Pep Boys agrees to be acquired for about $791M

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? The Pep Boys ? Manny, Moe & Jack, an auto parts chain founded more than 90 years ago, has agreed to be taken private by the investment firm The Gores Group for about $791 million.

The $15 per share offer is a 24 percent premium to Pep Boys' closing price Friday of $12.08.

The company's shares surged $3.08, or 25.5 percent, to $15.16 in premarket trading Monday.

Pep Boys, which is based in Philadelphia, has more than 700 locations in 35 states and Puerto Rico.

The proposed acquisition appealed to The Gores Group in part because of Pep Boys brand recognition, as well as its moderate pricing.

"Pep Boys' strong brand awareness and management's strategy to be the automotive solutions provider of choice for the value-oriented customer positions Pep Boys for growth. We are excited to help Pep Boys build on this vision and enable the company to take the brand and business to the next level by effectively scaling its powerful differentiated service platform," Lee Bird, managing director of operations and consumer practice leader at The Gores Group, said in a statement.

Last month Pep Boys reported that its fiscal third-quarter net income rose nearly 23 percent on stronger tire sales and improving service sales. At the time President and CEO Mike Odell said that the improved business was due in part to new marketing, lower gas prices and pent-up demand.

With almost 53 million shares outstanding, the deal is worth about $791 million. The companies put the total enterprise value of the deal at approximately $1 billion.

The agreement includes a provision, which allows Pep Boys to seek and receive alternative offers for a period of 45 days.

Gores Group said that it has fully committed financing for the buyout. The deal is not subject to a financing condition.

Pep Boys said that Odell, as well as other senior managers, are expected to remain in their positions once the acquisitions closes.

Pep Boys' board unanimously approved the buyout, which still needs approval from the company's shareholders. Pep Boys said it has suspended its quarterly dividend in anticipation of the deal.

The transaction is expected to close in the fiscal second quarter. Once the acquisition is complete, Pep Boys stock will no longer trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-30-Pep%20Boys-Acquisition/id-31590de442cb433c971df893d07807ca

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Do you really need that deep freezer? Really?

The distinction between wanting an item and needing it is a key one. If you don't need something right away, it pays to be patient with your shopping.

When we were first considering a move into our current home, my wife and I made a list of things that we wanted to have in our home that we just didn?t have room for in our small apartment. One of the big items on that list was a deep freezer.

Skip to next paragraph Trent Hamm

The Simple Dollar is a blog for those of us who need both cents and sense: people fighting debt and bad spending habits while building a financially secure future and still affording a latte or two. Our busy lives are crazy enough without having to compare five hundred mutual funds ? we just want simple ways to manage our finances and save a little money.

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We wanted one primarily because we often had offers of buying shares of venison or beef, where entire animals had been processed at a meat locker and the person was hoping to get back some of their investment by selling a quarter of the meat. Per pound, this was an incredible deal, but you would often have to deal with thirty or forty pounds (or more ? sometimes much more) of wrapped and processed meat.

We also wanted to take advantage of specific sales at the grocery store. For example, if a store has a sale on flash-frozen vegetables, we?ll often stock up on them.

As we moved into our current home, we had money set aside for buying a deep freezer, an amount based on the prices we could easily find at the time. We knew some of the specific models we wanted that had a good ?bang for the buck,? and we had the cash in hand. Time to buy, right?

Wrong.

The thing was that we didn?t immediately need that deep freezer. Yes, we wanted one and it was clear that over the long run such a freezer would save us money, but we weren?t pinned up against the wall with regards to the purchase.

This distinction between want and need is a key one. It is incredibly easy for people to decide that something useful that they merely want is actually more of a need ? something that they have to go out and purchase right away. I see it all the time with people in my social circle, and I even see it uncomfortably often in myself.

Holding back on those ?wants that seem kind of like needs? is essential for saving money.

What are you holding back for? The sale. There are many ways where you can find that item that you?re looking for at a much lower price than what you?ll see at your local department store or appliance store.

All we did is sit on this idea of buying a deep freezer for about two months. We watched the ads from the local hardware and appliance stores, waiting for a great price on one of the models we wanted. Eventually, we found it on sale at about a 35% discount, saving us quite a bit of money.

Even better, during that period, a friend of ours came up with a used deep freezer that he offered to give to us. We were strongly considering taking the item, even though we were a bit concerned about the fan motor in it, but we went for the discounted one instead.

We didn?t lose anything by waiting, but we gained about the third of the cost of our deep freezer.

This type of story repeats itself time and time again when you?re making any major purchase. The price you find today is likely to be easily topped if you exhibit a little bit of patience, and considering that the items that you?d do this with aren?t really essential to your day-to-day life, there?s no real drawback to waiting.

What kind of threshold should you have for pulling the trigger? For me, I usually try to wait for a price that?s at least 20% lower than the lowest regular price I found when I was initially searching for the item.

How long should you wait? This is really up to you. What I typically do is wait until I notice a continuous stream of possible uses for the item I was considering buying. Whenever I notice a use, I bump my threshold for buying closer to the lowest regular price until it becomes clear that the item is nearly a ?need? in terms of how we live our lives, then I?ll just go for the lowest-priced version I can find.

Patience is the key, and patience pays off time and time again.

This post is part of a yearlong series called ?365 Ways to Live Cheap (Revisited),? in which I?m revisiting the entries from my book ?365 Ways to Live Cheap,? which is available at Amazon and at bookstores everywhere.

The Christian Science Monitor has assembled a diverse group of the best economy-related bloggers out there. Our guest bloggers are not employed or directed by the Monitor and the views expressed are the bloggers' own, as is responsibility for the content of their blogs. To contact us about a blogger, click here. To add or view a comment on a guest blog, please go to the blogger's own site by clicking on www.thesimpledollar.com.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/8qdFOMzQ9jI/Do-you-really-need-that-deep-freezer-Really

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Suu Kyi galvanizes once-repressed Myanmar politics

DAWEI, Myanmar?? Euphoric seas of supporters waved opposition party flags and offered yellow garlands. They lined crumbling roads for miles and climbed atop trees, cars and roofs as Aung San Suu Kyi spoke at impromptu rallies. Some cried as her convoy passed.

Cheered by tens of thousands, the 66-year-old opposition leader electrified Myanmar's repressive political landscape everywhere she traveled Sunday on her first political tour of the countryside since her party registered to run in a historic ballot that could see her elected to parliament for the first time.

"We will bring democracy to the country," Suu Kyi said to roaring applause as her voice boomed through loudspeakers from the balcony of a National League for Democracy office in the southern coastal district of Dawei. "We will bring rule of law ... and we will see to it that repressive laws are repealed."

As huge crowds screamed "Long Live Daw Aung San Suu Kyi!" and others held banners saying "You Are Our Heart," she said: "We can overcome any obstacle with unity and perseverance, however difficult it may be."

Suu Kyi's campaign and by-elections due April 1 are being watched closely by the international community, which sees the vote as a crucial test of whether the military-backed government is really committed to reform.

The mere fact that Suu Kyi was able to speak openly in public in Dawei ? and her supporters were able to greet her en masse without fear of reprisal ? was proof of dramatic progress itself. Such scenes would have been unthinkable just a year ago, when the long-ruling junta was still in power and demonstrations were all but banned.

Suu Kyi's visit was equivalent to waking a sleeping dragon, said environmental activist Aung Zaw Hein.

"People had been afraid to discuss politics for so long," he said. "Now that she's visiting, the political spirit of people has been awakened."

Looking into the giant crowds, Hein added: "I've never seen people's faces look like this before. For the first time, they have hope in their eyes."

Businesman Ko Ye said he was ecstatic that Suu Kyi came, and like most people here, he welcomed the recent dramatic changes that made her trip possible. "We are all hoping for democracy," the 49-year-old said, "but we're afraid these reforms can be reversed at anytime."

After nearly half a century of iron-fisted military rule, a nominally civilian government took office last March. The new government has surprised even some of its toughest critics by releasing hundreds of political prisoners, signing cease-fire deals with ethnic rebels, increasing media freedoms and easing censorship laws.

Suu Kyi's party boycotted the 2010 election as neither free nor fair. It sought to have its legal status restored after the government amended electoral laws. Her party has been cleared to offer candidates in the April vote, and an Election Commission ruling on Suu Kyi's candidacy is expected in February.

Some critics are concerned the government is using its opening with Suu Kyi to show it's committed to reform. The government needs her support to get years of harsh Western sanctions lifted.

On Sunday, Suu Kyi said the opposition had struggled for democracy for decades, but the best way to do that now was to fight "from within parliament." But she also expressed caution over the challenges ahead. "It's easy to make problems, but it's not easy to implement them," she said. "We have a lot to do."

An NLD victory would be highly symbolic, but her party would have limited power since the legislature is overwhelmingly dominated by the military and the ruling pro-military party. Up for grabs are 48 seats vacated by lawmakers who were appointed to the Cabinet and other posts.

Suu Kyi has spent 15 of the past 23 years under house arrest, and as a result, has rarely traveled outside Yangon. Although she conducted one successful day of rallies north of Yangon last year, a previous political tour to greet supporters in 2003 sparked a bloody ambush of her convoy that saw her forcibly confined at her lakeside home.

She was finally released from house arrest in late 2010, just days after the elections that installed the current government and led to the junta's official disbandment.

Suu Kyi met with party members in Dawei, including one running for a parliament seat. She will make similar political trips to other areas, including the country's second-largest city, Mandalay, in early February before officially campaigning for her own seat, party spokesman Nyan Win said.

Suu Kyi is hoping to represent the constituency of Kawhmu, a poor district just south of Yangon where some villagers' homes were destroyed by Cyclone Nargis in 2008.

Lay Lay Myint, a 35-year-old grocery store manager, said Suu Kyi's platform in parliament would allow her to "let the world know what is happening" in Myanmar.

"People have been living in fear here," Myint said. "Just seeing her hear makes us braver, more courageous."

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

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46177554/ns/business/

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Private investors near deal on Greek debt

Charles Dallara, left and Jean Lemiere from the Institute of International Finance leave Maximos Mansion after meeting Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos in Athens on Saturday Jan. 28 2012. Talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country's privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close, according to the creditors' representatives. (AP Photo)

Charles Dallara, left and Jean Lemiere from the Institute of International Finance leave Maximos Mansion after meeting Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos in Athens on Saturday Jan. 28 2012. Talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country's privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close, according to the creditors' representatives. (AP Photo)

Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos leaves Maximos Mansion after a meeting with Greek Prime minister Lucas Papademos, Charles Dallara and Jean Lemiere from the Institute of International Finance in Athens on Saturday Jan. 28 2012. Talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country's privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close, according to the creditors' representatives. (AP Photo)

Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, left, and Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos leave Maximos Mansion after a meeting Charles Dallara and Jean Lemiere from the Institute of International Finance in Athens on Saturday Jan. 28 2012. Talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country's privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close, according to the creditors' representatives. (AP Photo)

Charles Dallara, left and Jean Lemiere from the Institute of International Finance leave Maximos Mansion after meeting Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos in Athens on Saturday Jan. 28 2012. Talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country's privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close, according to the creditors' representatives. (AP Photo)

Charles Dallara managing director of the Institute of International Finance arrives at Maximos Mansion for a meeting with Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos and Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos in Athens on Saturday Jan. 28 2012. Talks between Greece and private creditors on halving the country's privately held debt load have ended and a deal is very close, according to the creditors' representatives. (AP Photo)

ATHENS, Greece (AP) ? A disorderly and potentially devastating Greek debt default is looking much less likely.

Greece and investors who own its bonds have reached a tentative deal to significantly reduce the country's debt and pave the way for it to receive a much-needed ?130 billion bailout.

Negotiators for the investors announced the agreement Saturday and said it could become final next week. If the agreement works as planned, it will help Greece remain solvent and help Europe avoid a blow to its already weak financial system, even though banks and other bond investors will have to accept multibillion-dollar losses.

Still, it doesn't resolve the weakening economic conditions in Greece and other European nations as they rein in spending to get their debts under control.

Under the agreement, investors holding ?206 billion in Greek bonds would exchange them for new bonds worth 60 percent less.

The new bonds' face value is half of the existing bonds. They would have a longer maturity and pay an average interest rate of slightly less than 4 percent. The existing bonds pay an average interest rate of 5 percent, according to the think tank Re-Define.

The deal would reduce Greece's annual interest expense on the bonds from about $10 billion to about $4 billion. And when the bonds mature, instead of paying bondholders ?206 billion, Greece will have to pay only ?103 billion.

Without the deal, which would reduce Greece's debt load by at least ?120 billion, the bonds held by banks, insurance companies and hedge funds would likely become worthless. Many of these investors also hold debt from other countries that use the euro, which could also lose value in the event of a full-fledged Greek default. This is the scenario analysts fear most and why they hope investors will voluntarily accept a partial loss on their Greek bonds.

The agreement taking shape is a key step before Greece can get a second, ?130 billion bailout from its European Union partners and the International Monetary Fund. Besides restructuring its debt with private investors, Greece must also take other steps before getting aid. It must cut its deficit and boost the competitiveness of its economy through layoffs of government employees and the sale of several state companies, among other moves.

Greece faces a ?14.5 billion bond repayment on March 20, which it cannot afford without additional help.

The country got its first bailout in May 2010 when the EU and the IMF signed off on a ?110 billion aid package, most of which has already been disbursed.

Private investors hold roughly two-thirds of Greece's debt, which has reached an unsustainable level ? nearly 160 percent of the country's annual economic output. By restructuring the debt held by private investors, Greece and its EU partners are hoping to bring that ratio closer to 120 percent by the end of this decade. Without a deal, analysts forecast that ratio ballooning to 200 percent by the end of this year as the Greek economy falters.

Meanwhile, Greece's public creditors ? ? the IMF, the EU and the European Central Bank ? are baffled by the government's repeated failure to meet deficit targets. They want more government wage cuts. That is meeting resistance by Greek politicians afraid of losing an election tentatively scheduled for the spring. But those same politicians also worry that the nation will be denied a second bailout if doesn't reduce its deficit.

Greek Finance Minister Evangelos Venizelos on Saturday night asked those who oppose structural changes to reconsider their stance.

"The coming days will be decisive for the next decade ... We must answer to tough dilemmas and we must do so with foresight and a sense of responsibility and not hide behind each other," he told reporters after meeting with the public creditors.

In return for the first bailout, Greece's public creditors have unprecedented powers over Greek spending. However, Greece's problems will not be fixed simply by cutting government spending. In order to bring its debts to a more manageable level, the country must also find ways boost economic output, which would enable it to collect more taxes.

If no debt-exchange deal is reached with private creditors and Greece is forced to default, it would very likely spook Europe's ? and possibly the world's ? financial markets. It could even lead Greece to withdraw from the euro.

Sarah Ketterer, co-manager of Causeway International Value Fund, a $1.4 billion mutual fund that invests in European stocks, said the region's markets have rebounded this month largely on expectations that negotiators would reach a deal along the lines of the one being finalized now.

Any last-minute breakdown in the talks could trigger a sharp decline in European markets, she said. But a rally is unlikely if negotiations succeed.

"The equity markets have ... largely already discounted this, and you can see that in the confidence that has returned in European equities since the end of December, and especially for financial stocks," Ketterer said.

She said there "really was no other option" than reaching a deal for bondholders to take a haircut of 50 percent or more.

Ketterer said a Greek deal could help restore bond market confidence. That would help Italy manage its own debt crisis ? one that Ketterer views as more critical than Greece's because of Italy's greater size.

The investors who own Greek bonds are being represented by Charles Dallara, managing director of the Washington-based Institute of International Finance, and Jean Lemierre, senior adviser to the chairman of the French bank BNP Paribas.

___

AP personal finance writer Mark Jewell in Boston, Elena Becatoros in Athens and Gabriele Steinhauser in Brussels contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-28-Greece-Financial%20Crisis/id-95a7e2403b3c45aabd5d52f62a29680b

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Santorum Cancels Sunday Events (TIME)

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The Blind Pets: Keeping it dirty with class | cat5

Photo courtesy of The Blind Pets' Facebook page

Drummers are like phoenixes ? they provide rhythm and an attitude of cool for rock bands, but usually for a limited amount of time.

After a while, they unceremoniously stop playing with the band for whatever reason and another drumming aficionado rises up from the ashes.

This has been the case with Austin-based rock band The Blind Pets who have gone through their share of drummers since they formed five years ago.

But lead singer Joshua Logan doesn?t mind the new blood.

The Blind Pets will perform at Tequila Rok on Saturday.

?We?re on our seventh drummer now,? Logan said in a phone interview. ?Ya know, I think drummers eventually do something else. Our last drummer broke up with his girlfriend and moved to New York. I think he?s even still pretty bummed about not being in the band.?

With the success The Blind Pets have experienced in the last year with frequent touring and upcoming studio time for their fourth album, ?Heavy Petting,? it?s hard to believe anyone would choose to leave the band, let alone six people.

?It takes a lot to be a drummer in a rock-and-roll band,? he said. ?It?s pretty much like being someone who?s equipped to run a marathon on a nightly basis. We wear drummers out.?

Logan, who grew up moving from state-to-state with his mom and six siblings, isn?t talking about only performances but the three to five times a week that his band rehearses, which he said is much more regular than other Austin music makers.

?People quit when they decide to grow up and I haven?t chosen to grow up yet,? he laughed.

In 2011, The Blind Pets were ranked in the top 10 bands on the University of Texas? radio station, which Logan said is a big deal with the over-saturation of live music in Austin.

But outside of the state?s capitol, the band is touring in an effort to become a recognizable name in other cities ? like Beaumont.

Photo courtesy of The Blind Pets' Facebook page

Back when Beaumont?s much beloved Vortex was still open, Logan said they played some of their best shows there.

This isn?t the first time for them to play on Crockett, either. The band?s last Tequila Rok show was with Beaumont favorite Purple.

Touring is a must before they head back to the studio to record another 10-12 song vinyl, he said. The live music helps gear the band up for the creation of new material.

?I like a more natural sound,? Logan said. ?There is some ?polishing? you do with vocals, but as far as everything else, natural is best.?

Logan said this will be the first album the band has recorded where he doesn?t feel pressured to make the live sound identical to the recording.

?This is a new album with more of a broader spectrum,? he said. ?It?s more like The Beatles, not like the Stones.?

A bit of polish, but not much because The Blind Pets want to ?keep it dirty, but with class.?

An over-polished sound in the studio limits what you can do on stage, he said, and it makes you sound like everyone else.

?There?s a difference between walking in and smelling like (expletive) and walking in and being the (expletive),? he said.

The Blind Pets with Purple and Jenny & the Reincarnation
Where: Tequila Rok, Crockett Street, Beaumont
When: 8 p.m. Saturday
Cost: $5

Source: http://blog.beaumontenterprise.com/cat5/2012/01/27/7138/

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Minnesota laying groundwork for gray wolf hunt (Reuters)

MINNEAPOLIS (Reuters) ? Minnesota officials on Thursday outlined plans to permit a hunting season for the gray wolf this year following its removal from federal endangered species protections, prompting opponents of the plan to consider a court challenge.

Minnesota is home to the largest population of gray wolves in the lower 48 states, about 2,900, and could become the first upper Midwest state to set a hunting season for the animals as they are stripped of federal protections.

Federal officials have withdrawn safeguards under the Endangered Species Act effective Friday, allowing states to decide whether or not to allow the gray wolf to be hunted.

There are about 4,000 gray wolves in Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan and adjacent states losing protections. Hunting seasons have not yet been proposed in Wisconsin or Michigan.

Federal court challenges brought by the Humane Society and other groups overturned de-listing bids by the fish and wildlife service in 2007 and 2009.

The Humane Society opposed the latest de-listing, opposes the hunting season and is considering another court challenge, Howard Goldman, the Minnesota state director of the Humane Society, said Thursday in a telephone interview.

"We are looking at the legal side and the biology," Goldman said. "We don't believe the wolf has recovered nationally. It only occupies 5 percent of its historic range."

Wolves were hunted to the edge of extinction nationwide, but populations have recovered to the point of conflict between ranchers, farmers and hunters who see them as a threat to livestock and big-game animals such as deer.

A separate population of about 1,200 wolves in Montana and Idaho were removed from the endangered species list last year under an unprecedented act of Congress.

There were fewer than 750 gray wolves in Minnesota in the 1950s. The population had grown to about 2,900 by the late 1990s, a level that has not changed significantly since, according to state natural resources department estimates.

Minnesota state officials plan to allow 400 gray wolves to be killed in a hunting season in late November and believe the population could sustain a higher quota. They discussed the plans with state lawmakers in committee hearings on Thursday.

(Reporting By David Bailey)

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

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'Man On A Ledge': The Reviews Are In!

Effects work 'frighteningly well' but 'premise is so devoutly ridiculous,' critics say.
By Kara Warner

Sam Worthington in "Man on a Ledge"
Photo: Summit

If your impressions about the new action thriller "Man on a Ledge" are based on the film's very-literal title, you're very likely correct in assuming to know a decent amount about the film before entering the theater. "Ledge" is the story of ex-cop and fugitive Nick Cassidy (Sam Worthington), whose seemingly obvious suicidal plan to jump off a building is slowly revealed to be something much more.

Thus far, the critical reception for the film is very different from initial audience reactions. The Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer has "Ledge" at a 22 percent fresh rating from critics, versus a 65 percent fresh audience rating.

Read on to see what has the two viewing bodies so divided as we sift through the "Man on a Ledge" reviews:

The Premise
"It's an arresting image, Sam Worthington out on that 40th-story ledge. He's a fairly tough-looking guy, after all, and we know him best as the tooth-gritting blockbuster hero of 'Avatar' and 'Clash of the Titans,' so it's head-spinning to see the man's beefy figure as a speck hovering so precariously close to New York's infinite sky. The camera swirls around Worthington's disgraced former cop Nick Cassidy, inching out past that thin strip of architecture, then back in. What if he trips, or jumps? For a while, anything seems possible, and it's both exhilarating and terrifying. Then the wool comes off, and it's clear that director Asger Leth and screenwriter Pablo Fenjves have ambitions considerably less grand than their protagonist's perch. Cassidy's ledge game — with all the studio-unfriendly moral ambiguities it entails — is just a con, a photo op for the crowds, and Nick's apparent desire to exit the material world is a front. What he truly, passionately wants to do is steal some jewelry." — Andrew Lapin, NPR

The Impact of Practical Effect
"I, on the other hand, was gripping anything in reach, palms dripping, thinking I might not have survived the effects had they been 3-D. Though there were other production sites, serious time was spent actually shooting on that 14-inch ledge wrapping the 21st floor of the Roosevelt Hotel to create the vicarious sensation of being there. Which worked frighteningly well, at least for the vertiginous among us. Oh, that the actual human dynamics of the unfolding story could have been as dramatic, as on the edge as that ledge." — Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times

The Direction
"Mr. Leth, the son of renowned Danish documentarian Jorgen Leth, has directed only one other film, 'Ghosts of Cité Soleil,' a highly stylized doc that revealed a soul yearning to breathe free of nonfiction. He has an instinct for weaving sturdy narrative fabric out of intersecting plot lines. ... Amid the hoopla, Mr. Leth takes sobering assessment of media-circuses and mob mentalities: The people down below taking cellphone pictures, the ones yelling 'Jump!'; the callous nature of cops for whom it's all routine. There's the occasional goofy grace note: Kyra Sedgwick, playing a voracious and obviously Anglo television reporter named Suzie Morales, rolls the 'R' in her surname as she signs off, just in case someone missed the point (we've all heard it). In another scene, Mr. Leth takes such pains to strip the shapely Ms. Rodriguez down to her underwear that audiences, who may well be leering, will also be laughing at how obvious it is." — John Anderson, Wall Street Journal

The Final Word, Pro/Con Style
"Director Asger Leth, making his U.S. feature-film debut with 'Man on a Ledge,' keeps the pace brisk and never allows the tone to stray into self-seriousness, which is crucial for a movie whose premise is so devoutly ridiculous. The script, from Pablo F. Fenjves, provides enough feints and twists to keep us engaged. Jamie Bell and Genesis Rodriguez aren't the most believable of couples, but there's a screwball charm to their comic routine as amateur thieves charged with aiding Nick's scheme. (Leth can't resist inserting an entirely superfluous — but nonetheless greatly appreciated — scene of the criminally gorgeous Rodriguez stripping down to a thong in the middle of a heist.) Worthington makes for a likable populist protagonist, even if his Australian accent betrays him on copious occasions, and Harris' disturbingly emaciated frame lends an added menace to his devious plutocrat villain." — Thomas Leupp, Hollywood.com

"Like last year's action comedy 'Tower Heist,' 'Man on a Ledge' becomes something of a parable of the 99 percent, with Cassidy initially an object of prurient interest for the massed crowds below, then becoming a blue-collar folk hero. That gives the movie at least a frisson of contemporary relevance, but the filmmakers blow that advantage with plot and characterization that require not just a suspension of disbelief but a suspension of eye-rolling reflexes and the nagging impulse to burst into derisive laughter." — Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

Check out everything we've got on "Man on a Ledge."

For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1678092/man-on-a-ledge-reviews.jhtml

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Casio?s new smartphone looks like an oversized watch; might survive the apocalypse (Yahoo! News)

It's probably not bullet-resistant, but it may be the closest you'll get

Looking for the most rugged?smartphone on the planet? Well then, meet the new?Casio ? yes, that Casio ??Android G-Shock. It's the kind of smartphone that?Lewis and Clark would have taken with them had there been 4G cell service in 1804.

The phone appears to be geared toward the more adventurous smartphone owner ? it's both water-resistant (to 1.0 bar) and pressure-resistant (1.0 ton), so you can take it deep sea diving. It's also shock-resistant to 10 feet, so if your son drops it off the front porch, you're covered. Oh, and did we mention that its thick frame and unusual shape makes it looks?exactly like an oversized watch?

Cool and stylish as the phone looks from the outside, we really don't know a lot about the inside yet, because Casio's not telling us. All we know is that it'll be running Android. Casio is being hush-hush about the smartphone's processor as well, aside from the fact that it still works even at the bottom of your backyard swimming pool.

This article was written by Fox Van Allen and originally appeared on Tecca

More from Tecca:

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W.Va. firm, agency overlook finding of lead (AP)

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. ? A company hired to perform a groundwater study in southern West Virginia for the Department of Environmental Protection admits it made an error.

Triad Engineering says one of 33 samples taken from the communities of Seth and Prenter in Boone County exceeded DEP standards for lead in drinking water.

The DEP said Wednesday in a release that the agency and the engineering company accidentally overlooked the result. The DEP says it plans to contact the owner of the well and let him aware of the finding.

DEP officials say the study still shows no evidence of widespread groundwater pollution related to mining.

But a lawyer for 350 residents suing coal companies over water pollution says the study is fundamentally flawed and calls the DEP a shill for the coal industry.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/environment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_bi_ge/us_coal_slurry_study_west_virginia

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Talking things through in your head may help autism (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? Teaching children with autism to "talk things through" in their heads may help them solve tricky day-to-day tasks and could increase the chances of them living independent lives when they grow up, British scientists said on Wednesday.

Psychologists who studied adults with autism found that the mechanism for using "inner speech," or talking things through in your head is intact, but they don't always use it in the same way as typically developing people do.

The researchers found that the tendency to "think in words" is also strongly linked to the extent of a person's communication skills, which are rooted in early childhood.

The results suggest teaching autistic children how to develop inner speech skills may help them cope with daily tasks later in life. It also suggests children with autism may do better at school if they are encouraged to learn their daily timetable verbally rather than using visual plans, which is currently a common approach.

Autism, which affects around one percent of the population worldwide, includes a spectrum of disorders ranging from mental retardation and a profound inability to communicate, to relatively milder symptoms such as seen in people with high-functioning autism or Asperger's syndrome.

Among core features of autism are poor communication skills and difficulties with social engagement.

"Most people will 'think in words' when trying to solve problems, which helps with planning or particularly complicated tasks," said David Williams of Durham University's department of psychology, who led the study.

Typically developing children tend to talk out loud to guide themselves through tricky tasks, and only from about 7 years old do they talk to themselves in their heads to try to solve problems, he said. How good people are at it is partly determined by their communication experiences as a young child.

Williams said children with autism often miss out on the early communicative exchanges, which may explain their tendency not to use inner speech when they are older. He said the lack of inner speech use might also contribute to some of the repetitive behaviors which are common in people with autism.

"Children with autism probably aren't doing this thinking in their heads, but are continuing on with a visual thinking strategy," Williams said in a telephone interview.

"So this is the time, at around six or seven years old, that these teaching methods would be most helpful."

The study, conducted by researchers at Durham, Bristol and City University London and scheduled to be published in an upcoming issue of the Development and Psychopathology journal, involved 15 adults with high-functioning autism and 16 neurotypical adults for comparison.

The volunteers were asked to complete a test of planning ability for which typical people would normally use "thinking in words" strategies.

When the two groups were asked to do the task while also repeating out loud a certain word -- such as "Tuesday" or "Thursday" -- designed to distract them, the control group found the task much harder, while the autistic group were not bothered by the distraction.

"In the people with autism, it had no effect whatsoever," Williams explained. This suggests that, unlike neurotypical adults, participants with autism do not normally use inner speech to help themselves plan.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/wOazFh Development and Psychopathology, 2012.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/parenting/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120125/hl_nm/us_autism

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Gabrielle Giffords, Daniel Hernandez, Share Embrace In Tucson, Arizona (PHOTO)

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) brought a symbolic finish Monday to the political meet-and-greet that was violently interrupted over a year ago, when a gunman opened fire on the congresswoman, her staff, and constituents outside a Safeway in Tucson, Ariz.

One of the attendees was Daniel Hernandez, the intern who was credited with saving Giffords' life after rushing to her aid moments after she was shot in the head at close range.

In the picture below, the two share an emotional moment. For more pictures of the event, check out Giffords' new Twitter page.

Giffords announced on Sunday that she would be stepping down from Congress to focus on making a full recovery. She is expected to leave office by the end of the week, setting the stage for a primary election to replace her in the period before the 2012 election.

Giffords and her husband, Mark Kelly, are both expected to attend President Barack Obama's State of the Union Address on Tuesday.

Earlier on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/23/gabrielle-giffords-daniel-hernandez_n_1224011.html

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Kim Kardashian 'Definitely Tried' With Kris Humphries

'I just need to rewrite my fairytale,' reality star tells Kelly Ripa while co-hosting 'Live!'
By Jocelyn Vena

Kim Kardashian
Photo: Getty Images

When she wasn't playing with exotic animals during Monday's (January 23) show, Kelly Ripa's latest "Live!" co-host, Kim Kardashian, opened up about her much-publicized split from Kris Humphries, her husband of 72 days.

"I didn't think following my heart would create this much backlash," she said, sitting by Ripa in a skin-tight red dress. The reality starlet continued that despite reports that she married the basketball player for publicity, she was in it for the long haul.

"I definitely tried everything I felt like I could ... I want babies. I want forever love," she said. "I just felt like, you know, if I feel in my heart that this isn't right, then why wait years to have the same result?"

Currently the Kris/ Kim relationship and its demise are playing out in front of America on "Kourtney & Kim Take New York." Admitting that shortly after the split she did some "soul-searching," she added that these days she's had to readjust her ideas on true love. She said, "I really learned that I just need to rewrite my fairytale."

"Me being a hopeless romantic, I wanted it to work so badly," Kardashian said. "I'm a smart woman! I would have stayed married longer!"

On the same day that Kim opened up about her own split, Heidi Klum and Seal announced that they'd be splitting after seven years of marriage. What's Kim's advice for them in the wake of their own very public split?

"It's so sad," she said. "I would never wish anyone to go through a divorce, but then again after what I went through, you don't really know until you're in this person's shoes ... When I see other people when I might not understand their situation, now I really just step back because you don't really know what they're going through."

How did Kim Kardashian do co-hosting with Kelly Ripa? Let us know in the comments!

Related Photos

• Kim Kardashian And Kris Humphries: A Whirlwind Romance

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677712/kim-kardashian-kelly-ripa.jhtml

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Russian liberal says Kremlin bars him from vote (AP)

MOSCOW ? The leader of Russia's leading liberal party said Monday that election officials' refusal to clear his candidacy for March's presidential election reflects the government's fear of genuine competition.

Grigory Yavlinsky, the leader of Yabloko party, said authorities want to prevent him from challenging Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's bid to extend his 12-year rule by reclaiming the presidency. He said other contenders are only nominal rivals who are following the Kremlin's guidance.

"They aren't letting me to join the race, because they don't want to allow an alternative ? political, economic and moral," Yavlinsky said at a news conference.

The Central Election Commission said Monday that more than 20 percent of signatures collected in support of Yavlinsky's candidacy were found to be invalid. It said it would make the final decision on Yavlinsky's candidacy after checking another sample of more than 2 million signatures required by law for a candidate to qualify for the race.

Putin's presidential bid has been challenged by massive protests against vote-rigging in favor of his party in December's parliamentary election that drew tens of thousands in the largest show of public anger since the Soviet collapse two decades ago.

Yavlinsky's party, which failed to clear a 7-percent threshold required to win seats in parliament, fielded thousands of observers, who documented evidence of official fraud in favor of Putin's United Russia in December's vote.

Under the law, observers at the polls can only be named by participants in the race. Yavlinsky charged that a decision to bar him from running also was rooted in the authorities reluctance to allow strong monitoring of the presidential vote.

The election commission already has registered Putin and three other contenders: Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov, ultranationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky and socialist Just Russia leader Sergei Mironov. Since their parties are represented in the parliament, their registration is easier than for other potential candidates.

Election officials also signaled Monday they would register billionaire tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov, saying that a preliminary check of lists of signatures in his support had shown they correspond to legal norms.

Yavlinsky said that all these candidates represent "different faces of the government" and warned that the refusal to allow him to join the race would undermine the vote's legitimacy and could foment unrest in the future.

"The refusal to allow an alternative, a choice would erode trust in the vote and deal a blow to its legitimacy," he said. "The less trust and legitimacy are there, the more unpredictable and violent the situation in the country will be."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_re_eu/eu_russia_election

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Scientists produce world's first magnetic soap

ScienceDaily (Jan. 23, 2012) ? Scientists from Bristol University have developed a soap, composed of iron rich salts dissolved in water, that responds to a magnetic field when placed in solution. The soap?s magnetic properties were shown with neutrons at the Institut Laue-Langevin to result from tiny iron-rich clumps that sit within the watery solution. The generation of this property in a fully functional soap could calm concerns over the use of soaps in oil-spill clean ups and revolutionise industrial cleaning products.

Scientists have long been searching for a way to control soaps (or surfactants as they are known in industry) once they are in solution to increase their ability to dissolve oils in water and then remove them from a system. The team at Bristol University have previously worked on soaps sensitive to light, carbon dioxide or changes in pH, temperature or pressure. Their latest breakthrough, reported in Angewandte Chemie, is the world?s first soap sensitive to a magnetic field.

Ionic liquid surfactants, composed mostly of water with some transition metal complexes (heavy metals like iron bound to halides such as bromine or chlorine) have been suggested as potentially controllable by magnets for some time, but it had always been assumed that their metallic centres were too isolated within the solution, preventing the long-range interactions required to be magnetically active.

The team at Bristol, lead by Professor Julian Eastoe produced their magnetic soap by dissolving iron in a range of inert surfactant materials composed of chloride and bromide ions, very similar to those found in everyday mouthwash or fabric conditioner. The addition of the iron creates metallic centres within the soap particles.

To test its properties, the team introduced a magnet to a test tube containing their new soap lying beneath a less dense organic solution. When the magnet was introduced the iron-rich soap overcame both gravity and surface tension between the water and oil, to levitate through the organic solvent and reach the source of the magnetic energy, proving its magnetic properties.

Once the surfactant was developed and shown to be magnetic, Prof Eastoe?s team took it to the Institut Laue-Langevin, the world?s flagship centre for neutron science, and home to the world?s most intense neutron source, to investigate the science behind its remarkable property.

When surfactants are added to water they are known to form tiny clumps (particles called micelles). Scientists at ILL used a technique called ?small angle neutron scattering (SANS)? to confirm that it was this clumping of the iron-rich surfactant that brought about its magnetic properties.

Dr Isabelle Grillo, responsible of the Chemistry Laboratories at ILL: ?The particles of surfactant in solution are small and thus difficult to see using light but are easily revealed by SANS which we use to investigate the structure and behaviour of all types of materials with typical sizes ranging from the nanometer to the tenth of micrometer.?

The potential applications of magnetic surfactants are huge. Their responsiveness to external stimuli allows a range of properties, such as their electrical conductivity, melting point, the size and shape of aggregates and how readily its dissolves in water to be altered by a simple magnetic on and off switch. Traditionally these factors, which are key to the effective application of soaps in a variety of industrial settings, could only be controlled by adding an electric charge or changing the pH, temperature or pressure of the system, all changes that irreversibly alter the system composition and cost money to remediate.

Its magnetic properties also makes it easier to round up and remove from a system once it has been added, suggesting further applications in environmental clean ups and water treatment. Scientific experiments which require precise control of liquid droplets could also be made easier with the addition of this surfactant and a magnetic field.

Professor Julian Eastoe, University of Bristol: ?As most magnets are metals, from a purely scientific point of view these ionic liquid surfactants are highly unusual, making them a particularly interesting discovery. From a commercial point of view, though these exact liquids aren?t yet ready to appear in any household product, by proving that magnetic soaps can be developed, future work can reproduce the same phenomenon in more commercially viable liquids for a range of applications from water treatment to industrial cleaning products.?

Peter Dowding an industrial chemist, not involved in the research: ?Any systems which act only when responding to an outside stimulus that has no effect on its composition is a major breakthrough as you can create products which only work when they are needed to. Also the ability to remove the surfactant after it has been added widens the potential applications to environmentally sensitive areas like oil spill clean ups where in the past concerns have been raised.?

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Institut Laue-Langevin (ILL), via AlphaGalileo.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Paul Brown, Alexey Bushmelev, Craig P. Butts, Jing Cheng, Julian Eastoe, Isabelle Grillo, Richard K. Heenan, Annette M. Schmidt. Magnetic Control over Liquid Surface Properties with Responsive Surfactants. Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2012; DOI: 10.1002/anie.201108010

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/uAy8Guff0NY/120123174840.htm

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Worley wins WCup giant slalom, Vonn 4th

France's Tessa Worley, center, winner of an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, smiles on the podium with second placed Italy's Federica Brignone, left, and third placed Viktoria Rebensburg, of Germany, in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

France's Tessa Worley, center, winner of an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, smiles on the podium with second placed Italy's Federica Brignone, left, and third placed Viktoria Rebensburg, of Germany, in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

France's Tessa Worley celebrates after winning an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

France's Tessa Worleyl powers past a gate during the first run of an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

Austria's Elisabeth Goergl powers past a gate during the first run of an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

Lindsey Vonn, of the United States, powers past a gate during the first run of an alpine ski, women's World Cup giant slalom, in Kranjska Gora, Slovenia, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Marco Trovati)

KRANJSKA GORA, Slovenia (AP) ? Tessa Worley of France won a World Cup giant slalom on Saturday after first-run leader Elisabeth Goergl of Austria crashed at the bottom of the second run.

World Cup leader Lindsey Vonn finished fourth, just missing the podium by three-hundredths of a second despite a spectacular recovery to prevent a crash near the end of the race.

"I skied the top well, but it was very bumpy at the bottom," Vonn said. "I did my best, but it just wasn't good enough for first."

Worley clocked 2 minutes, 3.02 seconds down the course to beat Federica Brignone of Italy, who finished in 2:03.58. Viktoria Rebensburg of Germany was third in 2:03.91.

Tina Maze, the home favorite and reigning world champion, finished fifth. Vonn increased her lead in the overall standings to 296 points ahead of Maze.

Vonn, who won her first giant slalom in the season opener in October, had two solid runs in her generally weakest event. However, she needed to put her hand on the snow a few gates from the finish to steady herself and lost time.

Worley trailed Goergl at the end of the first run, and it looked as if the Austrian was going to push her all the way before falling shortly before the finish line.

A perfect second run ensured Worley finished more than a half-second ahead of Brignone to claim her sixth World Cup victory and first in more than a year. All her triumphs have come in the giant slalom.

"It was a tough race but fun," Worley said. "The snow was great, but it was difficult and very technical. It was a pretty short run, so you needed to be at top tempo from start to finish."

Rebensburg had a fantastic second run to make up lost time after finishing seventh in the first, 0.88 seconds off the pace.

Kathrin Zettel of Austria, who won the giant slalom and the slalom in 2010, finished ninth after a poor second run.

The event was scheduled for Maribor but moved because of lack of snow. Last year's event was canceled because of weather.

A slalom will be held Sunday, with 16-year-old Mikaela Shiffrin in the event. She finished third in the Lienz slalom in December.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-21-SKI-Women's-World-Cup/id-913b3852253441b0a1d720539946ac36

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Novartis drug investigated after 11 deaths

LONDON (AP) ? A European agency is investigating a multiple sclerosis drug made by industry giant Novartis to determine whether the medicine played any role in the deaths at least 11 patients.

The drug, Gilenya, was licensed last year in the European Union to treat a severe type of multiple sclerosis. It can cause a slow heart rate when first taken and doctors closely monitor patients after the first dose.

The European Medicines Agency, which is now investigating the drug, said it isn't clear if it caused the deaths. One of the fatalities occurred in the United States, where a patient died within 24 hours of taking the first dose.

The European agency said it didn't know where the other 10 deaths occurred, but that they were reported to its drug database, which monitors side effects from medicines in the European Union.

Novartis said not all the deaths were heart related.

A spokeswoman at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said it also is conducting a data analysis but has not made any definitive conclusions and does not know when its review will be complete.

More than 30,000 patients have taken Gilenya worldwide.

The European Medicines Agency advised doctors to increase their monitoring of patients after the first dose of the medicine. The agency said the risk of a slow heart rate after the first dose of Gilenya was known when it was approved.

Novartis AG said it was advising doctors of new recommendations on using Gilenya. They had previously said all patients should be monitored for six hours after their first dose, but are now tightening that to include continuous heart monitoring using electrocardiograms and measuring blood pressure and heart rate every hour. In certain patients, that monitoring should be extended, the drug maker said in a statement.

This new guidance applies only to patients taking their first dose, Novartis said in a statement.

The EU drug regulator hopes to finish its review of the drug by March.

___

Online:

www.ema.europa.eu

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2012-01-20-EU-Novartis-Drug-Review/id-efd7d38405854011a79b4c17a8ddaf4f

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Obama, in Florida, unveils plans to boost tourism (AP)

LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. ? Targeting prize electoral territory, President Barack Obama called Thursday for America to become the world's top travel destination, making an economic pitch to Florida voters from the Magic Kingdom ahead of an upcoming Republican presidential primary.

"America is open for business," Obama declared in his talk in front of the sun-splashed Cinderella Castle in the heart of Disney World. "We want to welcome you," he said.

Obama issued an executive order seeking to boost tourist visa processing in China and Brazil and took additional steps including promoting national parks and adding business executives to a tourism advisory board.

The goal is to significantly increase travel and tourism in the United States. The White House said that more than 1 million U.S. jobs could be created over the next decade, according to industry projections, if the U.S. increases its share of the international travel market.

"The more folks who visit America, the more Americans we get back to work. It's that simple," Obama said.

Trumpeting America's attractions, Obama rattled off a list of can't-miss tourist sites from Yellowstone and Yosemite national parks to the Golden Gate Bridge and the skyline of his native Chicago.

"We've got the best product to sell. I mean, look at where we are. We've got the most entertaining destinations in the world. This is the land of extraordinary natural wonders," he said.

Beyond the economic case, Obama's trip to the tourist mecca was the latest bid by the White House and his campaign to steal a share of the spotlight from Republicans vying for the GOP presidential nomination. Obama held a live video conference with Iowa voters during the Republican caucus, Vice President Joe Biden held a similar event with voters in New Hampshire on the night of the state's first-in-the-nation primary, and next week Obama will travel to Nevada, which follows Florida on the primary calendar.

Obama's high-profile trip to Florida could help him counter attacks on his record lobbed by Republican presidential candidates during stops across the state, where tough television ads are already airing. And it allows Obama to lay the groundwork for the general election campaign in Florida, a key political battleground he carried in 2008.

The state holds 29 electoral votes, making it a top target for both Obama and his Republican rivals. Florida twice backed Republican George W. Bush, providing the decisive electoral votes in the cliffhanger 2000 election that was decided after a 36-day recount.

Republican front-runner Mitt Romney greeted Obama with an open letter to the president running as an ad in Thursday's editions of the Tampa Bay Times. "Welcome to Florida," Romney says in the ad. "I have a simple question for you: Where are the jobs?"

"Perhaps there's some poetic justice in the president speaking from Fantasyland," Romney added in a conference call with reporters. "Because, I'm afraid, he's been speaking from Fantasyland for some time now."

A recent Quinnipiac University poll showed the president in a near-statistical tie with Romney in Florida in a head-to-head matchup.

Tourism is a key component of the economy in Florida, which is burdened by 10 percent unemployment and rampant home foreclosures. Thursday's tourism and travel announcement was part of the president's "We Can't Wait" initiative aimed at promoting executive actions Obama can take without congressional approval.

The White House said the travel and tourism industry represent 2.7 percent of gross domestic product and 7.5 million jobs in 2010. But the U.S. share of spending by international travelers fell from 17 percent to 11 percent between 2000 and 2010, due to increased competition and changes in global development, as well as security measures imposed after Sept. 11, 2001, according to the White House.

Obama's executive order aims to: boost non-immigrant visa processing capacity in China and Brazil by 40 percent this year; expand a Visa Waiver Program that allows participating nationals to travel to the U.S. for stays of 90 days or less without a visa; appoint a new group of chief executives to the U.S. Travel and Tourism Advisory Board, and direct an interagency task force to develop recommendations for a National Travel and Tourism Strategy, including promoting national parks and other sites.

That was good news to Brazilian visitors Lilian Lara and Lindbergh Souza, who welcomed the change in visa procedures as they shopped along the resort's streets hours before the president's speech.

"It will make things a whole lot better," said Lara, a 22-year-old student from Sao Paolo, who is working as a summer intern at the theme park resort.

Souza said the visa process was expensive, at $500, and also time consuming, especially for Brazilians who don't live close to consuls in Rio de Janiero and Sao Paulo.

"The whole process took me six months," said Souza, who welcomed the president's efforts to speed up the visa process especially for visitors from Brazil and China.

The White House insisted the president's trip to Florida was not purely political, dismissing suggestions that his itinerary was connected to a slate of upcoming Republican primaries. Obama spokesman Jay Carney said there were few tourist destinations "as iconic as Disney World" and the tourist attractions surrounding Orlando represented a fitting place to talk about the president's initiatives.

From Florida, Obama was to fly to New York City for four glitzy campaign fundraisers, including an event at the famed Apollo Theater featuring performances by Al Green and India.Arie. Tickets to that fundraiser start at $100.

The president also was to attend a $35,800 per ticket fundraiser at the home of director Spike Lee, and two small fundraisers at Daniel, an exclusive Manhattan restaurant. Tickets start at $5,000 for the first restaurant fundraiser and $15,000 for the second.

___

Associated Press writer Mike Schneider contributed to this report.

___

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_el_pr/us_obama

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Lady Gaga Announces Born This Way Foundation Launch

Mother Monster's nonprofit will promote youth empowerment and equality.
By John Mitchell

Lady Gaga
Photo: India Today Group/Getty Images

Lady Gaga's Born This Way Foundation will launch February 29 with a fete at Harvard University, the singer and her mother and co-founder, Cynthia Germanotta, announced in a statement on Thursday (January 19). BTWF was created to promote youth empowerment and equality by encouraging self-confidence and well-being and bringing bullying to an end.

Joining the pop star at Sanders Theatre will be her partners in the endeavor: Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet and Society, the MacArthur Foundation and the California Endowment.

Gaga has long been a staunch supporter of anti-bullying legislation, reportedly meeting with President Obama to discuss the topic in September and visiting the White House in early December to discuss the issue with administration officials. She dedicated her performance of "Hair" at the iHeartRadio Festival in Las Vegas to Jamey Rodemeyer, a 14-year-old fan who took his own life after years of anti-gay harassment. And last year, Gaga topped DoSomething.org's list of the most charitable celebrities, in part for her work on behalf of gay rights causes.

"My daughter's foundation was born out of her passion to create a better world where people are kinder and nicer to one another and are accepted for who they are, regardless of how different they may be," Germanotta said. "She has experienced many of the struggles that our youth encounter today, and identifies with the lasting effects they can have without proper support. Together, we look forward to creating a new movement that will engage and empower youth and accept them as valuable members of our society."

The Mother Monster's commitment to the gay community was again recognized Thursday (January 19) with a nomination for Outstanding Music Artist at the GLAAD Media Awards.The awards recognize fair, accurate and inclusive representations of the LGBT community across all media. In December, the diva was recognized with the Hero Award by the Trevor Project, a nonprofit organization that offers suicide-prevention services to LGBT youth.

During her acceptance speech at Trevor Project Live, Gaga touched on her wishes to someday make bullying a hate crime. "I hope that we can acknowledge all together that where this needs to begin is in the schools," Gaga said. "I want my fans and people all over the world to know that there's always somebody that's listening. But I want them to know they're listening before it gets too late."

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1677562/lady-gaga-born-this-way-foundation.jhtml

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Gunmen kidnap American in Nigeria's delta region (Reuters)

PORT HARCOURT (Reuters) ? Gunmen kidnapped an American working for Marubeni Corp in Nigeria's oil-rich Niger Delta region on Friday, killing his driver and demanding a 50 million naira ($310,300) ransom, a security source said.

The U.S. embassy confirmed that one of its citizens had been abducted.

"A foreign national was kidnapped this morning in Warri by gunmen who trailed him from Sapele," Charles Muka, spokesman for the Delta Police Command, told Reuters.

"They killed his police escort and forcefully took him away from the car. He was going to the bank when the attack occurred," he said.

A security source, who could not be named, said that the hostage was an American working for Japanese conglomerate Marubeni, but gave no further details.

"The U.S. Embassy and Consulate are aware of the kidnapping of an American citizen this morning in Warri. We continue to monitor the situation closely and assist," a spokeswoman for the U.S. embassy told Reuters.

The Niger Delta, heartland of Africa's biggest oil and gas industry, is prone to bouts of unrest and riven by militant factions. Gangs use guns and speedboats to run criminal fiefdoms that profit from kidnapping and oil theft.

Militant activity decreased after an amnesty for several commanders in 2009, but the region remains volatile.

(Additional reporting by Joe Brock in Abuja; Writing by Tim Cocks; Editing by Louise Ireland)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/wl_nm/us_nigeria_kidnapping

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SVUSD Schools to Send Troops Valentines

From elementary school students painting pictures to students writing letters during English class, the Saddleback Valley Unified school community is on a mission this month?sending Valentines to the men and women serving in the Armed Forces.

The outreach project?sponsored by the Saddleback Valley Parent Teacher Council?got an added boost Tuesday night, when the school board unanimously passed a resolution in support of the effort, called ?Valentines for Soldiers.?

Watching in the audience was Trabuco Hills High School sophomore Nicole Peredo, who first proposed the idea of working as a district to support soldiers overseas.

?I know a lot of kids who want to go into the military,? she said at the meeting. ?It was a little surprising that they took the idea of a student, but I?m so glad the whole district can participate.?

At Trabuco Hills, Peredo said, students will compete by grade levels to see which can make the most Valentines, which will be distributed to troops through?Operation Gratitude.

The SVPTA Council President Suzann Gastreich said that the association?does not plan to dictate how individual schools approach the project. Some are collecting gift cards and movies to package and send overseas, while others have student councils, teachers, and scouting troops pitching in to help.

At Linda Vista Elementary in Mission Viejo, for example, the school is collecting Valentines to give to one of its former students, Mission Viejo High School graduate?Zachary Lambi. Lambi, now a Marine stationed at Camp Pendleton, plans to distribute the crafts to his unit, Gastreich said.

?We have reached out to everybody, all the parent organizations, student ASBs, girl scouts, and so on,? Gastreich said. ?My goal would be for everybody to have a great experience this year and want to do it again next year.?

Technology Award Winners, Sports Honorees, Recycling Champs

Also at its Tuesday evening meeting, the school board heard a presentation from Saddleback Valley Educational Foundation President Pam Klister about a technology award it received from Microsoft. The foundation?a nonprofit that supports all district schools?held an event with Microsoft in November, and asked community members to attend and vote for the school of their choice. Microsoft and SVEF ponied up $20,000 worth of prizes to be split among the top three selections.

Top vote getter?Foothill Ranch Elementary, in Lake Forest, will receive $5,000-worth of Microsoft software and a $5,000 in cash to spend on its technology needs, Klister said. Rancho Canada Elementary in Lake Forest placed second, and will receive $3,000 worth of software and $3,000 cash, while Melinda Heights Elementary in Mission Viejo placed third, netting $2,000 in software and $2,000 in cash, she said.

At Tuesday?s meeting, the board also honored coach Liam Clemons and the members of Trabuco Hills boys cross country team. The team won the Division 1 state championship this fall; Clemons was named CIF Southern Section coach of the year.

The board also feted Laguna Hills High School teacher Denise Hunt and her 10 special education students for their commitment to recycling. Their efforts to collect and recycle every can and bottle at the 2,000-student campus earned them a Recycling Champion Award from rePLANET, which operates more than 400 recycling centers statewide.

Source: http://ranchosantamargarita.patch.com/articles/svusd-schools-team-up-to-send-some-love-to-the-troops

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