It News

September 25, 2012

Green Bay Packers stunned by final call in 14-12 loss to Seattle Seahawks

Officials try to sort out the final play of an NFL football game between the Green Bay Packers and the Seattle Seahawks as players and coaches swarm the field, Monday, Sept. 24, 2012, in Seattle. After a period of confusion, a Seahawks touchdown by wide receiver Golden Tate was allowed to stand for a 14-12 win. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

September 25, 2012 ( SEATTLE) -- M.D. Jennings was convinced he had the ball pinned to his chest the entire time and would be awarded an interception to cap Green Bay's comeback victory.
A crew of replacement officials had other views - the ones that counted.

The result is a bizarre ending that gave the Seattle Seahawks a 14-12 victory Monday night that capped a tough weekend for the replacement refs.

"I was very shocked," Jennings said. "But, the refs got the last say, so it is what it is."

Russell Wilson threw a disputed 24-yard touchdown pass to Golden Tate on the final play of the game, a game that finally ended 10 minutes later when both teams were brought back on the field for the extra point.

Apple supplier’s factory in China resumes production after brawl highlights labor tensions

By Associated Press, Published: September 25,2012

BEIJING — A factory in China owned by the manufacturer of Apple’s iPhones resumed production Tuesday after a brawl by workers highlighted tensions that labor groups say were worsened by the pressure of a new iPhone launch.

Foxconn Technology Group and police said the cause of the unrest Sunday night was under investigation, but labor activists said the rollout of the iPhone 5 has led to longer working hours and more pressure on workers. Foxconn and police said as many as 2,000 employees were involved in the brawl and 40 people were reported injured.
The iPhone 5 debuted last week in the United States and eight other countries and Apple has a three- to four-week backlog of online orders. Foxconn has declined to say whether its one-day suspension of production Monday in Taiyuan might affect supplies. It did not respond to a request for comment on the labor groups’ claims.

Increasing bank fees make free checking accounts increasingly harder to find

By Associated Press, Published: September 24/2012

CHICAGO — Truly free checking accounts are becoming rarer as banks add more fees to boost their profits.

Only 39 percent of non-interest checking accounts are free to all customers, according to survey results released Monday by financial data publisher Bankrate.com. That’s down from 45 percent last year and 76 percent in 2009.
Among other fees, the average monthly service fee on checking accounts is a record $5.48, up 25 percent from the Bankrate survey a year ago. Also, the average fee charged by an ATM operator to a non-customer rose 4 percent to a record $2.50, Bankrate said.

Agencies optimistic for stronger profits in 2012 and 2013

Lina Rokou - 25 September 2012
For the first time in several years, the percentage of corporate agencies seeing a decrease in performance was less than leisure agencies. Whereas many corporate agencies reported increased performance for revenue and transactions, most failed to see an increase in their client list, suggesting that the revenue increase is not related to an increased clientele.

Alexandria, VA –In response to a recent survey, ASTA found that that most agencies saw stronger revenue and transaction volume in the first half of 2012 as compared to 2011. Further, the survey found agencies expect to see a stronger profit in 2012 and 2013, returning to pre-2009 profit levels.

Bank of America Ramps Up Job Cuts

By DAN FITZPATRICK
September 20, 2012

Bank of America Corp. BAC +1.41% is accelerating a broad cost-cutting plan and has set a target of shedding 16,000 jobs by year's end—cuts that would see the company relinquish its title as U.S. banking's largest employer.
The reductions for the final six months of the year, outlined in a document given to top management, are part of a larger effort to retool Bank of America into a leaner and more focused enterprise. The plan is designed to make the company take less risk, generate more revenue out of existing customers and use an investment banking operation inherited from Merrill Lynch & Co. to become a major deal maker around the world.
On Main Street, the refocused company will have fewer branches and a smaller mortgage operation, the document shows.

Singer Fiona Apple Arrested on Drug Charges

Fiona Apple, the Grammy-winning singer, was arrested on Wednesday at a border checkpoint in Texas on a felony drug possession charge. The arrest came after a search of her tour bus, and she spent the night in jail in Sierra Blanca.

The small west Texas town of Sierra Blanca has gained quite a reputation in nabbing celebrities, with previous occasions involving Arnie Hammer, the “Social Network” actor, singer Willie Nelson, and rapper Snoop Dogg – all being on drug charges.

Top 10 Biergartens around the world

Fri Sep 21, 2012

LONDON, Sept 21 (Reuters) - NEW YORK, Sept 21 (Reuters) -
Bavaria's King Max Joseph I decreed in 1812 that beer could be
drunk where it was brewed and food could be served there too,
giving birth to the Biergarten (Beer garden) 200 years ago. This
weekend Oktoberfest begins in Munich, so to mark the
bicentennial of the Biergarten and the start of Bavaria's most
famous festival online travel consultants Cheapflights.com
(www.cheapflights.com) have created a list of the top 10 beer
gardens around the world.

1. Hirschgarten, Munich, Germany

Universal expects significant income from EMI asset sales

BRUSSELS, Sept 21 | Fri Sep 21, 2012

(Reuters) - Universal Music expects to make significant income from the sale of a package of assets ordered by EU regulators to secure clearance for its $1.9 billion buy of EMI's recorded music business, the music group said on Friday.

Vivendi-owned Universal said the value of the assets amounted to 30 percent of EMI's global revenues or 10 percent of the combined entity's turnover.

Grumbles over maps as Apple's iPhone 5 hits stores

By Jane Wardell and Tim Kelly
SYDNEY/TOKYO | Fri Sep 21, 2012

A member of the media uses the map function of iPhone 5 after its introduction during Apple Inc.'s iPhone media event in San Francisco, California September 12, 2012. REUTERS/Beck Diefenbach

(Reuters) - IPhone aficionados queued around city blocks on Friday to get their hands on Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) new iPhone 5 - but complaints about inaccurate maps and the lack of a mobile wallet feature were voiced amid the excitement.

The new phone went on sale across Asia and Australia with mobile carriers reporting record demand that looked likely to stretch Apple's supply capacity.

Embassies close in fear of more protests

By the CNN Wire Staff

Fri September 21, 2012

An Indian Muslim student hits a burning effigy of U.S. President Barack Obama during a protest in Kolkata on Wednesday.

(CNN) -- Several diplomatic facilities were shuttered Friday as many brace for intensified protests over the anti-Islam movie "Innocence of Muslims," as well as recently published cartoons in a French publication of a figure resembling the Prophet Mohammed.
Demonstrations have raged for days as many in the Muslim world are angry about the U.S.-made Prophet Mohammed mocking film and the French cartoon. And some believe Friday prayers, a time of protest recently in the Middle East and North Africa, could add fuel to the fire.

The Four Rules of Time-Travel Movies

By STEVE KNOPPER
September 20, 2012

In the middle of the coming movie "Looper," Bruce Willis, a retired hit man from the future, sits in a diner and offers some wisdom: "I don't want to start talking about time travel," he snarls. "Because if we start talking about time travel, we're going to be here all day, making diagrams with straws."

Mr. Willis's character is explaining one of the ironclad rules of time-travel movies: Don't get too bogged down with scientific details. "Time travel doesn't make sense," says "Looper" director Rian Johnson. "All you can do is construct a system for it."

Nike sets $8 billion share buyback program

Sept. 20, 2012
By Greg Morcroft

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Nike Inc. NKE +1.37% said on Thursday that its board has approved a new $8 billion share buyback plan over the next four years. The plan will follow the company's current $5 billion repurchase plan that will wrap up at the end of the 2013 second quarter. Nike said that it has bought back $10 billion of its shares in the last 10 years.

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Yogurt Linked to Lower BP

By Crystal Phend, Senior Staff Writer, MedPage Today
Published: September 19, 2012

Reviewed by Zalman S. Agus, MD; Emeritus Professor, Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Dorothy Caputo, MA, BSN, RN, Nurse Planner
Yogurt may help prevent hypertension as part of a healthy diet, an observational study suggested.

People who ate at least the equivalent of one serving every three days were 31% less likely to develop high blood pressure than those who ate no yogurt at all, Huifen Wang, PhD, of Tufts University in Boston, and colleagues found.

Shakira is pregnant by footballer boyfriend Gerard Pique

By Emma Brant
Newsbeat reporter, 20 September 2012

Shakira is expecting her first child with her footballer boyfriend, Gerard Pique, who plays for FC Barcelona.

The Grammy award-winning Colombian singer confirmed the news on her website: "Gerard and I are very happy awaiting the arrival of our first baby".

The 35-year-old star also revealed she is going to cut down her work schedule.

'"We have decided to give priority to this unique moment and postpone promotional activities".

Atlanta disputes travel magazine’s ‘dirtiest’ ranking

By Christopher Seward
Sept. 19, 2012

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Sure Atlanta is big and vibrant, but it’s also dirty and unsafe, according to a national magazine’s survey of travelers.
So dirty is the city, Travel & Leisure ranks Atlanta as the fifth filthiest among 35 major metro areas, following New York (1), New Orleans (2), Baltimore (3) and Los Angeles (4).
Travel & Leisure’s 2012 America’s Favorite Cities report said Atlanta “moved up a full four spots” in the ranking of dirtiest cities from the previous year, partly because of its nightlife. The magazine said big cities that bustle with nightclubs attract plenty of young partiers who may not care much about the trash they leave behind.
“Studies have consistently found that youths and young adults are the most prone, or willing, to litter,” Steve Spacek, author of the “American State Litter Scorecard,” told the magazine. The group ranked Georgia as the seventh most littering state, tied with Illinois and Oklahoma.
A city spokeswoman took issue with the article.

What Mitt Romney Got Wrong About the 47 Percent

Posted by: Joshua Green on September 20, 2012

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney boards his plane after a campaign stop in Salt Lake City.

Mitt Romney’s videotaped remark to wealthy supporters that 47 percent of Americans “believe they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you-name it” and that “my job is not to worry about” people who won’t “take personal responsibility and care for their lives” was pretty stunning any way you look at it.

It cements the impression of Romney as someone who cares only for the rich. It shows a contempt for others who had previously existed only in Democratic attack ads. It writes off half the nation. And it diminishes and undermines the substantial tradition of conservatives who do care about helping the less-fortunate. In this way, Romney’s self-revelation illuminates a troubling shift within the Republican Party that he has now come to embody.

The Forbes 400: The Richest People in America

By Luisa Kroll and Kerry A. Dolan | Forbes
Sep 19, 2012
Forbes launched its definitive ranking of the nation’s superrich in 1982. Back then the price of admission into this most exclusive of clubs was a mere $75 million of net worth. Even after adjusting for inflation, this year’s entry fee ($1.1 billion) is roughly ten times what it was thirty years ago. There were just 13 billionaires at the time and the total worth of the 400 club was a mere $93 billion. Today the combined net worth of the 400 richest Americans is $1.7 trillion, up from $1.5 trillion a year ago. The average net worth of a Forbes 400 member is a staggering $4.2 billion, up from $3.8 billion, and the highest in at least a decade, as two-thirds of the individuals added to their fortunes in the past year.

Jeremy Lin begins workouts

Associated Press September 18, 2012

HOUSTON -- Jeremy Lin is finally getting his own bed.

The 6-foot-3 point guard, who became an international phenomenon during one dazzling month with the Knicks last season, went through his first workout with the Houston Rockets on Tuesday.

Naturally, he drew a horde of media to the Toyota Center, evidence that Linsanity has plenty of life left in it.

"I don't know if I'm the face of the franchise just yet," Lin said. "I think we're a young team and we're all going to buy in. The thing about us is it's not going to be any one person that's going to carry us to where we want to go, it's going to be everybody. I think it's so early on, I'm just trying to get to know the guys."

Justin Bieber is 'top musician under 21'

Wednesday, 19 September 2012
From bbc news

Justin Bieber is the world's top young musician under 21 according to a list compiled by the American magazine Billboard.

The Canadian singer was number one in the 21 Under 21 list for the second year running.

He beat previous X Factor UK acts like One Direction and Cher Lloyd to the top spot.

Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli sing at Marvin Hamlisch memorial service

Barbara Streisand performs during A Tribute to Marvin Hamlisch, a memorial concert, at The Juilliard School's Peter Jay Sharp Theater, Sept. 18, 2012, in New York. (Credit: AP)

(CBS/AP) Barbra Streisand, Aretha Franklin and Liza Minnelli took turns singing songs by the late Marvin Hamlisch during a stirring memorial service for the composer on Tuesday.
Minnelli sang "If You Really Knew Me" from the musical "They're Playing My Song," Franklin gave a soulful rendition of "Nobody Does It Better" from the James Bond film "The Spy Who Loved Me" and Streisand brought the crowd to its feet when she finished "The Way We Were" from the film of the same name.

U.S. mortgage refinancing applications rise as rates hit record low: MBA

NEW YORK | Wed Sep 19, 2012

A U.S. flag decorates a for-sale sign at a home in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, August 21, 2012. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

(Reuters) - Applications for home mortgages dipped last week, though demand for refinancings rose as mortgage rates fell to a record low, an industry group said on Wednesday.

The Mortgage Bankers Association said its seasonally adjusted index of mortgage application activity, which includes both refinancing and home purchase demand, edged down 0.2 percent in the week ended Sept 14.