Alan Rifkin, Barclays Capital, explains why he upgraded RadioShack after he had a "sell" on the stock for years.
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Oceanographers have identified a series of ocean hotspots around the world generated by strengthening wind systems that have driven oceanic currents, including the East Australian Current, polewards beyond their known boundaries.
The hotspots have formed alongside ocean currents that wash the east coast of the major continents and their warming proceeds at a rate far exceeding the average rate of ocean surface warming, according to an international science team whose work is published in the journal Nature Climate Change today.
Paper co-author, CSIRO's Dr Wenju Cai, said that while the finding has local ecological implications in the region surrounding the hotspots, the major influence is upon the ocean's ability to take up heat and carbon from the atmosphere.
In Australia's case, scientists report intensifying east-west winds at high latitudes (45?-55?S) pushing southward and speeding up the gyre or swirl of currents circulating in the South Pacific, extending from South America to the Australian coast. The resulting changes in ocean circulation patterns have pushed the East Australian Current around 350 kilometres further south, with temperatures east of Tasmania as much as two degrees warmer than they were 60 years ago. "We would expect natural change in the oceans over decades or centuries but change with such elevated sea surface temperatures in a growing number of locations and in a synchronised manner was definitely not expected," said CSIRO's Dr Wenju Cai.
"Detecting these changes has been hindered by limited observations but with a combination of multi-national ocean watch systems and computer simulations we have been able to reconstruct an ocean history in which warming over the past century is 2-3 times faster than the global average ocean warming rate," says Dr Cai, a climate scientist at CSIRO's Wealth from Oceans Research Flagship.
The changes are characterised by a combination of currents pushing nearer to the polar regions and intensify with systematic changes of wind over both hemispheres, attributed to increasing greenhouse gases.
Dr Cai said the increase of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere has been the major driver of the surface warming of the Earth over the 20th century. This is projected to continue.
He said the research points to the need for a long-term monitoring network of the western boundary currents. In March next year, Australian scientists plan to deploy a series of moored ocean sensors across the East Australian Current to observe change season-to-season and year-to-year.
###
CSIRO Australia: http://www.csiro.au
Thanks to CSIRO Australia for this article.
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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/117175/Warming_in_the_Tasman_Sea_a_global_warming_hot_spot
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PARIS (AP) ? The head of Carrefour SA is to be replaced by a veteran French clothing retailer after a string of profit warnings sent the French retail giant's share price tumbling.
Lars Olofsson will be replaced by clothing retail executive Georges Plassat at Carrefour's annual shareholder meeting in June, the company said in a statement. The company said Olofsson had informed its board of directors that he would not seek renewal of his mandate at the general assembly June 18, but no explanation for the decision was given.
The 60-year-old Swede leaves Carrefour, the world's second largest retailer by sales, in almost the same troubled condition that he found it when he took over the troubled retailer just three years ago.
As then, the company's performance and strategy are in doubt, the share price is lagging and key shareholders have given up waiting for management's repeated attempts to turn round the core hypermarkets business to bear fruit.
Carrefour shares plunged 38 percent last year, well underperforming the wider CAC40 index as the company's serial profit warnings and missed earnings targets sent investors scrambling for the exits.
Olofsson's 62-year-old replacement Plassat joins Carrefour from Vivarte, a French fashion retailer he has run since 2004.
In Carrefour's latest profit warning earlier this month, the company admitted its 2011 earnings would by close to 20 percent lower than in 2010, as sales stagnated and Olofsson's much vaunted revamp of the hypermarkets business failed to pay off with improved margins. The group is scheduled to report 2011 earnings on March 8.
Carrefour's shares were down 2.9 percent at midday to euro17.74, underperforming the wider market decline as investors shed risk ahead of an anticipated EU summit in Brussels.
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Source: http://articlexone.com/arts/robert-shumake-understanding-the-real-estate-investing-tax-table.html
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Snow leopards are one of the most elusive cats on Earth. Not only is the species endangered, but it is notoriously shy, and much about where snow leopards live in the wild remains mysterious.
So researchers got a big surprise when a set of 11 camera traps installed in a lonely corner of Tajikistan revealed at least five snow leopards were living in the region, including a mother with two young cubs.
The motion-sensing camera traps were set high in the remote Pamir Mountains.
More science news from msnbc.com
In a cool new undertaking, the ever-forward-thinking New York Public Library has pulled together a vast collection of roughly 100-year-old archival images for a very clever proto-3-D project.
Over the three-month study period, the cameras snapped pictures of a parade of creatures ? mountain ibex, Marco Polo sheep (the largest in the world), a rare mountain weasel, a variety of birds and the family of snow leopards. [See photos of the snow leopards and other animals here.]
"This is the first detailed biodiversity survey of the area, and it's very exciting to see so much diversity," lead scientist David Mallon said in a statement. "But the highlight was confirming the presence of what seems to be a healthy population of breeding snow leopards."
Yet when scientists returned to retrieve their camera traps, they found only 10. One had gone missing.
A close look through the piles of pictures revealed the culprits: the two snow leopard cubs.
A companion camera trap to the stolen rig caught the two young leopards red-pawed.
The IUCN, an independent international body that assesses the status of species around the globe, has listed snow leopards as endangered since at least 1986. The big cats, known for their cloudy gray fur and dark spots, are native to Central Asia's high mountains, and their numbers have been decreasing.
Hard numbers are difficult to establish, but it is estimated that between 4,000 and 6,500 snow leopards are left in the wild. ?
Despite the fact that researchers found only five cats, they were encouraged by the results of the survey, which was conducted by British-based Fauna & Flora International with the help of U.S.-based big-cat conservation organization, Panthera.
Snow leopards require large swaths of land, and researchers said the region offers a good place to concentrate conservation efforts.
"These survey results demonstrate that there is hope still for the endangered snow leopard," Panthera's Tom McCarthy said in a statement.
The fate of the stolen camera is unknown.
Follow OurAmazingPlanet for the latest in Earth science and exploration news on Twitter @OAPlanetand on Facebook.
? 2012 OurAmazingPlanet. All rights reserved. More from OurAmazingPlanet.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46166950/ns/technology_and_science-science/
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LOS ANGELES ? A 911 recording revealed frantic efforts by friends of Demi Moore to get help for the actress who was convulsing as they gathered around her and tried to comfort her.
Moore was "semi-conscious, barely," according to a female caller on the recording released Friday by Los Angeles fire officials.
The woman tells emergency operators that Moore, 49, had smoked something before she was rushed to the hospital on Monday night and that she had been "having issues lately."
"Is she breathing normal?" the operator asks.
"No, not so normal. More kind of shaking, convulsing, burning up," the friend says as she hurries to Moore's side, on the edge of panic.
Another woman is next to Moore as the dispatcher asks if she's responsive.
"Demi, can you hear me?" she asks. "Yes, she's squeezing hands. ... She can't speak."
When the operator asks what Moore ingested or smoked, the friend replies, but the answer was redacted.
Asked if Moore took the substance intentionally or not, the woman says Moore ingested it on purpose but the reaction was accidental.
"Whatever she took, make sure you have it out for the paramedics," the operator says.
The operator asks the friend if this has happened before.
"I don't know," she says. "There's been some stuff recently that we're all just finding out."
Moore's publicist, Carrie Gordon, said previously that the actress sought professional help to treat her exhaustion and improve her health. She would not comment further on the emergency call or provide details about the nature or location of Moore's treatment.
The past few months have been rocky for Moore.
She released a statement in November announcing she had decided to end her marriage to fellow actor Ashton Kutcher, 33, following news of alleged infidelity. The two were known to publicly share their affection for one another via Twitter.
Moore still has a Twitter account under the name mrskutcher but has not posted any messages since Jan. 7.
Meanwhile, Millennium Films announced Friday that Sarah Jessica Parker will replace Moore in the role of feminist Gloria Steinem in its production of "Lovelace," a biopic about the late porn star Linda Lovelace. A statement gave no reason for the change. The production, starring Amanda Seyfried, has been shooting in Los Angeles since Dec. 20.
During the call, the woman caller says the group of friends had turned Moore's head to the side and was holding her down. The dispatcher tells her not to hold her down but to wipe her mouth and nose and watch her closely until paramedics arrive.
"Make sure that we keep an airway open," the dispatcher says. "Even if she passes out completely, that's OK. Stay right with her."
The phone is passed around by four people, including a woman who gives directions to the gate and another who recounts details about what Moore smoked or ingested. Finally, the phone is given to a man named James, so one of the women can hold Moore's head.
There was some confusion at the beginning of the call. The emergency response was delayed by nearly two minutes as Los Angeles and Beverly Hills dispatchers sorted out which city had jurisdiction over the street where Moore lives.
As the call is transferred to Beverly Hills, the frantic woman at Moore's house raises her voice and said, "Why is an ambulance not on its way right now?"
"Ma'am, instead of arguing with me why an ambulance is not on the way, can you spell (the street name) for me?" the Beverly Hills dispatcher says.
Although the estate is located in the 90210 ZIP code above Benedict Canyon, the response was eventually handled by the Los Angeles Fire Department.
By the end of the call, Moore has improved.
"She seems to have calmed down now. She's speaking," the male caller told the operator.
Moore and Kutcher were wed in September 2005.
Kutcher became a stepfather to Moore's three daughters ? Rumer, Scout and Tallulah Belle ? from her 13-year marriage to actor Bruce Willis. Moore and Willis divorced in 2000 but remained friendly.
Moore can be seen on screen in the recent films "Margin Call" and "Another Happy Day." Kutcher replaced Charlie Sheen on TV's "Two and a Half Men" and is part of the ensemble film "New Year's Eve."
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For starters, the mere fact that your country contains a lot of oil offers no special reason to subsidize gasoline consumption. For one thing, gasoline isn?t oil. Like other usable fuels, it needs to be refined from crude. Iran is actually a net importer of refined petroleum products, and the United States has recently become a net exporter of them, even as the situation for crude oil is the reverse. More broadly, the opportunity cost of using a domestically produced barrel of oil is identical to the financial cost of buying a barrel on international markets. In other words, if the Japanese government wants to offer subsidized oil to its citizens, it needs to go buy the oil first from Saudi Arabia. By the same token, if the Saudi government wants to offer subsidized oil to its citizens, it needs to sell less to Japan. The budgetary impact is identical in either case and the merits of the policy have nothing to do with how much oil a country has.
Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=7f9afd00830d0c88206f4f962b6bc16e
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ScienceDaily (Jan. 27, 2012) ? A team of biologists at the University of York has made an important advance in our understanding of the way cholera attacks the body. The discovery could help scientists target treatments for the globally significant intestinal disease which kills more than 100,000 people every year.
The disease is caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, which is able to colonise the intestine usually after consumption of contaminated water or food. Once infection is established, the bacterium secretes a toxin that causes watery diarrhea and ultimately death if not treated rapidly. Colonisation of the intestine is difficult for incoming bacteria as they have to be highly competitive to gain a foothold among the trillions of other bacteria already in situ.
Scientists at York, led by Dr. Gavin Thomas in the University's Department of Biology, have investigated one of the important routes that V. cholera uses to gain this foothold. To be able to grow in the intestine the bacterium harvests and then eats a sugar, called sialic acid, that is present on the surface of our gut cells.
Collaborators of the York group at the University of Delaware, USA, led by Professor Fidelma Boyd, had shown previously that eating sialic acid was important for the survival of V. cholerae in animal models, but the mechanism by which the bacteria recognise and take up the sialic was unknown.
The York research, funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), demonstrates that the pathogen uses a particular kind of transporter called a TRAP transporter to recognise sialic acid and take it up into the cell. The transporter has particular properties that are suited to scavenging the small amount of available sialic acid. The research also provided some important basic information about how TRAP transporters work in general.
The leader of the research in York, Dr. Gavin Thomas, said: "This work continues our discoveries of how bacteria that grow in our body exploit sialic acid for their survival and help us to take forward our efforts to design chemicals to inhibit these processes in different bacterial pathogens."
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WASHINGTON ? The federal government's plan to expand computer security protections into critical parts of private industry is raising concerns that the move will threaten Americans' civil liberties.
In a report for release Friday, The Constitution Project warns that as the Obama administration partners more with the energy, financial, communications and health care industries to monitor and protect networks, sensitive personal information of people who work for or communicate with those companies could be improperly or inadvertently disclosed.
While the government may have good intentions, it "runs the risk of establishing a program akin to wiretapping all network users' communications," the nonpartisan legal think tank says. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the report in advance.
Cybersecurity has become a rapidly expanding priority for the government as federal agencies, private companies and everyday people come under persistent and increasingly sophisticated computer attacks. The threat is diverse, ranging from computer hackers going after banking and financial accounts to terrorists or other nations breaching government networks to steal sensitive data or sabotage critical systems such as the electrical grid, nuclear plants or Wall Street.
Privacy has been a hotly debated issue, particularly as the Pentagon broadens its pilot program to help defense contractors protect their networks and systems. Several companies, including critical jet fighter and drone programs, have been attacked, although the Pentagon has said that no classified information was lost.
And there are plans for the Homeland Security Department to use the defense program as a model to prevent hackers and hostile nations from breaching critical infrastructure. Officials have suggested that Congress needs to craft legislation that would protect companies from certain privacy and other laws in order to share information with the government for cybersecurity purposes.
DHS spokesman Matt Chandler said the legislative proposals reflect the administration's commitment to privacy protections and contain standards to minimize contact with personal information while dealing with cybersecurity threats. "DHS builds strong privacy protections into the core of all cybersecurity programs and initiatives," Chandler said, adding that the agency realizes that providing assistance to private companies is a sensitive task that requires "trust and strict confidentiality."
The Constitution Project report recommends that officials limit the amount and nature of personal information shared between the public and private sectors. And it calls for strict oversight of the cyber programs by Congress and independent audits, to ensure that privacy rights have not been violated.
"The government should not be permitted to conduct an end-run around Fourth Amendment safeguards by relying upon private companies to monitor networks," it said.
In addition, the report raised concerns about the ongoing development of the Einstein 3 program, a government network monitoring system that would both detect and take action against cyberattacks on federal systems. DHS officials have said that extensive privacy protections are in place.
But the report expressed concerns that as DHS and the secretive National Security Agency share information about potential computer-based threats, the NSA could review communications from U.S. individuals without setting up privacy safeguards.
"With more and more people needing to share sensitive personal and financial data over the Internet, it is absolutely vital that, while we are looking to protect our networks against cyberattack, we also preserve our constitutionally guaranteed rights to privacy," said Constitution Project committee member Asa Hutchinson, a former DHS undersecretary who also served as a GOP congressman from Arkansas.
Lawmakers who have been wrestling with these issues over the past several years have several bills in the works, and most include some privacy provisions.
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MOGADISHU, Somalia ? U.S. military forces helicoptered into Somalia in a nighttime raid Wednesday and freed two hostages, an American and a Dane, while killing nine pirates, officials and a pirate source said.
The Danish Refugee Council confirmed the two aid workers, American Jessica Buchanan and Dane Poul Hagan Thisted, were freed "during an operation in Somalia." Buchanan, 32, and Thisted, 60, had been working with a de-mining unit of the Danish Refugee Council when they were kidnapped.
President Barack Obama appeared to refer to the mission before his State of the Union address in Washington Tuesday night. As he entered the House chamber in the U.S. Capitol, he pointed at Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in the crowd and said, "Good job tonight."
A Western official told The Associated Press that the raid was carried out by U.S. military forces. A second official said the helicopters and the hostages flew to a U.S. military base called Camp Lemonier in the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because the information had not been released publicly.
Panetta visited Camp Lemonier just over a month ago, A key U.S. ally in this region, Djibouti has the only U.S. base in sub-Saharan Africa. It hosts the military's Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa.
The Danish Refugee Council said both freed hostages are unharmed "and at a safe location." The group said in a separate statement that the two "are on their way to be reunited with their families."
The two aid workers appear to have been kidnapped by criminals ? sometimes referred to as pirates ? and not by Somalia's al-Qaida-linked militant group al-Shabab. As large ships at sea have increased their defenses against pirate attacks, gangs have looked for other money making opportunities like land-based kidnappings.
A pirate who gave his name as Bile Hussein said he had spoken to pirates at the scene of the raid and they reported that nine pirates had been killed. A second pirate who gave his name as Ahmed Hashi said two helicopters attacked at about 2 a.m. at the site where the hostages were being held about 20 kilometers (12 miles) north of the Somali town of Adado.
Maj. Kelly Cahalan, a military spokeswoman at U.S. Africa Command in Stuttgart, Germany, said she had no information on the raid. A spokeswoman at the Pentagon had no immediate comment. U.S. military rescue operations are typically carried out by highly trained special forces.
The Danish Refugee Council had earlier enlisted traditional Somali elders and members of civil society to seek the release of the two hostages. The two were seized in October from the portion of Galkayo town under the control of a government-allied clan militia. The aid agency has said that Somalis held demonstrations demanding the pair's quick release.
Their Somali colleague was detained by police on suspicion of being involved in their kidnapping.
The two hostages were working in northern Somalia for the Danish Demining Group, whose experts have been clearing mines and unexploded ordnance in conflict zones in Africa and the Middle East.
Several hostages are still being held in Somalia, including a British tourist and two Spanish doctors seized from neighboring Kenya, and an American journalist kidnapped on Saturday.
___
Associated Press reporter Jason Straziuso in Nairobi, Kenya, contributed to this report. Houreld reported from Nairobi.
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WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama will deliver a State of the Union address on Tuesday night built on the message that everyone deserves a fair shot at economic success and everyone must be held accountable for what they do. The next day, he'll begin using that same message as the thrust for his re-election campaign for the next 10 months.
Obama's third State of the Union address, which airs on all major networks at 9 p.m. EST, will map out a vision for boosting the economy and strengthening the middle class, based on four pillars, White House press secretary Jay Carney said in a Monday briefing. Those pillars are American manufacturing, American energy, skills for American workers, and American values. The president also will adopt a tone that ran through a speech he gave in Kansas last month -- one that many are equating with a historic speech that Teddy Roosevelt gave in 1910 -- that carries a strong message about social and economic equality.
On the policy front, job creation and the economy will dominate the speech. Housing and college affordability will be central themes, again tied into the overall message of fairness, according to sources familiar with the speech.. National security, as is always the case with the State of the Union, will also be key.
Expect Obama to break out issues that he and Congress can work on together; Carney signaled Monday that those areas could include comprehensive immigration reform and tax reform. The president will also point to areas where he can take action without Congress, a practice the White House has said to get used to in the coming months given the partisan gridlock that has come to define Congress.
The president won't waste time selling his message once the speech is over. Less than 24 hours after the address, he'll kick off an intense, three-day tour of five states, all of which are key battleground states for his re-election: Iowa, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Michigan. The move is a convenient overlapping point for Obama to connect his governing to his campaigning, which has already gotten off the ground but isn't in full force yet.
Carney dismissed the idea that Obama is using the State of the Union as a springboard for his re-election effort. He called this week's trips "official visits" that the president is taking to further explain the details of his speech to the country.
"This is a State of the Union address that the president is giving," Carney said. "The themes of this speech that I just discussed reflect ... in many ways the principles that President Obama has brought to public service since he began his career in public service. So it wouldn't take much to understand where he's coming from and where he believes the country will go."
Carney added, "I'm sure that the campaign is focused on those same ideas, because they are working to get the president reelected."
But politics are clearly driving this year's State of the Union, because it comes in the midst of a presidential campaign. Obama will be looking to draw sharp contrasts between himself and his Republican challengers, and more broadly, between Democrats and Republicans. And Congressional Republican leaders will be poised to criticize Obama's proposals -- and give a shout-out to his GOP challengers.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is already taking shots at the president ahead of his address. During an appearance on "Fox News Sunday," Boehner criticized Obama for planning what he said sounds to be "the same old policies" of more spending, taxes and regulations that Republicans claim have hurt the economy.
If Obama plans to reiterate the same ideas he's backed in the past few years, then "I think it's pathetic," Boehner said.
"; 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/2012/01/24/state-of-the-union-address_n_1225013.html
2 Chainz will also be in the mix Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET on MTV.com.
By Rob Markman
Bow Wow
Photo: Jerritt Clark/ Getty Images
"RapFix Live" is about to put you on to game.
Oakland, California, rap veteran Too $hort will appear on Wednesday's show and chop it up with host Sway about his come-up in the 1980s, his upcoming No Trespassing album (his 19th solo LP!) and everything in between.
Cash Money's Bow Wow will also stop by to talk about his own career evolution. The now 24-year old rapper got his start in 2000 at the age of 13. Since then, the Ohio rap representative has grown from kiddie rapper to full-grown MC and amassed a gang of hits along the way. His upcoming album Underrated will mark Bow's first release on Cash Money Records since signing with the powerhouse label in 2009.
Speaking of power moves, 2 Chainz will also appear on Wednesday's show to make a very special announcement concerning the next phase of his career. The Atlanta rap phenom made a name for himself as one-half of Playaz Circle, the group known best for their 2007 rap hit "Duffle Bag Boy" with Lil Wayne. He went by the name Tity Boy back then, but after a name change and a string of underground bangers, 2 Chainz has built a deafening buzz. His latest single, "Spend It," spread like wildfire and has recently spawned an official remix and music video with T.I.
Catch Too $hort, Bow Wow and 2 Chainz on "RapFix Live" Wednesday at 4 p.m. ET on MTV.com, and be sure to join the Twitter conversation using the hashtag #RapFixLive. Send your questions for the artists @MTVRapFiX!
Related ArtistsSource: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677733/too-short-bow-wow-rapfix-live.jhtml
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Electric bikes just got a cool new poster boy. This deceptively battery-powered bike is a sequel, matching the five-speed transmission found on the original, but now gifted with a shadowy new look and some appealing chrome licks. The Brutus 2.0 also plumps for a lithium battery over the lead battery of earlier models. A chain setup replaces the belt of its predecessor, which presumably helps it power through 0-60 in just under five seconds. Top speeds remain as dark and mysterious as the bike's paint job, but the maker promises that the 500 pound beast will easily blast past the 100 mph mark, with a range of over 100 miles per charge. The electric bike is still being worked on, but until we hear more on a retail-ready model, you can gawp at the moody non-moped in action right after the break.
Brutus 2.0 electric bike appears with moody paint job, helmet and goggles not included originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 23 Jan 2012 08:51:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Investors placing their bets for 2012 are faced with the classic dilemma. Stick with market sectors that performed best last year, or search for value in beaten-down names?
The question is especially tricky considering that 2011 was a turbulent ride of mixed economic news at home, worse news abroad and painful sell-offs that tested even seasoned traders. Investors? reaction was textbook ? dive into stock mutual funds stuffed with big, dividend-paying companies known for relative stability in good times and bad.
That meant top-performing funds focused on utilities, consumer staples and health care companies. On the other hand, mutual funds heavy on financial stocks were among the worst, sideswiped by Standard & Poor?s downgrade of the U.S. credit rating and continued financial turmoil in Europe.
With the U.S. economy showing more signs of strength, now might be a good time to move some money into depressed sectors.
But is that strategy a good policy for personal investing in 2012? Here?s a look at the sectors that analysts are watching:
Financials flop ? Mutual funds that focus on banks and brokerages are certainly trading at prices well below a year ago, but many analysts are not yet ready to jump in.
The S&P 500 financials were crushed in 2011, falling 18 percent amid Europe?s tumult and lingering trouble in the battered real estate industry. Not surprisingly, mutual funds that are heavy in financials got battered last year. Analysts say the banking industry remains under pressure, especially with no sign that the European debt crisis is ready to let up. There are a number of reasons to be concerned about the sector.
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?You?ve got other factors, like regulation, Dodd-Frank, that are crimping the way large banks do business,? said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Harris Private Bank in Chicago. He also pointed out that low interest rates hamper the sector.
Defensive moves ? With the state of the global economy in doubt, as it was for much of 2011, investors flocked to defensive stocks, companies that produce things people buy whether or not the economy is thriving. Utilities were the top-performing sector in the S&P 500. Consumer staples jumped 10.5 percent.
Many of the year?s top-performing funds focused on the utilities sector, including top-ranked ProFunds Utilities UltraSector, which returned nearly 26 percent. But some experts say defensive sectors such as utilities and consumer staples now are a little too expensive.
Health care stocks remain promising despite last year?s run-up, several analysts said. That?s because even after a 10 percent gain for the S&P health care stocks in 2011, the sector is still far below historic highs. And even with uncertainty in Washington about the future of health care, an aging population will increasingly need medical care.
Technology boost ? An anticipated jump in business spending may make technology ? a flat sector last year ? a good bet in 2012.
Since the financial crisis in 2008, corporations across the globe dialed back spending and instead sat on their cash. This might be exactly the time when companies begin to replace aging computers and other technology, especially with the U.S. economy looking a bit brighter. Tech stocks in the S&P 500 inched up just 1.3 percent overall in 2011.
Next Page ?Source: http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/53336362-79/investors-percent-sectors-care.html.csp
BENGHAZI, Libya (Reuters) ? Protesters stormed the Benghazi headquarters of Libya's ruling National Transitional Council (NTC) Saturday while its chairman was still in the building.
People in Benghazi, birthplace of the revolt which forced out former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, have been protesting for weeks to demand the sacking of Gaddafi-era officials and more transparency about how the NTC is spending Libyan assets.
The attack is a serious blow to the self-appointed but internationally recognized NTC, and underscores growing discontent over the way it is running the country.
Many of those who fought in the nine-month civil war that ended with the capture and killing of Gaddafi in October are unhappy with cash compensations promised by the government, saying it does not cover their basic needs.
On a Saturday, hundreds of young men, many wounded from the war, rallied outside the NTC's headquarters.
When Abdul Jalil, NTC chairman, came out in an attempt to address the crowd, some protesters hurled empty plastic bottles at him, prompting security forces to fire tear gas.
"Go away, Go away," the protesters chanted as Abdul Jalil spoke. He then went back into the building but he is believed to have been pulled to safety from a back door when the crowd charged into the building.
SPOILS OF WAR
Protesters threw stones and metal bars at the building, breaking its windows, before storming the headquarters. One protester left the building carrying a set of loudspeakers and screaming: "Spoils of war!"
Angry protesters also damaged a Toyota Land Cruiser used by Abdul Jalil.
"A large number of wounded people were unhappy because the National (Transitional) Council has not met their demands," said 30-year-old Tareq al-Gheryani as he watched people attacking the NTC's headquarters.
"People are not happy with the council because it has also given government posts to people who are known to have links with Gaddafi."
Interim government officials say it is impossible for them sack hundreds of officials merely because they served under Gaddafi, but stress that those proved to have been involved in human rights abuses or financial fraud will be fired.
The NTC is grappling with problems, including the disbanding of dozens of powerful militias that effectively control the country. The ministries of interior and defense want to integrate them into a military and police force, but militia chiefs have shown little interest in surrendering their arms.
Thursday, Abdul Hafiz Ghoga, vice president of the NTC, was roughed up by university students in Benghazi. He was surrounded by a crowd and jostled before he was pulled away to safety.
(Reporting by Mohamad Al-Tommy; Writing by Mahmoud Habboush and Christian Lowe; Editing by Andrew Roche)
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FILE - In this Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012 file photo, a man rides an electric bike crossing a street shrouded by haze in Beijing, China. Caving to public pressure, Beijing environmental authorities started releasing more detailed air quality data Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, that may better reflect how bad the Chinese capital's air pollution is. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)
FILE - In this Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012 file photo, a man rides an electric bike crossing a street shrouded by haze in Beijing, China. Caving to public pressure, Beijing environmental authorities started releasing more detailed air quality data Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012, that may better reflect how bad the Chinese capital's air pollution is. (AP Photo/Andy Wong, File)
BEIJING (AP) ? Caving to public pressure, Beijing environmental authorities started releasing more detailed air quality data Saturday that may better reflect how bad the Chinese capital's air pollution is. But one expert says measurements from the first day were low compared with data U.S. officials have been collecting for years.
The initial measurements were low on a day where you could see blue sky. After a week of smothering smog, the skies over the city were being cleared by a north wind.
The readings of PM2.5 ? particulate matter less than 2.5 micrometers in size or about 1/30th the average width of a human hair ? were being posted on Beijing's environmental monitoring center's website. Such small particulates can penetrate deep into the lungs, so measuring them is considered a more accurate reflection of air quality than other methods.
It is the first time Beijing has publicly revealed PM2.5 data and follows a clamor of calls by citizens on social networking sites tired of breathing in gray and yellow air. The U.S. Embassy measures PM2.5 from a device on its rooftop and releases the results, and some residents have even tested the air around their neighborhoods and posted the results online.
Beijing is releasing hourly readings of PM2.5 that are taken from one monitoring site about 4 miles (7 kilometers) west of Tiananmen Square, the monitoring center's website said Saturday. It said the data was for research purposes and the public should only use it as a reference.
The reading at noon Saturday was 0.015 milligrams per cubic meter, which would be classed as "good" for a 24-hour exposure at that level, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency standards. The U.S. Embassy reading taken from its site on the eastern edge of downtown Beijing said its noon reading was "moderate." Its readings are posted on Twitter.
Steven Andrews, an environmental consultant who has studied Beijing's pollution data since 2006, said he was "already a bit suspicious" of Beijing's PM2.5 data. Within the 24-hour period to noon Saturday, Beijing reported seven hourly figures "at the very low level" of 0.003 milligrams per cubic meter.
"In all of 2010 and 2011, the U.S. Embassy reported values at or below that level only 18 times out of over 15,000 hourly values or about 0.1 percent of the time," said Andrews. "PM2.5 concentrations vary by area so a direct comparison between sites isn't possible, but the numbers being reported during some hours seem surpisingly low."
The Beijing center had promised to release PM2.5 data by the start of the Chinese Lunar New Year on Monday. It has six sites that can test for PM2.5 and 27 that can test for the larger, coarser PM10 particles that are considered less hazardous. The center is expected to buy equipment and build more monitoring sites to enable PM2.5 testing.
Beijing wasn't expected to include PM2.5 in its daily roundups of the air quality anytime soon. Those disclosures, for example "light" or "serious," are based on the amount of PM10, sulfur dioxide and nitrogen dioxide in the air.
Beijing interprets air quality using less stringent standards than the U.S. Embassy, so often when the government says pollution is "light," the embassy terms it "hazardous."
"There has been tremendous amounts of attention in the Chinese media ? whichever newspaper you pick up, whichever radio station you listen to, channel you watch ? they are all talking about PM2.5 and how levels are so high," said Andrews.
"What has been so powerful is that people are skeptical, and I think rightly skeptical," about the government's descriptions of data, he said.
___
Online:
Beijing center's readings (in Chinese): http://zx.bjmemc.com.cn/
The U.S. Embassy's Twitter feed: https://twitter.com/beijingair
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PARK CITY, Utah ? Where there are celebrities, there is swag, and the Sundance Film Festival is no exception. Nearly a dozen gift suites opened their doors Friday afternoon along the city's Main Street.
Kate Bosworth, Andy Samberg, Emma Roberts and Rashida Jones are among the famous folks who stopped by the VEVO PowerStation SOREL Suite, where they could indulge in moisturizing facials and lip treatments from Fresh cosmetics and outfit their feet in snow-ready footwear.
"I think we belong here," said Kimberly Barta, global brand director for SOREL snow boots. "It just makes sense."
The company is also offering a 24-hour concierge service that will deliver boots around the clock to stars who can't stop by the suite.
At the Alive Expo Green Pavilion, guests could pick up natural skincare products and handmade handbags by Kenyan artisans from Tembo Trading Co.
The Bertolli Meal Soup Chalet served up bowls of hot soup and handed out sunglasses and Lumene skincare products to visitors. Joe Pastorkovich of Lumene said Sundance is the perfect place to introduce the European brand to an American audience.
"We're expanding into the U.S., and our brand connects well to Park City," he said. "It's a good fit because of the naturalness of the product, and we're unpretentious. This festival is about independent film, and we're an independent brand."
Italian shoe company Carlo Pazolini also exhibited (and gifted) its wares at the Sundance fest as a means of expanding its market reach.
"We're a European company launching in the U.S., so we wanted to get our name out there," company executive Jennifer Damiano said from the Miami Oasis suite, where she gave away high-end leather shoes and handbags. Guests at the suite were also treated to gluten-free snacks, hair styling by got2B, and cocktails from DiSaronno and Patron.
The Miami Oasis is just one part of the brand-heavy T-Mobile Village at the Lift, which includes McDonald's McCafe Lounge, the Puma Social Lounge and a temporary Tao nightclub.
Actress Blythe Danner stopped by the Fender Music Lodge, which offered live music and swag including Bear Paw boots and Park Lane jewelry.
Sundance sponsors HP, Acura, Chase Sapphire and the Sundance Channel also hosted suites along Main Street.
Alex Wilson, who produced the VEVO suite, said brands love Sundance because of the concentrated star power and media presence.
"In one location for five days, you can't get any bigger as far as names and exposure," he said. "With the heat of Park City, word travels fast."
And the number of branded suites keeps growing, too, much to the chagrin of Sundance Institute founder Robert Redford. He lamented that the success of the festival has attracted what he calls "leveragers" who muddle its mission of nurturing and celebrating independent film.
"They come in with their own agendas to use the festival to piggyback their agendas," he said. "It's a free country and there's nothing we can do about that ... but we have to work harder and harder to point to the fact that this is about the filmmakers. This is about their work and showing their work to you."
Many of the gift suites will close by Monday. The Sundance Film Festival continues through Jan. 29.
___
AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen is on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/APSandy.
___
Online:
http://www.sundance.org/festival
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An army of ultrabooks on display
There's a whole new wave of gadgets right around the corner that you might not have even known you needed ? until now, of course. Meet the ultrabook, a class of super-slim, considerably powerful notebook computers that are cut from the same cloth as Apple's MacBook Air. "Ultrabook" might not be a word you've heard before, but the idea is meant to inspire a category of laptop that is nearly as mobile as a tablet, but that doesn't sacrifice power for portability ? the ultimate pitfall of the netbook.
Ultrabooks are on the way, but choosing between them won't be easy. Assuming you don't take the Mac route and opt for Apple's own offering, the members of this tidal wave of featherweight computers running Windows will share most of their features in common by definition. In fact, the term "ultrabook" is a trademarked term, owned by Intel. To qualify as an ultrabook, a notebook computer should hover around the $1,000 mark, be no more than .8" thick, weigh less than 3.1 lb., and boast a respectable battery life and an efficient?solid-state drive (SSD) rather than a traditional mechanical harddrive.
As you'll see, these rules were meant to be broken, but even some of the notebooks that stray a little from the mold are interesting enough to keep an eye out for. Here are five favorite ultrabooks, some available now and some on the way soon, and what sets them each apart from the pack.
Samsung's sleek premium notebook
The new Samsung Series 9 is a shoo-in. Last year's Series 9 ultralight was already ahead of the curve ? in fact, it made a point of asserting itself as the lightest notebook on the market. Samsung has had a year to refine its ultra-portable model, and the new Series 9 is as polished and good-looking as it is powerful.
The Series 9 offers a surprisingly sharp, matte 1600 x 900 13" display, an SD card slot, Core i5 processor, and a 7-hour battery life. Of course, you'll pay $1,399 for the feature set, which is considerably more than the $1,000 target price point. If you have the cash and are taken (like we were) with the notebook's striking black alumninum, watch for the Series 9 from Samsung in February.
Dell's XPS 13
As Dell's budget-minded follow-up to its head-turning notebook the Adamo, the XPS 13 is no slouch. The XPS doesn't reinvent the wheel, but starting at $999, it really doesn't need to. The XPS 13 is comfortably rounded off (unlike the razor-sharp design of the Asus Zenbook), with a solid build, and a comfortable backlit keyboard. Notably, the XPS 13 crams more screen real estate into dimensions usually reserved for its 11" peers, thanks to a super-slim bezel around the Gorilla Glass screen and a thoughtful design.
At 3 lb. even, this light 13.3" laptop can clock in 8 hours of battery life, and it predictably packs a Core i5 processor and 4GB of RAM, and a 128GB harddrive in its starting configuration, much like its peers. The XPS 13 will be available in February, and offers a very nice blend of features for its reasonable price.
HP Envy 14 Spectre is on the higher end of pricing but packs interest features like NFC support
The HP Envy 14 Spectre has a design, feature set, and price that put it in line with premium ultrabooks like the Samsung Series 9. The Envy 14 Spectre sports a mirror-like black Gorrila Glass lid, integrated support for NFC, and a 1600 x 900, ultra-sharp 14" Gorilla Glass screen. At .78" and 3.79 lb., the flashy notebook might not be as "ultra-portable" as many of its peers, but you're getting some seriously tough (and seriously good-looking) glass in the trade-off, not to mention Beats audio, and a reported 9-hour battery life. Like the majority of notebooks in its class, the ultrabook includes a mini-HDMI port, dual USB ports, and an SD card slot. HP's Envy 14 Spectre goes on sale February 8, and starts at $1,399 for a basic configuration with a Core i5 processor, 128GB SSD, and 4GB of RAM.
![](http://l.yimg.com/bt/api/res/1.2/zZvEMg55fzL.jvGdIGIUmA--/YXBwaWQ9eW5ld3M7cT04NTt3PTYzMA--/http://media.zenfs.com/en/blogs/technews/The-Zenbook-is-a-solid-hunk-of-aluminum-weighing-in-under-3-lb..jpg "Asus 13" Zenbook")
Asus 13" Zenbook
We found Asus's ultrabook somewhat ironically named. With its combo brushed/polished aluminum frame and jagged edges, the 13" Zenbook was striking for the severity of its design. While the Zenbook's angular look will boil down to a matter of preference, its insides stack up with the competition: the notebook packs a Core i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, one USB 2.0 port and a USB 3.0 port in the mix as well. Though the Zenbook has been knocked for its less-than-stellar trackpad, it does sport Bang & Olufsen speakers, which could set it apart from the pack if you like to rock out on the go via your ultraportable computer. The 13" Asus Zenbook is available now for $1,099.
Lenovo Ideapad U300s
At under 3 lb. and just .58" thick across the board, the Lenovo IdeaPad U300s is in many ways a prototype of the ultrabook class. Lenovo put plenty of thought into the design of the little notebook's keyboard, and the pleasantly rounded keys don't have the same uncomfortably shallow feel to them as many of its peers that cut corners to shave off inches.
Beyond its thoughtful design, the IdeaPad U300s felt solid, and it offers the standard i5 processor, 4GB of RAM, 128GB of storage, all in a sub 3 lb. shell. While it doesn't sport an SD card slot, Lenovo's ultrabook is a solid choice in an 13" ultraportable, and it's available now for $1,199. Did we mention that it comes in orange?
This article was written by Taylor Hatmaker and originally appeared on Tecca
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ALGIERS (Reuters) ? A kidnapped Algerian regional governor has been freed after his captors were intercepted inside Libya, officials said on Tuesday, an incident that will raise new concerns about instability spilling over from Libya to its neighbors.
Two Algerian security sources earlier told Reuters the governor was being held by al Qaeda. Security experts have warned the group is exploiting turmoil in Libya after the fall of Muammar Gaddafi to carve out a safe haven.
Algeria's state news agency, citing a source close to the Interior Ministry, said the governor, Mohamed Laid Khelfi, was freed by the Libyan authorities when they stopped his kidnappers about 150 km inside Libyan territory.
The agency said the governor would soon be handed over to the Algerian authorities at a nearby border crossing.
An Algerian security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told Reuters: "The governor is safe and well. He was freed. That is all I can say for now."
The kidnapping, deep in the Sahara desert, was the most audacious attack on a senior official for years in Algeria, which has been fighting a two-decade battle against Islamist insurgents.
There was no immediate comment from officials in Libya's interim government on the incident.
Khelfi, governor of the Illizi region about 1,700 km (1,000 miles) southeast of the Algerian capital, was driving away from a meeting on the Libyan border on Monday afternoon when three armed men stopped his convoy, the Interior Ministry said.
The attackers released his driver and an aide, but took the governor in the direction of the Libyan border, a ministry statement said. He later made telephone contact with his family.
The ministry did not identify the kidnappers, saying only they were young Algerian men who were known to the authorities.
Two Algerian security officials, who spoke to Reuters on condition of anonymity, said the governor had been held by al Qaeda's north African branch, al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
The group carries out kidnappings, ambushes and suicide bombings, mainly in Algeria but also in neighboring states which straddle the Sahara desert.
With backing from Western states, which are concerned the group could spread its activities further afield, Algerian security forces have been able to reduce the insurgency to a small rump of fighters hiding out in remote areas.
"DANGEROUS ESCALATION"
But the instability in Libya could give AQIM a new lease of life by providing the insurgents with a source of weapons and a safe haven in vast desert tracts which the new Libyan authorities lack the capacity to police.
"This (kidnapping) is a very dangerous escalation which shows that the group is feeling secure and strong because of the chaos in Libya," said Samer Riad, a security expert who runs Algeria's numidianews.com news portal.
Western diplomats say Algeria is under serious threat from al Qaeda and is an important ally in helping fight the spread of the insurgency. Some security experts say the al Qaeda threat also helps Algeria garner international support.
The kidnapping was unusual because in Algeria, governors and all other senior government officials almost always travel with heavy security details, making them a "hard" target, which the insurgents tend to avoid.
One of the security officials who spoke to Reuters said the governor had on Monday been at Debdeb, a border crossing with Libya, trying to calm down local protesters angry at unemployment and poor living conditions.
Among the protesters were relatives of Abdelhamid Abu Zeid, one of AQIM's leading field commanders in the Sahara desert, the official said.
Abu Zeid is believed by many security experts to have ordered the killings of two foreigners kidnapped by his group, Frenchman Michel Germaneau and Briton Edwin Dyer.
The security official said that the Illizi governor was kidnapped by local people who had been involved in the protest, and was subsequently handed over to insurgents under the command of Abu Zeid.
(Additional reporting by Mahmoud Habboush in Tripoli)
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She's already conquered the stages of American Idol, the NBA Finals and the World Series (below).
Now, although an official announcement is yet to be made, Kelly Clarkson is set to sing the national anthem prior to Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis on February 5.
Clarkson will become the third Idol champion to take on this responsibility, following in the beautiful and talented footsteps of Carrie Underwood and Jordin Sparks. She should thank Christina Aguilera for setting the bar so low a year ago.
Madonna will perform at halfime of the Super Bowl, which we predict will be between the Packers and the Patriots.
Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/kelly-clarkson-to-sing-national-anthem-at-super-bowl-xlvi/
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