The chaos in Greece has resumed and a new election that nobody expects to resolve anything looms. Exasperated European Union officials have begun openly discussing the country’s exit from the euro currency system. This is a grave mistake. Greece’s exit would be no less catastrophic than when the EU called it unthinkable -- and not just for Greece.
“Divorce is never smooth,” Luc Coene, the governor of Belgium’s central bank and a member of the European Central Bank’s governing council, told the Financial Times on May 13. “I guess an amicable divorce -- if that was ever needed -- would be possible but I would still regret it.”
Amicable? That’s one thing Greece’s exit from the euro couldn’t be. As the economist Barry
Stymied by sparring politicians, Greece sets June elections
5/15/2012 By Nikolia Apostolou, Special for USA TODAY
ATHENS – Greek leaders failed Tuesday to get sparring political parties to agree on a new government, forcing new elections in June and leaving in doubt whether the debt-ridden nation will impose punishing spending cuts on a populace that has said it will take no more.
"These last few days, I did whatever I could to form a government, but some didn't listen to me, and they are leading the country to new troubles," conservative New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras said. New Democracy, which had ruled for the past 40 years along with socialist Pasok, was the biggest vote-getter in the May 6 elections. But both parties lost a significant amount of voters to several fringe parties that campaigned against budget cuts demanded by European Union finance ministers in return for bailout funds. The radical left-wing Syriza coalition, which came in second in the elections, wants to renegotiate the so-called austerity measures
Mississippi authorities and the FBI are investigating whether someone posing as a police officer killed two motorists late at night last week, according to news reports from the Magnolia State.
Both vehicles were found in northwestern Mississippi on remote stretches of highway on or near an interstate, and neither showed signs of a breakdown, Mississippi Department of Public Safety spokesman Warren Strain told the Jackson Clarion Ledger, published by USA TODAY's parent company, Gannett. Both vehicles were red, but police believe that was a coincidence.
The victims, a man and a woman traveling alone, were shot multiple times, and police are analyzing shell casings to determine if they came from the same gun. Neither victim appeared to be missing anything, said DeSoto County district attorney John Champion, according to the Associated Press.
PARIS (AP) — Socialist Francois Hollande assumed France's presidency Tuesday, inheriting a country fearful for its financial future and jetting off immediately to Berlin to tackle his most pressing problem: Europe's debt crisis.
A flash of lightning nearly derailed Hollande's blitz diplomatic foray, striking his plane and sending him briefly back to a Paris area military airbase.
But Hollande quickly switched Falcon jets, flew to Berlin, and took steps toward bridging differences with German Chancellor Angela Merkel over how to reinvigorate Europe's economy and its global influence. Right before leaving for Berlin, Hollande named a moderate, German-friendly ally, Jean-Marc Ayrault, as his prime minister.
During a day packed with pomp-filled inaugural traditions, Hollande promised to be less flashy than his predecessor Nicolas Sarkozy and bring a more human touch to the Elysee Palace. But he won't have
Eurozone avoids recession as Germany powers ahead on strong export performance
By Pan Pylas, AP Business Writer | Associated Press5/15/2012
LONDON (AP) -- Europe dodged a bullet Tuesday after the economy of the 17 countries that use the euro narrowly avoided arecession in the first quarter of the year despite a raging debt crisis that's raising the specter of the breakup of the currency union.
There was one reason why the eurozone avoided an overall recession — officially defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth. Germany, Europe's biggest economy, was behind the better-than-expected
Taxpayers Fund $454,000 Pay for Collector Chasing Student Loans
By John Hechinger | Bloomberg 5/15/2012
Joshua Mandelman made $454,000 in a single year as a student-loan debt collector -- more than twice the pay of the U.S. secretary of education.
His boss, Richard Boyle, chief executive officer of Educational Credit Management Corp., received $1.1 million in 2010, including commuting expenses from his ranch in New Mexico. Five other managers each took home more than $400,000.
ECMC, a Minnesota nonprofit group, owes its success to an 18-year-old agreement with the U.S. government. The
HONG KONG (MarketWatch) - Nearly half of China's listed companies that have so far issued forecasts for the first half expect weaker earnings or losses for the period, according to a Tuesday report in China Daily, which cited financial data provider Wind Information Co. About 45% of reporting companies listed on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges expect weaker results, according to the report. The findings track 845 companies that have issued first-half outlooks as of Sunday, according to Shanghai-based Wind Information. The report said manufacturing companies along with property developers made up the majority of companies that were expecting a weaker showing for the January to June period.
Family enjoys laughter even as college student battles flesh-eating bacteria
By Ed Payne, CNN
updated 5:58 AM EDT, Tue May 15, 2012
(CNN) -- "Fun" is not the word that one would expect to hear from a father as he watches a daughter's courageous struggle against flesh-eating bacteria -- a battle that has pushed her to the brink of death and back -- but Andy Copeland says he's trying to enjoy life with his family despite their trials.
"Today was a really huge day," Copeland wrote Monday evening inhis blog that details his daughter's battle. "Let me just say that we had a lot of fun with Aimee today."
Aimee Copeland, 24, lies in a hospital bed, hooked to respirator which is helping her breathe. She has already lost a leg and part of her abdomen to the virulent bacteria and may lose more, including her fingers.
Already a category contender with the IdeaPad U300s, Lenovo aims for the executive elite with what it calls the world's lightest 14-inch ultrabook.
Lenovo had the ultraportable ThinkPad X220 and last year's Gorilla Glass-screened, business/consumer hybrid ThinkPad X1, but it hasn't had an all-out, sex-appeal executive status symbol in its product portfolio in a while. That changes this summer with the ThinkPad X1 Carbon, a super-slim ultrabook that combines carbon-fiber roll-cage construction with a 14-inch high-res (1,600-by-900) display.
Weighing in at just 3 pounds—a fraction less than some 13.3-inch ultrabooks, and a whole pound less than the similarly screened HP Envy 14 Spectre, the X1 Carbon has the tapering, skinny-wedge profile seen in the Apple MacBook Pro 13-inch (Thunderbolt) and Asus ZenBook UX31-RSL8. Lenovo says it's 18mm (0.71 inch) at its thickest point, actually meeting Intel's trademark requirement for ultrabooks with smaller screens—14-inch and larger ultrabooks are allowed to be 21mm
Lady Gaga gagged in Indonesia after Islamic opposition
JAKARTA | Tue May 15, 2012
(Reuters) - Pop star Lady Gaga has been refused a permit to perform in the Indonesian capital next month over security concerns, police said on Tuesday, after Islamic groups voiced strong objections to her "vulgar" style.
Three Islamic groups have expressed their opposition to the concert on June 3, demanding it be stopped, national police spokesman Saud Usman Nasution said by telephone.
Indonesia, a secular state, has the world's largest population of Muslims as well as significant minorities of Christians, Buddhists and Hindus.
"She's a vulgar singer who wears only panties and a bra when she sings and she stated she is the envoy of the devil's child and that she will spread satanic teaching," said Salim Alatas, the Jakarta head of
There was no question that Oklahoma City was the superior team in the first-round sweep against defending champion Dallas. After the first game of the Western Conference semifinals, the Los Angeles Lakers appear to be no match.
The Thunder’s 119-90 pasting Monday night served notice that the nine-day layoff wasn’t an issue. Rust didn’t set. Rhythm didn’t dissipate. Oklahoma City was ready, and the Lakers felt that wrath.
“We play good basketball,” Thunder coach Scott Brooks said. “Like I told the guys, it’s one game. It’s the first team to four that wins this series. Regardless if we won by one or 20, it doesn’t have any impact on Wednesday night with the same energy. We know that the Lakers are going to play much better.”
One game hardly makes a series, and both the Thunder and Lakers are well aware of that fact. Los Angeles only
The seventh season of NBC's proclaimed "biggest talent show on earth" began with some pretty impressive but puzzling shots of Nick Cannon yelling atop a desert mesa, then watching a random man get shot out of a cannon. There's an opportunity for a pun, but we won't go there.
Then cue the news and talk show clips announcing Howard Sternas the new judge, and some comments from fellow judges Sharon Osbourne and Howie Mandell (Howard and Howie … this could get confusing) about how Stern is the best person to fill David Hasselhoff's empty judge's chair. It's clear the producers are making this season -- or at least this episode -- all about Stern.
Upon taking his new judge's chair, Howard makes a wisecrack about how the NBC execs that hired must be out of their minds. "They should be fired immediately," he said. Then the auditions begin.
L.A. Auditions
The long line of talents (and schlubs) begins in L.A. with a magician named Jackson. Howard is excited because apparently,
NEW YORK (AP) — Britney Spears and Demi Lovato are joining the judging panel on "The X Factor" this fall, part of Fox's effort to boost its underperforming music competition shows.
The network's executives, in presenting next season's schedule to advertisers on Monday, also promised changes for "American Idol." While "Idol" remains Fox's centerpiece, as it has been for the past decade, it has lost a quarter of its audience this year.
Fox is adding two new comedies and a drama in the fall, pumping new life into "Glee" by moving it to a new night with guest stars Kate Hudson and Sarah Jessica Parker and touting a midseason drama starring Kevin Bacon as "the new '24.'"
The Spears announcement overshadowed the others. Despite weeks of rumors, it wasn't official until she strode onto New York's Beacon Theater stage wearing a white minidress, accompanied
Since Apple announced the dates for this year's WWDC, there has been speculation whether the notoriously-secretive company would be introducing any new products at the event. Apple's annual developers conference covers both iOS and OS X, which suggests either new laptops or the next iPhone. Of course, it's possible that just like last year, there won't be any hardware announcements at the event.
However, there are reasons for us to be optimistic. Recent rumors indicate that new MacBooks are imminent and given how prescient such rumors can be nowadays--the ones about the latest iPad were mostly accurate--we are reasonably confident that Apple's notebook refresh will be coming next month. Here's what you can probably expect from the new MacBooks.
A thinner design
According to Bloomberg, the new MacBooks will feature a slimmer chassis powered by Intel's latest third-generation Core-i processors, codenamed Ivy Bridge.
The choice of processors is a no-brainer. PC laptops with quad-core versions of these Ivy Bridge processors are already in the market--you can find our regularly updated list here--and with Intel holding back on the dual-core and ultra-low-power models till June, it only makes sense that the new MacBooks will feature these chips. If you need more persuading, there are some screenshots from Geekbench, though note that these could still be fake.
With Ivy Bridge processors and its chipsets featuring native USB 3.0 support, the USB 2.0 ports on MacBooks will probably get the upgrade. Despite the fact that its Thunderbolt technology hasn't been widely adopted, Apple is likely to keep faith with Thunderbolt. However,the thinner chassis could lead to the removal of the Ethernet port, which if you remember, is available on the Air only via an adapter.
Apple last revamped the design of the MacBook Pro in 2008 and since then, it has been frequently imitated (though often, unsuccesfully) by others. With the increased competition posed by sleekUltrabooks, especially the mainstream 14-inch and larger models that are most similar to MacBook Pros, the time is ripe for change.
To achieve this thinner design, it is speculated that Apple will ditch the optical drive on the MacBook Pro. It's a logical move, particularly as Apple has championed its online store in favor of physical media. The company doesn't even ship Blu-ray drives with its laptops and there's no native support in the operating system.
Of course, removing the optical drive would blur the lines further between the 13.3-inch MacBook Air and the equivalent MacBook Pro, which brings us to the next rumor tidbit.
Nvidia graphics
The next MacBook Pro will come with the latest Nvidia discrete graphics. If both The Verge and ABC News are to be believed, this is not just a rumor, it's a fact. Instead, the uncertainty is about the specific Nvidia graphics chip, with the GeForce GT 650M identified as a possible candidate.
Using this chip would mean that the MacBook Pro would perform similarly to the HP Pavilion dv6, which comes with a quad-core Ivy Bridge processor and identical GT 650M graphics. We're pretty confident that you'll be able to play some of the latest games on this configuration at medium settings. It would also be perfect for Blizzard's latest blockbuster, Diablo 3, which incidentally is available natively on OS X.
We suspect that the discrete graphics option will not be available for the MacBook Air. This would provide a crucial distinction between the two series and ensure that the more portable Air would have good battery life. Besides, Intel's latest HD Graphics 4000 isn't too shabby and it's probably capable enough for less graphically intensive games.
Retina Display
It seems inevitable after the latest iPad that Apple would have to increase the screen resolution on its laptops to match the Retina Display on its tablet. We have been hearing that MacBooks would be getting an ultra-high resolution display since last year, but the 2,880 x 1,800-pixel screen that has been reported seems a bit far-fetched.
The latest rumors haven't exactly stated any specific screen resolution, but we feel that anything less than 1,920 x 1,080 pixels would be disappointing. After all, even Asus' upcoming Ultrabooks will have full-HD displays.
To add to the chorus of rumors surrounding this high-resolution display, users testing the developer preview of OS X Mountain Lion, the next version of Apple's operating system, have reported finding high-resolution icons and other graphics resources designed for a Retina-class display.
OS X Mountain LionHowever, the main task of a graphics chip is to drive the laptop display and if the rumors are to be believed, it's going to be some screen. In short, a Retina-class display.
Given the need for Retina-class graphics assets, we believe that Mountain Lion will be ready in time for the new MacBooks. WWDC is after all a developers conference, so it's likely that the next version of OS X would be a key highlight. Apple previously launched OS X Lion together with the current MacBook Air, so it's reasonable to assume that the company will once again bundle the new OS with the refreshed MacBooks. This would help drive sales of the new notebooks.
The chaos in Greece has resumed and a new election that nobody expects to resolve anything looms. Exasperated European Union officials have begun openly discussing the country’s exit from the euro currency system. This is a grave mistake. Greece’s exit would be no less catastrophic than when the EU called it unthinkable -- and not just for Greece.
