AT&T Galaxy Note available Feb. 19 for $299, preorders start Feb. 5

The AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note will be available Feb. 19 for $299 on contract, Samsung announced this morning. It'll be available in carbon blue and ceramic white, and preorders will begin Feb. 5 and will be delivered by Feb. 17.

Along with the phablet itself -- remember that this bad boy is 5.3 inches -- there are a number of accessories available, including a desktop dock, spare battery charger, flip cover case and pen holder kit.

Be sure to check out our hands-on video with the AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note from CES earlier this month. We've got the full release after the break.

read more

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/uMopp1nJWjc/story01.htm

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In Texas, Pig Blood Turns Creek Red

Source: http://www.getoutdoors.com/goblog/index.php?/archives/4360-In-Texas,-Pig-Blood-Turns-Creek-Red.html

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Video: TODAY talks Vassar College scandal

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

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[OOC] Bright Lights, Long Nights

Forum rules
This forum is for OOC discussion about existing roleplays.

Please post all "Players Wanted" threads in the Roleplayers Wanted forum!

This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?Bright Lights, Long Nights?. Anything posted here will also show up there.

Topic Tags:

Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.
Bright Lights, Long Nights

~::Character Slots::~

Lead Singer (Female): Taken By Horseygirl
Singer (Male):
Lead Guitarist (Male): Taken By Me
Guitarist (Female): Taken By The Painkiller
Bassist (Male):
Keyboardist (Female):
Drummer (Male or Female): (Optional)
Violinist (Male or Female): (Optional)

Join! I don't bite! :]

Last edited by DarknessToDeath23 on Sat Jan 28, 2012 2:29 pm, edited 2 times in total.

DarknessToDeath23

Member for 2 years

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Can I reserve the lead singer?

Horseygirl

Member for 3 years

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Um, what kind of band is it exactly? I'm showing interesting in playing the guitarist (could it be maybe a co-lead guitarist?) depending on what kind of music they play :v

The Painkiller

Member for 1 years

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It's more of a metal and rock type, but I can change it if needed.

DarknessToDeath23

Member for 2 years

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If it's metal, I'm all for it. I'll submit a character and you let me know if you think she'd fit.

The Painkiller

Member for 1 years

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Oh my, can I take up the violinist? I know it's optional, but I really like violins!!! ^^

PrincessBoy

Member for 2 years

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---

Post a reply

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Romney would rank among richest presidents ever (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Just how rich is Mitt Romney? Add up the wealth of the last eight presidents, from Richard Nixon to Barack Obama. Then double that number. Now you're in Romney territory.

He would be among the richest presidents in American history if elected ? probably in the top four.

He couldn't top George Washington who, with nearly 60,000 acres and more than 300 slaves, is considered the big daddy of presidential wealth. After that, it gets complicated, depending how you rate Thomas Jefferson's plantation, Herbert Hoover's millions from mining or John F. Kennedy's share of the vast family fortune, as well as the finer points of factors like inflation adjustment.

But it's safe to say the Roosevelts had nothing on Romney, and the Bushes are nowhere close.

The former Massachusetts governor has disclosed only the broad outlines of his wealth, putting it somewhere from $190 million to $250 million. That easily could make him 50 times richer than Obama, who falls in the still-impressive-to-most-of-us range of $2.2 million to $7.5 million.

"I think it's almost hard to conceptualize what $250 million means," said Shamus Khan, a Columbia University sociologist who studies the wealthy. "People say Romney made $50,000 a day while not working last year. What do you do with all that money? I can't even imagine spending it. Well, maybe ..."

Of course, an unbelievable boatload of bucks is just one way to think of Romney's net worth, and the 44 U.S. presidents make up a pretty small pond for him to swim in. Put alongside America's 400 or so billionaires, Romney wouldn't make a ripple.

So here's a look where Romney's riches rank ? among the most flush Americans, the White House contenders, and the rest of us:

_Within the 1 percent:

"Romney is small potatoes compared with the ultra-wealthy," said Jeffrey Winters, a political scientist at Northwestern University who studies the nation's elites.

After all, even in the rarefied world of the top 1 percent, there's a big difference between life at the top and at the bottom.

A household needs to bring in roughly $400,000 per year to make the cut. Romney and his wife, Ann, have been making 50 times that ? more than $20 million a year. In 2009, only 8,274 federal tax filers had income above $10 million. Romney is solidly within that elite 0.006 percent of all U.S. taxpayers.

Congress is flush with millionaires. Only a few are in the Romney realm, including Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, who was the Democratic presidential nominee in 2004. Kerry's ranking would climb much higher if the fortune of his wife, Teresa Heinz, were counted. She is the widow of Sen. John Heinz, heir to the Heinz ketchup fortune.

Further up the ladder, top hedge fund managers can pocket $1 billion or more in a single year.

At the top of the wealth pile sits Bill Gates, worth $59 billion, according to Forbes magazine's estimates.

_As a potential president:

Romney clearly stands out here. America's super rich generally don't jockey to live in the White House. A few have toyed with the idea, most notably New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, whom Forbes ranks as the 12th richest American, worth $19.5 billion. A lesser billionaire, Ross Perot, bankrolled his own third-party campaigns in 1992 and 1996.

Many presidents weren't particularly well-off, especially 19th century leaders such as Abraham Lincoln, James Buchanan and Ulysses S. Grant. Nor was the 33rd president, Harry Truman.

"These things ebb and flow," said sociologist Khan. "It's not the case that all presidents were always rich."

A few former chief executives died in debt, including Thomas Jefferson, ranked in a Forbes study as the third-wealthiest president.

Comparing the landlocked wealth of early Americans such as Washington, Jefferson and James Madison, with today's millionaires is tricky, even setting aside the lack of documentation and economic changes over two centuries.

Research by 24/7 Wall St., a news and analysis website, estimated Washington's wealth at the equivalent of $525 million in 2010 dollars.

Yet Washington had to borrow money to pay for his trip to New York for his inauguration in 1789, according to Dennis Pogue, vice president for preservation at Mount Vernon, Washington's Virginia estate. His money was tied up in land, reaping only a modest cash income after farm expenses.

"He was a wealthy guy, there's no doubt about it," Pogue said, and probably among the dozen richest Virginians of his time. But, "the wealthiest person in America then was nothing in comparison to what these folks are today."

_How does Romney stand next to a regular Joe?

He's roughly 1,800 times richer.

The typical U.S. household was worth $120,300 in 2007, according to the Census Bureau's most recent data, although that number is sure to have dropped since the recession. A typical family's income is $50,000.

Calculations from 24/7 Wall St. of the peak lifetime wealth (or peak so far) of Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Obama add up to a total $128 million ? while Romney reports assets of up to $250 million.

If you consider only those presidents' assets while in office, without millions earned later from speeches and books, their combined total would be substantially lower, and Romney's riches would leave the pack even further behind.

___

Online:

Forbes' richest presidents list: http://tinyurl.com/82erdyb

24/7 Wall St. on presidents' net worth: http://tinyurl.com/328qyu2

___

Associated Press writer Stephen Ohlemacher contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_el_pr/us_how_rich_is_romney

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Video: Starbucks Trading Lower Following Earnings

A breakdown of Starbucks Q4 results and why the company raised its guidance, with Jeffrey Bernstein, Barclays Capital senior restaurant analyst.

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Business, social media to prevent babies with HIV (AP)

DAVOS, Switzerland ? Business and social media leaders teamed up Friday to tackle the transmission of HIV from mothers to babies, saying the medicine and the money are largely in place, and with the right organizational skills they can eliminate HIV-infected births by 2015.

John Megrue, CEO of Apax Partners U.S., will chair a business group that includes bankers and consulting experts and will help coordinate work being done by several governments and other international donors, as well as filling in gaps in the funding.

Women need to receive antiretroviral drugs to prevent the virus being passed to their unborn babies.

"There are no technological issues around it. There are no medical issues around it. It does not exist in the wealthy part of the world," Megrue said. "But there are still almost 400,000 children a year born ? primarily in sub-Saharan Africa ? with HIV."

Ambassador Eric Goosby, a top U.S. AIDS official, said that although the group set a goal of zero transmission by 2015, in reality about 13 percent of babies born to HIV-positive mothers will unavoidably be born with the virus.

Randi Zuckerberg, who founded RtoZ Studios after leaving the Facebook company that her brother Mark started, will lend the power of social media to increase awareness about the issue, by pulling in 1,000 influential Twitter and Facebook users in an expansion of an earlier social media effort to raise $200 million to fight malaria.

"I'm calling this a social good broadcast experiment," she said. "The long-term vision is for this to be a group of thousands or millions of people who can all broadcast in a coordinated manner where there is a global crisis."

Other business leaders involved in the project include Dominic Barton, managing director of consulting firm McKinsey & Co., and Cynthia Carroll, CEO of the mining company Anglo American PLC.

"AIDS," Carroll said, "should not be a disease of children."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/diseases/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_he_me/eu_davos_forum_aids

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Oprah Winfrey Named As Blue Ivy Carter?s Godmother

Oprah Winfrey Named As Blue Ivy Carter’s Godmother

Beyonce and Jay-Z have reportedly chosen Oprah Winfrey to be the Godmother of their newborn daughter, Blue Ivy Carter. The Hollywood couple named Oprah and [...]

Oprah Winfrey Named As Blue Ivy Carter’s Godmother Stupid Celebrities Gossip Stupid Celebrities Gossip News

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/stupidcelebrities/~3/Ju30Jm1fTYw/

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Pitt to attend New Orleans homebuilding group gala (AP)

NEW ORLEANS ? Talk show host Ellen Degeneres and "American Idol" judge Randy Jackson are hosting a star-studded gala in New Orleans to benefit Brad Pitt's Make It Right home rebuilding effort.

Pitt will attend the $1,000-per-person gala on March 10 called "A Night to Make It Right," which will include performances by singers Sheryl Crow, Rihanna, Seal and Dr. John, said foundation spokeswoman Taylor Royle.

Pitt launched Make It Right in 2007 to help Lower 9th Ward residents who lost their homes during Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The Lower 9th Ward was one of the hardest-hit neighborhoods when Katrina caused levees to fail, inundating roughly 80 percent of the city with floodwater.

Pitt worked with architects to come up with designs for stronger, safer and more energy-efficient houses than the ones residents lost. So far 75 homes have been built, six more are under construction and construction is set to begin on roughly eight others in coming months.

"Our goal is 150 houses, and this fundraiser is going to help us reach that goal," said Royle, noting that all proceeds will benefit Make It Right.

Royle said it has taken more time and money than the foundation originally thought to build 150 homes. Getting in touch with families, making decisions about their homes, getting finances in order and clearing paperwork takes months, she said.

"It's been a long road to get these families home," Royle said. "But we're happy with our progress, and we're looking forward to celebrating the progress we've made."

Royle said a video of Make It Right's work over the past four years will be presented at the gala. A four-course dinner organized by chef John Besh will include courses by chefs Emeril Lagasse and Giada de Laurentiis.

Degeneres, a New Orleans native, has already donated more than $2 million to Make It Right.

"She's been one of our biggest supporters," Royle said.

Jackson, a Baton Rouge native, was quick to offer his participation in the event, Royle said.

Other celebrities serving on the event's host committee who may also be attending include actors Josh Brolin, Sean Penn and Kevin Spacey and director Spike Lee.

The gala will be held at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in New Orleans. Comedian Aziz Ansari will host an after party. Tickets for that event start at $150.

___

Online:

Tickets are available online at www.nighttomakeitright.com.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_en_mo/us_make_it_right_gala

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BeagleBone board boots up XBMC Eden, shows off its media prowess

BeagleBoard isn't letting the Raspberry Pi steal all the glory in the battle for low-cost computing supremacy. The $35 ARM11-based Pi may win on price, but at least the BeagleBone can hold its own in terms of power. After the Model B was demoed pushing XBMC and AirPlay capabilities, some intrepid devs managed to get the second beta of Eden up and running on the ARM A8 dev board. The vid stutters a bit during playback but, overall, it's a respectable performance considering this is a CPU that would get laughed out of most modern smartphones. Head on after the break to see it in action.

Continue reading BeagleBone board boots up XBMC Eden, shows off its media prowess

BeagleBone board boots up XBMC Eden, shows off its media prowess originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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New map for what to plant reflects global warming (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Global warming is hitting not just home, but garden. The color-coded map of planting zones often seen on the back of seed packets is being updated by the government, illustrating a hotter 21st century.

It's the first time since 1990 that the U.S. Department of Agriculture has revised the official guide for the nation's 80 million gardeners, and much has changed. Nearly entire states, such as Ohio, Nebraska and Texas, are in warmer zones.

The new guide, unveiled Wednesday at the National Arboretum, arrives just as many home gardeners are receiving their seed catalogs and dreaming of lush flower beds in the spring.

It reflects a new reality: The coldest day of the year isn't as cold as it used to be, so some plants and trees can now survive farther north.

"People who grow plants are well aware of the fact that temperatures have gotten more mild throughout the year, particularly in the wintertime," said Boston University biology professor Richard Primack. "There's a lot of things you can grow now that you couldn't grow before."

He stand the giant fig tree in his suburban Boston yard stands as an example: "People don't think of figs as a crop you can grow in the Boston area. You can do it now."

The new guide also uses better weather data and offers more interactive technology. For example, gardeners using the online version can enter their ZIP code and get the exact average coldest temperature.

Also, for the first time, calculations include more detailed factors such as prevailing winds, the presence of nearby bodies of water, the slope of the land, and the way cities are hotter than suburbs and rural areas.

The map carves up the U.S. into 26 zones based on five-degree temperature increments. The old 1990 map mentions 34 U.S. cities in its key. On the 2012 map, 18 of those, including Honolulu, St. Louis, Des Moines, Iowa, St. Paul, Minn., and even Fairbanks, Alaska, are in newer, warmer zones.

Those differences matter in deciding what to plant.

For example, Des Moines used to be in zone 5a, meaning the lowest temperature on average was between minus 15 and minus 20 degrees. Now it's 5b, which has a lowest temperature of 10 to 15 degrees below zero. Jerry Holub, manager of a Des Moines plant nursery, said folks there might now be able to safely grow passion flowers.

Griffin, Ga., used to be in zone 7b, where the coldest day would average between 5 and 10 degrees. But the city is now in zone 8a, averaging a coldest day of 10 to 15 degrees. So growing bay laurel becomes possible. It wasn't recommended on the old map.

"It is great that the federal government is catching up with what the plants themselves have known for years now: The globe is warming and it is greatly influencing plants (and animals)," Stanford University biology professor Terry Root wrote in an email.

The changes come too late to make this year's seed packets, but they will be in next year's, said George Ball, chairman and CEO of the seed company W. Atlee Burpee, which puts the maps on packages of perennials, not annuals. But Ball said many of his customers already know what can grow in their own climate and how it has warmed.

"Climate change, which has been in the air for a long time, is not big news to gardeners," he said.

Mark Kaplan, a New York meteorologist who helped create the 1990 map, said the latest version clearly shows warmer zones migrating north. Other experts agreed.

The 1990 map was based on temperatures from 1974 to 1986, the new map from 1976 to 2005. The nation's average temperature from 1976 to 2005 was two-thirds of a degree higher than it was during the old time period, according to the National Climatic Data Center.

USDA spokeswoman Kim Kaplan, who was part of the map team, repeatedly tried to distance the new zones on the map from global warming. She said that while much of the country is in warmer zones, the map "is simply not a good instrument" to demonstrate climate change because it is based on just the coldest days of the year.

David W. Wolfe, a professor of plant and soil ecology at Cornell University, said that the USDA is being too cautious and that the map plainly reflects warming.

The revised map "gives us a clear picture of the `new normal' and will be an essential tool for gardeners, farmers and natural resource managers as they begin to cope with rapid climate change," Wolfe said in an email.

The Arbor Day Foundation issued its own hardiness guide six years ago, and the new government map is very similar, said Woodrow Nelson, a vice president at the plant-loving organization.

"We got a lot of comments that the 1990 map wasn't accurate anymore," Nelson said. "I look forward to (the new map). It's been a long time coming."

Nelson lives in Lincoln, Neb., where the zone warmed to a 5b. Nelson said he used to be in a "solid 4," but now he has Japanese maples and Fraser firs in his yard ? trees that shouldn't survive in a zone 4.

Vaughn Speer, an 87-year-old master gardener in Ames, Iowa, said he has seen redbud trees, one of the earliest blooming trees, a little farther north in recent years.

"They always said redbuds don't go beyond U.S. Highway 30," he said, "but I'm seeing them near Roland," 10 miles to the north.

___

AP Writer Michael J. Crumb contributed to this report from Des Moines.

___

Online:

Plant map: http://planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/PHZMWeb/

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_sc/us_sci_planting_zone_map

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Pelosi on Gingrich as president: "That will never happen" (Washington Bureau)

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Auroras spark awe across the north

AuroraMAX / Canadian Space Agency

The northern lights take on a weird, rippling shape in a super-wide-angle view captured Sunday night by the Canadian Space Agency's AuroraMAX webcam in Yellowknife, capital of the Northwest Territories. There's more from AuroraMAX at the project's website and on Twitpic.

By Alan Boyle

Is it "auroras" or "aurorae"? The dictionary?prefers the former, but either way, there was a multiplicity of auroral awesomeness this weekend ? thanks to a solar storm that swept past Earth's magnetic field over the weekend. During the past few days, we've shown off a few stunning images from Norway and Canada, and there's a new crop to share today.

First, a little explanation for what you're looking at:

---

Auroral lights arise when electrically charged particles from the sun interact with atoms and ions high up in Earth's atmosphere, 60 to 200 miles up. The interaction sets off?emissions in wavelengths ranging from blue, to green (the most common color), to red. The?colors depend on the energy of the?particles in question. To get the full story on that, check out the explanations from the "Causes of Color" website and the?University of Alaska at Fairbanks.

This weekend's auroras were particularly bright because of a strong solar outburst that occurred on Thursday. There's an interval between the outburst and the displays because the particles that are ejected from the sun travel at far less than the speed of light. But they're still pretty speedy ? the velocity?is on the order of a million miles an hour.

Solar outbursts, known more formally as coronal mass ejections or CMEs, have the potential to disrupt electrical grids or satellite communications. There could be radiation effects on astronauts in orbit or passengers on high-altitude, pole-traversing airplane flights. Thursday's outburst dealt Earth's magnetic field a glancing blow, and no significant negative impact has been reported. However, an even stronger CME is currently on its way toward Earth and may force the?rerouting of polar flights.?Once again, electric-grid managers and satellite operators will be on alert, as will aurora-watchers.

Observers in northern latitudes can look forward to enhanced auroras over the next couple of nights ? and the rest of us can look forward to more images like these:

Chad Blakley / Lights Over Lapland

Chad Blakley said on Sunday that he had "an unbelievable night" at Sweden's Abisko National Park. "As soon as the sun went down I realized that we were about to experience something special," he told SpaceWeather.com. "The auroras have been dancing all night long and show no sign of stopping! I only came in because 32 gigabytes of memory cards were full and all three batteries were dead!" Click on over to Blakley's Vimeo page for a time-lapse video version of this imagery, and check out SpaceWeather.com for more from Abisko.

The auroral lights in Sweden were so bright that Chad Blakley could capture this view from the street. Blakley says his pictures were shot with a Nikon D7000 and a Tokina 11/16 lens at 2.8 with a 1600 ISO six-second exposure. For more of Blakley's images, check out the Lights Over Lapland website.

Bjorn Jorgensen

Bjorn Jorgensen's view of the aurora was captured on Sunday at Grotfjord, close to Tromso in north Norway. "This was amazing," he told SpaceWeather.com. "It was a wonderful experience to see these stunning auroras." The bird-of-prey picture was taken with a Nikon D3S camera equipped with a Nikkor 14-24mm lens. Exposure for the pictures in Jorgenson's set was ISO 2200 at five and six seconds. Check out SpaceWeather.com and ArcticPhoto.no for more views.

Gregory Clarke

The green glow of the aurora is reflected in a rock pool on the Emerald Isle, in Ireland's County Donegal. "The photo was taken at the end of my shoot as a last grab before heading home," photographer Gregory Clarke said in an email. "I climbed over some rocks to get to a rock pool, took a few test shots and then was treated to what I photographed. The photo was taken at Malin Head, County Donegal, using a Canon EOS Mk3. For that shot I bumped up the ISO to 1600 at f4, shot in RAW, and it seems to be the settings that worked for that shot." You'll find many more shots in Clarke's Flickr photostream.

Jason Ahrns

The red and green auroral lights look like glowing curtains in Jason Ahrns' photo, captured near Fairbanks, Alaska, using a Nikon D5000 camera and an all-sky lens. You can see a time-lapse video that includes this still at Ahrns' Flickr gallery.

Marketa Stanczykova

Marketa Stanczykova said she used a Canon 5D camera with a 17-40mm lens to take this picture of the northern lights dancing over Chatanika in Alaska. "I recently moved to Fairbanks," she said in an email. "My friends, photographers Ronn Murray and Casey Thompson (aurora chasers) took me close to Chatanika. It was an amazing night." For more of her pictures, check out this SpaceWeather.com page and this gallery from 500px.

More great auroral views:

---

Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.

Source: http://photoblog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/23/10217788-auroras-spark-awe-across-the-north

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New Yahoo CEO says company needs to "do better" (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Yahoo Chief Executive Scott Thompson tried to manage expectations on his first earnings call as the new CEO, broadly addressing numerous issues the Internet company is grappling with -- from a potential sale to reviving its core display advertising business -- but declined to lay out a detailed strategy.

Analysts prodded Thompson for clues about his plans for Yahoo Inc, which fired former CEO Carol Bartz in September and last week saw co-founder Jerry Yang resign unexpectedly, but all they received were boilerplate comments about how the company needs to "do better" and "get innovative products that matter into the market."

Thompson, along with Chief Financial Officer Tim Morse, gave few hints about the progress of Yahoo's strategic review as well, dashing hopes that his arrival might hasten a transaction.

Morse said talks with Yahoo's Asian partners -- Alibaba and Softbank -- about a restructuring were continuing but beyond that provided little concrete detail on where things stand.

Thompson, who was only hired as CEO two weeks ago, added that the company's board has narrowed down its options to the ones that appear "most promising."

Meanwhile, Yahoo's net revenue and profit fell slightly in the fourth quarter, as it experienced year-over-year declines in both its search and display ad business.

Shares of the company slipped 4 cents to $15.65 in after-hours trade.

Morse said that macroeconomic factors, particularly in Europe, resulted in weaker than expected display advertising revenue in the fourth quarter and continued to be a concern.

"We still look out, especially upon Europe, with some caution," Morse told Reuters in an interview on Tuesday.

But he said Yahoo was seeing some positive trends in the new year, noting that some large advertisers that had limited their ad spending with Yahoo in 2011, had already committed to "meaningful upfronts" in 2012.

The struggling Internet company projected that its net revenue in the first quarter would range between $1.025 billion and $1.105 billion.

The company earned $296 million in net income in the three months ended December 31, or 24 cents a share, compared with $312 million, or 24 cents a share, in the year-ago period.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S were expecting 24 cents per share in profit.

In the fourth quarter, Yahoo reported net revenue, which excludes fees that Yahoo shares with Web partners, of roughly $1.17 billion, compared with $1.205 billion the same time last year.

Display ad revenue, Yahoo's main source of revenue, totaled $612 million for the quarter. Search ad revenue for the quarter came in at $465 million, $48 million of which stemmed from its partnership with Microsoft.

(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Bernard Orr)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120124/wr_nm/us_earnings_yahoo_options

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Van der Sloot appeals 28-year murder sentence

LIMA?? Dutch citizen Joran Van der Sloot is appealing his 28-year jail sentence for killing a young business student in Peru two years ago, his lawyer said late Monday.

Van der Sloot, who was arrested but never charged over the disappearance of Alabama woman Natalee Holloway in 2005, apologized for murdering student Stephany Flores and accepted all charges against him earlier this month.

Van der Sloot, 24, could spend less than a decade behind bars because Peru often frees prisoners for good behavior after serving a third of their terms, but his lawyer said the sentence should still be cut.

"We question the 28 years of deprivation of liberty and are seeking a reduction," Van der Sloot's lawyer Jose Jimenez told Reuters Television.

Confession
Jimenez claims the three judges who sentenced Van der Sloot on Jan. 13 did not take into account his client's initial confession to police.

Flores, a skillful poker player and daughter of a wealthy Lima businessman, was robbed and killed on May 30, 2010, five years to the day after Holloway vanished during a high school graduation trip to the Dutch Caribbean island of Aruba, where Van der Sloot was living.

Van der Sloot remains the main suspect in Holloway's disappearance and suspected death.

Jimenez has said "post-traumatic stress" from the Holloway inquiries led Van der Sloot to kill Flores after he saw her looking at his laptop, which contained e-mails about the Aruba case.

"We can legitimately aspire to a reduction in the penalty, as we believe some aspects of the case have not been taken into account," Jimenez said.

Van der Sloot is at Piedras Gordas prison north of Lima, where his lawyer says he is temporarily segregated from other inmates.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46114210/ns/world_news-americas/

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Putin warns ethnic tensions risk tearing Russia apart (Reuters)

MOSCOW (Reuters) ? Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has warned ethnic tensions could tear Russia apart, saying he would toughen migration rules on reassuming the presidency and keep a tight rein on Russia's regions to prevent it following the Soviet Union into oblivion.

Putin, in power since 2000 and favored to win a six-year presidential term in March, described a Soviet-style vision of a country in which the rights of ethnic minorities would be respected but Russian language and culture would dominate.

"With the collapse of the country (the Soviet Union), we were on the edge -- and in some regions over the edge -- of civil war," Putin wrote in an article published in Nezavisimaya Gazeta Monday, referring to two separatist wars in Chechnya since the 1991 Soviet breakup.

"With great effort, with great sacrifice we were able to douse these fires. But that doesn't mean that the problem is gone," he wrote in the second of a series of articles promoting his leadership goals ahead of March 4 elections.

A little more than a month before the vote, Putin appeared determined to denounce xenophobia without alienating members of the ethnic Russian, mostly Orthodox Christian majority, some of whom fear labor migration and higher birth rates among Russia's Muslims may leave them a minority in their own country.

Moscow is a flash point for ethnic tensions and the site of thousands-strong protests by nationalists angry over migration and government subsidies to the mostly Muslim North Caucasus.

Comparing nationalism to a disease, Putin took aim at ethnic Russian militants, who have been among the 59-year-old prime minister's most vociferous critics, joining in mass protests over disputed parliamentary elections last month.

"If a multiethnic society is infected by nationalism, it loses its strength and durability," Putin said. "We need to understand what far-reaching effects can be caused by attempts to inflame national enmity and hatred."

RUSSIAN CULTURE

But he also emphasized that minorities in what he called a multi-ethnic society must live under the umbrella of Russian culture, and migrants must take measures to integrate such as passing exams in Russian language and history.

"The Russian people, the Russian culture is the glue holding together the unique fabric of this civilization," Putin wrote.

Putin's most detailed proposals called for authorities to be given more power to vet migrants based on their professional skill level, for students to be asked to read some 100 national classics and for the creation of a new government body tasked with inter-ethnic policy.

He also said the best way to stem migration was by creating favorable conditions for citizens to work in their native regions or nations, and argued in support of state spending on poor regions such as the mostly Muslim North Caucasus.

He also plugged his plan for a Eurasian Union linking Russia with other ex-Soviet republics including those in Central Asia, saying closer economic ties would help curb migration by helping to develop the economies of neighboring states.

In a sign Putin has few plans to reverse a consolidation of power in Moscow, which opponents say has weakened political competition and turned regions into vassals, Putin said he could not allow regional political parties because some could be created along ethnic lines, calling it a "direct path to separatism."

"What is omitted is even more important than what is included (in the article)," said Nikolai Petrov, a political analyst with the Moscow Carnegie Center, told Reuters.

"There is no mention of federalism here and the idea here is that a centralized state should be stronger in order to prevent disintegration," he said.

Tens of thousands of people rallied in Moscow against the contested vote on December 24 and the opposition plans new rally on February 4 to protest Putin's planned return.

(Additional reporting by Thomas Grove)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/wl_nm/us_russia_putin

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France returns 20 Maori heads to New Zealand

PARIS (AP) ? France has handed over to New Zealand authorities 20 tattooed heads of Maori ethnic people once held in several French museums as a cultural curiosity.

French Culture Minister Frederic Mitterrand presided over a handover ceremony Monday at the Quai Branly museum in Paris. New Zealand's embassy said it involved the single largest group of Maori heads to be repatriated.

Since 2003, New Zealand has led an ambitious program of collecting Maori heads and skeletal remains from museums around the world so they could be properly mourned and buried according to tradition.

France long resisted handing over such cultural artifacts, but a law passed in 2010 eventually paved the way for the return of the heads.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2012-01-23-EU-France-Maori-Heads/id-8b13799ffe214099a51111b36bc2c7c9

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Blues singer Etta James dies at 73 (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Etta James, the influential 1950s rhythm-and-blues singer best known for her show-stopping hit "At Last," died on Friday from complications of leukemia in a California hospital surrounded by her family. She was 73.

Her death prompted tributes from numerous musicians and artists who were influenced by her singing, from pop star Mariah Carey to Aretha Franklin and legendary rock band The Doors.

James died in her home town of Riverside, California, east of Los Angeles, said her manager and friend of some 30 years, Lupe De Leon. She would have turned 74 on Wednesday.

"She passed away this morning. She was with her husband and her sons," said De Leon.

James was diagnosed with leukemia two years ago and had been in failing health for a number of years. Her live-in doctor said in December she was terminally ill with leukemia. James also suffered from diabetes, kidney problems and dementia and was hospitalized late in 2011 because she was struggling to breathe.

The three time Grammy-award winning R&B singer saw numerous ups-and-downs in her career and personal life. She struggled with obesity and heroin addiction, ran a hot-check scheme and had troubled relationships with men, including some gangsters. Her weight ballooned, and in 2003 she underwent gastric bypass surgery and lost more than 200 pounds.

Yet in the music industry, among fellow R&B artists and rock icons, James' career was legendary. With songs like "The Wallflower" and "Good Rockin' Daddy," the three-time Grammy winner was a key figure in the early days of rock 'n' roll, and her signature song, the 1961 ballad "At Last," proved her mastery of the blues.

Carey, one of dozens of musicians paying tribute on Twitter on Friday, said, "Rest in peace to one of the world's most influential singers Etta James, you will be missed."

Beyonce, who was slammed by James in 2009 for singing "At Last" at the inaugural ball for U.S. President Barack Obama, said on Friday she was fortunate to have met "such a queen."

"Singing her music inspired me to be a stronger artist. When she effortlessly opened her mouth, you could hear her pain and triumph," Beyonce said on her official website.

Aretha Franklin called James "an American original." "When Etta SUNG, you heard it!" Franklin said in a statement.

The Recording Academy, which gives out the Grammys, said James left behind a dynamic legacy. "She will forever be remembered for her timeless ballad 'At Last,' and a powerful voice that will echo around the world for generations to come," academy president Neil Portnow said in a statement.

Other tributes came from LeAnn Rimes, Pink, Kings of Leon drummer Nathan Followill, Chaka Khan, Simon LeBon of Duran Duran, hip-hop producer Russell Simmons and British blues-rock singer Steve Winwood. The Doors called James "one of the world's legendary R&B icons."

POWER AND PAIN

James sang with a mixture of power and pain that led veteran musical producer Jerry Wexler to call her "the greatest of all modern blues singers ... the undisputed Earth Mother."

But throughout her long career she diversified into mainstream blues, soul and R&B. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1993.

"Etta James is simply one of the best singers I've ever heard," singer-guitarist Bonnie Raitt wrote in Rolling Stone magazine. "... Etta is earthy and gritty, ribald and out-there in a way that few performers have the guts to be."

James' last album, "The Dreamer," was released in 2011. She spent the latter part of her life at home in California.

She was born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles on January 25, 1938, to an unmarried teenager who told her that her father was legendary pool shark Rudolph Wanderone, better known as Minnesota Fats. James told CNN she introduced herself to Wanderone in 1987 but was unable to confirm he was her father.

James sang gospel in the church choir and stood out even as a 5-year-old. By 1954, she recorded "Roll With Me Henry" with two other girls in a trio called The Peaches.

The group was discovered by bandleader Johnny Otis, and their song, renamed "The Wallflower," topped R&B charts in 1955. The Peaches eventually split up, but James continued recording and later that year "Good Rockin' Daddy" hit the charts.

Otis died on Tuesday in the Los Angeles area, age 90.

In the 1960s, James signed with Chicago's legendary Chess Records label and sang songs like "At Last" and "Trust in Me" that were backed by orchestras. But she never strayed too far from her gospel roots, as evidenced by 1962's "Something's Got a Hold of Me."

Over the decades, James' hit the R&B charts with 30 singles, and placed nine of those songs in pop music's top 40. She has often been cited as influencing singers including Raitt, Janis Joplin and Tina Turner.

James won her first Grammy in 1995 for her album, "Mystery Lady: The Songs of Billie Holiday." She also won Grammys in 2003 and 2005, as well as a lifetime achievement award in 2003 from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, which gives out the Grammys.

She is survived by her husband, Artis Mills, two sons Donto and Sametto who played in James' backing band, and four grandchildren.

(Reporting By Bill Trott and Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Jill Serjeant and Bob Tourtellotte)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/music_nm/us_ettajames

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PFT: Roethlisberger settles suit alleging '08 rape

Getty Images

On Friday morning, seemingly out of the blue, the NFL announced that the Rams will play a home game in each of the next three seasons in London.

It wasn?t a surprise only for the fans in St. Louis.? In an appearance on The Dan Patrick Show coming less than an hour after word of the three-year deal broke, new coach Jeff Fisher said he found out about the potential move the prior day.

?I had discussions with [COO] Kevin Demoff late yesterday,? Fisher said, in response to the question of when he first learned about the arrangement.? ?[Demoff] said it might be a possibility.? I guess they firmed things up in the last 24 hours.?

The development has ruffled feathers in St. Louis, for multiple reasons.? First, the team has given up what would have been one of the more compelling contests on the 2012 slate of home games.? Second, the city will lose one of the 10 annual occasions (preseason and regular season) on which revenue spikes for hotels, restaurants, bars, and related game-day/game-weekend services.? Third, and perhaps most importantly, the three-year deal coincides with the three remaining years before the team can abandon its current lease, if the Edward Jones Dome isn?t among the top 25 percent of all NFL stadiums.

To his credit, Kevin Demoff applied a thick layer of skin and absorbed the slings and arrows from the St. Louis fan base in a chat that was conducted Friday afternoon by the team?s official website.? And Demoff wasn?t bashful about responding to aggressive fans.? Here?s the verbatim content of one of the first questions posted, even though it was more of a statement:? ?Tired of the constant F-you?s by your organization. You guys have successfully alienated your entire fanbase over and over again. You guys are the laughingstock of the league, congrats.?

Conceding in his first response that the Rams knew the announcement would trigger a ?mixed bag? of responses, Demoff subsequently summarized the benefits of the move:? ?1. The league is placing its faith in the St. Louis Rams and now has a vested interest in our success. That means potentially a better schedule, a possible primetime game, things like that. 2. This is a unique opportunity to showcase St. Louis globally and especially in the UK. For multinational businesses like AB, Monsanto, Enterprise, Emerson, Purina, etc, this provides a platform that combines their local roots with international reach. 3. The bigger we can make our brand nationally and globally, the bigger it makes our ?effective market size?.? If you look at Buffalo playing yearly in Toronto, they are applying the same concept to grow their fan base while still being a regional and local team.?

The second point makes plenty of sense.? The third point becomes relevant only if folks from St. Louis will be traveling to the London games, and vice-versa.? As to the first point, the notion that the Rams would get a ?better schedule? has, in our view, no link to the willingness to play a home game each year in London.? The league doesn?t select prime-time games based on the potential ratings boost in other countries; the games are picked based on how the league believes those games will perform in the U.S.? For American viewers, the fact that the Rams will play seven games domestically and one internationally in each of the next three years simply doesn?t matter.? Moreover, the actual slate of games is based on a formula tied to whether the team finishes in first, second, third, or fourth place in its division; where those gave have been or will be played simply doesn?t matter when determining the opponents.

Demoff provided a somewhat more persuasive answer as to the possible on-field edge to be derived from three years of playing in London:? ?We actually hope that we can gain a competitive advantage by playing abroad and knowing exactly how to adapt to the conditions versus a team traveling to the UK for the first time.? Additionally, with Arsenal?s facilities, we should have the opportunity to have a normal practice schedule in the UK should we want it.? Finally this will allow us to have a bye in early November for the next few years which is highly important to the overall health of our team down the stretch.? And let?s face it, we haven?t played any better at home the past few years than on the road.?

That said, there are a few flaws in the logic.? The Patriots played a London game in 2009; thus, the organization and plenty of players will have an edge over the Rams in the 2012 game.? The fact that Stan Kroenke owns Arsenal would make it far cheaper to have a ?normal practice schedule? in London; any NFL team that goes to London could have a ?normal practice schedule? if it so chooses, as the Bucs did in 2011.? Also, any potential free agents with relatively equal offers from the Rams and another team may choose the other team in order to avoid having to go to London during the season for each of the next three years.? This could make it more expensive to sign free agents.

Demoff provided some insights into the manner in which the deal came together, which could make Fisher wonder why he wasn?t told about the possibility of playing games in London before Thursday.? ?[T]he league approved an initiative in October allowing teams to apply to play for up to five years,? Demoff said.? ?The majority of teams applied for three years because that was enough time for the league to consider the request but also not committing for the long term.? There is some connection to the lease timing, but that wasn?t the driving force in the years.? The driving force was our desire to partner with the league in putting on these games and knowing we had to show a commitment to the league.? On the flipside, people want to say that once the games expire we can leave, but what if we also look at it as once the improvements take place we want to return back to a refurbished building for good??

That?s a potent paragraph.? Demoff admits ?some connection? to an arrangement to play in London through 2014 and a St. Louis lease that can be escaped after 2014.? The last sentence strongly implies dissatisfaction with the current building in St. Louis, along with an expression of hope that, after 2014, the stadium would be properly ?refurbished.?

Thus, it?s fair to characterize this move by the Rams as a deliberate, calculated, and shrewd business decision.? Though Demoff?s contention that playing three games in London creates a ?chance to become the next Dallas Cowboys or Pittsburgh Steelers? represents the kind of stretch that could shatter a rubber band, the decision to take away one home game per year forces the powers-that-be in St. Louis to make the commitment sooner rather than later to properly upgrade the stadium ? or confront the possibility that the team will leave.

Making the tactic even more brilliant from a business perspective is the fact that the Rams, and in turn the NFL, will now be able to pit Los Angeles against London in the hopes of getting the best possible deal for the relocation of the Rams, if it comes to that.

Still, our friends in St. Louis shouldn?t abandon hope, yet.? The team?s tactic will bring the situation to a head.? And if the outcome becomes that the Rams will be moving out in three years, the folks in the Show Me State can hope that the Jaguars will be able to show three straight years of financial losses in Jacksonville, which would allow new owner Shad Khan to break the lease at Everbank Field and move the team to St. Louis.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/01/20/big-ben-settles-lake-tahoe-lawsuit/related/

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Reminder: Follow iMore to win a Jawbone JAMBOX and $200 in iTunes gifts

Just a friendly #FollowFriday reminder that we have a couple of amazing prizes, including a Jawbone JAMBOX and $200 in iTunes gift cards just waiting to hand out you, the always awesome members of our iMore Nations. All you have to do to enter is:

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/mcHIVzo_UQw/story01.htm

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VC Investing Soars 22 Percent To $28.4B In 2011, Internet Sector ...

VCs poured significantly more money into deals in 2011, according to a recently released MoneyTree Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the National Venture Capital Association, based on data from Thomson Reuters. Venture capitalists invested $28.4 billion in 3,673 deals in 2011, an increase of 22 percent in dollars and a 4 percent rise in deals over the prior year. The amount of venture dollars invested in 2011 represents the third highest annual investment total in the past ten years.

In terms of the fourth quarter, investments in the quarter totaled $6.6 billion in 844 deals, which is actually a 10 percent decrease in terms of dollar amount and an 11 percent decrease in deals from the third quarter of 2011 when $7.3 billion went into 953 deals.

Double-digit increases in investment dollars in 2011 were spread across a number of industries, including the Clean Technology and Internet sectors. Investment dollars also increased across every stage of investment categories, with the exception of a 48 percent decrease in seed stage investments. First-time financings rose in 2011 compared to the prior year, however, fourth quarter investing did show a decline in both first-time dollars and deals when compared to Q3 2011.

Tracy T. Lefteroff, global managing partner of the venture capital practice at PricewaterhouseCoopers observes that investors ?are acting prudently and not chasing excessive valuations? and we?re ?unlikely to see these sectors overheat like we saw in the 1999 to 2000 era.?

The Software industry brought the most VC dollars by sector for the year, with the amount raised up 38 percent over 2010 to $6.7 billion in 2011. VCs invested into 1,004 software deals, a 7 percent rise in volume over the prior year. Reflecting the fourth quarter decline, software investing was down in the last quarter of 2011 with $1.8 billion going into 238 deals. Despite this decrease, software was also the number one sector for dollars invested and total number of deals in Q4 and counted more than double the number of deals during the quarter than the second largest sector, Biotechnology.

Internet companies also saw a significant increase in investing in 2011 with $6.9 billion going into 997 deals. That?s a 68 percent increase in dollars and 24 percent increase in deals from 2010 when $4.1 billion went into 807 deals. In fact, 2011 marked the highest level of Internet investment over the past decade.

For the fourth quarter specifically, internet-specific investment declined 23 percent in dollars and 7 percent in deals with $1.3 billion going into 239 deals, compared to $1.7 billion going into 257 deals in the third quarter of 2011. Internet companies accounted for 24 percent of all venture capital dollars in 2011, up from 18 percent in 2010.

Thirteen of the 17 industry categories experienced increases in dollars invested for the year. Industry sectors experiencing some of the biggest dollar increases in 2011 included: Consumer Products & Services (103 percent); Media/Entertainment (53 percent); Electronics/Instrumentation (52 percent); and IT Services (39 percent).

In terms of venture capital by company stage, investments into Seed Stage companies decreased 48 percent in terms of dollars and were flat in terms of deals with $919 million going into 396 companies in 2011. For the fourth quarter, venture capitalists invested $134 million into 80 seed stage companies, a 40 percent decrease in dollars and a 28 percent decline in deals compared to the third quarter of the year. Seed Stage companies attracted 3 percent of dollars and 11 percent of deals in 2011 compared to 8 percent of dollars and 11 percent of deals in 2010. Seed stage deals were the only stage to experience a decrease in average round size for 2011.

Early Stage investments experienced double-digit increases, rising 47 percent in terms of dollars and 16 percent in terms of deals in 2011 to $8.3 billion in 1,414 deals. For the fourth quarter, Early Stage investments increased, with $2.3 billion going into 364 deals, an 11 percent increase in dollars in Q3 while the number of deals was flat. Early Stage companies attracted 29 percent of dollars and 38 percent of deals in 2011 compared to 24 percent of dollars and 35 percent of deals in 2010.

Expansion Stage investments increased in 2011 by 9 percent in dollars and dropped 8 percent in deals with $9.7 billion going into 999 deals. Expansion funding dropped in the fourth quarter, dipping 9 percent from the prior quarter to $2.4 billion. The number of deals also decreased during the quarter, falling 21 percent to 222. Expansion Stage companies attracted 34 percent of dollars and 27 percent of deals in 2011 compared to 38 percent of dollars and 31 percent of deals in 2010.

In 2011, $9.5 billion was invested into 864 Later Stage deals, a 37 percent increase in dollars and a 5 percent increase in deals for the year. For the fourth quarter, $1.8 billion went into 178 deals, which represents a 26 percent decrease in terms of dollars and a 9 percent decline in terms of deals from the third quarter of 2011. Later Stage companies attracted 33 percent of dollars and 24 percent of deals in 2011 compared to 30 percent of dollars and 23 percent of deals in 2010.

Source: http://techcrunch.com/2012/01/19/vc-investing-soars-22-percent-to-28-4b-in-2011-internet-sector-reaches-highest-levels-in-a-decade/

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EU Internet czar comes out against SOPA

BRUSSELS (AP) ? The European Union's Internet czar has added her voice to resistance of the Stop Online Piracy Act, in an unusually open comment on U.S. legislation.

Neelie Kroes, the EU's Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, tweeted Friday "Glad tide is turning on SOPA: don't need bad legislation when should be safeguarding benefits of open net."

The piece of legislation, currently in the House of Representatives, would allow the U.S. Justice Department to target legitimate sites where users share pirated content.

Outrage over SOPA earlier this week triggered a one-day blackout by Wikipedia's English-language service and sparked to growing scrutiny of the bill.

The EU is also struggling with its attempts to tackle online piracy ? but without restricting Internet freedom.

Kroes favors a less invasive approach, tweeting "Speeding is illegal too: but you don't put speed bumps on the motorway."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2012-01-20-EU-EU-SOPA/id-aa47dca98bda48dd90a3938de5f58265

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