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Tuesday, February 19, 2013
Monday, February 18, 2013
Share Security Thoughts on Twitter and Win an Avast! License
Security solutions provider Avast! has launched a Twitter contest. The winner will be rewarded with an Avast! license.
So what do you have to do to participate?
So what do you have to do to participate?
First of all, you must follow Avast?s Twitter account. Then simply let everybody know the first thought that comes to your mind when you think of security.
The tweets must contain the ?#WhenIsayProtectionImean? hashtag for them to be taken into consideration.
Avast urges competitors to be creative, funny and free.
And if you?re into Twitter competitions, I have another one for you. Last week, Hack in the Box announced a similar contest.
The winner will get a VIP ticket to the upcoming conference in Amsterdam and $1337 for travel expenses.
All you need to do is follow @HITBSecConf on Twitter and post the following message: ?This is my entry to the #HITB1337Giveaway! Please help me RT and win a VIP ticket to #HITB2013AMS and USD1337 - http://conference.hitb.org/1337.html.?
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Friday, February 15, 2013
Gov't approves issuance of bonds worth almost CZK 157bn | Prague ...
?TK |
14 February 2013
Prague, Feb 13 (CTK) - The Czech government yesterday approved the Finance Ministry's proposal to issue bonds worth almost Kc157bn this year, with the ministry planning to use Kc7.8bn of the amount to cover part of the deficit of the state budget for 2011, the government's spokesman Michal Schuster said.
The ministry also wants to use the money raised from the bond issue to cover securities maturing this year and for the repurchase of further bonds from the market.
The main reason for submitting the proposal is the repayment of a higher state budget deficit in 2011 and an effort to avoid the refinancing risk, that is the possibility that the state would not be able to meet its obligations due to a small share of long-term government bonds, the ministry said.
The Czech state posted a Kc142.8bn deficit in 2011. Originally, the ministry reckoned with a deficit of Kc135bn.
The Finance Ministry obtained money for covering the originally planned deficit thanks to another law on the state bond programme. The ministry submitted the current law owing to the extra amount of almost Kc8bn.
The ministry can use the remaining sum of over Kc149bn to cover state debt principals payable in 2013 and other possible obligations of the state due in 2013, according to the proposal.
"The bond issuance will increase the state debt by the nominal value of the bonds, but the use of the money raised from their sale for instalments and repurchases will in turn cut the state debt," the Finance Ministry said.
The state debt amounted to Kc1,670bn at the end of 2012.
The law on the state bond programme to cover part of the deficit of the Czech Republic's state budget for the year 2011 exceeding the planned deficit and on the state bond programme to cover the state's other obligations payable in 2013 enables bond maturity of up to 105 years.
The Finance Ministry wants to borrow Kc230.7bn this year in line with the Funding and Debt Management Strategy for the year 2013.
The ministry is planning to issue government savings bonds again next year as part of the strategy. The value of the savings bonds, intended for individuals, municipalities, foundations and non-profit organisations, will be between Kc20bn and Kc40bn.
Copyright 2011 by the Czech News Agency (?TK). All rights reserved.
Copying, dissemination or other publication of this article or parts thereof without the prior written consent of ?TK is expressly forbidden. The Prague Daily Monitor and Monitor CE are not responsible for its content.
Source: http://praguemonitor.com/2013/02/14/govt-approves-issuance-bonds-worth-almost-czk-157bn
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Big Ben and a London Red Bus Light Trail (by SybsPics) Via...
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Texas Republican moves to abolish state's consumer insurance ...
By Stephen C. Webster
Friday, February 15, 2013 16:15 EST
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A state consumer insurance advocate?s office could be shuttered in Texas just as it is making progress on blocking massive rate hike hammering homeowners across the state who are insured through State Farm, if a Republican state senator gets his way.
A bill filed Thursday by Sen. Kelly Hancock (pictured) of north Texas would, according to The Dallas Morning News, shut down the Office of Public Insurance Counsel, a key consumer advocate in the state?s insurance rulemaking process.
The bill comes immediately after the insurance counsel made strides toward blocking a 20 percent rate increase for homeowner?s insurance implemented by State Farm late last year. A hearing on the matter before an administrative law judge was set for March 4, according to an agency release issued Thursday?(PDF).
Hancock reportedly said his bill would ?continue to protect consumers and reduce wasteful spending.?
??Why would lawmakers even consider eliminating the one thing that gives Texas policyholders a fighting chance against Big Insurance?? Alex Winslow of consumer advocacy group Texas Watch said in an advisory. ?This state office with a handful of employees and a tiny budget?shouldn?t?be threatened with abolishment simply for doing its job.?A judge ruled in 2011 that State Farm owes Texans almost?$350 million due to excessive fees charged to consumers. An ongoing appeal?could result in reimbursements to customers who the agency believes were overcharged.
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Thursday, February 14, 2013
Teach kids how to work - The Board Game Family The ... - boglarputki
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Source: http://boglarputki.blogspot.com/2013/02/teach-kids-how-to-work-board-game.html
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Our No-Stress, Last-Minute Valentine's Day Gift Guide (PHOTOS)
Valentine's Day is here, and if you're anything like us, you are scrambling for a gift for your partner/best friend/child/whomever. A few weeks ago, we scoffed at the notion of celebrating Valentine's Day as an overly commercialized, mass market nod to the notion of romance. But now, as we see the flowers, chocolates and crotchless panties starting to roll in, we are panicking. Thankfully, all it took was a little research to find the best last-minute Valentine's Day gifts out there.
Are you as lazy and/or skeptical as we are? Don't stress, we've got you. Here, five last-minute Valentine's Day gifts that are just one click of the mouse away.
Want more? Be sure to check out HuffPost Style on Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram at @HuffPostStyle.
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Do you have a style story idea or tip? Email us at stylesubmissions@huffingtonpost.com. (PR pitches sent to this address will be ignored.)
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/14/last-minute-valentines-day-gifts-2013_n_2678092.html
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'The face of the Church is marred by sins against unity': Outgoing Pope Benedict appeals for end to Vatican infighting in Ash Wednesday mass
Pope Benedict used last night's Ash Wednesday mass to deliver a withering and extraordinary blast at the warring factions in the Vatican's upper-echelons, whose power struggles many believe influenced the Pontiff's historic decision to stand down.
Earlier on Wednesday, during the general audience, the Pontiff had alluded to the need for church figures to avoid the temptations of power and privilege.
But yesterday evening his warning was clearer. ?We must reflect on how the face of the Church is marred by sins against unity and division of the ecclesiastical body. We must overcome individualism and rivalry,? he told great and the good of the curia assembled in St Peter?s Basilica. ?The true disciple does not serve himself or the public, but the Lord.
?Many are ready to get on their high horse over scandals and injustices ? obviously committed by others ? but few seem able to act according to the real wishes of their own hearts and consciences.?
Pundit Gerard O?Connell of the Vatican Insider said: ?This was a very, very, clear and strongly worded speech. It was an appeal for an end to the personal rivalries and of people competing to put themselves in high profile positions. I think Benedict is passing messages to the cardinals and to those who will succeed him.?
Benedict cited advancing age and declining health in his resignation announcement on Monday. Reports suggest the head injury he sustained after falling during a trip to Mexico last year was another factor behind his shock decision to stand down.
Many have speculated that a raft of scandals within the Vatican lies, at least in part, behind his decision to quit, however.
Those scandals culminated last year with the conviction of Paolo Gabriele, the pope's ex-butler, who was found guilty of leaking confidential papal memos suggesting corruption and intrigue within the Holy See to the Italian press.
But many Vatican watchers believe a confidential report into Vatileaks commissioned by Benedict may have revealed evidence of power struggles and a more far-reaching conspiracy to discredit his papacy and his deputy, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone.
La Repubblica newspaper suggested that Benedict?s criticism yesterday may have been aimed at three of the Vatican?s most powerful figures: the secretary of state Cardinal Bertone, his predecessor, Angelo Sodano, the current dean of the College of Cardinals, and the head of the Bishops Conference, Angelo Bagnasco.
It claimed that Cardinal Bertone was already at loggerheads with his two rivals as senior figures jockeyed for power? and influence in the run up to the Conclave in mid-March, which will elected Benedict?s successor.
Meanwhile, as one of last significant appointments under Benedict?s reign, a new head of the Vatican Bank, the IOR, in expected within the next few days. Pundits believe a foreigner is likely to be brought in to clean up bank?s reputation.
The IOR has been without a president since May 2012 when its Italian head Ettore Gotti Tedeschi resigned, following a no-confidence vote by the board of directors of the bank. This provoked a series of accusation and counter claims between Mr Tedeschi and the Holy See regarding the management of the scandal-hit financial institution.
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Green Blog: Steep Challenges for a Chinese Eco-City
TIANJIN ? Fifty years ago, during a time of food shortages, China?s young socialist government singled out a few farm villages as role models for the nation, saying that their high crop yields made them examples that other communities could learn from.
Today, facing challenges like runaway urbanization, soaring energy consumption and environmental degradation, China ?is hoping to establish a different set of paragons. With its cities expected to swell by another 350 million residents in the next 25 years, ?according to World Bank estimates, the government is scurrying to find sustainable urban solutions. ?To that end, it hopes to have 100 model cities, 200 model counties, 1,000 model districts and 10,000 model towns by 2015.
But already, some of the model cities mapped out early on, like Dongtan, an eco-city that was to house 500,000 people on Chongming Island near Shanghai, have been abandoned because of a range of problems ranging from official corruption to targets that proved overly ambitious.
Conversely, an eco-city in Tianjin created in concert with the government of Singapore is the latest, biggest and most successful of the projects to date. The Chinese government hopes that it will emerge as an economic powerhouse along the lines of regional agglomerations of cities in the Yangtze River and Pearl River Delta regions.
Just over five years ago, this area on Tianjin?s outskirts was a blend of nonarable saline and alkaline land that was virtually uninhabitable. But today, in contrast to water in much of the rest of China, the tap water here is drinkable. Over 400 residents have already moved into its pilot district, which is nearing completion. Around 5,000 apartment units have been sold. The city plans eventually to house some 350,000 residents.
This eco-city also stands out because of the attention afforded to it by the Chinese central government. China?s deputy prime minister, Wang Qishan, is a co-chairman of its steering committee.
Tianjin has some of China?s strictest building energy efficiency standards, and the eco-city is trying to go beyond this by offering developers certification based on more advanced green building standards, said Axel Baeumler, the lead author of a 2012 World Bank report on Chinese eco-cities and a 2011 book about Tianjin.
Perfecting technologies like these could prove useful and cost- effective for retrofitting projects in other Chinese cities, he suggested.
?This is as serious as an experiment currently gets in China and the most advanced of China?s eco-cities, Mr. Baeumler said. ?I think they have a fair chance of getting it as right as one can get it right.?
?The key is that they take stock now, after phase one, and see what works, what isn?t working, and extract lessons learned,? he said.
Looming wind turbines can be spotted as you drive into the city along an avenue lined with solar photovoltaic street lights, but Dalson Chong, a government official said the wind power is apparently not yet connected to the grid. According to a 2009 World Bank report, the city?s heat and power supply will come mainly from outside the city, and renewable energy resources in the area are relatively scarce.
Questions are also being raised about other eco-friendly aspects of the city. Government officials assert that by 2020, 90 percent of travel within the city will be made on foot, by bicycle or via public transportation. Tian Xian, a new resident of the eco-city, said that she walks to work and to stores and travels by bus when she leaves the areas.
Each apartment also comes with an underground parking space, however, and government officials said that charging stations and subsidies for electric cars are planned. ?The question is, if I drive an electric car, how do I charge it?? said Yang Fuqiang, a senior adviser on climate and energy at the Natural Resources Defense Council in Beijing. ?It has to be convenient,? he said. ?If, in the beginning, they get the details wrong, it is hard to make changes later.?
Wide tarmac roads designed for cars dwarf the narrow bike lanes and sidewalks running alongside them here. And while many of the city?s tall slimmer buildings are clustered together to increase walkability, these giant blocks are about four times the size of a typical block in Manhattan and make pedestrian and bike journeys cumbersome, said Arish Dastur, an urban specialist at the World Bank.
It is this lack of a human scale in the basic urban plan, which will be nearly impossible to change once the city is fully built, that has drawn the most criticism.
Critics also say that little is being done to educate residents about energy efficiency and recycling. Although neighborhood centers intended to teach people about sustainable practices will be scattered across the eco-city, each would serve an average of about 20,000 residents. The eco-city has a more complicated recycling system than the rest of the country, with residents being asked to separate their discards into five categories.
Some experts suggest that generous government investment, a strong partnership with Singapore and the city?s location on an ever more bustling coast make what successes Tianjin has achieved hard to replicate.
But Mr. Baeumler is more optimistic about the prospects for other eco-cities and about Tianjin itself. ?It?s very easy to say, ?Look at Tianjin, it won?t work,? and a lot of people do,? he said. ?But the other way of looking at it is, China is moving 350 million people to cities over the next 20 years, so you have to think differently.?
?This is one model,? he said. ?There are others out there. Let?s look at them, take stock, and take it from there.?
Michael Lu, a resident who moved into his new apartment in November, seems to agree.
Outside the lone supermarket in the eco-city, he scanned an eerily quiet cityscape dotted with cranes. ?Of course I?m not satisfied with the current state of the eco-city,? Mr. Lu said. ?But I?m hoping that in three or four years, it?ll be very different.?
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NBA Schedule on Tuesday, February 13, 2013
NBA Schedule on 13 February 2013: 12 Games
- Atlanta Hawks Vs. Orlando magic 7:00 pm EST
- San Antonio Spurs Vs. Cleveland Cavaliers 7:00 pm EST
- Charlotte Bobcats Vs. Indiana Pacers 7:00 pm EST
- Toronto Raptors Vs. New York Knicks 7:30 pm EST
- Denver Nuggets Vs. Brooklyn Nets 7:30 pm EST
- Chicago Bulls Vs. Boston Celtics 7:30 pm EST
- Washington Wizards Vs. Detroit Pistons 7:30 pm EST
- Philadelphia 76ers Vs. Milwaukee Bucks 8:00 pm EST
- Utah Jazz Vs. Minnesota Timberwolves 8:00 pm EST
- Portland Trail Blazers Vs. New Orleans Hornets 8:00 pm EST
- Sacramento Kings Vs. Dallas Mavericks 8:30 pm EST
- Houston Rockets Vs. LA Clippers 10:30 pm EST
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Wednesday, February 13, 2013
China's personal income tax revenue slows sharply | The China Times
The Chinese government saw its fiscal revenue from personal income tax drop 3.9 percent year on year in 2012, sharply down from the 25.2-percent growth seen during the previous year, according to latest data from the Ministry of Finance.
It showed that money collected from personal income tax last year totaled 582.02 billion yuan (92.69 billion U.S. dollars), accounting for 5.8 percent of total fiscal revenue.
The government?s tax reduction measures, including hikes in exemption thresholds for personal income tax and adjustments in taxation rates, have affected the revenue, said an official from the ministry.
Price corrections in used homes also decreased the revenue from property transfer income tax last year, according to the ministry.
The data showed the tax revenue from wage-earners dropped 8 percent year on year, while that from individual business owners declined 12.5 percent. In contrast, combined revenue from income tax on interests, dividends and bonuses grew 14.7 percent.
The government raised the exemption threshold for the personal income tax to 3,500 yuan from 2,000 yuan starting September 2011, scrapping the tax for around 60 million people.
Xinhua
Source: http://www.thechinatimes.com/online/2013/02/6621.html
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Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Pope Benedict's legacy: More influential than Pope John Paul II?
Pope Benedict resigns later this month after arguably being the single most influential figure inside the Roman Catholic Church for three decades, dating to the early 1980s.
A shy but brilliant scholar whose consistent vision has been to reinstitute the grand authority held by the Vatican in the Middle Ages, Benedict has, often single-handedly, redirected his church away from the liberal experiments and sometimes amateurish enthusiasms of the Vatican II period of the 1960s, which conservatives saw as a dangerous diversion. He has also, over years, instituted doctrines, individuals, and orders consistent with his theological view of the Catholic Church as the true and only authentic one.
While not as widely beloved as his predecessor John Paul II, the popular Polish pope who helped crack the Soviet hold on eastern Europe and attracted global crowds, Benedict arguably has had more influence inside the church ? even as he often irritated Protestants who he said were not "authentic" Christians, angered Muslims by put-downs of Islamic figures, or unsettled Jewish-Catholic relations by rehabilitating a fringe religious society with a bishop who denied the severity of the Nazi holocaust.
RECOMMENDED: How much do you know about the Catholic Church? Take our quiz!
Benedict's chief occupation as pope has been, observers say, to purify his church.
To do so, Benedict crushed the liberation theology movements of the third world, put a slammer hold on efforts to ordain women and question celibacy, put earlier ecumenical impulses on the back burner, and, instead, has greatly empowered more hardcore orders like Opus Dei, Legions of Christ, and other orthodox wings, largely on the idea that the church must first cherish its most ardent believers.
Yet, while Benedict has won many battles inside the church, he is also widely seen as having lost many larger wars that he either instituted or took part in.
Benedict?s effort to reinstitute Christianity in its European context has largely failed to generate enthusiasm on a continent increasingly secular. While in pursuit of liberal priests and nuns who he implied were polluting the church with wrong doctrines, Benedict has appeared to many Europeans to be too inattentive to priests who sexually abused minors, of whom there are an estimated 8,000. The revelations of sexually abusive priests in Germany, Ireland, Belgium, and Austria two years ago brought a change to the story line that such problems were restricted to the United States.
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For fully believing Catholics, the Roman church is a divine, not a human institution; its leader, the pope, is the ?vicar of Christ,? the direct spiritual descendant of Jesus Christ and his disciple Peter. The kingdom of heaven on earth that Jesus asked his followers to pray for, must, in orthodox Catholic doctrine, come through the Catholic Church and the pope, also known as the Holy Father.
For many modern-thinking or non-literal Catholics, particularly after the long-running church self-examination known as Vatican II, those orthodox doctrines of the identity of the church and the pope were put in question and thrown open for new interpretation.
Vatican II lead, though often quite indirectly, to a massive re-evaluation of things like the operation of the spirit in the church, the possibility of women being ordained as priests, a faint questioning of the doctrine, only adopted in pre-medieval Europe, of celibacy, and of more "democracy" or power by the laity or non-clergy members in matters of church governance.
For a rising college theology professor named Joseph Ratzinger, these new interpretations were viewed with increasing horror. They often lacked seriousness, were sloppy, and seemed chaotic and undignified.
As then-Cardinal Ratzinger, Benedict took office in 1982 as head of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, the same office that earlier conducted or oversaw heresy trials. Yet while that office has a five-year term and most predecessors held it for 10 years at most, Ratzinger stayed 24 years, only leaving to become pope in 2005.
Now, as Catholics think through their future they will do so with a set of cardinals, bishops, priests, and church authorities that have largely been vetted through the orthodox filter set up by the Bavarian-born pontiff.
Indeed, a church hierarchy carefully pruned of liberal and ecumenical impulses may be one of Benedict?s enduring legacies, though it has brought the current pontiff into serious disagreements with powerful orders, like the Jesuits, that previously saw themselves as the main defenders of Rome.
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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/pope-benedicts-legacy-more-influential-pope-john-paul-224205814.html
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New Kid on the Block: My Carpet Pal to Provide Home Carpet Cleaning Services to the Greater Southern California
Whittier, CA (PRWEB) February 12, 2013
My Carpet Pal has just opened and is now able to provide home carpet cleaning services to customers located in the Greater Southern California region.
My Carpet Pal specializes in the following carpet cleaning services: regular steam cleaning, deep cleaning, and maintenance cleaning for both business and residential accounts.
All of the My Carpet Pal technicians are trained to provide excellent customer service and quality cleaning. Each carpet and floor technician must undergo a weekly special class room training in order to ensure that the company is up to date with the constant changes in the carpet and floor cleaning industry. Furthermore, My Carpet Pal uses green friendly products to clean all floor surfaces in order to help protect the environment.
In order to celebrate their grand opening, My Carpet Pal is offering lots of specials on business and home carpet cleaning jobs. Customers can have any two rooms cleaned for $85. In order to take advantage of this special offer, customers can call 1-888-Steam-85 or visit the website for a free quote.
About My Carpet Pal:
My Carpet Pal is based out of Whittier, California. Technicians provide home and business office carpet cleaning to the Greater Southern California area. They also provide a 24 hour emergency response team for water damaged homes and business offices. The company provides a 100 percent satisfaction guaranteed policy. My Carpet Pal also offers additional cleaning services through its subsidiary, Jerry?s Carpet Care. Additional services include the removal of pet stains, upholstery stains, and tile and grout mildew or soap scum stains, as well as car and boat cleaning services. Jerry's Carpet Care is a member of the My Carpet Pal company.
My Carpet Pal is a licensed and bonded cleaning company. For more information, please contact a representative at 1-888-Steam-85 or visit the website below. Like us on Facebook , follow us on Twitter, or check out our equipment on YouTube.
Source: http://www.prweb.com/releases/home_carpet_cleaning/02/prweb10381976.htm
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BlackBerry's Creative Director Alicia Keys Caught Tweeting From An iPhone (BBRY, AAPL)
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Alicia Keys with BlackBerry CEO Thorsten Heins.
Singer Alicia Keys is BlackBerry's new Creative Director. (Which is just a fancy way of saying "celebrity spokesperson" these days).When she got the gig at BlackBerry's big BlackBerry 10 launch event last month, Keys spoke at length about how she gave up her iPhone in favor of the new BlackBerry Z10.
Today, she tweeted from her iPhone.
Whoops!
Well,?someone with access to her account did. After tech blogs picked up on Keys' tweet, she posted a followup saying her account was hacked. The original tweet has since been deleted.
We're going to remain skeptical on this one. Sorry Alicia, you're not the first celebrity endorser caught tweeting from a rival product.
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/alicia-keys-tweets-from-iphome-2013-2
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Monday, February 11, 2013
Dangerous overcrowding persists a day after deadly stampede in India
Jitendra Prakash / Reuters
Hindu pilgrims crowd to board a train at an overcrowded railway station in the northern Indian city of Allahabad on Feb. 11. A stampede at a railway station in Allahabad killed at least 36 Hindu pilgrims on Sunday. Twenty-seven of the dead were women, mostly elderly and poor. An eight-year-old girl was also crushed to death.
Rajesh Kumar Singh / AP
Hindu devotees returning from Maha Kumbh jostle to get in a coach of a train at the main railway station of Allahabad, India, on Feb. 11.
Published at 12:30 p.m. ET:
Reuters reports: A stampede at a railway station in northern India killed at least 36 Hindu pilgrims on Sunday, the busiest day of the world's largest religious festival at which some 30 million had gathered to wash away their sins in the sacred Ganges river.
Twenty-seven of the dead were women, mostly elderly and poor. An eight-year-old girl was also crushed to death. A Reuters witness saw a woman weeping at the train station, surrounded by six bodies dressed in brightly colored saris. Read full story
Jitendra Prakash / Reuters
Hindu pilgrims sit on railways tracks as they wait to board their trains at an overcrowded railway station in the northern Indian city of Allahabad on Feb. 11.
Manish Swarup / AP
Hindu devotee returning from Maha Kumbh festival travel in an luggage van of a train from the main railway station of Allahabad on Feb. 13.
Harish Tyagi / EPA
Two unidentified Indian men who reportedly lost their sister in a deadly stampede comfort each other outside a mortuary in Allahabad on Feb. 11.
Rajesh Kumar Singh / AP
Relatives of the missing look at photos of victims of a stampede outside a hospital morgue in Allahabad on Feb. 11.
Previously on PhotoBlog:
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Northeast returns to everyday routines after snow
A plow clears a path outside Poquonock Elementary School in Windsor, Conn., Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. A howling storm across the Northeast left much of the New York-to-Boston corridor covered with more than three feet of snow on Friday into Saturday morning. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
A plow clears a path outside Poquonock Elementary School in Windsor, Conn., Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. A howling storm across the Northeast left much of the New York-to-Boston corridor covered with more than three feet of snow on Friday into Saturday morning. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
A man uses a snowblower around a statue of Nathan Hale outside the Wadsworth Atheneum after a winter storm in Hartford, Conn., Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. A howling storm across the Northeast left much of the New York-to-Boston corridor covered with more than three feet of snow on Friday into Saturday morning. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
Courtney Bazininet hands a shovel to her friend, Alice Fernald, after getting her car temporarily stuck in a snow bank, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013, in Portland, Maine. Residents are digging out after a blizzard dumped a record 31.9 inches of snow on the city. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)
Snow begins to melt on cars parked at a dealership after a winter storm in Hartford, Conn., Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. A howling storm across the Northeast left much of the New York-to-Boston corridor covered with more than three feet of snow on Friday into Saturday morning. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
School buses are covered in snow after a winter storm in Hartford, Conn., Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. A howling storm across the Northeast left much of the New York-to-Boston corridor covered with more than three feet of snow on Friday into Saturday morning. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)
NEWPORT, R.I. (AP) ? As electricity returns and highways reopen, some Northeast residents are getting back to their weekday routines following the massive snowstorm that had millions digging out from New York to Maine.
But the routine for other New Englanders will be disrupted by school and workplace closings. For some there's also a new worry: the danger of roof collapses as rain and warmer weather melts snow.
The storm that slammed into the region with up to 3 feet of snow was blamed for at least 15 deaths in the Northeast and Canada, and brought some of the highest accumulations ever recorded. Still, coastal areas were largely spared catastrophic damage despite being lashed by strong waves and hurricane-force wind gusts at the height of the storm.
Hundreds of people, their homes without heat or electricity, were forced to take refuge in emergency shelters set up in schools or other places. But by early Monday, outages had dropped to 149,970 ? more than 126,000 of them in Massachusetts.
"For all the complaining everyone does, people really came through," said Rich Dinsmore, 65, of Newport, R.I., who was staying at a Red Cross shelter set up in a middle school in Middletown after the power went out in his home on Friday.
Dinsmore, who has emphysema, was first brought by ambulance to a hospital after the medical equipment he relies on failed when the power went out and he had difficulty breathing.
"The police, the fire department, the state, the Red Cross, the volunteers, it really worked well," said the retired radio broadcaster and Army veteran.
Driving bans were lifted and flights resumed at major airports in the region that had closed during the storm, though many flights were still canceled Sunday. Public transit schedules were being restored.
The Boston-area public transportation system, which shut down on Friday afternoon, resumed full service on Monday ? but told commuters to expect delays. The Metro-North Railroad resumed most train service on its New York and Connecticut routes while the Long Island Rail Road said commuters could expect a nearly normal schedule.
"A lot of progress has been made," said Salvatore Arena, a spokesman for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which operates Metro-North.
Some public schools canceled classes on Monday, including in Boston, Providence and on Long Island, while local governments in some areas told non-essential workers to take the day off.
On eastern Long Island, the harrowing images from New York's slice of the massive snowstorm ? people stranded overnight, cars abandoned on long stretches of drift-covered highways ? were slowly erased Sunday as hundreds of snowplows and heavy equipment descended to try to help clear the way for Monday's commute.
Long Island was slammed with as much as 30 inches of snow, which shut down roads, including the Long Island Expressway. A 27-mile stretch of the road was closed Sunday and but the roadway reopened Monday in time for the morning commute.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said more than a third of all the state's snow-removal equipment was sent to the area, including more than 400 plow trucks and more than 100 snowblowers, loaders and backhoes.
"The massive amount of snow left behind effectively shut down the entire region," Cuomo said.
On Sunrise Highway, which runs parallel to the Long Island Expressway, Dennis Lawrence, of Bellport, N.Y., had already spent 90 minutes digging out the car he had abandoned and had at least another 30-60 minutes to go on Sunday. He left it there Friday after getting stuck on his way home from his job in New York City.
"The car was all over the place, it just slid over and wouldn't move," the 54-year-old elevator mechanic said. "I finally decided today to come and get it."
Utility crews, some brought in from as far away as Georgia, Oklahoma and Quebec, raced to restore power. By early Monday, less than 150,000 customers still had no electricity ? down from 650,000 in eight states at the height of the storm. In hardest-hit Massachusetts, officials said some of the outages might linger until Tuesday.
Boston recorded 24.9 inches of snow, making it the fifth-largest storm in the city since records were kept. The city was appealing to the state and private contractors for more front-end loaders and other heavy equipment to clear snow piles that were clogging residential streets.
The National Weather Service was forecasting rain and warmer temperatures in the region on Monday ? which could begin melting some snow but also add considerable weight to snow already piled on roofs, posing the danger of collapse. Of greatest concern were flat or gently-sloped roofs and officials said people should try to clear them ? but only if they could do so safely.
"We don't recommend that people, unless they're young and experienced, go up on roofs," said Peter Judge, spokesman for the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency.
In Middlefield, Conn., two cows were killed when the roof of a barn gave way under the weight of heavy snow ? one of two such incidents in the state that prompted agriculture officials to issue an advisory to farmers.
Officials also continued to warn of carbon monoxide dangers in the wake of the storm.
In Boston, two people died Saturday after being overcome by carbon monoxide while sitting in running cars, including a teenager who went into the family car to stay warm while his father shoveled snow. The boy's name was not made public. In a third incident, two children were hospitalized but expected to recover. In Webster, a 60-year-old off-duty member of the Worcester Fire Department died Saturday after suffering a heart attack while clearing snow at his home.
A fire department spokesman said in each case, the tailpipes of the cars were clogged by snow.
In Maine, the Penobscot County Sheriff's office said it recovered the body of a 75-year-old man who died after the pickup he was driving struck a tree and plunged into the Penobscot River during the storm. Investigators said Gerald Crommett apparently became disoriented while driving in the blinding snow.
Christopher Mahood, 23, of Germantown, N.Y., died after his tractor went off his driveway while he was plowing snow Friday night and rolled down a 15-foot embankment.
In Massachusetts, eight teams were formed to assess damage from flooding along the state's coastline, with the hardest hit-areas including historic Plymouth and portions of Cape Cod.
"Considering the severity of the storm, the amount of snow and the wind, we've come through this pretty well," Gov. Deval Patrick told CBS's Face The Nation after meeting with local officials in Plymouth.
The U.S. Postal Service said that mail delivery that was suspended in the six New England states, as well as parts of New York and New Jersey, because of the snowstorm would resume Monday, where it is safe to do so.
__
Eltman reported from Patchogue, N.Y., and Salsberg reported from Wayland, Mass. Associated Press writers Stephen Singer in Manchester, Conn., and David Sharp in Portland, Maine, contributed to this report.
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HEARTLAND LAW BLOG: What Happens to Property at Divorce?
The disposition of property can often be a contentious issue for parties seeking a legal separation or the dissolution of a marriage. As part of the dissolution process, each party will submit documents to the court that illustrate their respective incomes and expenses, as well as a statement of non-martial and marital assets and debts. During the proceeding, the court will then, pursuant to Mo. Rev. Stat. ? 452.330, set aside each spouse?s own separate property and further divide the marital property and marital debts as it deems proper.
In general, any property owned by a spouse prior to the marriage remains that spouse?s sole and separate property. It is non-marital property. Marital property, on the other hand, is considered to be all of the property acquired by either spouse during the course of the marriage. But there are several exceptions. If a spouse receives property as a gift, or by means of inheritance, that property is not martial. Any property that is acquired in exchange for any property a spouse owned prior to the marriage is also not considered to be martial property. Property obtained after a decree of legal separation is excluded as well. Parties can further agree to exclude property by way of a valid written agreement.
Aside from the exceptions noted above, any property acquired during the marriage will be presumed to be martial property. Title alone is not enough to sway the presumption. Even if property is titled individually in one spouse?s name, it will be presumed to be martial. It is possible to overcome the presumption by showing that the property falls under one of the exceptions. In a similar vein, separate property that has been mixed, or commingled, with martial property does not necessarily become marital property.
When the court divides the marital property between parties in a dissolution or legal separation, it will take a number of relevant factors into consideration. The value of the non-marital property set aside to each spouse and the custodial arrangements made for any minor children are among such factors. The court will also weigh the desirability of awarding the family home to the party with custody of the children. In addition, the court will consider the economic circumstances of each spouse, the conduct of the parties during the marriage, and the contribution of each party in acquiring the marital property. The role of a spouse as a homemaker shall be taken into consideration when determining that spouse?s contribution.Contributions by Kelly Thompson, Law Clerk
Source: http://heartlandlaw.blogspot.com/2013/02/what-happens-to-property-at-divorce.html
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10 Things to Know for Monday
A Malian soldier takes cover behind a truck during exchanges of fire with jihadists in Gao, northern Mali, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
A Malian soldier takes cover behind a truck during exchanges of fire with jihadists in Gao, northern Mali, Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)
Taylor Swift performs on stage at the 55th annual Grammy Awards on Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013, in Los Angeles. (Photo by John Shearer/Invision/AP)
This photo provided by Jordan Holliman shows a tornado moving through Hattiesburg, Miss., Sunday, Feb. 10, 2013. Emergency officials say an apparent tornado has caused significant damage in Hattiesburg, Miss., after passing along a main road. Major damage was reported in Hattiesburg and Petal, including on the campus of the University of Southern Mississippi. (AP Photo/Jordan Holliman)
1. ISLAMIC EXTREMISTS MENACE NORTHERN MALI AGAIN
Armed with automatic rifles, they launch surprise attack on Gao two weeks after French and Malian troops ousted jihadists.
2. THE CRITICAL TRANSITION FOR NEW US COMMANDER IN AFGHANISTAN
Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford must orchestrate the withdrawal of foreign forces over next 23 months.
3. BLACK KEYS, SKRILLEX EACH TAKE 3 GRAMMYS
Taylor Swift opens the show, and Ed Sheeran and Elton John team up on Sheeran's nominated hit 'The A Team.'
4. BIG REWARD KEEPS HEAT ON FUGITIVE COP
LAPD offers $1M for information leading to the arrest of Christopher Dorner, suspected in three killings.
5. HOW OBAMA IS WIELDING EXECUTIVE POWER NOW
His campaign slogan 'Forward' is springing to life in a surge of executive actions.
6. WHAT'S IN STORE FOR THE SNOWED-IN NORTHEAST
Rain and warmer temps could add to risk that roofs might collapse.
7. STORMS SLAM HATTIESBURG, MISS.
The campus of the University of Southern Mississippi suffered significant damage.
8. RUBIO LOOKS TO FILL GOP LEADERSHIP VACUUM
Florida senator casts himself as evangelist of a modern, inclusive party that welcomes minorities.
9. US LAWMAKERS VOICE CONCERN ABOUT DRONE STRIKES
Even some of the president's allies suggest an uneasiness when the program targets Americans abroad.
10. WHY YOU'LL FIND THE YANKEES PRESIDENT AT DOG SHOW
Randy Levine, co-owner of Mitch, a 5-year-old yellow Lab, says: "He's like Derek Jeter. Very calm."
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31 dead in stampede at Hindu festival in India
ALLAHABAD, India (AP) ? The death toll from a stampede in a train station in northern India, where millions of devotees had gathered for a Hindu festival, rose to 31 on Monday, hospital officials said.
Medical superintendent Dr. P. Padmakar of the main state-run hospital said that at least 30 other pilgrims were injured in the crush at the main rail station in the city of Allahabad. Padmakar said 23 of the dead were women.
Tens of thousands of people were in the Allahabad station when a section of a footbridge there collapsed, leading to the stampede late Sunday.
Indian television stations showed large crowds pushing and jostling at the train station as policemen struggled to restore order.
"There was complete chaos. There was no doctor or ambulance for at least two hours after the accident," an eyewitness told NDTV news channel.
An estimated 30 million Hindus were expected to take a dip at the Sangam, the confluence of the Ganges, the Yamuna and the Saraswati rivers on Sunday, one of the holiest bathing days of the Kumbh Mela, or Pitcher Festival. The festival lasts 55 days and is one of the world's largest religious gatherings.
The auspicious bathing days are decided by the alignment of stars, and the most dramatic feature of the festival is the Naga sadhus ? ascetics with ash rubbed all over their bodies, wearing only marigold garlands ? leaping joyfully into the holy waters.
According to Hindu mythology, the Kumbh Mela celebrates the victory of gods over demons in a furious battle over nectar that would give them immortality. As one of the gods fled with a pitcher of the nectar across the skies, it spilled on four Indian towns: Allahabad, Nasik, Ujjain and Haridwar.
The Kumbh Mela is held four times every 12 years in those towns. Hindus believe that sins accumulated in past and current lives require them to continue the cycle of death and rebirth until they are cleansed. If they bathe at the Ganges on the most auspicious day of the festival, believers say they can rid themselves of their sins.
____
Associated Press writer Biswajeet Banerjee contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/31-dead-stampede-hindu-festival-india-031146334.html
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Sunday, February 10, 2013
Old drug may point the way to new treatments for diabetes and obesity
Feb. 10, 2013 ? Researchers at the University of Michigan's Life Sciences Institute have found that amlexanox, an off-patent drug currently prescribed for the treatment of asthma and other uses, also reverses obesity, diabetes and fatty liver in mice.
The findings from the lab of Alan Saltiel, the Mary Sue Coleman director of the Life Sciences Institute, are scheduled to be published online Feb. 10 in the journal Nature Medicine.
"One of the reasons that diets are so ineffective in producing weight loss for some people is that their bodies adjust to the reduced calories by also reducing their metabolism, so that they are 'defending' their body weight," Saltiel said. "Amlexanox seems to tweak the metabolic response to excessive calorie storage in mice."
Different formulations of amlexanox are currently prescribed to treat asthma in Japan and canker sores in the United States. Saltiel is teaming up with clinical-trial specialists at U-M to test whether amlexanox will be useful for treating obesity and diabetes in humans. He is also working with medicinal chemists at U-M to develop a new compound based on the drug that optimizes its formula.
The study appears to confirm and extend the notion that the genes IKKE and TBK1 play a crucial role for maintaining metabolic balance, a discovery published by the Saltiel lab in 2009 in the journal Cell.
"Amlexanox appears to work in mice by inhibiting two genes -- IKKE and TBK1 -- that we think together act as a sort of brake on metabolism," Saltiel said. "By releasing the brake, amlexanox seems to free the metabolic system to burn more, and possibly store less, energy."
Using high-throughput chemical screening at LSI's Center for Chemical Genomics to search for compounds that inhibit IKKE and TBK1, the researchers hit upon an approved off-patent drug: amlexanox. They then demonstrated that amlexanox had profound beneficial effects in both genetic and dietary-induced obese mice. The chemical lowered the weight of obese mice and reversed related metabolic problems such as diabetes and fatty liver.
"These studies tell us that, at least in mice, the IKKE/TBK1 pathway plays an important role in defending body weight by increasing storage and decreasing burning of calories, and that by inhibiting that pathway with a compound, we can increase metabolism and induce weight loss, reverse diabetes and reduce fatty liver," Saltiel said.
The drug has been on the market in Japan for more than 25 years.
However, the researchers don't yet know if humans respond with the same pathway, or if the discovery of amlexanox's effectiveness in mice can lead to a compound that is safe and effective for treating obesity and diabetes in humans.
"We will be working hard on that," Saltiel said.
Saltiel's search for a drug targeting the IKKE/TBK1 pathway was supported by the Life Science Institute's Innovation Partnership, which provides philanthropic funding and business mentorship to help move promising research toward commercialization.
The research was also supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Michigan Diabetes Research and Training Center, the Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research, and the Nathan Shock Center in the Basic Biology of Aging.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Michigan.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Shannon M Reilly, Shian-Huey Chiang, Stuart J Decker, Louise Chang, Maeran Uhm, Martha J Larsen, John R Rubin, Jonathan Mowers, Nicole M White, Irit Hochberg, Michael Downes, Ruth T Yu, Christopher Liddle, Ronald M Evans, Dayoung Oh, Pingping Li, Jerrold M Olefsky, Alan R Saltiel. An inhibitor of the protein kinases TBK1 and IKK-? improves obesity-related metabolic dysfunctions in mice. Nature Medicine, 2013; DOI: 10.1038/nm.3082
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/B9hZmGf5ZUs/130210143250.htm
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Saturday, February 9, 2013
Pirates announce 1-year deal with LHP Liriano
PITTSBURGH (AP) ? The Pittsburgh Pirates have completed a one-year contract with Francisco Liriano that was delayed after the left-hander injured his non-pitching arm over the holidays.
The Pirates announced the deal on Friday night and said it also includes a vesting option for the 2014 season.
Pittsburgh had agreed to a $14 million, two-year contract with Liriano in December, pending a physical. But then Liriano got hurt, putting his status with the Pirates in jeopardy.
General manager Neal Huntington would not get into specifics when he talked last month about the nature of the injury, only saying the team remained in contact with Liriano.
The 29-year-old Liriano is 53-54 with a 4.40 ERA in seven major league seasons. He went 6-12 with a 5.34 ERA in 2012 while splitting the season between the Twins and White Sox.
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Christina Applegate leaves 'Up All Night'
Gavin Bond / NBC
Christina Applegate as Reagan on "Up All Night."
By Access Hollywood
Christina Applegate is departing her NBC comedy, ?Up All Night.?
?It?s been a great experience working on ?Up All Night?, but the show has taken a different creative direction and I decided it was best for me to move on to other endeavors,? Christina said in a statement on Friday. ?Working with Lorne Michaels has been a dream come true and I am grateful he brought me into his TV family. I will miss the cast, producers and crew, and wish them the best always.??
Photos from AH: Hollywood?s Hottest Moms & Their Loveable Little Ones?
In Season 1 of the show, Christina played working mom Reagan Brinkley, who was a producer on a fictional talk show ? ?Ava? ? hosted by Maya Rudolph?s character. Season 2 changed things up with Maya?s character now a former talk show host, and Christina?s Reagan adjusting to being a stay-at-home mom.?
Photos from AH: Primetime Hunks: The Hottest Guys On Television!
The comedy also stars Will Arnett as Reagan?s husband, Chris.
NBC would not comment on the news, when contacted by Access Hollywood on Friday.?
More in The Clicker:
Source: http://theclicker.today.com/_news/2013/02/08/16902905-christina-applegate-leaves-up-all-night?lite
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Friday, February 8, 2013
Photos: Cage 'homes' highlight Hong Kong poverty
"The Bachelor" continues the second part of its two-night event on Tuesday at 9 PM ET/PT, and Sean Lowe hinted contestant Tierra, who has provided no shortage of drama when she's with the women, might be sticking around on the show a little while longer.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/photos/cage-homes-highlight-hong-kong-s-poverty-slideshow/
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Obama picks outdoor retail exec to lead Interior
President Barack Obama listens as his Interior Secretary nominee, REI Chief Executive Officer Sally Jewell speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
President Barack Obama listens as his Interior Secretary nominee, REI Chief Executive Officer Sally Jewell speaks in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington, Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
President Barack Obama points towards REI CEO Sally Jewell as he announces that he is nominating her as the next interior secretary replacing outgoing Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
President Barack Obama and his Interior Secretary nominee REI Chief Executive Officer Sally Jewell, center, applaud outgoing Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
President Barack Obama and his Interior Secretary nominee, REI Chief Executive Officer Sally Jewell, center, applaud outgoing Interior Secretary Ken Salazar , Wednesday, Feb. 6, 2013, in the State Dining Room of the White House in Washington where the president made the annoncement. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama's choice for interior secretary is a lifelong outdoors enthusiast who likes to bike, ski and climb mountains.
As president and chief executive at Recreational Equipment Inc., Sally Jewell has applied her passion to her job, helping push REI to nearly $2 billion in annual revenues and a place on Fortune Magazine's list of "Best Places to Work."
Now Obama hopes to take advantage of Jewell's love for the outdoors and her business sense as she takes over at Interior, the federal department responsible for national parks and other public lands.
In announcing the nomination, Obama said Jewell has earned national recognition for her environmental stewardship at REI, which sells clothing and gear for outdoor enthusiasts. He also noted her experience as an engineer in oil fields and her fondness for mountain climbing.
The toughest part of Jewell's new job "will probably be sitting behind a desk," Obama said.
At a White House ceremony Wednesday, Obama said Jewell "knows the link between conservation and good jobs. She knows that there's no contradiction between being good stewards of the land and our economic progress ? that, in fact, those two things need to go hand in hand."
At REI, Jewell "has shown that a company with more than $1 billion in sales can do the right thing for our planet," Obama said. Last year, REI donated nearly $4 million to protect trails and parks, and 20 percent of the electricity used in the company's stores comes from renewable sources.
If confirmed by the Senate, Jewell, 56, would replace current Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, who has announced he will step down in March.
Jewell said she was "humbled and energized" at the prospect of leading Interior, which manages more than 500 million acres in national parks and other public lands, as well as more than 1 billion acres offshore. The department oversees energy, mining operations and recreation and provides services to 566 federally recognized Indian tribes.
"I have a great job at REI today, but there's no role that compares to the call to serve my country as secretary of the Department of Interior," she said.
Jewell was born in England but moved to the Seattle area before age 4. She has led Kent, Wash.-based REI since 2005. She served as chief operating officer for five years before taking the top job and worked for nearly two decades in commercial banking before that. She also has worked as an engineer for Mobil Oil Corp.
Jewell emerged as a frontrunner for the Interior post in recent days, edging out better-known Democrats such as former Washington Gov. Chris Gregoire and former Colorado Gov. Bill Ritter. The Interior job traditionally has gone to politicians from Western states. Salazar was a Colorado senator before taking over at Interior in 2009.
Jewell donated $5,000 to Obama's re-election effort and has supported other Democrats, campaign finance records show.
Jewell is the first woman Obama has nominated for his second-term Cabinet and a prominent representative from the business community, addressing two criticisms Obama has faced.
While relatively unknown in political circles, Jewell is no stranger to the White House. In 2011, she introduced Obama at a White House conference on the "America's Great Outdoors" initiative, noting that the $289 billion outdoor-recreation industry supports 6.5 million jobs. She also appeared at a 2009 White House event on health care.
Jewell, who won the Audubon Society's 2009 Rachel Carson Award for Environmental Conservation, was hailed by environmental and business groups alike.
Sierra Club executive director Michael Brune called her a champion in the effort to connect children with nature and said she has "a demonstrated commitment to preserving the higher purposes public lands hold for all Americans ? recreation, adventure, and enjoyment."
Tim Wigley, president of the Western Energy Alliance, which represents the oil and natural gas industry, said Jewell's experience as a petroleum engineer and business leader "will bring a unique perspective to an office that is key to our nation's energy portfolio."
Jewell, who is married with two grown children, was paid more than $2 million as REI's CEO in 2011. She contributed $5,000 to the Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee set up by Obama and the Democratic Party, according to federal election records. She has contributed to numerous Democrats in her home state, including Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, as well as Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., and both of Alaska's senators, Democrat Mark Begich and Republican Lisa Murkowski.
Cantwell, Udall and Murkowski all serve on the Senate energy panel, which will consider Jewell's nomination.
Jewell also was on the board of directors of Avista Corp., a Spokane-based power utility, from 1997 through 2003. U.S. Securities and Exchange documents show that in her last full year as an Avista board member, Jewell held more than 15,600 shares in the utility and received $50,000 in director's fees.
In 2004, federal prosecutors charged that Avista played a role in a 2000 deal that allowed then-energy giant Enron to sell a $3 million turbine to the northwest utility firm. Prosecutors did not criminally charge Avista, but said the utility agreed to buy the turbine before a larger deal was completed ? a move that aided Enron in hiding the turbine deal from its auditors.
Avista was not criminally charged in the Enron indictment and none of the utility's officials, including Jewell, were cited in the charges.
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Associated Press writers Jack Gillum and Stephen Braun in Washington and Rachel La Corte in Olympia, Wash., contributed to this report.
___
Follow Matthew Daly on Twitter: https://twitter.com/MatthewDalyWDC
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