Sunday, 30 June 2013

Why Oracle And Salesforce, Once Bitter Rivals, Are Now On Cloud Nine

cloudbuddies1280Marc Benioff and Larry Ellison, the CEOs of two of the more powerful enterprise companies in the world -- Salesforce.com and Oracle -- are not known to be the chummiest of execs. Before this week's sudden truce -- which will see the two companies integrate their cloud services -- the only clouds that connected the two were dark and foreboding ones, as the two pitted themselves and their companies against each other in brinkmanship-style competition, chasing similar acquisitions and similar strategies to stay within sight of each other.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/2wjrbU6NCcI/

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China bank regulator says liquidity ample, debt risks manageable


SHANGHAI | Fri Jun 28, 2013 11:16pm EDT

SHANGHAI (Reuters) - China's chief banking regulator said on Saturday that liquidity in China's banking system is sufficient and pledged to control risks from local government debt, real estate and shadow banking.

Despite a cash squeeze that sent money-market interest rates soaring over the last two weeks, banks have more than enough reserves to meet settlement needs, Shang Fulin, chairman of the Chinese Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC), said at a financial forum on Saturday.

"Over the last few days, due to multiple factors, the problem of tight liquidity has appeared in the market. But overall, liquidity in our banking system really isn't scarce," Shang said at a speech to the Lujiazui Forum in Shanghai

Shang said total excess reserves in China's banking system totaled 1.5 trillion, which he said was more than double the amount necessary for normal payment and settlement needs.

On the issue of banks' asset quality and, in particular, banks' exposure to local government debt and the real estate market, Shang acknowledged risks but said they were manageable.

"Recently, some international organizations and industry insiders have expressed worry about a slowdown in China's economic growth, local government debt, the real estate market, and related areas," Shang said.

"Currently everyone is fully aware of the risks. As long as we take proper risk control measures, these risks are controllable," Shang said.

On local debt, Shang pledged to closely monitor and control the growth in local borrowing and "alleviate hidden risks".

Outstanding bank loans to local government financing vehicles totaled 9.59 trillion yuan at the end of the first quarter, Shang said.

Amid the cash squeeze earlier this month, CBRC repeated previous orders to banks to report all forms of local government debt exposure to regulators, including funds channeled through wealth management products (WMP).

The central bank, which had let short-term borrowing costs spike to record highs to drive home a message to banks that they could no longer count on cheap cash to fund riskier operations, said it would ensure policy supported a slowing economy. <CN/>

On the topic of WMPs, which have exploded in recent years as households and firms have searched for higher-yielding alternatives to traditional deposits, Shang said the development was positive but also highlighted risks.

"In reality, wealth management products are investment products. Wealth management products are not the same as savings. Investors have to bear investment risk. When banks do these products, are they clearly explaining the risks to investors?" Shang said.

Analysts have said that many WMP investors believe that many products carry an implicit guarantee from state-backed banks, even if no legal guarantee exists.

Bank-issued WMPs totaled 8.2 trillion yuan ($1.34 trillion) by the end of the first quarter, of which 70 percent were invested in the real economy.

Though Shang did not elaborate, the comments implied that the remaining 30 percent was invested in interbank assets, whose explosive growth was a key factor in the recent interbank liquidity squeeze.

On the real estate market, Shang downplayed the risk to the banking system, despite a three-year campaign by the central government to restrain housing prices.

Real estate loans totaled more than 13 trillion yuan by the end of April, of which mortgages comprised about 70 percent, Shang said.

"Chinese people are creditworthy. The non-performing loan ratio on mortgages is extremely low, far below 1 percent," Shang said.

(Editing by Michael Perry)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/businessNews/~3/-7o8M5wCjYc/story01.htm

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Saturday, 29 June 2013

Sean Ashford&#39;s Parents Honor Their Son&#39;s Memory (And Help Fund ...

Next month will mark one year since Mary Larke Pewitt Godfrey lost her son, Deep Ellum fixture Sean Ashford, and gained a following she never expected, via Sean's friends. Overwhelmed first by loss and later by support and adulation, Godfrey and her new following of Deep Ellumites who knew and loved her son founded the Sean Ashford Music Fund.

Ashford, 43, was a regular fixture in Deep Ellum...especially at Black Swan for refreshments, and at live music shows of all shapes and sizes. Ashford worked for CSI, Inc; a company that provides insurance policy coverage for special events..many of which were outdoor festival type shows. It was a dream job for Sean because, since childhood, he was hooked on concerts. His job afforded him access (like, sweet access) to bigger shows in the area, and his deep love for live music brought him to the local music scene in Dallas searching for even more of the same, where he supported and attended shows from a tall stack of our best bands. His local tastes ran the gamut; and Ashford was a fan of local rockabilly, metal, indie and a lot of in-between genres.

He was lost in July of last year after an accident on his motorcycle while traveling from Lee Harveys to Deep Ellum.

Since that time, Mary Godfrey has become quite immersed in the local music community herself....running the Sean Ashford Music Fund. The foundation raised its initial round of funds by auctioning off Sean's immense (and largely autographed) collection of music memorabilia. The funds are diverted towards charities that focus on music education for kids.

So, where did Sean's taste for music and shows begin? I gather you had something to do with it.

Sean loved music from the time he was very little. I bought him a set of drums when he was 7 yrs. old. He was a natural playing the drums. Later, when he was in high school, he had a band and would go to the recording studio with Hollis and record some of the songs. Hollis also played drums, so he and Sean became very close due to their love for music. I took Sean to his first concert. Elvis Presley in OKC in 1977, 6 weeks before Elvis died. The second concert I took Sean to was in Dallas to see the Beach Boys. We had quite a time.

He didn't seem to be particularly partial to one genre. He just loved live rock and roll in general, right?

Sean loved all kinds of music, including country, disco, pop and rock & roll. He loved the Beatles, Stevie Ray Vaughn, The Who, Journey, Willie Nelson, Cheap Trick. Too many to name. He just loved all types of music. He also instilled the love for music in his sister, Ashley. They would play games while listening to the radio to see which one could name the group playing.

Sean was close with KEGL's Chris Ryan, I know. It was Chris' idea to start a foundation in his name?

Chris Ryan & (CSI General Manager) James Chippendale suggested to us that we should start a music fund in Sean's honor. After the shock of this terrible accident, we organized our board and (Godfrey's huband) Hollis, being an attorney, filed for our 501-c non profit organization permit. I became the Chairman of the Music Fund, and our first event to raise money was at the House Of Blues. I got donations and we had a silent auction. Our biggest event was on March 28, 2012 at the House of Blues to auction Sean's music memorabilia, which would have been his 44th birthday. It was a huge success.

It was! Congratulations on raising over $12,000.00.

Michael Insuaste, who did our web site for the Music Fund also appraised all of Sean's memorabilia for our silent & live auction at the House of Blues. Michael has been a fantastic asset to our success.

You wanted to the money to go towards music education for kids. What were your charity choices?

We donated money to Anthropos Arts in Austin that helps youth with their music lessons. We also have donated money to RockME http://www.rockmeonline.com/ , a charity in Dallas, to buy instruments to loan to students and their charity is also working with the Ronald McDonald House. We are in the process of donating to West Band Booster, in West, Texas, since their middle school was destroyed by the explosion.

What's next? I know it doesn't end here.

We are planning a bike run on September 29th to raise money for the music fund. We'll start in Lewisville and the bikers will ride approximately 75 miles and return to a designated place in Lewisville for prizes.

When I talked to you last fall, you said this foundation has become a fulltime job for you.

Yes, since I am Chairman of my son's Music Fund, with the help of others, we are planning to have two to three fund raisers a year to raise as much money as possible to give us the opportunity to help students throughout Texas pursue their music career. Sean would be so proud we are doing this, since music was his life. He attended practically every concert in the Dallas area. My thanks go to the member of our board, my Vice Chairman, Chris Ryan, and especially Michael Insuaste for all of his help. Donations can be made through PayPal on the ashfordmusicfund.org web site.

Keep up with DC9 at Night on Twitter or Facebook.

Source: http://blogs.dallasobserver.com/dc9/2013/06/sean_ashford_fund_interview.php

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Rodzilla on the rampage: Inside the sports-entertainment career of Dennis Rodman

On the night of June 8, 1998, Michael Jordan and his Chicago Bulls were in the middle of a grueling practice session in the United Center, running drills after their loss to the Utah Jazz in the first game of the NBA Finals. Dennis Rodman ? the team?s problematic, but effective starting forward ? was some 300 miles away in Auburn Hills, Mich., beating a man with a steel chair.

Less than two weeks away from winning his fifth NBA championship ring, Rodman had opted to blow off practice in favor of appearing on WCW?s Monday Nitro ? then the most-watched program on cable television. ?The Worm? was scheduled to team with ?Hollywood? Hulk Hogan against Diamond Dallas Page and Utah Jazz forward Karl Malone at July 2?s Bash at the Beach pay-per-view. He had to get his licks in when he could.

Watch Rodman in tag team action at Bash at the Beach '98

?They whipped the [hell] out of me with those chairs,? Page told WWEClassics.com. ?But, that night, the highlight of [?SportsCenter?] was what? Dennis Rodman no-shows practice and ends up on Nitro. That was huge.?

The Chicago Bulls organization fined Rodman $10,000 for his actions, but it hardly mattered. For the first time in his career, the famously difficult Rodman was being embraced by an industry that could appreciate a 6-foot-7 dude with hair like a scoop of rainbow sherbet. Not only was Rodzilla being encouraged to play up the flamboyance and arrogance that made him the NBA?s problem child ? he was being rewarded for it.

?The scuttlebutt was he got $1.2 million for the three matches he signed for,? former WCW producer Kevin Sullivan said.

Rodman had made his entry into professional wrestling a year before he skipped practice, pledging his allegiance to The Hulkster?s New World Order in a prerecorded segment on the March 10, 1997, edition of Nitro. It had already been a banner year for The Worm?s growing cult of personality. In those first months alone, he released his second autobiography (complete with a cover photo of him nude and painted like a tiger), co-starred with Jean Claude Van Damme in the action movie ?Double Team? and kicked a courtside cameraman in the crotch, resulting in a $25,000 fine and an 11-game suspension.

Witness Rodman joining the nWo

It was all part of the ?bad as I wanna be? ethos Rodman had been pushing since he came out of his shell during a 1993 run with the San Antonio Spurs. Before that revolutionary year, Rodman had been a janitor-turned-defensive marvel for the hardscrabble Detroit Pistons of the late ?80s and early ?90s. His preternatural rebounding abilities earned him respect, but when he hit the court in Texas with platinum hair, a nose ring and tattoos ? long before inked sleeves were requisite in the league ? he became the NBA?s most recognizable player next to Michael Jordan.

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Source: http://www.wwe.com/classics/wcw/dennis-rodman-in-wcw

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Friday, 28 June 2013

Pats player Aaron Hernandez arrested, due in court

ATTLEBORO, Mass. (AP) ? New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez has left a police station and is due in court after being arrested at his home.

The Pro Bowler was taken from his Massachusetts house in handcuffs Wednesday morning, more than a week after a Boston semi-pro football player was found dead in an industrial park a mile from Hernandez's house.

It's not clear what charges are being filed against Hernandez. Less than two hours after his arrest, the Patriots announced they had cut him from the team.

About two dozen supporters cheered, some yelling "We love you Aaron," as the car carrying Hernandez left the police station in North Attleborough.

State police had searched in and around Hernandez's home several times since Odin Lloyd's body was found. Police say he was slain.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pats-player-aaron-hernandez-arrested-due-court-180152933.html

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Thursday, 27 June 2013

Power for seaports may be the next job for hydrogen fuel cells

June 27, 2013 ? Providing auxiliary hydrogen power to docked or anchored ships may soon be added to the list of ways in which hydrogen fuel cells can provide efficient, emissions-free energy.

Hydrogen fuel cells are already powering mobile lighting systems, forklifts, emergency backup systems and light-duty trucks, among other applications. Now, researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have found that hydrogen fuel cells may be both technically feasible and commercially attractive as a clean, quiet and efficient power source for ships at berth, replacing on-board diesel generators.

The Sandia study was completed for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).

Auxiliary power to docked ships, usually provided by on-board diesel engines, is a significant source of greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution, accounting for one-third to one-half of the in-port emissions attributed to ocean-going vessels. According to a 2004 study by the Natural Resources Defense Council, average daily emissions for a busy port could exceed the total emissions from nearly 500,000 vehicles.

Evaluating fuel cell barges at western U.S. ports

The study evaluated a simple fuel cell strategy that consists of mounting a hydrogen-fueled proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell on a floating barge. Supplying a container ship with average power and run times (1.4 megawatts over 48 hours) requires four 40-ft containers, two for the fuel cell and two for hydrogen fuel storage, which could readily fit on a typical flat-top barge. For ships requiring less power, such as tugboats, a single container housing both the fuel cell and hydrogen will suffice, according to the Sandia study.

To evaluate the feasibility of the fuel cell barge strategy and analyze potential deployment options, Sandia's Joe Pratt visited ports up and down the West Coast and in Hawaii. He gathered data from two U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration facilities and the ports of Long Beach, Calif., Los Angeles, Calif., Oakland, Calif., Portland, Ore., Tacoma, Wash., Honolulu, Hawaii and Seattle, Wash.

"While Sandia has previously examined the potential for hydrogen and fuel cells in other applications, this is the first study of a maritime environment," Pratt said.

Cheaper, cleaner than grid-based "cold-ironing"

A common alternative to auxiliary diesel engines is a practice called "cold-ironing," in which a vessel at berth connects to a source of electricity on the shore. (The engine, made of steel or iron, literally becomes cold, hence the name.) Electricity supplied by a hydrogen fuel cell thus could become a new form of cold-ironing.

The U.S. Navy has been employing grid-based cold-ironing for many years to save fuel. Ports in California are now turning to the practice to meet the state's environmental regulations. While only a few berths have grid-based cold-ironing, ports throughout California are installing infrastructure to meet the state Air Resources Board's regulations that take effect in 2014.

But grid-based cold-ironing is complex and costly, and most ports lack the infrastructure needed to meet the power needs of multiple ships at berth. Those costs can run up to $5-10 million or more per berth, said Pratt. The Port of Oakland is installing 11 berths on six terminals at an estimated cost of about $70 million.

In addition, switching to grid-based power doesn't eliminate emissions. Instead, that approach shifts the emissions to the source of electricity. Depending on the electricity source, the overall reduction in emissions can be relatively small.

Many potential deployment options, economic benefits

The hydrogen fuel cell barge bypasses the need for electrical infrastructure. The barge also has the capability of being moved from berth to berth as needed and to anchorage points to power vessels that are waiting for berths.

"In California, ports are already installing the necessary infrastructure for cold-ironing because of the regulations introduced a few years ago," said Pratt. "So hydrogen fuel cell auxiliary power has the opportunity for greater impact elsewhere. While this was an unexpected finding, we discovered other locations and applications for hydrogen fuel cell power."

At ports in Oregon and Washington, grid-based cold ironing infrastructure is limited or nonexistent. Using a hydrogen fuel cell to power container ships at berth has attracted interest for its potential economic and environmental benefits, Pratt said, and he continues to work with those ports on quantifying the benefits and deployment options.

Hawaii's Honolulu Harbor in Oahu had a different need. Much of the cargo is unloaded and then reloaded onto barges for distribution to the other islands. As the barges have no power, they carry diesel generators to provide power to shipping containers that require refrigeration, known as "reefers."

"You can replace the diesel generator with a hydrogen fuel cell without changing the operations. It's just a power source in a box, a shipping container in this case," said Pratt. Hawaii ports aren't facing the same emissions regulations as California ports, but the potential savings in fuel cost is attractive for the company operating the inter-island transportation service, along with anyone else suffering from high fuel expenses.

The study's basic fuel cost analysis showed that at today's prices hydrogen, at about $4 per kilogram, with a fuel cell is cost-competitive with maritime fuels using a combustion engine. Subsequent analysis has shown that when generators are frequently producing less than maximum power, such as in the Hawaii application, the efficiency advantage of fuel cells compared to the combustion engine is widened. Even hydrogen at $5 per kilogram can potentially save tens of thousands of dollars per year for each generator.

"Fuel cost is only part of the total economic picture," Pratt said.

He is now developing a detailed plan for the Hawaiian interisland transport barge application. "A successful deployment of the containerized fuel cell on a floating platform in a typical marine environment will be useful not only in this particular service, but also because it validates the concept for the larger, container-ship-sized application," Pratt said. "It's challenging on many levels, but technically feasible with potential worldwide commercial impact."

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/matter_energy/electricity/~3/M4Yd38LGiIA/130627082713.htm

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Artists, activists unite at Bradley Manning trial

In this June 17, 2013 photo, Clark Stoeckley poses with a box truck in Fort Meade, Md., that he painted in support of Army Pfc. Bradley Manning. Stoeckley, an art instructor spending his summer making sketches of Manning?s court-martial, is Manning?s most visible supporter as he arrives at Fort Meade early each day in a truck painted to provoke. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

In this June 17, 2013 photo, Clark Stoeckley poses with a box truck in Fort Meade, Md., that he painted in support of Army Pfc. Bradley Manning. Stoeckley, an art instructor spending his summer making sketches of Manning?s court-martial, is Manning?s most visible supporter as he arrives at Fort Meade early each day in a truck painted to provoke. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

In this June 17, 2013 photo, Clark Stoeckley stands in front of a box truck in Fort Meade, Md., that he painted in support of Army Pfc. Bradley Manning. Stoeckley, an art instructor spending his summer making sketches of Manning?s court-martial, is Manning?s most visible supporter as he arrives at Fort Meade early each day in a truck painted to provoke. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

(AP) ? Clark Stoeckley is Bradley Manning's most visible supporter at the soldier's court-martial. He arrives each day in a white box truck with bold words painted on the sides: "WikiLeaks TOP SECRET Mobile Information Collection Unit." The provocative gag even has a nonworking satellite dish and two fake security cameras on it.

Stoeckley, a 30-year-old art instructor at a New Jersey college, is among the more colorful of the 10 to 20 supporters who regularly attend Manning's trial, which resumed this week. The loose-knit group of mostly retirees or self-employed workers sits through hours of sometimes bland testimony at Fort Meade, a military installation near Baltimore. They take notes, make courtroom sketches or write blogs, posting their drawings and articles on websites designed to inform people about the court-martial and raise money for Bradley's defense.

They do so because they are united in skepticism of the U.S. government and the belief that Manning exposed wrongdoing by leaking hundreds of thousands of battlefield reports and State Department cables, as well as Iraq and Afghanistan war video.

Stoeckley, who teaches at Bloomfield College, is spending his summer sketching the courtroom drama, making colorful drawings of the Army private in his dress blue uniform; witnesses in their Army fatigues and Manning supporters in their black T-shirts with the word "truth" across the chest.

Stoeckley got involved after seeing a video Manning gave to the anti-secrecy website WikiLeaks. The video showed a 2007 U.S. helicopter attack in Baghdad that killed at least eight people, including a Reuters news photographer and his driver.

The Pentagon concluded the troops reasonably mistook the camera gear for weapons and that the journalists were in the company of armed insurgents. Stoeckley calls it a war crime.

"My immediate reaction was, 'This is the deal-breaker. This is what's going to end the Iraq war,''" he said.

But it didn't end the war and the video became evidence that led the military to charge Manning with 22 counts, including espionage, computer fraud and aiding the enemy, which carries a potential life sentence. There's no question Manning leaked the information, but he says none of it put troops or the government in harm's way.

On Wednesday, about 50 sympathizers attended and heard from a former State Department official who testified about access to diplomatic cables. About 30 supporters were allowed in the courtroom and the others watched a closed-circuit video feed from a trailer outside the courthouse.

The government has been moving quickly through its case, presenting evidence from more than 60 witnesses in just 10 trial days since it started June 3.

Manning's supporters are mostly anti-war and have a history of civil disobedience. They identify with groups such as Courage to Resist; Veterans for Peace and the Center on Conscience and War.

They try each day to fill the 20 seats reserved for the public and media in the small courtroom, and have done so most days. They protest just outside the Fort Meade gates with "Free Bradley Manning" signs before the testimony begins at 9:30 a.m., then they enter the base, leaving behind their signs, buttons and anything with Manning's name on it. Those things are banned inside the courtroom.

At lunchtime, they eat pizza, sub sandwiches and other fast-food at the nearby PX, talking about everything from the trial to their personal lives. Some say they have grown close.

"We talk about news items, what's happening this weekend, where somebody's appearing at a church or some kind of gathering," said Bill Wagner, 75, a retired NASA research manager who takes notes during the trial.

He estimated he had been to about one-third of the court-martial over the last 18 months and now has a new group of friends and email correspondents, including a couple from Michigan and attorney Michael Ratner of the Center for Constitutional Rights.

"I retired and had a lot of friends at work. To some extent, that's supplanted it or replaced it," Wagner said.

When court recesses for the day, sometimes as late as 7 p.m., Wagner heads home to his wife in Rockville, about 20 miles away.

Leah Brown, a Washington bookkeeper and peace activist, said the Manning supporters haven't caused much of a stir at the fort, even wearing their "truth" shirts at the PX. She says she already knew some of the activists from other events, but has also met new friends.

"Everybody I meet there is there for a good reason. They go there because they really care about what happens to Bradley Manning personally and about what it means to all of us in the future if the government succeeds in what they're trying to do to him," she said.

Bradley Manning Support Network campaign organizer Emma Cape said the group has several thousand supporters on the East Coast and she's trying to persuade more of them to show up. So far, nearly 20,000 people worldwide have donated more than $1.1 million to Bradley's defense fund.

Pentagon Papers leaker Daniel Ellsberg and Princeton professor Cornel West have attended some of the court-martial. Other big-name supporters, including film directors Michael Moore and Oliver Stone, and actors Russell Brand and Roseanne Barr, have left the daily court-watching to supporters who live nearby.

Debra Van Poolen, an artist and activist, may be one of the most determined sympathizers. She said she pedals her folding bicycle three miles from home to a commuter rail stop, rides the train about 12 miles, then either catches a carpool ride or bikes five more miles to Fort Meade.

"It's been logistically challenging," she said.

___

Online:

http://www.bradleymanning.org

http://couragetoresist.org

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-06-26-Manning-WikiLeaks-Supporters/id-c804b88278ba47d8813bca1a6e90ddf4

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Mursi to make his move as Egypt protests loom

By Alastair Macdonald and Shadia Nasralla

CAIRO (Reuters) - President Mohamed Mursi will speak to the Egyptian people on Wednesday in a televised address that could determine his political survival as millions prepare to rally to demand his removal this weekend.

Fears of a showdown in the streets between Mursi's Islamist supporters and a broad coalition of the disaffected have led people to stock up on food. Long lines of cars outside fuel stations have snarled roads in Cairo and other cities.

The army and police are preparing to contain any trouble, adding men and barriers around important public buildings. The government promises to allow peaceful protests but many fear that, with huge crowds, any trouble could spin out of control.

The army has warned politicians it could effectively take charge again if they fail to reconcile. Some in the anti-Mursi camp might welcome that, but Islamists say they would fight any "coup" against Egypt's first freely elected leader.

Mursi, who marks his first year in office on Sunday, has given no hint of the contents of what aides called an "important speech". It is due to start around 9:30 p.m. (3:30 p.m. EDT) at a Cairo hall before an invited audience. Some speculate he may reshuffle his cabinet to try to defuse the anger against him.

Some observers fear Egypt may be about to erupt again, two years after the revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak. Politics are polarized between Mursi's disciplined Muslim Brotherhood and disparate opponents who have lost a series of elections.

The deadlock has contributed to a deepening economic crisis and the government is running out of cash.

Washington has urge Mursi to bring the opposition into the political process and to press ahead with economic reforms.

Liberal critics worry about Islamist rule - a coalition of local human rights groups accused Mursi's Muslim Brotherhood on Wednesday of crimes rivaling Mubarak's and of setting up a "religious, totalitarian state". But many Egyptians are simply frustrated by falling living standards and fear chaos.

Lining up at a bank machine in downtown Cairo, IT trainer Amgad al-Fishawi, 40, said he feared cash could be hard to find in the coming days and echoed the resignation felt by many at the deadlock: "Mursi won't promise too much," he said. "Nobody's paying attention. The people don't expect anything from him."

ARMY ALERT

The army is held in high regard by Egyptians, especially since it pushed aside Mubarak following the 2011 uprising. Its chief issued a warning on Sunday, urging compromise while also defending the legitimacy of Mursi's election.

One senior Western diplomat in Cairo said the army might try to impose a solution, especially if the political deadlock turns violent: "The margin for a political solution is definitely very narrow," he said. "If (violence) crosses a certain threshold, the role of the army might become by default more proactive."

Islamists, oppressed for decades, fear a return of military rule and hardliners warn of a fight if the generals intervene. They accuse Mubarak-era institutions, including courts, state media, police and civil service, of working to undermine Mursi.

An officer in one of Egypt's internal security agencies told Reuters this week that the country needed to be "cleansed" of the Islamists who he described as terrorists. He said that the protest rallies could be the trigger for change.

The army, still heavily funded by Washington as it was under Mubarak, and Western governments have been urging Mursi to bridge differences with his non-Islamist opponents. He says he has tried. They say he and his Muslim Brotherhood, along with harder line allies, are trying to monopolize the state.

Mursi says a petition demanding he quit - which liberal organizers say has 15 million signatures - is undemocratic. In that, he has support from Islamists, who have staged shows of strength in recent days and plan a major Cairo rally on Friday.

Nationwide opposition rallies, are due to start on Sunday but could begin earlier.

LOW EXPECTATIONS

"This demonstration is spontaneous and comes from the Egyptian people. We hope that it will bring the government ultimately to a place where the reforms are effected and choices that need to be made about the economy are implemented," U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday in Saudi Arabia.

"We will obviously hope that it will not produce violence and be a moment of catalyzing positive change for Egypt itself."

The opposition have low expectations of the speech which Mursi appears to be planning to make in front of a partisan crowd. Liberal activists plan to watch it on a screen in Cairo's Tahrir Square, where the revolt against Mubarak began in January 2011.

Liberal coalition spokesman Khaled Dawoud said: "He missed several opportunities in the past to build bridges with the Egyptian people. At this point, it's too late for any possible measures, short of early elections, to stop the demonstrations."

Dawoud likened Mursi's address to speeches made by Mubarak during the revolt. The army eased him aside after 18 days and took power itself until Mursi took office on June 30 last year.

Among criticisms of Mursi, a less than charismatic speaker who became the Brotherhood's presidential candidate as a last-minute stand-in, is that he has turned for support to harder line Islamist groups, including former militants.

The lynching of five Shi'ite Muslims on Sunday revived fears among minorities, including Egypt's several million Christians, and has been used by the opposition to portray Mursi as tolerant of an extremist Sunni Muslim fringe.

(Reporting by Shaimaa Fayed, Patrick Werr, Asmaa Alsharif, Tom Perry, Maggie Fick, Yasmine Saleh, Omar Fahmy, Alastair Macdonald, Alexander Dziadosz and Shadia Nasralla in Cairo; Writing by Alastair Macdonald; editing by Janet McBride; Editing by Philippa Fletcher)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mursi-move-egypt-protests-loom-104238636.html

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Wednesday, 26 June 2013

2 Senators Say the NSA Is Still Feeding Us False Information (Atlantic Politics Channel)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/315063043?client_source=feed&format=rss

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iOS 7 Will Let You Take Secret Screenshots of Your Sexy Snapchats

iOS 7 Will Let You Take Secret Screenshots of Your Sexy Snapchats

Fellow sexters or those who like self-destructing pictures and videos, ya better listen up. Snapchat and iOS 7 might have a wee bit of a problem because in iOS 7 you can screenshot Snapchat photos without ever alerting the original person. Basically, you can screenshot without ever getting caught.

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Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/olE29yTT76o/ios-7-will-let-you-take-secret-screenshots-of-your-sexy-567659575

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Little Girl Shows Off Insane Basketball Dribbling Skills

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/06/little-girl-shows-off-insane-basketball-dribbling-skills/

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Google Groups' latest collaboration tools now available to all users

EDIT Google Groups adds new collaborative tools

Ever get the impression that organizing an event is like herding feral kittens? If so, then you might want to check out Google Groups. If you're unfamiliar with the service, Groups are basically bulletin boards that you can participate in via email, with the ability to set boards either public or private. Up until this point, some of Groups' best features have been limited to to users of Google Apps for Business, but that all changes today. Now everyone can create a group inbox and email address to collaborate on items -- which really beats wading through a gaggle of forwarded emails. You can also assign tasks to other members of the group, manage email and mark items as resolved. No time for dealing with the same questions over and over? Hit 'em back with a canned response -- don't worry, your secret's safe with us.

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Source: Official Gmail Blog

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/G32cVk5RrpI/

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Tuesday, 25 June 2013

Vietnam vets with PTSD more than twice as likely to have heart disease

June 25, 2013 ? Male twin Vietnam veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) were more than twice as likely as those without PTSD to develop heart disease during a 13-year period, according to a study supported by the National Institutes of Health.

This is the first long-term study to measure the association between PTSD and heart disease using objective clinical diagnoses combined with cardiac imaging techniques.

"This study provides further evidence that PTSD may affect physical health," said Gary H. Gibbons, M.D., director of the NIH's National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), which partially funded the study. "Future research to clarify the mechanisms underlying the link between PTSD and heart disease in Vietnam veterans and other groups will help to guide the development of effective prevention and treatment strategies for people with these serious conditions."

The findings appear online today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology and in the September 10 print issue.

Researchers from the Emory University Rollins School of Public Health in Atlanta, along with colleagues from other institutions, assessed the presence of heart disease in 562 middle-aged twins (340 identical and 222 fraternal) from the Vietnam Era Twin Registry. The incidence of heart disease was 22.6 percent in twins with PTSD (177 individuals) and 8.9 percent in those without PTSD (425 individuals). Heart disease was defined as having a heart attack, having an overnight hospitalization for heart-related symptoms, or having undergone a heart procedure. Nuclear scans, used to photograph blood flow to the heart, showed that individuals with PTSD had almost twice as many areas of reduced blood flow to the heart as individuals without PTSD.

The use of twins, identical and fraternal, allowed researchers to control for the influences of genes and environment on the development of heart disease and PTSD.

"This study suggests a link between PTSD and cardiovascular health," said lead researcher Viola Vaccarino, M.D., Ph.D., professor in the department of medicine at Emory University and chair of the department of epidemiology at the Rollins School of Public Health. "For example, repeated emotional triggers during everyday life in persons with PTSD could affect the heart by causing frequent increases in blood pressure, heart rate, and heartbeat rhythm abnormalities that in susceptible individuals could lead to a heart attack."

When researchers compared the 234 twins where one brother had PTSD and the other did not, the incidence of heart disease was almost double in those with PTSD compared to those without PTSD (22.2 percent vs. 12.8 percent).

The effects of PTSD on heart disease remained strong even after researchers accounted for lifestyle factors such as smoking, physical activity level, and drinking; and major depression and other psychiatric diagnoses. Researchers found no link between PTSD and well-documented heart disease risk factors such as a history of hypertension, diabetes or obesity, suggesting that the disease may be due to physiologic changes, not lifestyle factors.

Affecting nearly 7.7 million U.S. adults, PTSD is an anxiety disorder that develops in a minority of people after exposure to a severe psychological trauma such as a life-threatening and terrifying event. People with PTSD may have persistent frightening thoughts and memories of their trauma, may experience sleep problems, often feel detached or numb, and may be easily startled. According to a 2006 analysis of military records from the National Vietnam Veterans Readjustment Study, between 15 and 19 percent of Vietnam veterans experienced PTSD at some point after the war.

The study used state-of-the-art imaging scans with positron emission tomography, which measures blood flow to the heart muscle and identifies areas of reduced blood flow, at rest and following stress.

The study was supported by grants from NHLBI (K24HL077506), (R01 HL68630), and (R21HL093665), the National Institute on Aging (R01 AG026255), the National Institute of Mental Health (K24 MH076955), and by the American Heart Association. Support also was provided by the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (UL1TR000454) and the National Center for Research Resources (MO1-RR00039).

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/5eQ77U24Akc/130625162233.htm

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US factory boss held hostage by workers in Beijing

BEIJING (AP) ? An American executive said he has been held hostage for four days at his medical supply plant in Beijing by scores of workers demanding severance packages like those given to 30 co-workers in a phased-out department.

Chip Starnes, 42, a co-owner of Coral Springs, Florida-based Specialty Medical Supplies, said local officials had visited the 10-year-old plant on the capital's outskirts and coerced him into signing agreements Saturday to meet the workers' demands even though he sought to make clear that the remaining 100 workers weren't being laid off.

The workers were expecting wire transfers by Tuesday, he said, adding that about 80 of them had been blocking every exit around the clock and depriving him of sleep by shining bright lights and banging on windows of his office. He declined to clarify the amount, saying he wanted to keep it confidential.

"I feel like a trapped animal," Starnes told The Associated Press on Monday from his first-floor office window, while holding onto the window's bars. "I think it's inhumane what is going on right now. I have been in this area for 10 years and created a lot of jobs and I would never have thought in my wildest imagination something like this would happen."

Workers inside the compound, a pair of two-story buildings behind gates and hedges in the Huairou district of the northeastern Beijing suburbs, repeatedly declined requests for comment, saying they did not want to talk to foreign media.

It is not rare in China for managers to be held by workers demanding back pay or other benefits, often from their Chinese owners, though occasionally also involving foreign bosses.

The labor action reflects growing uneasiness among workers about their jobs amid China's slowing economic growth and the sense that growing labor costs make the country less attractive for some foreign-owned factories. The account about local officials coercing Starnes to meet workers' demands ? if true ? reflects how officials typically consider stifling unrest to be a priority.

Huairou district and Qiaozi township governments declined to comment.

A local police spokesman said police were at the scene to maintain order. Four uniformed police and about a dozen other men who declined to identify themselves were standing across the road from the plant.

"As far as I know, there was a labor dispute between the workers and the company management and the dispute is being solved," said spokesman Zhao Lu of the Huairou Public Security Bureau. " I am not sure about the details of the solution, but I can guarantee the personal safety of the manager."

Representatives from the U.S. Embassy stood outside the gate much of the day, and eventually were let in. U.S. Embassy spokesman Nolan Barkhouse said the two sides were on the verge of an agreement and that Starnes would have access to his attorneys. It was unclear what agreement might be reached, and subsequent attempts to contact Starnes were not immediately successful.

Starnes said the company had gradually been winding down its plastics division, planning to move it to Mumbai, India. He arrived in Beijing last Tuesday to lay off the last 30 people. Some had been working there for up to nine years, so their compensation packages were "pretty nice," he said.

Some of the workers in the other divisions got wind of this, and, coupled with rumors that the whole plant was moving to India, started demanding similar severance packages on Friday.

Christian Murck, president of the American Chamber of Commerce in China, said he wasn't familiar with Starnes' case, but that such hostage-taking was "not a major problem" for the foreign business community.

"It happened more often say 15 years ago than today, but it still happens from time to time," he said. "It rarely leads to personal harm to the managers involved, but there are cases when it has in years past."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/us-factory-boss-held-hostage-workers-beijing-074855847.html

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Video: Pros Focus on Commodities & Currencies

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/52294313/

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Monday, 24 June 2013

Destin: Top 10 Favorite Things to Do | Kiss My Gumbo

by Greta on June 24, 2013

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My family and I have been bigs fans of vacationing in Destin, even before we had to travel farther than 4.5 hours. We have made many memories there and will continue to go back at least once or twice a year. Over the past 10 years, we have enjoyed the beaches and surrounding areas of Destin and even thought the kids are older, tend to flock to the same things. We tend to not eat out very much and spend a lot of quality family time together.

1. Enjoy the beach as much as humanly possible! If others get bored or burnt ? too bad (LOL).
2. Hanging with family and friends at a rented house or condo, playing board games and barbecuing.
3. Getting a Margarita at the Crab Trap beach bar. Yum!
4. The inflatable slides and trampolines near the Whale?s Tail. (they give military discounts)
5. Stopping by theoutlets on a rainy day or after the last day checkout.
6. Renting a boat, or better yet, getting invited on a boat and hanging at Crab Island.
7. Getting Red Velvet and Key Lime donuts from The Donut Hole.
8. Making a trip to Candymaker at Destin Commons.
9. Go Karts at The Track.
10. Hit up the swimming pool on the property for a break (kids not me).

And FYI ? I?m not getting paid to list any of these places.

As far as rental properties, most the time we stick with Resortquest.

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Source: http://www.kissmygumbo.com/2013/06/24/destin-top-10-favorite-things-to-do/

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Opening statements begin in Zimmerman trial

FILE - This June 20, 2013 file photo, George Zimmerman listens as his defense counsel Mark O'Mara questions potential jurors during Zimmerman's trial in Seminole circuit court in Sanford, Fla. Judge Debra Nelson said Saturday, June 22, 2013, that prosecution audio experts who point to Trayvon Martin as screaming on a 911 call moments before he was killed won't be allowed to testify at trial. Nelson reached her decision after hearing arguments that stretched over several days this month on whether to allow testimony from two prosecution experts. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Gary Green, Pool, file)

FILE - This June 20, 2013 file photo, George Zimmerman listens as his defense counsel Mark O'Mara questions potential jurors during Zimmerman's trial in Seminole circuit court in Sanford, Fla. Judge Debra Nelson said Saturday, June 22, 2013, that prosecution audio experts who point to Trayvon Martin as screaming on a 911 call moments before he was killed won't be allowed to testify at trial. Nelson reached her decision after hearing arguments that stretched over several days this month on whether to allow testimony from two prosecution experts. (AP Photo/Orlando Sentinel, Gary Green, Pool, file)

(AP) ? After almost two weeks of picking a jury, prosecutors and defense attorneys will make opening statements Monday in the trial of George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer charged with second-degree murder for fatally shooting Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager.

Zimmerman, who identifies himself as Hispanic, says he shot the 17-year-old Martin in self-defense. Prosecutors say Zimmerman racially profiled Martin as he walked through a gated community where Zimmerman lived and often patrolled. Martin was returning from a convenience store on a rainy night in February 2012, wearing a dark hooded shirt. The two eventually got into a fight and Zimmerman shot Martin.

Circuit Judge Debra Nelson ruled last week prosecutors will be able to use the word "profiled" in their opening statements, as long as their description isn't limited to racial profiling. Prosecutors will be able to describe Zimmerman as a "wannabe cop" and "vigilante" and will be able to say Zimmerman confronted Martin.

"We don't intend to say he was profiled solely because of race," prosecutor John Guy said last week.

Defense attorneys Mark O'Mara and Don West will argue the case is simply self-defense, free of the racial overtones that have overshadowed it. The initial decision not to charge Zimmerman led to public outrage and demonstrations around the nation. Civil rights leaders and others accused the police in the central Florida city of Sanford of failing to thoroughly investigate the shooting because Martin was black teen from Miami. Martin was visiting his father in Sanford when he was shot.

"We're trying so hard in this case not to make it what everybody outside the courthouse wants it to be," O'Mara said.

On Feb. 26, 2012, Zimmerman spotted Martin, whom he did not recognize, walking in the townhome community where Zimmerman and the fiancee of Martin's father lived. There had been a rash of recent break-ins and Zimmerman was wary of strangers walking through the complex.

The two eventually got into a struggle and Zimmerman shot Martin in the chest with his 9mm handgun. He was charged 44 days after the shooting, only after a special prosecutor was appointed to review the case and after protests.

Two police dispatch phone calls will be important evidence for both sides' cases.

The first is a call Zimmerman made to a nonemergency police dispatcher as he followed Martin walking through his gated community. At one point, the dispatcher tells Zimmerman he doesn't need to be following Martin.

The second 911 call captures screams from the confrontation between Zimmerman and Martin. Martin's parents said the screams are from their son while Zimmerman's father contends they belong to his son.

Nelson ruled last weekend that audio experts for the prosecution won't be able to testify that the screams belong to Martin, saying the methods the experts used were unreliable.

___

Follow Kyle Hightower on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KHightower

Follow Mike Schneider on Twitter at http://twitter.com/MikeSchneiderAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-06-24-US-Neighborhood-Watch/id-a601605177eb4ff295caf415a67baf1b

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Police again search home of Patriots' Hernandez

NORTH ATTLEBORO, Mass. (AP) ? State police officers and dogs searched the home of New England Patriots tight end Aaron Hernandez again Saturday as they continue to investigate the killing of a semi-pro football player whose body was found about a mile away.

The search of Hernandez's sprawling home and vehicle in North Attleboro began in the afternoon and lasted for more than three hours. Locksmiths and several officers were involved, including one with a crowbar.

Detectives and uniformed officers who searched the home, its backyard and playhouse did not comment to reporters on what they were looking for or what caused them to return to the house located not far from where the Patriots practice and about a mile from where a jogger found the body of Odin Lloyd on Monday.

Lloyd family members said Friday that he had been dating the sister of Hernandez's fiancee for about two years. They said the two men were friends who were together the night Lloyd died.

Authorities have ruled Lloyd's death a homicide.

A spokeswoman for the Bristol District Attorney's office declined to comment on the investigation Saturday. A state police spokesman referred questions to the district attorney's office.

An attorney for Hernandez has said he would not comment on the searches.

Three search warrants were issued in the investigation earlier last week but have not been returned, meaning they're not public. No arrest warrants were filed in state courts by the time court closed Friday, Attleboro District Court clerk magistrate Mark E. Sturdy said. Courts were closed Saturday.

Police previously searched in and around the home as they try to figure out who killed Lloyd.

Police in nearby Providence, R.I., said they had assisted Massachusetts state police and North Attleborough police with activity related to the Hernandez investigation at a strip club named Club Desire. It was unclear if they believed Lloyd and Hernandez might have been at the club in the days before Lloyd died.

Patriots spokesman Stacey James has said the team does not anticipate commenting publicly during the police investigation. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell was waiting for the legal process to take its course.

The Patriots drafted Hernandez out of Florida in 2010. Since then, he has combined with Rob Gronkowski to form one of the top tight end duos in the NFL. He missed 10 games last season with an ankle injury and had shoulder surgery in April but is expected to be ready for training camp. Last summer, the Patriots gave him a five-year contract worth $40 million.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/police-again-search-home-patriots-hernandez-205013835.html

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Sunday, 23 June 2013

89% In the House

All Critics (70) | Top Critics (24) | Fresh (62) | Rotten (8)

The film treats imagination-and talent-in certain hands as an almost mystical force.

Ozon and the script move a little too far afield and hold on a bit too long as the film approaches its end. Still, "In the House" has enough trippy truth to it to grab your interest and shake your mind.

It's fiction about life that becomes fiction that might be life - and the viewer happily dives in.

The expected punch line... never materializes, so I guess this must be a drama after all.

Savor In the House for its meta-exploration of adolescence, class resentment and suppressed desire, but don't expect much more.

The seductions of storytelling drive "In the House," a cleverly structured comic thriller rich with narrative trickery and macabre humor.

Provocative, playful, entertaining and audacious, In the House is a writer showing us the inner workings of writing, complete with its power to subvert, to imagine and to deceive

Occasionally too clever for its own good, the film may go one step too far, but Ozon manages the hybrid of genres beautifully and ultimately it is his superb cast that sells the nuances and the concept

A sly, stylish blend of melodrama and suspense that's also a cunning commentary on the seductiveness and danger inherent in storytelling itself.

Director/scriptwriter Francois Ozon knows his Hitchcock well. He employs him effectively, but the clutter is his own.

An almost perverse delight, an egghead thriller that slyly shell-games its truer purpose as an inquiry into the construction -- and deconstruction -- of fiction. Scratch deconstruction: Make that tear-the-house-down demolition.

It's partly real and partly a fable, full of events that might have happened or could never have happened, with intrigues that defy us to take them seriously.

In the House is a structurally solid thriller that is both inventive and absolutely seductive in nature.

Inviting photography and a relentless pace complement Claude's unfolding narrative, but the big thrills are in the deftly drawn characters...and the incisive satire...

A slick psychological thriller that veers into dark comedy the more absurd it gets, "In the House" demonstrates the dangers of addiction -- not to sex or drugs, but to story.

Captures why we do what we do, and the extent to which stories reflect both the writer and the reader.

It's amusing and unexpected, capturing the compulsive spirit of writing with wit and attention to mischief that keeps it unpredictable to the very end.

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Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/in_the_house_2013/

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Idea

Hey there! Star here. I have this idea for a one on one Roleplay about a Serial killer and a journalist. I've done something like this before, and it unfortunately died off when there was still so much to do. I would love to find someone interesting in doing a darker roleplay like this me.
If anyone is interested, go ahead and leave a message or shoot me a PM.
~Star

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/RolePlayGateway/~3/Ai9lhp2SVZM/viewtopic.php

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Real Estate Market Continues to Heat Up - Falls Church Patch

Homes are for sale for shorter periods of time and selling at higher prices in the Washington metro area market.

The spring real estate market has been hot in the DC metro area, with homes selling faster and at higher prices.

According to Real Estate Business Intelligence:

  • The average home is on the market for just 38 days (down from 48 days a year ago).
  • The median sold price of DC area homes has risen more than 8 percent from a year ago.
  • The number of homes on the market in the DC area is up 20.2 percent from a year ago.

The hottest real estate market in the DC metro area right now? Falls Church, where median sales prices were $623,000 recently.

Despite the growth in listings, there isn?t enough inventory to meet demand, both the National Association of Realtors and individual real estate agents are warning.

?Property buyers in DC right now are chasing a market, facing multiple offers, battling price increases that outpace income increases, competing with out-of-area buyers and are operating out of fear of the inevitable interest rate hike,? wrote in a recent blog post in the Huffington Post?s DC Real Estate section. ?Does this remind anyone of 2005? It's like watching the entire city go by in a big circle marked "real estate bubble.?

To put the DC metro area?s market in perspective: Nationwide, sales of existing homes rose in May by 12.9 percent over a year ago?the highest they?ve been since November 2009, NAR data shows.

What?s more?homes are selling quickly: 45 percent of homes sold in May were on the market for less than a month and the average home was on the market for 41 days. (See additional analysis and take-aways here from The Wall Street Journal.)

See recent listings, open houses and more information on the Falls Church real estate?market here.

Become a blogger today!
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Source: http://fallschurch.patch.com/groups/real-estate/p/real-estate-market-continues-to-heat-up

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Saturday, 22 June 2013

Obama to seek return for investment in Africa

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama's upcoming weeklong trip to Africa will mark his most significant personal investment in the developing region since taking office.

The White House is hoping the return on that investment will be an increased foothold for U.S. businesses on a continent where China and other emerging economies are already major players.

Casting a shadow over Obama's trip will be the health of beloved former South African President Nelson Mandela, who has been hospitalized for two weeks. Family and government officials say the 94-year-old's condition is improving, but the White House said it would defer to Mandela's family for decisions on whether the anti-apartheid leader will be able to meet with Obama.

"We want whatever is in the best interest of his health," said Ben Rhodes, Obama's deputy national security adviser.

Obama's two-day visit to South Africa will be bookended by stops in Senegal and Tanzania. The trip was structured to give Obama a footprint in East, West and South Africa and to highlight stable democracies on a continent where corruption and authoritarian rule are still common.

The president, along with wife, Michelle, and daughters Malia and Sasha, is scheduled to depart Washington Wednesday morning.

While Obama has devoted significant time to emerging economies in Asia and Latin America, he's spent just one day in sub-Saharan Africa since taking office - a 24-hour visit to Ghana in 2009. Meanwhile, countries like China, Malaysia, Brazil and Turkey have been upping their investments in Africa.

"There are other countries getting in the game," Rhodes said. "If the United States is not leading in Africa, we're going to fall behind in a very important region in the world."

China in particular has poured significant resources into the region in recent years. Official figures from Beijing put China's trade with Africa at nearly $200 billion last year, up from $10 billion in 2000. The rapid increase has been driven largely by Chinese demand for oil and investments in infrastructure, including telecommunications grids.

According to the office of the U.S. Trade Representative, U.S. trade with sub-Saharan Africa totaled about $95 billion in 2011.

Despite China's robust investments, African countries increasingly have criticized Beijing for exploiting the continent's mineral wealth and doing little to invest in the local communities. Obama is likely to try to make the case that the U.S. will not only be looking out for its own interests in Africa, but also those of the African people.

"China has a mixed record in Africa but gets criticized for kind of lack of transparency, bringing its own workers, bringing its own materials, not engaging with the communities around them," said Jennifer Cooke, director of the Africa program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "And I think the president will want to make that distinction of why the U.S. is a good partner in this regard."

American business executives and top Obama economic advisers, including newly confirmed U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, will also participate in the trip. Among the president's events will be a CEO and business leader forum in Tanzania.

The president will also spend a significant portion of his trip reaching out to African youth, including a speech at the University of Cape Town. One in three Africans is between the ages of 10 and 24, according to the White House.

Obama's stops in South Africa also include a visit to Robben Island, where Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison. In Senegal, he'll visit Goree Island and its "Door of No Return," a memorial to the Atlantic slave trade.

Mrs. Obama will also have a full slate of solo appearances in Africa, including a first ladies summit in Tanzania. The event with be hosted by former American first lady Laura Bush, who has been active on women's issues in Africa.

___

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-seek-return-investment-africa-220130477.html

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