Lawmakers reach agreement on $63 billion FAA bill

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Lawmakers say they've reached an agreement on a $63 billion, four-year bill to extend the Federal Aviation Administration's operating authority and the agency's air traffic modernization effort.

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee said in a statement that the bill provides the long-term stable funding the FAA needs as it transitions from an air traffic control system that's based on World War II-era technology to one based on GPS technology.

Rep. John Mica, a Florida Republican and chairman of the committee, said the negotiated agreement will also help the 8 percent of the economy that's impacted by the aviation industry.

FAA's operating authority expired in 2007. It has continued to limp along under a series of 23 short-term extensions. The most recent extension expires Feb. 17.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-31-FAA%20Bill/id-3f29f6ff04594fa39797524101c61fbc

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Putin's answer to polling fraud: lots of webcams (The Christian Science Monitor)

Moscow ? The Russian government is installing web cameras at more than 90,000 polling sites in an effort to undermine expected accusations of widespread fraud in the upcoming presidential election.

Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced the initiative after evidence of fraud in last December?s parliamentary elections sparked Russia?s first mass protests since the fall of the Soviet Union. Amateur video footage depicting the alleged fraud at polling sites was widely circulated after those elections.

Mr. Putin, who is seeking a third presidential term in the March 4 poll, has accused the protest movement of working to delegitimize the electoral process. Broadcasting the elections on the Internet will ???completely remove all falsifications,??

RELATED ? Defying Putin: 7 Russians to watch 

???I want to rely on the popular will of the people, on their trust,??

Members of the Russian opposition and independent election observers have reacted to the plan with skepticism, citing its cost and uncertain benefit. Many say that the webcams are a technological fix to an issue that warrants true dialogue and reform.

No room for errorThe ambitious project has an official price tag of $430 million, although the total cost to the government is estimated at  $840 million (26 billion rubles) when factoring in services provided at a loss by the state telecommunications entity Rostelecom. It calls for two cameras to be installed at every polling site, with the exception of certain state-run institutions, said Ilya Massukh, deputy minister of communications and mass media, at a press conference on Jan. 13.

The footage from the cameras will be livestreamed, and on election day, visitors to the special online platform hosting the video will be able to switch between precincts to observe citizens casting their votes. After voting ends in the last district, the cameras will switch to broadcasting the tallying of votes, complete with sound.

The government has purchased more than 350,000 computers and web cameras from foreign suppliers after determining that Russian companies lacked the capacity to complete the rush order. The last of the equipment reached Moscow last week, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported. 

Thousands of technicians have been mobilized to install the necessary software in two factories near Moscow and distribute the equipment to the individual polling sites across Russia, all by the first week of March.

What would be a challenging proposition in any country is complicated in Russia by poor Internet infrastructure. Many of the schools that serve as polling sites in the country?s far-flung regions were only recently connected to the Internet at speeds too low to support the video transmission. The state telecommunications provider Rostelecom intends to lay thousands of miles of broadband cable ? and it must do so within the next five weeks in the dead of winter.

?We don?t have any room for error? in constructing the system, said Mr. Massukh. ?And that also creates a certain degree of pressure.? If the plan succeeds, the total amount of footage generated on March 4 will equal almost 250 years of video, exceeding the amount YouTube averages every two months, Massukh said. The system is designed to support an expected 25 million viewers simultaneously on election day. 

pagebreak

Skepticism about impactMikhail Prokhorov, the billionaire owner of the New Jersey Nets who announced his presidential run after December?s protests, dismissed the project as a wasteful ?profanity? on air with radio station Echo Moscow.

?The project has an important symbolic meaning as a gesture but it is unlikely that it will have a real effect on the election results,? says Ilya Ponomarev, a deputy in the State Duma from the party Just Russia.

The work of human election monitors is more important because of their ability to obtain copies of the election protocols where the results are recorded, he says. Manipulation of the protocols after the votes have been tallied is the most common type of election fraud in Russia, he explains.

Election monitors reported in the past that the most egregious fraud often happens in those state-run institutions that will not have cameras ? hospitals, prisons, and military facilities.

Whether the videos can be used as evidence in possible investigations into electoral fraud is unclear. There has been no change to Russian election law to specifically provide for the use of web cameras, says Aleksandr Ignatov, acting director of the Russian Public Institute of Election Law.

Amateur videos taken during the recent Duma (parliament) elections were widely rejected as inadmissible evidence in court. While the fact that this initiative was led by the government should give it some weight, it remains the prerogative of each judge to decide whether to admit the videos as evidence should there be an investigation, Mr. Ignatov says.

Cameras can't fix systemic issuesSystemic issues affecting the fairness of Russia?s electoral system will be not be captured by the cameras. Putin faces no serious competitor in the vote, despite his sagging poll numbers. Procedural election rules are often used to prevent opposition candidates from appearing on the ballot.

One such rule is the requirement that candidates from parties not represented in the State Duma gather 2 million signatures in support of their candidacy. On Jan. 27, the Russian Central Election Commission disqualified presidential candidate Grigory Yavlinsky of the liberal opposition party Yabloko, citing too many invalid signatures.

Mr. Yavlinsky labeled the decision ?purely political? and said it was aimed at preventing his supporters from acting as election monitors. Without Yavlinksy on the ballot, his party is barred under Russian law from dispatching monitors to polling sites. Yabloko?s exclusion reduces the possibilities for independent election monitoring, says Lilia Shibanova, director of the election monitoring organization Golos.

Many observers say that a Putin victory is likely. Even if he does win, the opposition hopes to hold him to less than 50 percent of the vote, something that would force the first presidential runoff in Russia since 1996. Current polling shows Putin?s support hovering near this mark.

The prospect for a narrow election outcome raises the stakes for the public?s perceptions of the election?s integrity. With the cameras rolling, evidence of fraud could again lead protesters unto the streets.

IN PICTURES: Russians protest Putin's party 

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/russia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20120130/wl_csm/458336

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Obama Killed Pipeline Deal Over Politics, Not Environmental Concerns (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | President Barack Obama nixes the Keystone XL pipeline from Canada, sending our neighbor to the north in search of another willing partner in the expansion of the oil sands reserve in Alberta. It didn't take them long to find another country very interested in doing business in Canada: China.

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper met with Chinese leaders in November at the Pacific Rim economic summit in Hawaii and is set to make a state visit to China in February. Associated Press reported China has invested more than $16 billion into Canadian energy projects and is very interested in developing any resource that would give its growing economy access to Canadian oil.

Harper said he was "profoundly disappointed" by Obama's decision to axe the pipeline deal. Clearly, Harper can see Obama is playing to his environmentalist supporters in what may be a tight re-election campaign. That pandering is going to cost Americans thousands of jobs that would have resulted from the pipeline construction, plus all the spin off jobs that come with a project of that size.

Environmentalists are arguing the potential damage from such a long pipeline. But a quick walk down memory lane will remind everyone that environmentalist strongly opposed the Trans-Alaska pipeline back in the 1970s, and it has proved to be a complete success. A 1987 article in the Los Angeles Times reflected on the first 10 years of the pipeline's existence and the tremendous impact it had on Alaska and on over 70,000 workers.

The Keystone XL pipeline is an economic necessity for the U.S. and would create an unbroken partnership with our largest trading partner to the north. Were it not a hotly contested presidential election year, that pipeline would already be in the works. Americans need the jobs and the oil. There is no logical reason for Obama to give China an upper hand in negotiated with Canada -- well, except to garner a few more votes from his left-wing environmentalist supporters.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/environment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120129/pl_ac/10899809_obama_killed_pipeline_deal_over_politics_not_environmental_concerns

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Grammy-winning composer Clare Fischer dead at 83 (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Clare Fischer, a Grammy-winning composer who wrote scores for television and movies and worked with legendary musicians like Dizzy Gillespie, has died. He was 83.

Fischer died Thursday at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center in Burbank after suffering a heart attack two weeks ago, family spokeswoman Claris Sayadian-Dodge said.

An uncommonly versatile musician, Fischer worked as a composer, arranger, conductor and pianist for more than 60 years.

He is best known for his arrangements for Prince, Michael Jackson, Paul McCartney, Branford Marsalis, Raphael Saadiq, Usher and Brandy.

Nominated for a Grammy 11 times in the Best Instrumental Arrangement category, Fischer won in 1986 for his album "Free Fall" and in 1981 for "Salsa Picante plus 2+2."

Born in Durand, Mich., Fischer got his start playing piano and writing jazz-inspired arrangements for the group The Hi-Lo's, an a capella quartet popular in the 1950s.

He worked as the arranger on Gillespie's "Jazz Portrait of Duke Ellington."

Fischer recorded 51 albums over his lifetime with his son Brent Fischer. The music ranges in style from jazz to salsa to symphonies.

"Clare Fischer was a major influence on my harmonic concept," Herbie Hancock is quoted as saying on Fischer's website.

"(Fischer) and Bill Evans, and Ravel and Gil Evans, finally. You know, that's where it really came from. Almost all of the harmony that I play can be traced to one of those four people and whoever their influences were," Hancock said.

Clare Fischer is survived by his wife, Donna; sons Lee and Brent; daughter Tahlia; and three grandchildren.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_en_tv/us_obit_fischer

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U.S. to deport Taiwan envoy who abused Filipina maids (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? A U.S. federal judge ordered the deportation on Friday of a high-ranking official from Taiwan who pleaded guilty last year to human trafficking charges for abusing her two Filipina maids, the U.S. attorney's office said.

Hsien-Hsien Liu, the 64-year-old director general of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Kansas City, Missouri, was arrested in November and charged with fraud in foreign labor contracting in connection with her treatment of the two maids.

Liu ultimately admitted to forcing the two women, whom she hired in the Philippines and brought to work for her in the United States between 2009 and 2011, to toil day and night for significantly less pay than promised in their contracts.

U.S. District Judge Greg Kays sentenced Liu, who has been in custody since her arrest, to time served and ordered her deported back to Taiwan as part of a plea deal.

Prosecutors said Liu told one of the women she would pay her $1,240 a month to work eight hours a day, five days a week -- but only paid her $450 a month and forced her to work 16 to 18 hours a day, seven days a week.

She also installed surveillance cameras inside her home in Johnson County, Kansas, to monitor the woman, did not allow her to leave without supervision or permission, and seized her passport and visa and refused to return them.

According to an FBI affidavit filed in the case, Liu also warned the woman she "was friends with local law enforcement and well known in the community, so if the (female victim) acted out, she would be deported."

Liu pleaded guilty to the charges last November.

In addition to the deportation order, the judge also ordered Liu to pay $80,044 in restitution to the women, as well as an as-yet unspecified fine, and to cover the full costs of her incarceration and deportation, including round-trip airfare for the U.S. immigration agents who escort her back to Taiwan.

Liu's two former maids are eligible for T-visas, designed to help victims of human trafficking who cooperate with prosecutors. The visas will allow them to live and work legally in the United States and to apply for permanent residency after three years, the U.S. attorney's office said.

(Reporting by James B. Kelleher; Editing by Cynthia Johnston)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/us_nm/us_taiwan_official_deportation

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Transparency of Climate Finance: Did Durban Show Us the Money ...

In the recent UN climate negotiations (COP 17) in Durban, South Africa, the issue of transparency of climate finance appeared in a variety of contexts in the final agreement on long-term cooperative action. From the sections on reporting and review for developed and developing countries, to the Standing Committee, to the registry, and to fast-start finance, making sense of this multitude of provisions on climate finance transparency is a challenge.

However, what?s clear is that the moderate progress made in Durban fell short of what is needed to achieve a transparent and effective climate finance regime. This post aims to summarize where we stand on this issue following the Durban COP.

Why is the transparency of climate finance important?

Since 1992, developed countries have repeatedly pledged to help developing countries meet their climate mitigation and adaptation needs, including by providing $30 billion in ?fast-start? funds for the years 2010-2012 and $100 billion annually by 2020.

Transparent and accurate reporting of this finance ? often referred to as the measurement, reporting, and verification (MRV) of finance ? is important to building a robust climate regime. For example, through sound MRV of finance, developed countries can gain international recognition for their support and developing countries can gain assurance that the money pledged is actually delivered. Furthermore, increased transparency can help governments and other stakeholders assess the scale and type of support provided, identify trends, and pinpoint possible gaps in sectors or regions.

Don?t countries already report international climate finance?

The current UNFCCC system for developed countries to report on climate finance faces several challenges which limit the utility of available data. Countries currently only report every four years, use multiple methods for reporting, and often provide insufficient information even where requested.

What did Cancun do to improve on the status quo?

The Cancun Agreements of December 2010:

• Mandated more frequent (i.e., biennial) reporting of actions and finance for developed and developing countries.
• For developed countries, mandated creation of common reporting formats and methodologies for finance, as well as enhanced review of the reported information.
• Invited developed countries to report on the resources provided to fulfill their fast-start finance commitment in May each year until 2013.
• Called for developing countries to report on ?support received.?
• Called for information on developing country climate finance needs and on climate finance provided by developed countries to also be captured in the then-newly-formed registry.
• Established a Standing Committee to better coordinate delivery and MRV of climate finance.

The Cancun Agreements represented a major step forward by creating the processes and institutions for improving transparency of climate finance. However, Parties were far from finished. For example, the Agreements did not provide detail on what information the fast-start finance reports should include. Detailed guidelines for biennial reports were not agreed. And the Standing Committee?s specific role in the MRV of climate finance was left ambiguous. The success of the Cancun Agreements in improving transparency of climate finance depended on their operationalization over the course of 2011 and in Durban at COP 17.

How did Durban move forward on this issue, and where did it fall short?

Durban had a mixed outcome for transparency of finance, with areas of moderate progress and areas in which Parties still have significant work to do in the coming year.

Progress Made in Durban

• Developed country reporting: The Durban outcome provides more detail on what information developed countries should include in their biennial reports on provision of climate finance ? information that will subsequently be subject to a process of international assessment and review (IAR).
• The registry: Parties provided additional specificity on the information developed countries should submit to the Secretariat for inclusion in the registry on support available for developing country Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs).
• Developing country reporting: The Durban outcome reiterates that developed countries should provide financial support to developing counties for preparing biennial reports and participating in international consultation and analysis (ICA), both of which include in their scope information on the receipt of climate finance.

2012 To-Do List

• Developed country reporting: Parties did not adopt a common reporting format for finance in Durban, meaning that information provided under these reporting guidelines will likely be limited in completeness, comparability, transparency, and accuracy. Parties can improve on these guidelines in the future through the work of the Subsidiary Body for Scientific and Technical Advice (SBSTA).
• Fast-start finance: Durban fell short in detailing what information developed countries should provide in their fast-start finance reports. Parties independently can improve the transparency of their reports in May of this year and next, in particular by reporting on seven elements outlined by WRI.
• Developing country reporting: Based on the individual capacities of developing countries, Parties should develop more detailed guidance for what information to report on the receipt of climate finance. This could better enable, for example, cross-checking of information reported between developed and developing countries. In addition, as mandated in the Durban outcome, developed countries should ensure financial support is available for developing country reporting on climate finance received.
• Other institutions: In the Durban outcome, both the Standing Committee and Adaptation Committee include provisions relating to transparency of climate finance. Over the coming year, it will be essential to clarify these Committees? roles in tracking, considering, and reviewing climate finance, and to ensure coordination and coherence with MRV institutions and processes.
• Reporting by multilateral development banks (MDBs): A significant portion of international climate finance is channeled through multilateral institutions. For example, 56% of the EU?s fast-start finance, as of November 2011, is being channeled through multilateral institutions. However, detailed, accurate, and comparable information on this finance is not available because the multilateral institutions do not report this information to the UNFCCC. Thus, Parties should request that MDBs report to the UNFCCC, and should include information from MDBs to be considered during IAR and ICA processes.

Source: http://insights.wri.org/news/2012/01/transparency-climate-finance-did-durban-show-us-money

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Cuba: Tough prison terms for mahogany tree thefts (AP)

HAVANA ? Cuba convicted six people of cutting down African mahogany trees in the National Botanical Gardens and sentenced them to eight and 10 years in prison, the Communist Party newspaper Granma said Friday.

The men felled nine trees on two occasions in December and harvested a total of $122 worth of wood, according to the court sentencing printed alongside the article. Mahogany sells for considerably more than that elsewhere, listing for $10 to $15 per board-foot on some U.S. websites.

Angela Leiva, director of the reserve, told Granma that the 30- to 40-year-old trees were important to the ecology of the gardens and their loss cannot be repaired in the short or medium term.

Inaugurated by Fidel Castro in 1989 and located just south of the capital, the 1,500-acre (600-hectare) Botanical Gardens fell on hard times after Cuba's 1990s economic crisis precipitated by the collapse of the Soviet Union, the island's largest trade partner and benefactor.

The reserve's facilities fell into disrepair, vigilance became lax and the entire 7-mile (11.5-kilometer) perimeter fence was scavenged amid "social indiscipline," Granma said.

The government has been waging a campaign against lawbreaking and "social indiscipline," with official newspapers such as Granma carrying reminders of stiff penalties for everything from the unauthorized slaughter of cattle to illegally building home expansions onto sidewalks.

Authorities began to notice trees sporadically disappearing from the reserve in 2008, according to Granma's full-page article. The thefts increased over the next two years and reserve officials complained to authorities.

"Regrettably, misunderstanding prevailed in the face of these claims and no preventative measure or action was taken to avoid a repeat of such events," the story said.

The tough sentences announced Friday send a stern warning that illegal cutting in the reserve will no longer go unpunished.

The court said it took into account aggravating factors, such as conspiracy by three or more people and the commission of a crime at night or in an unpopulated area, in condemning two men to a decade behind bars and the rest to eight years.

It said the six acted with others who have not been identified to transport, process and sell the lumber.

Granma said a new fence made of wood and bars is being constructed around the Botanical Gardens, and authorities are adding vehicles and communications equipment to bolster the night guard. A plan to erect five observation towers has also been approved.

Cuba has scarce supplies of wood for uses from carpentry to home construction, and illegal scavenging for materials to sell on the black market is common.

The economy has recovered somewhat since the 1990s but is still struggling. Authorities regularly blame shortages on the United States' nearly 50-year-old trade and travel embargo against the island.

___

Peter Orsi on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/Peter(underscore)Orsi

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cb_cuba_illegal_wood_cutting

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Ex-South Africa player stabbed to death in club

Associated Press Sports

updated 11:35 a.m. ET Jan. 21, 2012

JOHANNESBURG (AP) -Police say a footballer who played five times for South Africa was stabbed to death in a nightclub.

Jeffrey Ntuka was killed in the early hours of Saturday.

Michael Hughes, a representative of Ntuka's agent, Stella Africa, told football website Kickoff.com the player was killed in the central South African town of Kroonstad.

The 26-year-old defender had been in the squad of local giants Kaizer Chiefs for two years but was without a club this season after his contract with Supersport United expired.

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

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Balotelli lifts Man City

Mario Balotelli scored a stoppage-time penalty kick Sunday to give first-place Manchester City a 3-2 victory over Premier League title rival Tottenham.

Mike Hewitt / Getty Images

Hat trick

Clint Dempsey became the first American to score a hat trick in England's Premier League, helping Fulham rally from a halftime deficit to rout Newcastle 5-2 Saturday.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46081918/ns/sports-soccer/

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'Arrested Development' Movie: Alia Shawkat Is 'Game'

'She probably has a buzzed head,' actress tells MTV News at Sundance of her character Maeby Fünke.
By Josh Wigler, with reporting by Eric Ditzian

Alia Shawkat
Photo: MTV News

PARK CITY, Utah — If you're looking for a surefire way to end a conversation with Alia Shawkat, look no further than bringing up the subject of "Arrested Development."

That scare tactic applies to most "Arrested" veterans, who've had to field questions about a possible onscreen Bluth reunion ever since the cult Fox comedy came to a close in 2006, even more so since the 2011 announcement of a new TV miniseries and feature film. Shawkat is no exception, as MTV News learned while speaking with the erstwhile Maeby Fünke at the Sundance Film Festival, where she's promoting the Carrie Preston-directed comedy "That's What She Said."

Asked about the future of "Arrested Development," Shawkat reacted as any sane actor would: She attempted to flee the scene. But just like Maeby, who could always invent a way out of trouble, Shawkat eventually opted for a different approach: diving into any and all "Arrested" questions head-on.

"They're writing it now, though we haven't seen any scripts yet," the comedian said about the developing "Arrested" status. "But we're all game."

As for what is in Maeby's future, Shawkat could only guess. "She'd be my age [by now]," she said. "She probably wouldn't go to college. She's probably figured out some weird schemes to get money really fast, and she probably has a buzzed head and is dating some French painter."

French painter? What, no love for George Michael?

"Oh, I don't know," she laughed. "Feels kind of creepy. I love [Michael Cera], but the whole first-cousin thing ... "

No matter what comes next, and even in light of Shawkat's initial fight-or-flight reaction, the comedian said she's very much hoping to dive back into the "Arrested" universe after all these years.

"It's been kind of following me around like a very attractive albatross," she said. "But now it's hopefully going to happen. It would be very exciting."

The 2012 Sundance Film Festival is officially under way, and the MTV Movies team is on the ground reporting on the hottest stars and the movies everyone will be talking about in the year to come. Keep it locked with MTV Movies for everything there is to know about Sundance.

Related Videos

• Sundance 2012: Interviews From Park City

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677677/sundance-alia-shawkat-arrested-development-movie.jhtml

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'The Artist' silent but golden at producer awards

FILE - French Producer Thomas Langmann arrives for the screening of "W." by U.S. Director Oliver Stone at a cinema in Paris, in this Oct. 21 , 2008 file photo. Langmann received the award handed out at the Beverly Hilton by the Producers Guild of America, as "The Artist" beat out George Clooney's family drama and another Oscar favorite, "The Descendants." (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)

FILE - French Producer Thomas Langmann arrives for the screening of "W." by U.S. Director Oliver Stone at a cinema in Paris, in this Oct. 21 , 2008 file photo. Langmann received the award handed out at the Beverly Hilton by the Producers Guild of America, as "The Artist" beat out George Clooney's family drama and another Oscar favorite, "The Descendants." (AP Photo/Francois Mori, File)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? "The Artist" followed its Golden Globe win by taking top honors at the Producers Guild Awards on Saturday, as the silent film continues its unlikely run toward Oscar night.

Producer Thomas Langmann received the award handed out at the Beverly Hilton by the Producers Guild of America, as "The Artist" beat out George Clooney's family drama and another Oscar favorite, "The Descendants."

"The Artist" won best musical or comedy at Sunday's Golden Globes and "The Descendants" won best drama along with a best actor nod for Clooney, making the movies likely rivals for Best Picture at the Academy Awards.

The other nominees in the movie category were "War Horse," ''The Help," ''Bridesmaids," ''Hugo," ''The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo," ''Midnight in Paris," ''Moneyball" and another Clooney movie, "The Ides of March."

Along with honors from other Hollywood professional groups such as actors, directors and writers guilds, the producer prizes have become part of the preseason sorting out contenders for the Oscars, whose nominations come out Jan. 24.

HBO's saga of mobsters in Prohibition-era Atlantic City "Boardwalk Empire" won the producers' award for television drama series, keeping AMC's "Mad Men" from winning its fourth straight PGA Award.

A team of seven producers including Martin Scorcese received the award for "Boardwalk Empire," which also beat out Showtime's "Dexter," CBS's "The Good Wife," and another HBO series, "Game of Thrones."

The ABC sitcom "Modern Family" took the award for best comedy series for the second straight year, beating "30 Rock," ''The Big Bang Theory," ''Glee," and "Parks and Recreation."

Other winners at the PGA awards include PBS's "Downton Abbey" for long-form television, "The Adventures of Tintin" for animated film, "Beats, Rhymes & Life" for movie documentary and "The Colbert Report" for talk and live entertainment shows.

___

Online:

http://www.producersguild.org

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-22-Film-Producers%20Awards/id-a5939e3d974a46f8a47c07bded782ca7

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Mitt Romney 2012 Rivals Keep Up Business Record Criticism

COLUMBIA, S.C. ? A splintered conservative vote in South Carolina could pave the way for Mitt Romney to win this week's pivotal primary, some rivals said Sunday, acknowledging an outcome that prominent state lawmakers suggested could end the nomination fight.

"I think the only way that a Massachusetts moderate can get through South Carolina is if the vote is split," said Newt Gingrich, portraying himself as the lone conservative with a "realistic chance" of beating Romney in the first-in-the South contest.

Polls show Romney, the former Massachusetts governors who struggled to a fourth-place finish in South Carolina during his 2008 White House run, with a lead heading into Saturday's vote. The state has a large population of evangelicals and other conservative Christians, and concerns arose four years ago about his Mormon faith.

But Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Rick Perry all said Romney, after victories in Iowa and New Hampshire, continued to benefit from the fractured GOP field and the failure of social conservatives to fully coalesce around a single alternative.

"If for some reason he's not derailed here and Mitt Romney wins South Carolina ... I think it should be over," said the state's senior senator, Republican Lindsey Graham. He added, "I'd hope the party would rally around him if he did in fact win South Carolina."

Santorum said South Carolina is "not going to be the final issue" and spoke of the "need to get this eventually down to a conservative alternative" to Romney. "When we get it down to a two-person race, we have an excellent opportunity to win this race," said the former Pennsylvania senator who won the endorsement of an influential group of social conservatives and evangelical leaders Saturday in Texas.

Perry, the Texas governor, said it was "our intention" to compete in the next contest, Florida's primary Jan. 31, even if he finished last in South Carolina.

Gingrich said he would "reassess" his candidacy if he lost in South Carolina and acknowledged that a Romney victory would mean "an enormous advantage going forward."

The former House speaker appealed for the support of "every conservative who wants to have a conservative nominee."

"I hope every conservative will reach the conclusion that to vote for anybody but Gingrich is, in fact, to help Romney win the nomination," he said.

To Rep. Tim Scott, R-S.C., the equation is simple: "If Romney wins South Carolina, I think the game's over. This is the last stand for many candidates."

He noted that three candidates are pursuing the evangelical vote "very strongly and without any question that works to the Romney campaign's benefit. It's hard to find a single candidate that rallies all of the Christian voters in South Carolina and therefore that splintered approach will probably have a major impact" in the primary.

Romney took a rare day off from campaigning while his opponents focused on the South Carolina coast. They also attended church services and prayer breakfasts in a state with a large population of evangelicals and other conservative Christians.

At the Cathedral of Praise in North Charleston, Gingrich was cheered by church members as he criticized activist judges who he said had made "anti-American" rulings to keep God out of schools. Santorum spoke at the same church Saturday.

At a prayer breakfast in Myrtle Beach, Perry appealed to religious conservatives to back his candidacy.

"Who will see the job of president as that of faithful servant to the American people, and the God who created us?" Perry said. "I hope each of you will peer into your heart and look for that individual with the record and the values that represent your heart."

The candidates faced a packed week of campaign events and nationally televised debates Monday and Thursday. No Republican has won the party's presidential nomination without carrying South Carolina.

Santorum battled Romney to a virtual tie in Iowa before falling to fifth place in New Hampshire. Gingrich and Perry fared poorly in both states.

All three have the backing of well-financed independent groups known as super political action committee that can help keep their candidacies afloat.

Santorum refused to suggest anyone should drop out of the race as a way to consolidate conservative support behind an anti-Romney candidate. But he said Republicans would have a hard time beating President Barack Obama in November if Romney were the nominee. Santorum cited Romney's push for mandatory insurance coverage in Massachusetts.

Gingrich and Perry used television interviews to focus on Romney's former leadership of the Bain Capital venture firm. Both defended raising questions about Bain's business practices, saying Romney's tenure would come under relentless assault from Democrats in the general election.

Former Utah Gov. Jon Huntsman picked up the endorsement of The State, one of South Carolina's leading newspaper. Huntsman came in a weak third in New Hampshire after skipping Iowa, but the paper described him as a "realist" able to appeal to the centrist voters who will decide the general election.

Texas Rep. Ron Paul was returning to campaigning for the first time since Wednesday. He has spent several days at home in Texas after his second-place finish in the New Hampshire primary last week.

Gingrich, Graham and Scott appeared on NBC's "Meet the Press," while Santorum spoke on "Fox News Sunday" and Perry was interviewed on CNN's "State of the Union."

___

Associated Press writers Tom Beaumont in Myrtle Beach and Julie Pace in North Charleston contributed to this report.

___

Follow Beth Fouhy on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/bfouhy

Also on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/15/mitt-romney-2012-rivals-k_n_1207396.html

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Overheard At CES: Magic Numpad Edition [Overheard At CES]

"They're basically selling transparent paper." More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/fI1es9Y79lM/overheard-at-ces-magic-numpad-edition

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Nokia Lumia 900 coming to retail on March 18?

Did the "next few months" announcement from the unveiling of the Nokia Lumia 900 leave you wanting? Perhaps a March 18th pronouncement will sate your own personal gadget knowledgebase. That's the date being tossed around by Windows gurus Paul Thurrott and Mary Jo Foley, who joined forces on TWiT to discuss the presence of a March date in the latest Nokia developer newsletter. But that wasn't good enough for Paul, who said the specific date is March 18. Go ahead and mark your calendars, but we'd recommend you use pencil -- just to be safe.

Nokia Lumia 900 coming to retail on March 18? originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 13 Jan 2012 09:22:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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

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Flood-Ravaged Communities Get Help from Jobs Program

Reported by: Andy Mehalshick

Monday, January 09 2012

Duryea, Luzerne County -- Duryea sustained millions of dollars of damage from last September's flooding and is still trying to recover from the flood and prevent future flooding problems.

The money just is not there to hire workers to get the job done. A program funded by a federal grant has enabled boroughs like Duryea to clean-up. Councilmen Frank Groblewski said, "There is?no way we could get the levee system cleaned up and the streets cleaned up with our own manpower. We still have things like trash removal and other jobs that have to be done everyday. This program has been a big help to us."

The program is overseen by the Pennsylvania CareerLink and has hired some 70 people who had been unemployed. Lucyanne Veryling is manager of the Workforce Investment Board and said, "We have been granted one million dollars and that allows us to hire people for 6 months at a time and then train them for long term employment."

For more information about the program contact the PA CareerLink in Wilkes-Barre or the Workforce Investment Board.? Their number is (570) 826-2401 or you can visit their office at 32 East Union Street, Wilkes-Barre Center.

Source: http://pahomepage.com/road-to-recovery-flood-of-2011-details/?nxd_id=220577

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Scientists discover three smallest alien planets yet

All three exoplanets are thought to be rocky like Earth. However, their closeness to their star makes them too hot to be in the habitable zone, the area around a star neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water to exist on the surface.

Astronomers have discovered the three smallest alien planets yet, including one that's just the size of Mars.

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The alien worlds, detected using publicly available data from?NASA's Kepler mission, are 0.78, 0.73 and 0.57 times the diameter of Earth, respectively; the smallest one is roughly Mars-size. The three exoplanets orbit a red dwarf star known as KOI-961, which is just one-sixth the size of our sun and is located 120 light-years away, in the Constellation Cygnus (The Swan).

"This is the tiniest solar system found so far," said principal investigator John Johnson of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "It's actually more similar to Jupiter and its moons in scale than any other planetary system. The discovery is further proof of the?diversity of planetary systems?in our galaxy."

A miniature planetary system

The three planets orbit very close to their star, just 0.6 to 1.5 percent the distance from Earth to the sun. It takes each of them less than two days to zip around KOI-961, researchers said.

"It's almost like you took a shrink gun and zapped a planetary system, the whole thing, including the sun," Johnson told SPACE.com. [Gallery: Smallest Alien Planets Ever Seen]

All three exoplanets are thought to be rocky like Earth. However, their closeness to their star makes them too hot to be in the habitable zone, the area around a star neither too hot nor too cold for liquid water to exist on the surface.

"The surface temperatures of these planets range from 720 Kelvin (836 degrees F) to 450 Kelvin (350 degrees)," Johnson said.

Kepler finds planets using a technique known as the transit method. It watches for tiny dips in a star's brightness caused when a planet crosses the face of, or transits, the star, blocking some of its light.

If KOI-961 were larger and brighter, Kepler would not have been able to flag the brightness dips caused by the three newfound planets' transits.

"If there were small planets like these around a star more like our sun, there's no chance we'd find them," Johnson said.

An amateur astronomer, Kevin Apps, tipped the researchers off to the fact that KOI-961 was virtually identical to the well-studied Barnard's Star. Knowing details about this more famous star allowed the scientists to quickly pinpoint the properties of KOI-961 and its planets.

"I can't express how excited I am to find a Mars-sized planet," Johnston said. "It's already so hard finding something the size of the Earth."

Many planets around red dwarfs?

Red dwarfs are the most common kind of star in the Milky Way. The discovery of three rocky planets around one red dwarf suggests that our galaxy might be?teeming with similar worlds, researchers said.

"These types of systems could be ubiquitous in the universe," said study lead author Phil Muirhead, also of Caltech. "This is a really exciting time for planet hunters."

The three tiny exoplanets add to an impressive list of recent discoveries by Kepler. Last month, astronomers using the prolific instrument announced the discovery of the first two?Earth-size alien planets, as well as one slightly larger than our home planet that resides in its star's habitable zone.

To date, Kepler has found about 35 alien planets, but it's flagged an additional 2,300 exoplanet candidates that await confirmation by follow-up studies. Kepler scientists have estimated that at least 80 percent of these potential planets will end up being the real deal.

The scientists detailed their findings today (Jan. 11) here at the annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society.

Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter?@Spacedotcom?and on?Facebook.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/np3x62vlc78/Scientists-discover-three-smallest-alien-planets-yet

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