Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/261637986?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Saturday, November 10, 2012
Friday, November 9, 2012
Lakers fire coach Mike Brown after 1-4 start
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? The Los Angeles Lakers fired coach Mike Brown on Friday after a 1-4 start to his second season in charge.
Lakers general manager Mitch Kupchak announced the surprising move several hours before they hosted Golden State. Assistant coach Bernie Bickerstaff will coach the Lakers against the Warriors while the club's top brass searches for Brown's replacement after just 18 months in charge.
"The bottom line is that the team is not winning at the pace we expected this team to win, and we didn't see improvement," Kupchak said at the Lakers' training complex in El Segundo.
Los Angeles began the season with championship expectations after trading for center Dwight Howard and point guard Steve Nash, adding two superstars alongside Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol. But the Lakers went 0-8 during the preseason last month for the first time in franchise history before stumbling into the regular season with an 0-3 start, losing to Dallas, Portland and the Clippers.
After finally beating Detroit last Sunday for their first win, the Lakers looked listless again in a loss at Utah on Wednesday, dropping to last place in the Western Conference. Los Angeles' defense has been largely poor, and the players still haven't figured out the new offense installed by Brown during training camp.
Combined with their aging core of talent and a massive payroll, Kupchak and owners Jim and Jerry Buss decided they couldn't wait another game to start winning. Brown was dismissed in a morning meeting.
"We're not looking five or 10 years down the road," Kupchak said. "This team was built to contend this year. There's no guarantee that this team can win a championship, but we feel that it can be deeply in the hunt. We're also aware that our players ... are getting older, so our feeling is that we can contend at this level for another couple of years."
Brown was hired in May 2011 to replace 11-time NBA champion Phil Jackson, signing a four-year deal worth roughly $18 million in May 2011. Kupchak said the eight-figure payout they'll have to make on Brown's contract wasn't a factor in their decision.
"It's a pretty direct message to all of us," Gasol said while leaving the Lakers' shootaround Friday morning in El Segundo. "There's no messing around. It's time for all of us to step it up."
In a brief news conference, Kupchak did nothing to squelch speculation that Jackson could return for a third tenure with the Lakers. The 67-year-old Jackson walked away from the club in 2011 with few apparent hard feelings, and his health has markedly improved during his time away from the NBA.
Kupchak said he hasn't reached out to any candidates for the job, but thinks it's likely the Lakers will hire an experienced coach who isn't currently working. Kupchak said he hasn't talked to Jackson, but Jim Buss' sister, Lakers executive Jeanie Buss, is Jackson's longtime girlfriend.
"When there's a coach like Phil Jackson, one of the all-time greats, and he's not coaching, I think you would be negligent not to know that he's out there," Kupchak said.
While Lakers fans had reacted with their usual panic whenever the 16-time NBA champions lose a few games in a row, Kupchak and Buss publicly appeared to stand firmly behind Brown, the longtime Cleveland Cavaliers coach. Brown had pleaded for patience with his integration of several new players into his lineup while everybody learned the new offense.
"I have great respect for the Buss family and the Lakers' storied tradition, and I thank them for the opportunity they afforded me," Brown said in a statement issued by the Lakers. "I have a deep appreciation for the coaches and players that I worked with this past year, and I wish the organization nothing but success as they move forward."
Brown's players all were fully behind him in public, with Bryant vocally suggesting critics of the Lakers' new offense should give them time to get it working. Bryant missed a significant portion of training camp while dealing with minor injuries, and Nash has a small fracture in his leg that has kept him out of the lineup since the Lakers' second game. Nash could be sidelined into December.
Yet the Lakers had given no indication they might pull one of the earliest coaching changes in NBA history until Kupchak gathered the players Friday morning to inform them of the decision.
"He told us the decision was made," Gasol said. "We didn't have a good start, and this is a team that was built to win. That's what we're all here to do."
Along with the usual urgency accompanying any Lakers season, Howard is under contract for just one more season before the six-time All-Star center can become a free agent. The Lakers' core players around Howard are all over 30, and the 38-year-old Nash barely made his debut before getting sidelined.
Los Angeles went 41-25 and reached the second round of the playoffs last season in Brown's debut, losing to Oklahoma City. Brown received criticism even for that largely successful season, with Magic Johnson predicting Brown would be fired if the Lakers lost to Denver in the first round.
Brown implemented a new offensive scheme this fall that didn't appear to suit his players' talents, yet the Lakers also played spotty defense, Brown's specialty. The Princeton-based offense received ridicule, but Bryant and his teammates largely defended the motion scheme, saying they needed time to implement it.
"I don't think we lost faith at any moment," Gasol said. "I think we all believed in what we were trying to do. We also understood it was going to take a little bit of time to do things the way they should have been done. As far as our game, it wasn't happening as fast as we all wanted it to."
Brown is a prot?g? of San Antonio coach Gregg Popovich. He led Cleveland to the 2007 NBA finals and went 272-138 with the Cavaliers, becoming the most successful coach in franchise history while compiling the league's best regular-season record in each of his last two seasons.
The 68-year-old Bickerstaff joined Brown's coaching staff in September. He was a head coach in Charlotte, Seattle, Denver and Washington, going 415-517.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lakers-fire-coach-mike-brown-1-4-start-194705220--spt.html
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Sunday, November 4, 2012
RBS Q3 earnings hit by insurance provision
LONDON (AP) ? Part-nationalized Royal Bank of Scotland posted a third-quarter loss as it boosted its provision for compensating customers who bought payment protection insurance and took a hefty charge related to its debt.
The company, 82 percent owned by British taxpayers, set aside another 400 million pounds ($644 million) Friday to compensate customers who were mis-sold insurance, raising the total provision to 1.7 billion pounds.
An accounting charge of 1.5 billion pounds on the value of the bank's own debt knocked the bottom line too, while a year ago the result was flattered by an even larger gain on the value of own debt. The charge is an estimate of the gain or loss the bank would realize if it bought back its debt.
As a result, RBS reported a loss of 1.4 billion pounds ($2.2 billion) for the July-September quarter, compared to a profit of 1.2 billion pounds a year earlier.
Accounting rules though obscured the underlying trend. Group operating profit of 1.05 billion pounds was up from 2 million pounds a year ago, and income rose 6 percent to 6.4 billion.
"Underlying performance has already improved enough to be generally comparable to peers," said Chief Executive Stephen Hester.
RBS shares opened 2.1 percent higher at 293.2 pence in London.
"There is no doubting the immensity of the task RBS has faced in executing its turnaround plan, nor indeed the progress made so far," said Richard Hunter, head of equities at Hargreaves Lansdown.
The bank though which was at the heart of Britain's banking crisis of 2008 and eventually bailed out, still has a way to go.
Hester said the bank is in the later stages of a five-year restructuring plan but that there is more to do, "including an emphasis on dealing with reputational issues now that the Bank's safety and soundness has advanced so well."
Investec analyst Ian Gordon said he foresaw trouble ahead for RBS, including its possible involvement in the LIBOR-fixing scandal and the sale of interest rate swaps to borrowers.
During the quarter, RBS completed the flotation of 35 percent of its Direct Line insurance unit. The European Commission has ordered RBS to dispose of its entire interest in Direct Line by the end of 2014 as a condition for taking bailout money.
RBS is still looking for a buyer for 316 branches, another EU condition, after Santander backed out of a deal last month.
The payment insurance scandal has hit other big British banks. Part-nationalized Lloyds Banking Group raised its total provision by 1 billion pounds to 5.3 billion pounds on Thursday, and Barclays earlier boosted its provision by 700 million pounds to 2 billion pounds.
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Saturday, November 3, 2012
Panforte, a Nougat - like Cake Dessert, have a Sweet Weekend! at ...
Panforte?is a nougat - like cake, rich in nuts and fruit. It is a speciality of Siena in Italy. Visit this beautiful country and you?ll find hundreds of variations of this Christmas-feeling sweet treat.
My favorite after dinner ritual is one that my family and I gathered together around fireplace with this very special dessert, coffee and brandy. Have a safe, warm and very sweet weekend!
Note: if you can't find rice paper, use aluminum fool brushed lightly with oil.
Ingredients:
- 2 cups (250 g, 8 oz) walnuts or hazelnuts
- 2 cups (250 g, 8 oz) blanched whole almonds
- 1 cup (125 g, 4 oz) dried apricots, diced
- 1 1/2 cups (250 g, 8 oz) dried figs, diced
- 1 cup (125 g, 4 oz) glade (candied) pears or apples, chopped
- 3/4 cup (125 g, 4 oz) raisins
- 3/4 cup (125 g, 4 oz) diced candied orange peel
- 2 cups plain, all-purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp nutmeg
- 3/4 cup (300 ml, 10 fl oz) honey
- 1 1/2 cups (300 ml, 10 oz) caster (superfine) sugar
- 6 Tbsp. (3 oz) butter
- rice paper
Directions:
Roast the nuts in a moderate oven ?350F (180C) until golden. Allow to cool, then (if you using hazelnuts) rub the skins off the hazelnuts and put into a bowl with chopped fruits, flour and spices. Combine well.
Put the honey, butter and sugar into saucepan and bring to the boil until it reaches the soft ball stage?
240F (116C). To determine soft ball stage - drop a small quantity of the honey mixture into a glass of iced water. If it forms a ball which flattens but does not disintegrate between your fingers, it has reached soft ball stage.Pour the honey mixture over the fruits and nuts and stir well to combine. It will be very sticky and you may need to use your hands.
Heat the oven to 300F (150C). Line 12 x 9 1/2 x 1 inch baking tray with rice paper and press the mixture into tray. Flatten the top. If you dip your hand in milk, this will help. Put another layer of rice paper over the top, pressing down well, and place in the oven. Cook for 45 minutes. Turn out to cool and cut into squares or large rectangles. Store in airtight containers it in a cool, dry place for up to 3 weeks.
Source: http://www.melangery.com/2012/11/panforte-nougat-like-cake-dessert-have.html
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How Amazon Exploits Small Online Retailers
Small business owner Teri Noboa sold with Amazon for a short time in order to bring exposure to her shop, Childhood Way Boutique, a clothing store for kids with holiday fashions and gifts for baby showers. But that decision came with an unexpected price tag.
Two years after moving her shop to its own website, an empty Amazon storefront still cuts into her sales. Since Amazon has better search engine optimization (SEO) than the tiny Childhood Way Boutique, Noboa has some hefty competition ? with her own products.
Noboa, who has spoken out against Amazon on her blog, explains the problem?
Childhood Way Boutique sells a baby product called the Fabien Red Snake Diaper Bag. If you?re looking to buy this bag, you might Google ?Fabien Red Snake Diaper Bag.? Since Amazon has better SEO, its version of her bag shows up as the first result. While the Amazon version of the bag lists Childhood Way Boutique as the seller, that?s not actually true. If you buy the bag there, it comes from one of Noboa?s competitors, losing her another sale.
?Our store has been closed with them for two years now and if you google the name of my boutique Amazon links appear,? she said. ?We have sold on Sears, eBay, and others, and if we ask them to close the merchant account, the links disappear from Google. So why not Amazon??
She has a compelling theory: ?They use your name to lure people into buying from them.?
For more than a decade, Amazon has carved out a niche for itself as the online shopping network for every niche: The arrow in the logo is supposed to imply that you can buy anything at Amazon from A to Z. Since making everything available would be an impossible task even for the retail giant, Amazon has a Pro Merchant program for small businesses.
In return for padding the enormous marketplace with even more wares, sellers get to ride the coattails of Amazon?s SEO. While the relationship seems symbiotic, the trouble occurs when sellers attempt to leave Amazon. When that happens, for whatever reason, Pro Merchants? empty storefronts remain open.
So while their products are no longer available, they continue to be searchable. Amazon lists such items as ?currently unavailable,? as if they could be back in stock any minute.
A search on Amazon for ?We don?t know when or if this item will be back in stock.? shows hundreds of thousands of products.
This is what happened to Richard Sexton, president and founder of online furniture store Carolina Rustica. Sexton told Internet Retailer he stopped selling on Amazon because he couldn?t control the way his products appeared on the site.
Now, however, Sexton has to compete with the ghost of his own Amazon storefront. Due to the online retailer?s SEO dominance, a Google search for any Carolina Rustica product, like this Iron Artistica Scroll Rack, leads with Amazon as the first two results.
Shoppers who click on one of the first two links likely assume the rack isn?t in stock at Carolina Rustica ? inspiring potential patrons to potentially browse or purchase a product from one of Sexton?s competitors on Amazon.
Noboa and Sexton aren?t the only small business owners struggling with this issue.
Dani, a jewelry seller who runs 47stcloseouts.com and asked that we not use his last name, stopped selling on Amazon about two years ago due to ?disputes about product shipping.? Not only is his empty storefront still active, but all of his products, like this blue diamond ring, still appear in Amazon?s search, despite being listed as ?unavailable.?
The painful irony, of course, is that the ring is readily available ? just not from Amazon. Yet, Amazon?s ?unavailable? listing is the first result in a Google search for the product (Dani is number three), leading potential customers to believe its out of stock and to take their business elsewhere. Dani said he was shocked to learn Amazon had never taken it down.
?I?ve heard about many others, not just jewelers, where Amazon bans them from selling on the site and still keeps their products up as ?not available,?? he told the Daily Dot. ?They?re getting customers with our products, not linking to the available products on our sites, and then selling them Amazon products.?
According to one former seller, Amazon may be physically unable to remove pulled items. A seller who spoke to the Daily Dot anonymously told us that her former presence on Amazon hurt her current business significantly. She shared emails with us between herself and Amazon customer support, one in which an employee agreed to remove her images and another in which a second employee said Amazon?s Content Management System wasn?t able to do so.
?I had almost a thousand products on Amazon,? she said.
?They?re still there, images and all. It?s right there in black and white. Amazon will not remove the products. They have no code for it? You don?t need code to remove anything. You simply delete. What happened when the pedophile on Amazon was selling his how-to book? Amazon removed it fast.?
Amazon did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Jeremy Bencken, an SEO expert, told us that former Amazon sellers do have tools at their disposal ? if they were smart enough not to forfeit copyright on their images and descriptions. Even if Amazon will not take the pages down from their CMS, affected sellers could make a case to Google to remove the items from searches.
?[W]ithout that content, all you have are pages with keywords and no content,? he said. ?At that point, you might be able to report the pages to Google as being misleading since the product isn?t actually available and there?s no content.?
What Bencken didn?t know, however, is that Amazon sellers forfeit that copyright as soon as they sign up. According to Amazon?s Participation Agreement ? a binding, 15,000-word contract ? sellers give Amazon the ability to exploit their images and descriptions in any manner the company likes:
?You grant us a royalty-free, non-exclusive, worldwide, perpetual, irrevocable right and license to use, reproduce, perform, display, distribute, adapt, modify, re-format, create derivative works of, and otherwise commercially or non-commercially exploit in any manner, any and all of Your Materials, and to sublicense the foregoing rights to our affiliates and operators of Amazon Associated Properties.?
The agreement does add, however, that Amazon will ?will comply with your removal requests as to specific uses of Your Trademarks,? though not with removal requests that do not include a trademark, like product shots that don?t have watermarks.
You could argue sellers ought to read Amazon?s agreement more clearly, but that?s just adding insult to injury. Even when sellers like Dani and Noboa show up just a few spaces below Amazon in a Google search, they face harsh consequences. Bencken explains:
?There have been several studies that try to quantify the difference between a #3 and #2 ranking,? Benchken explained. ?If Amazon ranks #1 for my name, and I rank #2, then Amazon is getting 3X more traffic than more. Of course, this might not be true for branded searches, but as a broad average, it?s a good guide.?
Bencken recommends sellers combat Amazon?s search engine optimization by doing some optimization of their own. He suggests that sellers link back and forth with other sellers online to strengthen their reputations, shorten their URLs, and most importantly, register their own domains.
?I?d pretty much guarantee that if Childhood Way made the following changes, they would outrank Amazon,? Bencken said.
Amazon may have the advantage, but it won?t be impossible for sellers like Noboa to return to their pre-Amazon sales counts. The question that remains, though, is why they should have to work so hard to get back to that point at all.
Source: http://mashable.com/2012/11/02/amazon-exploits-small-retailers/
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Air Force Academy ritual turns into 'brawl'
By NBC News staff and wire services
DENVER?-- Nearly 30 Air Force Academy cadets required medical care, with six of them hospitalized, after an annual tradition to mark the first snowfall of the season turned into an out-of-control melee, officials said Wednesday.
An unauthorized ritual last week called "First Shirt/First Snow," in which freshman cadets try to throw their cadet sergeant into a snowbank, grew violent and resulted in injuries, the academy said in a statement.
"A relatively small number of cadets chose to take part in this unsafe activity," Brig. Gen. Gregory Lengyel said in the statement. "This incident was unacceptable."
The six cadets who required hospitalization after last Thursday's incident have all been released, and the 21 others were treated for "bruises and/or lacerations" at the academy's cadet clinic, the school said.
Lengyel, who serves as the commandant of cadets, said school officials are investigating the incident. "Our Air Force expects better. I expect better, and I'm confident the cadets will learn and grow from this."
An internal email about the incident obtained by the Air Force Times newspaper, reportedly written by Brig. Gen. Dana Born to school administrators, said the annual ritual "has turned into a brawl" between freshmen and upperclassmen.
"This ritual has devolved to become increasingly violent, with significant numbers of cadets requiring medical care over the past two years," The Times cited the email as saying, adding that the latest injuries included concussions, an arm bite and cuts that required stitches.
More news from Colorado on NBC affiliate 9News.com in Denver
?Obviously, this has gotten out of hand and cannot be repeated,? Born wrote. ?There is no way we can condone or defend this.?
The Times said the internal memo indicated Lengyel might allow the tradition to continue if cadets can show it can be conducted with "good order and discipline and proper risk management."
Located in Colorado Springs, 60 miles south of Denver, the academy has an enrollment of about 4,100 cadets, and graduates are commissioned second lieutenants in the U.S. Air Force.
The reported incident is a fresh blow to the reputation of the Air Force, which has dealt with a number of scandals in recent years.
More coverage?of the US military on NBCNews.com
In 2003, the academy was accused of failing to investigate numerous incidents of sexual assaults on the campus.
In 2005, an Air Force panel concluded that officers and faculty members periodically used their positions to promote their Christian faith and failed to accommodate the religious needs of non-Christian cadets.
The academy has also been hit with several cheating and drug-use incidents in recent years, according to the Colorado Springs Independent.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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iPad Mini Opening Weekend Sales Estimate - Business Insider
Screenshot ? |
Apple sold 3 million third-generation iPads during its opening weekend earlier this year.
Munster is comparatively small sales for the iPad mini because it will only be available as a wifi model. Also, it's a new size iPad, which consumers might not be ready for just yet.
And now, a word of caution.
When the iPhone 5 went on sale, Munster called for 6 million phones sold over opening weekend at the very least. Apple only sold 5 million. He predicted 1 million third generation iPads sold, Apple sold 3 million. He called for 600-700,000 first generation iPads sold opening weekend, Apple did 300,000.
Munster's forecasts have not been on point all the time. But, he's setting expectations for what investors should look for from Apple, so it's good to be aware of the number.
Here's the explanation from his note:
We believe Apple could sell 1-1.5 million iPad Minis this weekend, which compares with 3 million 3rd Gen iPads sold in its launch weekend in March. Our estimate includes pre-ordered devices. We note that the iPad Mini will launch in 34 countries compared to 10 for the 3rd Gen iPad, but the 3rd Gen iPad launch included LTE versions of the device, while the Mini launch will not. The reason we expect fewer iPad Minis compared to the 3rd Gen is because of the lack of the wireless option and newness of the smaller form factor for consumers, with smaller sized tablets accounting for about 20-25% of overall market units. We believe that over time that will change, and consumers will gradually realize the benefits of the smaller form factor iPad, which will drive adoption, although it may not take form in lines for tomorrow's launch.
Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/ipad-mini-opening-weekend-sales-estimate-2012-11
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Former Tumblr President John Maloney Joins Storenvy Board
After a brief hiatus from any official tech role, former Tumblr president John Maloney will be joining the board of custom store platform Storenvy this week. A combination of a custom storefront builder and an eCommerce discovery platform like Wanelo or TheFancy, Storenvy allows sellers to build their own custom marketplaces and scale those marketplaces as part of the Storenvy network, like this?and this.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/PHmhoRHqW30/
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Friday, November 2, 2012
'Oz: The Great And Powerful' Reveals Wicked New Art
Some new art from "Oz: The Great and Powerful" debuted online today, giving us our first full look at the Wicked Witch of the West. Also, "Stay away from my mommy, you bitch" in today's Dailies! » A round-up of primetime TV's funniest Halloween costumes. [Parade] » A promo poster for Joss Whedon's "Much Ado [...]
Source: http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2012/10/31/oz-the-great-and-powerful-wicked/
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{Review} Magic Mike Blu-Ray Combo Pack --- More fun then in the ...
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Thursday, November 1, 2012
U.S. seeks patriotic computer geeks for help in cyber crisis
BOSTON (Reuters) - The Department of Homeland Security is considering setting up a "Cyber Reserve" of computer security experts who could be called upon in the event of a crippling cyber attack.
The idea came from a task force the agency set up to address what has long been a weak spot - recruiting and retaining skilled cyber professionals who feel they can get better jobs and earn higher salaries, in the private sector.
"The status quo is not acceptable," DHS Deputy Secretary Jane Holl Lute told Reuters in a recent interview. "We are not standing around. There is a lot to do in cyber security."
Lute said she hopes to have a working model for a Cyber Reserve within a year, with the first members drawn from retired government employees now working for private companies. The reserve corps might later look to experts outside of government.
The United States has become increasingly vocal about the need to beef up cyber defenses as Iranian hackers have repeatedly attacked the nation's three biggest banks over the past year, raising the stakes in a long-running battle to protect private companies from digital attacks.
The detonation of a cyber "time bomb" at Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil company in August caused unprecedented damage at a private company, pulling 30,000 PCs out of service and raising concerns that similar attacks could occur in the United States.
Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on October 11 that the country faces a potential "cyber Pearl Harbor" and that foreign groups have gained access to computer systems that control critical U.S. infrastructure, such as chemical, electricity and water plants.
The Department of Homeland Security has had trouble attracting and retaining top cyber talent since it was created after 9/11 in a massive merger of 22 agencies in 2002. In its early days, the DHS farmed out cyber work to contractors so it could quickly get systems running to improve national security.
As a result, the agency tends to award the most coveted cyber jobs to outside contractors. Those positions include forensics investigators, posts on "flyaway teams" that probe suspected cyber attacks and intelligence liaisons.
"It's not the money that makes people go to the contractors. It's the cool jobs," said Alan Paller, co-chair of the DHS task force. "People want the excitement."
The task force advised the DHS to give more exciting cyber work to government workers to help with retention.
NSA VS DHS
Over the past decade, only 3 percent of students who won scholarships through a prestigious government-funded program known as CyberCorps have taken jobs with DHS. In contrast, nearly a third chose the National Security Agency, according to the task force.
Tony Sager, a task force member and former NSA senior official, said the military intelligence agency has a strong "brand" that opens doors for recruiters.
"DHS doesn't have that sense of 'Wow,'" he said. "There are plenty of cool jobs at DHS. The job is identifying them."
The NSA has spent decades building cachet with university students through on-campus programs and, more recently, with children through cartoon puzzles on the Web. Once people join the NSA, they typically stay for a long time, said Sager, who retired this year after 34 years at the agency.
The DHS task force recommended it set up two-year cyber programs at community colleges to train large numbers of people and encourage military veterans to participate. Lute said the first of those programs could start next year.
Jeff Moss, who co-chairs the task force, said the community college programs would produce more graduates than needed, but the question is how many of them would want to work for DHS.
"Hopefully we'll get our fair share," said Moss, who founded the Def Con hacking convention 20 years ago during a summer break before he started law school.
The DHS may need to boost salaries as well. One former agency official who left government for a job with a private company said that some staff quit DHS jobs, then were immediately returned as employees for outside contractors.
"On Friday they are a government employee working making $80,000 a year. On Monday they are a contractor at the same desk and the government is paying them roughly $150,000," he said.
(Reporting By Jim Finkle; Editing by Tiffany Wu and Andre Grenon)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/u-seeks-patriotic-computer-geeks-help-cyber-crisis-165536164.html
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Wednesday, October 31, 2012
iPad Mini reviewers agree: It's a mini iPad
16 hrs.
Apple's iPad Mini will be available for purchase this Friday, and the first batch of reviews has hit the Internet. They seem to agree on a few points: It's built?like an iPad, the screen is a step down, and it's the most hold-able tablet yet.
Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal says, "You can think of it either as a low-cost, compact cousin of the full-sized iPad, or a costlier, larger-screen alternative to the 7-inch models." And indeed, whether the iPad Mini is a luxury or a?bargain depends on what you're considering as alternatives.
The competition at the $200 level is formidable: Google's Nexus 7, Amazon's Kindle Fire, and Barnes & Noble's Nook HD. All offer higher-resolution screens and similarly small form factors. Yet the iPad mini costs $129 more to start. What does it have that the others don't?
According to pretty much every reviewer: The look and feel. "If the iPhone 5 is reminiscent of jewelry, the iPad mini is like a solidly made watch," says The Verge. "When you hold it, it almost feels like you?re just holding a sheet of glass," says TechCrunch. "If there were an industry award for Tablet You Can Most Easily Envision Holding For Extended Periods of Time, the Mini would be a runaway winner," says Time's TechLand. And Fox News gives perhaps the best compliment of all: "When I picked it up, I was reminded of the first time I held a first-generation iPhone."
Clearly, the fit and finish?of the device is superior ? which should probably be expected from something that costs half again as much as the devices it's being compared to.
And then there's the fact that it runs a ton of iPad apps out of the box ? a big selling point for people who don't want to worry about such things when migrating to a new device. "Nearly every larger iPad app I've thrown at it feels usable and comfortable at this smaller screen size," CNET assures us. And the famous iPad battery life is intact, too: Engadget's tests put it at 12 hours and 43 minutes, the best out of all the tablets they've measured.
One thing every reviewer acknowledges but for which?no one seemed inclined?to ding Apple is the screen. The 1024x768 resolution is the same as the original iPad's, yet not only do the iPad Mini's cheaper competitors now?have higher-res?screens, but many smartphones do as well! Reviewers seem to let Apple off the hook by saying that since the screen is smaller, those pixels are packed more closely together than on the iPad 2 or original model.
"Nobody's going to complain about the sharpness," suggests David Pogue at?the New?York Times, but that's probably?not true. Millions have grown accustomed to the sharp displays since the iPhone 4 debuted in 2010, and the iPad Mini's big brother was a huge hit specifically because of the "sharpness" of the Retina display. And while reviewers rightly?praise the Mini's larger 7.9-in. screen in comparison to its 7-in. competition, what they're saying about screen real estate isn't strictly true.
Apple's tablet may have more square inches, but the 1440x900 pixel display of the Nook HD, though smaller physically, can display more words, more clearly ? and the same is true to a lesser extent of other 7" tablets.?
Giving Apple a pass on the screen is a bit questionable, but in fairness to the iPad Mini, its screen is technically more sharp than the?iPad 2's, and by all accounts, this miniaturized iPad is excellent in everything but resolution.
Should you buy it? Screen gripes aside, the sturdy, pretty iPad mini definitely allows you do do a few new things: read one-handed, for instance. Being small and light also makes it a good choice for kids.?
To?really know whether it's worth it, though, it might be a good idea to see the iPad Mini with your own eyes. Of course, once you pick one up, as the reviewers note, you may find it hard to put down ??regardless of your reservations.
If you choose to fight the urge, though, no one will blame you. Given Apple's typical pace in improving its devices,?it seems likely that we'll see a Retina-display Mini by this time next year, if not sooner ? and maybe at a more competitive price.
Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC?News Digital. His personal website is?coldewey.cc.
Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/gadgetbox/ipad-mini-reviewers-agree-its-mini-ipad-1C6767938
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Stranded by Sandy, air travelers eager to change status
9 hrs.
Stuck. Stranded. In limbo. Whatever you call it, weary fliers grounded by Hurricane Sandy were eager to change their status on Tuesday as airlines and airports began assessing damage from the powerful?storm.
On Tuesday, all New York City-area airports were closed, including John F. Kennedy International, Newark Liberty International, LaGuardia and Teterboro. JFK International will be reopened Wednesday, but LaGuardia will stay closed "due to extensive damage," said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo during a news conference.
Carriers have canceled?18,000 flights since Sunday, and that number is still expected to grow, according to FlightAware.com.
With no way of getting out of or into the Big Apple and other parts of the East Coast by air, there?s a huge backlog of fliers around the country and the world with nowhere to go.
Some travelers spent the night on cots set up at airports including Newark Liberty, Boston Logan International and Chicago O?Hare International. Others snapped up hotel rooms -- hotel bookings are up 15 percent in New York City and 68 percent in Washington compared to last week, according to data provided by Orbitz.
The question now: When will airline schedules get back to normal?
"A lot of it depends on what kind of damage they assess at the New York metro airports and when those reopen," said Jeanenne Tornatore, senior editor at Orbitz.
"Should flights, for example, start going back out tomorrow on a limited basis, we don't anticipate flight schedules really getting back to normal until late this weekend, early next week," she said.
Related:?Sandy leaves NYC subway system, infrastructure, licking its wounds
There's already a big backlog of travelers who canceled their flights before the storm so there won't be a lot of seats to rebook displaced fliers on, Tornatore noted.
For stranded?travelers, there's nothing to do but wait.?
Claire Conroy, who lives south of Boston, is stuck on the West Coast until Thursday.?Conroy?flew out to San Diego, Calif., with her mother and sister last week to celebrate her niece?s first birthday. When they realized over the weekend that they might have trouble returning Monday as planned, they spent 35 minutes on hold with JetBlue to rebook for a flight on Sunday afternoon. But it was too late.
?When we got to the counter, the flight was still listed as on time but was in fact canceled. The soonest flight we could get on was Thursday afternoon. Even then, only two of us are on that flight -- my sister will be (flying) Friday. That?s how fast the seats were filling,? Conroy said.
Slideshow:?Hurricane Sandy's aftermath
Nicole Abramowski -- who grew up on Long Island and now lives in Berlin, Germany -- was flying home to New York for the first time in over a year to visit friends and family when she got stuck. She made it as far as London, where she was supposed to catch an American Airlines flight to JFK International on Sunday but it was canceled right before the gate opened.
The carrier booked Abramowski on a Thursday flight and put her up in a hotel, but later found out only two nights of her stay are covered and she has to pay for?the rest of her accommodations herself.
?Hotel rooms here are 150-200 pounds a night, which is a whole month?s rent for me in Berlin on my salary and completely unaffordable,? Abramowski said, pointing out that she is stuck in one of the most expensive cities in the world.
?After an hour on the phone and taking a bus back to the airport to speak with them in person, they tell me it's not their responsibility, ?We didn't even have to book you into a hotel for those two nights.??
Her whole hotel is filled with people trying to get to New York, Abramowski said.
?I feel bad for everyone having to deal with this. We have bad timing,? she added.
American Airlines has suspended operations until Wednesday at nine airports in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast, including Ronald Reagan Washington National, Dulles International, Baltimore/Washington International, Norfolk International, Philadelphia International, Newark Liberty International, John F. Kennedy International, LaGuardia and Bradley International.
US Airways has similar closures, plus cancellations at airports in Maine, Vermont, Connecticut and Rhode Island.
Delta Air Lines is resuming flying at Boston Logan and the major Washington-area airports on Tuesday, but its operations continue to be shut down in New York.?
United plans to resume inbound flights in the Big Apple on Wednesday. The airline warned that it is experiencing extremely high call volume due to the storm.
JetBlue posted a photo of its planes waiting out Sandy in Puerto Rico and asked passengers for patience.
?We will be ready to start operations as soon as Wednesday morning if the airports and public transportation are open, but we expect it will take much longer to get back to business as usual,? the airline said on its blog.
Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/travelers-around-world-stranded-sandy-1C6761186
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Monday, October 29, 2012
Falcons crush Eagles in battle of the birds
Atlanta goes 7-0 with 30-17 victory over Philadelphia, which falls under .500
APFalcons outside linebacker Sean Weatherspoon exults during the second half against the Eagles on Sunday in Philadelphia.
By ROB MAADDI
updated 4:12 p.m. ET Oct. 28, 2012
PHILADELPHIA - Asante Samuel stared directly at his former team's sideline and started trash-talking right after the coin toss. By the fourth quarter, Samuel was dancing on the field between plays.
Matt Ryan made it easy for his loquacious teammate to gloat.
Ryan threw touchdown passes on Atlanta's first three possessions against the Eagles and new defensive coordinator Todd Bowles, and the Falcons remained the NFL's only unbeaten team with a convincing 30-17 win over Philadelphia on Sunday.
"We're 7-0 over here baby," Samuel said. "If I was over there now, they have to go to work."
The Falcons are 7-0 for the first time in the franchise's 47-year history while the Eagles (3-4) lost after a bye for the first time in 14 games under coach Andy Reid since 1999.
"That was an embarrassing performance," Reid said. "I'm stating the obvious. We need to get better. I need to do a better job. This is fixable. We have the talent."
Ryan finished 22 of 29 for 262 yards and three TDs for his first win against his hometown team in three tries.
Michael Vick didn't turn the ball over for once, but he played so-so and failed to beat his former team in his second start against the Falcons since returning to the NFL in 2009."Whatever decision coach makes, I support it," Vick said when asked about possibly being benched for rookie Nick Foles. "I know I'm giving it everything I have when I'm out there."
Reid said he's going to evaluate whether he makes a quarterback change. The defense was the problem against Atlanta, however.
The Falcons scored on their first six possessions before punting for the first time with 5:35 left.
"When you do that, it's going to be a good day," Ryan said.
This was a validation win for Atlanta. The Falcons entered with no victories over a team with a winning record and their opponents were a combined 13-24 going into this weekend. Perhaps that's why they were a surprising 3-point underdog despite Philadelphia's recent struggles.
"We like to have a lot of fun," Falcons coach Mike Smith said. "We have a very mature group. We have a bunch of guys who are mentors. We're good at focusing on the task at hand. We're on point when we kick off and guys have done a good job focusing all season."
Reid's Eagles have lost three in a row since starting 3-1. Reid fired Juan Castillo and replaced him with Bowles two days after Philadelphia blew its second straight fourth-quarter lead in an overtime loss to Detroit.
Clearly, it didn't work.Castillo's defense allowed 18.5 points per game, excluding two TD returns against the offense. Bowles' D allowed 21 points in the first 24 minutes and couldn't make a stop until the fourth quarter.
"I did what I did and what I thought was right at the time," Reid said about the switch. "We need to get better there."
A sellout crowd anticipating a pending storm expected to hit the East Coast soon started filtering out in the third quarter. Those who stuck around booed the Eagles off the field, though one guy chanted "E-A-G-L-E-S" in the final minute.
The anti-Reid fans may be seeing him in his final months with the team. Owner Jeffrey Lurie already stated before the season that another 8-8 finish would be "unacceptable."
The Falcons methodically drove 80 yards on 16 plays on the opening possession, converting five third downs. A holding call on defensive end Jason Babin kept the drive going after Ryan threw an incomplete pass on third-and-10. Ryan then threw a 15-yard TD pass to Drew Davis for a 7-0 lead.
Ryan tossed a 3-yard TD pass to Jason Snelling to make it 14-0. Penalties on Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Mychal Kendricks on separate third downs kept Atlanta's drive going.
After going three-and-out on the first series, the Eagles put it together on the next drive by mixing in seven runs among their 13 plays. LeSean McCoy scored from the 2 to cut it to 14-7.But the Falcons answered quickly. Ryan connected with Julio Jones over Nnamdi Asomugha for the 63-yard score to put Atlanta up 21-7.
Atlanta converted their first nine third-down tries, including three by penalty. The Eagles finally held in the final minute of the second quarter and Matt Bryant's 43-yard field goal gave the Falcons a 24-7 halftime lead. Bryant kicked field goals of 29 and 30 on the next two drives.
The Eagles made it 30-17 on Vick's 7-yard TD pass to McCoy in the fourth quarter.
Samuel had 25 interceptions and went to three Pro Bowls in four seasons in Philadelphia before the acquisitions of Asomugha and Rodgers-Cromartie forced him out. He was traded to the Falcons for a seventh-round pick in April and enjoyed his return to Lincoln Financial Field.
"I love the fans," he said. "They can boo me. They can cheer for me. Doesn't do anything but add fuel to the fire."
NOTES: The Falcons won in Philadelphia for the first time since Oct. 30, 1988. They were 0-6 with two playoff losses. ... Neither team had a turnover. ... The Eagles got their first sack in four games since Week 3. ... Eagles rookie Dennis Kelly took his first snap in the NFL, starting for the injured Danny Watkins (ankle) at RG. ... Kendricks was benched for the first series for disciplinary reasons. Casey Matthews took his place at strongside LB. ... Falcons coach Mike Smith moved past Dan Reeves into first place on the club's all-time list with 50 wins.
? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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More newsGiants top Cowboys by a fingertip
The New York Giants escaped with a 29-24 victory over the Cowboys in Dallas by the grace of a reversal of a Dallas touchdown when replay showed the Cowboys' Dez Bryant had come down with a pass in the end zone with his fingers out of bounds.
Watch live online: Saints vs. Broncos
Watch NBC's presentation of New Orleans-Denver in an HD player with DVR style controls, alternate angles, stats, highlights and more. Chat with others during the game.
Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/49589292/ns/sports-nfl/
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Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Extraordinary Small Kitchen Remodeling Ideas Home Improvement ...
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Publised: October 22nd, 2012 Category: Kitchen
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Extraordinary Small Kitchen Remodeling Ideas Home Improvement
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Source: http://www.trendecoration.com/extraordinary-small-kitchen-remodeling-ideas-home-improvement.html
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Copywriter Benefits And How To Become One | Writing and Speaking
Copywriting can be a challenging industry to break into, but approximately calculate past you?re established at this time is a giant range of opportunities in stipulations of clients, projects and types of copywriting assignments. If you aspire to be a copywriter you are vacant to need to start with the basics. You will have to discover examples of approximately of the best-known copywriters (living and dead) and their sales calligraphy. Here are a hardly one names that you will aspire to investigate and get on to samples of their work. In the article below I will give you more tips.
If you aspire to work as a public notice hoc copywriter, you?ll need to know in this area running your copywriting matter: Generating superfluous matter, administration accounts and marketing your copywriting services in addition to copywriting techniques. If you aspire to work in-house, you?ll need to understand how a design, PR or marketing agency gift, by smallest amount in attitude. Fortunately, there?s a wealth of in rank in this area these topics unfilled on the internet, so solely dive in.
You will have to be a surefire pusher as you are at the start commencement, getting your initially first name all ended the niche that you aspire to dedicate physically to in. This is called positioning. Maybe you aspire to be a restaurant copywriter. Perhaps you aspire to be the single copywriter that focuses on the car racing industry, or whatever thing moreover. If you can carve your own niche in an industry, at that time it will be much harder pro your competitors to take away your customers.
Copywriting is important in some search engine optimization service companies. For getting professional copywriting services, you need to refer to some professional search engine optimization service companies, such as SEO services Australia, SEO services Melbourne and SEO services Sydney.
Source: http://writingandspeaking.rrreading.org/2012/copywriter-benefits-and-how-to-become-one/
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What do you think of trees topping the Space Needle? Will you miss the ?Galaxy G...
Tree design wins contest to top Space Needle
blogs.seattletimes.comThe Space Needle soon will be topped by trees. Nicole Commins, a Seattle graphic designer, submitted the winning entry for a new design atop the Space Needle. Commin?s winning artwork depicts tree tops in varying shades of white and light green against a dark green background radiating toward the Sp...
Source: http://www.facebook.com/seattletimes/posts/359218690838930
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Ethiopians take UK stage to show dance changes lives
LONDON (Reuters) - Two Ethiopians who take to the London stage on Monday evening are living proof that dance really can change lives.
Addisu Demissie, 30, and Junaid Jemal Sendi, 28, will perform in "A Holding Space", a dance collaboration which explores their extraordinary journey from the streets of Addis Ababa to some of the biggest arts venues in Europe.
In the film "Billy Elliot", the son of a tough northern English miner breaks taboos and challenges a community's prejudices by ditching boxing to take up ballet.
In the real world, Demissie was in his early teens and out shining shoes to make extra cash for his family when a stranger turned up at the door offering the chance of free education.
He and hundreds of other children turned up the following day, and quickly realized that the education they were to receive was not blackboards and books but movement and exercise.
In just 17 days, at a time when there were no known contemporary dancers in Ethiopia, some 120 children from the streets were dancing in a performance of Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana".
Andrew Coggins, chief executive of the Dance United charity which organized the project in the mid-1990s, recalled the transformation he saw in the children.
"You saw kids on the street who were rather supplicant suddenly standing on the stage and taking their full space in the world," he told Reuters at The Place, the London dance venue where A Holding Space is being performed.
"It was a tremendous metaphor for what then followed."
Demissie and Sendi were among 18 boys who were then enrolled on a five-year dance course that earned them a qualification from Middlesex University.
Since 2002, they have performed at venues including Sadler's Wells, Britain's most famous dance stage, won a choreography award and helped develop a charity in Ethiopia that uses the arts to reach disadvantaged people.
"The main thing is we're not dancing for the sake of dancing, we're just using dance as a tool for changing people's behavior, changing people's lives," said Sendi, speaking in near-perfect English.
"BETTER LIFE, BETTER CHANCES"
As well as taking in children from the streets, the Adugna Community Dance Theatre Company which they lead has begun to work with prisoners and young people with physical disabilities in the first such initiative in Ethiopia.
Others in Demissie's and Sendi's place may have been tempted to leave Ethiopia and pursue the bright lights of a high-profile career in the West.
"Of course there is a better life here, there are better chances," explained Demissie.
"I can live better and I can eat better, but that's not the important part for me. These people (Dance United) have spent a lot of money on us ... and we have this responsibility.
"I'm not going to be a dancer here because there are millions of dancers. I'm not avoiding competition but as Junaid says, we have more of a role in Ethiopia."
Of the original 18 who trained on the course, about half have left dance altogether, but the point of Adugna's work was not to create dancers.
"The rest, they chose to be someone else, but probably the training helped them to see what they wanted and that's what we are trying to do - give people the chance to see the world from a different direction," Demissie told Reuters.
The pair aim to continue their work with Adugna and to open their own studio in Addis Ababa if they can raise the funds, as well as expand dance teaching into festivals that will attract visitors from abroad.
(Reporting by Mike Collett-White, editing by Paul Casciato)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ethiopians-uk-stage-show-dance-changes-lives-121244900.html
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How a fish 'broke' a law of physics
ScienceDaily (Oct. 21, 2012) ? Silvery fish such as herring, sardine and sprat are breaking a basic law of physics, according to new research from the University of Bristol published October 21 in Nature Photonics.
Reflective surfaces polarize light, a phenomenon that fishermen or photographers overcome by using polarizing sunglasses or polarizing filters to cut our reflective glare. However, PhD student Tom Jordan and his supervisors Professor Julian Partridge and Dr Nicholas Roberts in Bristol's School of Biological Sciences found that these silvery fish have overcome this basic law of reflection -- an adaptation that may help them evade predators.
Previously, it was thought that the fish's skin -- which contains "multilayer" arrangements of reflective guanine crystals -- would fully polarize light when reflected. As the light becomes polarized, there should be a drop in reflectivity.
The Bristol researchers found that the skin of sardines and herring contain not one but two types of guanine crystal -- each with different optical properties. By mixing these two types, the fish's skin doesn't polarize the reflected light and maintains its high reflectivity.
Dr Roberts said: "We believe these species of fish have evolved this particular multilayer structure to help conceal them from predators, such as dolphin and tuna. These fish have found a way to maximize their reflectivity over all angles they are viewed from. This helps the fish best match the light environment of the open ocean, making them less likely to be seen."
As a result of this ability, the skin of silvery fish could hold the key to better optical devices. Tom Jordan said: "Many modern day optical devices such as LED lights and low loss optical fibres use these non-polarizing types of reflectors to improve efficiency. However, these human-made reflectors currently require the use of materials with specific optical properties that are not always ideal. The mechanism that has evolved in fish overcomes this current design limitation and provides a new way to manufacture these non-polarizing reflectors."
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Iran seeks renewed talks with familiar demands
FILE - In this Jan. 11, 2012 file photo, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks to a gathering at the University of Havana, in Havana, Cuba, The White House says it is prepared to talk one-on-one with Iran to find a diplomatic settlement to the impasse over Tehran's reported pursuit of nuclear weapons, but there's no agreement now to meet, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Franklin Reyes, File)
FILE - In this Jan. 11, 2012 file photo, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speaks to a gathering at the University of Havana, in Havana, Cuba, The White House says it is prepared to talk one-on-one with Iran to find a diplomatic settlement to the impasse over Tehran's reported pursuit of nuclear weapons, but there's no agreement now to meet, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Franklin Reyes, File)
FILE - In this Sept. 26, 2012 file photo, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, President of Iran, addresses the 67th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters. The White House says it is prepared to talk one-on-one with Iran to find a diplomatic settlement to the impasse over Tehran's reported pursuit of nuclear weapons, but there's no agreement now to meet, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2012. (AP Photo/Jason DeCrow, File)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) ? Iranian officials have made no secret about their desire to reopen nuclear talks with the U.S. and other world powers as economic sanctions dig deeper ? with Iran's supreme leader even depicting his envoys as waiting at the negotiating table.
But Tehran's proposals remain essentially echoes of demands made during previous rounds of dead-end talks that tried to force the West into a corner: Whether or not to allow the Islamic Republic to keep some level of uranium enrichment despite worries the labs could become the foundation for an eventual nuclear weapons program.
Iran has signaled it could open bargaining over its highest-level uranium enrichment ? now at 20 percent ? in exchange for step-by-step easing of sanctions and international acknowledgment that Tehran has the "right" to make lower-grade nuclear fuel. Iran also could push to expand the agenda to include regional issues such as the Syrian civil war against Tehran's key ally Bashar Assad.
Stripped bare, however, the impasse is largely over Iran's ability to make nuclear fuel and whether the U.S. and its allies ? particularly Israel ? would agree to allow some degree of uranium enrichment.
It's perhaps the one issue that Tehran cannot put in play. Iran's leaders portray the nuclear fuel expertise as a symbol of national pride and Iran's self-declared role as the Muslim world's technological leader.
Yet the West cannot easily give a green light to Iran's enrichment program, making the chances for a breakthrough in any negotiations a major test of wills between the sides. The U.S. and allies fear Iran's uranium enrichment could quickly move to weapons-grade material ? an assertion Iran denies.
In France, Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius told Europe-1 radio that Iran appears on track to reach the ability to produce a nuclear weapon by the first half of next year. He said unspecified experts have made the prediction based on "absolutely indisputable" data, but gave no other details.
Fabius' comments echoed a statement by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the U.N. General Assembly last month that the world has until next summer at the latest to stop Iran before it can build an atomic bomb. Netanyahu said Tehran would be ready to move to the "final stage" of making such a weapon by then.
With the U.S. election less than three weeks away, both the Obama White House and Republican challenger Mitt Romney are cautious about discussing potential compromises as Iran's economy shows signs of increasing strain from sanctions, including a plummet in the value of Iran's currency.
The U.S. and its European allies strongly favor a mix of economic pressure and diplomacy to seek nuclear concessions from Iran and, at the same time, try to undercut Israeli calls to keep a military option in the forefront.
"There is no question about the desire to keep talks going from all sides," said Bruno Tertrais, an Iranian affairs analyst at the Foundation for Strategic Research in Paris. "The stumbling point is over how to get past the preliminary maneuvers and into real negotiations."
The White House on Saturday said it was prepared for one-on-one talks with Iran as a possible parallel initiative with a larger negotiations group, the five permanent Security Council members plus Germany. But National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor denied any deal had been reached for bilateral Washington-Tehran dialogue.
Such contacts would be extremely rare after a more than 30-year diplomatic estrangement ? Washington and Tehran have had no official diplomatic relations since the 1979 Islamic Revolution ? but the two countries have taken part in Baghdad-hosted talks over Iraq stability plans and have shared information on international efforts such as anti-drug trafficking.
"The onus is on the Iranians" to convince the world they aren't seeking nuclear weapons, Vietor said. "Otherwise they will continue to face crippling sanctions and increased pressure."
The statement was released shortly after The New York Times reported that the U.S. and Iran have agreed in principle for the first time to negotiations. The paper said Iran has insisted the talks wait until after the Nov. 6 election.
On Sunday, Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi refused to discuss the report, saying "it is not our responsibility to comment on what they say." However, he reiterated Iran's traditional stance that the country will hold no direct nuclear talks with the U.S. and all dialogue must be through the seven-nation framework.
He predicted the next round could be as soon as late November. Some analysts believe Iran is unlikely to make any additional overtures until after the U.S. election.
What Iran has put forward so far is effectively a two-track path.
One is seeking to secure an international pledge that it can continue uranium enrichment at some level, perhaps at lower grades for its lone energy-producing reactor. Iran is a member of the U.N. treaty overseeing nuclear technology and insists its uranium labs are within the guidelines. The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, however, says Iran still needs to open up more sites for inspection.
The second goal is getting the West to roll back sanctions, which have cut into Iran's critical oil exports and cut off access to most international banking networks. A panic on exchange markets this month plunged Iran's rial nearly 40 percent to record lows against the U.S. dollar. The currency on Sunday again flirted with the all-time low of 35,500 rials to the dollar.
But the U.S. and allies would likely require major concessions from Iran ? that the leadership may be unwilling to give ? for any significant sanctions relief just as the economic squeeze appears to be bringing more pain. Last week, the European Union banned imports of Iranian natural gas and imposed other restrictions on trade and financial dealings ? on top of a previous embargo of Iranian oil.
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast described the new EU measures as "inhuman," but said they would not force any retreat on the country's nuclear program.
Sergey Barseqian, an independent Iranian political analyst, said the prospects for renewed talks are stuck in a "negative loop" with the West pressing harder on sanctions and Iran not willing to be portrayed as caving to the pressures.
"In practice, there is no initiative in Iran's hand" to restart talks, he said.
Iran's leaders also must juggle twin strategies.
For crowds at home, the Iranian hierarchy frames the country's nuclear advances as part of the country's modern identity. To a global audience, they display willingness for some degree of deal-making.
Last week, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran will withstand the "conspiracies and tricks" of its foes, including sanctions and "talk of military aggression." But he also said Iran has never stepped away from the nuclear talks, which were last held in Moscow in June.
"The West ... says pressures on the Islamic Republic are aimed at forcing it to return to table of the talks," said Khamenei. "Have we ever left the negotiating table?"
The foreign ministry spokesman, Mehmanparast, last week reinforced the message, saying Iran was prepared to "show flexibility" over the 20 percent-enriched uranium if the West would give some ground.
"The other party needs to take measures to fully recognize Iran's nuclear rights and Iran's enrichment for peaceful purposes," he added.
The 20 percent fuel is needed for Tehran's medical research reactor, whose output includes isotopes for cancer treatment. A lower level of enrichment, 3.5 percent, is needed for Iran's electricity-producing reactor.
In the previous talks, the West demanded that Iran halt its 20 percent enrichment, ship out its stockpiles and shut down the enrichment labs at a subterranean facility south of Tehran that is believed to be virtually impervious to aerial attacks.
On Saturday, Iranian nuclear chief Fereidoun Abbasi told the official IRNA news agency that negotiations will "will be continued."
"There is no particular problem in the direction of the talks," he said.
___
Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
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