Friday, October 28, 2011

Report: Comedian Patrice O'Neal has stroke

Lovable comedic genius and Charlie Sheen roaster Patrice O'Neal has suffered a stroke.

The sad news was announced this morning by fellow comic Jim Norton on the Opie and Anthony Show.

The worst part?

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Norton doesn't know if O'Neal is going to fully recover.

"We don't know how he is. We don't know how he's going to be," said Norton. "I didn't want to do this by myself. I wish we had more news for you."

Norton added that he made the announcement onair becase "we wanted it to come from us."

A statement was also posted on Opie and Anthony's Facebook page, which allows fans to send the comic well wishes.

PICS: Charlie Sheen: Quote Machine!

"Our close friend Patrice O'Neal suffered a stroke last week," the statement reads. "Please respect his family and their request for privacy. An email has been set up for fans to send him well wishes and his family will make sure he gets them. You can write to LoveForPatrice@gmail.com. When we have an update on his condition, we will let you all know."

Get well, Patrice!

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

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45047710/ns/today-entertainment/

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John Orloff Talks Anonymous

Rhys Ifans stars as Edward de Vere in a scene from?Roland Emmerich's "Anonymous."

Credit: Columbia Pictures

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Something like 20 years ago, screenwriter John Orloff happened upon an episode of PBS's "Frontline" about the authorship question surrounding the works of William Shakespeare. It was something he had never heard before, so, in those antiquated days of pre-internet, he took to the library for a little research.

There weren't a lot of books out at the time dedicated to the issue. He didn't then and he doesn't now have a definitive idea of who might have written the plays attributed to Shakespeare, even though the film bearing his own signature, "Anonymous," props up the Oxfordian theory (that Edward de Vere penned them). But Orloff is, if nothing else, certainly a believer that Shakespeare wasn't the guy.

"I think it's more about education and life experience, not class," he says. "To me, it's not that a man from a lower class could not achieve all of this. Ben Jonson was from a lower class. So was Marlowe. So were most playwrights of the time. But the difference between those people and Shakespeare is they were educated. And to me, it comes down to education and personal experience. And they?re kind of separate."

The argument, of course, made by non-believers for years and years, is that the author of Shakespeare's works would have had to be able to read Latin, Greek, French, Italian and Spanish, given the source materials of a number of the plays and the lack of translations for many of them. And Shakespeare may or may not have even gone to grammar school, Orloff says, but that's a guess because the assumption is he must have had some sort of schooling.

"We can prove he didn't go to university because there were only two universities at the time, Cambridge and Oxford," he says. "And there's no record of him going there. But there are records of Marlowe going there and other playwrights of the time. And then you get into the very specific knowledge that Shakespeare had to have had, like sailing, or the law, or falconry, or tennis, all of these upper class things. And you know, four U.S. Supreme Court Justices don't think the evidence is there to say that Shakespeare wrote the plays. Walt Whitman believed this. Sigmund Freud believed this. Mark Twain wrote a book about why he didn?t think Shakespeare wrote the plays. This is not crazy time.

"One of the things that's kind of interesting about Shakespeare scholarship is it's a very organic thing, because we don't know anything. And so people just sort of guess. It's an evolving story, Shakespeare's life, because we only know like 20 real facts and everything else is guesswork. And the amount of guesses that have come down to us as truth, it's really kind of weird."

And all of that, really, is just background for the story Orloff wanted to tell. He wasn't interested in proving or disproving anything with a screenplay. That's a documentary, he says. To him, "Anonymous" wasn't even expressly about the authorship question (though the op-ed sections of countless newspapers this week nevertheless have scholars and authors up in arms and pulling their hair out at the possibility of the film setting back the generally agreed-upon belief that Shakespeare WAS the guy).

Rather, the authorship issue was a setting more so than a theme. For him, the film was about the power of the written word, and, more precisely, the power of ideas.

"Ideas are more powerful than might," he says. "And I think that's an incredibly timeless theme."

The original incarnation of the script was more like "Amadeus," he says, a tale of jealousy between de Vere, Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, a triangle and a devil's bargain. The script might have found some real traction, but then 1998's "Shakespeare in Love" came along and Orloff's work was pretty much dead on arrival with potential buyers.

But it became a calling card of sorts for him and got him into Tom Hanks's office, which led to a job writing on HBO's "Band of Brothers" television series and later the Angelina Jolie-starrer "A Mighty Heart" and Zack Snyder's animated film "Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole."

Disaster director Roland Emmerich, however, had an interest in it all those years ago. Orloff met with the filmmaker, famous for blockbuster entertainments more so than Elizabethan period pieces, and Emmerich really wanted to make it. But he had a number of ideas that upped the intrigue and melodrama to an extent that made Orloff realize that the way into the material was to make it a Shakespearean, n?e, Greek tragedy.

"He went off and made another movie and came back having done all this research on his own and he really is the one that sort of injected the whole succession issue," Orloff says. "You know, who was going to be the next king? The Prince Tutor Theory. I'm not sure I believe that, but whether it's historically true or not, I thought it was dramatically fantastic."

Upping the stakes to a "16th Century melodrama," as Orloff calls it, began to inform a number of other creative choices. Particularly, the Shakespeare character in the film.

"We made him a little broader, a little sillier than maybe he was before," he says. "Because he suddenly became the fool, the sort of stock Shakespearian fool who also is very wise at the same time. Like the fool in 'Leer' is really the one who, let?s just say manages to be on top or, you know, he is the wisest. He somehow navigates all of this treachery and is on top. That?s a very Shakespearian thing."

Orloff's script was smaller in scale before Emmerich came on board, too, he says. "It was more about censorship and jealously and a little bit more of a character study than it is now," he says. "And when Roland came and we talked about it, it suddenly became a political thriller, which necessitated opening it up and talking about London larger and the effect that these plays were having on a larger canvas than what I originally had."

The "Independence Day" director upped the production ante, bringing his deft touch with CGI into the fold. Pretty much any exterior in the film is a soundstage with green screen, Orloff says. And yet it's seamless. Emmerich also employed digital photography for the film, which is already being considered one of the most beautiful implementations of the technology on a feature thus far.

"I think the thing that?s really interesting about the film for me, just as a viewer, is I?m not sure any period movie has been made quite this way," Orloff says. "Like the degree of green screen is ? it?s just unheard of for a period piece. Occasionally they?ll do a money shot, like in 'Titanic,' you know? They?ll have the money shot of the Titanic or in 'Gladiator,' that was one of the early period movies that had CGI in it, but it was just a couple of long shots of Rome or whatever. In this movie every other shot, pretty much any exterior you see in the movie with the exception of one road or any theater, it?s fake."

From here, Orloff moves on to his next big, just-announced project, Bryan Singer's feature film version of "Battlestar Galactica," which he is excited about mainly because it gives him the chance to write in the science-fiction genre he loves so well. Though judging by reaction to the ideas proposed in "Anonymous," you'd think he was being outlandish enough as it is.

With the film's release imminent, Orloff is very aware of the stir it's causing, as it did when it premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September. And naturally, being a questioner of Shakespeare's authorship for so long, he has had plenty of time to digest and consider what makes people so angry about the notion, whether at dinner parties in idle conversation or now surrounding his work on "Anonymous." And it boils down, for him, to a sense of loss.

"I think people subconsciously, it?s almost as though you?re attacking their entire education," he says. "Because you?re sort of saying, 'Hey, you were taught all this stuff in school and I don?t think it?s really true.'? And people get defensive about it. And I think in addition to that, Shakespeare in particular is like this one figure that we all have a common experience with. We don?t all read 'Catcher in the Rye,' but pretty much you?re forced to read some Shakespeare.

"And people who consider themselves more educated, they take their Shakespeare seriously. I don?t know why. Because I keep on saying to people, if we make the exact same movie and everywhere we said the word 'William Shakespeare' we put in the words 'Thomas Decker,' who was another playwright in the 16h Century and have the exact same story, nobody would care. They wouldn't be mortally offended. Luckily, though, the film is mostly getting well-received, even if they think the premise is ludicrous. Because the film stands on its own."

"Anonymous" opens in limited release Friday, October 28.

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1923843/news/1923843/

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Thursday, October 27, 2011

Coroner: Amy Winehouse died from too much alcohol (AP)

LONDON ? Amy Winehouse drank herself to death. That was the ruling of a coroner's inquest into the death of the Grammy-winning soul singer, who died with empty vodka bottles in her room and lethal amounts of alcohol in her blood ? more than five times the British drunk driving limit.

Coroner Suzanne Greenaway gave a verdict of "death by misadventure," saying Wednesday the singer suffered accidental alcohol poisoning when she resumed drinking after weeks of abstinence.

"The unintended consequence of such potentially fatal levels (of alcohol) was her sudden and unexpected death," Greenaway said.

The 27-year-old Winehouse had fought a very public battle with drug and alcohol abuse for years, and there had been much speculation that she died from a drug overdose. But a pathologist said the small amount of a drug prescribed to help her cope with the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal had nothing to do with her death.

Instead, a resumption of heavy drinking killed the singer, best-known for her tall beehive hairdos and Grammy-winning album "Back to Black." A security guard found Winehouse dead in bed at her London home on July 23.

"She's made tremendous efforts over the years," said Dr. Christina Romete, who had treated Winehouse. But "she had her own way and was very determined to do everything her way."

Winehouse gave up illicit drugs in 2008, but had swerved between heavy alcohol use and abstinence for a long time, Romete said. The singer had resumed drinking in the days before her death after staying away from alcohol for most of July, she said.

Romete said she warned Winehouse of the dangers of alcoholism. "The advice I had given to Amy over a long period of time was verbal and in written form about all the effects alcohol can have on the system, including respiratory depression and death, heart problems, fertility problems and liver problems," she said.

Winehouse joins a long list of celebrities who died after fighting alcohol problems, including jazz great Billie Holiday, AC/DC lead singer Bon Scott, film legend Richard Burton, writers Dylan Thomas and Jack Kerouac, and country music pioneer Hank Williams.

Witnesses testifying Wednesday said the singer showed no signs she wanted to kill herself and had spoken of her weekend plans as well as her upcoming birthday just hours before she was found dead.

"She was looking forward to the future," Romete said, describing Winehouse as "tipsy" but calm when they met the night before her death. That night, her live-in security guard said he heard her laughing, watching television and listening to music at home.

The guard, Andrew Morris, said he knew she had resumed drinking, but did not notice anything unusual until he found that she had stopped breathing in bed the next afternoon.

Police Detective Inspector Les Newman said three empty vodka bottles ? two large and one small ? were found in her bedroom.

Pathologist Suhail Baithun said blood and urine samples indicated Winehouse had consumed a "very large quantity of alcohol" prior to her death. The level of alcohol in her blood was 416 milligrams per 100 milliliters, he said ? a blood alcohol level of 0.4 percent. The British and U.S. legal drunk-driving limit is 0.08 percent.

The singer's parents attended the hearing, but did not speak to reporters. In a statement, Winehouse family spokesman Chris Goodman said it was a relief to the family "to finally find out what happened to Amy."

"The court heard that Amy was battling hard to conquer her problems with alcohol and it is a source of great pain to us that she could not win in time," he said.

Doctors say acute alcohol poisoning is usually the result of binge drinking ? the human body can only process about one unit of alcohol, or about half a glass of wine, an hour. Having too much alcohol in the body can cause severe dehydration, hypothermia, seizures, breathing problems and a heart attack, among other difficulties.

There is no minimum dose for acute alcohol poisoning and the condition varies depending on a person's age, sex, weight, how fast the alcohol is drunk and other factors such as drug use.

In recent years, the 5-foot-3-inch Winehouse had appeared extremely thin and fragile.

Dr. Joseph Feldman, chief of emergency services at Hackensack University Medical Center in New Jersey said Winehouse likely developed a tolerance for large quantities of alcohol after drinking heavily for years. He also said the sedative Winehouse was on, Librium, wouldn't have stopped someone from having seizures if they were in alcohol withdrawal.

"It's easier to withdraw from heroin than it is from alcohol ... Withdrawal (from alcohol) can cause anxiety, tremors, hallucinations, the sensation of things crawling all over you," he said.

He said those symptoms sometimes push people back to alcohol.

"It's possible she could have been saved if she had been found (or treated) earlier," he said. "A lot of treatment is supportive care, like IV fluids and making sure they don't inhale their own vomit."

Winehouse's breakthrough "Back to Black" album, released in 2006, was recently certified as the best-selling disc in Britain so far during the 21st century. The updated take on old-time soul also earned five Grammy Awards.

Although the singer was adored by fans worldwide for her unique voice and style, praise for her singing was often eclipsed by lurid headlines about her destructive relationships and erratic behavior. Winehouse herself turned to her tumultuous life and personal demons for music material, resulting in such songs as "Rehab."

In June, Winehouse abruptly canceled her European comeback tour after she swayed and slurred her way through barely recognizable songs in her first show in the Serbian capital, Belgrade. She was booed and jeered off stage and had to return to Britain to recover.

Her last public appearance came three days before her death, when she briefly joined her goddaughter, singer Dionne Bromfield, on stage at The Roundhouse in Camden, near her home.

___

Associated Press Medical Writer Maria Cheng contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111026/ap_on_en_mu/eu_britain_amy_winehouse

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Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Judge blocks testimony about Jackson contract

--> AAA??Oct. 25, 2011?12:27 PM ET
Judge blocks testimony about Jackson contract
ANTHONY McCARTNEYANTHONY McCARTNEY, AP Entertainment Writer?THE ASSOCIATED PRESS STATEMENT OF NEWS VALUES AND PRINCIPLES?

Dr. Conrad Murray listens during cross examination of propofol expert Dr. Steven Shafer in Los Angeles Superior Court during his involuntary manslaughter trial in Los Angeles, Calif. Oct. 24, 2011. Murray has pleaded not guilty and faces four years in prison and the loss of his medical licenses if convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson's death. (AP Photo/Paul Buck, Pool)

Dr. Conrad Murray listens during cross examination of propofol expert Dr. Steven Shafer in Los Angeles Superior Court during his involuntary manslaughter trial in Los Angeles, Calif. Oct. 24, 2011. Murray has pleaded not guilty and faces four years in prison and the loss of his medical licenses if convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson's death. (AP Photo/Paul Buck, Pool)

Cheryln Lee, a nurse who treated Michael Jackson for sleep disorder in early 2009, testifies during the Dr. Conrad Murray involuntary manslaughter trial at the Los Angeles Superior Court in Los Angeles, Calif. Monday, Oct. 24, 2011. Murray has pleaded not guilty and faces four years in prison and the loss of his medical licenses if convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson's death. (AP Photo/Paul Buck, Pool)

Dr. Allan Metzger, Michael Jackson's former physician, takes the witness stand during the Dr. Conrad Murray involuntary manslaughter trial at the Los Angeles Superior Court in Los Angeles, Calif. Monday, Oct. 24, 2011. Murray has pleaded not guilty and faces four years in prison and the loss of his medical licenses if convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson's death. (AP Photo/Paul Buck, Pool)

Judge Michael E. Pastor presides over the Dr. Conrad Murray involuntary manslaughter trial at the Los Angeles Superior Court in Los Angeles, Calif. Monday, Oct. 24, 2011. Murray has pleaded not guilty and faces four years in prison and the loss of his medical licenses if convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Michael Jackson's death. (AP Photo/Paul Buck, Pool)

(AP) ? The judge hearing the involuntary manslaughter trial of Michael Jackson's doctor says defense lawyers won't be able to ask about the singer's multimillion-dollar contract for his final concert series. The lawyers say Jackson was desperate to do the concerts and gave himself a powerful anesthetic to help him sleep.

But Superior Court Judge Michael Pastor says allowing testimony about the contract might confuse jurors who will consider whether Dr. Conrad Murray's actions caused Jackson's 2009 death.

Prosecutors contend Murray, who has pleaded not guilty, gave the fatal dose of anesthetic.

Defense attorney Ed Chernoff told the judge Tuesday that Jackson would have been indebted to promoter AEG Live for nearly $40 million if the shows were canceled.

Associated PressNews Topics: Legal proceedings, Pop music, Defense contracts, Celebrity legal affairs, Concerts, Law and order, General news, Music, Entertainment, Arts and entertainment, Government contracts, Contracts and orders, Corporate news, Business, Government business and finance, Government and politics, Military and defense, Celebrity

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2011-10-25-Michael%20Jackson-Doctor/id-1a884670b38f454bbc98e288bb0561e5

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Monday, October 24, 2011

Prosecution rests case against Jackson physician (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Prosecutors have concluded their case against the doctor charged with Michael Jackson's death after questioning 33 witnesses.

Prosecutor David Walgren said Monday that he had no further witnesses to call at this point against Dr. Conrad Murray.

Defense attorneys were expected to begin their case later in the day and call 15 witnesses over the next few days.

The final prosecution witness was Dr. Steven Shafer, an expert on the anesthetic propofol that authorities say killed Jackson.

Murray, who has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter, has acknowledged giving Jackson propofol as a sleep aid in the singer's bedroom.

Shafer told jurors that Murray committed 17 violations of the standard of care that each could have led to Jackson's injury or death.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

An expert on the powerful anesthetic blamed for Michael Jackson's death told jurors Monday that it's difficult to know the precise effects of the drug on the singer because he had been given so much of it in the months before he died.

Dr. Steven Shafer made the statement while being cross-examined by lead defense attorney Ed Chernoff, who noted the risk that Jackson would stop breathing should have been low after the first few minutes the drug was administered on the day he died.

Chernoff based that conclusion on models and research done by Shafer.

"In Mr. Jackson's case, it's harder to have that certainty," Shafer replied. "There's very little, almost no precedent for this level of propofol exposure."

Shafer, a Columbia University researcher and professor, said Jackson had been receiving propofol almost every night for more than two months, according to a police statement by Dr. Conrad Murray. The Houston-based cardiologist has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

Shafer previously testified that he thinks a propofol overdose killed Jackson. But he said Murray kept no records about how much of the drug he gave the singer.

Shafer has said the only possible explanation for Jackson's death based on the evidence was that Murray put the singer on an IV drip of propofol then left the room after the singer appeared to be asleep.

Shafer is the final prosecution witness, and defense attorneys are expected to begin presenting their case later in the day. Murray's attorneys will likely ask a judge to dismiss the case after the prosecution rests.

The defense will have its chance to counter four weeks of damaging testimony from 33 prosecution witnesses who have cast Murray as an inept, distracted and opportunistic doctor who repeatedly broke legal, ethical and professional guidelines.

The defense case is expected to include 15 witnesses. Murray's attorneys have not publicly revealed whether they will call him to testify.

Jurors have heard from the doctor through a more than two-hour interview with police, and it seems unlikely his attorneys would subject their client to what would be blistering questioning from prosecutors.

Shafer has not retreated from his position that Murray is solely responsible for Jackson's death and that the cardiologist committed 17 egregious violations of medical practices that each could have either led to Jackson's serious injury or death.

Defense attorneys expect their case will last through at least Thursday.

Out of sight of the jury, the defense's theory has shifted in recent months from arguing that Jackson swallowed propofol and gave himself the fatal dose and more recently that the singer had swallowed several pills of the sedative lorazepam, which led to his death.

They may also argue that Jackson somehow gave himself a shot of propofol after Murray left the room, killing him quickly.

___

AP Special Correspondent Linda Deutsch contributed to this report.

___

McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111024/ap_on_en_mu/us_michael_jackson_doctor

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Sunday, October 23, 2011

UN rights office urges probe into Gadhafi death (AP)

GENEVA ? The U.N. human rights office called Friday for an investigation into the death of ousted Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi, noting that his death robbed his victims of a chance at "cathartic" justice in the courts.

Gadhafi was captured alive Thursday in his hometown of Sirte before shaky amateur footage showed rebel fighters standing over his bloodied body.

"We believe there is a need for an investigation," said Rupert Colville, a spokesman for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights. "More details are needed to ascertain whether he was killed in some form of fighting or was executed after his capture."

"The two cell phone videos that have emerged, one of him alive, and one of him dead, taken together are very disturbing," he told reporters in Geneva.

A Libyan official said Friday that the burial of Gadhafi has been delayed until his death can be examined by the International Criminal Court ? though it was not immediately clear if he was referring to a look at the dictator's body or a probe into what led to his death.

The U.N. Human Rights Council established an independent panel earlier this year to investigate abuses in Libya, and Colville said it would likely examine the circumstances of the 69-year-old leader's death.

He said it was too early to say whether the panel ? which includes Canadian judge Philippe Kirsch, the first president of the International Criminal Court ? would recommend a formal investigation at the national or international level.

"The dust hasn't settled yet," Colville told The Associated Press when asked if Libya was capable of conducting an independent probe into the death.

"You can't just chuck the law out of the window," he added. "Killing someone outside a judicial procedure, even in countries where there is the death penalty, is outside the rule of law."

Colville said the victims of Gadhafi's despotic 42-year-rule deserved to see proper judicial procedures followed and perpetrators of abuses brought to trial. "It can be a rather cathartic exercise as well as being a fundamental tenet of rule of law," he said.

"Of course there are many others apart from Col. Gadhafi, so there may at least be some kind of court proceedings where we do all learn what happened and who is responsible."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/un/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111021/ap_on_re_eu/eu_un_rights_gadhafi

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More cuts voted in Greece; riots leave 100 hurt

Greek lawmakers passed a deeply resented new austerity bill Thursday, caving in to the demands of international creditors in order to avoid a national bankruptcy, as a second day of riots left one protester dead and more than 100 people wounded.

The austerity measures won 154-144 in the 300-member parliament despite dissent from a prominent Socialist lawmaker who voted against a key article of the bill. The vote was expected to pave the way for a vital ?8 billion ($11 billion) payout from creditors within weeks so Greece can stay solvent.

Clouds of tear gas choked central Athens ahead of the vote as riot police intervened to separate rival demonstrators who fought for several hours with firebombs and stones outside parliament.

A 53-year-old construction worker died of heart failure after attending a mass rally, while 74 protesters and 32 police officers were hospitalized with injuries, police and state hospital officials told The Associated Press. Several dozen more injured protesters received first aid from volunteer medics who set up a makeshift treatment site on Athens' main Syntagma Square.

Police said they detained 79 people suspected of violent conduct.

After initial hours of calm, the rioting erupted when hundreds of masked anarchist youths attacked a peaceful rally of about 50,000 people outside parliament, pelting them with firebombs and jagged chunks of marble. The Communist-backed union members counterattacked, and chaos ensued as the two sides fought with sticks and rocks before riot police fired volleys of tear gas to separate them.

Running battles ensued through the avenues and side streets of central Athens, with anarchist rioters ripping up paving stones, hewing masonry from buildings and using garbage to set up burning barricades.

Unions kept the country's services crippled on the second day of a general strike, in opposition to the new measures that include pay and staff cuts in the civil service as well as pension cuts and tax hikes for all Greeks.

Former Labor Minister Louka Katseli voted against one article that scales back collective bargaining rights for workers. Although she voted in favor of the overall bill, Prime Minister George Papandreou expelled her from the party's parliamentary group, whittling down his parliamentary majority to a bare three seats ? down from ten seats two years ago.

Passing the entire bill was "a matter of national responsibility for the critical negotiations that lay ahead in the next few days," Papandreou said in a statement announcing Katseli's expulsion. "The government exhausted every possible effort to incorporate proposals made by members of parliament."

Greece now heads into a series of tough negotiations in Brussels involving the 17 finance ministers of the eurozone and European leaders. The meetings kick off on Friday, when eurozone finance ministers gather, with the finance ministers of the full 27-nation European Union in talks on Saturday, and the EU heads of state and government on Sunday.

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Greece has avoid bankruptcy only with an ?110 billion ($152 billion) bailout loan from its 16 eurozone partners and the International Monetary Fund since May of last year. Creditors worried about Greece missing budget targets had demanded that Athens pass extra austerity measures before its gets the next payout. Greece says it will run out of money in mid-November without the next ?8 billion ($11 billion) installment.

In Athens, deputies voted after an acrimonious debate held as rival groups of demonstrators outside fought police and each other in a second day of violence.

"That it was voted on is one thing. Its implementation is another. The people will tear it apart, they will dismiss it in practice," retiree Kleanthis Kizilis said at the protest.

The meetings on Greece this weekend are crucial because the efforts so far to get the country back on track financially have been failing. In July, eurozone leaders tentatively agreed to a second ?109 billion ($150 billion) bailout for Greece, conceding that the first was not enough.

That second bailout would also see banks and other private bondholders give Greece easier terms on its debt. European banks that hold Greek bonds are fighting efforts to make them accept larger losses, and many experts are concerned about the ability of European banks to handle a Greek default.

But Greece's international creditors are warning that even the second bailout may not be enough to save the country from bankruptcy, according to a draft of a debt inspectors' report obtained Thursday by the AP in Berlin.

The inspectors said Greece has missed its deficit-cutting targets and called the pace of its reforms insufficient. They still added that Athens should get the next ?8 billion tranche as soon as possible so it does not default.

Papandreou called on Greece's eurozone partners to urgently end a deadlock in negotiations over a broader European debt deal.

"Europe is now at risk because of its inability to grasp the scale of the crisis in time ? the systemic problems ? and take the necessary decisions," he told an emergency Cabinet meeting in Athens. "Europe must now assume its responsibilities ? all of us in Europe. A small fire has become a pan-European fire."

But fury at his government echoed across Athens.

"He (Papandreou) doesn't know what is going on. For me, it's the worst government of all time," said protester Haralambos Tahoulas.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44982604/ns/world_news-europe/

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Saturday, October 22, 2011

'Groupon Is A Disaster' - Business Insider

NEW YORK (AP) -- Only a few months ago, Groupon was the Internet's next great thing. Business media christened it the fastest growing company ever. Copycats proliferated. And investors salivated over the prospect of Groupon going public.

Today, the startup that pioneered online daily deals for coupons is an example of how fast an Internet darling can fall.

Groupon, which had to delay its initial public offering of stock this summer after regulators raised concerns about the way it counts revenue, is discounting its expectations for the IPO. In June, it was valued as high as $25 billion, but in a regulatory filing Friday, the company said it expects a valuation less than half that, at between $10.1 billion and $11.4 billion.

It's the latest twist for Groupon's IPO, which was one of the most anticipated offerings this year. In June, after Groupon filed for the offering, the SEC raised questions about its accounting practices. Then, the stock market plunged.

Now, Groupon faces concerns about the viability of its daily deals business model. The novelty of only coupons is wearing off. Some merchants are complaining that they are losing money -- and customers-- on the deals. And competitors are swarming the marketplace.

"Groupon is a disaster," says Sucharita Mulpuru, a Forrester Research analyst. "It's a shill that's going to be exposed pretty soon."

Groupon shows what can happen when a startup experiences steroidal growth in an unproven industry. To its defenders, the Chicago company is a victim of its success, its stumbles emblematic of a business in infancy. After all, Groupon has hordes of fans who rave about the company's deals and its liberal refund policy. But critics say the issues Groupon is facing are symptomatic of something more troubling: questionable accounting, an overvalued business model and an industry that is turning into the digital equivalent of junk mail.

Longtime IPO analyst Scott Sweet, the owner of IPO Boutique, said Groupon is now expected to go public the first week of November. The company could not comment for this story due to the quiet period for its IPO, during which time company officials are barred by regulators from discussing anything about the firm. But interviews with analysts, investment managers and merchants tell the story of a company grew fast and then raced to go public.

Groupon's beginning

Groupon began in 2008 when computer programmer Andrew Mason, a Northwestern University grad and former punk band keyboardist, figured out how to get people excited about the low-margin business of coupons.

Mason's brainchild: sign up merchants to offer coupons online through a website and Groupon's email subscriber list. Shoppers who see these ads on their computers, tablets or mobile phones can then buy the coupons, getting bargains on everything from knee socks to Botox. The deals are targeted toward customers' cities and preferences. Groups bidding on coupons equals -- voila -- Groupon.

By 2010, Groupon was in nearly 100 cities and 25 countries. Groupon's staff ballooned to nearly 10,000. Mason, now 30, was on his way to becoming the next tech billionaire.

The scene was set for an IPO. In June, Groupon filed documents with the SEC reporting $713.4 million in revenue in 2010, making it the first company to surpass the $500-million revenue mark in its third year, according to Forbes magazine. But Groupon began facing a growing perception that its business is unstable.

The online deal space was getting jammed with competitors, like Living Social, Amazon.com and Google. They are among the many copycats who are attempting to do what Groupon does. Big merchants like Nordstrom and Ann Taylor also are running their own daily deals online.

At the same time competition is building, consumers are questioning the quality of Groupon's offerings. Those who are disgruntled with Groupon often broadcast it on Yelp, the user review website that rates merchants. There's even something called the "Yelp Effect," named for the way angry customers drive down the merchants' Yelp ratings.

"Most of the deals are for female-centric services like spas and nails or for high-ticket non-necessities like skydiving and travel," says Richard Breen, a Greenville, S.C., marketing executive who used to use Groupon. "I typically delete it each day now without opening the email."

When she first started using Groupon in 2008, Sabrina Kidwai, of Alexandra Va., was happy with the deals site. But then she used a Groupon for a picture canvas for a family photo. She placed the order three days before the Groupon's expiration, but the merchant was so overwhelmed with the response to the deal that it couldn't fulfill her order. What ensued was a customer service nightmare that ended with her getting her picture canvas two months later.

"I definitely think there are some wonderful deals, but users really need to pay attention and speak up when the company provides you with a bad experience," she said.

Adding to growing customer discontent, Groupon, which was initially seen by small mom-and-pop shops as a way to drum up new business, was losing favor with some of them. Merchants began to do the cruel math on the daily deals.

Restaurants offering $50 of food for just $25 only collect $12.50 -- not even enough to cover the cost of the food. Some businesses also complain that the deals for new customers anger long-time patrons. And some say that the bargains attract high-maintenance types who don't turn into loyal customers.

"Your restaurants are full packed with people who aren't making you any money," says Paul Evans, a Kansas City marketing executive who advises clients against using Groupon.

Take Jessie Burke, for instance, Last year, the owner of Portland's Posies CafA(copyright) offered a $13 coupon for $6. The cafA(copyright) was deluged with customers and Burke ended up having to take $8,000 out of personal savings to cover payroll.

"It the single worst decision I have ever made as a business owner," Burke said in a blog post that quickly went viral.

Andres Arango, founder of natural jewelry company muichic.com, had a similar experience. He sold 80 coupons -- $35 of jewelry for $15 -- in two days. But of that $15, he only got $7.50. And he still had to dole out $35 worth of jewelry.

As far as customers? "They never came back," Arango said

John Byers, a Boston University computer science professor who conducted a study on thousands of Groupon deals, wrote that he found that "Offering a Groupon puts a merchant's reputation at risk. The audience being reached may be more critical than their typical audience or have a more tenuous fit with the merchant."

Groupon also had faced trouble behind its own doors.

Its public relations chief quit in August after two months. The next day, CEO Mason wrote a 2,500-word email to the staff defending Groupon against critics. That email was leaked to the press and then lambasted by some analysts and members of the investment community for violating terms of the quiet period.

Two seasoned executives hired as COOs also left. The latest, former Google sales vice president Margo Georgiadis, resigned after five months to return to Google. Her departure coincided with Groupon's announcement that it was restating its revenue by around half.

"It's like watching a Ben Stiller movie and waiting for the next painful moment," says Mulpuru, the Forrester analyst.

The next chapter

With its problems mounting, Groupon filed documents for its IPO in June. Soon after, the SEC -- and the investment community -- had serious questions for the company.

The first concern stemmed from how Groupon accounted for its revenue. Groupon says it roughly splits the money it collects from customers with merchants. But sometimes Groupon does deals for less than half. In the second quarter, Groupon's average take was 39 percent.

But in its first filing with the SEC, Groupon counted all of it as revenue. Standard accounting principles dictate that Groupon should have used net revenue -- the amount it keeps after paying the merchant.

For example, Groupon reported $1.52 billion in revenue for the first half of 2011. But after the SEC questioned it, Groupon in late September submitted new documents that showed that net revenue in the first half of this year was $688 million. That means Groupon was overstating its revenue by roughly half.

Groupon's growth has no doubt been quantum. Since November, 2008, it has signed up 142.9 million email subscribers and has had more than 30 million customers. But only 20 percent of subscribers have purchased a Groupon and about 10 percent have purchased more than one.

Groupon also faces concerns about how it used its money.

The company shocked the investment world when it revealed how much it had spent on things like marketing and hiring. On Oct. 7, in its fourth amendment, Groupon disclosed that it had spent half its net revenue -- $345.1 million -- on marketing costs alone during the first half of this year. Analysts think of those costs as how much Groupon is paying to acquire subscribers. In one of its filings, Groupon said that it would slash those costs significantly due in part to the fact that it had already achieved maximum "subscriber saturation" in various markets.

Additionally, there are questions about how the company has used investor money. Traditionally, investor money is used to grow a business before it goes public. But according to Groupon's SEC filings, $810 million of the $946 million it raised went to early investors and insiders. That includes $398 million to Groupon's largest investor, shareholder and executive chairman, Eric Lefkofsky.

"Taking this money raises questions about the integrity of the company and enormous questions about the quality of the management team," says Mulpuru. "Groupon's primary problem first and foremost is greed."

Meanwhile, the company's debt has skyrocketed. Groupon's ratio of debt to capital is 102 percent. By comparison, the ratio for social-networking site LinkedIn is about 30 percent and gaming site Zynga's is about 49 percent. "Those companies are all in normal territory," says Ed Ketz, a Penn State accounting professor. "But Groupon's is excessively high."

In Friday's filing, the company laid out third-quarter financial figures that showed it is getting closer to profitability. For the three months ended Sept. 30, Groupon narrowed its net loss of $10.6 million on revenue of $430.2 million in part by lowering marketing spending. That compares with a loss of $49 million on revenue of $81.8 million in the same period last year.

Groupon, which rejected a $6 billion takeover offer from Google Inc. last year, disclosed in the filing that its revenue has grown from $1.2 million in 2009's second quarter to $430.2 million in the third quarter of this year.

The company has its supporters. Groupon has been funded by such venture capital heavyweights as Andreessen Horowitz, firm of Netscape founder Marc Andreessen. Andreessen declined to comment, but in an August essay in the Wall Street Journal, he wrote that companies like Groupon would "eat the retail marketing industry."

"We are in the middle of a dramatic and broad technological and economic shift in which software companies are poised to take over large swathes of the economy," he wrote.

Want a challenge to your conviction that Groupon is worthless? Check out:

GROUPON IN CHARTS: A Gangly Teenager Growing Into Profitable Adulthood

Michelle Chapman in New York contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/groupons-fall-to-earth-swifter-than-its-fast-rise-2011-10

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Are Cable News Channels Trying to Scare Us? (Atlantic Politics Channel)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/150892828?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Friday, October 21, 2011

Clinton brings unity message on visit to new Libya (Reuters)

TRIPOLI/SIRTE, Libya (Reuters) ? U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Libya on Tuesday to urge its new government to establish firmer control over its people, as loyalists of ousted Muammar Gaddafi launched a surprise attack in his hometown of Sirte.

Clinton is the most senior U.S. official to come to Tripoli since Gaddafi's 42-year rule ended in August. Her visit was marked by tight security, reflecting worries that Libya's new rulers have yet to establish full control over the country.

Speaking after meeting Libya's de facto prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, she cautioned of the need to establish control over the regional militias who emerged from the war to oust Gaddafi.

"We are encouraged by the commitment of the National Transitional Council (NTC) to take the steps necessary to bring the country together," Clinton said.

"From long experience one factor we know has to happen ... is unifying the various militias into a single military ... Getting a national army under civilian command is essential."

The United States took part in the NATO bombing campaign that helped Libya's interim government take power, although its aircraft largely played a secondary role to those of Britain and France.

Though supporters of Libya's new rulers express loyalty to the new government, many analysts see these heavily armed groups as the biggest threat to Libya's unity.

Nearly two months since capturing Tripoli, the new government has failed to defeat remaining Gaddafi loyalists, raising questions about its ability to exert its authority over the entire country and postponing the launch of its promised democracy program.

"I am proud to stand here on the soil of a free Tripoli and on behalf of the American people I congratulate Libya," she said."This is Libya's moment, this is Libya's victory, the future belongs to you."

SIRTE SETBACK

Clinton arrived as the interim government was facing a military setback in Sirte, a city on the Mediterranean coast where a few days ago it was poised to declare victory over pro-Gaddafi forces.

Sirte is now the last major Libyan town where pro-Gaddafi forces are holding out, after the other bastion of resistance, Bani Walid, fell to the country's new rulers on Monday.

Gaddafi loyalists who had been cornered in a an area of Sirte of about two square kilometers (a square mile) appeared to have broken out of their encirclement, Reuters reporters in the city said. A group of NTC fighters was forced to pull back about 2 km (1.2 miles) after they came under heavy fire.

The force was trying to regroup near the Ouagadougou conference center -- the complex where Gaddafi used to host foreign heads of state -- but was pinned down.

A volley of 22 mm rounds from Gaddafi loyalists thudded into the group, hitting four vehicles and seriously wounding one NTC fighter. He was loaded into an ambulance and driven away.

On the southern outskirts of the city, in an area that in previous days had been safe from gunfire, mortars were landing and air-burst rounds were exploding overhead.

On the edge of the "Seven hundred" district in central Sirte, the front line had not moved but the mood of optimism among NTC fighters had been replaced by despair at the mounting casualties.

A Reuters reporter saw one man hit by bullets from pro-Gaddafi forces. People around him tried to resuscitate the fighter but they stopped after five minutes when it became clear he was dead. Afterwards, they threw down sand to mop up the pool of blood from his body.

PREMATURE CELEBRATION

The scene was in marked contrast to events earlier this week, when Gaddafi loyalists offered little resistance as NTC forces pummeled them with tank fire and mortars.

Libya's new rulers were so confident of their imminent victory in the town that NTC chairman Mustafa Abdel Jalil visited Sirte last week and was greeted by fighters firing triumphantly into the air.

NTC troops say loyalists use the cover of darkness to sneak out of their encirclement and then open fire and the NTC effort -- by mostly amateur fighters in a hotchpotch of volunteer units -- has been hampered by a lack of coordination.

Units from Benghazi in eastern Libya and Misrata to the west have lost men in "friendly fire" incidents, when they have fired at each other by mistake instead of at the Gaddafi loyalists.

Mohammed Ismail, a field commander with the anti-Gaddafi Shohada al-Thaqil brigade, said his men decided to stop bombarding loyalists with artillery and were now using infantry.

"There was so much artillery firing in a small space that there was friendly fire," he said.

Libya's new authorities took power nearly two months ago when an armed rebellion, with support from NATO missiles and warplanes, broke Gaddafi's grip on the capital, Tripoli, and ended his autocratic rule.

Gaddafi is wanted by the International Criminal Court on charges of ordering the killing of civilians. He is in hiding, possibly deep in Libya's Sahara desert.

The capture of Sirte is vital to the NTC, because it will mark the establishment of at least nominal control over all Libya's territory. The NTC has also said the fall of Sirte will be the signal for the process to begin of creating a fully-fledged government and building democratic institutions.

That process though is fraught with risks for Libya because it will involve finding a way to divide up power between rival groups, many of them armed, who are impatient for a stake in the new Libya.

(Additional reporting by Taha Zargoun and Rania El Gamal in Sirte, Libya; Writing by Christian Lowe; Editing by Maria Golovnina)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111018/wl_nm/us_libya

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Thursday, October 20, 2011

Four Questions to Ask a Business Broker - NYTimes.com

The night I sat down to write this post, I ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant and cracked open a fortune cookie with a prescient message: ?Cooperate with those who have both know-how and integrity.? These words of wisdom could easily apply to the vetting of business brokers. Alas, if only the process were that simple. Following are four questions to get you started on finding the right broker to help sell your business.

Will you get me top dollar for my business?
This is a trick question. Beware of the broker who answers with an unqualified ?yes.? As a friend of mine likes to say, I?d rather turn you down today than let you down tomorrow. Good business brokers not only have a realistic sense of what a buyer will pay for your business on the open market, they also take the time to educate their sellers and set expectations appropriately from the get-go.

With that said, good brokers should be able to get you the best possible price and terms for your business. At a minimum, they should be able to justify their fees by getting you more ? and saving you more ? than if you tried to sell the business on your own.

Where do most of your referrals come from?
Business brokers live and die by the strength of their referral network. My biggest source of referrals ? hands down ? is accountants. The C.P.A. is frequently the first person a business owner consults when considering the sale of a business, because two of the primary concerns are valuation and the tax consequences. Other sources of qualified referrals for me include lawyers, financial advisers, existing clients and other business people in my community.

Follow this question up by asking the business broker to provide a list of references from a variety of sources, not just past clients. In addition to sellers, ask for names of buyers, accountants, lawyers, lenders and financial advisers that the broker has worked with. Good business brokers should be able to inundate you with a list of people who are willing to sing their praises.

How do you market your firm to clients?
This question is the business equivalent of judging if a man is marriage-worthy based on how he treats his mother. I tend to be a stickler when it comes to marketing; if brokers do a poor job marketing their own business, why would you expect them to do a good job marketing yours? I would use this question as a set-up to the question of how the broker will market the sale of your business to potential buyers.

Another reason to ask this question is to see if you?re dealing with a business broker who is ?stuck in the ?80s,? as one colleague recently put it. While there are many time-tested truths when it comes to selling a business, the industry continues to evolve, thanks in part to an economic downturn that has been particularly rough on the business-for-sale marketplace and has forced many brokers to rethink how they do business. I would be wary of a broker who dismisses the use of social media and other alternative marketing channels as viable methods for marketing their own business, as well as yours. Look for brokers who have many weapons in their arsenal and who understand how to tailor their marketing efforts to attract the right type of buyer for your business.

What is your success rate?
This is actually a two-part question. My standard answer is that I aim for 80 percent or better. Beware of a broker who tries to justify a low close ratio by quoting dismal industry statistics. I sometimes compare myself to a plaintiff?s attorney: I can?t afford to take on a case unless I am reasonably sure I can win it. While I almost always charge a nominal upfront fee, the vast majority of my compensation comes in the form of success fees. Business brokers stay in business by knowing how to keep a winning streak going. That means consistently getting deals to the closing table.

The second part of the question is to get a feel for if the broker has a quality versus quantity mindset. Some brokers will take most of the listings that come across their desk, put in minimal effort and then rely on a minority to actually close. Other brokers take the opposite approach. I would rather do an extraordinary job for a small number of clients and sell all of their businesses than play a numbers game.

The exception to this is in certain industries, especially in big cities. I?ve met brokers who sell an enormous number of one kind of mom-and-pop business, like restaurants, florists or ethnic groceries. These brokers have a proven formula, targeted marketing efforts and a huge network of buyers, all of which enable them to sell many of the same type of business. Their business model also requires them to carry a large inventory of available businesses for sale because success fees associated with these transactions tend to be small.

In addition to heeding the wisdom of the fortune cookie, make sure you do your due diligence by asking a handful of business brokers these (and other) questions before choosing one to represent the sale of your business. And understand that good brokers will do their due diligence on you, too.

Barbara Taylor is co-owner of a business brokerage, Synergy Business Services, in Bentonville, Ark. Here is her guide to selling a business.

Source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/20/four-questions-to-ask-before-hiring-a-business-broker/

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76ers officially sold to new owners

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? The Philadelphia 76ers are under new management.

The deal to sell the Sixers to a group led by New York-based leveraged buyout specialist Joshua Harris has been completed. The Sixers will hold a press conference Tuesday to introduce the owners. The sale ends Comcast-Spectacor's 15-year run of ownership.

The group also includes David Blitzer, Art Wrubel, and Jason Levien. Levien is a former NBA player agent and Sacramento Kings executive.

NBA Commissioner David Stern says Harris and Blitzer bring vast business experience that will greatly benefit the team as it continues to grow both on and off the court.

Harris is one of three founders of Apollo Global Management, a publicly listed alternative investment manager.

Comcast-Spectacor, led by chairman Ed Snider, purchased the Sixers from Harold Katz on April 24, 1996. Comcast-Spectacor also owns the NHL's Philadelphia Flyers.

"Over the last 15 years, a number of different individuals or entities have inquired about purchasing the Sixers, and to be honest, I was not looking to sell the team," Snider said. "But in discussions with Josh and his partners, it became clear that this was an offer that made sense for the franchise and for the future of Comcast-Spectacor.

Comcast-Spectacor also owns the Wells Fargo Center. The Sixers will become a tenant in the building once the NBA lockout is over.

Harris, Blitzer and his group are buying the team with the NBA in the midst of a lockout. The first two weeks of the regular season have already been canceled.

The 76ers were valued this year by Forbes at $330 million, 17th in the NBA, and have a television deal with cable station Comcast SportsNet through 2029.

Harris co-founded Apollo Global Management in 1990. He has a bachelor's degree from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Business and a master's degree from the Harvard Business School. Harris' investment is a personal one and Apollo Management LP is not involved in the transaction.

"On behalf of my partners, I genuinely want to thank Ed Snider and Comcast-Spectacor for choosing us to steward the Philadelphia 76ers, a storied NBA franchise. We are excited to be writing a new chapter in Sixers lore," Harris said. "I also want to thank Comcast-Spectacor for their gracious assistance during the transition."

The Sixers hired Adam Aron, the former chairman and CEO of Vail Resort, as Chief Executive Officer. Actors Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith also made personal investments in the team.

"I'm excited about celebrating and building on the extraordinary heritage of the 76ers, the third winningest team in NBA history," Aron said. "We will work tirelessly to make Philadelphia sports fans proud."

The group is purchasing a team that hasn't won a championship since 1983. Under Snider's ownership, the 76ers lost to the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2001 NBA finals.

The Sixers have won only one playoff series since 2001 and have been stuck in mediocrity for most of the last decade. They haven't had a winning record since 2004-05, but have made the playoffs three times since.

This past season, the Sixers won 41 games and stretched the Miami Heat to a five-game playoff series in Doug Collins' first season as coach.

Before the lockout, the Sixers would have had about $55 million in payroll committed to next season, led by Elton Brand's $17 million and Andre Iguodala's $13.5 million. The Sixers spent the summer in trade talks involving Iguodala ? plans that have been put on hold because of the lockout.

Snider told The Associated Press last month that sagging crowds and massive financial losses led Comcast-Spectacor to strike a tentative deal to sell in July.

"This is one of the hardest business decisions I've ever had to make," Snider said on Tuesday. "The Sixers are family, and it is very difficult to say goodbye to an organization of great people with whom we have worked so closely over the last 15 years."

___

Follow Dan Gelston at http://twitter.com/APgelston

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2011-10-18-BKN-76ers-Sale/id-f9f8ad912a644e5e9ac082d46ea7f07b

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Wednesday, October 19, 2011

New, higher estimates of endangered humpback whales in the North Pacific

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Scientists have increased the estimate on the number of humpback whales in the North Pacific Ocean in a paper published in the journal Marine Mammal Science. The increase follows a refined statistical analysis of data compiled in 2008 from the largest whale survey ever undertaken to assess humpback whale populations throughout the North Pacific.

The number of North Pacific Humpback Whales in the 2008 study known as the Structure of Populations, Levels of Abundance and Status of Humpbacks, or SPLASH, was estimated at just under 20,000 based on a preliminary look at the data. This new research indicates the population to be over 21,000 and possibly even higher ? a significant improvement to the scant 1400 humpback whales estimated in the North Pacific Ocean at the end of commercial whaling in 1966.

"These improved numbers are encouraging, especially after we have reduced most of the biases inherent in any statistical model," said Jay Barlow, NOAAs Fisheries Service marine mammal biologist at the Southwest Fisheries Science Center in La Jolla, Calif. "We feel the numbers may even be larger since there have been across-the-board increases in known population areas and unknown areas have probably seen the same increases."

The SPLASH research was a three-year project begun in 2004 involving NOAA scientists and hundreds of other researchers from the United States, Japan, Russia, Mexico, Canada, the Philippines, Costa Rica, Panama, Nicaragua and Guatemala and was the first systematic survey ever attempted to determine the humpback whales' overall population, structure, and genetic makeup in the North Pacific.

Researchers were able to quantify the number of humpback whales by photographing and cataloguing over 18,000 pictures of the animals' tail, or fluke because the pigmentation patterns on the fluke act like a fingerprint and are unique to each animal. Scientists determined population numbers by comparing photographs taken in northern feeding grounds (around the Pacific Rim from California to Kamchatka) compared with matches of the same animals in the warm tropical waters of southern breeding areas as far as 3000 miles away.

"This latest revision to the study provides an accurate estimate for humpback whales in an entire ocean that could not have been possible without researchers working together to pool data," said John Calambokidis, senior research biologist and co-founder of Cascadia Research. "While populations of some other whale species remain very low this shows that humpback whales are among those that have recovered strongly from whaling."

###

NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov

Thanks to NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service for this article.

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

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/114412/New__higher_estimates_of_endangered_humpback_whales_in_the_North_Pacific

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Tuesday, October 18, 2011

Japan's leader to return looted royal Korean books (AP)

SEOUL, South Korea ? Japan's prime minister will return looted Korean royal documents during a summit with his South Korean counterpart this week, officials said Tuesday. The move is an apparent effort to boost relations between the Asian neighbors.

Japan colonized the Korean peninsula from 1910-1945, and many older Koreans still harbor deep resentment over its rule. Bilateral ties suffered again this year due to a series of spats over the occupation.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda arrived in Seoul late Tuesday with five volumes of Korean royal documents that his country took away during its rule. Noda was to return the books to South Korean President Lee Myung-bak on Wednesday, according to Lee's office.

The documents are part of the 1,205 historical volumes that Japan agreed to hand back to South Korea when Noda's predecessor, Naoto Kan, met with Lee last year. Noda took office last month.

Noda's visit comes two months after South Korea banned three conservative Japanese lawmakers from entering the country after they arrived at a Seoul airport with a plan to travel near islets at the center of territorial and historical disputes between the countries. Earlier, Tokyo's defense report claimed for the seventh straight year that the islets belong to Japan, drawing protests from Seoul.

The two countries also remain at odds over Seoul's offer to hold talks on Japan's compensation of Korean women forced into sexual slavery for Japan during the colonial rule. Japan declined, saying the matter was settled by a 1965 bilateral treaty that normalized ties between Japan and South Korea.

Despite their troubled history, Seoul and Tokyo remain closely tied economically and are key U.S. allies in the region. Both countries are members of stalled six-nation negotiations on ending North Korea's nuclear program in return for aid.

The books' return appears to be Noda's symbolic goodwill gesture toward South Korea, Seoul National University professor and international relations expert Park Cheol-hee said. "The return should be seen as a gift with a political intention," he said.

Lee In-deog, head of the Institute of Japanese Studies at Seoul's Kookmin University, agreed, saying Japan understands the importance of South Korea as a strategic partner in the region.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111018/ap_on_re_as/as_skorea_japan

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Campaign reports show disparity among GOP (AP)

WASHINGTON ? With just over a year left in the race for the White House, campaign finance reports released Saturday offered the first detailed look at the haves and the have-nots among the Republican presidential candidates.

Two of the top Republican contenders, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney and Texas Gov. Rick Perry, brought in more than $14 million and $17 million respectively. Meanwhile, candidates like former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum and businessman Herman Cain raised significantly less.

The financial reports show how flush some GOP candidates are with cash ? and how nearly broke others are ? heading into the final weeks before contests in key primary states. Reports on two of the biggest money-raisers so far ? Romney and President Barack Obama ? reveal millions in contributions from party devotees and small donors alike.

Reports filed late Friday offered a mixed financial picture of the field, with Obama raising more than $70 million between his campaign and the Democratic Party. At the same time, GOP candidates raised a combined $52.6 million, more than the $42 million Obama brought in through his campaign alone.

Other candidates are saddled with debt, such as former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman and Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann.

The reports didn't capture the tens of millions raised by new, outside groups known as super political action committees, which can collect unlimited amounts of money to influence elections. Leading contenders Perry and Romney have at least one super PAC each working to boost their candidacies, and another group is backing Obama's re-election bid.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul, a favorite among libertarians, collected $8.2 million, spent $7.5 million during the period and has no debt. Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum reported raising more than $700,000 during the quarter, spent nearly $750,000 and owes about $70,000.

But some in the GOP field owe much more, particularly as their campaigns struggle to compete with big money that fuels increasingly expensive elections.

Gingrich owes the most among all candidates who have filed so far, with more than $1.1 million in debts for expenses like office supplies, direct mail and outside experts ? including $5,250 for a "Hispanic outreach consultant" and $724 for a "social media consultation." His campaign raised about $793,000 this period, about a third of which came from small donors.

Bachmann, a leading tea party figure, reported nearly $550,000 in debt after raising $3.9 million. Her expenses included more than $130,000 spent on chartered flights with Moby Dick Airways of Virginia. She also owes former campaign chair Ed Rollins about $30,000.

And while businessman Herman Cain's report said he raised $2.8 million and has $1.3 million in the bank, the former Godfather's Pizza CEO loaned his campaign $675,000, most of it borrowed in the spring.

Candidates with much more cash on hand means more money for advertising and overhead costs. But it also means more flexibility: Romney spent about $240,000 in private jets, although he has tweeted in the past about flying commercial on low-cost air carrier Southwest Airlines.

Romney, like his opponents, garnered support from small-dollar donors, drawing 80 percent of his contributions from checks less than $250. A former venture capitalist, he raised $18 million during the previous April-June period.

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Associated Press writer Ken Thomas contributed to this report.

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Follow Jack Gillum at http://twitter.com/jackgillum

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111015/ap_on_el_pr/us_campaign_money

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