Defying Putin: 7 Russians to watch (The Christian Science Monitor)

Skip to navigation ? Skip to content ? By Fred Weir Fred Weir ? Thu?Dec?29, 1:34?pm?ET Follow Yahoo! News on , become a fan on Facebook

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/russia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20111229/wl_csm/442562

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Clergymen clash at Bethlehem birthplace of Jesus

Armenian and Greek Orthodox clergymen scuffle inside the Church of Nativity, believed by many to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011. The two denominations each control sections of the church and fiercely guard their turf. The violence broke out when the sides accused each other of crossing into each other's territory. Similar fights have taken place in past years. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Armenian and Greek Orthodox clergymen scuffle inside the Church of Nativity, believed by many to be the birthplace of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011. The two denominations each control sections of the church and fiercely guard their turf. The violence broke out when the sides accused each other of crossing into each other's territory. Similar fights have taken place in past years. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Palestinian police officers intervene in a fight that erupted between Greek Orthodox and Armenian clergymen during the cleaning of the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011. The two denominations each control sections of the church and fiercely guard their turf. The violence broke out when the sides accused each other of crossing into each other's territory. Similar fights have taken place in past years. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Palestinian police officers intervene in a fight that erupted between Greek Orthodox and Armenian clergymen during the cleaning of the Church of the Nativity in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, Wednesday, Dec. 28, 2011. The two denominations each control sections of the church and fiercely guard their turf. The violence broke out when the sides accused each other of crossing into each other's territory. Similar fights have taken place in past years. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

BETHLEHEM, West Bank (AP) ? The annual cleaning of one of Christianity's holiest churches deteriorated into a brawl between rival clergy Wednesday, as dozens of monks feuding over sacred space at the Church of the Nativity battled each other with brooms until police intervened.

The ancient church, built over the traditional site of Jesus' birth in Bethlehem, is shared by three Christian denominations ? Roman Catholics, Armenians and Greek Orthodox. Wednesday's fight erupted between Greek and Armenian clergy, with both sides accusing each other of encroaching on parts of the church to which they lay claim.

The monks were tidying up the church ahead of Orthodox Christmas celebrations in early January, following celebrations by Western Christians on Dec. 25. The fight erupted between monks along the border of their respective areas. Some shouted and hurled brooms.

Palestinian security forces rushed in to break up the melee, and no serious injuries were reported. A Palestinian police spokesman would not immediately comment.

A fragile status quo governs relations among the denominations at the ancient church, and to repair or clean a part of the structure is to own it, according to accepted practice. That means that letting other sects clean part of the church could allow one to gain ground at another's expense. Similar fights have taken place during the same late-December cleaning effort in the past.

Tensions between rival clergy at the church have been a fact of life there for centuries and have often been caught up in international politics.

In the 1800s, friction between the denominations at the church ? each backed by foreign powers ? became so fraught that Russian Czar Nicholas I deployed troops along the Danube to threaten a Turkish sultan who had been favoring the Catholics over the Orthodox.

Those disagreements threaten the integrity of the church itself, which was originally built 1,500 years ago and parts of which have fallen into disrepair. Although the roof has needed urgent work for decades, and leaking rainwater has ruined much of the priceless artwork inside, a renovation has been delayed all these years by disagreements among the denominations over who would pay.

Only recently, the Palestinian Authority brokered an agreement to move ahead with replacing the roof, and officials hope work will begin in 2012.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-28-ML-Mideast-Brawling-Clergymen/id-514bda616e7f427a8b4726aa18c1d40a

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How to Turn Off 4G LTE Network Mode on the Galaxy Nexus and Save Battery

Who can resist browsing the Internet at lightning-fast speeds? Thanks to 4G LTE, you can download an app or a song within seconds. This excellent performance comes with a price, however.

Though many of today?s batteries have been designed to keep up with the demands of regular usage, some people may find their devices? battery power running out rather quickly. This could mean a variety of things, but for users of the Samsung Galaxy Nexus, your device?s connection to Verizon?s 4G LTE network may be a factor for the power drain.

If you find your device losing power at a disappointing speed, then it is recommended to switch off your 4G network connection when not in use. The process is quite easy. You can just follow these steps to switch from 4G LTE network mode to 3G:

1. Slide the Notifications window open.
2. Tap the Settings button at the top.
3. Tap the ?More? button.
4. Select Mobile Networks.
5. Select Network Mode.
6. Select CDMA.

By choosing CDMA for your network mode, your device is kept from constantly searching and finding 4G networks in your area, thus resulting in battery savings. This also means your phone will be running on 3G until you change the settings again.

Planning to stream a few YouTube videos or watch a full movie without the hassle of buffering? Turn 4G LTE back on by going through the same path and selecting LTE/CDMA. Your device will now automatically connect to any available 4G LTE network in your vicinity. You?ll be able to surf the Internet at your preferred speed again, but it?s highly recommended to do so when you?re sure you can recharge easily. After all, you won?t need to surf the Internet while you?re driving, so switch over to 3G until you get home or until you really need it.

As an effect of 4G LTE?s blazingly fast download speeds, the Galaxy Nexus? battery drains faster. Though turning it off may mean having to browse the Internet at a slower speed than you like, speed is a small sacrifice especially if you?re looking to extend your battery life for a few more hours. This is certainly handy if you?re traveling or if you do not have your device?s charger or an outlet within easy reach. You can also opt to turn off 4G when you?re in locations with poor 4G signal. Whenever you need to squeeze out a couple more hours of juice from your battery, make sure to give your network settings a visit and temporarily turn of 4G LTE network mode.

Do you often find yourself running out of battery while using your Galaxy Nexus?? What other battery-saving tips can you think of to help save battery power?

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/PlanetAndroidCom/~3/skcEJ4xLsfc/

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Video: Ron Paul Blames Israel For 2009 War, Defends Hamas

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Trending in Mexico: Housewives becoming pro wrestlers

Christmas at our house is always the same: Dad plays the piano, mom whips up her famous chocolate gingerbread cookies, and grandma catches Uncle Dale in a perfect leg lariat and forces him to submit in the first round. That?s unusual in this country, but not in Mexico, where a growing number of women are turning to professional wrestling to help make ends meet.

The bouts pay between $10 to $200 ? a pittance compared to the lucrative contracts earned by male competitors ? but in a country where the average annual wage is $6,000.

And the sport, which is steadily growing in popularity, is also providing an outlet for victims of domestic violence keen to stand up to their abusers.

Shown above is Chispita (Little Spark), jumping over another wrestler, Catrina, during a street match in Mexico City recently. Catrina, 56, is a grandmother of seven, by the way. They call it Lucha libre wrestling in Mexico, in which most participants wear masks and take on secret identities. It?s hugely popular, so I hear. And from the looks of it, some bouts are not well regulated.

I?m guessing you won?t see any of the Top Ten Wrestling Moves of All Time in these bouts. But I could be wrong.

***
Mexican wrestling housewives taking on the macho world of Lucha libre [Daily Mail]

Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5668620276

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Putin ejects Kremlin "puppet master" after protests (Reuters)

MOSCOW (Reuters) ? The architect of Vladimir Putin's tightly controlled political system became one of its most senior victims on Tuesday when he was shunted out of the Kremlin in the wake of the biggest opposition protests of Putin's 12-year rule.

The sacrifice of Vladislav Surkov, branded the Kremlin's 'puppet master' by enemies and friends alike, is also a rare admission of failure for Russia's 'alpha dog' leader: Surkov's system was Putin's system.

With irony worthy of Surkov's cynical novels, the Kremlin's 47-year-old political mastermind was shown grinning on state television when told by President Dmitry Medvedev that he would oversee modernization as a deputy prime minister.

When asked why he was leaving the Kremlin, Surkov deliberately misquoted a slogan from the French Revolution, saying: "Stabilization is eating up its children."

Almost in passing, Surkov told Interfax news agency he would not be running domestic politics after nearly 13 years doing exactly that from the corridors of the Kremlin.

Why? "I am too notorious for the brave new world."

His post will be taken by Putin's chief of staff and Surkov's arch enemy, Vyacheslav Volodin, a wealthy former lawyer who hails from Putin's ruling United Russia party. Anton Vaino, a 39-year-old former diplomat, becomes Putin's chief of staff.

By ejecting Surkov from the Kremlin just two months before the presidential election, Putin is betting that he can neutralize some of the anger against his rule by projecting the impression of a brave new world of political reform.

"What happened today is nothing more than shuffling people from one office into another," Mikhail Prokhorov, Russia's third richest man who demanded Surkov be sacked in September, said through a spokesman. "Little will change from these shifts."

Though Surkov's exit may not usher in a vast political change, it is the end of an era for one of Putin's most powerful aides. And at Putin's court, personalities count for everything.

PUTIN'S ARTIST

Described as Russia's answer to France's Cardinal Richelieu or a modern-day Machiavelli, Surkov was one of the creators of the system Putin crafted since he rose to power in 1999.

To admirers, "Slava" Surkov is the most flamboyant mind in Putin's court: a writer of fiction who recited poets such as Allen Ginsberg but also strong enough to hold his own against the KGB spies and oligarchs in the infighting of the Kremlin.

To enemies, Surkov is a dangerous artist who used his brains to expand Putin's power and whose intellectual snobbery made Russian citizens beads in a grand political experiment called "Vladimir Putin."

Fond of black ties and sometimes unshaven, Surkov survived many turf wars but he could not survive the biggest protests of Putin's rule or Putin's need to find someone to blame for them.

As the manager of United Russia, the Kremlin's point man on elections and ultimately the day-to-day manager of Putin's political system, Surkov bore direct responsibility for the protests which have pitted Russia's urban youth against Putin.

He did not answer requests for comment.

Brought into the Kremlin under Boris Yeltsin in 1999 to serve as an aide to then chief of staff Alexander Voloshin, Surkov helped ease the handover of power to Putin.

He then worked with Putin and then President Medvedev to consolidate power, repeatedly using the specter of the chaotic 1990s to warn against swift change.

PUTIN'S SYSTEM

In practice, Surkov's rule meant centralizing power in Putin's hands: Surkov moved regional decision-making to the Kremlin, struck down any attempt at autonomy and directed party politics.

Such was his power that Russia's top party officials, journalists and cultural leaders would visit him in the Kremlin for 'direction' on how to present events to the public.

"He is considered one of the architects of the system," Putin's former finance minister, Alexei Kudrin, told Kommersant FM radio.

"Now this system is being revised. New organizers are needed with different views on the political system," said Kudrin, who has offered to lead dialogue between the opposition and the authorities.

Signs of trouble for Surkov appeared in May when Volodin -the man who eventually took his job - helped Putin create a new movement, or popular front, that would compete with the United Russia party for Putin's patronage.

Volodin, a dollar millionaire fond of ducking reporters questions with irony or personal needling, presented thereporters' popular front to Putin as a way to revive the ruling party.

Volodin's stock rose after securing 65 percent of the vote for Putin's party in Saratov, a region where he was born.

Then in September, the main scriptwriter of Russian politics became the focus of an intriguing unscripted conflict with Prokhorov - the whizz kid of Russian finance - over the fate of a minor opposition party which was crippled by the Kremlin.

"There is a puppet master in this country who long ago privatized the political system and has for a long time misinformed the leadership of the country," Prokhorov, whose fortune Forbes put at $18 billion, said at the time.

"His name is Vladislav Yuryevich Surkov," said Prokhorov, who demanded Putin sack Surkov. Putin had to personally calm down the two sides in the row, two sources said.

But after mass protests in major Russian cities against the parliamentary election and against Putin himself, Surkov's analysis differed to that of his boss.

Putin has dismissed the protesters as chattering monkeys or a motley crew of leaderless opponents bent on sowing chaos, but Surkov gave a more refined view: he said they were among the best people in Russian society.

"You cannot simply swipe away their opinions in an arrogant way," said Surkov, who will now have to move his portrait of Argentine-born revolutionary Che Guevara from his Kremlin office.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111227/wl_nm/us_russia_surkov

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Study: Indoor Tanning Linked With Early Onset of Skin Cancer (Time.com)

Given that indoor tanning beds were officially classified as a human carcinogen in 2009 -- up there with cigarettes and asbestos -- it should be fairly obvious that frequent tanning-booth exposure would increase your risk of skin cancer.

Indeed, the evidence linking indoor tanning with melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer, and squamous cell carcinoma, one of the more common forms of the disease, is "convincing," according to the World Health Organization's International Agency for Research on Cancer. But the research concerning tanning beds and basal cell carcinoma, the third and most frequent major type of skin cancer -- which accounts for some 80% of all skin cancer cases in the U.S. -- has thus far been inconsistent. (See pictures of a photographer's intimate account of her mother's cancer ordeal.)

Basal cell carcinoma, a slow-growing cancer, has traditionally been a disease of middle age. But it's been appearing with increasing frequency in people under 40, especially in women -- a demographic that also happens to like indoor tanning -- suggesting a link. So researchers at the Yale School of Public Health sought to study the association.

The study included 376 people under 40, who had been diagnosed with basal cell carcinoma between 2006 and 2010. They were matched with a control group of 390 dermatology patients who were diagnosed with minor skin conditions like cysts and warts. All participants had skin biopsies, and all were drawn from a Yale University database.

The researchers interviewed each participant about their UV exposure -- both in tanning beds and outdoors. They also asked about their history of sunburns, sunscreen use, family history of melanoma and non-melanoma skin cancers, and their self-reported eye, skin and hair color.

The conclusion: people who had ever used a tanning booth were 69% more likely to develop early-onset basal cell carcinoma than never tanners. Those who used tanning booths more regularly -- for at least six years -- were more than twice a likely to develop basal cell carcinoma, compared with never tanners.

The study found that women were far more devoted than men to indoor tanning, which might help explain why 70% of all early onset basal cell carcinomas occur in females. The authors concluded that about 27% of cases of early onset disease -- including 43% of cases in women -- could be prevented if people simply stopped using tanning booths.

That's a tall order, considering that some 30 million Americans use indoor tanning beds each year. Policy changes, such as the recent California ban on teen tanning, may help, the authors suggest. So would behavioral interventions aimed at women -- at least one study in 2010 found that the best way to get young women to tan less was to warn them about the skin-wrinkling effects of tanning-bed exposure, not the risk of skin cancer.

"Importantly, indoor tanning is a behavior that individuals can change. In conjunction with the findings on melanoma, our results for [basal cell carcinoma] indicate that reducing indoor tanning could translate to a meaningful reduction in the incidence of these two types of skin cancer," said Leah M. Ferrucci, first author of the paper and a postdoctoral fellow at the Yale School of Public Health, in a statement.

See TIME's Pictures of the Week.

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Japan to loosen ban on arms exports

2011-12-27 10:31

Tokyo - The Japanese government decided on Tuesday to relax its ban on arms exports to enable international collaboration in producing weapons, media reports said.

The decision came against a background of rising Chinese military power and the threat from North Korea, a nuclear power.

The new rules would enable Japan to jointly develop and manufacture weapons with other countries, Kyodo News reported. They will also allow Japan to supply equipment for humanitarian purposes.

Japan will still be "cautious" in cases which do not come under these exceptions to the ban, Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura said.

The Security Council of Japan, headed by Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, took the decision to relax the ban.

Japan has applied three principles to arms exports since the 1960s: no sales to communist countries; no weapons for states involved in international conflicts; and no arms exports to countries subject to United Nations embargoes.

Those rules led to a virtual ban since the 1970s and prevented Japanese companies from developing arms with foreign manufacturers other than some cooperation with the United States, Tokyo's most important ally.

Japanese companies will now be able to jointly develop and produce weapons with other friendly countries. The cost of modern weapons systems means that increasingly their design and production are multinational cooperative efforts.

Critics say they fear the change could damage Japan's post-war pacifist image.

Japan would stick to its pacifist principles and not fuel international wars, Fujimura said.

- SAPA

Source: http://www.news24.com/World/News/Japan-to-loosen-ban-on-arms-exports-20111227

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H.S. SPORTS: Area teams to host holiday tournaments

Some high school teams consider the time from several days before Christmas to a couple of days after New Year's Day to be a break.

But most consider that a break only from league games and every day practices.

Because in reality, the majority of area sports teams are in action during this hoilday time, and most travel out of the area to participate in those events.

There are four events scheduled to be hosted by area teams -- the Hound Invitational Tournament (HIT) at Shippensburg and the Fannett-Metal Christmas Tournament for boys basketball, the Teddy Thanos Lions Club Tournament for girls hoops and the Dale Bock Memorial Holiday Tournament at Chambersburg for wrestling (see Tuesday's paper for preview).

The F-M Christmas and HIT have had long lives -- this year is the 39th edition at Fannett-Metal and it's the 38th for Shippensburg.

However, the F-M event will have a different look because Forbes Road decided not to participate this year for the first time in quite a while. Shalom Christian has taken the Cardinals' spot.

The HIT was only a three-team event last year, but picked up Exeter to go with Camp Hill and Palmyra.

The Lions Club tourney at Forbes Road has the same four teams as last year -- the host Cardinals, Fannett-Metal, Hyndman and the Frederick (Md.) Force.

Chambersburg's boys did not play in a holiday tournament a year ago, but have been invited to the Red Lion Tournament. The Trojans are paired against Penn Manor in the

first round, while the host Lions take on Bradford, which is making the trip from the northernmost part of the state.

The Trojan girls were originally scheduled to play in a tournament at Susquehanna Township, but that event was scrapped. So Chambersburg will host Palmyra on Wednesday and play at Warwick on Thursday.

Southern Fulton's boys get the holiday schedule kicked off tonight, playing Hancock at the Tri-State Shootout in Berkeley Springs, W.Va.

Other boys teams in action this week include Greencastle-Antrim (Doub Tourney in Williamsport, Md.), James Buchanan (Big Spring Holiday) and Cumberland Valley Christian (Valley Forge Christian).

Shippensburg's girls (Lower Dauphin Winter Classic), James Buchanan's girls (Big Spring Holiday) and Southern Fulton's girls (Hancock, Md. Holiday) are also competing this week.

Greencastle (Francis Scott Key) and Waynesboro (Conestoga Valley) are involved in individual style wrestling events this week, while Chambersburg, JB and Ship will all compete at Big Spring's Bulldog Bash swimming meet.

----------

Ed Gotwals can be reached at 262-4755 and egotwals@publicopinionnews.com.

----------

Below are the holiday tournaments taking place this week involving area teams:

BOYS BASKETBALL

Tri-State Shootout -- Today and Tuesday at Berkeley Springs, W.Va.; Southern Fulton (4-1), Hancock, Md. (1-3), Clear Spring, Md. (6-0), Berkeley Springs (3-2)

Red Lion -- Tuesday and Wednesday; Chambersburg (2-4), Penn Manor (3-2), Bradford (4-2), Red Lion (4-4)

Richard Doub -- Tuesday and Wednesday at Williamsport, Md.; Greencastle-Antrim (6-0), Broadfording (5-4), Mountain Ridge (2-3), Williamsport (1-4)

Hound Invitational -- Wednesday and Thursday at Shippensburg; Shippensburg (1-4), Camp Hill (1-5), Exeter (2-2), Palmyra (2-3)

Big Spring Holiday -- Thursday and Friday; James Buchanan (2-4), Northern (3-2), Mount Calvary (4-1), Big Spring (4-2)

Fannett-Metal Christmas -- Thursday and Friday; Fannett-Metal (2-4); Shalom Christian (5-3); Southern Huntingdon (1-4); Maryland School for the Deaf

Valley Forge Christian -- Thursday and Friday; Cumb. Valley Christian (2-5), Timothy Christian (3-1), Valley Forge, TBA

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Teddy Thanos Lions Club -- Tuesday and Wednesday at Forbes Road; Fannett-Metal (1-4), Forbes Road (1-4), Hyndman (1-4), Frederick Force (0-1)

Lower Dauphin Winter Classic -- Wednesday and Thursday; Shippensburg (4-2), Carlisle (4-2), Manheim Central (5-1), Lower Dauphin (4-3)

Hancock Holiday -- Wednesday and Thursday; Southern Fulton (4-0), Broadfording (2-2), Clear Spring (1-3), Hancock (1-4)

Big Spring Holiday -- Thursday and Friday; James Buchanan (1-5), Northern (0-6), Mechanicsburg (4-2), Big Spring (3-2)

WRESTLING

Francis Scott Key -- Wednesday, at Westminster, Md.; Greencastle-Antrim

Dale Bock Memorial Duals -- Thursday and Friday, at Chambersburg; James Buchanan, State College, Bermudian Springs, Chestnut Ridge, Carlisle, Gettysburg, Fairfield, Southern Huntingdon, Century, Md., Urbana, Md., Fluvanna County, Va.

Conestoga Valley -- Thursday and Friday; Waynesboro

SWIMMING

Bulldog Bash -- Wednesday, at Big Spring; Chambersburg, James Buchanan, Shippensburg

Source: http://www.gametimepa.com/ci_19619605?source=rss_viewed

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Women's College Basketball Schedule

All Times EST
Monday, Dec. 26

No games scheduled

Youngstown St. at Stony Brook, 7 p.m.

William Woods at W. Illinois, 6 p.m.

Texas A&M-CC at Indiana, 7 p.m.

Toledo at Northwestern, 7 p.m.

Bucknell at West Virginia, Noon

Bryant at CCSU, 1 p.m.

South Carolina at Drexel, 5 p.m.

Cornell at Canisius, 5:15 p.m.

Quinnipiac at American U., 7 p.m.

Columbia at Fairleigh Dickinson, 7 p.m.

St. Francis (NY) at Manhattan, 7 p.m.

Duquesne at Pittsburgh, 7 p.m.

Howard at Seton Hall, 7 p.m.

UT-Martin at Louisville, Noon

North Florida at Bethune-Cookman, 5:30 p.m.

Gardner-Webb at NC Central, 6 p.m.

Samford at Florida, 7 p.m.

Yale at Florida St., 7 p.m.

Furman at Georgia, 7 p.m.

Winthrop at Mercer, 7 p.m.

Old Dominion at Tennessee, 7 p.m.

Brevard at UNC Asheville, 7 p.m.

George Washington at William & Mary, 7 p.m.

Georgia St. at Jacksonville St., 8 p.m.

Kentucky at Middle Tennessee, 8 p.m.

Marshall at Tennessee Tech, 8 p.m.

Longwood at Notre Dame, 2 p.m.

Morehead St. at SE Missouri, 6:30 p.m.

Providence at Akron, 7 p.m.

Lake Erie at Cleveland St., 7 p.m.

Marygrove at IUPUI, 7 p.m.

Chicago St. at Miami (Ohio), 7 p.m.

Valparaiso at Wright St., 7 p.m.

Alabama A&M at Illinois, 8 p.m.

Sam Houston St. at Kansas, 8 p.m.

Delaware St. at Texas, 4 p.m.

MVSU at Arkansas, 5 p.m.

Houston Baptist at Texas St., 6 p.m.

Texas Wesleyan vs. Prairie View at Houston, Texas, 6:30 p.m.

Nebraska Omaha at Tulsa, 7 p.m.

UALR at North Texas, 8 p.m.

TCU at Oklahoma, 8 p.m.

UTSA at SMU, 8 p.m.

Texas-Arlington at Texas-Pan American, 8 p.m.

UNC Greensboro at San Diego St., 5 p.m.

UTEP at Arizona St., 7:30 p.m.

UNLV at Arizona, 9 p.m.

Troy at Denver, 9 p.m.

Utah Valley at Utah, 9 p.m.

NC State vs. Florida Gulf Coast at the Stan Sheriff Center, Honolulu, 10 p.m.

Corban at Portland St., 10 p.m.

CS Bakersfield at San Diego, 10 p.m.

Alcorn St. at Hawaii, Mid

High Point vs. UMBC, 5 p.m.

Cincinnati at Virginia Tech, 7 p.m.

Elon vs. UMass, 4:30 p.m.

Wagner at Virginia, 7 p.m.

Morgan St. vs. VCU, 5 p.m.

Holy Cross at Miami, 7 p.m.

Lafayette at Maryland, Noon

Delaware vs. East Carolina, 2:30 p.m.

Coll. of Charleston at Tulane, 7 p.m.

Hampton vs. Cent. Michigan, 9 p.m.

Iona at Colgate, 2 p.m.

Princeton at Hofstra, 4 p.m.

Vermont vs. La Salle at Leede Arena, Hanover, N.H., 5 p.m.

James Madison vs. Richmond at Stabler Arena, Bethlehem, Pa., 5 p.m.

Siena at Maine, 6 p.m.

La Salle at Dartmouth, 7 p.m.

Harvard at Hartford, 7 p.m.

Kansas St. at Marist, 7 p.m.

Rider at Mount St. Mary's, 7 p.m.

Boston College at Saint Joseph's, 7 p.m.

Niagara at Syracuse, 7 p.m.

Loyola (Md.) at Towson, 7 p.m.

Rhode Island at Lehigh, 7:30 p.m.

Fairfield at UConn, 7:30 p.m.

NC A&T at Georgia Tech, 2 p.m.

Savannah St. at North Carolina, 2 p.m.

Md.-Eastern Shore at Wake Forest, 2 p.m.

W. Kentucky at Louisiana-Monroe, 6:30 p.m.

Austin Peay at Tennessee St., 6:30 p.m.

Kennesaw St. at Alabama St., 7 p.m.

SC-Upstate at Coastal Carolina, 7 p.m.

SC State at Jacksonville, 7 p.m.

Xavier at UNC Wilmington, 7 p.m.

LSU at Louisiana Tech, 8 p.m.

SE Louisiana at Mississippi, 8 p.m.

W. Carolina at Vanderbilt, 8 p.m.

Butler at Detroit, 7 p.m.

George Mason at Ohio, 7 p.m.

Missouri St. at Bradley, 8 p.m.

N. Illinois at E. Illinois, 8 p.m.

Ill.-Chicago at Green Bay, 8 p.m.

Loyola of Chicago at Milwaukee, 8 p.m.

IPFW at N. Dakota St., 8 p.m.

Wichita St. at N. Iowa, 8 p.m.

Oral Roberts at South Dakota, 8 p.m.

Oakland at S. Dakota St., 8 p.m.

S. Utah at UMKC, 8 p.m.

Florida Atlantic at Arkansas St., 6:35 p.m.

UNC Greensboro vs. Penn at Viejas Arena, San Diego, 5 p.m.

North Dakota vs. Idaho at Dahlberg Arena, Missoula, Mont., 6 p.m.

UC Irvine at CS Northridge, 7 p.m.

Cal St. Fullerton at Pacific, 8 p.m.

Southern Miss. at Montana, 9 p.m.

Alcorn St. vs. NC State at the Stan Sheriff Center, Honolulu, 9 p.m.

Bowling Green at Wyoming, 9 p.m.

Montana St. at E. Washington, 9:05 p.m.

Black Hills St. at N. Colorado, 9:05 p.m.

Brown at Dominican (Cal.), 10 p.m.

UC Riverside at Long Beach St., 10 p.m.

Saint Mary's (Cal.) at Loyola Marymount, 10 p.m.

Washington St. at Oregon, 10 p.m.

Washington at Oregon St., 10 p.m.

Gonzaga at Portland, 10 p.m.

Pepperdine at San Francisco, 10 p.m.

Stanford at Southern Cal, 10 p.m.

CS Bakersfield vs. Texas Tech at Jenny Craig Pavilion, San Diego, 10 p.m.

California at UCLA, 10 p.m.

N. Arizona at Sacramento St., 10:05 p.m.

Florida Gulf Coast at Hawaii, 11 p.m.

NJIT vs. Buffalo, 6 p.m.

New Hampshire at Iowa St., 8:30 p.m.

Albany (NY) at FIU, 6 p.m.

Auburn vs. Charlotte, 8 p.m.

Navy at Fordham, Noon

Coppin St. vs. Boston U., 2 p.m.

Norfolk St. at Monmouth (NJ), 2 p.m.

St. Bonaventure vs. Villanova, 4 p.m.

Third Place, TBA

Championship, TBA

Third Place, 4:30 p.m.

Championship, 7 p.m.

Third Place, 5 p.m.

Championship, 7 p.m.

LIU at Nevada, 5 p.m.

Mississippi St. vs. Oklahoma St., 7 p.m.

Dayton vs. South Florida, 5 p.m.

Binghamton at St. Peter's, 7:30 p.m.

Third Place, TBA

Championship, TBA

Third Place, 7 p.m.

Championship, 9 p.m.

Saint Louis vs. E. Michigan, 4 p.m.

St. Francis (Pa.) at Seattle, 6:15 p.m.

Bryant at Columbia, 4:30 p.m.

Vermont vs. Georgetown at Leede Arena, Hanover, N.H., 5 p.m.

Rhode Island vs. James Madison at Stabler Arena, Bethlehem, Pa., 5 p.m.

W. Michigan at American U., 7 p.m.

Quinnipiac at Army, 7 p.m.

Georgetown at Dartmouth, 7 p.m.

Howard at Fairleigh Dickinson, 7 p.m.

Rutgers at George Washington, 7 p.m.

Sacred Heart at Manhattan, 7 p.m.

Nebraska at Penn St., 7 p.m.

Duke at Temple, 7 p.m.

Richmond at Lehigh, 7:30 p.m.

Florida St. at UCF, 4:30 p.m.

Kent St. at Bethune-Cookman, 5:30 p.m.

Gardner-Webb at Campbell, 7 p.m.

UAB at Clemson, 7 p.m.

Southern Wesleyan at Georgia Southern, 7 p.m.

Notre Dame at Mercer, 7 p.m.

NC Central at North Carolina, 7 p.m.

Elizabeth City St. at William & Mary, 7 p.m.

Air Force at Alabama, 7:30 p.m.

Southern NO at Nicholls St., 7:30 p.m.

Seton Hall at Memphis, 8 p.m.

Jackson St. at Northwestern St., 8 p.m.

Michigan St. at Indiana, 6 p.m.

Chicago St. at Akron, 7 p.m.

Northwestern at Iowa, 7 p.m.

Minnesota at Purdue, 7 p.m.

S. Illinois at Illinois St., 7:05 p.m.

Evansville at Indiana St., 7:05 p.m.

Michigan at Illinois, 8 p.m.

Sam Houston St. at Missouri, 8 p.m.

Ohio St. at Wisconsin, 8 p.m.

MVSU at Baylor, 8 p.m.

Ark.-Pine Bluff at Cent. Arkansas, 8 p.m.

Centenary at Lamar, 8 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin at SMU, 8 p.m.

McNeese St. at Texas A&M, 8 p.m.

Rice at UTSA, 8 p.m.

Penn at San Diego St., 5 p.m.

Alcorn St. vs. Florida Gulf Coast at the Stan Sheriff Center, Honolulu, 6 p.m.

Southern Miss. vs. Idaho at Dahlberg Arena, Missoula, Mont., 6 p.m.

New Mexico at New Mexico St., 8:30 p.m.

North Dakota at Montana, 9 p.m.

Great Falls at Idaho St., 9:05 p.m.

NC State at Hawaii, 9:30 p.m.

Texas Tech at San Diego, 10 p.m.

Third Place, TBA

Championship, TBA

Third Place, TBA

Championship, TBA

Third Place, 1 p.m.

Championship, 3 p.m.

Third Place, 2 p.m.

Championship, 4 p.m.

Third Place, 8 p.m.

Championship, 10 p.m.

Third Place, 5 p.m.

Championship, 7:30 p.m.

Third Place, 4 p.m.

Championship, 6:15 p.m.

Colgate at Syracuse, Noon

Robert Morris at Duquesne, 1 p.m.

Bucknell at Mount St. Mary's, 1 p.m.

Lafayette at Pittsburgh, 1 p.m.

Hartford at Providence, 1 p.m.

Elon at West Virginia, 2 p.m.

Princeton at Drexel, 2:30 p.m.

Boston U. at St. John's, 3 p.m.

Longwood at Appalachian St., Noon

South Alabama at Middle Tennessee, 1 p.m.

Presbyterian at Charleston Southern, 2 p.m.

Winthrop at Coastal Carolina, 2 p.m.

Davidson at Wake Forest, 2 p.m.

Austin Peay at Morehead St., 2:45 p.m.

Florida Atlantic at Louisiana-Lafayette, 3 p.m.

Arkansas St. at Louisiana-Monroe, 3 p.m.

Tennessee Tech at UT-Martin, 3 p.m.

Tennessee St. at E. Kentucky, 4 p.m.

UNC Asheville at High Point, 4 p.m.

Liberty at Radford, 4:30 p.m.

Valparaiso at Detroit, Noon

Marquette at Toledo, Noon

Missouri Western at Nebraska Omaha, 1 p.m.

W. Illinois at IUPUI, 2 p.m.

Murray St. at SE Missouri, 2 p.m.

Jacksonville St. at SIU Edwardsville, 2 p.m.

Cleveland St. at Youngstown St., 2:05 p.m.

Wichita St. at Bradley, 3 p.m.

N. Illinois at DePaul, 3 p.m.

Loyola of Chicago at Green Bay, 3 p.m.

Ill.-Chicago at Milwaukee, 3 p.m.

Missouri St. at N. Iowa, 3 p.m.

S. Utah at South Dakota, 3 p.m.

IPFW at S. Dakota St., 3 p.m.

Oral Roberts at UMKC, 3 p.m.

Drake at Creighton, 3:05 p.m.

Marshall at Ball St., 4 p.m.

Oakland at N. Dakota St., 8 p.m.

Butler at Wright St., 8 p.m.

Troy at North Texas, 2 p.m.

Houston Baptist at Texas-Arlington, 2 p.m.

Texas Southern at TCU, 3 p.m.

Texas St. at UTEP, 4:05 p.m.

Arizona at Arizona St., 2 p.m.

California at Southern Cal, 2 p.m.

Bowling Green at Colorado St., 3 p.m.

Weber St. at Sacramento St., 3:05 p.m.

UALR at Denver, 3:30 p.m.

UC Irvine at Long Beach St., 4 p.m.

Colorado at Utah, 4 p.m.

Utah Valley at Boise St., 4:30 p.m.

San Francisco at Loyola Marymount, 5 p.m.

Washington at Oregon, 5 p.m.

Washington St. at Oregon St., 5 p.m.

Montana St. at Portland St., 5 p.m.

BYU at Saint Mary's (Cal.), 5 p.m.

Brown at San Jose St., 5 p.m.

Pepperdine at Santa Clara, 5 p.m.

Cal St. Fullerton at UC Davis, 5 p.m.

Stanford at UCLA, 5 p.m.

UC Santa Barbara at Cal Poly, 7 p.m.

UC Riverside at CS Northridge, 7 p.m.

N. Arizona at N. Colorado, 7:05 p.m.

Army at Yale, 4 p.m.

Kentucky at Florida, 1 p.m.

Arkansas at Georgia, 2 p.m.

Tennessee at Auburn, 3 p.m.

LSU at Mississippi, 3 p.m.

Alabama at South Carolina, 3 p.m.

Evansville at Illinois St., 1:05 p.m.

S. Illinois at Indiana St., 2:05 p.m.

Stephen F. Austin at Tulsa, 3 p.m.

St. Francis (Pa.) at Gonzaga, 5 p.m.

Shaw at New Mexico St., 5 p.m.

Source: http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/24-sports-news/article686029.ece

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Verizon iPhone Rumor & New Nintendo 3DS Details ? IGN Daily Fix, 1.10

The next Silent Hill gets wet, Nintendo reveals new 3DS details, and the never ending Verizon iPhone rumor continues, all on the IGN Daily Fix! IGN?s YouTube is just a taste of our content. Get more: www.ign.com Want this week?s top videos? Sign up go.ign.com

Source: http://theinternettomakemoney.net/2011/12/25/verizon-iphone-rumor-new-nintendo-3ds-details-ign-daily-fix-1-10/

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Aftermarket Automotive Modification | Paradigm Clock Network

Many fans install the big subwoofers from the trunk but if you require that space to carry other belongings, you might would like to reconsider. If what you're seeking can be a deep bass and something that won't use a big ban, you then really should just go along with a traditional subwoofer. For some folks a smaller sized subwoofer will be adequate for his or her desires.

4)Insert a faceplate adapter or set up cage in to the vehicle's stereo dock. Use a faceplate adapter unique towards your vehicle make, if out there. Slide the set up cage into the stereo dock and bend the metal tabs which includes a flat screwdriver to protected the cage in the dock.

Source: http://www.paradigmclock.net/health/aftermarket-automotive-modification/

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Holiday tribute to troops from Obama, first lady (AP)

WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama is wishing a Merry Christmas and happy holidays to all Americans in his weekly radio and Internet address, with a special message of thanks to the troops.

"Let's take a moment to give thanks for their service; for their families' service; for our veterans' service," the president said Saturday. "And let's say a prayer for all our troops standing post all over the world, especially our brave men and women in Afghanistan who are serving, even as we speak, in harm's way to protect the freedoms and security we hold dear."

The president was joined by his wife, first lady Michelle Obama, in recording the weekly address. Mrs. Obama added her own word of thanks, saying "let's make sure that all of them know just how much we appreciate everything they do."

The president noted that with the Iraq war over, the last troops from that conflict are home for the holidays. And the Obamas urged people to find a way to give back to the military, directing listeners to Joining Forces, the first lady's initiative to help military families.

Republicans also set aside talk of legislative and partisan battles in their weekly address, recorded by Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind.

Pence urged Americans to remember the troops and also to think of those who are less fortunate, struggling to make ends meet in the tough economy or unable to find work.

"This holiday season, let's all make a special effort to come alongside these families in their time of need and support local charities as they provide for the needs across our communities," Pence said. "Let's also make a point to personally reach out to that neighbor or friend who needs a helping hand, a kind greeting or an invitation ? it might be just the gift someone needed most."

___

Online:

http://www.JoiningForces.gov

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111224/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama1st_ld_writethru

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Featured Advertiser (Washington Post)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/178130324?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Video: Almost 85 million will travel by car this holiday

AAA projects 83.6 million Americans will be driving this holiday season. As for road conditions, a big storm system pushing across the South and the Ohio Valley could produce some tornadoes, along with rain and snow showers. NBC?s Brian Williams reports.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/45770686/

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Lifeboats Found Empty in Search for Oil Rig's Crew

AP

A survivor of the Kolskaya oil drilling platform being evacuated from the ship Magadan to a helicopter in the Sea of Okhotsk in a photo released by the Emergency Situations Ministry on Tuesday. Hopes for rescuing the 39 men still missing faded with the finding of four empty lifeboats.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/themoscowtimes/RUXi/~3/Brf43SUmzVM/450242.html

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T-Mobile USA and AT&T's seven-year UMTS roaming agreement gets detailed

Oddly enough, the main upside of the proposed T-Mobile USA / AT&T tie-up is coming to fruition, despite the fact that neither carrier will be merging into the other. We'd heard shortly after the breakup that both operators would be agreeing to a seven-year roaming deal, but hadn't noticed any specifics on it until now. According to T-Mob's parent company Deutsche Telekom, the two have come to terms on a UMTS roaming agreement for the US (read: no international deals here), which will "allow [T-Mobile] to improve its footprint significantly among the US population and offer its customers better broadband coverage for mobile communications services in the future."

The carrier's population coverage will increase from 230 million potential customers at present to 280 million. As a result of the deal with AT&T, coverage will be extended to many regions of America in which T-Mobile USA previously had neither its own high-speed mobile communications network nor the associated roaming agreements. As if that weren't enough, T-Mobile USA will also receive a large package of AWS mobile spectrum in 128 Cellular Market Areas (CMAs), including 12 of the top 20 markets (Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, Washington, Boston, San Francisco, Phoenix, San Diego, Denver, Baltimore and Seattle). Oh, and Deutsche Telekom gets $3 billion in cash. #winning

Continue reading T-Mobile USA and AT&T's seven-year UMTS roaming agreement gets detailed

T-Mobile USA and AT&T's seven-year UMTS roaming agreement gets detailed originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 20 Dec 2011 10:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink PhoneScoop  |  Deutsche Telekom  | Email this | Comments

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/20/t-mobile-usa-and-atandts-seven-year-umts-roaming-agreement-gets-d/

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Payroll Tax Debacle ? Has the GOP Gone Too Far?

December 21, 2011

House Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor of Virginia made an observation Wednesday morning about the congressional deadlock over extending a payroll tax cut and unemployment benefits that few could dispute: ?People are sitting there across America scratching their heads, wondering what Washington is doing.?

Indeed, there was something of a ?the-lunatics-are-running-the-asylum? feel to things in Washington one day after Cantor and the House Republicans overwhelmingly rejected a Senate-passed bipartisan bill that would have extended the payroll tax holiday and sorely needed unemployment benefits for two months, while Republicans, Democrats and the White House could hammer out a year-long solution.

The dispute between the two parties once again is over the size and scope of the tax and spending package and how to pay for it. House Republicans are insisting that a short-term solution would only create mass confusion among businesses that would have to adjust to a two-month extension of the tax holiday instead of a full year. Democrats insist the Republicans are simply looking for a way to deep-six the payroll tax extension because they don?t care that much about helping the middle class and they don?t think the tax break is doing much to spark economic growth.

Former Sen. Alan Simpson, R-Wyoming, who was co-chair of the president?s fiscal commission, told MSNBC: ?I?m sitting out here in the wilds of Cody, Wyoming, on a beautiful winter day and just shaking my old bald dome. I mean this cannot be the way to run the nation?s business. . . This is B.S. and mush, and the people are sick and tired of it.?

After blowing up the deal negotiated by Senate Democratic and Republican leaders and overwhelmingly approved by the full Senate last Saturday , Cantor and House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, summoned reporters this morning to say they are ready to roll up their sleeves and go to work to negotiate a year-long plan more acceptable to their members. To make the point, the leaders presented eight House Republican ?conferees? or negotiators who were selected to take part in the talks with the Senate and the White House.

?All we?re asking is to get the Senate members over here to work with us to resolve our differences so we can do what everyone wants to do,? and extend the payroll tax cut, Boehner said plaintively. Cantor appeared equally exasperated, noting, ?The President sits probably a mile away from here down Pennsylvania Avenue , while we?re sitting here. The differences between us are not very great . . . We?ve got time. Let?s get to work.?

It?s small wonder that House Republicans are suddenly eager to reopen negotiations over the popular proposals for extending a two-percentage-point reduction in the Social Security payroll tax for 160 million Americans. At least eight Senate Republicans have publicly denounced the House Republican parliamentary action that prevented an up-or-down vote on the Senate plan yesterday. Rep. Chris Van Hollen of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee, contends that the Senate-passed measure would have been approved in the House if Boehner and others hadn?t stood in the way of a vote. ?This House leadership is not interested in bipartisan solutions,? he said.

On top of that,?the conservative Wall Street Journal lambasted Boehner and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky for mishandling the payroll tax cut issue and handing President Obama and the Democrats a huge political advantage. ?Given how [McConnell] and House Speaker John Boehner have handled the payroll tax debate, we wonder if they might end up re-electing the President before the 2012 campaign even begins in earnest.?

For now, at least, Democrats are showing little interest in doing anything that would let the House Republicans easily off the hook, although a stalemate through the end of the year could mean serious economic problems for many Americans. More than three million people likely will lose unemployment insurance in the near future, and middle income families stand to see their tax bills rise by an average of $1,000 and $1,500 with the expiration of the payroll tax holiday.

---

Obama called Boehner today to urge him again to allow a vote on a Senate-passed measure that would extend a payroll tax holiday for two months, according to White House spokesman Jay Carney. Obama emphasized that Senate Republicans and Democrats had joined to pass the bipartisan measure, and he said House Republicans should drop their resistance to it and pass it as well, giving the two sides time to work out a full-year extension that the House GOP lawmakers have demanded.

Obama, who has put off his vacation to Hawaii for the time being, also conferred with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., on strategy. Reid has repeatedly refused to reopen negotiations on a year-long plan until the House approves the compromise that passed the Senate last weekend, 89 to 10. Thirty-nine of the 47 Senate Republicans voted for the package, giving it a clear bipartisan sheen. Boehner signaled late last week that he would go along with that plan, but backed down after many conservative rank and file members sharply opposed the deal. McConnell then changed course as well and backed Boehner?s call for derailing the deal.

In a letter today, Reid urged Boehner to bring the House back to approve the Senate bipartisan plan as soon as possible ?to avoid a middle class tax increase on Jan. 1.? ?As the Senate vote made clear, there is no reason for this to be a partisan issue,? Reid wrote. ?I am fully confident that we can work out our differences and find common ground on a year-long extension. But in the meantime, families should not have to worry that they will wake up to a tax increase on January 1, 2012,? Reid wrote.

Obama at one time insisted that Congress approve a year-long tax cut extension and extend the unemployment insurance benefits as part of his jobs package, but now he too is adamant that the House must approve the Senate-passed bill to protect millions of Americans from a tax increase that might further harm the economy. Obama said that it?s time to ?put politics aside, put aside issues where there are fundamental disagreements, and come together on things we can agree with? while putting an end to political brinksmanship?

To be sure, a last-minute deal is not out of the question. And the administration and Republican and Democratic leaders demonstrated last summer that they can move swiftly with parliamentary sleight of hand to cobble together a final agreement. But despite assertions by Boehner and Cantor that the two sides are not that far apart, fundamental differences over how to pay for a full year of extended tax breaks and unemployment insurance is what got them into the current fix.

A package that would extend the tax cut for a full year as well as extend unemployment insurance and avert a sharp reduction in Medicare reimbursement rates for doctors ? the so-called Medicare ?Doc Fix? -- would cost an estimated $200 billion. Last week, the House passed a Republican version of the measure that would increase Medicare premiums for upper-income seniors, as well as freeze federal workers salaries and shrink the size of the federal workforce.

House Democrats by contrast sought to raise taxes on wealthy Americans to offset the payroll tax cut. Senate Democrats at one point proposed a surtax on millionaires, but later dropped that demand. The two-month compromise finally engineered by Reid and McConnell would cost $36 billion and would be offset by raising the fees that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charge lenders for guaranteeing loans.

Sen. Chuck Schumer of New York, the third ranking Democrat in the Senate, said today that Democrats made many compromises in reaching the bipartisan deal with McConnell, and that it was ?an irrational move? by Boehner to disavow that has backfired on the Republicans.

?If they make us a formal offer [for a long-term compromise], we will consider it,? Schumer said, but first the House has to approve the two month extension.

Source: http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2011/12/21/House-Republicans-Tax-Cut-Mess.aspx

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Analysis: Could RIM's survival mean abandoning the BlackBerry? (Reuters)

TORONTO (Reuters) ? It might seem like corporate heresy but an increasing number of technology investors and experts are asking whether Research in Motion needs to ditch its BlackBerry handset business to survive.

The idea that is gaining favor, albeit only among a minority of shareholders, would see the Canadian company fully open its secure and highly respected network to rival smartphone providers and concentrate on that business while getting out of the hardware game altogether through a sale.

Disappointing quarterly results, including a dismal outlook for Blackberry sales and word that RIM would delay the introduction of new devices, sent its shares down more than 11 percent to their lowest levels in almost eight years on Friday.

Just before those numbers were released, activist shareholder Jaguar Financial called on the company to sell its handset business and monetize its patent portfolio while retaining the high-margin services business. "Jaguar believes that the road map to value restoration lies in a sale of RIM whether as a whole or in separate parts," it said.

RIM's spidery, data-crunching network reaches behind corporate firewalls and taps into mobile networks globally.

The network, unique among handset makers, has been a cornerstone of the BlackBerry's growth - with email and instant messages routed through RIM's own enterprise servers and data centers, where it is encrypted and pushed out to subscribers.

There are no middlemen to intercept corporate or state secrets, or even the flirty chats of teenagers who love the free BlackBerry messaging.

TERMINAL DECLINE?

Jaguar, which claims support from shareholders who own about 8 percent of RIM's stock but only owns a tiny fraction itself, also reiterated its call for a change in the company's leadership.

It has called for a new "transformational" leader to replace RIM's co-CEOs Mike Lazaridis, the company's co-founder, and Jim Balsillie, the mercurial salesman who has marketed the BlackBerry to the world.

It is not alone in wondering whether a sharp decline in Blackberry sales - the company said it expects the number of devices it ships in the quarter including Christmas will drop as much as 26 percent from a year ago - is a sign of terminal decline for the product.

The company's network has stronger margins and more secure recurring revenue, though it still needs to be fully exploited.

"If they want to maintain that asset, if not stabilize or grow it, they need to open it up to the other platforms and look at themselves as an enterprise software company," ThinkEquity analyst Mark McKechnie said.

RIM is likely already working on just such a change, said a U.S.-based shareholder, who declined to be identified. The fund manager, whose firm owns more than 1 million RIM shares, said delays launching new software and devices may reflect efforts to fully accommodate devices from outside RIM's own stable.

A year ago, talk of ditching the BlackBerry would have been almost unthinkable, let alone garner any serious attention. That was before a spectacular meltdown that has seen the device, once an essential tool in the top echelons of business and politics, being pushed aside by Apple's iPhone and smartphones powered by Google's Android software.

The deterioration in the business has been so great that some analysts now estimate that RIM is barely making money on BlackBerry sales.

MASSIVE DISCOUNTS

That isn't its only problem. The PlayBook, the company's latecomer in the tablet market dominated by Apple's iPad, has been a deflating disappointment, forcing RIM to offer massive discounts on the unloved device. It took a $485 million pre-tax charge for the Playbook, which runs on QNX software that RIM plans to use in its future devices.

The severity of RIM's problems shows up in its share price. It crashed to a low of just $13.12 on Friday, after trading as high as $144 in 2008 and about $70 in February this year. A company that was once worth almost $80 billion is now valued at barely $7 billion.

Meanwhile, the subscriptions that businesses and network operators pay RIM each month brought in more than $1 billion in each of the past two quarters.

The company declined to comment on talk that it will ever abandon the BlackBerry and did not grant interviews with either Lazaridis or Balsillie for this story.

Balsillie announced a comprehensive review of RIM's operations on a conference call with analysts on Thursday.

"We plan to introduce new devices into the smartphone and tablet market, as well as products and services that better leverage our global cloud infrastructure, and unique capabilities within the smartphone market, he said.

While RIM hasn't given any indication it plans to give up on its BlackBerry handset, it has started to emphasize its services business.

EXTRA STEP

In late November, RIM took a first step that could eventually lead to establishing the network as a standalone operation. It introduced a software tool giving corporate customers the option of linking iPhones and Android devices to the BlackBerry network.

The move stops short of offering outsiders access to its unique technology that encrypts data and pushes it out to the BlackBerry. Going that extra step is exactly what some critics suggest that RIM needs to consider.

RIM charges a monthly fee to every BlackBerry user, making its network a stable stream of revenue and giving the company an advantage over every other handset maker. For RIM, it has become a more reliable source of profit than shipping its own smartphones.

The strategic reasoning goes: Why build a staid Volvo or a flashy Ferrari when you can own the toll highway on which they drive?

"There is a massive under-utilized asset in the services infrastructure which is very profitable. I think they are getting ready to come to market with a way to leverage that," said the U.S. fund manager. "At a minimum, I think they are going to start aggressively doing things that leverage their infrastructure beyond RIM handsets."

RISK IN WAITING

Mike Abramsky, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, raised the prospect of RIM splitting in two back in July. For him, the biggest risk is waiting. He says RIM's still-growing global subscriber base gives it time to make the move, but the network too would suffer if the BlackBerry keeps slipping.

Alternative networks that provide many of the same features as the BlackBerry enterprise network are already making inroads. Eventually even that jewel could lose its cachet, he says.

"The risk in waiting is that as more companies switch over to alternatives, it will be difficult to attract them back to BlackBerry even as a network-only business," he said, referring to companies such as Good Technology and SAP's Sybase, which encrypt and manage data for iPhones and other devices.

Abramsky said offering a managed network for users of all handsets would expand RIM's potential market by six times or more. At the same time, the network business likely boasts an 80 percent gross margin versus a handset business in the high 20 percent range.

Lazaridis has been betting on reinvigorating the Blackberry by hoping that QNX, the new operating system, will help RIM catch up and perhaps overtake the iPhone and Google's Android and stifle Microsoft's emerging mobile platform.

The new system is supposed to allow devices to be updated on the fly and should also help third-party developers that struggle to write appealing apps in RIM's aging framework. A dearth of BlackBerry apps compared with Apple and Android has limited RIM's attractiveness to many consumers.

But RIM has yet to show it can make the transformation successfully. The first of the new generation of QNX-equipped smartphones - the BlackBerry 10 line - was initially promised for early next year, but on Thursday RIM said it did not expect to release a BlackBerry 10 device until the latter part of 2012.

The delay in the make-or-break QNX line will only accelerate the drive among investors for sweeping change.

What's clear to many investors and analysts is the status quo will mean an accelerating fade into irrelevance.

"Investors have been extremely patient and they're being asked to wait another year," said a Canada-based shareholder. "A year from now, will all this be too little, too late?"

(Editing by Frank McGurty, Janet Guttsman, Martin Howell)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111217/bs_nm/us_rim_blackberry

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