As former CEO and co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs helped create products and technology that...
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Billy Hunter has no plans to step down from his role as executive director of the NBA players? union before his contract expires in five years.
Hunter was widely panned during the NBA?s labor negotiations this year, and many league observers speculated during that process that he?d resign or be forced out of his position.
But, Hunter told the Boston Globe, ?I?ve got like five years remaining on my contract, and that probably will be enough.?
?I think (criticism is) just part of the process and it can?t be avoided,? Hunter added, per The Globe. ?We had the same issue in '98 and that a lot of our guys didn?t follow it and a lot of times they react because someone else is giving them misinformation and they really don?t understand the deal. And time will tell. As contracts become publicly known, then attitudes are then formed as a consequence of that.?
Hunter also said he always believed the lockout would not result in the cancellation of the entire season.
?If it got past Feb. 7 we wouldn?t have had a season, but I never saw that happening. Just having been there before and the losses would be so extreme,? he said.
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Highlights of legislation renewing payroll tax cuts, jobless benefits approved by the House and Senate:
House bill, approved last Tuesday:
_Price tag over $180 billion.
_Keeps this year's 4.2 percent Social Security payroll tax rate paid by 160 million workers through the end of 2012, instead of rising to 6.2 percent on Jan. 1.
_Extends expiring benefits for the long-term jobless through 2012, but at a maximum of 79 weeks coverage, less in some cases, which is well below this year's 99-week limit. Revamps program to require beneficiaries without high school diplomas to seek an equivalent degree; lets states test applicants for illegal drug use.
_Prevents 27 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors for 2012.
_Blocks Obama administration rule curbing pollution from industrial boilers; extends tax break for businesses buying equipment for 2012.
_Requires President Barack Obama to approve the Keystone XL oil pipeline within 60 days unless he declares the project would not serve the national interest.
_Paid for by extending current pay freeze on civilian federal workers another year through 2013 and requires them to contribute more toward their pensions; raises fee Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac charge for insuring mortgages; raises Medicare premiums paid by higher-income elderly; cuts some health care overhaul law programs; sells part of broadcast spectrum; prevents illegal immigrant parents from collecting child tax credit refund checks; bars food stamps, unemployment benefits for the wealthy.
Senate bill, approved Saturday:
_Price tag $33 billion.
_Extends 2-percentage-point cut in Social Security payroll tax through Feb. 29.
_Renews benefits for the long-term unemployed at current levels through Feb. 29, no other changes in program.
_Prevents 27 percent cut in Medicare payments to doctors; extends other health care fees through Feb. 29.
_Same provision on Keystone as House.
_Paid for by increasing home loan guarantee fees charged to mortgage lenders by Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the Federal Housing Administration by one-tenth of 1 percentage point. The fee is passed on to home buyers and will apply to many new purchases and refinancings starting Jan. 1.
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License:Freeware
Size:1.1 MB
Date Added:
Windows Explorer Tracker is used to trace/monitor and record your operations in Windows Explorer automatically, such as 'Delete', 'Rename', 'Create', 'Insert', 'Add' and 'Remove' actions of files, folders, drives and storage media, you can also use it to track and record operations on remote host via the mapped network drives. It logs the original operations in some .log files, and names them by date so as to manage them conveniently. You can quickly load the history logs by specifying the start and end date on its main interface, manage the log files in Windows Explorer, find the specific operations and permanently delete history operations in log files. At last, you can set the display format of operation date and time on the Options interface. As above, if you need to retrace your Windows Explorer steps on a regular basis might find it useful.
Systems: WinXP
Versions History:
| Date Released: | Version: | Change Info: |
| 2011-12-19 | 1.1 | Made as freeware, adjusting columns width when resize, sorts listing as descending operation time by default, avoids duplicate record thoroughly, optimized the performance, interface and documentation, provides exit prompt. |
Tags: Track Windows Explorer Activity?? Monitor Windows Explorer Operation?? Trace Windows Explorer Activity?? Trace Track Monitor File Change??
Source: http://windows-explorer-tracker.smartcode.com/info.html
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Continue reading FCC Fridays: December 16, 2011
FCC Fridays: December 16, 2011 originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 16 Dec 2011 10:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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PRAGUE ? Thousands of Czechs paid tribute to Vaclav Havel on Sunday, braving cold and snow at the spot where the leader of the peaceful anti-communist revolution rallied protesters.
Mourners, some of them too young to remember 1989's "Velvet Revolution," met at downtown Wenceslas Square, where Havel once spoke before hundreds of thousands of people expressing their outrage at the repressive communist regime.
They jangled their keys to make noise as anti-communist demonstrators did, sang the national anthem and observed a minute of silence for the playwright-turned politician, who died Sunday.
"His legacy will be that 'truth and love must prevail over lies and hatred,'" Havel's former adviser Tomas Sedlacek told the crowd, quoting Havel's revolutionary motto.
Barbora Rubova, born two years after the end of the repressive communist regime, said it was important to show her respect to the man who helped kick off the fall of the Iron Curtain and served as president of Czechoslovakia, and later the Czech Republic.
"He laid foundations of democracy for us all," she said.
A black flag flew over Prague Castle, the presidential seat, while many Czechs stood in line to have a chance to light candles to remember Havel. "Mr. President, thank you for democracy," read a note placed at the monument to the revolution in downtown Prague.
Others visited his villa to lay flowers and light candles. Josef Klik, a 67-year-old, was among the mourners.
"He is an unforgettable person who contributed to the fall of communism," Klik said. "And after that, he remained a moral authority for ordinary people."
Bells tolled from cathedrals and churches across the country at 6 p.m. Prague archbishop Dominik Duka, who spent some time with Havel in a communist prison, said Havel "knew what it meant to lose freedom, be denied dignity, what is repression and imprisonment."
"I am convinced that we all, no matter what our political or religious views are, should pay respect to him and thank him," Duka said.
The Czech government meets Monday to declare a period of official mourning and Havel's body will go on display at the Prague Castle on Wednesday, officials said.
Czech public television announced it would broadcast Havel's film version of his last play, "Leaving," his directorial debut. Czech public radio said it would play some of the favorite music of the noted rock music fan.
Vaclav Klaus, Havel's political archrival who replaced him as president in 2003, said condolence books will be available for people to sign at the Prague castle the same day.
Klaus called Havel "the symbol of the new era of the Czech state," and Foreign Minister Karel Schwarzenberg added that Havel "returned dignity to the Czech nation."
Tributes poured in from around the world. The founder of the Polish anti-communist Solidarity movement and former president Lech Walesa called Havel "a great fighter for the freedom of nations and for democracy."
President Barack Obama praised Havel for his "peaceful resistance (that) shook the foundations of an empire, exposed the emptiness of a repressive ideology, and proved that moral leadership is more powerful than any weapon."
Havel's funeral may take place on Friday, the local CTK news agency reported. Details are being worked out by the government in coordination with Havel's family.
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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) ? Controversial radio shock jock Howard Stern will be the new judge on TV show "America's Got Talent", NBC said on Thursday, and will also continue to host his daily radio program for SiriusXM.
Stern, 57, will replace departing talk show host Piers Morgan on the panel when the talent show returns for a 7th season in the summer of 2012.
Production of the show will move to New York to accommodate Stern's schedule.
"Howard Stern's larger-than-life personality will bring a thrilling new dynamic to 'America's Got Talent' starting this summer," said NBC alternative programming chief Paul Telegdy.
"He's a proven innovator and his track record in broadcasting is truly remarkable. Howard is very passionate about this show and is fully committed to its future," Telegdy said in a statement.
Stern is known for conducting sexually explicit interviews, his raunchy sense of humor and for his satirical comments on religion, race and other hot button topics.
"America's Got Talent" created by British entrepreneur Simon Cowell, is one of the most successful shows for NBC and the outspoken Stern had been Cowell's top choice to join the judging panel.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; editing by Patricia Reaney)
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The LG Optimus Slider ($199.99) is an average, low-end Android smartphone. It has good voice quality and a roomy QWERTY keyboard, but it's certainly not going to thrill Android geeks. Factor in Virgin Mobile's low-cost service plans starting at $35 per month, though, and it's worth talking about. Although this isn't a four-star phone when compared to options on other carriers, it's the best keyboarded smartphone for Virgin, and that makes worthy of it our Editors' Choice award.
Design, Call Quality, and Plans
The Optimus Slider measures 4.5 by 2.3 by 0.6 inches (HWD) and weighs 5.5 ounces. It's a bit bulky, in part because of the large keyboard. It's made of dark gray plastic, with a soft touch back cover. The 3.2-inch, 320-by-480 pixel capacitive touch screen is?bright enough, though it could certainly benefit from higher resolution. But it's fine for most tasks, and compatible with most of the apps in the Android Market.
There are four physical function keys beneath the display, and the phone slides open to reveal a four-row QWERTY keyboard. The keyboard is comfortable and roomy with large, well-separated plastic keys. Typing long messages is easy on the Slider.
The Slider is a dual-band EV-DO Rev. A (850/1900 MHz) device with 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi support. Reception is good (Virgin uses Sprint's network), and call quality is solid overall. Voices sound clear in the phone's earpiece, though a bit thready. Calls made with the phone sound crisp and natural, with very good background noise cancellation. Calls sounded clear through a?Jawbone Era?Bluetooth headset ($129, 4.5 stars), and voice dialing worked fine over Bluetooth without training. The speakerphone sounds a bit thin and doesn't go loud enough for outdoor use. Battery life was great at 8 hours, 17 minutes of talk time.
The biggest selling point here is Virgin Mobile's inexpensive pricing plans. You can sign up for an unlimited text, data, and Web plan for as little as $35 per month with 300 voice minutes. 1200 minutes costs $45, and unlimited voice calling brings the price to $55 per month. If you're more of a message and data user than a talker, that $35 plan is hard to beat?especially considering that a data plan alone will cost you $30 on a carrier like Verizon Wireless, and for that price you're limited to 2GB of data per month! Virgin does have one downside for heavy data users: there's no tethering or hotspot mode, so you can't use a laptop with this connection.
Apps and OS
The Optimus Slider is running Android 2.3.4 (Gingerbread). There are a few minor customizations from LG, but this is pretty close to stock-Android. There are five home screens you can swipe between that come preloaded with a few useful apps and widgets. There's also some non-deletable bloatware, but it's kept to a minimum, and navigating around the phone feels swift and responsive. The Slider offers all of Android's usual benefits, including free, voice-enabled, turn-by-turn GPS navigation, excellent email capabilities, and a powerful WebKit browser. It should work with most of the 250,000+ third-party apps available in the Android Market.
The phone is powered by an 800MHz Qualcomm MSM7627T processor. It's no speed demon, but it pulled in average benchmark scores for a lower-end Android device. It should be up to task for most common uses, but count it out for high-end gaming. Also, don't assume this phone will get an Android 4.0 "Ice Cream Sandwich" update.
Multimedia, Camera, and Conclusions
There's a microSD card slot beneath the back phone's cover. A 2GB card comes preloaded; my 32 and 64GB cards worked fine as well. There's also 156MB of free internal storage. Music tracks sounded good through both wired headphones and Altec Lansing Backbeat?Bluetooth headphones ($99.99, 3.5 stars). I was able to play AAC, MP3, OGG, WAV, and WMA test files, but not FLAC. Standalone video support isn't as good. I was only able to play MP4 and H.264 test files, at resolutions up to 800-by-480. Audio for videos was slightly out of sync over Bluetooth.
The 3.2-megapixel auto-focus camera has no flash. Test photos were average, at best. There's a long, 1.3 second shutter delay, and photos taken indoors show average detail, but colors are dull. Outdoor shots in bright light are a little better, but still underwhelming. The camcorder records videos at a choppy 13 frames per second indoors and a slightly better 15 frames per second outside.
Video support and camera aside, the LG Optimus Slider is a solid keyboarded smartphone, and a really good value when you factor in Virgin's inexpensive plan pricing. We haven't reviewed it on Virgin, but the?Samsung Intercept?(3 stars) is less expensive, at $79.99, though it's running an older version of Android on a slower data network. If you're willing to drop the keyboard, your best bet is the Motorola Triumph?($239.99, 4 stars), which features a much larger, sharper display, and a faster processor. But if you value texting above all else, stick with the Slider.
Benchmarks
Continuous talk time: 8 hours 17 minutes
More Cell Phone Reviews:
??? Samsung Galaxy Nexus (Verizon Wireless)
??? LG Optimus Slider (Virgin Mobile)
??? Samsung Focus S (AT&T)
??? Apple iPhone 4S (AT&T)
??? T-Mobile myTouch Q
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FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2011 file photo, Zynga CEO Mark Pincus speaks at a Zynga event, in San Francisco. Founded in 2007 and named after CEO Mark Pincus? dog, Zynga Inc. follows online deals site Groupon Inc. and professional network LinkedIn Corp. in going public. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
FILE - In this Oct. 11, 2011 file photo, Zynga CEO Mark Pincus speaks at a Zynga event, in San Francisco. Founded in 2007 and named after CEO Mark Pincus? dog, Zynga Inc. follows online deals site Groupon Inc. and professional network LinkedIn Corp. in going public. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Zynga is poised to harvest some cold hard cash in its initial public offering. Who knew that selling virtual cows and digital corn on Facebook would create a $7 billion company?
The online game developer best known for "FarmVille" priced its initial public offering late Thursday at $10 per share.
That's at the top of its expected range of $8.50 to $10, a sign that investors are eager to get a piece of the latest in a series of high-profile tech IPOs this year. Zynga is selling 100 million shares and giving its underwriters the right to buy another 15 million shares. The company stands to raise slightly more than $1 billion from the offering, before subtracting for expenses.
Thursday's pricing gives San Francisco-based Zynga a market value of about $7 billion.
Zynga will begin trading Friday on the Nasdaq Stock Market under the ticker symbol "ZNGA." That's when "Main Street" investors will get a chance to buy the stock. The offering rounds out a busy week for IPOs, the likes of which the market hasn't seen since before the 2008 financial meltdown.
Founded in 2007 and named after CEO Mark Pincus' dog, Zynga Inc. follows online deals site Groupon Inc. and professional network LinkedIn Corp. in going public. A bevy of smaller Internet startups, such as reviews site Angie's List Inc. and Pandora Media Inc., have also taken the plunge. They're the soup, salad and appetizer to the main course: Facebook's public debut, expected sometime after April. The social network could rake in as much as $10 billion.
Pincus and Zynga's 2,300 employees have built a business charging small amounts of money ? a few cents, sometimes a couple of dollars ? for virtual items in online games. The games themselves free to play. These items range from crops in "Farmville" to buildings in "CityVille," its most popular Facebook game. This so-called "free-to-play" business model assumes that most people won't want to pay anything to build virtual castles in "CastleVille" or take down rival mob bosses in "Mafia Wars."
But with a large enough player base and a few loyal spenders, Zynga was able to earn a net income of $90.6 million in 2010. Though not unheard of, it's unusual for a tech startup to turn a profit before going public.
Zynga has been criticized for being too dependent on Facebook and its 800 million users. Facebook takes 30 percent cut from what people spend on outside applications through its site. In the July-September period, 93 percent of Zynga's revenue was generated through the world's largest online social network.
That said, there's no denying that Facebook's vast user base and widespread popularity are directly responsible for Zynga's meteoric rise. As of Thursday, Zynga's games had more than 223 million monthly users on Facebook. If those gamers could form their own nation, its population would be roughly on par with Indonesia and Brazil.
Zynga's growth has also been helped by the simple fact that its games are addictive. Just last week, actor Alec Baldwin got booted off a plane because he wouldn't stop playing "Words With Friends," Zynga's Scrabble-inspired mobile phone game. Zynga is focusing on mobile gaming as a way to expand beyond Facebook.
Baldwin's flight fiasco offers proof that mobile games present the biggest growth opportunity for Zynga, according to Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter. International expansion and getting people who already play Zynga games to spend money are other ways the company can grow.
Zynga is not without rivals. Its main competitor on Facebook is Electronic Arts Inc., the more old-school video game publisher best known for console games such as "Madden" and "The Sims." Recently, EA has been focusing on its mobile and online business. Its Facebook version of "The Sims" has created a healthy rivalry with Zynga.
Though not a direct competitor, another similar company is Japan's Nexon Co., which went public on the Tokyo Stock Exchange this week, raising $1.2 billion. Originally from South Korea, Nexon pioneered the free-to-play revenue model that has led to Zynga's success. But where Zynga caters to the Facebooked masses, Nexon's focus is on more complicated games that can take hours, not minutes to crack. Valued at $7.2 billion after Wedneday's IPO, Nexon has about 77 million monthly active users.
Owen Mahoney, chief financial officer of Nexon and a former EA executive, believes several trends are contributing to the popularity of gaming companies like Nexon and Zynga. Namely, higher broadband Internet speeds are making it easier to download games; consumers are looking to try before they buy; and they are spending money in smaller amounts per purchase ? not unlike when music fans began buying individual digital songs, as opposed to entire albums.
"The same forces that affected the entertainment business are affecting the video game business," Mahoney said.
Not everyone is big on Zynga, though. "FarmVille" and its ilk annoy some Facebook users who get tired of their crop-harvesting friends asking for help with their virtual farms.
There are naysayers on Wall Street too. Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia took the unusual step of putting an "Underperform" rating on Zynga this week, days before the company was scheduled to go public. The analyst set a price target of $7 for Zynga's yet-to-be traded stock, below even the low end of its expected IPO pricing range, citing concerns about the company's growth rate. Bhatia said he wanted to provide an "independent view" of Zynga at a time when its bankers and the company will be selling the deal to clients.
"It's not to say the stock can't do well initially," he said.
Wedbush's Pachter, meanwhile, said it's "really premature" to call the death of a four-year-old industry.
"No one has enough data to say growth is stalled," he said.
___
Nakashima reported from Los Angeles.
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Ice Cream Sandwich alpha released for Xperia trio, is Sony Ericsson's '143' to the dev community (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 15 Dec 2011 13:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Getaround, the peer-to-peer car sharing company that won this year's TechCrunch Disrupt NYC startup competition, this morning announced that it is poised to make its debut in the greater Portland metropolitan area by February of 2012, following an initial launch at Portland State University on the 1st of January. To facilitate the launch, Getaround was selected by the Federal Highway Administration to participate in a joint initiative with the city.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/-Iz9iPpxbCw/
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New York ? Birthday cards, Netflix discs, and L.L. Bean catalogs will begin arriving a day later than usual, as the Post Office rolls back its delivery services
Snail mail is about to get even slower. In attempt to trim costs, the U.S. Postal Service announced Monday that, for the first time in 40 years, it will instate cutbacks that will slow the delivery of first-class mail in the continental United States. Here's what you should know:
How slow will mail be?
Currently, first-class mail is delivered to homes and businesses in the continental U.S. in one to three days, and?42 percent of mail arrives at its final destination the day after it was sent. Now, mail will now take either two or three days to be delivered. "Only commercial, bulk mailers might be able to get their first-class mail delivered the next day," says Mark Memmott at NPR. That is, "if they get it, properly bundled, to the Post Office early in the morning."
SEE ALSO: American Airlines' 'painful' bankruptcy: Winners and losers
?
Why is the Post Office cutting back?
The struggling Post Office, which lost $5.1 billion last year and expects to have a $14 billion deficit this year, needs to cut $20 billion in operating costs by 2015 in order to turn a profit. By slowing mail delivery, the USPS estimates that it will save $2.1 billion a year. First-class mail volume dropped 20 percent in the last decade. By 2020, another 47 percent drop is expected. The USPS doesn't receive tax money, and relies largely on postage costs and product sales to fund its operation. So with revenue plummeting, it has to cut costs.
Is there more than just slower mail?
Yes. The Postal Service will close 252 of the 461 mail processing centers across the country. That will account for the loss of 28,000 jobs by the end of 2012. The plan is to?rebrand the Post Office, reduce costs, and help keep the agency alive as mail delivery becomes less and less popular. Over the long haul, roughly 3,700 local post offices are expected to close, which could result in 120,000 lost jobs.
SEE ALSO: Midnight openings on Black Friday: Is Target 'destroying' Thanksgiving?
?
How does this affect me?
For starters, you're going to have to remember to mail mom her birthday card more than a day in advance. But beyond that, "the reduction in turnaround time could slow everything from check payments to Netflix's DVDs-by-mail, add costs to mail-order prescription drugs, and threaten the existence of newspapers and time-sensitive magazines delivered by postal carrier to far-flung suburban and rural communities," says Fox News.
Will this help or hurt the Postal Service?
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine)?says?that theses changes "could well accelerate [the Postal Service's] death spiral."?As consumers begin to notice the effects of slower delivery, "it will only increase the shift away from mail to alternatives," analyst Jim Corridore tells Fox News. "There's almost nothing you can't do online that you can do by mail." But Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe tells the Associated Press that his agency has no other choice. "We have a business model that is failing. You can't continue to run red ink and not make changes."
SEE ALSO: Time to nationalize the airline industry?
?
Sources: AP, Fox News, NPR, Wash. Post
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According to the Associated Press, a federal analysis by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of bluefin tuna, an already overfished species, in the Gulf of Mexico indicates the BP oil spill in April 2010 would not impact populations as greatly as some scientists had feared.
Computer models and projections show the spill would lead to at most a 4 percent decrease in future bluefin tuna spawning, but likely much less. This species is especially important to the fishing industry in the Gulf and following the 172 million-gallon spill, about one-fifth of the fishes' spawning habitat had been contaminated with oil. Here are some facts about the ecological impacts of the BP oil spill and plans for restoration:
* The National Wildlife Federation reported that the BP oil spill could potentially impact numerous species in many ways, including sea turtles, birds such as brown pelicans, marine mammals, and especially the egg and larvae stages of animal life cycles.
* This past spring, scientists and researchers began looking into the increased number of bottlenose dolphins covered in oil and newborn and stillborn dolphin calves that were washing ashore in the Gulf, reported Reuters.
* Scientists were able to determine that the oil found on some of the dolphins' bodies came from the BP oil spill and speculated that oil inhaled or ingested by pregnant dolphins could induce miscarriages or stillborn calves.
* AOL News noted that a scientific report released in February concluded that oil on the sea floor was not degrading as fast as indicated by an official report made by BP and that oil had suffocated crabs, starfish and other sea-dwelling animals.
* The report also concluded that much of this oil was directly from the BP oil spill since oil is chemically fingerprinted.
* Shortly after the oil spill, blue crab larvae were being found with specks of oil in them, indicating the possibility of the spill impacting the ecological food web if other animals are consuming oil-tainted organisms, reported NOLA.
* Additionally, about 40 percent of blue crab habitat in the Gulf was struck by oil contamination to some degree.
* The Chicago Sun-Times noted BP was nearing the end of oil cleanup in November after 90 percent of the Gulf coast was cleaned and was switching its focus toward restoration of impacted areas.
* BP's is legally responsible for restoration of oil-contaminated areas and the company's restoration plans include planting new plantlife, replacing sand on beaches, and establishing new marshes.
Rachel Bogart provides an in-depth look at current environmental issues and local Chicago news stories. As a college student from the Chicago suburbs pursuing two science degrees, she applies her knowledge and passion to both topics to garner further public awareness.
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What?s even more alarming is that most of my photos are...
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BRUSSELS/FRANKFURT (Reuters) ? The new head of the European Central Bank signaled on Thursday it was ready to take stronger action to fight Europe's debt crisis if political leaders agree next week on much tighter budget controls in the 17-nation euro zone.
Speaking a day after the world's major central banks took emergency joint action to provide cheaper dollar funding for starved European banks, Mario Draghi painted a dark picture of the state of the banking system.
"A new fiscal compact would be the most important signal from euro area governments for embarking on a path of comprehensive deepening of economic integration. It would also present a clear trajectory for the future evolution of the euro area, thus framing expectations," he told the European Parliament.
Draghi did not spell out what action the ECB might take, but it is under huge political and market pressure to massively step up purchases of euro zone government bonds or lend money to the IMF to support ailing Italy and Spain.
In the short-term, economists expect the central bank to relieve pressure on banks and an economy heading into recession cutting interest rates next week and announcing longer-term cheap liquidity tenders with easier collateral rules. Markets are pricing in a 25 basis point cut to 1.0 percent on December 8 and Draghi said nothing to dissuade them.
In response to lawmakers' comments, he added that the ECB had scope to act within the European Union treaty and the most important thing was to make sure that frozen credit channels started to work again.
Draghi, who faces some of the toughest decisions in the currency's 12-year history after just one month in the job, said the ECB was aware many European banks were in difficulty because of stress on sovereign bonds, tight inter-bank funding markets and scarce collateral.
"Downside risks to the economic outlook have increased," he said, noting that the ECB's mandate was to maintain price stability "in both directions" -- a rare indication that the bank is concerned about deflation risks as well as inflation.
Two years into Europe's debt crisis, investors are fleeing the euro zone bond market, European banks are dumping government debt, south European banks are bleeding deposits and a recession looms, fuelling doubts about the survival of the single currency.
The euro and European stocks were steady after surging on Wednesday after the joint intervention by the U.S. Federal Reserve, the ECB and the central banks of Japan, Britain, Canada and Switzerland.
Safe-haven German bond futures crept up further after Draghi said the ECB's bond-buying program was only temporary and limited but markets were cheered by strong demand at Spanish and French bond auctions on Thursday.
DAYS TO SAVE EURO?
European Union leaders hold a crucial summit on December 9 at which EU paymaster Germany is pressing for an agreement on treaty change to establish coercive powers to veto national budgets in the euro zone that breach agreed rules.
That prompted the chief financial officer of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Manfred Schepers, to tell a Dutch newspaper: "There are seven work days left to save Europe."
Berlin wants the European Commission to be empowered to reject national budgets before they go to parliament and to refer serial deficit offenders to the European Court of Justice.
That is highly controversial in France, which is working on joint proposals with Germany to be put to EU partners next week.
President Nicolas Sarkozy was due to outline his vision of euro zone integration in a speech in the southern port city of Toulon later on Thursday (1730 GMT) and German Chancellor Angela Merkel will set out her views to parliament in Berlin on Friday.
Sources close to the negotiations said they had not yet reached agreement on key issues including the role of the EU executive and court, with Paris preferring an intergovernmental approach leaving the final word with elected leaders.
The conservative Sarkozy's main challenger in next year's presidential election, Socialist Francois Hollande, said on Wednesday that as president he would never hand France's budget sovereignty over to European judges.
In Berlin, leaders of Merkel's centre-right coalition agreed on Thursday that Germany's opposition to common euro zone debt issuance was non-negotiable, slamming one door which France and other southern euro zone states have tried to open.
"We are not prepared to buy changes to the (EU) treaty in exchange for rules that other European countries want, for example euro bonds," Economics Minister Philipp Roesler of the liberal Free Democrats said after talks with Merkel and Horst Seehofer, leader of the Bavarian Christian Social Union.
With the ECB formally barred by treaty from acting as lender of last resort to the euro zone or directly financing governments, EU officials are working on ways to support states under bond market pressure via the International Monetary Fund.
One idea under active consideration is allowing euro zone national central banks affiliated to the ECB to lend money to the IMF which could provide larger credit lines for Italy and Spain on strictly monitored policy conditions.
In a key policy shift, German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said on Wednesday Germany was now open to increasing the IMF's resources through bilateral loans or more special drawing rights, reversing the stance it took at last month's Cannes G20 summit.
That fuelled momentum for a global deal to boost the Fund's resources, although many other major economies want to see the euro zone put more of its own firepower on the line to defeat the debt crisis before they make commitments.
China's vice finance minister said the euro zone had made "positive progress" by agreeing this week to ramp up the firepower of its rescue fund but Beijing hoped to see more progress at next week's EU summit.
"The current crisis, to some extent, is more serious and challenging than the international financial crisis following the fall of Lehman Brothers," Zhu Guangyao told a trade forum.
In Greece, where the euro zone debt crisis began in 2009, schools, hospitals and public transport were paralysed by a one-day general strike in protest at the new national unity government's EU/IMF-imposed austerity budget.
The strike is the first such test for new technocrat Prime Minister Lucas Papademos, who has had little time to celebrate since European finance ministers this week approved an 8 billion euro tranche of aid to prevent Greece from going bankrupt.
(Additional reporting by Paul Carrel in Frankfurt, Catherine Bremer in Paris, Noah Barkin in Berlin, Emilia Sithole-Matarise in London, Lesley Wroughton in Washington and Tatiana Fragou in Athens; Writing by Paul Taylor; editing by Janet McBride)
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NEW YORK ? These are the kinds of negotiations NBA fans have been waiting for.
Teams began talking to agents Wednesday as the lockout inched closer to its end, and basketball moved back into focus. Dwight Howard and Chris Paul were linked to trade speculation, while free agents such as Tyson Chandler and Nene were in the news after months of attorneys getting all the ink.
Now, the players are taking over and the league was set to reopen its facilities for workouts Thursday.
Some may arrive out of shape, just as was the case in January 1999 after the NBA's only other shortened season. But they're anxious to get back, with a little more than three weeks until they start playing games.
"The guys are going to come in and I'm sure they're going to be in good shape. They want to play," new Houston coach Kevin McHale told reporters.
"These guys have played basketball their entire lives. They love to play basketball and they're excited to get after it."
The league still hopes to open training camps and free agency next Friday, leaving both sides scrambling to get business finished in time.
The lawsuits have been settled, contingent upon the ratification of a new collective bargaining agreement by Dec. 9. Players are in the process of collecting the signatures needed to approve the reformation of the union, which must be done before the sides can resume bargaining on the remaining issues that must be settled before each side can vote.
NBA officials are working to complete a two-game exhibition schedule for each team that will lead to a 66-game regular season, starting with a five-game slate on Christmas.
"Considering that a lot of this is brand new to us, the last 24 hours has been a little bit of a scramble," Oklahoma City general manager Sam Presti said. "We have a lot of things that we have to do from getting players in and just basically preparing ourselves for what's ahead."
Philadelphia 76ers president Rod Thorn was working in the league office during the last lockout and knows how much work it will take to stay on the schedule Commissioner David Stern revealed after reaching a tentative agreement with the players early last Saturday.
"I definitely remember that time and how hectic it was on the NBA side," Thorn said. "If you think it was hectic over here, it was really hectic on that side."
Trying to make the process smoother, the NBA agreed to allow players to re-enter the buildings Thursday. Coaches aren't allowed, but players, who will have to sign a waiver removing teams of liability in case of injury, can meet with the teams' training personnel and conduct unsupervised workouts. The decision was made in consultation with the union Tuesday, and league spokesman Tim Frank denied it had anything to do with the settlement of the litigation.
"We agreed that it was in everyone's interest that players have the opportunity to get back to work," he said.
The lockout began July 1, which would have been the opening of free agency. It finally arrived in a minimized form Wednesday morning, when teams were allowed to talk to agents. Contracts can't yet be offered or signed ? not that anyone is ready to rush into it as they digest the new signing and spending rules that will become official in the new deal.
Chandler, the starting center for NBA champion Dallas, and Denver's Nene headed a solid core of free agent big men. Jamal Crawford, the former top sixth man from Atlanta, was available for teams seeking backcourt scoring punch, and teams seeking a reliable veteran swingman could sort through Grant Hill, Shane Battier, Caron Butler and Tayshaun Prince.
But the class isn't spectacular, which is why the focus was already on next summer, when Howard, Paul and Deron Williams can become free agents.
There were reports that Paul planned to leave New Orleans, and that the teams were angling to trade for him. Nets general manager Billy King denied an ESPN.com report that he was preparing to offer Brook Lopez and two first-round picks to Orlando in hopes of getting Howard to play with Williams.
"I'll go on the record that I haven't talked to Orlando about a trade since February, right before the trade deadline," King said. "I have not had any conversations at all with my good friend Otis (Smith, the Magic general manager).
"So, I don't know where that is coming from."
The league could announce the opening-day schedule this week. The full regular-season schedule may not be unveiled until next week.
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AP Sports Writers Dan Gelston in Philadelphia and Jeff Latzke in Oklahoma City, and AP freelance writer Jim Hague in East Rutherford, N.J., contributed to this report.
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Follow Brian Mahoney on Twitter: twitter.com/Briancmahoney
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Family and legal troubles continue for country star Mindy McCready who says she will probably not return her 5-year-old son Zander to her parents in Florida.
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