Best and Worst Renditions of the National Anthem (omg!)

Don't blame Francis Scott Key

'The Star-Spangled Banner' may be America's national anthem, but the tune has been a perilous fight for many a singer taking on its octave-and-a-half (give or a take a fifth) range. Who could forget Michael Bolton, who was caught with the lyrics scribbled on his hand in a desperate attempt to remember the words? The past year has seen more than its fair share of anthem assaults; the latest mixed reviews came in for Steven Tyler, who gave the song a glam-rock gloss at the Patriots-Ravens NFL playoff game.

As a sophomore "American Idol" judge, Tyler has been on the offensive end of doling out singing advice. (It might be worth noting that two "Idol" prot?g?s -- winner Scott McCreery and runner-up Lauren Alaina -- have mangled the anthem.) Tyler's shredded rasp had Yahoo! Sports' Puck Daddy blog comparing his voice to that of an "alley cat with strep throat after a Novocain injection." Then again, YouTube "likes" have been running ahead at a roughly 2:1 ratio. "This was a Steven Tyler WIN!!!" extolled one comment.

Why is the anthem so hard to sing?

Screwing up the anthem has been as old a tradition as the anthem itself. The New York Times suggested tinkering with the tune -- actually an old English tavern ditty called "The Anacreontic Song" -- in the early 1900s. "The American people...stand mute, or they collapse in the middle of the first stanza."

One remedy, by a female musical correspondent who "modestly" wanted to remain anonymous, suggested "compressing the air at both ends, to prevent it from descending to the tonic and from ascending to the higher fifth, thereby keeping it within the compass of an octave plus a semi-tone. A characteristic trait of the original melody is based on the intervals of the common chord or triad."

Get it? Or, as the New York Times explained 35 years later, you jump 10 notes from a low B flat "with no preparation whatsoever" at that crucial "rockets' red glare" line, and then crawl up another two notes. No wonder a committee in 1942 had to come up with "The Code for the National Anthem of the United States of America."

The patriotic duty may be to sing along, but this is the stuff that can sideline political careers. A candidate always has to worry about an errant microphone. In Hillary Clinton's case back in 2008, some off-tune warbling earned her a few seconds of infamy.

Forgotten lyrics

OK, this one we might be able to blame on Francis Scott Key. If it's not the tune that brings them down, the lyrics trip them up. Christina Aguilera has been honing her "Star-Spangled" rendition since she was 7 years old, singing often for the Pittsburgh Penguins. But when her Super Bowl XLV moment came, she choked up and had to apologize for crooning about the twilight's last gleaming instead of those broad stripes and bright stars so gallantly streaming.

Aguilera later explained, "I got so caught up in the moment of the song, that I lost my place." Don't worry, Christina, there's proof you knew the words once. Here's a young Aguilera, beginning at the 0:53 mark.

Aguilera started off a 2011 anthem downslide that continued with Cyndi Lauper, whose reverent take at the U.S. Open tennis tournament hit the "O'er the ramparts we watched," then went off a cliff into what sounds like "the frag was still streaming."

Cheaters never win

Time magazine, in a merciless hit list of "Top 10 Worst National-Anthem Renditions" flayed Michael Bolton for writing the lyrics on his hands for his 2003 Fenway Park performance. Tell us, how was he supposed to carry on, when all those lyrics are so long?

Second chances

Comedian Roseanne Barr usually tops my-ears-are-bleeding-revoke-her-citizenship lists. As offensive as her 1990 San Diego Padres performance was (not to mention the crotch-grab), did anybody really expect Barr to sing?

Then again, it took some cajones for Barr to claim her shot at redemption, 20 years later, on her Lifetime show, "Roseanne's Nuts." "Singing 'The Star-Spangled Banner' the first time ruined everything. I really wanted to just turn the car around and not to do it," Barr says on the show. "But when I saw my grandkids, I did want them to know no matter if you made a bad mistake, nobody can stop you from trying to correct it."

How it's done

For every booed version, there's a crowd pleaser. The favorite from the 2011 World Series was Zooey Deschanel's rendition.

The kiddie round-up

Maybe the secret is to find someone who doesn't know about all the baggage that comes with the anthem -- and how your missteps live forever online. This was certainly the case for two young ladies: 8-year-old Elizabeth Hughes, who inspired a crowd sing-along, and 10-year-old Lily Anderson, diagnosed with stage 4 neuroblastoma. Stand up and salute.?

On February 4, Yahoo! will be streaming the Bud Light Hotel concert featuring Pitbull, 50 Cent and Lil Jon. Show time is at 7 p.m. PT/10 p.m. ET, and there will be more Super Bowl party coverage throughout the week.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_best_and_worst_renditions_of_the_national_anthem/44360851/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/best-and-worst-renditions-of-the-national-anthem.html

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Japan population seen falling 30 percent by 2060 (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) ? Japan's population is expected to fall by 30 percent to below 90 million by 2060, with two out of every five people 65 or older, a government agency said on Monday, underlining the financial burden looming over the fast-aging society.

The grim forecast underscores the failure of efforts to encourage people to have more babies and will add urgency to efforts on tax and social security reform, and could also stir debate on immigration.

By 2060, the number of people aged 14 or younger is forecast to be less than 8 million while there will be nearly 35 million people aged 65 or older.

The population is aging at the fastest pace among developed countries because of a low birthrate and long life expectancy.

"The trend of the aging society will continue and it is hard to expect the birth rate to rise significantly," Chief Cabinet Secretary Osamu Fujimura told a news conference.

"Thus, comprehensive tax and social security reform is needed."

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has vowed to double a 5 percent sales tax in two stages by October 2015 to help fund bulging social security costs, which are rising by 1 trillion yen ($13 billion) a year and aggravating a public debt already twice the size of Japan's $5 trillion economy.

But the biggest opposition party, although agreeing on the need for a tax increase, is threatening to block legislation in parliament's upper house. The opposition argues that the ruling Democrats' plan to revamp public pensions would require a higher levy than planned.

The population is expected to fall below 100 million in 2048 and dip further to 86.74 million by 2060, from 128.06 million in 2010, according to a projection by a research arm of the Health Ministry.

By 2060, the number of people aged 14 or younger is forecast to fall by more than half, to 7.91 million. By contrast, the number aged 65 or older is seen rising 18 percent to 34.64 million, accounting for 39.9 percent of the population, compared with 23.0 percent in 2010.

The pace of aging has slowed somewhat from the previous estimate made in 2006 but the overall trend has not changed.

"URGENT AND VITAL ISSUE"

The fertility rate, the expected number of children born per couple, is expected to reach 1.35 in 2060 from 1.39 in 2010, below the 2.08 needed to keep the population from shrinking and compared with a global rate of about 2.5.

Some experts have called for the liberalization of immigration rules but many Japanese are cautious about opening the door to foreigners who, many believe, have trouble assimilating in a society where homogeneity has been seen as a source of stability.

Hidenori Suezawa, chief strategist at SMBC Nikko Securities, said the government needed to tackle the sluggish birth rate to help fix the nation's tattered finances and social security system.

"It is necessary to reaffirm that policies to address the low birth rate are an urgent and vital issue," he said in a note.

Japan has been trying for at least two decades to raise the birth rate without success and critics say making it easier for women to work and raise children at the same time is key.

The ruling Democrats promised to beef up childcare allowances when it took power for the first time in 2009 but it has had to revise that pledge because of a worsening fiscal problem.

The population estimate also showed that average life expectancy will rise by more than four years in 2060, to 84.19 for men and 90.93 for women.

The population projection is compiled roughly every five years based on data including a census and demographic statistics and serves as a reference for government social security policy.

($1 = 76.7350 yen)

(Reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto; Additional reporting by Kaori Kaneko; Editing by Chris Gallagher and Robert Birsel)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120130/wl_nm/us_japan_economy_aging

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China says 29 abducted in Sudan still being held (AP)

BEIJING ? Chinese state media say that none of the 29 Chinese workers abducted after an attack in a volatile region of Sudan have been freed despite reports saying some of the workers have been released.

The official Xinhua News Agency said Tuesday that the 29 road workers are still being held. It says 18 others fled, and 17 of those were rescued. One is still missing.

The workers were abducted Saturday by militants in a remote region in Sudan's south. Sudanese state media said Monday that 14 of them had been freed.

The Chinese ambassador to Sudan, Luo Xiaoguang, said on Chinese state television that anti-government rebels attacked the road project the Chinese were working on.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120131/ap_on_re_as/as_china_sudan

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29 Chinese missing after militant attack in Sudan (AP)

BEIJING ? Militants apparently captured 29 Chinese workers after attacking a remote worksite in a volatile region of Sudan, and Sudanese forces were increasing security for Chinese projects and personnel there, China said Sunday.

China has close political and economic relations with Sudan, especially in the energy sector.

The Foreign Ministry in Beijing said the militants attacked Saturday and Sudanese forces launched a rescue mission Sunday in coordination with the Chinese embassy in Khartoum.

The Ministry's head of consular affairs met with the Sudanese ambassador in Beijing and "urged him to actively conduct rescue missions under the prerequisite of ensuring the safety of the Chinese personnel," the statement said.

In Khartoum, a Chinese embassy spokesman said the northern branch of the Sudan People's Liberation Movement announced that 29 Chinese workers had been captured in the attack. The spokesman, who asked not be identified, gave no other details and it wasn't clear if the militants had demanded conditions for their return.

Other details weren't given. The official Xinhua News Agency cited the state governor as saying the Sudan People's Liberation Movement attacked a road-building site in South Kordofan and seized the workers.

The Sudan People's Liberation Movement are a guerrilla force that has fought against Sudan's regime. Its members hail from a minority ethnic group now in control of much of South Sudan, which became the world's newest country only six months ago in a breakaway from Sudan.

Sudan has accused South Sudan of arming pro-South Sudan groups in South Kordofan. The government of South Sudan has called such accusations a smoke screen intended to justify a future invasion of the South.

China has sent large numbers of workers to potentially unstable regions such as Sudan and last year was forced to send ships and planes to help with the emergency evacuation of 30,000 of its citizens from the fighting in Libya.

China has consistently used its clout in diplomatic forums such as the United Nations to defend Sudan and its longtime leader Omar al-Bashir. In recent years, it has also sought to build good relations with leaders from the south, where most of Sudan's oil is located.

Chinese companies have also invested heavily in Sudanese oil production, along with companies India and elsewhere.

___

Associated Press writer Mohamed Saeed contributed to this report from Khartoum.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/china/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120129/ap_on_re_as/as_china_sudan

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Eclectic Fla. museum to be emptied by auction (AP)

BOCA RATON, Fla. ? Say goodbye to the twirling carousel, the rows of perfectly shined classic cars, the player pianos and jukeboxes. They're selling all the neon signs, the slot machines, the antique guns, the Tiffany lamps, the hulking chandeliers. There will be no more rare organs or vintage gas pumps or the Army airplane gliding overhead, none of this out-of-this-world collection that took a lifetime to amass.

It will all be gone soon, before most people ever knew it existed.

Two brothers, Bob and Paul Milhous, are liquidating their one-of-a-kind private museum after spending decades scouring the world to find its gems. The Milhous Collection, as the items in their 39,000-square-foot building have become known, head to the auction block next month, estimated to fetch around $40 million.

"Our time's kind of up with them," said Bob Milhous, who at 75, is the elder brother. "It's time to move on."

The men first started picking up collectible cars and rare automated musical instruments a half-century ago, but they never knew it would grow into this. Their hobby became something of an obsession, with them buying so furiously their collections outgrew their own homes, then spilled into a succession of three increasingly larger spaces, until they built a new museum here, within a suburban corporate park, in a nondescript building that gives no hint of its holdings.

"Our wives say, `Most people go to the museum and buy a postcard,'" recalled Paul Milhous, 73, "`You go to the museum and buy the museum.'"

What they have built is part carnival, part sparkling car showroom. It has both Vegas glitz and the refrained elegance of a Prohibition-era speakeasy. You find yourself in a room of thick red drapes, a massive crystal chandelier and a variety of musical instruments that line the walls then, moments later, in the glow of neon, surrounded by the chrome and steel of collector cars.

Quite simply, you've never seen anything like it.

"People come here and they leave amazed and then they try to explain it to somebody what they saw and it just doesn't work," Paul Milhous said.

The Indianapolis-born brothers are distant cousins of President Richard Milhous Nixon. They made their fortune in the printing business, making circulars and comic strip inserts for newspapers. They sold off that business in the 1990s, but were involved in a string of other manufacturing pursuits, making plastics, metals, ink, foam and on and on. They still have involvement in a number of real estate ventures, but have liquidated other businesses in their holdings as they plan their estates. Giving up all their prized collectibles is part of it.

"`Don't leave this burden to us," Paul Milhous recalled his and his brother's wives saying.

And, so, on Feb. 24 and 25, it will all be sold. Two auction houses, RM Auctions and Sotheby's, have divided it up into more than 550 lots, each to be sold to the highest bidder.

There is the whimsical: Dozens of vintage toy cars, giant toy soldiers that once stood at FAO Schwarz in New York, funhouse mirrors and carnival sideshow banners. There is artwork, fine furniture and the contents of a turn-of-the-20th century barbershop.

But the real highlights are in the Milhous collections of classic cars, the mechanical musical instruments and the carousel that is the centerpiece of their museum.

There are 29 cars, 5 motorcycles, 2 tractors, a motorbike, a popcorn and peanut wagon and a PT-22 airplane. Among the cars is the only known surviving 1912 Oldsmobile Limited, which is estimated to bring bids around $1.5 million.

The instruments include music boxes, player pianos, band organs and orchestrions, which are made to simulate the sound of an orchestra all in one piece. There are dozens of theater, fair and dance organs. At least eight of the instruments have price estimates that exceed $1 million each. Many are elaborately decorated with oil paintings, stained glass, gold leaf and moving figurines.

Still, nothing in this eclectic palace draws the eye more than the carousel. The brothers searched for years for precisely what they wanted. When nothing turned up, they had one built, with 42 animals hand-carved from basswood and a Wurlitzer band organ. Its estimated price is $1 million to $1.5 million.

The museum has been kept so private over the years the idea of opening it to the public for an auction makes the brothers a bit uneasy. It has played host to many charity events, but whenever they've opened it up, it has been to limited audiences, with off-duty police officers hired to stand guard over their prized possessions. Now, anyone who buys a $120 auction catalog will be able to come to the preview.

For now, they're preparing to bid farewell to it all, and enjoying their final moments with it. On a recent tour, they recalled their first purchases and remembered all the places they've driven their many cars. And as they walk into a dimly-lit second-floor room of the museum, its walls lined with all types of instruments, only one question comes from Paul Milhous' lips.

"What do we want to play?" he asks.

___

Follow Matt Sedensky at http://www.twitter.com/sedensky

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Video: Romney leads in NBC News-Marist poll in FL

A Second Take on Meeting the Press: From an up-close look at Rachel Maddow's sneakers to an in-depth look at Jon Krakauer's latest book ? it's all fair game in our "Meet the Press: Take Two" web extra. Log on Sundays to see David Gregory's post-show conversations with leading newsmakers, authors and roundtable guests. Videos are available on-demand by 12 p.m. ET on Sundays.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/vp/46180692#46180692

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Researchers discover cancer in Egyptian mummy

CAIRO, Egypt ? A professor from American University in Cairo said the discovery of prostate cancer in a 2,200-year-old mummy indicates the disease was caused by genetics, not environment.

AUC professor Salima Ikram, a member of the team that studied the mummy in Portugal for two years, said Sunday the mummy was a man who died in his forties.

She said this was the second oldest known case of prostate cancer.

?Living conditions in ancient times were very different; there were no pollutants or modified foods, which leads us to believe that the disease is not necessarily only linked to industrial factors,? she said.

A statement from AUC said the oldest known case came from a 2,700-year-old skeleton of a king in Russia.

Source: http://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2012/jan/29/researchers-discover-cancer-egyptian-mummy/

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Jury finds Afghan family guilty in honor killings

Mohammad Shafia, centre, Tooba Yahya, right, and Hamed Shafia, left, arrive at the Frontenac County courthouse in Kingston, Ontario, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. A jury took 15 hours to find Shafia, 58, his wife Tooba Yahya, 42, and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in a case so shocking it has riveted Canadians from coast to coast. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Graham Hughes)

Mohammad Shafia, centre, Tooba Yahya, right, and Hamed Shafia, left, arrive at the Frontenac County courthouse in Kingston, Ontario, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. A jury took 15 hours to find Shafia, 58, his wife Tooba Yahya, 42, and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in a case so shocking it has riveted Canadians from coast to coast. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Graham Hughes)

Mohammad Shafia, center, Tooba Yahya, right, and Hamed Shafia, left, arrive at the Frontenac County courthouse in Kingston, Ontario, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. A jury took 15 hours to find each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in a case so shocking it has riveted Canadians from coast to coast. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Graham Hughes)

Tooba Yahya is led away from the Frontenac County courthouse in Kingston, Ontario, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, after being found guilty of first degree murder. A jury took 15 hours to find Shafia, 58, his wife Tooba Yahya, 42, and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in a case so shocking it has riveted Canadians from coast to coast. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Graham Hughes)

Mohammad Shafia, front,Tooba Yahya, center and Hamed Shafia arrive at the Frontenac County courthouse in Kingston, Ont., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. A jury took 15 hours to find Shafia, 58, his wife Tooba Yahya, 42, and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder of Mohammad Shafia's three daughters and childless first wife. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Graham Hughes)

Mohammad Shafia reacts as he his led away from the Frontenac County courthouse in Kingston, Ont., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, after being found guilty of first degree murder of his three daughters and childless first wife. A jury took 15 hours to find Shafia, 58, his wife Tooba Yahya, 42, and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in a case so shocking it has riveted Canadians from coast to coast. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Graham Hughes)

KINGSTON, Ontario (AP) ? A jury on Sunday found three members of an Afghan family guilty of killing three teenage sisters and another woman in what the judge described as "cold-blooded, shameful murders" resulting from a "twisted concept of honor," ending a case that shocked and riveted Canadians.

Prosecutors said the defendants allegedly killed the three teenage sisters because they dishonored the family by defying its disciplinarian rules on dress, dating, socializing and using the Internet.

The jury took 15 hours to find Mohammad Shafia, 58; his wife Tooba Yahya, 42; and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder. First-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.

After the verdict was read, the three defendants again declared their innocence in the killings of sisters Zainab, 19, Sahar 17, and Geeti, 13, as well as Rona Amir Mohammad, 52, Shafia's childless first wife in a polygamous marriage.

Their bodies were found June 30, 2009, in a car submerged in a canal in Kingston, Ontario, where the family had stopped for the night on their way home to Montreal from Niagara Falls, Ontario.

The prosecution alleged it was a case of premeditated murder, staged to look like an accident after it was carried out. Prosecutors said the defendants drowned their victims elsewhere on the site, placed their bodies in the car and pushed it into the canal.

Ontario Superior Court Judge Robert Maranger said the evidence clearly supported the conviction.

"It is difficult to conceive of a more heinous, more despicable, more honorless crime," Maranger said. "The apparent reason behind these cold-blooded, shameful murders was that the four completely innocent victims offended your completely twisted concept of honor ... that has absolutely no place in any civilized society."

In a statement following the verdict, Canadian Justice Minister Rob Nicholson called honor killings a practice that is "barbaric and unacceptable in Canada."

Defense lawyers said the deaths were accidental. They said the Nissan car accidentally plunged into the canal after the eldest daughter, Zainab, took it for a joy ride with her sisters and her father's first wife. Hamed said he watched the accident, although he didn't call police from the scene.

After the jury returned the verdicts, Mohammad Shafia, speaking through a translator, said, "We are not criminal, we are not murderer, we didn't commit the murder and this is unjust."

His weeping wife, Tooba, also declared the verdict unjust, saying, "I am not a murderer, and I am a mother, a mother."

Their son, Hamed, speaking in English said, "I did not drown my sisters anywhere."

Hamed's lawyer, Patrick McCann, said he was disappointed with the verdict, but said his client will appeal and he believes the other two defendants will as well.

But prosecutor Gerard Laarhuis welcomed the verdict.

"This jury found that four strong, vivacious and freedom-loving women were murdered by their own family in the most troubling of circumstances," Laarhuis said outside court.

"This verdict sends a very clear message about our Canadian values and the core principles in a free and democratic society that all Canadians enjoy and even visitors to Canada enjoy," he said to cheers of approval from onlookers.

The family had left Afghanistan in 1992 and lived in Pakistan, Australia and Dubai before settling in Canada in 2007. Shafia, a wealthy businessman, married Yahya because his first wife could not have children.

Shafia's first wife was living with him and his second wife. The polygamous relationship, if revealed, could have resulted in their deportation.

The prosecution painted a picture of a household controlled by a domineering Shafia, with Hamed keeping his sisters in line and doling out discipline when his father was away on frequent business trips to Dubai.

The months leading up to the deaths were not happy ones in the Shafia household, according to evidence presented at trial. Zainab, the oldest daughter, was forbidden to attend school for a year because she had a young Pakistani-Canadian boyfriend, and she fled to a shelter, terrified of her father, the court was told.

The prosecution said her parents found condoms in Sahar's room as well as photos of her wearing short skirts and hugging her Christian boyfriend, a relationship she had kept secret. Geeti was becoming almost impossible to control: skipping school, failing classes, being sent home for wearing revealing clothes and stealing, while declaring to authority figures that she wanted to be placed in foster care, according to the prosecution.

Shafia's first wife wrote in a diary that her husband beat her and "made life a torture," while his second wife called her a servant.

The prosecution presented wire taps and mobile phone records from the Shafia family in court to support their honor killing allegation. The wiretaps, which capture Shafia spewing vitriol about his dead daughters, calling them treacherous and whores and invoking the devil to defecate on their graves, were a focal point of the trial.

"There can be no betrayal, no treachery, no violation more than this," Shafia said on one recording. "Even if they hoist me up onto the gallows ... nothing is more dear to me than my honor."

Defense lawyers argued that at no point in the intercepts do the accused say they drowned the victims.

Shafia's lawyer, Peter Kemp, said after the verdicts that he believes the comments his client made on the wiretaps may have weighed more heavily on the jury's minds than the physical evidence in the case.

"He wasn't convicted for what he did," Kemp said. "He was convicted for what he said."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-29-CN-Canada-Honor-Killing/id-68aad2c2f7dc45ea84364cfc8cbba084

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$132.9 billion: Remember TARP? It still owes you.

$132.9 billion short, the 2008 US bailout of the financial system could continue through 2017. Some of the $132.9 billion TARP money will never be recovered.?

A government watchdog says U.S. taxpayers are still owed $132.9 billion that companies haven't repaid from the financial bailout, and some of that will never be recovered.

Skip to next paragraph

The bailout launched at the height of the financial crisis in September 2008 will continue to exist for years, says a report issued Thursday by Christy Romero, the acting special inspector general for the $700 billion bailout. Some bailout programs, such as the effort to help homeowners avoid foreclosure by reducing mortgage payments, will last as late as 2017, costing the government an additional $51 billion or so.

The gyrating stock market has slowed the Treasury Department's efforts to sell off its stakes in 458 bailed-out companies, the report says. They include insurer American International Group Inc., General Motors Co. and Ally Financial Inc.

If Treasury plans to sell its stock in the three companies at or above the price where taxpayers would break even on their investment ? $28.73 a share for AIG, $53.98 for GM ? it may take a long time for the market to rebound to that level, the report says. AIG's shares closed Wednesday at $25.31, while GM ended at $24.92. Ally isn't publicly traded.

It will also be challenging for the government to get out of the 458 companies as the market remains volatile and banks struggle to keep afloat in the tough economy, it says.

Congress authorized $700 billion for the bailout of financial companies and automakers, and $413.4 billion was paid out. So far the government has recovered about $318 billion. The bailout is called the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or?TARP.

"TARP?is not over," Romero said in a statement. She said her office will maintain its commitment to protect taxpayers for the duration of the program.

Treasury spokesman Matt Anderson said the department "has made substantial progress winding down?TARP and has already recovered more than 77 percent of the funds disbursed for the program, through repayments and other income."

"We'll continue to balance the important goals of exiting our investments as soon as practicable and maximizing value for taxpayers," Anderson said.

The government has unwound its investments in four of the companies that received the most aid: Bank of America Corp., Citigroup Inc., Chrysler Group LLC and Chrysler Financial, the automaker's old lending arm.

On Wednesday, Treasury announced that it had sold the final batch of securities under its $368 million Small Business Administration loan program under?TARP.

In Romero's quarterly report to Congress, she said her office has uncovered and prevented fraud related to TARP. Investigations by her office resulted in criminal charges against 10 people and three convictions in the quarter ended Dec. 31, the report notes. Altogether, the investigations have resulted in criminal charges against 61 people, including 45 senior company executives, according to the report. Thirty-one of the 61 individuals have been convicted. Civil charges have been filed against 38 people.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/hOXxW4Sz7Qs/132.9-billion-Remember-TARP-It-still-owes-you

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US women's soccer team qualifies for Olympics

Team United States celebrates their 3-0 win over Costa Rica in CONCACAF women's Olympic qualifying soccer game action at B.C. Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jonathan Hayward)

Team United States celebrates their 3-0 win over Costa Rica in CONCACAF women's Olympic qualifying soccer game action at B.C. Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jonathan Hayward)

United States' Alex Morgan (13) celebrates her team's 3-0 win over Costa Rica in CONCACAF women's Olympic qualifying soccer game action at B.C. Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jonathan Hayward)

United States' Carli Lloyd (10) fights for control of the ball with Costa Rica's Wendy Acosta (20) during the first half of CONCACAF women's Olympic qualifying soccer game action at B.C. Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jonathan Hayward)

United States goalkeeper Hope Solo (1) clears the ball from in front of her net during the second half against Costa Rica at the CONCACAF women's Olympic qualifying soccer game action at B.C. Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jonathan Hayward)

United States' Abby Wambach, center, crashes into Costa Rica goalkeeper Erika Miranda, left, during the first half of CONCACAF women's Olympic qualifying soccer game action at B.C. Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jonathan Hayward)

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) ? So much was on the line for the U.S. women's soccer team that maybe some jitters were understandable. When a 30-yard shot hit the frame of goalpost, leaving the ball sitting in front of an empty net, the hearts really started pounding.

"That," defender Rachel Buehler said, "was a very intense moment in the game."

Buehler motored in to save the day, knocking an opposing striker off the ball. The Americans had survived another dicey moment. It took a while, but eventually they wore down a heavy underdog and earned their spot in the Olympics.

The United States booked its way to London on Friday night with a 3-0 victory over Costa Rica in the semifinals of the CONCACAF qualifying tournament, a game more suspenseful than most anyone expected.

"There were moments where I think Costa Rica were outplaying us, and it just shows you how important it was to all of us," forward Abby Wambach said. "Nobody wanted to make that mistake. And luckily we didn't."

Tobin Heath scored in the 16th minute to give U.S. all the offense it needed, and goals by Carli Lloyd (72nd) and Alex Morgan (89th) put the game away.

"We know that sometimes under big game circumstances players can get a little tight," Wambach said. "And you've just kind of got to deal with it. ... It was almost as if we scored that goal and nobody wanted to get stuck into a tackle. We were kind of playing a little bit soft, and we fixed that in the second half."

The top-ranked Americans were certainly not as crisp as they were when they were beating teams by a combined 31-0 in their previous three games and drawing criticism for running up the score. Sloppy passes led to giveaways in the first half, forcing goalkeeper Hope Solo to work harder than she has all tournament.

"When you play games that matter, everybody's a little bit nervous. ... We gave away the ball way too often," coach Pia Sundhage said.

Costa Rica is ranked No. 41 in the world, has never qualified for an Olympics or a World Cup and has never scored on the U.S. in eight meetings. Las Ticas proved to be scrappy opponents, however, occasionally frustrating the Americans with physical play and just missing on two solid scoring chances in the first half in the London-or-bust match. As the possibility of an upset lingered deep into the second half, the plucky team in red gained the rousing support of the Canadian fans at BC Place.

"We put together three great games in group play," said Solo, who played despite a slightly pulled right quadriceps that had been bothering her all week. "You can't play four, five, six. Not every team is going to play perfectly every single game, but we got the job done."

The U.S. will be the two-time defending champions in London, having taken gold in Athens in 2004 and in Beijing in 2008. It will be the third straight Olympics in which the Americans will be trying to make amends for World Cup disappointment from the previous year. They finished second at last year's World Cup in Germany, losing to Japan in the final.

The victory also puts the Americans into the tournament final Sunday, a bragging-rights-only game against Canada, a 3-1 winner over Mexico in the second semifinal.

The U.S. had scored so easily in the tournament that it seemed odd to see the game scoreless until the 16th minute, when a set piece produced the first goal. Lauren Cheney's corner kick was headed down at the far post by Shannon Boxx. Goalkeeper Erika Miranda made the save but deflected the ball to Heath, whose looping header was her fifth career U.S. national team goal.

Costa Rica, outscored 34-0 in the seven previous games against the U.S., nearly tied the game after a giveaway by Buehler set up Fernanda Barrantes with a clean look from 15 yards in the 20th minute, forcing Solo to the ground to make the save.

Then, in the 27th, came the play that nearly changed the game. Carol Sanchez launched the 30-yarder that clanged off the frame at the intersection of the post and the crossbar. With Solo on the ground, Buehler fought off Barrantes to keep the striker from getting the rebound with a clean shot at the net.

"I just did everything I could to get back there, get in front of that girl and just prevent the goal," Buehler said.

Costa Rica finally had its hopes deflated in the 72nd, when Wambach's chip shot was cleared off the line by Daniela Cruz and out to Lloyd, whose left-footer from the top of the 18-yard box doubled the lead.

Morgan, back in her usual role as second-half super-sub, chipped in the insurance goal shortly before the final whistle.

Even with the closer-than-expected result, the Americans have evoked the good old days at this tournament with their mostly lopsided scores. While that's hardly surprising given the slow development of women's soccer in parts of North and Central American and the Caribbean, it's also indicative the U.S. still have the deepest, most talented team in the world.

But Sundhage's team arrived in Canada with a bit of apprehension. The Americans, having become somewhat complacent from years of uncontested success in the region, were stunned in a World Cup qualifier by host Mexico in November 2010, forcing them into a home-and-away playoff with Italy just to get for the World Cup. Also, the format for Olympic qualifying is such that everything hinges on one game ? the do-or-die semifinals ? regardless of how a team performs in the rest of the tournament.

Determined to take nothing for granted, the Americans had been full throttle for every game. They set a U.S. team record for goals in a game in a 14-0 win over the Dominican Republic, then nearly matched the feat in a 13-0 rout of Guatemala. Then came a 4-0 win a much anticipated rematch with Mexico to set up the semifinal against Costa Rica.

And even though the vital game didn't go quite as planned, the outcome was all that mattered.

"We," Sundhage said, smiling, "are going to London."

___

Joseph White can be reached at http://twitter.com/JGWhiteAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-28-SOC-Costa%20Rica-US/id-5e1886101a2d4a2396a278353cb6b742

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US man helping in Haiti rebuilding is shot, robbed (AP)

MIAMI ? A U.S. man who helped build a trauma center in Haiti after January 2010's devastating earthquake was treated at that hospital after being critically wounded during a robbery in the capital of Port-au-Prince, his wife and doctors said Friday.

David Bompart, 50, of Columbus, Ohio, was shot Tuesday afternoon outside a bank and was in critical condition Friday at a Florida hospital. Bompart was picking up money for an orphanage building project when robbers sprayed bullets at him at close range. He was hit but able to walk to a nearby Project Medishare hospital for help, said his wife, Nicolle Bompart, 45.

The robbers stole his camera and passport, but the money for the orphanage remained safe in Bompart's pants pocket, his wife said. The suspects have not been arrested.

"I feel like this was a robbery (by) some people who were desperate to feed their families, and I choose to look at it as that's why they did it," Nicolle Bompart said.

He underwent two surgeries at Hospital Bernard Mevs Project Medishare before he was airlifted Thursday night to a Miami hospital, said spokeswoman Catherine Murphy.

Bompart was on a ventilator at the Ryder Trauma Center and had gunshot wounds to the chest and abdomen, said Dr. Nicholas Namias, the center's co-medical director.

"What we're dealing with now are the effects of being in shock for a long time in Haiti," Namias said.

Bompart managed Project Medishare's warehouse and logistics, said co-founder, Dr. Barth Green.

Since October, Bompart had been working on building the orphanage through the couple's own charity, Eyes Wide Open International, said his wife, who flew to Haiti after the shooting.

The couple has spent much of their time since January 2010 flying between Haiti, Florida and Ohio for their charity work and for medical care for their 14-year-old son, a Haitian boy they adopted after the earthquake. The Bomparts also have a 26-year-old daughter.

Bompart knew about the potential risks of working in Haiti's capital, which had been prone to instability and violence before the earthquake. But he was devoted to helping widows and orphans in Haiti and he felt he could rely on his training as a former United Nations employee and as a member of the military in his native Trinidad and Tobago, his wife said.

"Honestly, if he was able to tell you, he would say that he would do it all over again, if it would change someone's life or bring awareness to this situation," Nicolle Bompart said. "He would still do it, because that's the kind of guy he is."

___

Online:

For updates on Dave Bompart's progress: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/davidbompart

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_re_us/us_gunshot_victim_haiti

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Peru: 26 killed in fire at rehabilitation center

ALTERNATIVE CROP OF MMS105 - The bodies of people who were killed in a fire lie on the ground as firefighters try to revive others after removing them from the Christ is Love center for drug and alcohol addicts in Lima, Peru, Saturday Jan. 28, 2012. A fire swept through a two-story private rehabilitation center for addicts in a poor part of Peru's capital on Saturday, killing at least 26 people as firefighters punched holes through walls to rescue residents locked inside. (AP Photo)

ALTERNATIVE CROP OF MMS105 - The bodies of people who were killed in a fire lie on the ground as firefighters try to revive others after removing them from the Christ is Love center for drug and alcohol addicts in Lima, Peru, Saturday Jan. 28, 2012. A fire swept through a two-story private rehabilitation center for addicts in a poor part of Peru's capital on Saturday, killing at least 26 people as firefighters punched holes through walls to rescue residents locked inside. (AP Photo)

A police officer stands next to a group of bodies outside the "Christ is Love" center for drug and alcohol addicts in Lima, Peru, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. A fire swept through the private rehabilitation center for Saturday, killing at least 26 people and injuring 10 as firefighters punched holes through walls to rescue residents trapped inside. (AP Photo/Juan Contreras)

Police officers stand next a group of bodies outside the "Christ is Love" center for drug and alcohol addicts in Lima, Peru, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. A fire swept through the private rehabilitation center for Saturday, killing at least 26 people and injuring 10 as firefighters punched holes through walls to rescue residents trapped inside. (AP Photo/Juan Contreras)

Relatives of patients of the "Christ is Love" center for drug and alcohol addicts, react in Lima, Peru, Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012. A fire swept through the private rehabilitation center for Saturday, killing at least 26 people and injuring 10 as firefighters punched holes through walls to rescue residents trapped inside. (AP Photo/Juan Contreras)

LIMA, Peru (AP) ? A fire swept through a two-story private rehabilitation center for addicts in a poor part of Peru's capital Saturday, killing 26 people and critically injuring six as firefighters punched holes through walls to rescue residents locked inside.

The "Christ is Love" center for drug and alcohol addicts was unlicensed and overcrowded and its residents were apparently kept inside "like prisoners," Health Minister Alberto Tejada told The Associated Press.

Six men rescued from the building were hospitalized in critical condition, said Peru's fire chief, Antonio Zavala, adding that most of the victims died of asphyxiation. All the victims appeared to be male.

The local police chief, Clever Zegarra, said the cause of the 9 a.m. fire was under investigation.

"There has been talk of the burning of an object, of a mattress, but also of a fight that resulted in a fire. All of this is speculation," he told the AP. "I've been here at the scene from morning to evening but for the moment the exact cause of the fire is not known."

One resident of the center on a narrow dead-end street in Lima's teeming San Juan de Lurigancho district said he was eating breakfast on the second floor of the center when he saw flames coming from the first floor, where the blaze apparently began.

Gianfranco Huerta told local RPP news radio station that he leaped from a window to safety.

"The doors were locked; there was no way to get out," he told the station.

AP journalists at scene said all the windows of the building they were able to see were barred. Journalists were not allowed inside as police cordoned off the block. By early afternoon, all the dead had been removed from the center.

Most of the bodies seen by reporters were shirtless, their faces blackened. Many were also shoeless.

"This rehabilitation center wasn't authorized. It was a house that they had taken over ... for patients with addictions and they had the habit of leaving people locked up with no medical supervision," Tejada, the health minister, said.

Authorities said they did not know how many people were inside the center at the time of the fire. They said they were looking for the center's owners and staff, some of whom apparently fled the scene.

The local police chief, Zegarra, identified the owner as Raul Garcia.

Zoila Chea, an aunt of one victim, said families paid Garcia $37 to treat an addicted relative and $15 a week thereafter.

She said that neighbors had constantly complained about the center and that it had been closed twice by authorities.

Chea, 45, said relatives were prohibited from seeing interned patients during the first three months of treatment, which she added consisted mainly of reading the Bible.

Her nephew, Luis Chea, was at the center for a month, she said.

Zavala, the national fire chief, said the blaze was of "Dantesque proportions." Firefighters had to punch a hole through a wall with an adjoining building to help people trapped inside the rehabilitation center.

"We've had to use electric saws to cut through the metal bars of the doors to be able to work," Zavala said.

Relatives of residents of the center gathered near the building weeping and seeking word of their loved ones. As the day wore on, nearby sidewalks filled with relatives mourning and trying to console one another.

One of them was Maria Benitez, aunt of 18-year-old Carlos Benitez, who she said was being treated at the center.

"I want to know if he is OK or not," she told ATV television.

___

Associated Press journalists Mauricio Munoz, Cesar Barreto and Frank Bajak contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-28-LT-Peru-Fire/id-3b1fe54e44014f53b445e59f7dddb347

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Obama admin says new forest rules stress science (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The Obama administration says new rules to manage nearly 200 million acres of national forests will protect watersheds and wildlife while promoting uses ranging from recreation to logging.

The new rules, to replace guidelines thrown out by a federal court in 2009, are set to take effect in early March. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced the rule change on Thursday.

Vilsack said in an interview that the rules reflect more than 300,000 comments received since a draft plan was released last year. The new rules strengthen a requirement that decisions be based on the best available science and recognize that forests are used for a variety of purposes, Vilsack said.

"I think it's a solid rule and done in a collaborative, open and transparent way," he said.

The guidelines, known as a forest planning rule, will encourage forest restoration and watershed protection while creating opportunities for the timber industry and those who use the forest for recreation, he said.

Vilsack, who has pledged to break through the logjam of political conflict over forest management, said the new regulation's emphasis on science and multiple uses should allow it to stand up to likely court challenges from environmental groups or the timber industry.

"I am hopeful and confident that it will stand scrutiny," he said.

Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell said the guidelines would allow land management plans for individual forests to be completed more quickly and at a lower cost than under current rules, which date to the Reagan administration.

Several attempts to revise the 1982 planning rule have been thrown out by federal courts in the past decade. Most recently a Bush administration plan was struck down in 2009. Environmentalists had fought the rule, saying it rolled back key forest protections.

The Obama administration did not appeal the ruling, electing to develop a new forest planning rule to protect water, climate and wildlife.

Under the new rule, forest plans could be developed within three to four years instead of taking up to seven years, as under current guidelines, Tidwell said.

"We really can protect the forest at lower cost with less time," he said.

The new regulation also should give forest managers more flexibility to address conditions on the ground, such as projects to thin the forest to reduce the risk of wildfire, Tidwell said.

"We'll be able to get more work done ? get more out of the forest and create more jobs," while at the same allowing greater recreational use, Tidwell said. Recreational use of the forest has grown exponentially in recent years.

Like Vilsack, Tidwell said he is optimistic the new plan will stand up to scrutiny from environmental groups and the timber industry, both of which have challenged previous planning rules in court.

"I'm optimistic that folks will want to give it a shot," Tidwell said.

The 155 national forests and grasslands managed by the Forest Service cover 193 million acres in 42 states and Puerto Rico. Balance between industry and conservation in those areas has been tough to find since the existing rules went into effect three decades ago.

At least three revisions of the rules have been struck down since 2000.

The planning rule designates certain animal species that must be protected to ensure ecosystems are healthy. However, the rule became the basis of numerous lawsuits that sharply cut back logging to protect habitat for fish and wildlife.

Meanwhile, the timber industry has continued to clamor for more logs, and conservation groups keep challenging timber sales, drilling and mining projects.

Tom Partin, president of the American Forest Resource Council, a timber industry group, said his members will review the final rule to see if it follows a federal rule to manage forests for a diversity of plants and animals ? not in a manner that places a single use or species above all else.

Jane Danowitz, U.S. public lands director for the Pew Environment Group, said national forests are the source of drinking water for one in three Americans, are home to fish and other wildlife and are an economic engine for local communities across the West.

"Faced with unprecedented threats from industrial development, these national forests need strong national protections," she said, adding that the new framework for forest management appears to reflect comments from scientists, the business community and conservation advocates.

"The plan now has stronger safeguards than what was originally proposed. That said, the true test of this plan will be how it's implemented on the ground," Danowitz said.

___

Matthew Daly can be followed on Twitter: (at)MatthewDalyWDC

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_forest_rules

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Africa emerging as an increasingly important player in the global economy, says Brand South Africa

Source: http://www.bi-me.com/main.php?c=3&cg=4&t=1&id=56361

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Memorial exposes anger over Paterno's treatment

Members of the audience applaud at the conclusion of a video montage featuring moments from former Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno's career during a memorial service in Paterno's honor at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa., Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. A capacity crowd of more than 12,000 packed Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center for one more tribute to Paterno, the Hall of Fame football coach who died Sunday from lung cancer. (AP Photo/York Daily Record, Chris Dunn) YORK DISPATCH OUT

Members of the audience applaud at the conclusion of a video montage featuring moments from former Penn State head football coach Joe Paterno's career during a memorial service in Paterno's honor at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa., Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. A capacity crowd of more than 12,000 packed Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center for one more tribute to Paterno, the Hall of Fame football coach who died Sunday from lung cancer. (AP Photo/York Daily Record, Chris Dunn) YORK DISPATCH OUT

Phil Knight adjust the microphones before he speaks during a memorial service for former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno at Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa. Thursday Jan. 26, 2012. Knight, the Nike founder, got a standing ovation at Paterno's public memorial for defending the late coach's response to an accusation of child sex abuse against a former assistant. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Penn State University Worthington/Scranton campus students watch a live telecast of former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno's memorial service on Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012, in Dunmore, Pa. Paterno died on Sunday from lung cancer. (AP Photo/The Scranton Times-Tribune, Butch Comegys) WILKES BARRE TIMES-LEADER OUT

Jay Paterno addresses the audience as the final speaker at "A Memorial for Joe" in memory of his late father, former Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, in the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa., Thursday, Jan. 26, 2012. (AP Photo/York Daily Record, Chris Dunn) YORK DISPATCH OUT

Former Penn State football player Charles V. Pittman, senior vice president for publishing at Schurz Communications Inc., an Indiana-based company that owns television and radio stations and newspapers is interviewed as his grandson Noah, six and a half months old, looks on after the conclusion of a memorial service in honor of Joe Paterno at the Bryce Jordan Center in State College, Pa. Thursday Jan. 26, 2012. A capacity crowd of more than 12,000 packed Penn State's Bryce Jordan Center for one more tribute to Paterno, the Hall of Fame football coach who died Sunday from lung cancer. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (AP) ? The near-capacity crowd of 12,000 seemed to be just waiting for somebody to bring up the subject. Finally, when someone rose in Joe Paterno's defense to argue that he had been made a scapegoat, the audience was instantly on its feet, applauding thunderously.

Anger and resentment came spilling out at a campus memorial service Thursday for the football coach, two months after he was summarily fired by the trustees.

It was Nike founder and CEO Phil Knight who broke the dam, defending Paterno's handling of child-sex allegations that were leveled against a former coaching assistant.

"If there is a villain in this tragedy, it lies in that investigation and not in Joe Paterno's response," Knight said. Paterno's widow, Sue, was among those rising to their feet.

Later, Paterno's son Jay received a standing ovation when he declared: "Joe Paterno left this world with a clear conscience."

Capping three days of mourning on campus, the 2?-hour ceremony was filled with lavish praise that probably would have embarrassed Paterno, who died Sunday of lung cancer at 85 after racking up more wins ? 409 ? than any other major-college football coach and leading his team to two national championships in 46 seasons.

One by one, Penn State football stars and others credited Paterno with building not just better athletes but better men ? and women. He was saluted for his commitment to sportsmanship, loyalty, teamwork, character, academics and "winning with honor." He was called a good father, a good husband, a good neighbor, a good friend, a good teacher.

Players from each decade of Paterno's career spoke affectionately about him, saying he rode them hard but always had their best interests at heart and encouraged them to complete their educations and make something of themselves.

Though the Penn State campus has been torn with anger over the child-sex scandal and Paterno's dismissal, Jay Paterno said his father didn't hold a grudge.

"Perhaps his truest moment, his living testimony to all that he stood for, came in the last months of his life. Faced with obstacles and challenges that would have left a lesser man bitter, he showed his truest spirit and his truest self," Paterno said.

Only one member of the university administration ? the dean of the college of liberal arts ? and no one from the Board of Trustees spoke at the memorial, which was arranged primarily by the Paterno family.

Among the speakers were Michael Robinson, who played for Paterno from 2002 to 2005, quarterback Todd Blackledge from the 1980s and Jimmy Cefalo, a star in the 1970s. All three went on to play in the NFL.

Former NFL player Charles V. Pittman, speaking for players from the 1960s, called Paterno a lifelong influence and inspiration.

Pittman said Paterno pushed his young players hard, once bringing Pittman to tears in his sophomore year. He said he realized later that the coach was not trying to break his spirit but instead was "bit by bit building a habit of excellence."

"He was building a proud program for the school, the state and the hundreds of young men he watched over for a half-century," said Pittman, now a media executive on the board of The Associated Press.

Similarly, Chris Marrone, whose playing career at Penn State was cut short by injuries, said Paterno molded him into a young man with "the strength to overcome any challenge, any adversity."

Paterno was fired Nov. 9 after he was criticized for not going to police in 2002 when he was told that a former member of his coaching staff, Jerry Sandusky, had been seen sexually assaulting a boy in the showers. Sandusky was arrested in November and is awaiting trial on charges that he molested 10 boys over a 15-year span.

As the scandal erupted, Pennsylvania's state police commissioner said Paterno may have met his legal duty but not his moral one. Penn State president Graham Spanier was also fired in the fallout.

Among those at the memorial was former athletic director Tim Curley, who is awaiting trial on charges he lied to the grand jury that investigated Sandusky.

About midway through the ceremony, Knight became the first speaker to explicitly address the scandal. He said the coach "gave full disclosure to his superiors, information that went up the chains to the head of the campus police and the president of the school. The matter was in the hands of a world-class university, and by a president with an outstanding national reputation."

Lanny J. Davis, an attorney for the board, responded after the service by saying: "All the reasons for the board's difficult and anguished decision ? made unanimously, including former football players and everyone who still loves Coach Paterno and his memory ? reached a decision which was heartfelt. All 32."

"The facts speak for themselves" and include the grand jury testimony, he said.

After the memorial, Marrone said Knight was his "new hero" for expressing the "pent-up frustration" many people are feeling.

"I think the response that he got is indicative of how folks feel," Marrone said.

Jay Paterno, who served under his father as quarterback coach, began his remarks by imitating his father's raspy, high-pitched voice, telling the audience, "Sit down! Sit down!"

Growing serious, Paterno described his last moments with his father. As Paterno lay dying, his son kissed him and whispered in his ear.

"Dad, you won," Jay Paterno said he told him. "You did all you could do. You've done enough. We all love you. We won. You can go home now."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-26-Penn%20State-Paterno/id-b32c134b391143e9b968ce2157ba10c5

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AP source: Tiebreaker game would decide divisions

NEW YORK (AP) ? A little more than two months before opening day, Major League Baseball still doesn't know whether there will be eight playoff teams this year or 10.

Add a bat or an arm to compete for that extra wild card? No telling whether that makes any sense.

"That's the last thing on my mind," Cleveland Indians manager Manny Acta said. "I'm trying to win my division and I can't be concerned about that stuff. But the more the merrier.

"It gives us and everybody else a better chance to make the playoffs. But it's not on my mind because you don't build a system or build a team counting on the commissioner is going to change the playoff format," he said.

While MLB and the players' association still are discussing whether the expanded playoffs will start in 2012 or 2013, they've reached a consensus that ties for division titles will be broken on the field under the new playoff format, a person familiar with the talks told The Associated Press. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because a deal hadn't been finalized.

Since 1995, head-to-head record has been used to determine first place if both teams are going to the postseason. But with the start of a one-game, winner-take-all wild-card round, the sides agreed that the difference between first place and a wild-card berth is too important to decide with a formula and a tiebreaker game would be played.

Negotiators plan to talk again next week and decide by March 1 on whether the extra round will begin this year.

"I think most clubs at this point no matter who you are are focused on trying to win a division," Detroit Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski said. "If that doesn't work, then you make your adjustments."

Under the new format, whenever it begins, the non-division winners in each league with the two-best records will be the wild-cards, meaning a third-place team could for the first time win the World Series.

Being able to finish third and still go to the postseason could create more of an opportunity in the AL East for teams other than the rich New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, or in the AL West, where the two-time champion Texas Rangers and Los Angeles Angels have spent big bucks to improve.

In the AL Central, Kansas City general manager Dayton Moore watched Dombrowski add Prince Fielder to his already formidable batting order this week.

"We're focused on putting the best team on the field we can to compete to win the Central. That's the first goal," Moore said. "If that appears to be unattainable, we'll evaluate what we need to do to improve the team to continue to strive for that goal. If it becomes apparent that's not going to happen, you begin to focus on the wild card. You want to get in the playoffs any way you can and take your chances there."

___

AP Sports Writer Tom Withers contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-27-BBO-Expanded-Playoffs/id-6414b8c37bc74ebaaaeb10311d23f694

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Accel And SV Angel Back Endorse With $4.25 Million To Close The Loop Between Shoppers And Brands

Brands and businesses can track their reputations online and connect with consumers through social media. But what about in the real world? One of the biggest prizes in Startupland will go to whoever can figure out how to connect real-world shopping to brands and businesses. Steve Carpenter is going after that prize with his latest startup, Endorse. Carpenter has been incubating the company for a year as an entrepreneur-in-residence at Accel. (He sold his last company, Cake Financial, to Etrade in 2010). Endorse just raised $4.25 million in a Series A led by Accel, with SV Angel also investing. His co-founders and team include early employees from YouTube and Paypal (Erik Klein, Mayrose Dunton, and Franck Chastagnol).

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/k0Vou_QVMC8/

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NZ court bails two associates of Megaupload founder (Reuters)

WELLINGTON (Reuters) ? A New Zealand court granted bail on Thursday to two associates of the founder of online file-sharing website Megaupload, accused of being involved in a scheme that allegedly made more than $175 million from Internet piracy and illegal file sharing.

Dutchman Bram van der Kolk, 29, and Finn Batato, a 38-year-old German, who were arrested last Friday along with Megaupload's founder, Kim Dotcom, were freed on bail. A decision on another accused, Mathias Ortman, was put off until Friday pending further submissions on his bail application.

"I am satisfied that the risk of flight here is minimal and such risk as remains can be met by the imposition of strict bail conditions including electronic monitoring," Judge David McNaughton said in a written judgment.

A lawyer for the men had argued their role in the company was different from that of Dotcom, and they did not have secret sources of funds or multiple identities.

The United States wants to extradite all four on charges of Internet piracy, copyright infringement, racketeering and money laundering.

Dotcom, 38, was refused bail on Wednesday because the judge believed there was a significant risk he could try to flee New Zealand. He will reappear in court on February 22. His lawyer is preparing to appeal that decision, maintaining that Dotcom does not have the means to leave the country.

The defendants have said they are innocent of the piracy and other charges, asserting the company simply offered online storage.

An extradition application must be lodged within 45 days of an arrest, and the U.S. must show the alleged offences would be crimes in New Zealand punishable by at least 12 months in jail.

Legal experts have said the extradition process is likely to be long and complex.

(Reporting by Gyles Beckford)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120126/wr_nm/us_internet_piracy_megaupload_bail

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Gender Equality Elusive In Jewish Salary Survey

This article first appeared in The Jewish Daily Forward.

By Jane Eisner and Maia Efrem
The Forward

The Forward?s third annual survey of 76 national Jewish organizations paints a picture of communal stagnation in gender equality, as the number of women in leadership roles remains at the same low level, and the gap between male and female salaries has grown even larger.

Despite the dismal economy, half of the leaders in the survey received pay increases in their most recent annual reports, although that number was fewer than the 80 percent who enjoyed a pay hike the previous year. Nineteen men and one woman took pay cuts.

Click here to see and search the entire survey.

The median executive pay in the top federations, advocacy and public service groups, and religious and educational institutions dropped slightly in the past year, to $306,025. But those executives who did receive a salary boost did well compared with their national peers. In the Forward survey, the median increase was nearly 5 percent. That?s more than double the national standard of 2 percent for leaders of the nation?s largest not-for-profit organizations, as reported in September by The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

In the sphere of women?s leadership and compensation, the Jewish world continues to lag dramatically behind the overall not-for-profit community. GuideStar, an organization in Washington that collects and summarizes the tax returns that charities file with the Internal Revenue Service, reported in September that ?only 16% of nonprofits with budgets of more than $50 million have female chief executives, while 64 percent of organizations with budgets of under $250,000 are led by women.?

In the Forward survey, by contrast, only nine of the 76 organizations are led by women -- the same number as last year, and a drop from 11 in 2009. And since the Forward added two organizations to the list, the percentage of women is lower still, slightly less than 12 percent. The wage gap in the Jewish world, where female CEOs earn slightly more than 62 cents for every dollar earned by their male counterparts, is also wider than in GuideStar?s report. And it worsened from 67 cents in 2010.

Readlast year?s Forward salary survey and the 2009 salary survey.

Officials at the Jewish Federations of North America revealed for the first time the salary of President and CEO Jerry Silverman, who was hired in 2009 and earned $625,000 last year. But his salary is not the highest in the federation world ? that spot belongs to Stephen Hoffman, President of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland. When asked why Hoffman earned $644,518, a federation representative said that he also oversees numerous smaller organizations.

Listen to Forward Editor Jane Eisner and staffers discuss the salary survey on the Reporters Roundtable Podcast.

For the first time this year, the Forward survey includes each organization?s total expenses and the number of employees.

Also for the first time this year, the Forward sent certified letters to the leaders of religious organizations to urge them to disclose their salaries in the spirit of transparency, even though they are not required to do so by law.

The only one of the 13 religious leaders to respond was Rabbi Dan Ehrenkrantz, president of the Reconstructionist Rabbinical College. ?While RRC does not release information about any individual salaries, I can report that our administrative costs annually average about 15% of our total budget,? Ehrenkrantz wrote.

The highest-paid leader in the Forward survey continues to be Yeshiva University President Richard Joel, who earned $848,176 in 2010, a slight decrease from his 2009 salary. The two other university presidents in the survey enjoyed pay hikes. Jehuda Reinharz, in his last year at Brandeis University, received a 12.46 percent increase, while Alan Kadish at Touro College saw his pay go up by 25.62 percent from that of his predecessor.

?Dr. Kadish is being paid a salary of market value in comparison to some of the senior leadership at the respective institutions? in the survey, said Hedy Shulman, Touro?s executive director of communications and marketing.

The second-highest-paid leader in the survey is Rabbi Marvin Hier, founder and dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center. Hier also works for and is compensated by SWC Museum Corp. His total take-home pay in 2010 was $721,714.

But the Hier family makes even more. Marlene Hier, the rabbi?s wife, earned $344,329 as director of membership development, working for both institutions, and his son, Alan D. Hier, earned $187,274 as international director of fundraising and communications for SWC Museum Corp.

And someone at the center received a rather cushy perquisite: ?An employee was requested to attend fundraising meetings in Israel associated with the premiere of the center?s new film during the High Holidays and he could not be away from his family during that time,? the public disclosure form read. ?The center reimbursed $20,119 for airfare and accommodations for his family.?

Although David Harris, executive director of the American Jewish Committee, had taken a pay cut during the financial crisis, he also continued to receive unusual benefits, including first-class airline tickets on flights two hours or shorter, travel costs of family members who accompany him on certain trips and more than $25,000 in reimbursement for property taxes on his home in Westchester County, N.Y.

The highest-paid woman in the survey is Jennifer Gorovitz, CEO of San Francisco?s Jewish Community Federation. She remains the only woman leading any of the 18 largest federations in the United States. Second in pay among women leaders is Ruth Messinger, president and CEO of American Jewish World Service. Messinger?s salary grew to $276,217 in 2010, a 10.58 percent increase.

The Forward survey showed that it pays to be a Republican. Matthew Brooks is executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition and also heads up the National Jewish Policy Center; his combined salary is $461,070. That is nearly $300,000 more than the pay earned by his counterpart, David A. Harris, president and CEO of the National Jewish Democratic Council, who takes home $171,200 a year.

Contact Jane Eisner at eisner@forward.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jane_Eisner.

Devra Ferst and Eileen Reynolds contributed to this story. Additional reporting by Paul Berger, Ezra Glinter, Nate Lavey, Josh Nathan-Kazis and Naomi Zeveloff.

For more articles please visit The Jewish Daily Forward.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/25/gender-equality-elusive-in-jewish-salary-survey_n_1229440.html

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