Android Embraces, iPhone 5 Passes on Near-Field Communication Data Sharing

Conspicuously absent on the iPhone 5, near-field communication (NFC) enables smart phones to share purchasing and security data with a tap--a feature that has surged on the Android platform

By Larry Greenemeier

NEAR FIELD COMMUNICATION (NFC): As phone-makers, retailers and credit card companies work out the feasibility of NFC as a gateway to facilitating commerce, others want smart phones that can function like the badges that many people swipe en route to their offices every morning. Image: Courtesy of audioundwerbung, via iStockphoto.com

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The map rift with Google may not be Apple's biggest misstep with the iPhone 5. Instead, it might be the company's decision to exclude near-field communication (NFC). Most major smart phone?makers?including Samsung, Nokia and HTC?are backing the technology for its ability to turn their devices into mobile wallets, with which users can make purchases and digitally store boarding passes and coupons. As phone-makers, retailers and credit card companies work out the feasibility of NFC as a gateway to facilitating commerce, others see the technology as opening doors?literally.

NFC-enabled smart phones can function like the badges that many people swipe en route to their offices every morning. A key difference between NFC and the radio-frequency chips embedded in employee ID badges is NFC's two-way communication capability, making it a more versatile tool for security.

Two companies are testing how NFC might improve employee access to their facilities: Good Technology, which sells mobile data security software, and Netflix, the subscription-based entertainment content provider. The California-based companies recently wrapped up several-week-long pilot programs to see whether it makes sense to replace employee building-access photo badges and key fobs with NFC-enabled smart phones. A small sample of employees received Samsung GALAXY S III handsets loaded with an app that automatically confirmed their identities at NFC-enabled security checkpoints.

NFC uses electromagnetic radio fields to allow two devices to exchange data in either direction when passed within four or five centimeters of one another. Radio-frequency identification (RFID), by comparison, works from several meters away, but information moves only unidirectionally?for example from an E-ZPass tag on a windshield to a tollbooth reader.

Although much larger and heavier than photo badges, the GALAXY phones used at Good Technology and Netflix ostensibly would provide increased security because they can be PIN-protected?if the device were lost or stolen, the average person without hacking skills would not be able to access information stored on it.

"Having an authentication credential on a phone is more secure than a badge or another physical access token because the only security I have on that is my picture," says Michael Mahan, Good Technology's senior vice president of special markets. "If I lose my badge, someone else could fairly easily pick it up and use it to get past security."

As part of the test project, Mahan also equipped his own office with an NFC-enabled lock to control access when he was traveling. In addition to allowing Mahan to grant office access to specific employees remotely, he could also pull data from the NFC system that showed who had used his office, and when.

At both companies most of the employees liked the prospect of simply waving a smart phone over an NFC reader so much, they said they would be willing to load the app on their personal handsets if they could not get shiny new GALAXY phones from their employers. More than 106 million NFC-enabled Google Android phones shipped in 2011, according to research firm IHS iSuppli. NFC support can in some cases be added to a smart phone by installing an NFC-compatible SIM card or microSD card.

Although both Good and Netflix plan to extend NFC testing to additional employees, some concerns remain, including whether adding the NFC app to someone's personal smart phone would prematurely drain the battery if the app is left on for an extended period of time. NFC is designed to use only a small amount of energy, but a smart phone with a dead battery would defeat the purpose of using the device as a security badge?or anything else.

Apple has not left its customers out in the cold when it comes to short-range communications that might someday be used for purchases or security. Instead of NFC, the company has (since the debut of its iPhone 4S in 2011) endorsed Bluetooth 4.0, which includes a low-energy version of the wireless radio technology that is a bit slower than NFC but has a much greater range (about 50 meters). The new iOS 6 mobile operating system features a new app?Passbook?designed to use Bluetooth LE (low energy) for data exchange. As with NFC, the key challenge now is getting retailers and other businesses to develop apps as well as buy readers and other equipment that can take advantage of the technology.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=095955a43ee3d202ae3813d83ef9e174

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Legal Lasso: Better Be Prepared For Traffic Edition | Law Week ...

Posted on 27 September 2012.

Editor?s Note: Stay on top of this news story and others by liking Law Week Colorado on Facebook!

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INTENDING TO FILE SUIT:?A former aide to Denver Mayor Michael Hancock fired for alleged sexual harassment has filed notice that he intends to sue the city, seeking more than $362,000.?Wayne McDonald was fired?in May from his $85,000-a-year job after allegations of ?serious misconduct? were lodged against him by a female police officer.?On Tuesday, McDonald?s attorney also filed a complaint with the city?s Board of Ethics against Hancock, the police officer and Amber Miller ? Hancock?s press secretary.

THANK GOODNESS! Reports suggest that the NFL, with Proskauer Rose advising, is close to a deal with the locked out refs.

ADVANCED TRAFFIC ALERT NOTICE: 1-25 to shut down for hours next week for Presidential debate.

SETTLING: Cordillera Golf Club dispute.

FINALISTS NAMED for opening on Colorado Court of Appeals bench.

HAVE A NEW HIRE with an interesting story??Drop us a line to let us know his or her story and why we should profile them for our new lawyer issue.

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THAT?S A NEW ROLE:?Tom Tancredo is many things to many people: a conservative?firebrand, staunchanti-immigration activist, a 2010 Coloradogubernatorial candidate, a former Republican congressman, but last week he took on another provocative title ? marijuana legalization advocate.

LAW? TRUMPS TRADITION: A Mississippi man has taken his wife?s last name after the ACLU complained he was told by state officials that he would?need a court order to do so because it was not traditional.

CHARTING NINE NATIONAL GC MOVES.

LAW FIRMS AS E-DISCOVERY VENDORS?

SURVIVING LATEST CUTS: Courthouses in Grand Junction, Durango.

SOCCER MOM MADAM yesterday pleaded guilty in New York to charges that she promoted prostitution.

HEARING APPEAL OVER FEDERAL MARRIAGE LAW: New York federal court.

PLANNING A PRICE INCREASE: Denver Water.

ETHNICITY, NOT IDEOLOGY, SPLITS 9TH CIRCUIT in this immigration case.

AND THIS IMMIGRATION CASE IN TEXAS is the source for a rallying cry for many.

TODAY?S 10TH CIRCUIT DECISIONS

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Source: http://www.lawweekonline.com/2012/09/legal-lasso-better-be-prepared-for-traffic-edition/

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Euro zone split over how to interpret bank debt deal

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - Efforts by euro zone countries to agree on how to recapitalize struggling banks appeared to be in disarray on Wednesday with conflicting interpretations of what was agreed by EU leaders at a summit barely three months ago.

The dispute between four AAA-rated euro zone countries on one hand - German, Finland, the Netherlands and Austria - and indebted states such as Ireland and Spain on the other, threatens to undo or severely set back efforts to allow banks to be directly recapitalized by the euro zone's rescue fund.

That will in turn undermine financial markets' confidence in Europe's ability to get on top of the debt crisis. Yields on Spanish 10-year government bonds moved back above 6 percent on Wednesday as developments in Spain dampened expectations that Madrid will soon ask for a bailout and secure central bank support for its debt.

Germany, Finland and the Netherlands gave rise to the confusion with a joint statement on Tuesday setting out the conditions under which they would be prepared to allow the rescue fund, called the ESM, to recapitalize banks.

But rather than sticking to the wording from the summit in June, when countries agreed that the ESM would be able to directly recapitalize banks once an "effective single supervisory mechanism is established", the three countries added an extra stipulation in their statement saying:

"The ESM can take direct responsibility of problems that occur under the new supervision, but legacy assets should be under the responsibility of national authorities."

Austria joined the three on Wednesday, saying there was no question of the ESM being allowed to assume old, bad debts.

The critical phrase is "legacy assets", which appears to imply that the debts of struggling Spanish and Irish banks - and potentially those of Greece and Cyprus too - will remain the responsibility of the respective governments, rather than being assumed by the ESM during the recapitalization process.

That is a problem because the very aim of direct recapitalization was to break the debilitating link between indebted governments and troubled banks - making sure that a government that is pursuing sound economic policies is not dragged down by its mismanaged banking sector.

If a way is not found to break the link between sovereigns and their banks, the euro zone will forever be in an uphill struggle to get on top of the crisis since government finances will always be saddled with vast amounts of bad banking debt.

The very first line of the statement agreed by EU leaders at the June summit was: "We affirm that it is imperative to break the vicious circle between banks and sovereigns."

But that same phrase was not used in the statement issued by Germany, Finland and the Netherlands, indicating perhaps some change of mind about how and when the link will be tackled.

SOWING DOUBT

Officials from the four AAA-rated countries, speaking on condition of anonymity, sought to play down the relevance of Tuesday's statement, saying there was nothing new in it and that direct bank recapitalization via the ESM remained the goal.

"We are still committed to breaking the negative feedback loop between sovereigns and banks," one official said.

Asked how, the official would not elaborate but said there would be "specific measures" for cases such as Spain and Ireland, where the government's decision to assume the debts of its bad banks drove the deficit to painfully high levels.

Another official insisted that the German-Finnish-Dutch statement did not reopen or undo what was agreed in June, going on to explain:

"Everybody understands that losses incurred some time ago will definitely not be borne by the European taxpayer in the form of a contingent liability."

The problem is, that does not appear to be how Ireland or other countries understood the June agreement.

Ireland's prime minister, Enda Kenny, expressed his surprise at the three-country statement, saying it was not up to a handful of finance ministers to rewrite an agreement drawn up by heads of state and government.

"The difficulty for Europe has always been that you follow through on the decisions that were made. The decision of June 29 was not an opinion, was not a theory," he said. "Those decisions stand, those decisions will be implemented."

While officials in Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Austria may insist nothing has changed, financial markets clearly took the June statement to mean that any direct recapitalization of Spanish or Irish banks would shift the contingent liabilities off the governments' books.

Tuesday's statement did nothing to ease risk aversion fed by a broad range of factors linked to Spain's plight that prompted sharp rises in yields on Irish, Spanish and Italian 10-year government bonds as well as weakening the euro.

"If there is any risk that the Spanish bank bailout will be carried by the sovereign rather than any of it transferred so that it is directly funded by the ESM or the EFSF, it's an additional burden on the sovereign," said Elisabeth Afseth, fixed income analyst at Investec.

The likelihood is that some of the confusion and disagreement provoked by the statement will be ironed out at a meeting of finance ministers in Luxembourg on October 8 or at a summit of EU leaders in Brussels on October 18.

"This discussion is ongoing," said Olivier Bailly, a spokesman for the European Commission, when asked what the statement meant for the ESM and bank recapitalization.

"It's part of an ongoing debate where member states will clarify in the coming weeks the different details of the final design of this ESM instrument."

But the broader issue is that EU member states often struggle to communicate with one voice or agree on how to interpret their own agreements, creating confusion in financial markets and beyond, which will always tend to exacerbate the very crisis they are trying to resolve.

(Additional reporting by Jan Strupczewski in Brussels, Michael Shields in Vienna, Padraic Halpin in Dublin and Ana Nicolaci da Costa in London; editing by Stephen Nisbet; Writing by Luke Baker)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/euro-zone-split-over-interpret-bank-debt-deal-140806113--sector.html

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Idaho female golf champ can still play with boys

BOISE, Idaho (AP) ? The board that oversees Idaho high school sports won't bar a female golf champion from playing with the boys' team if not enough girls turn out to form a team of their own.

A proposed rule change that would have blocked Sierra Harr's participation emerged over the summer at the Idaho High School Activities Association after she helped the Castleford High School boys win the 2012 championship for Idaho's smallest schools.

Harr, a 16-year-old junior, says the debate came up after rival coaches complained.

Association executive director John Billetz said Wednesday there was just a single vote in favor of the rule change at a meeting in Coeur d'Alene. Billetz says the 11 board members voting in the majority concluded Harr's situation happens so infrequently, it didn't merit a big change.

"Nothing has changed, everything is back to the way it was," he said.

If enough girls turn out to form a Castleford girls' team in 2013, Harr will play with them.

If not, she can still compete for a spot on the boys' team.

Taking a brief break in between classes Wednesday, Harr told The Associated Press that a potentially difficult situation has come to a satisfying conclusion ? not just for her, but for other girls in Idaho.

"If you believe in something ... you should stand up for it," she said.

Harr says the process has been a learning experience and that the resolution will allow her to focus on golf. Her next tournament is this weekend in Sun Valley.

Two years ago, in Harr's freshman season at Castleford, she easily won the individual girl's state title for schools with fewer than 160 students, taking the championship by 6 strokes.

In 2012, however, only three girls turned out for Castleford's girls' squad, one too few to field a formal team.

Rather than play as an individual in female competitions, Harr won the Idaho High School Activities Association's permission to play with Castleford's boys' team ? provided she qualified every week.

Hitting from the same tees as the boys, she finished in seventh at the state tournament in May, helping her 2A school to the boys' team title.

Harr said some opposing coaches then raised concerns, saying she should continue to play with the girls as an individual, rather than being allowed to play for the boys' team.

After the activities association board voted to consider the proposed change in July, Harr, who is the No. 3 ranked female golfer in Idaho with a 2.2 handicap, openly campaigned against it.

"The mental mind set a golfer gains from golfing for a team cannot be replaced," she wrote to the association.

Before the vote, lawyers who work on discrimination cases in sports also told the AP that federal Title IX provisions would likely make the proposed rule change illegal because barring Harr from the boys' team, in the absence of a girls' squad, would deny her access to equal educational opportunities.

Billetz, the association director, said there was no discussion among board members about Title IX before their decision.

"The bottom line was, this is something that was just like an anomaly," he said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/idaho-female-golf-champ-still-play-boys-172952967--spt.html

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Agriculture back in focus as growth estimate gets downgraded ...

Source: The Economic Times, Sept 26, 2012

When the country was growing at more than 8 per cent for about a decade, services and manufacturing were the darlings of policy-makers, investors and talking heads. Agriculture, a segment that employs nearly half the hundred crore population of the country, was hardly mentioned even in passing. This year, thanks to a poor monsoon, suddenly the farmers are the centre of India?s growth story, or the lack of it.

Never in the past decade has agriculture seriously rattled economists and investors. Since it contributed less than one-fifths to the gross domestic product, agriculture was considered to be insignificant in the overall scheme of things.

From Morgan Stanley to Citigroup to Standard Chartered and the Reserve Bank of India, nearly every other bank has downgraded India?s growth estimate citing a possible poor farm output which is compounded by the global uncertainty owing to the sovereign crisis. It is a reflection of the hard reality that agriculture, notwithstanding its low contribution to the GDP, will remain significant enough for the overall growth just because of the sheer population that it supports. Indeed, the so-called India story was supported not only by the urban population but also by rural India.

Early last month, American investment bank Morgan Stanley had warned in a research that inadequate rainfall would affect India?s growth by 30-40 basis points (bps) because of the impact of weak monsoons on agri-GDP. Later, several other research firms, banks and brokerages, too, lowered their growth forecasts because of concerns over the outlook for agriculture. This September monsoon arrived with a bang. The water levels in the reservoirs went up enough to take care of the needs of the season. In a small way, this improved the prospects for agriculture. However, with the Kharif crop ? which accounts for almost half the share in the country?s farm output ? not expected to keep in line with the trend growth, even improved rains in September are unlikely to revise the farm sector outlook.

All these developments then raise a question. Why is the market taking this sector so seriously? One of the arguments put forward is that, in the past, whenever agri-GDP failed, it was offset by a better export growth or higher pick-up in services growth. But, this time round, both exports and services, too, have failed to look up. And, hence, the impact of agriculture on the overall economic output is even more conspicuous.

?In the past, whenever agriculture has failed, the impact on the overall GDP used to get neutralised by higher exports, rising investments or fiscal action. But, this time, none of these factors are present,? said Abheek Barua, chief economist, HDFC Bank.

Looking at the sector from a longer-term perspective, in the post-reforms period, agriculture has not got any policy attention that it deserved even though the government has always made a noise about its policy goals for inclusive growth. Even the big-bang reforms that the government announced last week has no policy measure that would even remotely impact agriculture, though the permission for 51 per cent in FDI in multi-brand retail could be seen as the harbinger of good times for farmers.

An analysis of sectoral GDP numbers since the 1950s shows that it is only the services sector that has benefitted from reforms. While the share of industry has slipped marginally since 1991, that of agriculture has halved to 14 per cent in the last 21 years from 29 per cent in 1990-91. And, in the post-crisis period after 2008, the growth of agriculture has further slowed. The Reserve Bank of India deputy governor KC Chakrabarty noted last week, ?The policy focus (in agriculture), so far, has been on using higher MSP (minimum support prices) to generate supply response and public investment on expanding the irrigation potential.?

Despite Indians being among the highest savers, agriculture has seldom been an avenue for investments. Gross capital formation for agriculture is less than 7 per cent of GDP, while 52 per cent of the population depends on agriculture for their livelihood according to the 2001 census data.

Two major developments in the recent past have lifted the importance of this sector from the policy perspective ? rising food and commodity inflation reflecting the poor supplies of agricultural produce, the increase in the potential demand from rural India due to higher wages for agricultural labourers. Most surveys have shown that less than half the rural economy depends on agriculture for its livelihood. But the rest of the rural economy comprises a combination of services and manufacturing that depend on agriculture. Increased incomes within the farm sector are likely to have spilled over to these support sectors largely in the form of increased demand, and pushed up earnings in the non-farm rural sector.

According to Saugata Bhattacharya, chief economist, Axis BankBSE 0.20 %, consumption surveys have indicated that rural monthly per capita expenditures (MPCE) increased from Rs 928 in FY10 to Rs 1,281 in FY12 (a 33 per cent increase over 2 years in nominal terms, broadly in line with nominal GDP growth). One possible explanation is an increase in investments in rural India (including real estate and gold). Besides, some also point out to the rise in the prospects for agro-based industries which are now labeled as a sunrise industry. ?Scalability through value-addition remains huge in agriculture. It works through two levers ? investment in agro-based infrastructure and, second, through direct investment in food-processing industries,? said Shubhada Rao, chief economist, Yes Bank.

These can be looked at seriously since the relative bottlenecks compared to setting up an industrial unit in the non-farm sector could be minimum. Besides, given the huge supply-side constraints for various farm products not only in the domestic market but also in the international market, such investments could not only increase the contribution of the farm sector in generating employment and output, but also address the concerns over food inflation.

Of late, the Reserve Bank of India has also started voicing its concerns on the agriculture prospects giving the subject much more detailed analysis in its various communications. Last week, RBI also put in the public domain, a time-series data beginning 2004 on the average daily wage rates for rural India indicating that it now considers this sector more seriously.

?This dataset on rural wages has been an important component for RBI in determining its monetary policy stance, whose publication now helps in understanding some of the concerns regarding the persistence of demand, particularly in rural areas,? said Bhattacharya. The central bank, which often advises the government on managing its finances, is also now talking aloud on issues in agriculture. ?There is a need for improving the market structure for agricultural commodities, ensuring competitive pricing, enhancing warehouse facilities and improving rural roads for better connectivity with urban markets. Better water management, with an emphasis on water harvesting, would be important for enhancing farm productivity and output,? said Chakrabarty last week.

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Source: http://indolinkenglish.wordpress.com/2012/09/26/agriculture-back-in-focus-as-growth-estimate-gets-downgraded/

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Viable Asset Protection Option Exists in Alaska : Lawyer Directory

by Michael J. O'Brien, Esq (The O'Brien Law Firm LLC)

When you are engaged in long-term financial planning making sure that your assets are shielded from creditors and litigants is going to be one of the primary goals. At the same time, estate tax efficiency may be a concern if your resources are such that they exceed the amount that can be passed on to your loved ones before the death tax kicks in.

Right now that threshold stands at $5.12 million. Anything that you leave behind that exceeds this figure is subject to a 35% federal levy and it should be noted that these figures change in 2013 when the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization and Job Creation Act of 2010 expires. At that time the top rate is going up to 55% while the exclusion is reduced to $1 million.

The key is to position your assets optimally in light of these forces of asset erosion. One option would be to place resources into an Alaska trust.

Irrevocable self-settled trusts that allow the individual starting the trust to act as beneficiary and receive financial distributions are not allowed in most states. The 49th state of Alaska is however an exception. You can indeed fund an Alaska trust, receive financial distributions, and enjoy asset protection and estate tax efficiency at the same time.

Asset protection trusts established in the state of Alaska can be a very viable option for people looking for wealth preservation. Contact a good estate planning lawyer to learn more about Alaska trusts and other steps that you can take to keep your assets accessible to you but otherwise untouchable.

Experienced estate planning attorneys Cleveland OH of The O?Brien Law Firm LLC offers estate planning and business planning resources to residents of Cleveland OH. To learn more about these free resources, please visit www.obrienlaw.net today.

http://www.obrienlaw.net/

Source: http://targetlaw.com/viable-asset-protection-option-exists-in-alaska

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Church of England group meets to select archbishop

LONDON (AP) ? Senior members of a Church of England commission are starting a three-day meeting Wednesday to select a new archbishop of Canterbury ? the spiritual leader of the 78-million-strong Anglican communion.

The Crown Nominations Commission will deliberate in secret to choose a successor to Rowan Williams. He is leaving his post at the end of December to take on a new job as the Master of Magdalene College, Cambridge.

Much of Williams' tenure was devoted to trying to keep the diverse churches within the Anglican Communion together despite disputes over issues related to gender and homosexuality. Conservative and growing African churches are at odds with liberal churches in the United States and Canada on a variety of matters.

The commission will submit the name of a preferred candidate, together with an alternate, to Prime Minister David Cameron. The prime minister will offer the commission's choice to Queen Elizabeth II for approval.

The archbishop of York, John Sentamu, and the bishop of Liverpool, the Rt. Rev. James Jones, the bishop of London, the Rt Rev. Richard Chartres, and the bishop of Norwich, the Rt. Rev. Graham James are among the favorites to replace Williams.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/church-england-group-meets-select-archbishop-134522259.html

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Obama: US to 'do what we must' to stop nuke-armed Iran

Louis Lanzano / AP

President Barack Obama greets 13-year-old Joshua Alvarez from Nassau County as he arrives at JFK International Airport in New York, Monday.

By NBC News staff and wire reports

Barack Obama will tell the United Nations General Assembly Tuesday that the United States will "do what we must" to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, according to excerpts from his planned speech.

The president will also say that while there is still time for a diplomatic solution to the crisis that "time is not unlimited."

Amid mounting tensions over Iran's nuclear program and talk of a military strike by Israel on Iran, Obama has refused demands from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to set an explicit "red line" for Tehran.

Netanyahu has shown growing impatience over Obama's entreaties to hold off on attacking Iran's nuclear sites to give sanctions and diplomacy more time to work.

Underscoring the depth of the problem, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in New York on Monday that Israel has no roots in the Middle East and would be "eliminated," ignoring a U.N. warning to avoid his usual incendiary rhetoric ahead of the annual General Assembly session. Iran denies seeking a nuclear bomb.

'Elimination of Israel'
According to Obama's speech, he will say that the U.S. wants to find a peaceful solution to the problem and believes "that there is still time and space to do so."

"But that time is not unlimited. We respect the right of nations to access peaceful nuclear power, but one of the purposes of the United Nations is to see that we harness that power for peace," the speech says.

U.S. officials reportedly suspect Iran is behind a string of recent cyber attacks that were aimed at major U.S. banks. Jim Finkle of Reuters has more on the story.

"Make no mistake: A nuclear-armed Iran is not a challenge that can be contained. It would threaten the elimination of Israel, the security of Gulf nations, and the stability of the global economy," it adds. "It risks triggering a nuclear-arms race in the region, and the unraveling of the non-proliferation treaty. That is why a coalition of countries is holding the Iranian government accountable. And that is why the United States will do what we must to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon."

US-Israel rift over Iran widens; Obama denies Netanyahu asked for meeting

With exactly six weeks to go before the U.S. election, Obama will seek to reassure American voters as well as world leaders that they can count on him to handle the latest global challenges, even as Republican challenger Mitt Romney seizes the chance to pan his foreign policy.

Friction mounts as Israel asks that U.S. give Iran an ultimatum; a tricky position for Obama, whose foreign policy has been lauded. NBC's Andrea Mitchell and CNBC's John Harwood report.

With campaign pressures building in a close race, Obama's final turn on the world stage before facing voters has left little doubt about his immediate priorities.

Report: Iran mulls 'pre-emptive attack' against Israel; commander warns of 'World War III'

He skipped the customary one-on-one meetings with foreign counterparts but went ahead with the taping of a campaign-style appearance on the popular television talk show "The View" -- a tradeoff that drew Republican criticism.

Obama planned to be in and out of New York in 24 hours, one of the briefest presidential visits to the annual U.N. session in recent memory, and he will be off to the election battleground state of Ohio on Wednesday.

Attack on 'very ideals' of UN
His prepared remarks also discuss the attacks on U.S. embassies and consulates ? including the one that killed Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans ? amid outrage over a California-made film that mocked the Prophet Muhammad.

"The attacks of the last two weeks are not simply an assault on America. They are also an assault on the very ideals upon which the United Nations was founded?," Obama was due to say.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discusses the "danger of not acting" in the era of a potentially nuclear-armed Iran.

"If we are serious about those ideals, we must speak honestly about the deeper causes of this crisis. Because we face a choice between the forces that would drive us apart, and the hopes we hold in common," he adds. "Today, we must affirm that our future will be determined by people like Chris Stevens, and not by his killers. Today, we must declare that this violence and intolerance has no place among our United Nations."

Pugnacious Iranian president rips Israel, US ahead of final UN speech

Obama was also expected to take Syrian President Bashar Assad to task for efforts to crush an 18-month uprising against his regime.

The unsettled climate surrounding Obama's U.N. visit will be a stark reminder that the heady optimism that greeted him when he took office promising to be a transformational statesman has cooled.

Iran increases price on writer Salman Rushdie's head by $500k

Campaigning in Colorado, Romney argued that the United States should not be "at the mercy" of events in the Muslim world. "We want a president who will shape events in the Middle East," he said.

A Pew poll found that while 45 percent of Americans approved of Obama's handling of the attacks on U.S. diplomatic missions in the Muslim world, only 26 percent backed Romney's criticism of his response.?

Ian Johnston, of NBC News, and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/09/25/14088489-obama-us-will-do-what-we-must-to-stop-iran-getting-nuclear-weapons?lite

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Donated Backpacks Filled with Supplies Reach Local Students ...

Employee-Driven Charity Giveaway Helps Children and Families in Need

Riverside, CA? The start of the new school year will be brighter for many local children and families in need. Springboard Nonprofit Consumer Credit Management, Inc. (?Springboard?) donated 144 new backpacks filled with school supplies to students receiving assistance from family shelters in Riverside, San Bernardino, Victorville, Hesperia and Upland. This is the second consecutive year of the charitable backpack program, which is organized by Springboard?s S.E.R.V.I.C.E. committee, which held fundraisers throughout the year to raise funds to purchase backpacks for students enrolled in Pre-school through 12th grade. Springboard employees also ?adopted? students and purchased specific requested items such art supplies, pens, pencils, paper, rulers and markers for their student. Springboard?s S.E.R.V.I.C.E. committee is comprised of volunteer team members who are dedicated to making a difference in the community, above and beyond their day-to-day job responsibilities at Springboard, a full service housing and consumer credit counseling agency.

?This is one of the many ways that Springboard employees demonstrate their care and concern for the community,? said Melinda Opperman, Springboard?s senior vice president. ?We know that many families in the region are struggling. We?re always looking ways to respond and to provide assistance to those in need,? said Opperman.

Springboard contacted family shelters in the region that helped identify families needing the most assistance in providing back to school supplies for their children. Springboard frequently collaborates with local nonprofit organizations and community stakeholders to provide important services to the community.

SPRINGBOARD? Nonprofit Consumer Credit Management, Inc. (?Springboard?) is an IRS 501(c)(3) nonprofit personal financial education and counseling organization founded in 1974. Springboard is an approved housing counseling regional intermediary by the U.S. Dept. of Housing & Urban Development, and is accredited by the Council on Accreditation signifying the highest standards in the industry for agency governance, fiscal integrity, counselor certification and service delivery policies. In addition, Springboard is a member of both national industry associations; the National Foundation for Credit Counseling and the Association of Independent Credit Counseling Agencies. Springboard offers personal financial education and confidential counseling in foreclosure prevention, rent, reverse mortgage, pre-bankruptcy and debtor education, and debt and money management. Springboard provides telephone counseling services nationwide, and maintains offices in California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Texas, South Carolina and Massachusetts for in-person sessions. Not all types of counseling are available at all locations. For more information on Springboard, please visit their web site at www.springboard.org.

Source: http://www.inlandvalleynews.com/2012/09/26/donated-backpacks-filled-with-supplies-reach-local-students/

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Private Space Travel Gets a Big Boost in California

As NASA's space shuttle Endeavour orbiter flew to its retirement home in sunny California today (Sept. 21), Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. signed legislation to bolster the commercial spaceflight sector in that state.

The Assembly bill limits liability for private spaceflight companies.

?California aerospace pioneers like Virgin Galactic, SpaceX and the Spaceship Company are blazing a path to the stars with commercial space travel,? Brown said in a statement. ?This bill allows commercial space-travel companies to innovate and explore without the worry of excessive liability.?

A summary overview of Assembly Bill 2243 shows that it provides qualified immunity from liability to a spaceflight entity for injuries to a space flight participant, so long as a written warning statement is provided to the participant and the injury was not the result of spaceflight entity's gross negligence or intentional acts. [Now Boarding: The Top 10 Private Spaceships]

The bill requires a spaceflight entity to have each participant sign a ?prescribed warning statement? acknowledging that the participant understands the ?inherent risks associated with space flight activity, including death, and also acknowledging that the space flight entity has limited liability for injuries or damages sustained by a participant as a result of these inherent risks.?

High desert

Leading the measure that was targeted to an emerging industry in California was Assemblyman Steve Knight (R-Palmdale). Last August, the bill unanimously passed in both houses of the California State Legislature.

Knight also said in a statement that, until recently, human space travel was accomplished through government space agencies, with volunteer participants assuming liability for injury and damage. Assembly Bill 2243 provides limited liability for commercial space ventures to ensure innovators remain competitive in this promising marketplace.

?California, and specifically the High Desert, has a long tradition of pioneering aviation for a century, and human spaceflight since the Apollo era, and was the site of the first private human space flight event, which resulted in the winning of the Ansari X Prize in Mojave, California, in 2004,? Knight said.

History of spaceflight

Over the past few decades, Knight added, California has lost a significant slice of its human spaceflight industry development to other states, specifying Alabama, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico and Texas. The human spaceflight business in California, he said, continues to struggle due to the poor business climate in general, and the current litigious environment.

?The history of space flight and California are inseparable,? Knight said. ?Providing the commercial space industry with a competitive advantage will ensure our state maintains and possibly gains jobs in this important market.?

The bill-signing was praised by Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson, who called California a state that tears down barriers and cultivates innovation, from social movements like environmentalism to the start-up culture of Silicon Valley.

Branson called the bill a benefit to the teams at Virgin Galactic and The Spaceship Co. at the Mojave Air and Space Port ? the construction site of the?WhiteKnightTwo/SpaceShipTwo launch system.

?This legislation will ensure that California continues to be a place that looks forward ? and not back,? Branson said.

For a complete look at the newlegislation, visit: http://leginfo.ca.gov/bilinfo.html and enter Assembly Bill 2243.

Leonard David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. He is a winner of last year's National Space Club Press Award and a past editor-in-chief of the National Space Society's Ad Astra and Space World magazines. He has written for SPACE.com since 1999.

Copyright 2012 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/private-space-travel-gets-big-boost-california-115952924.html

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Drunken driver kills 7 at bus stop in Moscow

MOSCOW (AP) ? Five teenage Russian orphans, their teacher and her husband were all killed when a speeding car driven by a drunken driver crashed into a Moscow bus stop, the Interfax news agency reported Sunday, citing city officials.

Police said the car was traveling more than 200 kph (120 mph) when the heavily intoxicated driver lost control and slammed into the bus stop Saturday, killing seven people and injuring three.

The 30-year-old driver, Alexander Maximov, had been arrested for drunken driving in 2010 and told police that prior to Saturday's accident he had been drinking for two days, Interfax said. The driver also had received two speeding tickets this year.

The orphans were returning from an awards ceremony for a city arts and crafts competition held in a park in western Moscow.

Moscow police reported Sunday morning that they had detained more than 130 drunken drivers over the past 24 hours, perhaps eager to show they were taking the problem seriously.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/drunken-driver-kills-7-bus-stop-moscow-112844096.html

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US State Dept. blasts CNN report on Stevens' diary

Libyan President Mohammed el-Megarif speaks during a memorial service in Tripoli, Libya, Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012, for U.S. Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and three consulate staff killed in Benghazi on Sept. 11. The deputy U.S. secretary of state has met senior Libyan officials in Tripoli and attended a memorial service for the American ambassador and three consulate staffers killed in an attack last week. William Burns is the most senior US official to visit Libya in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attack on the consulate in Benghazi and comes as Washington is still working to piece together how its top diplomat there, Ambassador Chris Stevens, was killed. Arabic on the poster reads, "thank you, Chris." (AP Photo/Abdel Magid al-Fergany)

Libyan President Mohammed el-Megarif speaks during a memorial service in Tripoli, Libya, Thursday, Sept. 20, 2012, for U.S. Ambassador to Libya, Chris Stevens, and three consulate staff killed in Benghazi on Sept. 11. The deputy U.S. secretary of state has met senior Libyan officials in Tripoli and attended a memorial service for the American ambassador and three consulate staffers killed in an attack last week. William Burns is the most senior US official to visit Libya in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attack on the consulate in Benghazi and comes as Washington is still working to piece together how its top diplomat there, Ambassador Chris Stevens, was killed. Arabic on the poster reads, "thank you, Chris." (AP Photo/Abdel Magid al-Fergany)

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? CNN reported on the personal journal of slain American ambassador Christopher Stevens over objections from his family, a State Department spokesman said Saturday.

The news channel, in a story posted online Saturday, said that it found a journal belonging to Stevens four days after he died in a Sept. 11 attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi, Libya. Three other Americans also were killed.

CNN broke a pledge to the late ambassador's family that it wouldn't report on the diary, said State Department spokesman Philippe Reines, a senior adviser to U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton.

In a blistering statement, Reines called CNN's actions "indefensible."

The channel said in the story online that it took "newsworthy tips" from Stevens' diary and confirmed them with other sources. Citing an unidentified source "familiar with Stevens' thinking," CNN said that the ambassador was concerned about security threats in Benghazi and a "rise in Islamic extremism."

In a statement Saturday, CNN defended its use of the journal's contents and asked "why is the State Department now attacking the messenger."

"CNN did not initially report on the existence of a journal out of respect for the family, but we felt there were issues raised in the journal which required full reporting, which we did," the channel said.

The public has a right to know what CNN learned from "multiple sources" about fears and warnings of a terror threat before the Benghazi attack, the channel said, "which are now raising questions about why the State Department didn't do more to protect Ambassador Stevens and other U.S. personnel."

Stevens' family was informed within hours about the discovery of the journal, a hard-bound book that included seven handwritten pages. It was returned to them via a third party, according to CNN's online story.

An Italian official took control of the diary from CNN in Benghazi at the State Department's request, and it is en route back to Stevens' family, the department said.

"Given the truth of how this was handled, CNN patting themselves on the back is disgusting," Reines said in his statement.

"Whose first instinct is to remove from a crime scene the diary of a man killed along with three other Americans serving our country, read it, transcribe it, email it around your newsroom for others to read" and then call the family?" Reines asked.

In a phone call with the Stevens family, CNN "agreed to abide by the clear wishes of the Stevens family, and pledged not to use the diary or even allude to its existence until hearing back from the family," Reines said.

But four days later, "they just went ahead and used it," he said.

The diary was first mentioned on-air Friday by Anderson Cooper, following previous CNN reports that Stevens feared he was on an "al-Qaida hit list" but did not mention the journal. Cooper said that some of the information in the reports was based on Stevens' personal journal, which he said CNN came across in its reporting.

In its online story, CNN said it found the journal on the "floor of the largely unsecured consulate compound where he was fatally wounded."

Asked to comment on CNN's report that Stevens was concerned about a "hit list," Reines referred to a news conference last Thursday at which Clinton was asked about it.

"I have absolutely no information or reason to believe that there's any basis for that," Clinton had said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-09-23-US-CNN-Stevens-Diary/id-10f8e9808a4646fbb0b52c820f5ba9d2

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Guangxi villages suspected the real estate development, land ...

??collapse is estimated and the local real estate development related. Related causes as well as specific losses are still under investigation.,burberry

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Source: http://www.medicaltravelclub.com/qa/2012/09/guangxi-villages-suspected-the-real-estate-development-land-subsidence-evacuati/

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WHY IT MATTERS: Wall Street regulation and reform

The issue:

The 2008 financial crisis roiled the banking system and swamped the global economy, leaving millions of Americans jobless, underemployed or facing foreclosure. In its wake, Congress set out to overhaul how the government oversees Wall Street. The result was a sprawling law, the Dodd-Frank Act, which aims to prevent future crises by giving the government new tools and restricting banks' activities. The law may make future crises less likely, but it increases costs for companies, especially banks, and their customers.

___

Where they stand:

The hard-fought law was a big victory for President Barack Obama, and he would defend it. With Obama's backing, government officials who are putting the law into practice are more likely to adopt a tough stance.

Mitt Romney wants to repeal Dodd-Frank and start over, though he would keep a few core elements that the financial industry supports ? for example, revised formulas that determine whether banks have enough solid cash to fall back on in bad times. Romney also would make it harder for financial oversight agencies to impose new rules.

___

Why it matters:

Four years after the financial crisis, the economic recovery remains painfully slow.

The debate over banking rules is, at its core, a dispute about how to prevent another economic cataclysm.

The crisis was fueled by a blend of fear and uncertainty. As the housing bubble burst, banks that had invested in the U.S. housing market teetered. Companies, unsure who would be the next to fall, stopped lending to each other.

Businesses failed because they couldn't get cash to cover their daily expenses. Mass layoffs shattered Americans' confidence, making them less likely to buy new cars and houses.

Meanwhile, millions of people faced foreclosure on houses that they bought during the boom, often with high-cost loans they did not understand. Errors and sloppy paperwork by mortgage companies added to their woes.

The result was the nation's worst recession since the Great Depression.

To prevent a repeat crisis, the financial law creates a council where bank regulators can share information and discuss new threats. Big banks have drawn up "living wills," road maps that the government could use to shutter them if necessary. With that orderly process in place, advocates say, companies will be less likely to need emergency bailouts. The government will be better able to defuse problems before they spark panic.

For consumers who were stung by the housing crisis, the law bans risky lending practices like kickbacks paid to mortgage brokers who sold higher-cost loans. It creates a powerful new agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, to shield people from misleading marketing, hidden fees and other traps.

The problem, opponents say, is that the costs to banks and consumers are prolonging the nation's economic agony. They say this burden outweighs the potential benefits for consumers and the broader financial system.

As companies spend more to make sure they are following the law, the argument goes, they will have less money to expand or hire new workers. Restrictions on how big banks can invest will shrink their profits, making it harder for them to lend and compete globally. To make up the difference, banks say they will have to raise the fees they charge for everything from multibillion-dollar bond offerings to ordinary checking accounts.

Romney and his allies in the financial industry argue that the new rules weaken the system in unintended ways. They say farmers will pay more to protect against swinging corn prices, for example, because of changes to the market for corn futures and similar investments.

___

Daniel Wagner can be reached at www.twitter.com/wagnerreports .

EDITOR'S NOTE _ One in a weekday series examining issues at stake in the election and their impact on people.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/why-matters-wall-street-regulation-reform-075421661--election.html

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PR Society Chapter Refuses to Back Press Freedom

Open e-mail to Suzanne Holroyd, Ph.D., APR+M, director of communications, Secretary of Defense Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Dept.

Hello Suzanne:

The refusal of the National Capital board to stand up for press freedom, communicated in your e-mail to me this morning, and its advice for me to "contact national" about national's boycott against me are unacceptable and nonsensical. You know national has not talked to me for many years and has a formal, written command to members to boycott me and the O'Dwyer Co.

I'm very disappointed that you, as a member of the military, and the chapter based in our nation's capital, the heart and soul of our democracy, are turning down their duty to support freedom of the press.

Gerry Corbett told the Aug. 29 Assembly delegate conference that delegates should not talk to me because it would only "add fodder to his commentary." That is not only interference with press coverage but restraint of trade. There is copious evidence of national's refusal to deal with me in any way--by phone, e-mail or in-person meeting. They have run, run, run for many years and not just from me but members.

In 2010, four Fellows sent national leaders a list of 15 questions and the Fellows were also snubbed. There is no evidence Corbett visited any chapter memberships this year. Last year, Rosanna Fiske visited two of the 110 chapters, based on available evidence.

No one, by the way, is more interested in facts and intelligence than the military. Its specialty is knowing things, not ignoring things. As a member of the military, you have a special duty here.

Since you now know about PRS national's written boycott against the O'Dwyer Co., you must withdraw your advice for me to contact national. The Society publicized 23 pages of bogus charges against me on its website and many other places but did not have the nerve to present them to my face. The alleged offenses in it are all false. When I started to rebut the charges on the Society website, the dialogue was shut down after four days, something unheard of on the internet and in blogs.

The National Press Club read those 23 pages, talked to Society staff, and rejected them, urging PRS to let me cover the national conference which it refused. PRS is now ignoring not only the Press Club, but NY State Senator Liz Krueger, PR Watch, PRnewser and nearly a dozen independent blogs and PR people. No one except PRS insiders supports this un-American interference with press coverage.

The military, of which you are a part, is supposed to defend our freedoms, including freedom of the press. You are running the other way.

It is ludicrous to tell me to go to national. Please withdraw it and live up to what America and its military stand for. The story of PRS/national is a simple one. In 1993 I caught it red-handed selling tens of thousands of copies of authors' articles without their permission. Instead of making peace with the authors, 12 of whom formed a committee and hired a law firm, PRS went to war with them under the advice of law firm Moses & Singer.

PRS has sunk further and further into a moral abyss ever since then while trumpeting its love of "ethics" (September is "Ethics Month" at the Society). PRS has spent $511,577 on law firms, mostly with Venable of D.C., since 2004. It won't tell us the 2011 legal bill. It has spent nothing on outside PR counsel, which is what it needs.

The NCC web listing of officers and board, by the way, is hugely deficient and dysfunctional. No e-mails are given for the eight officers (only phone numbers) and no titles are given for anyone.

In stark contrast is the New York chapter listing where name, company, title, e-mail and phones are given for the 41 board members and committee heads.

Although only 20% of your members are APR, 11 of your 19 directors are APR and two of the APRs are "appointed." Why didn't you appoint non-APRs? Only four of your directors should be APR since that is 20% of your membership. Even worse is that 12 of your 14 Assembly delegates are APR when only three should be. The list of delegates, through an "oversight," was not even on your website for nearly three months until I called your attention to this.

NCC is wracked with almost as many anti-democratic and anti-communications practices as national. This is a sad day for the PR Society and America.

Cordially,

Jack (631/288-0850).

Source: http://www.odwyerpr.com/blog/index.php?/archives/5145-PR-Society-Chapter-Refuses-to-Back-Press-Freedom.html

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NFL replacement officials affecting Vegas bets

Las Vegas casinos think this weekend's NFL games will be the highest-scoring ever thanks to the league's replacement officials.

Oddsmakers say casinos are changing their expectations as interim referees add new variables to the game, changing its pace and the approaches taken by players and coaches.

Casinos haven't fully changed lines yet because there have been only two weeks of games and referees might adjust how they call games based on weekly feedback from the league. But oddsmaker Mike Colbert of Cantor Gaming says home teams will deserve an extra half-point in their favor if games are called all year the way they were officiated in Week 2.

"It's starting to concern us a bit," Colbert said. "(Officials) should have no influence on the total or the side."

Penalties were skewed in favor of home teams during the first two weeks this year, with visitors getting 55.1 percent of 419 penalties. Last year began in a similar fashion? visitors took 54.8 percent of 407 total penalties through the first two games ? before evening out over the rest of the season. Penalties were relatively even between home and road teams for all of 2010 and 2011, and it's anybody's guess how this year's penalties will split.

Sports books make money by encouraging balanced betting action; they get it by using point spreads to account for the advantage one team has over another. In Week 2, home teams went 11-4-1 after going 8-8 in Week 1.

Future lines with interim officials will take a lot of guesswork, said Colbert, whose company runs sports books in six Las Vegas casinos and provides betting lines for the vast majority of Nevada sports books.

"You've got to use prior experience ? I don't know if anyone has prior experience with something like this," he said.

NFL teams generally get a 3-point edge in sports books just for playing at home. An extra half-point added to that would be the equivalent of a team having a superstar receiver or running back on the field or an opponent missing its star because of injury, gambling expert RJ Bell of Pregame.com said.

"That's a strong statement that the people are really considering this to be a legitimate phenomenon," Bell said. "When you're taking hundreds of thousands of dollars per game, those half-points are really meaningful."

In the two weeks leading up to the Super Bowl earlier this year, oddsmakers said Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski would shift the line a half-point depending on whether he appeared in the game. He played but caught only two passes in the loss to the Giants.

Public perception makes a big difference in a sports betting world built on complex math and opinion markets ? even if popular opinions don't entirely match what's happening on the field.

Statistically, there were few differences from last year in the way the first two weeks of this season were called. The average number of penalties is down and player safety calls like roughing the passer have been about the same. But defensive pass interference calls are up; there were 44 defensive pass interference calls in the first two weeks this year compared with 30 in the first two weeks last year. And games are taking about six minutes longer on average.

Casinos expect an average of 46.1 points scored per game for Week 3 ? the highest projected total ever for Vegas casinos, Bell said.

Bell said the jump can't just be another sign of a pass-happy league with rules designed to foster offense.

"What else has changed other than the referees," he said.

SportsBettingOnline.ag, a Costa Rica company that takes bets online, is taking referee bets directly to fans, allowing them to wager on different kinds of penalties league-wide, including the number of pass interference calls, how long games will last and whether home teams will take fewer penalties than visitors. Online sports gambling is illegal in the United States, and such bets wouldn't likely fly in Las Vegas.

Colbert said Cantor plans to allow bettors to wager for the first time ever on total points for the entire league. The over/under line was set to open Thursday morning at 732.5 points, an average of 45.8 points per game.

Colbert said that while it's high, it's lower than the totals of each of 16 games added up, in part because he thinks some casinos are overreacting to the referees and inflated their numbers.

But he said that might not matter to bettors, who notoriously love high scores.

"My gut instinct is they'll bet over," he said.

___

Oskar Garcia can be reached on Twitter on http://twitter.com/oskargarcia .

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/nfl-replacement-officials-affecting-vegas-bets-074402912--nfl.html

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'West Wing' Cast Reunites for One Candidate

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Universal Peripheral Batteries: A Great Idea That'll Never Work [Patents]

Imagine if everything on your desk was powered by identical batteries, all of which could be recharged by slipping them into matching charging slots on the side of your computer. It might not be ubiquitous wireless charging, but it still sounds pretty great, right? More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Ph5zZv6rU4M/universal-peripheral-batteries-a-great-idea-thatll-never-work

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Why Am I Not Losing Weight Despite Drinking Green Smoothies Every

Here?s an e-mail I recently received from a frustrated reader:

?Help! I?m drinking green smoothies every day, I eat healthy and work out like crazy, but the scale won?t budge! I?m not losing any weight! What can I do??

While green smoothies are excellent at facilitating weight loss, some green smoothies are not. But I?m not referring to the 400-calorie meal-replacement smoothies I often post on my Facebook page, or smoothies that contain ?too many? bananas, mangoes or grapes ? as if there was such a thing.

The best way to sabotage weight loss is by starving yourself with low-calorie green smoothies (and whole foods).

Are You Starving Yourself With Green Smoothies?

A green smoothie that contains 1/2 cup of blueberries, 1/2 banana, 2 cups of fresh spinach and a whole cucumber looks like a lot of food, but it only contains 153 calories.

Sure, you might feel full after you drink it, but if that?s what you are drinking for breakfast, then no wonder you feel hungry all the time! A calorie-deficient recipe like this will only set you up for a junk food binge, not to mention that you wont have the energy to work out and your weight loss will stall.

Since fruits and vegetables, as well as a plant-based, whole foods diet, are lower in calories than processed foods and a standard diet, you need to eat a more than you think you should. A 32-ounce green smoothie that contains 400 calories isn?t ?too much?. It?s a proper meal, providing sufficient calories to keep you satisfied between meals and fuel your workouts.

And it doesn?t matter one bit that you used two bananas, a whole mango and a cup of grapes to get your meal-replacement smoothie to the point where it provides a meal?s worth of calories!

Consuming insufficient calories on a consistent basis wrecks havoc with your metabolism, and sends your body into ?starvation mode? where it stores fat ? and refuses to let it go.

So don?t just fill up on low calorie leafy greens and vegetables as this will only cause you to feel hungry later. If you are ?eating right?, but feeling hungry, low on energy, and your weight loss stalls, take a good look at what you are eating and find out how many calories you are actually consuming. Then go make a big green smoothie with lots of fruit and stop worrying about the amount of carbs, ?sugar?, calories or serving whirling away in your blender!

How Many Calories Should You Consume In Order To Lose Weight?

Drastic calorie restriction does not equal drastic weight reduction. Starving yourself only sets you up for failure, and doesn?t facilitate weight loss.

Instead, use this handy calorie calculator to determine how many calories you should consume each day to meet your weight loss goals.

Also, I highly recommend tracking your calories in a free app called Cron-o-meter. You can download it to your computer, use the web-based version, or get it on your Apple or Android device for a few dollars. I use the app on my iPhone since it is so easy to add foods whenever and wherever i want.

If you plan your meal ahead of time, you can space out your calories over the course of the day. You will also know exactly what to eat when you walk into the kitchen. Make sure you save enough calories for a 300-calorie afternoon snack. It can be really heard to go from lunch to dinner without eating something. Don?t set yourself up for a hunger-driven junk food binge at the end of the day.

Keep healthy, high-calorie foods on hand. Foods like goji berries, hemp seeds, red grapes, mangoes, bananas, chia seeds, flax seeds, sweet potato, and dried oats are great additions to meal-replacement, weight loss green smoothies. They add additional calories to a smoothie, without the extra low-calorie bulk that water-rich foods like watermelon and cucumber add.

How To Lose Weight Without Worrying About Calories, Carbs, Servings and Sugar

I don?t give a second thought to the calories or number of carbohydrates in my green smoothies. I am equally indifferent about the sugar content and serving size.

I have good reason to be. I lost 40 pounds with green smoothies. And I?m not alone. Thousands of people have also lost weight with green smoothies and a whole foods diet.

Find out how to stop dieting and worrying about what you eat. Check out my Green Smoothie Health & Weight Loss Program today!

Read more articles about green smoothies.

Tags: calories, diet, Green Smoothies, Weight Loss

Source: http://www.incrediblesmoothies.com/weight-loss/why-am-i-not-losing-weight-despite-drinking-green-smoothies-every-day/

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