been arrested at Mexico City's airport.
U.S. authorities offered a reward of up to $5 million for Luis Rodriguez Olivera, or "Whitey." Olivera and his brother Esteban are accused of smuggling tons of cocaine and methamphetamine into Europe and the U.S.
Luis Olivera was indicted in U.S. federal court in 2009 on cocaine-smuggling conspiracy and related charges. Federal police said in a statement that the 39-year-old, red-haired suspect was arrested Tuesday.
His gang was known as "The Blondies." Authorities say it formed temporary allegiances with bigger Mexican cartels, including the Sinaloa cartel, the Zetas and the Gulf Cartel.
'; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/28/luis-olivera-blondies-cartel_n_1173220.html
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Friday, December 30, 2011
Iraqi man arrested in Romania (AP)
BUCHAREST, Romania ? Prosecutors have arrested an Iraqi man on the suspicion he helped five of his countrymen who were members of al-Qaida hide in Romania.
Prosecutors said Friday that Mohamad Al Dulaimi created phantom companies in Romania, starting in 2006, to allow the Iraqis to travel in and out of the country.
They said in a statement that the men were wanted for terrorist attacks in Iraq, but provided no further details. Prosecutors said Al Dulaimi will be indicted on charges that he helped terrorists.
Prosecutors say the five Iraqis are no longer in Romania.
In 2008, Al Dulaimi obtained a residence visa for Romania on the grounds that he did business here.
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More complete picture of kidney cancer: Cancer subtypes distinguished and promising new drug targets suggested
ScienceDaily (Dec. 29, 2011) ? wo recent studies by Van Andel Research Institute scientists are providing a foundation for a more complete understanding of distinct kidney cancer subtypes, which could pave the way for better treatments.
In a study published in Cancer Cell led by Kyle Furge, Ph.D. and Aikseng Ooi, Ph.D., researchers provide a more complete understanding of the biology of Type 2 papillary renal cell carcinoma (PRCC2), an aggressive type of kidney cancer with no effective treatment, which lays the foundation for the development of effective treatment strategies.
Despite obvious morphological, genetic, and clinical differences, hereditary PRCC2 is thought to share similar pathway deregulation due to genetic mutation with its counterpart, clear cell renal cell carcinoma (CCRCC), a subtype that accounts for 75% of all kidney cancers and that, unlike PRCC2, responds favorably to drugs targeting vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), a signal protein produced by cells that stimulate blood vessel formation.
The study, which included international collaboration with researchers from the National Cancer Centre Singapore, G?n?tique Oncologique EPFE-INSERM U753 and Facult? de M?decine Paris-Sud, Le Kremlin-Bic?tre and Institut de Canc?rologie Gustave Roussy, Michigan State University, Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Cleveland Clinic, Singapore General Hospital, and The Wistar Institute, identified deregulation of the KEAP1-NRF2 signaling pathway as a factor that distinguishes PRCC2 from CCRCC, but links both hereditary and sporadic PRCC2.
In another study published in Cancer Research, led by Yan Ding, Ph.D., and Bin Tean Teh, Ph.D. and carried out in collaboration with the National Cancer Centre Singapore, researchers integrated gene expression profiling and RNAi screening data to identify genes involved in CCRCC development and progression.
In recent years, several molecularly targeted therapies such as sunitinib, sorafenib, and pazopanib, which target the receptor tyrosine kinases of VEGF have been approved for CCRCC. Although these therapies significantly extend overall survival, nearly all patients with advanced CCRCC eventually succumb to the disease.
Gene set enrichment analysis indicated that cell-cycle-related genes, in particular PLK1, were associated with disease aggressiveness. Further, the association of PLK1 in both disease aggression and in vitro growth prompted researchers to examine the effects of a small-molecule inhibitor in CCRCC cell lines. Their findings highlight PLK1 as a promising potential therapeutic target for CCRCC.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/Dcr1eDr8pgY/111229203003.htm
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Thursday, December 29, 2011
thatscricket: Australia is crumbling. What about India in their 2nd innings?
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Fake Lil Wayne Explains YMCMB Situation In South Africa At The After Party!
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Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Wednesday NCAA: Georgetown Hoyas (10-1) at Louisville Cardinals (12-0)
27 December 2011 No Comment
It?s arguably the best night of the season in college basketball on Wednesday with the Big East and Big Ten conference schedules really getting going and a handful of Top-25 matchups on the schedule. The best one appears to be between No. 12 Georgetown and No. 4 Louisville, with the Cards, one of only a few unbeatens left in the country, opening as college basketball bets favorites on WagerWeb.com.
Georgetown enters off an impressive 70-59 win over previously ranked Memphis on Dec. 22. Senior guard Jason Clark led four Hoyas in double figures with 18 points. The victory was the Hoyas second over the Tigers this season, having defeated them on November 23, 91-88 in overtime at the Maui Invitational. It was the eighth-straight win for the Hoyas, tying the team?s season-long win streak of last season as the team started 10-1 for the fifth-straight season.
Senior center has been the breakout start this year, averaging 12.5 ppg and 5.5 rpg. Prior to this season, the Hoyas? 6-foot-10 big man never averaged more than 3.6 points or 3.2 rebounds per game.
The Hoyas have played three teams who were ranked at the time so far this year, beating then-No. 12 Alabama in Tuscaloosa on Dec. 1, then-No. 8 Memphis and losing to No. 14 Kansa, also in Maui, 67-63 back on Nov. 21.
Louisville has rarely been challenged so far this season and has faced only one ranked club so far, beating then-No. 19 Vanderbilt 62-60 in overtime. The Cards last took the court on Dec. 23, a 70-60 win over Western Kentucky. Sophomores Gorgui Dieng and Russ Smith have been playing very well of late. Dieng has five straight double-doubles (he leads the Big East in blocks and is second in rebounding), and Smith has reached double figures in each of Louisville?s last four games to position the Cardinals within a game of matching their best start in program history. The 12-0 start is the school?s best in 37 years.
However, to beat Georgetown and Kentucky, which plays Louisville this weekend, the Cards need more from star guard Peyton Siva. He has more turnovers than points in Louisville?s last two games ? in the past three games Louisville has had to rally to win.
Georgetown leads the all-time series 7-4. The last meeting came Jan. 31, 2011 in Washington D.C., a 62-59 Hoyas win. However, Louisville has won three straight Big East openers.
Place your college basketball bets at our online sportsbook!
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Texas - Holiday White Christmas Weather Forecasts
Will Your State Have a White Christmas?
Here are the lists of locations in Texas for which meteorologists and statisticians have gathered climate data on the chances of a Texas White Christmas. Listings are for snow depths of 1 inch, 5 inches, and 10+ inches respectively in select cities in Texas. You can also check the statistics on other state White Christmas probabilities here. Once you have explored the snow statistics for the holidays, take the White Christmas Quiz.
Texas White Christmas Forecasts
Percent Chance of a Texas White Christmas | |||
City | Snow depth in inches = | ||
| ? | 1 |
5 |
10+ |
| Abilene | 3% | 0% | 0% |
| Amarillo | 7% | 0% | 0% |
| Austin | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Beeville | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Brownsville | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| College Station | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Corpus Christi | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Dallas | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Del Rio | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| El Paso | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Galveston | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Houston | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Kingsville | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Lubbock | 3% | 0% | 0% |
| Lufkin | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| McAllen | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Midland | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Port Arthur | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| San Angelo | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| San Antonio | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Victoria | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Waco | 0% | 0% | 0% |
| Wichita Falls | 3% | 0% | 0% |
Return to the White Christmas Index to choose another state. | |||
Stay informed about Weather by joining my FREE weekly Weather Newsletter.
Source: National Climatic Data Center Research Customer Service Group
Suggested Reading - More Winter Resources
If you have a picture of a winter scene at Christmas time, please post it on the message boards. I would love to show everyone what Christmas looks like in your state. Source: National Climatic Data Center Research Customer Service Group
Source: http://weather.about.com/od/cloudsandprecipitation/l/bl_texas_christmas.htm
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Tuesday, December 27, 2011
5 Simple (But Hidden!) Tricks All The New iPhone/iPad Owners Should Know
Posted by admin in Gadgets on Dec 27th, 2011 | no responses
Once upon a time, the iPhone was a simple thing. You flipped it on, slid the unlock switch, and what you saw was what you got. Since then, things have gotten a bit more? layered. That?s not to say they?ve gotten any harder to use; iOS just has a ridiculous number of hidden bonus features now that are in no way immediately obvious to the untrained eye. Given that yesterday was Christmas, I?d wager that the number of untrained eyes out there is at an all-time high. If you consider yourself something of an iOS expert, this list isn?t for you. If the terms ?jailbreak? and ?rooting? have any sort of secondary, technical connotation to you, you can almost certainly skip right over this. This one?s for the curious newbie; the moms, pops, and younger siblings of the world; the Android converts who may be feeling a bit out of place. It?s a collection of things I?m regularly surprised to find that other iOS device owners don?t know. If it?s not for you, you almost certainly know someone who it is for. The App Switcher: You?re blasting around in Jetpack Joyride when your better half asks you to find a proper eggnog recipe. What?s the quickest way to get to Safari? You could head back to the homescreen like a chump ? but if you?ve had Safari open recently, there?s a waaaay speedier route: Double tap the home button. Tada! Meet the App Switcher. The first page of the app switcher shows your most recently opened apps. Scrolling to the right will take you back even further in your app history. As one of the most requested features leading up to its introduction in iOS 4, it blows my mind how often I meet long-time iOS owners who have absolutely no idea the App Switcher exists. Closing Broken Apps: Apps break. It happens. Alas, due to the way iOS freezes/unfreezes apps rather than actually closing them (thus allowing quick-switching between running apps), you?ll occasionally find yourself with an app that you just can?t seem to un-break. What should you do? You?ll need to reset your device, right? Naaaah. Go to the homescreen. Double tap the home button (to bring up the App Switcher). Find the icon for the app you need to close and hold your finger on it for a second or two. Tap the ? that shows up next to it. Relaunch the app from the homescreen, and it?ll be just like opening it up on a freshly reset device. ( Note: With very few exceptions (and unlike what you may be used to with your ol? laptop) you never need to manually close iOS apps to make your device ?run better?. Thanks to the aforementioned freezing/unfreezing process, any app that you?re not actively using has very little effect on your device?s performance.) The Hidden App Switcher Buttons: The App Switcher is something of a swiss army knife. It switches! It closes! It slices! It dices! Beyond the aforementioned, the App Switcher has one more neat trick: a sort-of-hidden bonus page with myriad one-click shortcuts. On the iPhone, it?ll let you lock your screen orientation, pause/play/go back/skip
tracks in whatever app is currently playing music (or immediately jump right into that application, instead.) On the iPad, it?ll do all of the aforementioned as well as let you adjust the volume and display brightness. To find it: double tap the home button to bring up the App Switcher ? but rather than swiping to the left to see more apps, swipe to the right from the first page. The Notifications Center: This is another one that Apple doesn?t seem to be explaining well enough, as I?ve met more than my fair share of long-time iPhone owners who go wide-eyed when they first see it used. For anyone coming from Android, the mechanism is pretty much second nature (Apple essentially cloned the feature wholesale.) Beginning with iOS 5, iOS keeps a running list of your recent notifications so that you can easily jump to any app that needs your attention. To bring down the notifications drawer, simply swipe down from the very top of the display. Waiting there will be all of your recent (unread) texts, any messages that your applications have queued up, and a few configurable widgets (weather, stocks, etc.) You can adjust what shows up in this drawer in Settings > Notifications. The Camera Shortcut: We?ve all been there: that once in a lifetime moment is happening right before your eyes, and your only means of capturing it is with your phone?s camera. By the time you get it out of your pocket, unlock it, get to the homescreen, launch the camera app, and wait for the camera to boot up, the moment is gone. Opportunity lost, and now everyone is mad at you. As of iOS 5, you can access the camera right from the lockscreen (you don?t even have to unlock it! Don?t worry, though: you can?t access your older photos this way. Your booty pics are safe.) To quick-jump to the camera: from the lock screen (the screen with the ?Slide to unlock? bar), double tap the home button. You?ll see music controls pop up on top, while a camera icon appears directly beside the unlock bar. Tap that, and you?re immediately inside the camera. (Note: this only seems to work on the iPhone and camera-enabled iPod Touches. It?s a no go on iPad.) Got any more easy, kinda-hidden tricks that new iOS device owners should know? Drop it in a comment below. Bonus Tricks: To take a screenshot in any app, press the home and power button simultaneously for just a second. The photo will be stored in your camera roll. Holding the buttons too long will reset your device, so stop once the display flashes. In nearly all applications, you can scroll to the top of long pages (such as long websites, or long emails) by tapping the status bar (read: the bar with the clock.) Use iCloud. Seriously. It takes a second or two to set up (2/3 people I?ve watched setup iPhones recently skipped it), but it?s absolutely worth it if only for the photo/contact backup.Continued here:
5 Simple (But Hidden!) Tricks All The New iPhone/iPad Owners Should Know
Posted by admin in Gadgets on Dec 27th, 2011 | no responses
Once upon a time, the iPhone was a simple thing. You flipped it on, slid the unlock switch, and what you saw was what you got. Since then, things have gotten a bit more? layered. That?s not to say they?ve gotten any harder to use; iOS just has a ridiculous number of hidden bonus features now that are in no way immediately obvious to the untrained eye. Given that yesterday was Christmas, I?d wager that the number of untrained eyes out there is at an all-time high. If you consider yourself something of an iOS expert, this list isn?t for you. If the terms ?jailbreak? and ?rooting? have any sort of secondary, technical connotation to you, you can almost certainly skip right over this. This one?s for the curious newbie; the moms, pops, and younger siblings of the world; the Android converts who may be feeling a bit out of place. It?s a collection of things I?m regularly surprised to find that other iOS device owners don?t know. If it?s not for you, you almost certainly know someone who it is for. The App Switcher: You?re blasting around in Jetpack Joyride when your better half asks you to find a proper eggnog recipe. What?s the quickest way to get to Safari? You could head back to the homescreen like a chump ? but if you?ve had Safari open recently, there?s a waaaay speedier route: Double tap the home button. Tada! Meet the App Switcher. The first page of the app switcher shows your most recently opened apps. Scrolling to the right will take you back even further in your app history. As one of the most requested features leading up to its introduction in iOS 4, it blows my mind how often I meet long-time iOS owners who have absolutely no idea the App Switcher exists. Closing Broken Apps: Apps break. It happens. Alas, due to the way iOS freezes/unfreezes apps rather than actually closing them (thus allowing quick-switching between running apps), you?ll occasionally find yourself with an app that you just can?t seem to un-break. What should you do? You?ll need to reset your device, right? Naaaah. Go to the homescreen. Double tap the home button (to bring up the App Switcher). Find the icon for the app you need to close and hold your finger on it for a second or two. Tap the ? that shows up next to it. Relaunch the app from the homescreen, and it?ll be just like opening it up on a freshly reset device. ( Note: With very few exceptions (and unlike what you may be used to with your ol? laptop) you never need to manually close iOS apps to make your device ?run better?. Thanks to the aforementioned freezing/unfreezing process, any app that you?re not actively using has very little effect on your device?s performance.) The Hidden App Switcher Buttons: The App Switcher is something of a swiss army knife. It switches! It closes! It slices! It dices! Beyond the aforementioned, the App Switcher has one more neat trick: a sort-of-hidden bonus page with myriad one-click shortcuts. On the iPhone, it?ll let you lock your screen orientation, pause/play/go back/skip
tracks in whatever app is currently playing music (or immediately jump right into that application, instead.) On the iPad, it?ll do all of the aforementioned as well as let you adjust the volume and display brightness. To find it: double tap the home button to bring up the App Switcher ? but rather than swiping to the left to see more apps, swipe to the right from the first page. The Notifications Center: This is another one that Apple doesn?t seem to be explaining well enough, as I?ve met more than my fair share of long-time iPhone owners who go wide-eyed when they first see it used. For anyone coming from Android, the mechanism is pretty much second nature (Apple essentially cloned the feature wholesale.) Beginning with iOS 5, iOS keeps a running list of your recent notifications so that you can easily jump to any app that needs your attention. To bring down the notifications drawer, simply swipe down from the very top of the display. Waiting there will be all of your recent (unread) texts, any messages that your applications have queued up, and a few configurable widgets (weather, stocks, etc.) You can adjust what shows up in this drawer in Settings > Notifications. The Camera Shortcut: We?ve all been there: that once in a lifetime moment is happening right before your eyes, and your only means of capturing it is with your phone?s camera. By the time you get it out of your pocket, unlock it, get to the homescreen, launch the camera app, and wait for the camera to boot up, the moment is gone. Opportunity lost, and now everyone is mad at you. As of iOS 5, you can access the camera right from the lockscreen (you don?t even have to unlock it! Don?t worry, though: you can?t access your older photos this way. Your booty pics are safe.) To quick-jump to the camera: from the lock screen (the screen with the ?Slide to unlock? bar), double tap the home button. You?ll see music controls pop up on top, while a camera icon appears directly beside the unlock bar. Tap that, and you?re immediately inside the camera. (Note: this only seems to work on the iPhone and camera-enabled iPod Touches. It?s a no go on iPad.) Got any more easy, kinda-hidden tricks that new iOS device owners should know? Drop it in a comment below. Bonus Tricks: To take a screenshot in any app, press the home and power button simultaneously for just a second. The photo will be stored in your camera roll. Holding the buttons too long will reset your device, so stop once the display flashes. In nearly all applications, you can scroll to the top of long pages (such as long websites, or long emails) by tapping the status bar (read: the bar with the clock.) Use iCloud. Seriously. It takes a second or two to set up (2/3 people I?ve watched setup iPhones recently skipped it), but it?s absolutely worth it if only for the photo/contact backup.Original post:
5 Simple (But Hidden!) Tricks All The New iPhone/iPad Owners Should Know
Source: http://agadgetzone.com/5-simple-but-hidden-tricks-all-the-new-iphoneipad-owners-should-know/
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Nice Home Theater! We?ll Help You Set it Up [How To]
Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/GI-kO9xm9uk/nice-home-theater-well-help-you-set-it-up
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Saturday, December 24, 2011
Youngblood Named Head Football Coach
Youngblood Named Head Football Coach
December 22, 2011
(Thursday,
December 22; Sioux Center, Iowa)? Dordt College has announced Greg Youngblood as its new head football coach.
Youngblood comes to Dordt College after holding assistant coaching positions at Taylor University (Indiana) and Waldorf College (Iowa) in 2005 and 2006 and the head coaching position at Waldorf College from 2007 to 2011.? Youngblood?s coaching career also includes positions in the high school ranks from 1997-2004.? He was the head football coach at West Mesa High School (New Mexico) for two seasons.
?Through the search and interview process it became evident that Coach Youngblood will continue to build a football program with a Reformed worldview, and he?ll push our program to improve on the field. We saw improvement in last year?s season, and we want that improvement to continue,? said Dordt College athletic director Glenn Bouma.
Youngblood is a nationally certified strength and conditioning specialist and is an active member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes and American Football Coaches Association. He has a B.A. in Mathematics from Bates College (1994) and a B.A. in education from the College of Sante Fe at Albuquerque (1998).? Youngblood also has an M. S. in Sports Administration from the University of New Mexico (2002).
?Signs that we are achieving our goals and honoring God will be marked by four criteria,? wrote Youngblood in the interview and application process. ?First we will be known as a great character team that does everything with class. Second, we should show continual improvement. Third, we want to be a team of great effort and a team of great toughness. Lastly, we want to be a team that develops great relationships.?
Youngblood will start his position January 3.
Media Access: Download Word Version | High Resolution Image: 1
Source: http://www.dordt.edu/cgi-bin/news/get_news.pl?id=5388
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Friday, December 23, 2011
Bomb kills 5 Polish troops in Afghanistan (Reuters)
GHAZNI CITY, Afghanistan (Reuters) ? A roadside bomb killed five Polish soldiers in Afghanistan on Wednesday, the country's prime minister said, Poland's largest loss of life in a single incident since it joined the NATO-led coalition of foreign troops almost a decade ago.
"This is very sad information for the Polish soldiers, for the whole of Poland, and especially for the families who are being informed of the fact right now," Prime Minister Donald Tusk told a news conference in Katowice, southern Poland.
"The bomb had to be of a very significant power as the vehicles the Polish soldiers use are generally well-protected against this type of attack," he said.
Poland has about 2,475 troops in Afghanistan, most of them stationed in Ghazni province, southwest of the capital, Kabul. A total of 36 Polish soldiers have now been killed in Afghanistan, according to Poland's defense ministry.
Ghazni province has a heavy and growing Taliban presence but the blast hit in a village considered relatively secure, and just two kilometers from the provincial capital, Ghazni city.
Rawza village contains several historical sites and police security is seen as tight. Polish soldiers have been involved in reconstruction work on historical sites.
No civilians were wounded but the loud explosion was heard throughout the city and shattered the windows of nearby houses.
Colonel Miroslaw Ochyra from the Polish army's operational headquarters in Poland said it was unclear how the bomb had been activated because it did not explode when the first of the soldiers' armored vehicles drove over it.
It contained an estimated 100 kg (220 lb) of explosives.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the blast, but Ochyra said Poland would investigate that claim.
"We must remember that the Taliban often claim some attacks to showcase their strength," he told Polish media.
(Additional reporting by Agnieszka Flak and Mirwais Harooni in KABUL, Gabriela Baczynska in WARSAW and Wojciech Zurawski in KATOWICE; Editing by Sanjeev Miglani and Paul Tait)
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The payroll tax battle gets worse
At this point, all America can see right now is an unbelievably feckless Congress underperforming against expectations that are already abysmally low.
I don?t know if anyone can figure out what?s going on with the payroll tax/HI negotiations, but here?s what I can glean from the raucous noise that is our Congress at work:
Skip to next paragraph Jared Bernstein?
Before joining the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities as a senior fellow, Jared was chief economist to Vice President Joseph Biden and executive director of the White House Task Force on the Middle Class. He is a contributor to MSNBC and CNBC and has written numerous books, including 'Crunch: Why Do I Feel So Squeezed?'
Recent posts
?the House R?s won?t vote on the bipartisan Senate bill, for reasons I don?t quite get.? It looks like Rep Boehner doesn?t have the votes to defeat the Senate bill, so I guess he?d look bad, but he already looks terrible.? All America can see right now is an unbelievably feckless Congress underperforming expectations that are already abysmally low.? So, passing the Senate bill, even if it?s just a two month extension, saying you?ll get fight again another day, getting your sorry butts out of here, seems like the smart move.
?there?s a rising likelihood that the UI extensions and payroll tax cut expire.? I?m hearing some whispering to the tune of ?hey, it won?t be so bad if we rush back in Jan and pass them?we can make them retroactive.?? Um?no.? It will be awfully bad for almost 2 million UI recipients who could be dropped from the UI rolls.? And most of them have been jobless for at least half a year, so it?s unlikely they?ve got much to fall back on.? Also, it?s no picnic for businesses to have to adjust payrolls to plug back in the 2% cut that expires at the end of this year.
?this isn?t about providing more help to workers and the unemployed.? The House R?s are tying to frame this meltdown like it?s all about making sure those struggling with the still weak economy need a year extension, not two months.? I agree that a two month extension is extremely goofy.? But we?re stuck there because these same House Rs injected a bottle of poison pills into their bill, including up to 40 fewer weeks of UI, drug testing and educational requirements?for UI recips, delaying environmental standards, whacking federal workers, and cutting implementation funds for the Affordable Care Act.
?democracy takes a holiday: Here are two rules from the House Republicans on how they plan to proceed on this issue:
Section 1 of the rule:
5. Waives all points of order against consideration of the resolution and provides that it shall be considered as read.
6. Waives all points of order against provisions in the resolution.
This is informally called ?blanket martial law? because it basically means all the normal rules governing debate on legislation are suspended and the House can do what it wants when it wants.? D?s have used this too, btw, but this time it?s in place through the middle of next month.? I suspect that?s the longest period over which this blatantly undemocratic measure has been in place.
Dysfunction, thy name is the 112 Congress.
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 jaredbernsteinblog.com.
Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/4DP5JgbQEAk/The-payroll-tax-battle-gets-worse
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Monday, December 19, 2011
Michael Jackson's belongings sell for nearly $1M (AP)
BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. ? The contents of the home where Michael Jackson lived with his three children before his death in 2009 have sold for nearly $1 million at auction.
The president of Julien's Auctions was still tallying the totals Saturday after the daylong auction, which brought in nearly triple the company's pre-auction estimate of $200,000 to $400,000.
Among the highlights were a chalkboard inscribed with a message from Jackson's children, which sold for $5,000, and an armoire upon which Jackson wrote a message to himself on the mirror, which fetched $18,750.
The headboard from the bed where the pop star died at age 50 was removed from the sale at the family's request, but the rug that was beneath the bed sold for $15,360. The estimate had been $400 to $600.
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Sunday, December 18, 2011
Why Your Business Needs a Mobile Website Right Now
The Digital Marketing Series is supported by HubSpot, an inbound marketing software company based in Cambridge, MA, that makes a full platform of marketing software, including lead generation tools.
First, the good news: If you have a website, then you have a site that can be accessed by any mobile device with a browser. Now, the bad: Chances are, that site looks pretty crappy on said mobile device.
If you?re worried about this, you?re not alone. Just as companies realized, circa 1996, that they needed to create a website to remain relevant to consumers, history is repeating itself in mobile. By 2013, more people will use mobile phones than PCs to get online, according to Gartner. In mid-2011, we also reached the point at which consumers were spending more time on their mobile devices than on their PCs.
In such an environment, a site designed to be viewed on a desktop PC comes across as woefully lacking. Say you?re accessing such a site from the Safari browser on your iPhone. The first thing you?re likely to notice is that it takes a relatively long time to load. The second thing is that the type on the page is pretty small. It might take a lot of zooming and pinching to navigate the site as well. If you have Flash on your site, it?s not going to come across at all on an iPhone.
At that point, your potential customer may start looking around. According to a recent survey from Compuware, 40% of users have turned to a competitor?s site after a bad mobile experience.
Yet currently, most businesses haven?t optimized their sites for mobile. Jesse Haines, group marketing manager for Google Mobile Ads, says the company canvassed its large advertisers early in 2011 and found only 21% have launched a mobile site.
If you?re among the other 79% or so, take heart. Optimizing your site for mobile or creating a mobile site from scratch isn?t a big deal.
In part, that?s because Google has stepped in. The company is eager to expand its online advertising empire further into mobile. With an eye towards ?growing the mobile ecosystem? as Haines puts it, Google last month launched GoMo, an initiative that aims to help businesses go mobile.
Google?s howtogomo.com is a clearinghouse of information on the topic and even includes a feature that lets you see how your site looks on a mobile device.
For those looking for a quick fix, Google provides a list of companies that will build your mobile site for you, and you can specify what you want to spend. Haines says that you can get up and running for as little as $100 a year.
Dennis Mink, VP of marketing at DudaMobile, one of the vendors Google lists on GoMo, says he thinks the average price for a decent mobile site is more like $200 to $500. If you?re comfortable with website design, though, DudaMobile offers DIY tools as well, which are just $9 a month. While the company?s web-based software is free, the fee goes toward hosting and site analytics. (Yes, if you?re running a mobile site, you have to pay two hosting fees ? one for your traditional website and one for mobile.)
One recent DudaMobile customer is TriStar Automotive, a Santa Rosa, Calif., repair shop. Jim Dadaos, the owner of the shop, says his web developer told him a few months back that he needed to get a mobile site ?because that?s where everything is going.? Dadaos?s developer contacted DudaMobile, which created the site ?within a very short time? and it?s been up and running for six months. During that time Dadaos says he?s seen a 20% spike in business. ?During these times, the auto repair business is sucking, so that?s significant,? he says.
Mink and Haines offer a few tips for building a good mobile website. One thing to consider is whether your site is what Haines calls ?thumb-friendly.? What that means in practice is lots of big, fat buttons. Another thing to keep in mind is font size and navigation. The first should be fairly large, and the second should be fairly intuitive.
Haines says one site that renders especially well on mobile is 1-800 Flowers, which, as you see below, is both thumb-friendly and intuitive.
Another site Haines singles out is from PacSun, the teen-focused clothing brand:
Incidentally, if you?re considering a mobile app rather than a mobile website, Haines says to go for the website. ?It really depends on the brand,? she says. ?We think a mobile website is a must-have.? Haines says that for some brands, like news sites for instance, a mobile app makes sense, but otherwise, most users are going to look for you via their browser.
Mink agrees: ?If you?re going to search for any type of business, you?re going to search the mobile web, not an app store,? he says. ?People don?t look for apps that will give them information.?
Series supported by HubSpot
The Digital Marketing Series is supported by HubSpot, an inbound marketing software company based in Cambridge, MA, that makes a full platform of marketing software, including lead generation tools.
Image courtesy of iStockphoto, contrastaddict
Source: http://mashable.com/2011/12/16/mobile-website-tips/
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Hand, foot, mouth disease kills 156 in Vietnam
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) ? Vietnam says an outbreak of hand, foot and mouth disease has killed 156 people, mostly children, and sickened more than 96,000 through late November.
An official at the Ministry of Health says the average number of weekly cases dropped from about 3,000 in September to 2,460 in November.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a travel alert Monday urging people visiting Vietnam to protect themselves from the disease by practicing "healthy personal hygiene."
This year's outbreak is a sharp uptick from recent years. Since 2008, about 10,000 to 15,000 cases were reported per year with about 20 to 30 children dying annually.
The common childhood illness typically causes little more than a fever and rash, and most recover quickly.
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Saturday, December 17, 2011
House easily passes spending bill (Politico)
Moving with surprising speed, the House gave final approval Friday to a more than $1 trillion budget bill that fills in the blank spaces of the August debt accords and sets a new template for government spending through the 2012 elections.
The giant appropriations bill is remarkable for its reach, covering the heart of the domestic budget, the Pentagon, and foreign aid plus tens of billions more related to the war in Afghanistan. It?s over 1,200 pages were only released Thursday, but debate was compressed and the 296-121 vote never in serious doubt with members eager to go home for the holidays.
Continue ReadingIn contrast with the burst of stimulus spending at the beginning of President Barack Obama?s first year, the image now is of a government very much retrenching after a year of real cuts that have rolled back domestic appropriations to Bush-era levels when adjusted for inflation.
That translates into a roughly 10 percent cut from spending levels last January when Republicans took over the House, and under the August debt agreement, this will become a new plateau stretching into the future with annual growth pegged below the rate of inflation.
Conservatives remain unhappy that the change has not been greater, and the $1.043 trillion cap for 2012 is in fact a significant retreat from the much deeper cuts proposed by the House Republicans? budge resolution last April. But just a year ago, Democrats were proposing their own omnibus bill, complete with parochial earmarks and spending $73 billion higher for non-defense programs.
The change now is a real victory for the House GOP with two caveats.
First, to a surprising degree the leadership has replaced spending earmarks with often special interest policy riders that are earmarks themselves in many respects. Second, the party is still struggling to cope with the caps set in August for security funding and defense.
Overseas contingency funds, ostensibly for military operations in Afghanistan and other theaters, are being used as a safety valve to pay for core Pentagon costs. And much as Republicans have criticized Obama?s decisions to bring more American forces home, the resulting savings have helped the GOP sustain what has become a very costly military amid spending cuts elsewhere.
Indeed, well over half of the package now reflects these Pentagon and war-related costs and that may help to explain the strength of the vote. Republicans split 147 to 86 in favor of the deal; Democrats 149 to 35.
The healthy margins all but assure Senate passage and defuse any remaining worry of a government shutdown.
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Elizabeth Taylor?s jewelry collection fetched a record-setting $115 million
Elizabeth Taylor’s jewelry collection fetched a record-setting $115 million – including more than $11.8 million for a pearl necklace and more than $8.8 million for a diamond ring given to her by Richard Burton – at an auction of gems and other memorabilia amassed by the late actress. The 33.19-carat diamond ring given to Taylor [...]
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Friday, December 16, 2011
'The Real World: San Diego': Frank And Nate Fight Over Who Did More For A Charity Event (VIDEO)
It was a charity event gone all wrong on the finale of "The Real World: San Diego" (Wed., 10PM ET on MTV). Nate Stodghill was the organizer, but when things didn't go the way he wanted in advance -- he wanted his friends and housemates to sell tickets for him and they didn't sell enough to make him happy -- he got blitzed at the event itself.
Frank Sweeney laid into him then and there for his lack of professionalism, but that wasn't the last of it. Later, Nate was trying to relax in the jacuzzi, but there was still a lot of paperwork to take care of that he'd just left there. When Frank checked up on him to make sure Nate was on top of his part, Nate snapped at him and Frank lost it. After Nate's "performance" at the House of Blues, it's understandable.
While they were less violent than the previous season, this was still a very angry bunch of people who seemed more absorbed with their own problems than taking advantage of the opportunity the show gave them to open themselves up to new experiences and different kinds of people.
TV Replay scours the vast television landscape to find the most interesting, amusing, and, on a good day, amazing moments, and delivers them right to your browser.
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/15/the-real-world-san-diego-_n_1150379.html
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Thursday, December 15, 2011
Putin: Put cameras in Russian polling stations
Mikhail Mordasov / AFP - Getty Images
Builders at a Sochi 2014 Olympics venue eat next to a TV screen showing Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's phone-in session on Thursday. The carefully stage-managed annual phone-in is designed to boost Putin's image and show he remains in control of Russia.
By Msnbc.com staff and wire services
MOSCOW - Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin on Thursday called for cameras to be installed in all polling stations across the country, while at the same time deflecting allegations that fraud helped his ruling party win recent parliamentary elections.
In his annual televised call-in question-and-answer session, he said the recent elections reflected the views of the population and? shrugged off the biggest opposition protests of his 12-year rule, saying they were permissible if they remained peaceful and within the law.
Putin's first public remarks since Saturday's mass protests signaled he would not bow to the protesters' demands for the December 4 election to be rerun. But he made a gesture to them by calling for cameras to be installed at polling stations for the presidential election which he hopes to win on March 4.
"I am proposing and asking for the installation of web cameras at all the polling stations in the country," he said.
"From my point of view, the result of the (December 4) election undoubtedly reflects public opinion in the country," said Putin, taking questions from a studio audience in a call-in broadcast live to the nation.
Putin, 59, has used the annual call-in to burnish his image as a strong, effective and caring leader with a detailed knowledge of the country and an interest in each of its citizens.? He has already served two terms as president and was forced under the Russian law to step down after his second term but is now entitled to run again.
But he is under much more pressure this year following protests by tens of thousands of people over the election, which international monitors said was slanted to favor his United Russia.
United Russia won just under half the votes, enough to have a slim majority in the State Duma, the lower house, but fell far short of the strong majority in the previous chamber.
The opposition says its result would have been much worse if there had not been widespread ballot-stuffing and other irregularities.
Putin's authority has been dented by the protests and his popularity sank after he announced plans in September to swap jobs with his ally President Dmitry Medvedev after the presidential poll.
Many Russians saw this announcement as a signal that everything had been cooked up between the two leaders with no respect for democracy, and Putin's ratings have fallen since then.
Putin is still expected to win the presidential election next year but he now faces much more resistance than expected and the call-in was an opportunity to reestablish his legitimacy.
Msnbc.com staff and Reuters contributed to this report.
Read more content from msnbc.com and NBC News:
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Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Android Market reaches ten billionth download, sells Minecraft, Swiftkey X and others for a dime
Happy milestone, Android Market! It's a busy place, full of hustle and bustle -- so much so, in fact, that the applications plaza for Google's mobile OS just had its ten billionth app downloaded. In honor of hitting this mark, it's passing the savings on to you, placing ten apps on sale for ten cents. The sale will last for ten days (notice a theme?), so procrastinators will have a little extra time to decide which ones are worth a dime. There's a few classics on the list, such as SwiftKey X, Minecraft, Asphalt 6 and SoundHound. Check the source link (or glance at the screenshot above) to see what else is available, as well as a press release straight from SwiftKey below the break.
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]
Android Market reaches ten billionth download, sells Minecraft, Swiftkey X and others for a dime originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 06 Dec 2011 14:39:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Protesters accuse Putin's party of rigging vote (AP)
MOSCOW ? Several thousand protesters took to the streets Monday night and accused Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's party of rigging this weekend's parliamentary election in which it won the largest share of the seats.
It was perhaps the biggest opposition rally in years and ended with police detaining about 300 activists. A group of several hundred marched toward the Central Elections Commission near the Kremlin, but were stopped by riot police and taken away in buses.
Estimates of the number of protesters ranged from 5,000 to 10,000. They chanted "Russia without Putin" and accused his United Russia party of stealing votes.
In St. Petersburg, police detained about 120 protesters.
United Russia won about 50 percent of Sunday's vote, a result that opposition politicians and election monitors said was inflated because of ballot-box stuffing and other vote fraud. It was a significant drop from the last election, when the party took 64 percent.
Pragmatically, the loss of seats in the State Duma appears to mean little because two of the three other parties winning seats have been reliable supporters of government legislation.
Nevertheless, it was a substantial symbolic blow to a party that had become virtually indistinguishable from the state itself.
The result has also energized the opposition and poses a humbling challenge to Putin, the country's dominant figure, in his drive to return to the presidency.
Putin, who became prime minister in 2008 because of presidential term limits, will run for a third term in March, and some opposition leaders saw the parliamentary election as a game-changer for what had been presumed to be his easy stroll back to the Kremlin.
More than 400 Communist Party supporters also gathered Monday to express their indignation over the election, which some called the dirtiest in modern Russian history. The Communists finished second with about 20 percent of the vote.
"Even compared to the 2007 elections, violations by the authorities and the government bodies that actually control the work of all election organizations at all levels, from local to central, were so obvious and so brazen," said Yevgeny Dorovin, a member of the party's central committee.
Putin appeared subdued and glum even as he insisted at a Cabinet meeting Monday that the result "gives United Russia the possibility to work calmly and smoothly."
Although the sharp decline for United Russia could lead Putin and the party to try to portray the election as genuinely democratic, the wide reports of violations have undermined that attempt at spin.
Boris Nemtsov, a prominent figure among Russia's beleaguered liberal opposition, declared that the vote spelled the end of Putin's "honeymoon" with the nation and predicted that his rule will soon "collapse like a house of cards."
"He needs to hold an honest presidential election and allow opposition candidates to register for the race, if he doesn't want to be booed from Kamchatka to Kaliningrad," Nemtsov said on Ekho Moskvy radio.
Many Russians have come to despise United Russia, seeing it as the engine of endemic corruption. The balloting showed voters that they have power despite what election monitors called a dishonest count.
"Yesterday, it was proven by these voters that not everything was fixed, that the result really matters," said Tiny Kox of the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly, part of an international election observer mission.
Other analysts suggested the vote was a wake-up call to Putin that he had lost touch with the country. In the early period of his presidency, Putin's appeal came largely from his man-of-the-people image: candid, decisive and without ostentatious tastes.
He seemed to lose some of the common touch, appearing in well-staged but increasingly preposterous heroic photo opportunities ? hunting a whale with a crossbow, fishing while bare-chested, and purportedly discovering ancient Greek artifacts while scuba diving. And Russians grew angry at his apparent disregard ? and even encouragement ? of the country's corruption and massive income gap.
"People want Putin to go back to what he was in his first term ? decisive, dynamic, tough on oligarchs and sensitive to the agenda formed by society," said Sergei Markov, a prominent United Russia Duma member.
The vote "was a normal reaction of the population to the worsening social situation," former Kremlin-connected political analyst Gleb Pavlovsky was quoted as saying by the Interfax news agency.
Only seven parties were allowed to field candidates for parliament this year, while the most vocal opposition groups were barred from the race. International monitors said the election administration lacked independence, most media were biased and state authorities interfered unduly at different levels.
"To me, this election was like a game in which only some players are allowed to compete," said Heidi Tagliavini, the head of the observer mission of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.
Of the 150 polling stations where the counting was observed, "34 were assessed to be very bad," Tagliavini said.
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said Washington has "serious concerns" about the elections.
"Russian voters deserve a full investigation of all credible reports of electoral fraud and manipulation, and we hope in particular that the Russian authorities will take action" on reports that come forward, Clinton said.
Other than the Communist Party, the socialist Just Russia and the Liberal Democratic Party led by mercurial nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky are also expected to increase their representation in the Duma; both have generally voted with United Russia, and the Communists pose only token opposition.
Two liberal parties were in the running, but neither got the 7 percent of the national vote needed to win seats. Nemtsov's People's Freedom Party, one of the most prominent liberal parties, was denied participation for alleged violations in the required 45,000 signatures the party had submitted with its registration application.
About 60 percent of Russia's 110 million registered voters cast ballots, down from 64 percent four years ago.
Social media were flooded with messages reporting violations. Many people reported seeing buses deliver groups of people to polling stations, with some of the buses carrying young men who looked like football fans, who often are associated with violent nationalism.
Russia's only independent election monitoring group, Golos, which is funded by U.S. and European grants, has come under heavy official pressure in the past week. Golos' website was incapacitated Sunday by hackers, and its director Lilya Shibanova and her deputy had their cellphone numbers, email and social media accounts hacked.
___
Associated Press writers Vladimir Isachenkov, Nataliya Vasilyeva and Lynn Berry in Moscow contributed to this report.
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US service firms expanded in Nov. at slower pace
FILE - In this Oct. 4, 2011 file photo, Bruce Worswick wipes his hands while working under a Jeep on the lift at Tri Town Transmission in Pembroke, Mass. U.S. service companies, which employ 90 percent of the work force, expanded at slower pace in November and a measure of employment fell sharply. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 4, 2011 file photo, Bruce Worswick wipes his hands while working under a Jeep on the lift at Tri Town Transmission in Pembroke, Mass. U.S. service companies, which employ 90 percent of the work force, expanded at slower pace in November and a measure of employment fell sharply. (AP Photo/Stephan Savoia, File)
Shoppers look at televisions displayed at a Best Buy store after a midnight opening on Friday, Nov. 25, 2011, in Brentwood, Tenn. Black Friday began in earnest as stores opened their doors at midnight. (AP Photo/Mark Humphrey)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Service companies, which employ 90 percent of the U.S. work force, expanded at a slower pace in November and a measure of employment at those firms fell.
Separately, the government said orders to U.S. factories dropped for the second straight month.
Monday's data show that the economy remains vulnerable despite recent signs of improvement. Still, economists said the broader message from other reports is that economic growth and hiring continue at a modest and steady pace.
"As it comes at a time when all the other economic news has been quite good, it is not too much to worry about," said Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist at Capital Economics.
The Institute for Supply Management said Monday that its index of service sector activity dropped to 52 from 52.9 in October. Any reading above 50 indicates expansion. The service sector has grown for two straight years. But the reading was the lowest since January 2010.
There were some positive signs in the report: New orders and business activity rose.
The trade group of purchasing managers surveys a range of industries, including hotels and restaurants, financial services, construction and agriculture.
The Commerce Department said companies cut their orders to U.S. factories in October for the second straight month. A key measure of business investment also declined.
The report also wasn't all bad. Manufacturers boosted their stockpiles 0.9 percent in October after more modest increases in previous months. That suggests they are optimistic about future sales.
Manufacturing has been showing signs of rebounding after slowing earlier this year. Auto sales and production are up now that supply chain disruptions caused by the earthquake in Japan have eased. And the ISM, which reports separately on manufacturing, said last week that factory output expanded in November for 28th straight month.
Some economists were surprised that the ISM service-sector survey showed its employment index fell below 50 for the second time in three months. That's a sign that companies are cutting workers, which conflicts with other data on hiring.
On Friday, the government said the unemployment rate fell to 8.6 percent last month, the lowest level in 2 1/2 years. Employers added 120,000 net new jobs and more jobs were generated in September and October than the government previously estimated. Half of those jobs added in November were at retailers, bars and restaurants ? all service firms.
"We hope this is a rogue number," said Ian Shepherdson, an economist High Frequency Economics, referring to the ISM employment index for service firms. "It is certainly not consistent with the decline in jobless claims and the rebound in the flow of new online help wanted ads, but we cannot yet be sure."
About half the drop in the unemployment rate occurred because many of those out of work gave up searching for jobs. When the unemployed stop looking for work, they are no longer counted in the unemployment rate.
Still, the overall jobs report was positive and the latest sign that the economy is improving, despite a still-high unemployment rate, a debt crisis in Europe and slowing growth in China.
More jobs means consumers should have more income to spend while shopping, at restaurants, or on cable TV subscriptions and other services.
Holiday shopping is already off to a good start. Americans dropped a record $52.4 billion over the Thanksgiving weekend, according to the National Retail Federation, a trade group. A separate report from MasterCard found spending was up almost 9 percent from last year.
Car sales also rose sharply in November, normally a lackluster month for the auto industry. Chrysler, Ford, Nissan and Hyundai all reported double-digit gains on Thursday, compared to a year ago.
Those reports have led many economists to raise their forecasts for the final three months of the year, to about a 3 percent annual rate. That would be an improvement from growth of 2 percent in the July-September period.
___
AP Economics Writer Derek Kravitz contributed to this report.
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