Among Small-Business Advocates, Reaction to President's Plan Is ...

The Agenda

How small-business issues are shaping politics and policy.

Advocates for small business ? including those in Congress ? had near uniformly mixed reactions to President Obama?s proposal Friday to temporarily elevate the Small Business Administration to a cabinet agency but then fold the S.B.A. into a super trade and commerce department. Uniformly mixed in that most people The Agenda contacted praised the decision to make the S.B.A. part of the cabinet but expressed caution about the consolidation proposal.

The president called for merging the S.B.A. with the Commerce Department and four trade-related agencies into, as the president put it in a speech on Friday, ?one department, with one Web site, one phone number, one mission: helping American businesses succeed.? In a conference call with reporters, Jeff Zients, deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, said the prospective new department would comprise four broad ?pillars.? Small business and economic development would be one of those pillars, and the S.B.A would be combined with economic development programs at other agencies into one of those mission areas. (The other pillars would be trade, technology and innovation, and statistics.)

As for concerns that the new agency might dilute the S.B.A.?s authority to speak for small business inside the government, Mr. Zients seemed to suggest that all American businesses might have to ally in a global economy. ?This integrated department will be about serving America?s businesses ? small, medium and large ? as they compete in the global marketplace,? he said.

Once the agencies are merged, Mr. Zients added, the S.B.A. would lose its seat at the president?s table. ?Once we have consolidation authority, once this specific proposal passes,? he said, ?we will have one integrated department that is led by a secretary who will be on top of all of the important assets and services that serve businesses.? The United States trade representative, whose office would be merged into the new department, would retain a separate cabinet position.

Leaders of the small-business committees in Congress said in separate statements that while they supported streamlining government, they would review the president?s plans carefully. ?The details will be critical,? said Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine, the top Republican on the Senate Small Business Committee. ?Of particular concern will be ensuring that entrepreneurs do not face new hurdles in obtaining assistance in starting, operating or expanding their small businesses ? whether accessing capital, pursuing exporting opportunities, or contracting with the federal government.?

Outside Congress, most small-business advocates treaded with similar care. ?On the one hand, reorganizing federal agencies to create a ?one-stop-shop? for America?s small businesses could streamline processes and make accessing information and assistance much easier,? Todd McCracken, chief executive of the National Small Business Association, said in a statement. ?On the other hand, such a reorganization could minimize the emphasis placed on small business by the federal government and lead to an even greater imbalance toward promoting the interests of large businesses over those of small business.?

John Arensmeyer, chief executive of the Small Business Majority, a group initially formed to back the administration?s health care reform, said: ?Right now small business has an independent agency that reflects its needs. The obvious concern is that by bringing this into larger agency there?s a risk that some of that voice gets lost. We know that government is held in very low esteem by small business, but the S.B.A. is an exception to that right now.?

There were some stronger views. For example, the American Small Business League, which protests the diversion of federal contracts for small business to large corporations, sided firmly with the other hand. ?This is not a move to save money,? said the league?s president, Lloyd Chapman, in a statement. ?This is a move to eliminate federal small-business contracting programs.?

But the head of one trade association for S.B.A.-backed lenders was optimistic. ?The lending policies and centralized loan operations of S.B.A. are among the more sophisticated in the federal government,? said Chris Crawford, president of the National Association of Development Companies, which represents lenders in the S.B.A.?s 504 loan program. In a reorganization, ?they become the model for the collapse of the far-flung bureaucracies into one unit called small-business lending ? worldwide. If anything, even in a larger reconstituted Commerce Department, access to credit for small businesses becomes a primary mission goal with much higher visibility.?

But opposition from the small-business constituency and its Congressional representatives, should it materialize, is only one obstacle for the administration to overcome ? many interests, and Congressional fiefdoms, are at stake. Just a few hours after the president spoke, Sen. Max Baucus, the Democratic chair of the Finance Committee, and Dave Camp, the Republican chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, jointly rejected any effort to relocate the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, an agency under their purview: ?Making it just another corner of a new bureaucratic behemoth would hurt American exports and hinder American job creation.?

And if the consolidation were to fail, those small-business advocates just might get the best of both worlds: an independent S.B.A. but with cabinet-level status.

Source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/14/among-small-business-advocates-reaction-to-presidents-plan-is-mixed/

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ABC Pulls Work It From Schedule, Replaces with Last Man Standing Repeats (omg!)

Well, that didn't take long.

After only two airings, ABC has pulled Work It from its schedule, TVGuide.com has confirmed.

The poorly reviewed series, which starred Ben Koldyke and Amaury Nolasco as two out-of-work men who dress in drag to get jobs as pharmaceutical reps, debuted Jan. 3 to 6.16 million viewers, with 4.9 million viewers turning in for the second week.

ABC boss: Still no premiere date for Cougar Town; Grey's looks strong

Work It ? which had already been criticized by GLAAD and deemed "an instant early candidate for Worst Show of 2012" ? posted a 2.0 rating among 18-to-49-year-olds in its debut. That's 17 percent below the opening demo of the time slot's previous occupant, Man Up!, which managed to attract 7.7 million viewers for its debut. (The series sank to 4.8 million viewers by its final outing.)

Still, ABC President Paul Lee stood behind the show at the network's winter TV previews Tuesday. "I looked at our portfolio of shows, and certainly, I wanted to bring some new types of shows," Lee said. "We certainly thought there was room for some ambitious shows, some really sexy, sticky shows like Revenge and Scandal, and some sophisticated, smart shows like Suburgatory. I thought there was room, personally, for a very, very, very silly show, and I tried it. We'll see where it goes."

Ratings: Work It premiere worse than Man Up!

For the remainder of January, ABC will air repeats of Last Man Standing in Work It's Tuesday night 8:30/7:30c timeslot. No word on whether the network plans to air the remaining episodes of the series. Sadly, there's also still no premiere date for the third season of Cougar Town.

Will you miss Work It?

Related Articles on TVGuide.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_abc_pulls_schedule_replaces_last_man_standing_repeats070100159/44176074/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/abc-pulls-schedule-replaces-last-man-standing-repeats-070100159.html

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Exclusive 'LUV' Clip: Cracking Crabs With Common

If you aren't too confident with a crab and a mallet, don't worry. Common will show you the way.
In this exclusive clip from "LUV," Common plays a man with a troubled past who forms an unlikely bond with his nephew over the course of one day in Baltimore. Here, he shows the boy how to [...]

Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2012/01/12/exclusive-luv-clip/

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Coast guard: ship aground off Italy, bodies found (AP)

PORTO SANTO STEFANO, Italy ? A luxury cruise ship ran aground off the coast of Tuscany, sending water pouring in through a 160-foot (50-meter) gash in the hull and forcing the evacuation of some 4,200 people from the listing vessel early Saturday, the Italian coast guard said.

Three bodies were recovered from the sea, said Coast Guard Cmdr. Francesco Paolillo. There were reports that three other people had died after the accident late Friday night near the tiny Tuscan island of Giglio, but those reports were not yet confirmed, he said.

Twelve hours after the accident, the ship was lying virtually flat, its right-hand side submerged in the water.

Passengers complained the crew failed to give instructions on how to evacuate the Costa Concordia and that the evcauation drill was only scheduled for Saturday afternoon. Authorities still hadn't counted all the survivors.

"It was so unorganized, our evacuation drill was scheduled for 5 p.m.," said Melissa Goduti, 28, of Wallingford, Connecticut, who had set out on the cruise of the Mediterranean hours earlier. "We had joked what if something had happened today."

Helicopters plucked to safety some 50 people who were trapped on the ship after it listed so badly they couldn't launch lifeboats, Paolillo told The Associated Press in Rome by telephone from his command in the Tuscan port city of Livorno.

Passenger Mara Parmegiani, a journalist, told the ANSA news agency that "it was like a scene from the Titanic."

Survivor Christine Hammer, from Bonn, Germany, shivered near the harbor of Porto Santo Stefano, on the mainland, after stepping off a ferry from Giglio. She was wearing elegant dinner clothes ? a cashmere sweater, a silk scarf ? along with a large pair of hiking boots, which a kind islander gave her after she lost her shoes in the scramble to escape, along with her passport, credit cards and phone.

Hammer, 65, told The Associated Press that she was eating her first course, an appetizer of squid, on her first night aboard her first-ever cruise, which was a gift to her and her husband, Gert, from her local church where she volunteers.

Suddenly, "we heard a crash. Glasses and plates fell down and we went out of the dining room and we were told it wasn't anything dangerous," she said.

The passengers were then instructed to put on life jackets and take to the life rafts but, Hammer said, they couldn't get into the boats because the cruise liner was tilting so much the boats couldn't be lowered into the cold, night sea. The passengers were eventually rescued by one of several boats in the area that came to their aid.

"It was terrible," Hammer said, as German and Spanish tourists were about to board buses at the port.

"No one counted us, neither in the life boats or on land," said Ophelie Gondelle, 28, a French military officer from Marseille. She said there had been no evacuation drill since she boarded in France on Jan. 8.

As dawn neared, a painstaking search of the 290-meter (950-foot) long ship's interior was being conducted to see if anyone might have been trapped inside, Paolillo said.

"There are some 2,000 cabins, and the ship isn't straight," Paolillo said, referring to the Concordia's dramatic more than 45-degree tilt on its right side. "I'll leave it to your imagination to understand how they (the rescuers) are working as they move through it."

Some Concordia crew members were still aboard to help the coast guard rescuers, he said.

Paolillo said it wasn't immediately known if the dead were passengers or crew, nor were the nationalities of the victims immediately known. It wasn't clear how they died.

Some 30 people were reported injured, most of them suffering only bruises, but at least two people were reported in grave condition.

Paolillo said the Concordia was believed to have set sail with 3,206 passengers and 1,023 crew members.

Some passengers, apparently in panic, had jumped off the boat into the sea, a Tuscany-based government official, Grosseto prefect Giuseppe Linardi, was quoted as saying. Authorities were trying to obtain a full passenger and crew list from Costa, so they could do a roll call to determine who might be missing.

The evacuees were taking refuge in schools, hotels, and a church on the tiny island of Giglio, a popular vacation isle about 18 miles (25 kilometers) off Italy's central west coast. Those evacuated by helicopter were flown to Grosseto, while others, rescued by local ferries pressed into emergency service, took survivors to the port of Porto Santo Stefano on the nearby mainland.

Passengers sat dazed in a middle school opened for them, wrapped in woolen blankets with some wearing their life preservers and their shoeless feet covered with aluminum foil.

Survivors far outnumbered Giglio's 1,500 residents, and island Mayor Sergio Ortelli issued an appeal for islanders -- "anyone with a roof" to open their homes to shelter the evacuees.

Paolillo said the exact circumstances of the accident were still unclear, but that the first alarm went off about 10:30 p.m., about three hours after the Concordia had begun its voyage from the port of Civitavecchia, en route to its first port of call, Savona, in northwestern Italy.

The coast guard official, speaking from the port captain's office in the Tuscan port of Livorno, said the vessel "hit an obstacle" ? it wasn't clear if it might have hit a rocky reef in the waters off Giglio ? "ripping a gash 50 meters (160 feet) across" in the side of the ship, and started taking on water.

The cruise liner's captain, Paolillo said, then tried to steer his ship toward shallow waters, near Giglio's small port, to make evacuation by lifeboat easier.

But after the ship started listing badly, lifeboat evacuation was no longer feasible, Paolillo said.

Five helicopters, from the coast guard, navy and air force, were taking turns airlifting survivors still aboard and ferrying them to safely. A coast guard member was airlifted aboard the vessel to help people get aboard a small basket so they could be hoisted up to the helicopter, said Capt. Cosimo Nicastro, another Coast Guard official.

Costa Cruises said the Costa Concordia was sailing on a cruise across the Mediterranean Sea, starting from Civitavecchia with scheduled calls to Savona, Marseille, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Cagliari and Palermo.

It said about 1,000 Italian passengers were onboard, as well as more than 500 Germans, about 160 French and about 1,000 crew members.

The Concordia had a previous accident in Italian waters, ANSA reported. In 2008, when strong winds buffeted Palermo, the cruise ship banged against the Sicilian port's dock, and suffered damage but no one was injured, ANSA said.

___

D'Emilio reported from Rome.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120114/ap_on_re_eu/eu_italy_cruise_aground

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Among Small-Business Advocates, Reaction to President's Plan Is ...

The Agenda

How small-business issues are shaping politics and policy.

Advocates for small business ? including those in Congress ? had near uniformly mixed reactions to President Obama?s proposal Friday to temporarily elevate the Small Business Administration to a cabinet agency but then fold the S.B.A. into a super trade and commerce department. Uniformly mixed in that most people The Agenda contacted praised the decision to make the S.B.A. part of the cabinet but expressed caution about the consolidation proposal.

The president called for merging the S.B.A. with the Commerce Department and four trade-related agencies into, as the president put it in a speech on Friday, ?one department, with one Web site, one phone number, one mission: helping American businesses succeed.? In a conference call with reporters, Jeff Zients, deputy director for management at the Office of Management and Budget, said the prospective new department would comprise four broad ?pillars.? Small business and economic development would be one of those pillars, and the S.B.A would be combined with economic development programs at other agencies into one of those mission areas. (The other pillars would be trade, technology and innovation, and statistics.)

As for concerns that the new agency might dilute the S.B.A.?s authority to speak for small business inside the government, Mr. Zients seemed to suggest that all American businesses might have to ally in a global economy. ?This integrated department will be about serving America?s businesses ? small, medium and large ? as they compete in the global marketplace,? he said.

Once the agencies are merged, Mr. Zients added, the S.B.A. would lose its seat at the president?s table. ?Once we have consolidation authority, once this specific proposal passes,? he said, ?we will have one integrated department that is led by a secretary who will be on top of all of the important assets and services that serve businesses.? The United States trade representative, whose office would be merged into the new department, would retain a separate cabinet position.

Leaders of the small-business committees in Congress said in separate statements that while they supported streamlining government, they would review the president?s plans carefully. ?The details will be critical,? said Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine, the top Republican on the Senate Small Business Committee. ?Of particular concern will be ensuring that entrepreneurs do not face new hurdles in obtaining assistance in starting, operating or expanding their small businesses ? whether accessing capital, pursuing exporting opportunities, or contracting with the federal government.?

Outside Congress, most small-business advocates treaded with similar care. ?On the one hand, reorganizing federal agencies to create a ?one-stop-shop? for America?s small businesses could streamline processes and make accessing information and assistance much easier,? Todd McCracken, chief executive of the National Small Business Association, said in a statement. ?On the other hand, such a reorganization could minimize the emphasis placed on small business by the federal government and lead to an even greater imbalance toward promoting the interests of large businesses over those of small business.?

John Arensmeyer, chief executive of the Small Business Majority, a group initially formed to back the administration?s health care reform, said: ?Right now small business has an independent agency that reflects its needs. The obvious concern is that by bringing this into larger agency there?s a risk that some of that voice gets lost. We know that government is held in very low esteem by small business, but the S.B.A. is an exception to that right now.?

There were some stronger views. For example, the American Small Business League, which protests the diversion of federal contracts for small business to large corporations, sided firmly with the other hand. ?This is not a move to save money,? said the league?s president, Lloyd Chapman, in a statement. ?This is a move to eliminate federal small-business contracting programs.?

But the head of one trade association for S.B.A.-backed lenders was optimistic. ?The lending policies and centralized loan operations of S.B.A. are among the more sophisticated in the federal government,? said Chris Crawford, president of the National Association of Development Companies, which represents lenders in the S.B.A.?s 504 loan program. In a reorganization, ?they become the model for the collapse of the far-flung bureaucracies into one unit called small-business lending ? worldwide. If anything, even in a larger reconstituted Commerce Department, access to credit for small businesses becomes a primary mission goal with much higher visibility.?

But opposition from the small-business constituency and its Congressional representatives, should it materialize, is only one obstacle for the administration to overcome ? many interests, and Congressional fiefdoms, are at stake. Just a few hours after the president spoke, Sen. Max Baucus, the Democratic chair of the Finance Committee, and Dave Camp, the Republican chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, jointly rejected any effort to relocate the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, an agency under their purview: ?Making it just another corner of a new bureaucratic behemoth would hurt American exports and hinder American job creation.?

And if the consolidation were to fail, those small-business advocates just might get the best of both worlds: an independent S.B.A. but with cabinet-level status.

Source: http://boss.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/01/14/among-small-business-advocates-reaction-to-presidents-plan-is-mixed/

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Guest at Ohio dog pound was a real pig

PAULDING, Ohio (AP) ? A dog pound in northwest Ohio has said goodbye to a guest more appropriate for a barnyard.

The Paulding County dog warden took in a pot-bellied pig for a few days this week after a woman who'd been sitting for the animal got stuck with him when the owners wouldn't take him back.

Dog Warden Georgia Dyson normally doesn't accept anything other than dogs. But she tells The (Toledo) Blade (http://bit.ly/yMpfvv ) she felt bad for the pig-sitter, whom she described as a senior citizen unable to care for the animal.

Dyson says she fed pig feed to the 14-week-old pig, named Bacon Bits and about the size of a beagle. He got french fries as a treat.

A rescue farm came to fetch Bacon Bits on Wednesday.

___

Information from: The Blade, http://www.toledoblade.com/

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2012-01-12-Dog%20Pound%20Pig/id-cc250c5b66f4450ea67d4d2d24bee145

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China rejects linking trade and Iranian nukes (AP)

BEIJING ? A top Chinese diplomat on Monday rejected linking Iran's nuclear program to trade, adding to tensions with Washington on the eve of a visit by U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to seek support for sanctions on Tehran's oil industry.

A deputy foreign minister, Cui Tiankai, said China's trade with Iran, an important oil supplier, has nothing to do with the Iranian nuclear program.

Washington is pressuring Tehran to abandon what Western governments say is an effort to develop nuclear weapons. Sanctions approved by President Barack Obama on New Year's Eve would bar financial institutions that deal with Iran's central bank from the U.S. market.

"The normal trade relations and energy cooperation between China and Iran have nothing to do with the nuclear issue," Cui told reporters. "We should not mix issues with different natures, and China's legitimate concerns and demands should be respected."

China's fast-growing economy is the world's biggest energy consumer and obtained about 11 percent of its oil imports from Iran last year. Industry analysts say Beijing is unlikely to support an oil embargo against Iran because such huge imports would be next to impossible to obtain from other sources.

The sanctions have led to a clash of interests between Washington and key commercial and strategic partners in Asia.

South Korea and Japan also depend on Iranian oil and are negotiating with Washington in an effort to keep supplies flowing. South Korea obtains up to 10 percent of its oil from Iran, while Japan gets nearly 9 percent.

The dispute threatens to add to irritants in U.S.-Chinese ties, which are strained by disputes over market access and pressure on Beijing to ease currency controls that Washington complains are swelling its trade surplus.

"We feel strongly that all countries including China ought to be looking hard at how we can reduce dependence on Iranian oil as a way to send a signal to that government that it needs to come back under compliance with its international obligations," U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told a news briefing in Washington.

Cui, one of the top officials in charge of relations with Washington, said Beijing supports nuclear nonproliferation efforts but believes Iran is entitled to develop peaceful atomic energy.

He rejected suggestions that anyone who does business with Iran is providing money for nuclear programs.

"According to this logic, if the Iranians have enough money to feed their population, then they have the ability to develop nuclear programs. If that is the case, should we also deny Iran the opportunity to feed its population?" he said.

"We believe the livelihood of the Iranian people and the normal economic ties between countries in the world and Iran should not be affected."

Chinese purchases of Iranian crude averaged about 560,000 barrels per day in 2011, rising to 617,000 barrels in November, close to one-third of Iran's total exports of 2.2 million barrels per day, according to oil industry analysts Argus Media.

____

Associated Press writer Matthew Pennington in Washington contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/china/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120109/ap_on_bi_ge/as_china_us_iran

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Innovation Excellence | Five Tech Trends Impacting Business ...

Highlights From Our 2012 Consumer Electronics Show (CES) Trend Guide

Judging several categories of the CES Innovation Awards over the last three years has revealed five patterns we, at UPSTREAM, believe will impact the business of innovation for marketers, researchers and technologists in the near term:

1. QUANTIFIED SELF & M-HEALTH
Personal biometrics and digital enabled behavior analysis will increasingly let consumers discreetly track and manage their lives more effectively.

Financial professions, digital marketers and healthcare enterprises may have been the first to actively track and analyze behavioral-lifestyle data. However, as self tracking digital products, augmented apparel and online data tools enable advanced user analytics for individuals, personal metrics will become the next big thing.

Novel apps and devices will increasingly let consumers discreetly manage their health more productively. Self analysis tools have just begun to trickle into the market with technology like Fitbit and JawboneUP. Research company Technavio predicts that the global mobile health applications market will reach USD 4.1 billion by 2014, up from USD 1.7 billion in 2010.

You?ll see solutions for diagnosing, monitoring and treating a variety of illnesses ? from obesity to asthma, from poor vision or hearing to high blood pressure. Seemingly disparate data points, work activity, commute, financial and calendar data will be compared to health behaviors to achieve new understanding of ones self. This data tracking will create new benefits for the individual. It will also intensify the data concerns and scrutiny if online and cloud services that support the system of personal data storage.

Need further proof? Apple?s App Store currently offers 9,000 mobile health apps (1,500 cardio apps, 1,300 diet apps, 1,000 stress and relaxation apps, and 650 women?s health apps). By mid-2012, this number is expected reach 13,000 (Source: MobiHealthNews, September 2011).

Collecting, sharing, tracking and optimization of oneself is a major trend for 2012. Look for this trend to extend into other sectors throughout the year.

SEEN AT CES:

Withings? Blood Pressure Monitor plugs into an iPad, iPhone or iPod Touch and takes the user?s blood pressure. Data can be sent directly to a doctor or published (confidentially) on the Web. Also look for their Wi-Fi enabled scales which can measure both weight and fat mass and upload the data to a web portal.

October 2011 saw US automotive company, Ford, demonstrate three apps offering in-car health monitoring. The sample apps use Ford?s SYNC Applink software to enable drivers to access certain mobile health apps while driving to keep track of chronic conditions such as diabetes, asthma and hay fever.

AT&T announced in October that it will begin selling clothes embedded with health monitors, able to track the wearer?s vital signs (including heart rate and body temperature) and upload them to a dedicated website. According to AT&T, apart from its sports based applications, these biomonitoring clothes line will also be uniquely beneficial for a range of uses including fire fighters, policemen and even military personnel. Above all, the health tracking clothes are expected to greatly entice the interest of the senior citizens, where in they will have the freedom of wearing health monitors in a more fashionable way.

The B1 Basis Band is a watch-like wellness aid includes optical blood flow and galvanic skin sensors to track your pulse rate, calorie burnrate and sleep patterns.

Released in November 2011, Jawbone?s Up is a wristband personal tracking device that tracks a user?s moving, eating and sleeping patterns. The device syncs with an iPhone app, and users can set the device to vibrate when they have been inactive for a period, compete against friends and even earn real life rewards for completing activity challenges.

Look for this trend to continue as startup, Misfit Wearables, recently acquired funding to launch a wearable product focused on helping control a chronic condition by the end of 2012. Investors include John Sculley, CEO of Apple.

2. GESTURAL INTERFACES & AUGMENTED REALITY
New natural interfaces based on movement will allow more intuitive control of tech, increasing access to information and digital content.

Augmented reality may have become an attention getter in the marketing world in 2011, but new computer interfaces and augmented screens will reach a tipping point in 2012 as touchscreen and mobile sensing and accelerometer innovations go mainstream. New Natural User-Interfaces (NUI?s) allow more intuitive control of computer applications, manipulation of digital content and information. Bridged to local data and online content, these new interfaces use people?s movements and gestures to create a bridge between the real world and the digital world.

Progressive consumer electronics companies have realized the importance of making the products around us simpler to use, rather than blindly adding more features because they can. This trend is enhanced by the increased capabilities of natural interfaces to combine all theses new environmental elements of gesture, movements, location, voice-command, biometric response and soon, our moods and our thoughts.

In 2012 will see Near Field Communication (NFC mobile-wireless data transfer capability) becoming more prevalent in mobile products and will drive an exponential growth in mobile (hence personal) interactions. Early examples of NFC enabled gesture interactions will be mobile payment and information sharing through natural gestures (like the Bump contact sharing app).

This all leads to a new form of interaction that?s more intuitive, natural and easy for consumers to adopt. It changes the game of marketing content creation, customer interaction and creates opportunities for information providers and product technologists to ultimately make digital more ?human?.

SEEN AT CES:

Easily maintain your desired comfort level in your home with this learning thermostat from NEST LABS that remembers your temperature adjustments and programs itself to build a personalized schedule based on your preferences. Its passive interface also knows when you are not home (via proximity sensors) and is intelligent enough to make the appropriate adjustments. Additional information is provided while it is being adjusted by their owners so as to give them real-time feedback about the energy usage implications of their selection and provides suggestions on how to save energy.

SoftKinetic develops gesture recognition hardware and software for interaction with digital entertainment, gaming, interactive digital signage, advergaming and physical therapy.

Their software can recognize various scenic elements, track user?s body; and adapt digital content to the user?s movements, and vice versa.

The next-generation of Microsoft?s Kinect is said to be so accurate it can read lips, voice pitch and facial characteristics (and complex finger movements and gestures) to determine what mood the player is in.

The Kinect platform has the potential to create new paradigms in the way that we interact with computers and communicate. Expect the Kinetic sensor technology to be incorporated into displays, TVs, ultrabooks and mobile phones as it becomes miniaturized.

It?s likely to be available in 2013, but look for an announcement at CES.

ExoDesk, a collaboration between ViewSonic and ExoPC, is a desk with an embedded computer and unique user-interface. It reads input from 10 fingers and hand gestures to make moving tools, virtual keypads, objects and images around the desktop easy and intuitive.

Over the next year, look for more gesture recognition and natural user-interface innovations migrate over from the gaming world to be used in the interaction with TVs and computers (such as the next-generation Microsoft Kinect).

3. SoLoMo CONTENT + DATA EXCHANGE
Mobile ?geoawareness? technology, will create dramatic paradigm shifts to how we shop, socialize and how we are marketed to.

SoLoMo = SOCIAL, LOCAL, MOBILE. Fuelled by multiple ?geo-awareness? technology components, location-based marketing will create new types of value exchanges between marketers and consumers. Behavioral data tracking will evolve to real time value creation between marketers, content creators, consumers and social networks. Marketers will be challenged to explore new types of social-interpersonal currency for consumers to feel more connected and valued ?in-the-moment? as they go about their daily lives.

The advantages from the consumer?s perspective are that ubiquitous mobile access allows you to be connected at any location whilst connected to your entire social network and their opinions, advice and buying power. Brands will need to find value intersections, based on immediate needs and emotional opportunities as they get further squeezed out as message and information provider.

In 2012 expect products and services to make it more effortless (through the processing of passive-data) to contribute to anything ? from connecting likeminded strangers for recommendations, pinpointing roads in need of repairs to finding signs of extraterrestrial life.

Consumers can and will increasingly broadcast data about where and what they are doing (if they consent to do so) to create new social opportunities to connect with their friends, valued products and people with shared interests.

Tech devices create continuous data-exhaust of daily life that provide marketers rich data to mine for insight. 2012 will be the beginning of a long journey of navigating real time, local connectivity and understanding big data.

SEEN AT CES:

Euclid is analogous to Google Analytics for the physical world. ?The Euclid sensor anonymously detects smart phones as they move around the area of your store, both inside and out, so data is collected without visitors having to ?opt-in? ? so their privacy is kept intact.

Euclid provides store owners with visitor-based analytics ? such as how many people walked by, how many walked through the door, how many were new vs existing customers and how long did they stay.

The eBay Inspiration Shop is a selection of products curated by celebrities, editors & stylists shoppers can purchase instantly by scanning a QR code in a mobile application.

Digby Mobile Commerce from AT&T helps to lift sales by delivering a user friendly interface for consumers to search, browse and buy products on their mobile phones. It allows retailers to provide information, pictures of products, rich media and an enhanced shopping experience when potential customers scan barcodes. Retailers are provided with analytics about customer buying behaviors.

Amazon?s Flow app, enables consumers to research products in-store (through image recognition) and to purchase them.

Looxcie is the creator of the first mobile-connected, hands-free, wearable video cam that frees people to record and share on the go. Looxcie owners can record their lives and share clips instantly to their social network or record and stream live video.

In 2012, marketers will continue to explore ways to utilize mobile SoLoMo data but will need to create clear value for consumers and not overstep their privacy boundaries, acting more transparently.

4. SOCIAL TELEVISION
Integration of Social Media and The Cult of Influence into the TV experience will transform it from a media consumption device to a content curating experience.

In years past, CES has been a slightly ridiculous technology race to build the largest or thinnest TV with seemingly little thought to improving their usability. Many will persevere with that race, so expect the proliferation of the 4K resolution standard (4000 pixel columns), high-contrast OLED screens, 3D tech and ultra-thin bezels. However watch for innovations in this space that mark some progress of the shifting role of the TV in our lives and homes.

Television is already has a social aspect to it, whether it?s talking to the person next to you, texting, tweeting or calling friends about what you?re watching. But it?s about to become a much more social experience.

Expect the popularity of Social Media and The Cult of Influence to migrate the TV away from being a pure consumption medium/device to a creation device. The TV will enable us to become connected to others, curators of content right on our couches, and online participants, instead of TV watching zombies.

Expect that a gargantuan ?Cloud Fight? for dominance of cloud computing between Apple, Google, Amazon, Netflix and cable providers (such as AT&T and Time Warner) to extend into a fight for dominance in control of living room content and access to behavioral insight.

The blurry line separating TV and computer screens will go away as cloud computing allows content to be seamlessly moved between primary screens and second screens. Increasingly within our lives, display devices and projected imagery will become fixtures like picture frames, mirrors and faucets.

Personalized content, social multilayered entertainment will be cost of entry for the marketing-media-tech world as viewing technology becomes commodity.

SEEN AT CES:

IntoNow is a TV companion app recently bought by Yahoo. It makes engaging with your friends around your favorite television shows easy and fun.

The app picks up on audio cues made by whatever you?re watching on TV and then displays websites, game scores, even Twitter feeds of musicians and other famous types shown on the big(ger) screen. Just tap the green button when you?re watching, and IntoNow will identify the show, right down to the episode. Once identified, it?s easy to share the content with your friends on Twitter or Facebook.

Flingo is the embedded technology inside many internet-connected TVs that allows media partners like Fox, Showtime and Etsy and others to build apps that integrate both. It enables broadcasters and advertisers to build mobile and web applications that are aware of what television content you are watching.

Broadcasters can provide additional relevant content to on-air shows in those applications, increasing engagement with users on the second screen.

Disney Second Screen is an interactive onscreen film feature accessible via a computer or iPad app that provides additional content to you as you view a movie. The movie links with the viewer?s device through an audio cue, a manual sync, or with a visual sync indicator. As the film plays on your television, interactive elements such as trivia, photo galleries, and animated flipbooks appear on the iPad or computer screen.

Disney Second Screen is currently available to use on an iPad or computer with Flash.
Fanhattan is an entertainment service that lets you discover and watch TV and movies on your iOS device from many popular services including Netflix, Hulu Plus, iTunes, Vudu, and ABC.

The application allows you browse related content including recommendations from friends, reviews from Rotten Tomatoes, ratings, trailers, actor and crew bios, soundtracks, fan gear, and more.

In 2012, many expect Apple to make a TV based on the Siri voice-commands. They are expected to make a ?media related? announcement in late January 2012. It could be that they make public new deals with cable operators and pay TV operators that extend their reach as a content provider.

5. D.I.Y. & DIGITAL OBJECTIFICATION
The ?appification of everything?, open source tech and accessible manufacturing merge the tangible product and digital, online worlds.

Digital and interactive technologies have been bound in the past to browsers, websites and technology devices. Invention and manufacturing of physical product has been constrained by accessibility to closed and complex manufacturing chains. This is changing as open source hardware, software and manufacturing technologies mainstream, and what we deem ?product? will change. And it will be more accessible to all.

3D printing, computer-controlled cutting and sintering; originally used for rapidproduct prototyping, have now evolved and proliferated to where they have spawned a whole new distributed manufacturing network. This new network of local, distributed manufacturers has enabled the mass-customization of electronic products, furniture, jewelry, and even aircraft engines.

Open-source electronic prototyping platforms (such as Arduino) have similarly allowed new freedoms in the creation of interactive electronic objects. 3D printers will, in the not too distant future new electronics will also be able to produce electronic circuitry and components. Apple iOS, Android and code libraries and new online creation software allow for virtually anyone to create social mobile and online applications more easily.

Pioneering companies such as Ponoko, Etsy and Shapeways have sprouted communities that allow creators to upload their designs, have them produced and provide a virtual market-place for them to promote and sell their products.

We?re watching this movement carefully ? as all brands will have to react to this massive, future upheaval that could effect CPG, computer, gaming and retail worlds.

SEEN AT CES:

Ford and Bug Labs, will develop and distribute opensource developer tools to advance in-car connectivity innovation.

Ponoko is one of the first manufacturers to use distributed manufacturing and on-demand manufacturing. They make it possible for designers to meet customers, ?where creators, digital fabricators, materials suppliers and buyers meet to make (almost) anything.?

Their website can be used by customers as a virtual marketplace to promote and sell their digital designs and products. ?It is a green idea- producing only when something is wanted, transporting ideas instead of physical objects.

Berg?s ?Little Printer? was created in collaboration with Foursquare, The Guardian, Nike, ARUP, and Google.

It?s a tiny device that sits in your home, bringing you information from the web. You hook it up with a wireless connection, and then use your phone to configure what sources of content you like to receive ? news, puzzles, messages from friends, weather updates or reminders.

The Little Printer (available in 2012) is the first in a family of products that will be known as Berg Cloud.

MakerBot Industries is a Brooklyn, New York-based company producing open source hardware, specifically 3D printers. MakerBot builds on the early progress of the RepRap Project with the goal of bringing desktop 3D printing into the home at an affordable price.

Makerbot are one of several sources of 3D printers and laser cutters designed around low-cost parts and freeware in the spirit of opensource. The source files needed to make these devices are freely available, allowing anyone to build their own from scratch.

The Disney Appmate toys have unique footprints that the iPad?s touch screen is able to recognize and read movement from. The app then tailors the game according to the toy?s character.

GreenGoose sensors are wireless stickers and stick on anything that moves ? to automatically tell you what?s happening; a frisbee is caught, or the toilet seat goes down.

In 2012 look for more brands to experiment with physical product that has embedded technology to add real time, data driven, trandsmedia film, digital and consumer generated ?story?.

Click here to download the complete 2012 CES Trend Guide

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---

Jeff Mulhausen is a Design Strategist and Founding Partner of UPSTREAM. Also authors, Andy Hunter is a Brand Strategist, Jerry Courtney is a Media Technologist, and Paul Noble-Campbell is a Product Designer. UPSTREAM is a brand and innovation consultancy that empowers leaders to innovate more effectively, enabling businesses to reach new targets and achieve sustained growth.

Related Posts

Source: http://www.innovationexcellence.com/blog/2012/01/11/five-tech-trends-impacting-business-innovation-in-2012/

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Woman pleads guilty to LA airport bomb hoax (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? A Southern California woman who called in a bomb threat to keep her husband from boarding a plane at Los Angeles International Airport has pleaded guilty to a federal crime.

City News Service says 50-year-old Johnna Woolfolk of Lynwood entered the plea Thursday to a felony charge of conveying false and misleading information.

She faces a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a $250,000 fine when she's sentenced in April.

Woolfolk admitted to the FBI that she phoned AirTran Airways last November and said her husband was carrying a bomb to an Atlanta-bound flight. The FBI questioned him and he missed the flight.

Woolfolk said she made the call because the couple had fought and she thought her husband was going to see another woman.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120113/ap_on_re_us/us_airliner_threat_hoax

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Satellites help track pirate loot in Somalia

X doesn't mark the spot where pirates stash their loot, but the night-time glow of artificial lighting is a dead giveaway.

A satellite study has shown for the first time where Somali pirates are putting the proceeds of crime ? and suggests where strategies against their banditry might and might not work.

Warships from 30 nations patrol the waters off Somalia but still piracy continues, costing $12?billion a year. The naval threat just makes pirates squeeze more out of every ship they manage to capture: top ransoms trebled from $3?million to $9?million between 2008 and 2010.

One solution could be to give Somalis something better to do on shore. To target that assistance, though, we have to know who profits from piracy and who does not. With no effective government and no government statistics in Somalia, that's hard to find out.

Anja Shortland of Brunel University in London thinks she has a solution. In a report for the international affairs think tank Chatham House in London, she reports that two major inland towns in Puntland, the pirates' home region, have started lighting up more at night.

Night lights

In the world's poorest places, the movements and prosperity of people can be traced by the appearance of electric lights, which is recorded by US weather satellites. Such images have been used to track population clusters in west Africa that are likely to harbour measles outbreaks.

Shortland averaged a year of light readings from Puntland to exclude transitory lights such as campfires. She found that night-time glow of the pirate home towns of Garoowe and Boosaaso has been climbing since 2008 (see photo) ? even as piracy took off and higher food prices forced other towns in the region to cut their electricity bills.

Meanwhile, local prices for food and cattle reveal increased spending locally, coinciding with pirate activity in the Arabian Sea. All this suggests Garoowe and Boosaaso are doing quite well.

Pirate courtesy

Somali custom means the pirates spend their loot on their extended families and clans rather than stashing it abroad ? or in buried chests. Pirates are known for their expensive cars, weddings and drug habits, says Shortland.

This good news for clans is bad news for the fight against marine crime. "Piracy appears to lead to widespread economic development and therefore has a large interest group behind its continuation," Shortland reports.

By contrast, the coastal towns the pirates sail from are getting very little: they don't emit even enough light to show up in the night-time images. Higher-resolution satellite photos show new roads, houses and mosques in the larger towns (see photo), but very little in the isolated, impoverished coastal villages (see photo).

In interviews, villagers speaking to foreign aid workers express frustration that so little of the largesse trickles down to them, says Shortland.

Coastal disappointment with the gains of piracy suggests that foreign governments trying to end piracy should consider offering port towns alternative industries or jobs that could be more attractive than hosting pirates.

However, cracking down on the bigger towns that are the pirates' strongholds would deprive one of the world's poorest nations of an important source of income, says Shortland, and just make the root problem ? poverty ? worse.

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Greek bond swap falling short, governments may fill gap: sources (Reuters)

FRANKFURT (Reuters) ? Talks about private sector creditors paying for part of a second Greek bailout are going badly, senior European bankers said on Wednesday, raising the prospect that euro zone governments will have to increase their contribution to the aid package.

"Governments are mulling an increase of their share of the burden," said one of the bankers, who is familiar with the talks.

Banks and investment funds have been negotiating with Athens for months on a bond swap scheme to cut Greece's debt burden from 160 percent of the nation's annual output to a more manageable 120 percent by 2020. This is central to a second, 130 billion euro ($165 billion) bailout that international lenders have drawn up to help the country avert default.

As part of these talks, banks have agreed a "voluntary" 50 percent write-down on Greek debt holdings but have faced demands to make further concessions, a factor that has made it less attractive for some of the investors to take part on a voluntary basis.

The participation rate among private sector investors is currently less than 75 percent, which means Greece's debt will be reduced by far less than expected, the source said.

Asked whether governments will have to put up more cash to make up for such a shortfall, another senior banker said: "Nothing is decided yet, but the bigger the imposed haircut, the less appetite there is for voluntary conversion."

A third senior banker, who was asked the same question, said: "Private sector involvement is going badly."

There are suggestions in euro zone government circles that ministers are realizing they may need to bolster the planned second bailout if the voluntary bond swap scheme falls short of expectations.

Stumping up yet more money would be politically difficult in Germany and other countries in the northern part of the currency bloc.

An Athens-based source close to the talks on private sector involvement (PSI) insisted: "The government is pushing hard and is close to signing a deal." But the source declined to give an indication about take-up.

MERKEL, SARKOZY INSIST

On Monday, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy insisted private-sector bondholders must share in reducing Greece's debt burden and said no further aid would flow to Athens without a deal.

Banks and other private sector creditors attempted to agree a deal before Christmas to cut the value of their bonds by half in return for a mix of cash and new bonds.

But the talks hit trouble over the details of the debt swap such as the coupon, maturity and the credit guarantees. These will determine the bonds' Net Present Value (NPV), and thereby the actual hit the banks need to take.

Policymakers insist agreement is near despite weeks of talks already. EU Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said on Tuesday negotiators were "about to finalize shortly".

Athens needs to conclude the deal and secure funding from its euro zone partners and the International Monetary Fund to be able to redeem 14.5 billion euros of maturing bonds on March 20. A deal needs to come well before that, because the paperwork alone takes at least six weeks.

Hedge funds who have picked up Greek debt are intent on staying out of the bond swap deal, sources say. They either prefer letting the country go under, which would trigger the credit insurance they have bought, or hope to get paid out in full if enough others sign up.

But Athens could change its laws and impose Collective Action Clauses which would force all creditors to sign up to the bond swap if a clear majority had voluntarily done so.

Charles Dallara, the head of a group representing private-sector banks, will hold talks in Athens on Thursday with Greek government officials on a voluntary swap of privately held Greek bonds, a spokesman for Dallara's Institute of International Finance said.

According to a weekend report in German magazine Der Spiegel on Saturday, the IMF believes Greece will still be sinking under the burden of its debts even after a bond swap deal is struck, and that further measures may need to be taken if the country is to avoid default.

($1 = 0.7882 euros)

(Reporting by Edward Taylor and Philipp Halstrick,; additional reporting by Dina Kyriakidou; writing by Mike Peacock; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120111/bs_nm/us_eurozone_greece

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100th Anniversary of the Republic of China

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Source: www.cfr.org --- Sunday, January 08, 2012
January 12, 2012 ...

Source: http://www.cfr.org/region/china/ri271

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Is Ron Paul getting too much media attention?

Appearances by Ron Paul over the past several days in New Hampshire have been jammed, to the point where one crucial stop degenerated into chaos.

Ron Paul followers have long complained their guy does not get enough media coverage. They echo the words of comedian Jon Stewart, who last August pointed out that reporters generally ignored Representative Paul following his second-place finish in the Ames, Iowa, straw poll. ?How did libertarian Ron Paul became the 13th floor of a hotel?? Mr. Stewart asked on his ?Daily Show.?

Skip to next paragraph

Well, Paul?s the main lobby now. A media horde follows him everywhere. Is he getting too much press attention ? so much that it's interfering with his ability to get out his preferred campaign message?

On one level, the answer to that is obviously ?yes.? Paul?s appearances over the past several days in New Hampshire have been jammed, to the point where one crucial stop degenerated into chaos.

Paul seemed ?overwhelmed? by the madness at a morning event at Moe Joe?s diner in Manchester on Monday, according to CNN political reporter Dana Bash.

Paul circulated some in the room, but eventually he and his wife, Carol, were forced to retreat because of the media scrum. Cameras followed them outside and surrounded their black SUV. One voter pounded on the vehicle?s windows, pleading for Paul to come back inside. A heckler called Paul ?chicken? and played the chicken dance song on portable electronic equipment.

?The scene rendered Paul?s SUV immobile for about 5 minutes ? until his security was forced to move everyone out of the way,? said an ABC News account of the incident.

Paul?s campaign apologized for the incident in a post on his website. The statement noted that Mrs. Paul got shoved by a cameraman and claimed that 120 reporters had created a moblike atmosphere.

?The campaign had planned to cover our normal degree of media interest, which is always ample. However, a significant increase in the press corps, largely driven by an influx of foreign journalists, exceeded all expectations,? said the Paul statement.

Should Paul really be blaming this on ?foreign? journalists? And were they foreign in the sense that they?re from another country, or are they fresh troops reassigned from the Bachmann beat?

Anyway, the real point is that this is a bad time for Paul?s campaign machine to develop problems. Monday was the last campaign day in New Hampshire, where Paul is projected to finish in second place, and meet-and-greets have been crucial to Paul?s appeal everywhere.

As New York Times polling analyst Nate Silver notes on Tuesday, Mitt Romney?s and Paul?s share of the vote has remained stable in a volatile year ? in part because of the skill of their organizations.

?Mr. Romney and Mr. Paul have built the best field operations in New Hampshire and other early-voting states, many Republicans say,? writes Mr. Silver on his FiveThirtyEight blog.

The harsh scrutiny of the media could be damaging to Paul on a more abstract level, as well. The press is like a searchlight: It has a narrow focus, but when it shines on you, it can be blinding. In recent weeks, media reports of racist language in old newsletters printed under Paul?s name have angered his campaign and reminded voters of an old controversy involving the libertarian.

Reports have also focused on Paul?s refusal to completely disavow any intention to run as a third-party candidate, or his refusal to promise to support any eventual Republican nominee in the fall. This has caused some conservatives to begin to grumble about Paul?s continued participation in the GOP process.

?Having thus used the GOP?s brand and standing to hoard a metric ton of attention for himself, the very least he could do, even if he could not bring himself to promise to support the eventual GOP nominee, would be to promise not to run against the GOP?s nominee under the banner of some other party,? wrote contributor Leon Wolf on the conservative RedState blog on Monday.

Meanwhile, Paul is continuing to do OK in polls. A new CBS survey finds a hypothetical race between Paul and Barack Obama as a statistical tie, with Paul the choice of 45 percent of respondents and Obama the choice of 46 percent. Among Republican candidates, only Romney does better: He leads Mr. Obama 47 to 45 percent in CBS?s findings.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/OpV1ufZvUc8/Is-Ron-Paul-getting-too-much-media-attention

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Israel preparing for nuclear Iran: report

LONDON: Israel is preparing for Iran to become a nuclear power and has accepted it may happen within a year, the London Times reported on Monday citing an Israeli security report.

The Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) think-tank prepared scenarios for the day after an Iranian nuclear weapons test at the request of former Israeli ambassadors, intelligence officials and ex-military chiefs, the paper reported.

Israel has so far maintained it will do all within its power to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear capabilities, but has shifted its position following recent United Nations' reports, according to the Times.

The UN atomic agency said Monday that Iran is now enriching uranium at a new site in a hard-to-bomb mountain bunker, in a move set to stoke Western suspicions further that Tehran wants nuclear weapons.

INSS specialists including a former head of Israel's National Security Council and two former members of the prime minister's office conducted the simulation study in Tel Aviv last week.

If Iran does test a nuclear weapon, INSS predicts a profound shift in the Middle East power balance.

According to extracts of the report seen by the British publication, experts believe the US would propose a defence pact with Israel, but would urge it not to retaliate.

Russia would seek an alliance with the US to prevent nuclear proliferation in the region, although Saudi Arabia would likely pursue its own nuclear programme, the report concluded based on current policies.

INSS specialists believe that an Iranian test in January 2013 would follow increasingly provocative demands by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime, including the redrawing of its Iraqi borders and action against the vessels of the US Fifth Fleet.

"The simulation showed that Iran will not forgo nuclear weapons, but will attempt to use them to reach an agreement with the major powers that will improve its position," said a passage of the report published by the Times.

"The simulation showed that (the Israeli military option), or the threat of using it, would also be relevant following an Iranian nuclear test," it added.

Israel condemned intelligence chief Meir Dagan last June after he speculated that Iran may obtain nuclear weaponry.

Conclusions from the simulation have been sent to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Times reported.

Iran, which insists its nuclear programme is for exclusively peaceful purposes, has repeatedly said it will not abandon uranium enrichment despite four rounds of UN Security Council resolutions calling on Tehran to desist.

While nuclear energy plants need fuel enriched to 3.5 percent, Iran says the 20-percent enriched uranium is necessary for its Tehran research reactor to make isotopes to treat cancers.

Source: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/News/Middle-East/2012/Jan-10/159350-israel-preparing-for-nuclear-iran-report.ashx

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Muslim man from Kosovo charged in Fla. bomb plot

This photo provided by the Hillsborough County, Fla., Sheriff's Office shows Sami Osmakac. Osmakac, 25, from the former Yugoslavia, has been charged, federal authorities said Monday, Jan. 9, 2012 with an alleged plot to attack crowded locations in the Tampa area including a night club, with a bomb, assault rifle and other explosives. Osmakac made a video of himself explaining his motives for carrying out the planned violent attack. (AP Photo/Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office)

This photo provided by the Hillsborough County, Fla., Sheriff's Office shows Sami Osmakac. Osmakac, 25, from the former Yugoslavia, has been charged, federal authorities said Monday, Jan. 9, 2012 with an alleged plot to attack crowded locations in the Tampa area including a night club, with a bomb, assault rifle and other explosives. Osmakac made a video of himself explaining his motives for carrying out the planned violent attack. (AP Photo/Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office)

TAMPA, Fla. (AP) ? A Kosovo-born man was charged with plotting to attack Tampa-area nightclubs and a sheriff's office with bombs and an assault rifle to avenge wrongs done to Muslims, federal authorities said Monday.

According to a federal complaint, 25-year-old Sami Osmakac recorded an eight-minute video shortly before his arrest explaining why he wanted to bring terror to his "victims' hearts" in the Tampa Bay area. Osmakac is a naturalized American citizen born in Kosovo, then part of the former Yugoslavia in eastern Europe.

In the video, Osmakac is seen cross-legged on the floor with a pistol in his hand and an AK-47 behind him. Osmakac said in the video that Muslim blood was more valuable than that of people who do not believe in Islam, according to the complaint. He said he wanted "payback" for wrong that was done to Muslims, according to the complaint.

There is no indication that Osmakac planned to attack the Republican National Convention, which will be held in Tampa in August, federal authorities said.

The area's Muslim community helped provide authorities with information, said Steve Ibison, the special agent in charge of the FBI's Tampa division.

"This case is not about the Muslim religion and it's not about the Muslim community," Ibison said. "It's about an individual who committed a crime."

Hassan Shibly, a Tampa attorney and the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said he met Osmakac briefly over the summer. Osmakac was "ranting" about how CAIR was an "infidel organization," Shibly said.

"It was very clear he was very disturbed very angry and very misguided about the Islamic faith," said Shibly, adding that Osmakac did not appear to be a member of any of the area's mosques and had "disassociated himself" from those houses of worship. "He was very, very ignorant of Islam. He didn't know Arabic or anything about basic Islamic teachings about promoting peace."

Shibly said the CAIR office received calls from people in the Islamic community who were concerned about Osmakac's extreme views.

"Contact the authorities as soon as possible," Shibly said he told those people.

Osmakac gave only brief answers to basic questions during his first appearance in federal court Monday. He wore a blue jail outfit and was shackled at his wrists and ankles. His public defender, Alec Hall, declined to comment afterward.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Anthony Porcelli ordered Osmakac held without bail. If convicted on the single count of attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, Osmakac could face life in prison.

Osmakac was arrested Saturday ? the day officials said he was planning his attack ? after he allegedly bought explosive devices and firearms from an undercover agent. The firearms and explosives were disabled before the sale.

Osmakac lived with his parents in a tan stucco home in Pinellas Park, Fla., a small city west of Tampa. He worked occasionally at the Balkan Food Store and Bakery in St. Petersburg, a small store owned by his parents.

On Monday, a man identifying himself as Osmakac's older brother was at the store. He would not give The Associated Press his name but said his brother was innocent.

"It's all made up," the man said. "I don't believe it."

According to public records, Osmakac had one prior brush with the law. In April 2011, Tampa Police said Osmakac, dressed in "what appeared to be traditional Middle-Eastern attire with a small cloth" on his head, got into an argument over religion outside a Lady Gaga concert in downtown Tampa.

A police report said anti-gay Christian protesters outside the concert saw Osmakac driving by in a truck and turned their attention to him because of his appearance.

"The protesters began verbally berating the man and the Muslim faith and their attacks became personal and nasty," wrote Tampa officer Kevin Krupa.

The report said Osmakac parked his vehicle, walked up to the protesters and got into an argument with one man who insulted Allah, Mohammed and the Quran. Osmakac was accused of head butting one man and was charged with battery ? although Krupa noted that the protesters were "not promoting peace or tolerance, but rather of inciting violence and hate."

That case had not yet been resolved, according to court records.

Federal officials say Osmakac's new charges stem from information given to them by a confidential source in September 2011.

According to the federal report, Osmakac walked into the source's business looking for al-Qaida flags. The confidential source then hired Osmakac and was in constant contact with federal officials and audio or video taped their conversations.

Two months later, the federal complaint said, Osmakac and the confidential source discussed and identified potential targets in Tampa that Osmakac wanted to attack.

Osmakac allegedly asked the source for help getting firearms and explosives for the attacks, and the source put him in touch with an undercover FBI employee.

On Dec. 21, Osmakac met with the undercover agent and allegedly told the agent that he wanted to buy an AK-47-style machine gun, Uzi submachine guns, high capacity magazines, grenades and an explosive belt. During a later meeting, Osmakac gave the agent a $500 down payment for the items.

Osmakac also asked the undercover employee to build bombs that could be placed in three different vehicles and detonated remotely, the U.S. Justice Department said in a press release. Osmakac then planned to follow up with an attack using the other weapons he asked for, authorities said.

On Jan. 1, Osmakac told the agent he wanted to bomb nightclubs, the operations center of the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office and a business in Tampa.

Osmakac told the undercover FBI agent that he wanted to detonate a car bomb and use the explosive belt to "get in somewhere where there's a lot of people" and take hostages.

Osmakac told the agent that after he took hostages he wanted to demand something from the "kuffar" ? an Arabic word that means infidels or disbelievers of Islam, federal authorities said.

According to the affidavit, he also said, "Honestly, I would love to go for the Army people, but their bases are so locked up, I have to do something else."

Osmakac said he wanted to take down the bridges that link Tampa to neighboring Pinellas County.

"This will crush the whole economy," he allegedly said to the agent. "This would crush everything man, they would have no more food coming in. They would, nobody would have work."

During that meeting, the agent told Osmakac he could always change his mind about his plot.

"According to the complaint, Osmakac immediately shook his head in the negative and stated, 'We all have to die, so why not die the Islamic way?'" according to the press release.

___

Tamara Lush can be reached on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tamaralush

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-09-US-Bomb-Plot-Arrest/id-7661a544e1d4477e9c2fe4c9044df959

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Sharia Law: Oklahoma ban on Islamic law unconstitutional (Politico)

OKLAHOMA CITY ? A federal appeals court has upheld a stay on an Oklahoma constitutional amendment that would ban state courts from considering international or Islamic law.

Muneer Awad, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Oklahoma, sued to block the amendment that was approved by 70 percent of Oklahoma voters in November 2010. Awad argued that the Save Our State Amendment violated his First Amendment rights.

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In an opinion issued Tuesday, the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that Awad made "a strong showing" that he would prevail at trial.

Backers of the amendment said it didn't specifically aim to block the use of Sharia law and that Awad was only speculating that he'd be injured by the measure as it hadn't yet taken effect.
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Latest Sports News: Spurs gap saddens Moyes

Everton manager David Moyes admits it is "sad" his club have not been able to keep pace with the progress made by Tottenham.

While Tottenham have built on their Champions League debut last season and can move within three points of Barclays Premier League leaders Manchester City with a win on Wednesday at White Hart Lane, Everton are mid-table and 18 points behind their hosts.

And Moyes, who remembers a time not so long ago when the two clubs were battling it out for European qualification, knows counterpart Harry Redknapp has benefited from having access to one thing he has not - money, and said: "It is a little bit sad they are starting to pull away from us a little bit more than I would like."

He added: "I think it was only three or four years ago us and Tottenham were competing neck-and-neck for European places.

"It is frustrating because all managers will tell you when you are close and competing with teams you never like to see them go away from you, but we are looking at them going away from us at this present time.

"They have continued to kick on and over the years they have got in some really good players. Rafael Van der Vaart is one and Scott Parker another recently.

"Tottenham, arguably, might be the biggest spenders in the Premier League - they have always supported whoever the manager has been.

"Football will always come back around sometime and some day hopefully they will be looking at the back of us. At the moment it unfortunately looks as if you need a bit of finance to get it back, but it would be nice to think we could do it the way we have done it.

"We will work really hard and try to bring in players, produce our own players here, work with them, develop them and try to make them better.

"That is how we do it at Everton, we don't do it any other way."

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Source: http://www.journallive.co.uk/pa-feeds/newcastle-sports-news/2012/01/10/spurs-gap-saddens-moyes-84229-30096513/

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New York City Opera announces musician lockout

FILE - In this Oct. 27, 1980 file photo, Beverly Sills takes her bows on the stage of the City Opera at New York's Lincoln Center after her final performance in "Die Fledermaus". City Opera moved out of its longtime home at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts last year, citing financial troubles. Now a bitter contract dispute has led to a lockout of musicians at the New York City Opera, a possible "death knell" for a company that's nurtured such singers as Renee Fleming, Placido Domingo and Beverly Sills. (AP Photo/Paul Burnett, File)

FILE - In this Oct. 27, 1980 file photo, Beverly Sills takes her bows on the stage of the City Opera at New York's Lincoln Center after her final performance in "Die Fledermaus". City Opera moved out of its longtime home at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts last year, citing financial troubles. Now a bitter contract dispute has led to a lockout of musicians at the New York City Opera, a possible "death knell" for a company that's nurtured such singers as Renee Fleming, Placido Domingo and Beverly Sills. (AP Photo/Paul Burnett, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? A bitter contract dispute has led to a lockout of musicians at the New York City Opera, a possible "death knell" for a company that's nurtured such singers as Renee Fleming, Placido Domingo and Beverly Sills.

On Sunday, hours after talks broke down, the cash-strapped company canceled Monday rehearsals for a Feb. 12 opening production of Verdi's "La Traviata" in Brooklyn.

"This is a very sad day for what once was a spectacular cultural icon and for the people who performed its music," said Alan Gordon, national executive director of the American Guild of Musical Artists representing the chorus, stage directors and principal singers.

Local 802 of the American Federation of Musicians represents the orchestra. Both unions have been without a contract since the spring.

Gail Kruvand, chairwoman of the orchestra union's negotiating committee and its assistant principal bass player, said union members "made a good-faith effort to say that, yes, we are willing to sacrifice for the sake of ensuring that the grand tradition of the City Opera lives on."

But she said the company's rejection of union proposals could be "the death knell for one of New York's cultural treasures."

City Opera is now operating on a shoestring, offering orchestra and chorus members minimum fees for an already abbreviated season. City Opera moved out of its longtime home at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts last year, citing financial troubles, and cut back its usual schedule of 12 to 16 operas per season, with a peak of about 130 performances.

In a statement, the company said it had "no choice but to lock out" union members because they rejected the company's economic offer and had threatened to strike when performances began, according to a statement released Sunday. Both labor unions have passed strike-authorization votes.

City Opera General Manager George Steel said his company couldn't enter rehearsals with a musician strike looming for performances scheduled in February at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, one of the various venues around New York booked for 16 shows of four productions.

However, "we have no intention of hiring replacement workers," company spokeswoman Risa Heller said. She didn't know whether that meant the season wouldn't open next month.

The opera and the unions have been in talks with Allison Beck, deputy director of the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, since mid-December. Those negotiations broke down Saturday night.

The musicians rejected the company's offer, saying the financially diminished company doesn't guarantee work or pay. Steel said the company, facing "economic constraints," can only afford to pay people "for the work that they do."f

Under a contract management proposed in early December, the musicians' average annual income would drop from about $40,000 to as little as $5,000 for two productions. For decades, musicians were guaranteed at least 22 weeks' work.

City Opera's troubles started about a decade ago with multimillion-dollar deficits, followed by the appointment of Belgian director Gerard Mortier as general manager and artistic director, effective as of the 2009-2010 season. Accustomed to staging expensive, cutting-edge extravaganzas in Europe, he insisted that City Opera's theater be renovated, forcing the company to go dark for the 2008-2009 season, with only six unstaged performances elsewhere.

The economy's free-fall was a last straw for the 69-year-old company that former New York Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia dubbed "the people's opera."

Income from ticket sales during the dark season plunged to about $186,000, down from $12 million. And the company raided its endowment to the tune of tens of millions of dollars.

Mortier resigned from his position about six months before he was officially to start, on grounds that the operating budget had dwindled.

"We're heartbroken, but we cannot save the company," said Kruvand, the bass player.

She said City Opera has been "unable to sell tickets or attract donors" ? mostly because Steel abandoned the company's longtime practice of staging surefire operas along with pioneering new works. Recently, the company has presented mostly 20th-century operas that are a box office challenge.

Kruvand noted that the current general manager still makes more than $300,000 after a 10 percent pay cut, while the musicians face about a 90 percent cut in earnings.

"We don't feel George Steel is capable of running an opera company," said Kruvand, adding that when the star soprano Sills became general manager in the 1980s, she led a company "that was a platform for nurturing careers."

Speaking for Steel, Heller said that the unions "have repeatedly vilified George."

But the negotiating process is "not about any one person," she said. "This is about whether the unions will finally recognize that the City Opera needs to make fundamental changes in the way it operates so that it only pays people for work they perform."

Gordon, the union leader, called the latest labor impasse "City Opera's death."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-01-08-City%20Opera-Lockout/id-c1ee64c7bff64e75b05115793d02778f

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