Saturday, December 31, 2011

Swiss league punishes FC Sion to avoid FIFA ban

By FRANK JORDANS

Associated Press

Associated Press Sports

updated 11:25 a.m. ET Dec. 30, 2011

GENEVA (AP) -The Swiss Football Association moved to avoid suspension from world football Friday by handing FC Sion a 36-point penalty in a long-running dispute over the club's fielding of ineligible players.

The Swiss FA said its decision to penalize Sion three points for every league and cup game in which ineligible players were fielded was a response to FIFA's threat to suspend all Swiss teams, including FC Basel and the national side, from world football.

Basel is due to meet Bayern Munich in the Champions League round of 16 on Feb. 22, a rare foray into the upper echelons of European football for a club from Switzerland. Had Basel been thrown out, Manchester United, the club it beat to second place in Group C, may have been reinstated.

Sion vowed to fight the decision, which put it bottom of the league with minus five points. The club accused the Swiss FA of a "cowardly act," saying it had caved to pressure from FIFA and was acting against its own statutes.

Sion already filed a criminal complaint Thursday against members of FIFA's executive committee accusing them of blackmail and a breach of basic legal rules by threatening to suspend Switzerland.

FIFA had given the Swiss Football Association until Jan. 13, 2012, to discipline Sion or face suspension over the saga that began in 2009, when world football's governing body imposed a one-year transfer ban on the club for illegally signing goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary.

Sion, which ignored the transfer embargo and signed six players in the offseason, has doggedly contested FIFA's ruling in the courts despite facing increasingly harsh penalties from football authorities.

"The Swiss Football Association has today demanded from FIFA confirmation that the suspension will not now come into effect," the Swiss FA said in a statement. "FIFA's answer is still being awaited."

FIFA said in a statement that it took note of the Swiss league's action and would consider it at an Emergency Committee meeting in early January.

The penalty for Sion falls short of FIFA's demand to give the club 3-0 losses, as this would automatically have resulted in opposing sides gaining the points deducted from Sion, the league said.

Sion will also be allowed to continue in the country's cup competition.

The points deduction may be challenged at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

? 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Boston Celtics All-Star forward Kevin Garnett is about to become a small shareholder in the American-owned Roma football club.

Off-field woes

Football in 2011 was dominated by events off the field rather than on it.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/45824406/ns/sports-soccer/

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Welfare hit by perfect storm in California: slashed funds, dismal job market

By SHEILA V. KUMAR, Associated Press

SACRAMENTO -- Advocates of welfare reform in California often cite one, eye-popping statistic as they have pressed for cuts and changes to the program in recent years: The state has one-eighth of the nation's population but one-third of all welfare recipients.

Yet steps taken in recent years to cut costs and get more recipients back in the workforce have run head-on into the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression. Recipients have been left with fewer training programs, shrinking welfare checks and a shorter period during which they are eligible to receive assistance at a time when employment prospects for even highly qualified job-seekers are dim.

That has led to fear and uncertainty among welfare recipients, many of whom have spent a year or more in job-preparation programs without success.

"I've been trying to look for work, but everyone has been losing their jobs and work was hard to find," said David Balaba of Sacramento, who has been on welfare since being laid off in 2009 as a merchandiser for a beverage-packaging company.

His wife lost her job working at a cafe in the Sacramento Zoo a month before his layoff, and their daughter was born shortly after.

"From there, it started to go downhill," said Balaba, 27. "We couldn't find work, we lost everything. It was like a snowball effect."

To help cut their childcare costs and living expenses, his family moved in with his parents in south Sacramento, a few miles from the state

Capitol. For almost two years, Balaba has been drawing welfare checks while participating in state-funded programs designed to help him find work.

None of those programs has paid off, and with state spending cuts to welfare programs, he is receiving $300 a month from the state, less than half his previous check of $661.

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Balaba is one of 4.6 million Americans on welfare amid a lasting recession that has forced lawmakers to slash budgets across the country, including for many safety-net programs.

California will spend $6 billion this fiscal year on its welfare programs, or roughly 7 percent of a general fund budget that has shrunk by $17.5 billion over the past three years.

Former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Republican lawmakers pushed successfully for welfare reforms in 2004 and have won other cutbacks and concessions since then.

Funding for CalWorks, the welfare-to-work program that is the state's main welfare service, was cut by $1 billion this year. The legislation that reduced the spending also shortened the amount of time a recipient can stay on welfare, from 60 months to 48, while also reducing monthly checks by at least 8 percent.

Lawmakers also suspended a program called Cal-Lean, which offers incentives and services for teenage parents who had dropped out of high school.

Many Republican lawmakers say the cuts need to continue because California can no longer afford all the program's costs. They say the relatively generous benefits have made California a magnet for those seeking welfare assistance.

The Legislature's budget cuts and reform measures in recent years are steps in the right direction but don't go far enough, said state Assemblyman Brian Jones, a Republican from La Mesa, near San Diego.

He said he would support cutting the amount of time adults can remain on welfare even further.

"By the time someone is on welfare for 48 months, I think they're trained to be on that system," he said. "I think we need to make it more attractive in California to get folks off of welfare instead of onto it."

The Legislature focuses too much on trying to micromanage people's lives, he said, while failing to devise productive ways to get Californians back to work.

"The welfare numbers are high because the economy is in the pits, and there doesn't seem to be a political force in Sacramento to push the reforms we need to get our economy going," said Jones, vice chairman of the Assembly Human Services Committee.

Yet recipients say a persistent recession that has given California the nation's second highest unemployment rate is just the reason not to cut welfare benefits further.

Theresa Hooks had been working as a mobile notary in Arizona when she decided in 2009 to move to California, where her grandmother had offered to help care for her children.

Shortly after the 35-year-old divorced mother of three moved to Hemet, in a semi-rural area about 90 miles east of Los Angeles, her grandmother developed an illness that left her unable to care for Hooks' children. Hooks said she then lost the three-bedroom apartment she had been living in because she couldn't afford the rent.

"That's when I ended up homeless," she said. "I could not find a job anywhere, and I applied everywhere. Not Kmart, not McDonald's. There was not one company in Hemet that would hire me."

She is among the 1.5 million Californians who depend on monthly welfare grants. California's caseload far outnumbers the rest of the country, with 3.8 percent of its population on welfare in 2010.

According to data from the U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Health and Human Services, Maine, the state with the second highest percentage, had 2.9 percent of its population on welfare. Tennessee, New Mexico and Washington, the next three states, were at 2.5 percent.

The states with the lowest proportion of residents on welfare -- Wyoming, Idaho, Georgia, Texas and Illinois -- had less than one half of 1 percent of their population receiving state assistance.

The main reason California has such a high percentage of the nation's welfare cases is because it is one of the few states that continue to provide welfare checks for children once their parents are no longer eligible.

About three-quarters of California's welfare recipients are children age 18 and younger. Just three other states -- Indiana, Oregon and Rhode Island -- provide assistance checks to minors after their parents no longer qualify for welfare.

Yet even with the state's promise to support children, families are finding it harder to move from welfare to employment amid a stagnant job market.

California's unemployment rate has been dropping in recent months but is still second highest in the nation behind Nevada, at 11.3 percent, and remains far higher than the national rate of 8.6 percent.

After applying for welfare, Hooks moved her family into a one-bedroom apartment in the San Fernando Valley. For the past two years, she has been studying for a degree in public relations while struggling to pay her bills with a welfare check that shrank by $76 a month to $752 in the latest round of state budget cuts. She said her ex-husband sends a little money, but she still finds herself short of cash every month.

She said her job prospects are uncertain, at best.

"I'm not trying to stay on this," she said of the state's welfare rolls. "I'm trying to get off as soon as possible."

Former President Bill Clinton supported an overhaul of the nation's traditional welfare system in 1996 by giving states more control over the money that came from the federal government, which had been used to fund cash payments. States used the new flexibility to begin funding child care services and job-assistance programs.

Welfare rates plummeted across the nation as the promise of assistance checks was connected to mandatory welfare-to-work programs.

Some 12.6 million people were on welfare nationally at the time of the overhaul, with 2.6 million of those in California. Some states have seen the number of welfare recipients decline by almost 50 percent since those changes were made. California's lowest figure was in 2007, when an average of 1.2 million people applied for state assistance.

The numbers have been creeping up since the recession began in 2007, said Jean Ross, executive director of the California Budget Project.

California's relatively high cost of living and its large number of low-wage jobs make it difficult for residents to make ends meet, she said. By 2009, California saw 1.3 million apply for state assistance, and the number has continued to climb.

"California is widely recognized as having one of the most effective programs, which is why the caseload dropped," Ross said. "What's unfortunate is that all the best pieces that work are the very pieces that have been scaled back."

The Sacramento-based nonprofit, which often advocates for union-friendly changes to state budgeting, estimates that $3.5 billion has been cut from California's welfare-to-work program since 2008. Welfare spending as a percentage of the state's overall budget has dropped by more than half since 1996, the group says.

As the Legislature cuts funding to welfare programs, the consequences are being felt by the people who rely on them.

Cal-Learn, which helped teenage parents finish their high school diplomas and gain job skills, assisted more than 11,700 people during the last year it was fully funded. Its suspension has left many of them stuck at home caring for their children because they cannot afford reliable child care.

Among them is Dana Woolensack, who said she was kicked out of her house when her family learned she was pregnant. The 19-year-old praised her Cal-Learn caseworkers for pushing her to finish a high school degree after her son was born in the hope that she could find a job and support herself.

But the program's suspension this year means she can no longer afford to go to school. She says Cal-Learn gave her a cash grant of $530 a month plus an additional $133 for transportation. Now she gets $490 a month from the state's welfare program, a reduction of $173 a month, and she has rent to pay on a Sacramento apartment.

"I know that I can do it, but it's hard, and especially when you're doing it all on your own," she said. "The program you did have is getting cut now, so it's only going to be harder."

Source: http://www.dailynews.com/ci_19631541?source=rss_viewed

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Friday, December 30, 2011

Sprint Still Worth $4.25 Despite iPhone Deal, Debt Concerns

Sprint?s (NYSE:S) stock has been under a lot of pressure recently after the company announced plans to sell the hugely-subsidized iPhone as well as continuing to spend on building out new 4G LTE infrastructure. The substantial costs associated with these moves forced the company to pile onto its already high debt load with a $4 billion notes offering, the interest rates on which were higher than usual. Sprint also owns over 50% of its 4G network provider, Clearwire, which has been facing a severe cash crunch. Sprint had to use some of its cash on hand to participate in Clearwire?s stock offering in order to provide the struggling carrier with a temporary respite from its liquidity issues. Sprint is hardly in a position to be providing bailouts given its own financial straits and its distant third-place market position behind behind Verizon (NYSE:VZ) and AT&T (NYSE:T).

With the company?s recent troubles attracting heavy attention, the stock has taken a beating. However, we believe the sell-off has been overdone and the company?s strategy holds long-term promise.?We have a?$4.25 price estimate for Sprint?s stock, which is almost 80% higher than the market price.

See our full analysis of Sprint?s stock here

The iPhone Deal

Sprint has been steadily?losing postpaid customers, who are on long-term contracts with higher average monthly bills and are therefore more valuable than prepaid subscribers. Last quarter, the company lost almost 44,000 postpaid subscribers. Sprint struck a deal with Apple to sell the iPhone mainly in a bid to reduce this churn and also drive higher ARPU levels in the long term, as iPhone users are generally known to be heavy data users.

However, owing to its popularity, the iPhone comes with huge subsidies that carriers offer their subscribers in return for long-term contracts. Sprint will therefore have to suffer a?near-term hit to its margins, as it loses money on each iPhone sold. We believe that the market is hugely discounting this near-term margin hit while not taking into account the long-term positive impact on ARPU levels.

Although Sprint?s iPhone sales are not out yet, the overwhelmingly positive response that the iPhone 4S has garnered since its debut as well as the historical data usage of iPhone users leads us to believe the company?s?faith in the iPhone will serve it well in the long run.

Phasing Out Unsuccessful Networks

Sprint?s current postpaid subscriber losses can also be attributed to its failed bet on the push-to-talk iDEN network that it acquired when it bought Nextel, as well as its expensive bet on Clearwire?s 4G WiMAX network. Verizon and AT&T?s 4G LTE networks offer higher speeds to customers than Clearwire?s WiMAX, while Sprint?s 3G coverage has also been the subject of user complaints. These factors have been contributing to the defection of Sprint?s customers to rival networks. As part of its Network Vision project, Sprint is trying to phase out iDen gradually and consolidate its network holdings into one 2G/3G network using a combination of CDMA and EV-DO. This would not only reduce operating expenses substantially, but also allow for better 3G coverage and reduce roaming costs as the spectrum previously used for iDEN would now be available for the CDMA network. The company also plans to roll out 4G LTE, which would likely eventually replace WiMAX, in order to compete with rivals? 4G networks. We expect this long-term strategy will help stem postpaid market share losses and also improve margins.

Near-Term Capex Spike Should Help Margins

Sprint?s network costs will increase rapidly as it rolls out its own 4G LTE network by mid-2012 and funds Clearwire?s LTE plans.?The company will also be spending significant capital on the Network Vision project. These rising costs led the company to issue capital expenditure guidance of approximately $3 billion for 2011, a jump of more than 30% over last year. The company also increased its capex estimates related to the LTE rollout and Network Vision to about $10 billion in 2012 and 2013.?((Sprint Nextel Reports Third Quarter 2011 Results, Sprint Press Release, Oct 2011))

After 2013, we estimate a sharp decline in capital expenditures as the company completes its LTE build-out and gradually phases out the iDen network. Sprint?s stock is, however, highly sensitive to its capital expenditures. You can see how the stock price plummets when you tweak the trend-line to increase capital expenditures over the forecast period in the chart below. We think the current market price reflects this sensitivity, as the market likely doesn?t have confidence in management?s guidance.

High Debt Could Derail the Stock

Sprint already had a highly leveraged balance sheet prior to the notes offering, and piling on additional debt makes the balance sheet even less attractive and reduces the company?s operational flexibility. The elevated interest expense will certainly cut into the company?s cash flows, but we expect that the long-term margin improvement will justify management?s decision.

While we believe the market?s response has been somewhat exaggerated, it?s not entirely unwarranted. Liquidity concerns arising from excessive debt on its balance sheet will continue to be a major deterrent to its business, and should this strategy not pay off, Sprint could be in dire straits. (see?Sprint Plunges on LTE Expansion Costs, May Tap Capital Markets) On the other hand, if the company is able to grow its postpaid user base by selling the iPhone and execute its Network Vision plan successfully, its long-term prospects look very promising.

Understand How a Company?s Products Impact its Stock Price at Trefis

Source: http://www.trefis.com/stock/s/articles/94502/sprint-still-worth-4-25-despite-iphone-deal-debt-concerns/2011-12-28

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Chris?s most-used iPhone and iPad apps of 2011

I tend to go through phases where I can?continually?change the apps I have on my home page, and the apps I use the most. There are however five apps...


Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/du4iDUsxZb4/story01.htm

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Thursday, December 29, 2011

Has a Tim Tebow double Sports Illustrated cover curse come to pass?

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    Wednesday, December 28, 2011

    Senegal Name 2012 Africa Cup Team

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    Senegal Name 2012 Africa Cup Team ??



    ?????Tuesday 27th December, 2011??Source: Lusaka Times ??
    Zambia's 2012 Africa Cup Group C opponents Senegal have named their final 23-man team for the tournament.
    Senegal will face Zambia in the two sides opening Group A match on January 21 in Bata, Equatorial Guinea.
    Amara Traore's team will have 7 strikers led by Demba Ba of Newcastle United in England.
    The team will only have two home-b...

    Breaking News
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    Tuesday, December 27, 2011

    Arab monitors head to Syria, opposition skeptical (AP)

    BEIRUT ? The Arab League sent monitors to Syria Monday even though President Bashar Assad's regime has only intensified its crackdown on dissent in the week since agreeing to the Arab plan to stop the bloodshed.

    Activists say government forces have killed several hundred civilians in the past week. At least 23 more deaths were reported Monday from intense shelling in the center of the country, just hours before the first 60 monitors were to arrive. The opposition says thousands of government troops have been besieging the Baba Amr district of in the central city of Homs for days and the government is preparing a massive assault on the area.

    France expressed strong concerns about the continued deterioration of the situation in Homs. Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero demanded Syrian authorities allow the Arab League observers immediate access to the city.

    "The repression and unprecedented violence committed by the Damascus regime must cease and everything must be done to stop the drama going on behind closed doors in the city of Homs," the French statement said.

    In Cairo, an Arab League official said this monitoring mission was the Syrian regime's "last chance" to reverse course.

    "Will they facilitate the mission's work or try and curb its movements? Let's wait and see," the official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

    The Arab League plan agreed to by Assad last Monday requires the government to remove its security forces and heavy weapons from city streets, start talks with opposition leaders and allow human rights workers and journalists into the country. The monitors are supposed to ensure compliance, but so far there is no sign that Assad is implementing any of the terms, much less letting up on his brutal crackdown.

    Although Syria shows no sign of altering its course, the Arab League was sticking to its plan. The team, including Iraqis, Tunisians and Algerians, left Cairo Monday evening and arrived in Damascus, said Arab League official Ali al-Garoush.

    Opposition members say the regime's agreement to the Arab plan is a farce.

    "I very much doubt the Syrian regime will allow the observers to do their work," said prominent opposition figure Waleed al-Bunni from Cairo. "I expect them to try and hinder their movements by claiming that some areas are not safe, intimidating them or sending them to places other than the ones they should go to."

    Some anti-government protesters have even criticized the League's stance to the point of accusing it of complicity in the killings.

    Activists said Syrian forces shelled the Baba Amr district of Homs with mortars and sprayed heavy machine gun fire in the most intense assault since the siege began Friday.

    Baba Amr has been a center for anti-government protests and army defections and has seen repeated crackdowns by the Syrian regime in recent months. The Syrian conflict is becoming increasingly militarized with growing clashes between army defectors and troops.

    Rami Abdul-Rahman, who heads the British-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, described the attacks in Homs as a kind of "hysteria" as government forces desperately try to get the situation there under control ahead of the monitors' arrival.

    "The observers are sitting in their hotel in Damascus while people are dying in Homs," he said.

    The Observatory called on the monitors "to head immediately to Baba Amr to be witnesses to the crimes against humanity that are being perpetrated by the Syrian regime."

    In Cairo, Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby told reporters after meeting with the monitors that the mission will begin work on Tuesday. Up to 500 monitors are to be eventually deployed and Syria has only agreed for them to stay one month.

    Anwar Malek, a member of the monitoring mission, insisted they will have absolute freedom of movement in Syria, adding that the team will travel to flashpoint cities including Homs, Daraa, Idlib and Hama. He and other observers refused to disclose the exact travel itinerary, saying they preferred to maintain some secrecy to ensure the mission's success.

    The Arab League has suspended Syria's membership and imposed sanctions on Damascus but is deeply divided on how to respond to the crisis. Gulf countries such as Qatar and Saudi Arabia have taken a tougher line and are more inclined toward Security Council action on Syria. But other countries, wary of Syria's influence in the region, prefer an Arab solution to the crisis.

    Activists say the regime has only stepped up its crackdown on anti-government protesters in the week since it agreed to the Arab plan. At least 275 civilians have been killed by government forces since then, and another 150 people died in clashes between army defectors and regime troops ? most of them defectors.

    The stepped up crackdown, including what activists said was a "massacre" in one town where 110 people were mowed down in several hours last week, brought a new round of international condemnation of Syria. Neighboring Turkey said the violence flew in the face of the Arab League deal that Syria signed and raises doubts about the regime's true intentions.

    Syria's top opposition leader Burhan Ghalioun, doubtful that the Arab League alone can budge Assad, called Sunday for the League to bring the U.N. Security Council into the effort. The U.N. says more than 5,000 people have been killed since March in the political violence.

    Assad stalled for weeks on agreeing to the plan and signed only after the Arab League threatened to turn to the U.N. Security Council to help stop the violence. The opposition believes the authoritarian leader is only trying to buy time and forestall more international sanctions and condemnation.

    The U.N.'s most powerful body remains deeply divided over Syria, which has led to its failure to adopt a resolution on and heightened tensions especially among major powers. Western nations and the U.S. are demanding a resolution threatening sanctions if the violence doesn't stop and condemning Assad's crackdown. But Russia and China, which have closer ties to Assad's regime, believe extremist opponents of the government are equally responsible for the bloodshed and oppose any mention of sanctions.

    After months of largely peaceful protests that were met with brute force and bullets, some opposition figures have started calling for international military intervention, but that is all but out of the question in Syria, in part because of fears that the move could spread chaos across the Middle East. Syria is a close ally of Iran, borders Israel, and holds sway over the Shiite militant group Hezbollah, which now dominates Lebanon's government.

    Amateur videos of the violence in Homs were posted by activists on the Internet Monday. The showed gruesome footage of at least four corpses lying in pools of blood in front of a house in Baba Amr, where they reportedly died from mortar shells that struck the neighborhood.

    Men could be heard crying for help and women wailing in the video, which also showed several destroyed homes and cars. Other footage showed at least six bodies wrapped in white plastic bags in a home, relatives crying besides them.

    A resident of a neighborhood next to Baba Amr said he heard "loud explosions" throughout the night and Monday morning.

    "It doesn't stop," he told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, for fear of reprisals.

    The Local Coordination Committees activist network reported at least 23 deaths in intense shelling "targeting homes and anyone who moves" in Baba Amr.

    Syrian officials did not comment on the violence in Baba Amr but said armed terrorist groups attacked civilians and security forces in villages in southern Syria. State-run news agency SANA said troops retaliated and killed a number of the gunmen.

    ___

    Additional reporting by Sarah El Deeb in Cairo.

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111226/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_syria

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    Monday, December 26, 2011

    16 Amazingly Terrible Christmas Cards

    www.funnyordie.com:

    "Yes. This Christmas card turned out exactly the way I planned and in no way will this ever be mocked for how over-the-top terrible it is." -- the photographer of all these cards.

    Read the whole story: www.funnyordie.com

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    Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/26/16-amazingly-terrible-chr_n_1169927.html

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    Sunday, December 25, 2011

    ABB Signs $900 Million India Electricity Deal

    ABB, on Dec. 22. signed a deal with India's Power Grid Corp. worth more than $900 million to develop India's electricity supply. ABB deliver a transmission system to carry hydro-electric power from mountainous northeast India to the populous, central region of Agra. When operating at full capacity, the link will be able to supply 90 million people with electricity? 1,050 miles away. "HVDC (ultrahigh-voltage direct current) technology is ideally suited for transmission of power, with minimum losses, over long distances and where space is limited," said Peter Leupp, head of ABB?s Power Systems division. ABB said it will work on the North-East Agra transmission project with BHEL (Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited), an Indian government-owned power company. The development costing $1.1 billion in total is scheduled to go into operation in 2015. Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2011

    Source: http://feeds.penton.com/~r/IWOperations/~3/YA5TN-AT-TQ/ReadArticle.aspx

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    NEW ERA?Hanshin Tigers?59Fifty Fitted Baseball Cap

    Here?s a look at the official Hanshin Tigers NEW ERA 59Fifty fitted baseball cap. This is an alternative to the past styles seen featuring a large H. This time around the Tigers choose an embroidered logo with the teams name stitched on the front to go along with the traditional Black crown and Yellow visor. Available now at http://shop.hanshintigers.jp.

    Source: http://www.strictlyfitteds.com/blog/2011/12/new-era%E3%80%8Chanshin-tigers%E3%80%8D59fifty-fitted-baseball-cap/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=new-era%25e3%2580%258chanshin-tigers%25e3%2580%258d59fifty-fitted-baseball-cap

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    Friday, December 23, 2011

    LeAnn Rimes Bikini Twitter Photos

    LeAnn Rimes Bikini Twitter Photos

    For most people the week before Christmas means dashing round for last-minute gifts.

    But for LeAnn Rimes it was a case of sun, sea and looking very skinny indeed as she relaxed with hubby Eddie Cibrian in Mexico, reported the Daily Mail on Monday.

    The singer tweeted a picture of herself wearing a brown bikini, the bottoms of which swamped her tiny lower body


    Source: http://www.hotonlinenews.com/2011/12/21/LeAnn_Rimes_Bikini_Twitter_Photos.html

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    House votes for new payroll talks with Senate (Reuters)

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The Republican House of Representatives, on a mostly party-line vote, on Tuesday rejected the Democratic Senate's bid to extend a payroll tax cut for two months and demanded instead urgent negotiations on a possible year-long extension.

    Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid refuses to go along with such talks, and accuses Republicans, who earlier opposed any tax-cut extension, of being disingenuous. Reid has urged the House to agree to the bill passed by the Senate last week with bipartisan support to renew the tax cut for two-months while an agreement is sought on how to pay for a year-long renewal.

    (Reporting By Thomas Ferraro; Editing by Sandra Maler)

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/democrats/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111220/ts_nm/us_usa_taxes

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    Sunday, December 18, 2011

    PFT: Bears' Hurd's clients reportedly NFL players

    JessePinkmanGetty Images

    I?ve had a chance to fully digest the five-page criminal complaint filed today against Bears receiver Sam Hurd.? The document reveals that Hurd submitted to a consensual interview with federal authorities in July 2011 ? but Hurd allegedly kept on buying and selling cocaine and marijuana, in large amounts.

    On July 27, a person known only as T.L. allegedly was attempting to purchase four kilograms of cocaine on behalf of Hurd.? T.L. wanted to buy the cocaine at an early hour, because Hurd would be taking it to a ?northern destination.?

    Coincidentally ? or otherwise ? Hurd signed with the Bears on July 29.? Training camp opened in Illinois on July 30.

    After a confidential informant arranged to sell the cocaine to T.L., but before the transaction was completed, the authorities arranged a routine traffic stop, at which time $88,000 was seized.? T.L. told authorities that the car and the money belonged to Hurd.

    On July 28, one day before the Bears gave Hurd a $1.35 million signing bonus as part of a three-year contract, Hurd engaged in a consensual interview with federal authorities, in an effort to recover his $88,000.? Hurd said he had conducted bank withdrawals and wire transfers, and that T.L. had the car containing the money because T.L. was performing maintenance and detailing on the vehicle.

    Hurd provided federal authorities with a bank statement reflecting the withdrawals.? The statement and the amounts allegedly did not match.

    At that point, a normal person would have been scared straight.? (Then again, a normal person would never have been trying to buy four kilograms of cocaine.)? Roughly two weeks later, however, T.L. negotiated with the same informant the purchase of five kilograms of cocaine on behalf of Hurd.? The discussions apparently continued in early September, but the transaction apparently was not consummated at the time.

    Then, in early December, T.L. told the informant that Hurd wanted to meet personally with the informant to discuss further business.? Conversations between T.L. and the informant culminated in Wednesday?s meeting at Morton?s Steakhouse in Rosemont.? At the meeting, Hurd told the informant and an undercover officer that Hurd wanted to buy five to ten kilograms of cocaine and 1,000 pounds of marijuana per week.? The undercover agent eventually gave Hurd a kilogram of cocaine.? Hurd left the restaurant with the cocaine, and he was arrested in his car.

    The criminal complaint raises significant questions regarding the three-month lag in communications between September and December between T.L. and the informant.? It seems odd that Hurd would have so quickly found someone in Chicago who could supply four kilograms of cocaine per week, while struggling to finalize a single transaction with the informant in Dallas.? It could be that Hurd was lying about the current breadth of his operations, in the hopes of securing the trust and respect of the people with whom he was still dealing in Texas.

    Given the clumsy manner in which Hurd handled the $88,000 that was seized only a day or so before he received $1.35 million from the Bears, common sense suggests that, if he were buying four kilograms of cocaine per week from someone in Chicago, it will be easy to collect enough evidence to prove that Hurd was buying and selling that amount of drugs.

    Time will tell whether Hurd was indeed trafficking that much cocaine per week.? For now, though, there?s a chance that Hurd has been operating less like Heisenberg and more like Jesse Pinkman.? (Bitch.)

    Though it won?t allow Hurd to avoid charges arising from his apparent receipt with intent to distribute of one kilogram of cocaine from an undercover officer, it could mean that he isn?t quite the kingpin that he painted himself to be last night.

    Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/15/report-hurds-drug-clients-included-many-nfl-players/related/

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    ABC nixes 'Extreme Makeover: Home Edition'

    What's going to make us sob like little babies now?!

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    ABC has canceled "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" after nine heartwarming seasons of tear-jerking tales of sorrow and hardship bookended by even more tear-jerking scenes of joy and excitement when a family gets the keys to their brand-new house.

    MORE: Michelle Obama Visits Extreme Makeover: Home Edition

    "For nine seasons, I was blessed to have been given the opportunity to change lives across the globe with the help of loving communities, generous sponsors, and a cast that has become my second family," interior designer Michael Moloney said in a statement. "I was lucky to have this show as a perpetual reminder of my own blessings, but my work won't stop with the end of the series. It is with a somber heart I close this chapter, but with such excitement I begin the next one."

    ABC says that "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition" ? which back in 2005 was pulling in an average 16 million viewers a week but dipped to less than 9 million last season ? will continue in the form of periodic TV specials.

    The Emmy-winning series will sign off in true "Extreme Makeover" fashion on Jan. 13 with its 200th episode, shot in the tornado-ravaged town of Joplin, Mo.

      1. 'Like'?The Clicker

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    Ty Pennington and crew headed over there in October to help not one, not two, but seven families who lost their homes.

    That's seven-times the tears, people!

    GALLERY: DVR DOA: The Shows You're Deleting

    Which episode in the show's history was the most memorable for you? Share your thoughts on the Facebook page for our TV blog, The Clicker.

    ? 2011 E! Entertainment Television, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

    Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45689473/ns/today-entertainment/

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    Saturday, December 17, 2011

    Lawsuit: Patient got HIV from Miss. cancer clinic (AP)

    JACKSON, Miss. ? A Mississippi cancer clinic doctor who is charged with using old syringes and watered-down chemotherapy drugs now faces a lawsuit that claims a patient contracted HIV from a dirty needle.

    Dr. Meera Sachdeva, founder of Rose Cancer Center in Summit, has been held without bond since her arrest in August on charges of diluting drugs and billing Medicaid and Medicare for more chemotherapy than patients actually were given.

    The lawsuit claims James Ralph Patterson Sr. went to the now-shuttered clinic for treatment of his brain and lung cancer but ended up getting watered-down drugs and was infected with HIV by an old needle. Patterson died July 3 at the age of 61.

    The lawsuit appears to be the first public allegation filed in court that a Rose patient contracted HIV.

    Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/diseases/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111216/ap_on_re_us/us_cancer_clinic_hiv

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