NEW YORK (AP) — The latest "Call of Duty" video game generated $400 million in sales in its first 24 hours in stores, breaking its own record set this time last year.
"Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3" is the third game in the military shooter series to set such a record. Last year, "Call of …
It was early April 2003. The city of Mosul in northern Iraq was in free fall.
The holdout units of Saddam Hussein's military had abandoned their posts sometime during the night. By midmorning, looters were helping themselves and vigilantes were beginning their revenge.
In a traffic circle, the garroted bodies of Saddam loyalists were propped up like scarecrows. At the university, libraries and labs were picked clean _ right down to someone wheeling away a model skeleton that jiggled in a noisy dance of flailing arms and snapping jaw.
This is where I made a promise to a doctor I met amid the mayhem.
I had come across Dr. Salim Mohammed …
Natale "Tally" Giacone, 79, a former city building inspector andDemocratic stalwart, died Wednesday at his home in Fort Lauderdale,Fla.
Mr. Giacone, of the Northwest Side, was with the BuildingDepartment for 20 years.
The World War II veteran was precinct captain for the late 38thWard Ald. William J. Cullerton.Survivors include his wife, …
TOP STORIES:
GLF--BRITISH OPEN
SANDWICH, England — Tom Lewis shoots a 5-under 65 to become the first amateur to lead a round at a major in 35 years. His late-afternoon charge matches an early morning round by co-leader Thomas Bjorn, who takes a small step toward atonement with a birdie on the par-3 16th — the hole that cost him the British Open in 2003. Moved. By Paul Newberry.
GLF--BRITISH OPEN-AMATEUR
SANDWICH, England — His parents named him after Tom Watson, so Tom Lewis was thrilled when the pairings for the British Open came out. Tom & Tom were in the same group. It can't get much better than that, right? Think again. Moved. By Paul …
When looking for a way to bring together children of different races, religions and financial means, most people might not think of juggling, tumbling and aerial acts as their "go-to" tools.
Jessica Hentoff does.
Hentoff, 53, is the executive and artistic director of a circus school run out of the City Museum in St. Louis. She brings together children who normally wouldn't cross paths and unifies them through circus training and performances.
One effort, Circus Salaam Shalom, trained Jewish and Muslim children at the same time. Far East Meets Midwest combined Asian and Midwestern arts in its shows. And Peace through Pyramids allows St. …
DAILY MAIL STAFF
Heather Dent limited Charleston Catholic to one run on six hitsin pitching Buffalo to a 5-1 victory over the Irish Tuesday in highschool softball. Dent was forced into action because of an injuryto another Bison pitcher. Her effort helped Buffalo improve to 14-9.
Holley Moore was 3-for-4 at the plate with three doubles andDestiny Abshire doubled for Buffalo. Charleston Catholic fell to 16-8.
In other softball action:
Midland Trail 10, Gauley Bridge 3 - Bonny Tompkins earned the winon the mound, went 3-for-3 at the plate and scored four runs forvisiting Midland Trail. Melissa Madison collected a pair of hits forGauley Bridge …
As Belmont Hill's college advisor, James White meets with students eager to prepare for the next stage of their lives, whether it is beginning university, pursuing a unique career opportunity, traveling the world or performing public service. Of the lessons learned at Belmont Hill, White says, "the first and foremost is academic preparedness. That's a testament to the school and to the faculty. Students also take with them an ability to succeed outside of academics; they are involved with their student governments, athletics and community service at their respective colleges. Belmont Hill creates self-sufficient boys. Although we provide a nurturing environment, we also help students to …
Iranians are taking to the streets to mark the anniversary of the death of one of Shiite Islam's most revered figures.
Wednesday's massive processions across the country of 70-million people usher in the Ashoura _ a 10-day ritual commemorating the 7th century death in battle of Prophet Muhammad's grandson Hussein, observed by Shiite Muslims world over.
Many in …
The difference between a 31-game hitting streak and a 32-gamehitting streak doesn't seem significant to Paul Molitor, although headmits he might change his mind in a few years.
Molitor got a third-inning bunt single in three official at-batsMonday night to set up a run in the Milwaukee Brewers' 5-3 victoryover the Cleveland Indians at Cleveland.
The hit extended his streak to 32 games, breaking a tie with KenLandreaux for the longest streak of the 1980s. Landreaux hit safelyin 31 straight games for Minnesota in 1980.
"People have mentioned that Landreaux's streak was the longestof the '80s," Molitor said. "Maybe when I look back on my career, ifthis …
WASHINGTON - John Maine squandered a big lead and the New York Mets' losing streak reached five games Tuesday night when their ninth-inning rally fell short in a 9-8 loss to the Washington Nationals.
After making 10 errors in a two-game span, the Mets held a team meeting Tuesday afternoon as they try to regroup in time to hold off second-place Philadelphia in the NL East.
New York started strong again, building leads of 4-0 and 7-3 for Maine, but he couldn't hang on. Ronnie Belliard's three-run homer capped a five-run fifth that gave Washington an 8-7 lead, and pinch-hitter D'Angelo Jimenez added a solo shot in the sixth off Scott Schoeneweis.
The Mets scored …
Former Springbok flanker Luke Watson will lead Western Province against the British and Irish Lions at Newlands on Saturday.
Watson led the Stormers at the end of the Super 14 when Jean de Villiers and Schalk Burger were injured, and WP coach Allister Coetzee said he was the natural choice for Saturday's game and the Currie Cup.
"It's an awesome opportunity to play against the Lions," Watson said on Wednesday. "They are the most famous of all …
It's cheap, it's productive, it's rock-solid.
It's U.S. real estate, and no wonder foreign investors want tobuy America with every yen, franc and pound they can find.
Last year, the Japanese, Swiss and English demonstrated thatthey think it makes sense to send more capital into this country topick up buildings they perceive to be among the great bargains of theworld.
Such prominent Chicago structures as Prudential Plaza; theAvondale Center at 20 N. Clark; the 190 S. La Salle building; andthe Inland Steel Building are now at least half-controlled byoverseas investors. Estimates here are that 10-15 percent ofChicago's first-class …
Tribble Reese threw four touchdowns passes to lead Charleston Southern to a 28-19 win against Presbyterian on Saturday.
Reese completed 16 of 21 passes for 214 yards with one interception, and also rushed for 22 yards for the Buccaneers (5-5).
Brandon Miley completed 23 of 36 passes for 230 yards with one touchdown, and also rushed for 12 yards and a score for the Blue Hose (4-6).
The teams traded scores in the first half with Reese hitting Tyrese Harris on a 2-yard score and Gerald Stevenson on a 10-yard pass.
Miley ran for a 15-yard touchdown and hit Brandon Clark on a 35-yard score that cut the Charleston Southern lead to 14-13 at halftime.
Cam Miller made a 30-yard field goal to put the Blue Hose ahead 16-14 in the third, but Reese hit T.J. Latimore on a 41-yard score midway through the quarter. Latimore connected with Stevenson on a 21-yard score to give the Buccaneers a 29-16 lead to start the fourth.
A disappointing batch of U.S. bank earnings and fears of further lending curbs in China weighed on world stock markets Wednesday, while concerns about Greece's debt problems sent the euro sliding to a five-month low against the dollar.
In Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was down 55.15 points, or 1 percent, at 5,457.99 while Germany's DAX fell 58.46 points, or 1 percent, at 5,918.02. The CAC-40 was down 38.12 points, or 1 percent, at 3,971.55.
Wall Street was also expected to open lower after solid gains in the previous session _ Dow futures were down 57 points, or 0.5 percent, at 10,613 while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 futures fell 7.2 points, 0.6 percent, at 1,138.50.
Investor sentiment, already fairly downbeat after China's main index dived nearly 3 percent on fears of more monetary tightening in the country, has been dented further by a downbeat batch of U.S. bank earnings.
Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Bank of New York Mellon all reported lower than expected earnings for the fourth quarter. Their failure to meet analysts' expectations reinforced fears that the economic recovery will not be as strong as current stock market valuations suggest following a ten month bull run.
Stocks have been on the retreat all day, largely because of mounting speculation that some of China's banks have been pressured to refrain from any further loans for the rest of the month. That raised fears that China's growth, which has been crucial for the global economy over the last year, may slow sharply if the monetary authorities tighten policy.
Beijing has already begun to take steps to rein in stimulus-fueled liquidity, raising reserve requirements for banks and increasing the rate paid on treasury bills.
On Thursday, China will be the world's first major economy to release fourth quarter gross domestic product figures. Analysts expect economic growth to have remained robust at over 10 percent on an annual basis, and that would underline need for some monetary tightening.
"A teeny-weeny bit of tightening against such a growth backdrop does make sense," said Kit Juckes, chief economist at ECU Group.
Even so, China's main Shanghai Composite Index dived 95.02 points, or 2.9 percent, to 3,151.85.
Elsewhere in Asia, Hong Kong's Hang Seng index fell 391.81 points, or 1.8 percent, to 21,286.17 while Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average lost 27.38 points, or 0.3 percent, to 10,737.52. Once again, Japan Airlines was in focus, slumping 60 percent to 2 yen after filing for one of the country's largest bankruptcies on Tuesday. JAL shares will be removed from the stock exchange on Feb. 20.
Singapore's market was off 0.7 percent, Taiwan retreated 0.3 percent and Thailand's stock measure lost 0.8 percent.
South Korea's Kospi shrugged off the regional fall, advancing 0.2 percent and Australia's stock measure crept higher by 0.1 percent.
Oil prices fell as fears in the market grew that Chinese demand would be weakened if lending policies are tightened.
Benchmark crude for February delivery slid $1.24 to $77.78 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $1.02 to settle at $79.02 on Tuesday.
The dollar was flat around 91 yen while the euro slid to $1.4137 _ just above its earlier five-month low of $1.4132 _ amid ongoing concerns about Greece's public debt situation.
"While there has been no new news with respect to the Greece budget situation this morning, the uncertainty about the damage this could do to monetary union is ensuring the euro remains under pressure," said Jane Foley, research director at Forex.com.
Currency markets will be particularly interested to see if the bout of euro selling turns into a rout, especially as the currency has dropped below its 200-day moving average of $1.4297 _ widely considered a key support level.
Neil Mackinnon, global macro strategist at VTB Capital, noted that since its inception in 1999 the euro has dropped sharply on every occasion it has fallen below its 200-day moving average against the dollar.
Members of the Sudanese Nubian community living in Kenya perform traditional music, Saturday, April 29, during a Nubian festival at a nightclub in Nairobi, On a recent night in downtown Nairobi, beneath a nightclub's orange neon lights and spinning disco ball, dozens of descendants of Africa's ancient Nubian tribe gathered in full regalia to perform traditional music. The concert was designed for Nubians in Kenya - there are believed to be 200,000 of them here - to keep their traditions alive and relevant by fusing them with modern sensibilities. AP/Khalil Senosi
Three New York City Police Department detectives have been acquitted of all counts in the 50-shot killing of an unarmed man on his wedding day.
Michael Oliver and Gescard Isnora and Marc Cooper were charged with manslaughter, reckless endangerment and assault in the 2006 slaying of Sean Bell.
Justice Arthur Cooperman delivered the verdict in a Queens courtroom packed with spectators, including the victim's fiance and parents. The ruling brings an end to a nearly two-month trial.
Bell was killed outside a seedy strip club in Queens on Nov. 25, 2006 _ his wedding day _ as he was leaving his bachelor party with two friends.
Steve Stricker never lost hope, even when it appeared the signswere stacked against him.
Stricker had gone 6 years and 146 tournaments since his lastvictory and four times this year had wasted prime chances to posewith the winner's trophy.
The worst feeling for him Sunday at The Barclays in Harrison,N.Y., was watching K.J. Choi sink two birdie putts measuring acombined 95 feet that seemed to leave him destined for moreheartache.
But in a stunning turnaround, the tears Stricker shed on the 18thgreen were from sheer joy. He birdied four of his last five holes toclose with a 2-under-par 69, turning a one-shot deficit into a two-shot victory over Choi and getting the inaugural PGA Tour playoffsoff to a rousing start -- even with Tiger Woods sitting this oneout.
"I've been waiting for this day for a long time," Stricker said,still wiping his eyes.
It wasn't easy. Not with 10 players separated by three shotsalong the back nine. Not with the memories of four blown chancesstill nagging at him. And certainly not with Choi making the twolong putts that caused Stricker to bow his head but not sag hisshoulders.
"I thought I was hitting well enough to maybe make a few birdiescoming in," Stricker said with a smile. "Obviously, not four out ofthe last five holes, but I tried to stay positive and upbeat."
And when his final birdie from eight feet dropped into the cup,Stricker raised his arms and hugged his caddie, Tom Matthews, whofirst caddied for him when he won the 2001 Match Play Championship.
An emotional player, Stricker barely could keep his composure infront of the TV cameras.
"It was hard, but it was fun," Stricker said, tears streamingdown the side of his face. "I never knew if I was going to winagain."
Stricker finished at 16-under 268 and moved atop the FedEx Cupstandings. Woods skipped the first of four playoff events andtumbled to No. 4, nearly 5,000 points back.
KNOST COMPLETES AMATEUR DOUBLE
Colt Knost completed a rare sweep of the two biggest amateur golfevents in the country, holding off Michael Thompson 2 and 1 in the36-hole final of the U.S. Amateur in Daly City, Calif., two monthsafter capturing the Public Links title at Cantigny in Wheaton. Theonly other golfer to accomplish the feat was Ryan Moore, who did itin 2004.
OCHOA WINS COMFORTABLY
Lorena Ochoa coasted to her third consecutive LPGA Tour victory,closing with a 1-under 71 to win the Safeway Classic by five shotsover four players in Kent, Wash. She finished 72 holes at 12-under204 to win for the sixth time this season.
WATSON TAKES CHAMPIONS EVENT
Denis Watson eagled the second hole of a playoff to win theBoeing Classic in Snoqualmie, Wash. Watson and Craig Stadler birdiedthe first hole of the playoff after they and five others hadfinished regulation tied at 9-under 207.
- - -
FEDEX CUP POINTS
Rank Pts. Prev.
1 Steve Stricker 104,950 12
2 K.J. Choi 102,900 5
3 Rory Sabbatini 100,650 6
4 Tiger Woods 100,000 1
5 Phil Mickelson 99,612 4
6 Vijay Singh 99,000 2
7 Jim Furyk 98,850 3
8 Zach Johnson 97,350 7
9 Adam Scott 97,150 10
10 Ernie Els 96,966 19
NEW YORK - Stocks plodded higher Thursday as Wall Street reacted warmly to another batch of acquisitions and shrugged off a weak reading of the nation's gross domestic product.
The latest estimate of first-quarter GDP came in at 0.6 percent, the Commerce Department said, lower than the average economist estimate of 0.8 percent and the 1.3 percent projected in April. The GDP number was the worst in more than four years, but investors did not sell off, as it raises the chance of an interest rate cut later this year - a move that could increase spending.
And although Wall Street remains unsure about the economic and interest rate outlook, it continues to be buoyed by the unrelenting surge of takeovers, which are on track to beat last year's record tab of $4 trillion.
On Thursday, banking company Wachovia Corp. said it would acquire A.G. Edwards Inc. for $6.8 billion in cash and stock to form one of the largest retail stock brokerages in the country. And payroll processor Ceridian Corp. said late Wednesday it will be bought out by investment firm Thomas H. Lee Partners LP and insurance provider Fidelity National Financial Inc. for about $5.3 billion.
In the first hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average gained 19.02, or 0.14 percent, to 13,652.10, after reaching a new trading high of 13,673.07.
Broader stock indicators also rose.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index advanced 2.92, or 0.19 percent, to 1,533.15, after soaring to a record close on Wednesday for the first time since March 2000.
The technology-dominated Nasdaq composite index added 9.81, or 0.38 percent, at 2,602.40.
Though growth appears to be slower than anticipated, the jobs picture and manufacturing sector look strong. The Labor Department reported Thursday that the number of U.S. workers filing jobless claims dropped last week for the sixth time in seven weeks, and the Chicago Purchasing Managers said its manufacturing index rose to 61.7, higher than expected and up sharply from the April reading of 52.9.
Also, the Commerce Department said construction edged up by 0.1 percent in April, down from a 0.6 percent gain in the previous month but better than economists predicted.
Bonds fell on the strong manufacturing data. The yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note rose to 4.92 percent from 4.87 percent late Wednesday.
After Wachovia said it will buy A.G. Edwards, Wachovia slipped 30 cents to $54.25, and A.G. Edwards rose $10.53, or 13.7 percent, to $87.68.
In other corporate news Thursday, discount retailer Costco Wholesale Corp. and jewelry seller Tiffany & Co. released their financial results. Costco posted a fiscal third-quarter profit decline of 4.9 percent, while Tiffany reported a 15 percent rise in fiscal first-quarter profit - indicating that consumer demand for big-ticket items remains robust.
Costco rose 44 cents to $56.97, and Tiffany rose 29 cents to $52.75.
Sears Holdings Corp. reported a solid 20 percent gain in earnings from the recent quarter, but said its U.S. store sales dropped. Sears fell $3.75, or 2.1 percent, to $179.36.
The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.
Crude oil futures rose 7 cents to $63.56 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after the U.S. government reported an increase in gasoline inventories but a surprising decrease in crude stockpiles. The average U.S. retail gasoline price is $3.191 a gallon, according to AAA, down from the record $3.227 a gallon reached last week.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 294.1 million shares.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies was up 3.11, or 0.37 percent, at 846.44.
Chinese stocks rebounded Thursday after a sharp drop a day earlier. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.4 percent.
Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 1.63 percent. In afternoon trading, Britain's FTSE 100 was up 0.55 percent, Germany's DAX index was up 1.56 percent, and France's CAC-40 was up 0.97 percent.
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On the Net:
New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com
Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com
LONDON (AP) — Result Monday in English football (home team listed first):
| Premier League |
|---|
Queens Park Rangers 0, Newcastle 0
The Hero and His Superpower Churchill Defiant Fighting On, 1945-1955. Barbara Learning. Harper. 384 pages; index; $26.99.
The term superpower was used by an American professor in 1944 to identify a new category of strength - a state that combined an armed global presence with a readiness to act in defense of worldwide interests. Its prototype was the British Empire and Commonwealth. This imperial entity contained more territory and people than did the two other powers of the wartime "Big Three," the United States and the Soviet Union. Even in 1945, the sixth year of Britain's exhausting struggle, Japan would have faced a terrible foe had Hiroshima and Nagasaki not compelled a sudden surrender: Alongside its U.S. ally, the Empire was ready to hit the Home Islands with four British battleships, more than a dozen aircraft carriers, and millions of men from Britain and the Commonwealth.
Seemingly overnight, however, this imperial eminence and clout dwindled faster than anyone imagined. By 1956, due to White House pressure, humiliated, Britain had to retreat from its military intervention at Suez. Having threatened to undermine the pound should Britain not withdraw immediately. President Dwight D. Eisenhower nonetheless graciously observed that the British were still his "right arm." It was a description of British power that would have been an insult 10 years earlier, and preposterous 10 years later. What occurred in the decade after 1945 is a case study of superpower decline. These years also include the riveting ones of Winston Churchill's final time in office. Both events make Barbara Learning's Churchill Defiant worth the attention of political-military decision makers as well as of students of leadership.
Prime Minister Churchill was stunned to be defeated by the Labour Party in July 1945 while at the Potsdam Conference with Joseph Stalin and President Harry S Truman. Churchill then served as leader of the Opposition until October 1951, thereafter returning as prime minister until 1955, then handing power to his chosen successor Anthony Eden, who would be compelled to resign after the Suez debacle.
Altogether, these years may be the most personally revealing of his long life. Scrambling to compensate for Britain's diminishing strength, he tried to align the British Empire and Commonwealth with America's newly expanding worldwide interests. At the same time, he was fighting off his Conservative Party rivals before they finally nudged him from 10 Downing Street at age 80, by then nearly "ga ga," as Eden unkindly remarked. Despite such highstakes drama, these years are essentially neglected in all the writing on Churchill - he might as well have left the world stage with the Axis' defeat in 1945.
Churchill Defiant helps to fill the gap in our understanding of one of the 20th century's preeminent leaders. Learning is a talented biographer whose similarly well-written profiles include John F. Kennedy's early years, a "missing history" of Jacqueline Kennedy, and the lives of such stars as Katharine Hepburn, Marilyn Monroe and Orson Welles. This is helpful experience for a Churchill biographer - Learning can distill the cinematic quality of how this colorful, protean hero spent six years fighting his way back from electoral defeat in 1945 to return to the center of world events - altogether ready in 1951 to reassert Britain's might in the world. But the world had changed. To this end, Churchill Defiant also offers a glimpse of how leaders of a declining superpower become lost in time.
Limited scope is both the strength as well as the weakness of Churchill Defiant. Devoting the first half of her book to Churchill's years out of office and the second to those back in 10 Downing Street, Learning gives too much attention to the strange political maneuverings of Churchill's last rumblings for immortality, at least as they play out at home. The "insider baseball" of British politics becomes taxing - chapter after chapter concerns internal Conservative Party quarrels and betrayals with men such as Salisbury, Macmillan, Butler and Crookshank, about whom we know little and therefore care less. More interesting is the attention paid to Churchill's dreams to craft a "summit" (his original term) after Stalin's death in March 1953. But Eisenhower resisted Churchill's notions of reviving Big Three diplomacy. Britain was no longer an equal. Its global "Empire and Commonwealth" was in political disarray. Nor, simply put, did Britain have enough money - the "sinews of war" - for a place at the table. The age of true continental superpowers, now armed with hydrogen bombs, had arrived. Relatively little has been written elsewhere about Eisenhower's impatience with the aging warlord and about Churchill's refusal to accept a lesser world role for what he kept calling "the Empire." This part of Learning's story is valuable history.
In a book of this size, however, the minutiae about Conservative Party squabbles sometimes obscures the larger issue of paying attention to a world transformed. The Korean War, for example, receives less attention, though it is the event that within months turned America into a global military colossus at the same time that British power shrank in comparison, learning mentions the pound's devaluation in 1949, after seminal negotiations in Washington, but otherwise we learn little about Britain's desperate financial straits.
Learning's spotlight throughout is on Churchill, his activities, moods and thundering. The reader soon yearns for wider context. OEurchill had changed the world in 1940 by defying Hitler; from 1945-1955, he was trying to change the world again, finally by trying to broker an East-West peace at the "summit" Yet Washington kept dismissing his enthusiasms. Why? There was more to it than Churchill just being an "old man in a hurry." By the 1950s, Congress as well as the Eisenhower administration discerned U.S. interests increasingly at odds with those of Britain, whether in Korea, the Middle East, Western Europe, Southeast Asia or the Pacific.
No one even knew from 1953 until about 1957 who among the Kremlin's "wolves" would come out on top, which made Churchill's eagerness for a summit - essentially with persons unknown in the Kremlin - all the more disconcerting to Washington. But Churchill Defiant tells us little about these framing events.
Learning's shortcomings as a writer of history, in contrast to being a fluid biographer, are further evident in her slighting of two other giants of the time. Eisenhower's Secretary of State, John Foster Dulles, is described simply thus: "Dulles, whose breath stank and whose left eye twitched incessantly and disconcertingly, arrived in London." This is absurd trivialization of one of the century's great American lawyers, an official whom Eisenhower found indispensable, and a reflective man who wondered whether the United States should be a global military power in the first place. Similarly, Ernest Bevin, Britain's foreign secretary from 1945-51, receives slight attention. Surely the greatest foreign secretary in the history of the British Empire, he dominated British diplomacy for five-and-a-half years, and was a force behind the creation of NATO along the way. No one in public life, certainly not Churchill, had understood and faced down Soviet power earlier than Bevin. Might we be told how he and Churchill interacted? That is not explained.
Despite the thin context and analytical missteps, Churchill Defiant is history as well as biography in which Learning presents Churchill with a subtlety missed by the man's more learned biographers such as Martin Gilbert. Those authors dwell nearly exclusively on the Churchill of big picture excitements: Churchill as a subaltern in India, First Lord of the Admiralty during the World War I, the bleak prophet of the 1930s, and the vital champion at the bridge against Nazi barbarism. Learning instead succeeds by presenting us with something different. A finer portrait of Churchill emerges.
To that end, in Churchill Defiant we finally have a book that would make his intimates and colleagues smile with recognition.
[Author Affiliation]
Derek Leebaert has taught foreign policy at Georgetown University for 15 years and is a director of the U.S. Army Historical Foundation. His latest book, Magic and Mayhem: The Delusions of American Foreign Policy From Korea to Afghanistan, was included in the Washington Post's "Best nonfiction of 2010" list.
MORGANTOWN - Students can apply for the West Virginia HigherEducation Grant and the Promise scholarship beginning today.
Through a partnership with West Virginia Mentor, the onlineapplication can be accessed at www.wvapply.com, the Higher EducationPolicy Commission has announced.
Students still need to complete the Free Application for FederalStudent Aid. The free application will be available for completionbeginning Jan. 1.
To be eligible for a grant, recipients are required to meetdesignated financial need and academic performance standards as wellas attend a college or university located in West Virginia on a full-time basis.
The Promise scholarship requirements include a 3.0 grade pointaverage in the core curriculum and overall coursework, as well as acomposite ACT score of at least 21 and a sub score of 20 in eachsubject, or a combined SAT score of 1000 with a 490 and 480 on theverbal and math sections respectively.
Scoreboard at stumps Friday on the first day of the third cricket test between Sri Lanka and India at P.Saravanamuttu Stadium:
India won the toss
India 1st Innings
Gautam Gambhir lbw b Mendis 72
Virender Sehwag c P.Jayawardene b Prasad 21
Rahul Dravid lbw b Prasad 10
Sachin Tendulkar lbw b Prasad 6
Sourav Ganguly c Jayawardene b Muralitharan 35
V.V.S. Laxman st P.Jayawardene b Mendis 25
Parthiv Patel lbw b Mendis 13
Anil Kumble b Mendis 1
Harbhajan Singh c Vandort b Muralitharan 3
Ishant Sharma not out 17
Zaheer Khan st P.Jayawardene b Mendis 32
Extras (1b, 8lb, 5nb) 14
TOTAL: (all out) 249
Overs: 80. Batting Time: 325 minutes.
Fall of wickets: 1-51, 2-92, 3-102, 4-151, 5-155, 6-190, 7-195, 8-196, 9-198, 10-249.
Bowling: Chaminda Vaas 12-1-44-0, Dammika Prasad 17-0-82-3 (5nb), Ajantha Mendis 28-4-56-5 , Muttiah Muralitharan 23-3-58-2.
Sri Lanka 1st Innings
Michael Vandort not out 3
Malinda Warnapura b Sharma 8
Chaminda Vaas not out 0
Extras (1b, 2lb) 3.
TOTAL: (For one wicket) 14.
Overs: 8. Batting Time: 37 minutes.
Fall of wickets: 1-14.
Still to bat: Mahela Jayawardene, Kumar Sangakkara, Thilan Samaraweera, Tillekeratne Dilshan, Prasanna Jayawardene, Muttiah Muralitharan, Dhammika Prasad, Ajantha Mendis.
Bowling: Zaheer Khan 4-1-9-0, Ishat Sharma 4-2-2-1.
Umpires: Rudi Koertzen, South Africa and Mark Benson, England.
TV Umpire: Billy Doctrove, West Indies. Match Referee: Alan Hurst, Australia.
Series: Level at 1-1
NEW YORK - Stocks rose Monday as investors applauded a $33 billion bid by Alcoa Inc. for Canadian aluminum rival Alcan Inc. The Dow Jones industrials passed 13,300 for the first time.
The move by Alcoa, one of the 30 stocks that makes up the Dow Jones industrials, gave the market a lift Monday as investors often regard merger and acquisition activity as a bullish bet by companies on corporate profit.
With little earnings and economic data to go on Monday, investors will be awaiting further signals to try to determine where stocks might be headed and whether Wall Street's record rally will continue. Investors will also be awaiting the Federal Reserve's decision Wednesday on interest rates.
On Monday afternoon, the Fed reports on consumer credit in March. The market is expecting a reading of $5 billion, up from $2.9 billion in February, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed by Thomson Financial.
In the first hour of trading, the Dow Jones industrial average rose 33.81, or 0.25 percent, to 13,298.43. The Dow rose as high as 13,310.70, topping a previous trading high of 13,284.53 set Friday.
The blue chip index has hit 19 record closes since the start of the year and 41 since the beginning of October, its latest coming Friday, its fourth in as many sessions. The gains in 23 of the last 26 sessions marks the longest winning streak for the blue chips since 1944. A higher close by the Dow Monday would make it the longest set of gains for the Dow with three declining days since 1927.
Broader stock indicators rose. The Standard & Poor's 500 index rose 4.61, or 0.31 percent, to 1,510.23. Last week, the S&P 500 moved above the 1,500 level for the first time in nearly seven years. The 1,500 level puts the closing high of 1,527.46 reached in March 24, 2000, within investors' sights.
The Nasdaq composite index rose 5.12, or 0.20 percent, to 2,577.27.
In corporate news, Alcoa offered $58.60 in cash and 0.4108 of a share for each share of Alcan. Based on the closing prices Friday, Alcoa's offer carries a 20 percent premium. Alcoa said it took its offer to shareholders after Alcan rejected the company's overtures for two years.
Alcoa rose $2.30, or 6.5 percent, to $37.96, while Alcan surged $20.21, or 33.1 percent, to $81.24.
The dollar was mixed against other major currencies, while gold prices rose.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by about 2 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, where volume came to 112.2 million shares.
The Russell 2000 index of smaller companies rose 1.92, or 0.23 percent, to 834.80.
Overseas, Japan's Nikkei stock average rose 1.58 percent. Stock markets in Britain were closed for a bank holiday. Germany's DAX index rose 0.12 percent, and France's CAC-40 rose 0.02 percent.
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On the Net:
New York Stock Exchange: http://www.nyse.com
Nasdaq Stock Market: http://www.nasdaq.com
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Sony Corp.'s movie studio said Tuesday that "The Smurfs" and "Friends With Benefits" will be the first movies it releases on home video that will be compatible with the UltraViolet view-anywhere system.
The movies will arrive in stores Dec. 2. The high-definition Blu-ray versions will be UltraViolet compatible.
Under the UltraViolet system, home movie purchases are recorded on an online account. Users will then be able to access those movies on other computers, Web-connected TVs, tablet computers and smartphones.
Studios hope the system will encourage purchase of digital copies of movies because it removes the hassle of transferring copies between devices or maintaining a library of discs. They are trying to offset the steady decline of DVD sales.
HOUSTON (AP) — Arian Foster went nowhere. Matt Schaub was off-target. Andre Johnson was bottled up.
The Houston Texans' high-powered offense sputtered in every area in a 34-10 loss to the New York Giants on Sunday, producing only 195 yards.
Texans coach Gary Kubiak took the blame for the performance, but there was plenty to go around.
The offensive line was dominated by New York's defensive front. Foster, the NFL's leading rusher through the four games, was held to 25 yards on 11 carries. Schaub was sacked three times, lost a fumble and threw an interception. Johnson caught five passes, but was targeted 13 times.
The Texans (3-2) were held to a franchise-low 24 yards rushing. Kubiak said late Monday afternoon that he hadn't even looked ahead to Sunday's game against Kansas City (3-1), because he was still pouring over what went wrong against the Giants.
"They stopped pretty much everything we did," Kubiak said.
New York led 21-0 early in the second quarter, and the Texans had only run 13 plays for 28 yards by then. When Kubiak watched the replay, he picked out at least eight missed assignments by offensive linemen during that stretch.
"That has not been us at all," Kubiak said. "We have been somewhat consistent from that standpoint."
The Giants had 10 sacks in a 17-3 win over Chicago the previous week, but the Texans' offensive linemen blamed the breakdowns against New York on their own fundamental mistakes.
"When four guys are doing it right, and one guy doesn't, the play is not going to work out," right guard Antoine Caldwell said. "Everybody took their turn up front, not doing the right thing — technique-wise, assignment-wise. That's why it led to such a sloppy game."
The Texans came in leading the NFL in rushing (172 yards), but the Giants penetrated the line and prevented Foster from cutting back every time he touched the ball.
"They did do a good job in gap assignments," Caldwell said. "You've got to have a lot of extra-effort plays, not just covering guys up, but blowing people off the ball. We didn't have a lot of those, for whatever reason."
Kubiak virtually abandoned running plays after the Giants sprinted to the big early lead.
Schaub didn't fare much better with the passing game. He had at least three throws knocked down at the line of scrimmage and completed only 16 of 34 passes. He didn't throw a touchdown pass for the first time in 12 games.
"He didn't have a lot of help," Kubiak said. "He didn't have a lot of help up front, we dropped some balls. We need to do a better job protecting him, we need to run some better routes. He'd be the first one to tell you he wasn't good enough for us to win, but there's a lot of people involved in that."
Johnson seemed a step slow as he played through a sprained right ankle that's nagged him for three weeks. Tight end Owen Daniels had three catches, and no other wide receiver had more than two.
"It was bad. We didn't play good at all," said Kevin Walter, who had two catches for 24 yards. "We have a lot of weapons, but we have to execute our game plan. It's always about execution."
The Texans showed efficient balance in their first two games. Foster rushed for 231 yards in the opening win over Indianapolis, and Schaub threw for 497 yards in Houston's win over Washington the following week.
Dallas accomplished many of the same things that the Giants did on Sunday, pressuring Schaub (four sacks) and shutting down Johnson (four catches, 64 yards).
The Texans rushed for 249 yards against Oakland before Sunday's dismal outing.
"We've played some very good games and a couple poor ones in big spurts," Kubiak said. "Very good in spurts and very bad in spurts. So we're trying to find some consistency there as a football team. That's the key to being a great football team. That's the hardest thing in this league to find and we're searching for that. Obviously, we've got a long way to go to get that done, but somehow we've got to find some consistency in what we're doing."
Kubiak said Foster hurt his knee on Sunday, but ran on Monday and should be ready for this week's game. Kubiak said Johnson's ankle "came out of the game fine."
WESTPORT, Conn. -- Eartha Kitt, who played the Catwoman on the"Batman" TV show, suffered minor injuries when the vehicle she wasdriving collided with another car and flipped over, police said.
Kitt, 77, was treated at Norwalk Hospital and released, hospitalofficials said.
The cause of the crash was under investigation.
AP
Oil prices were lower Monday as traders booked profits after last week's record highs and amid easing tension between oil producers Venezuela and Colombia over the weekend.
Cold weather in the United States and the continuing weakness of the U.S. dollar were seen as bullish factors supporting prices.
Light, sweet crude for April delivery fell 61 cents to US$104.54 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Europe.
The contract set a new trading record of US$106.54 a barrel on Friday before retreating to settle at US$105.15 a barrel, down 32 cents.
In London, Brent crude futures dropped 60 cents to US$101.78 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
Crude contracts had risen above US$106 a barrel on Friday after a weak U.S. jobs report that fueled hopes the Federal Reserve would continue cutting interest rates.
Worries about a crisis in the Andes subsided after Venezuela said Sunday it was restoring full diplomatic ties with Colombia after they were broken off following a cross-border Colombian attack on a leftist rebel camp in Ecuador.
Last week, rebels attacked and shut down a Colombian pipeline that transports 60,000 barrels of oil a day in retaliation for the Colombian raid into Ecuador. Venezuela threatened to slash trade and nationalize Colombian-owned businesses, and Venezuela and Ecuador briefly sent troops to their borders with Colombia.
The surge to a new record was driven by a U.S. Labor Department report that said employers cut 63,000 jobs in February _ the biggest drop in five years.
Investors can react to such news in one of two ways: by selling on the prospect that the economy _ and demand for oil _ is cooling, or by buying on a conviction that bad economic data makes it more likely the Fed will cut rates. On Friday investors engaged in a little of both, sending oil prices down more than a dollar at one moment and propelling them to new records the next.
Lower interest rates tend to weaken the dollar. Many analysts believe a weak dollar is the reason oil set new inflation-adjusted records four times last week and has risen 23 percent in less than a month.
"The 'investors' flocking into oil have been buying energy futures the way sharks eat fish," said U.S. oil analyst Peter Beutel of Cameron Hanover. "By gobbling up everything in sight, they are pushing food and fuel prices to ruinously high levels."
Crude futures offer a hedge against a falling dollar, and oil futures bought and sold in dollars are more attractive to foreign investors when the dollar is falling. Most investors believe that despite occasional rebounds, the dollar is likely to keep falling as the Fed continues to cut rates.
But while analysts expect oil's underlying supply and demand fundamentals to eventually pull down its price, few are willing to predict when that will happen. Meanwhile, oil could continue rising to as high as US$120 a barrel in the short term, according to some forecasts.
Heating oil futures lost 1.25 cents to US$2.9345 a gallon (3.8 liters), while gasoline prices fell 1.57 cent to US$2.6786 a gallon.
Natural gas futures shed 9.5 cents to US$9.674 per 1,000 cubic feet.
___
Associated Press writer Gillian Wong in Singapore contributed to this report.
FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- When assessing the possibility of how the 2011 Peak Season will play out, it's important to note that the peak of recent years has been anything but normal for a litany of reasons, ranging from the recession, to capacity, to demand issues.
Last year, things appeared to be returning to "normal" on the Peak Season front, as activity was buoyed by a significant inventory re-build coming on the heels of the end of the Great Recession. At the time, the market was witnessing steady if not spectacular volume and freight growth.
But, as it turned out, it did not last too long as things began to shift into neutral and the usual suspects of high unemployment, tight credit, a weak housing market, slow GDP growth, and high fuel prices started to lead the headlines and put a drag on growth.
Against this backdrop, however, many shippers and carriers maintain that things are slowly improving, saying that this year's Peak Season could actually resemble something a bit more typical and familiar than the mixed bag we've seen in recent years.
This sentiment was made apparent in the findings of a recent Logistics Management readership survey that found 78 percent--or 367 of the 469 respondents--expect a Peak Season this year. Of that 78 percent, 47 percent expect it to be more active than a year ago, 18 percent are calling for it to be less active, and 34 percent are expecting it to be the same as last year.
Among the many reasons respondents expect this year's Peak Season to be more active than a year ago include a slowly improving economy, increased demand, a healthy manufacturing sector, and tight capacity, especially in the trucking sector, among others.
Assuming the economy does not go into another recession, lower inventory levels will drive a more typical peak season, a respondent opined, adding that it depends on the direction consumer demand will go over the next two months.
And unlike 2009 or last year, capacity is again very tight, especially for over-the-road transportation. "Many shippers are expecting trucking capacity to be an issue as volume will exceed the supply of qualified carriers," said Sarah Schmitz, logistics manager at Masters Gallery Foods in Plymouth, Wisc. "Safety regulations, operating costs, economic issues, and fuel will also play a role, too. However, we're positioned to succeed through this capacity crunch during Peak Season with an excellent group of core carriers."
Despite economic conditions moderating in recent months, the feeling of optimism among freight transportation and logistics services providers heading into Peak Season has not abated. And this points to a collective positive feeling at a time when the headlines say otherwise.
At the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the two highest-volume U.S.-based ports, volumes are up 6.6 percent and 6.6 percent year-to-date through May, respectively; while trucking, rail, and air cargo volumes are showing flat to modest growth levels with Peak Season approaching.
Port of Los Angeles Communications Director Philip Sanfield said he expects a more normal Peak Season this year, with throughput at the port expected to be at its highest in late July and early August.
But aside from the domestic trucking and air cargo markets, there appears to be enough capacity to meet whatever level of demand Peak Season brings this year. "Inbound container rates from Asia remain well below last year's levels, suggesting a more traditional peak shipping season or at least one marked by solid volumes in late summer and fall," wrote BB&T Capital Markets analyst Thom Albrecht in a research note.
And Ben Hackett, president of Hackett and Associates, had a similar, but slightly different view, saying he expects Peak Season to be normal, as there is no shortage of containers and ocean capacity is not being withheld. He noted that the peak is likely to occur during the July-to-September timeframe, arriving about a month earlier as it did a year ago.
But even though many industry stakeholders remain confident in the prospects for Peak Season, many shippers are skeptical about that, given the warning signs that the economy is displaying. Reasons for this ranged from general economic slowness, to fuel prices, to decreased order activity.
"The main concern is if there will be enough capacity to hit peak demand," said Eric Starks, president of freight transportation consultancy FTR Associates. "There may be situations where shippers want to get loads moved and they can't get it done. The economy is still soft, and we are likely to have a tight environment ... but regardless of what happens with peak activity, shippers are likely to face rate pressure through the rest of the year, coupled with a tight capacity environment."
By Jeff Berman, Group News Editor
78 percent of respondentsexpect a Peak Seasonthis yearOf the 78% ...expectit be the sameas last year 34%expectit be less activethan last year 18%Noanswerunsure 1%expectit be moreactive thanyear ago 47%Source: Peerless Media Research GroupNote: Table made from pie chart.Peak season prospects are promising according to LM survey: despite lack of a steep inventory re-build, Logistics Management readers are predicting that a close to normal peak may be on tap this year.(NEWS & ANALYSIS)
FRAMINGHAM, Mass. -- When assessing the possibility of how the 2011 Peak Season will play out, it's important to note that the peak of recent years has been anything but normal for a litany of reasons, ranging from the recession, to capacity, to demand issues.
Last year, things appeared to be returning to "normal" on the Peak Season front, as activity was buoyed by a significant inventory re-build coming on the heels of the end of the Great Recession. At the time, the market was witnessing steady if not spectacular volume and freight growth.
But, as it turned out, it did not last too long as things began to shift into neutral and the usual suspects of high unemployment, tight credit, a weak housing market, slow GDP growth, and high fuel prices started to lead the headlines and put a drag on growth.
Against this backdrop, however, many shippers and carriers maintain that things are slowly improving, saying that this year's Peak Season could actually resemble something a bit more typical and familiar than the mixed bag we've seen in recent years.
This sentiment was made apparent in the findings of a recent Logistics Management readership survey that found 78 percent--or 367 of the 469 respondents--expect a Peak Season this year. Of that 78 percent, 47 percent expect it to be more active than a year ago, 18 percent are calling for it to be less active, and 34 percent are expecting it to be the same as last year.
Among the many reasons respondents expect this year's Peak Season to be more active than a year ago include a slowly improving economy, increased demand, a healthy manufacturing sector, and tight capacity, especially in the trucking sector, among others.
Assuming the economy does not go into another recession, lower inventory levels will drive a more typical peak season, a respondent opined, adding that it depends on the direction consumer demand will go over the next two months.
And unlike 2009 or last year, capacity is again very tight, especially for over-the-road transportation. "Many shippers are expecting trucking capacity to be an issue as volume will exceed the supply of qualified carriers," said Sarah Schmitz, logistics manager at Masters Gallery Foods in Plymouth, Wisc. "Safety regulations, operating costs, economic issues, and fuel will also play a role, too. However, we're positioned to succeed through this capacity crunch during Peak Season with an excellent group of core carriers."
Despite economic conditions moderating in recent months, the feeling of optimism among freight transportation and logistics services providers heading into Peak Season has not abated. And this points to a collective positive feeling at a time when the headlines say otherwise.
At the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, the two highest-volume U.S.-based ports, volumes are up 6.6 percent and 6.6 percent year-to-date through May, respectively; while trucking, rail, and air cargo volumes are showing flat to modest growth levels with Peak Season approaching.
Port of Los Angeles Communications Director Philip Sanfield said he expects a more normal Peak Season this year, with throughput at the port expected to be at its highest in late July and early August.
But aside from the domestic trucking and air cargo markets, there appears to be enough capacity to meet whatever level of demand Peak Season brings this year. "Inbound container rates from Asia remain well below last year's levels, suggesting a more traditional peak shipping season or at least one marked by solid volumes in late summer and fall," wrote BB&T Capital Markets analyst Thom Albrecht in a research note.
And Ben Hackett, president of Hackett and Associates, had a similar, but slightly different view, saying he expects Peak Season to be normal, as there is no shortage of containers and ocean capacity is not being withheld. He noted that the peak is likely to occur during the July-to-September timeframe, arriving about a month earlier as it did a year ago.
But even though many industry stakeholders remain confident in the prospects for Peak Season, many shippers are skeptical about that, given the warning signs that the economy is displaying. Reasons for this ranged from general economic slowness, to fuel prices, to decreased order activity.
"The main concern is if there will be enough capacity to hit peak demand," said Eric Starks, president of freight transportation consultancy FTR Associates. "There may be situations where shippers want to get loads moved and they can't get it done. The economy is still soft, and we are likely to have a tight environment ... but regardless of what happens with peak activity, shippers are likely to face rate pressure through the rest of the year, coupled with a tight capacity environment."
By Jeff Berman, Group News Editor
78 percent of respondentsexpect a Peak Seasonthis yearOf the 78% ...expectit be the sameas last year 34%expectit be less activethan last year 18%Noanswerunsure 1%expectit be moreactive thanyear ago 47%Source: Peerless Media Research GroupNote: Table made from pie chart.
DETROIT -- The nation's two largest automakers said they wouldreduce production in the first quarter of 2005 after reporting weakNovember sales. Toyota and Nissan, meanwhile, posted record sales forthe month.
General Motors said Wednesday that its total vehicle sales fell13.1 percent from November 2003, with a 17.1 percent decline in carsand a 10.3 percent decline in trucks. The company said it intends toproduce 1.25 million vehicles in the first quarter, down 7.1 percentfrom the same quarter last year.
No. 2 Ford Motor said sales of the Ford, Lincoln and Mercurybrands fell 4.3 percent in November from the year before, its ninthmonthly decline this year. Car sales …
Grooming/shaving scissors % change % change Dollar vs. year Unit vs. year Trade class sales ago sales ago TOTAL MASS MARKET ([dagger]) $177,601,500 -7.35% 24,782,670 -6.66% DRUG STORES $100,300,200 -5.80% 14,391,970 -7.17% SUPERMARKETS $21,804,00 -7.39% 4,822,717 -6.15% Best-sellers in drug stores Brand Manufacturer Dollar sales Revlon Revlon $10,609,210 Conair Conair $9,028,271 Remington …
Byline: MARTIN MANJAK ALBANY This letter via e-mail
The juxtaposition of Thomas Carroll's article praising the Pataki tax cuts and a letter from a reader decrying the proposed reduction in Tuition Assistance Program funds (Times Union, March 5) exposes the half-truths that characterize Carroll's piece.
Carroll, president of CHANGE-NY and a former Pataki appointee, is fond of extolling the cash benefits realized by low- and middle-income families. What he assiduously avoids mentioning is the cost of those benefits in the form of lost social and health services, the weakening of environmental safeguards, and the reduction in state aid to local school districts. …
Radamel Falcao scored a goals in each half as FC Porto beat Beira Mar 3-0 on Sunday to join Nacional atop the Portuguese league standings after two rounds.
Falcao opened in the 26th minute at the Dragon stadium before Fernando Belluschi doubled the advantage just before halftime. The Colombia striker completed his double in the 81st.
Porto and Nacional share six points, …
Lou Xiiong was awarded a financial aid grant by MC Eastern Canada for his studies at …
Flexible laboratory space is created within a Gothic-style building in New York City
Evoking an architectural style in a new building that is reminiscent of its surroundings can be a tricky task in itself. That task becomes even more formidable when the building stands shoulder-to-shoulder with the style in question. Such was the case with Cornell University's Lasdon Biomedical Research Center, a 104,000,sq.,ft. infill addition on Manhattan's Upper East Side.
Inspired by the architectural style of the surrounding buildings, most notably New York Hospital, Boston architect Payette Associates Inc. designed the 10-story building to capture elements of the Avignon Gothic style prevalent throughout the medical complex. That Lasdon Center was sandwiched between two structures and had to envelop a two-story, existing connector further complicated the already difficult task.
Positioning the building in the center of a functioning medical center, with residential buildings on its outskirts, was yet another challenge in an endless array of design constraints facing the architect. Moreover, the research center was to blend harmoniously with the existing area and, for the most part, give the appearance that it had been there virtually forever. Complex construction sequencing
Driven by the need to construct Lasdon Center without interrupting ongoing research in the adjacent structures, the job posed a complex exercise in construction sequencing. Leslie Glynn, the project manager and a Payette associate, noted the difficulty of determining who had to be alerted when major services had to be shut down and when jackhammering and other construction procedures threatened to interrupt or destroy experiments.
A sequencing report was developed to ensure that efforts were coordinated and that …
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
Biochar is charcoal added to the earth as a soil conditioner to improve crop yields. It is a carbon-rich material made by heating plant material in the absence or near absence of oxygen; the organic matter is degraded by heat, but not combusted, and aromatic carbons are produced. These carbons are difficult for microbes to break down and so the carbon in biochar is not simply recycled back into the atmosphere as it would be in other organic matter. Bury this biochar in soils and billions of tonnes of carbon may be sequestered annually, proponents say, reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It also improves plant growth: a win-win scenario.
Biochar advocates, especially the International Biochar Initiative, want biochar included in any new agreement that replaces the Kyoto Protocol, so that it can earn carbon credits under the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM).
Deciding how much biochar improves plant growth in soil and reduces carbon emissions through the entire system is critical to such calculations; char may improve plant growth and thereby reduce the need for fertiliser, delivering a carbon saving because fertiliser manufacturer is energy hungry. The logic: reduce fertiliser usage, save energy, emit less carbon dioxide. Also, rotting biomass gives off methane, a potent greenhouse gas, so rather than let plant material decay, pyrolysing it and burying it as biochar reduces methane emissions. It may also reduce nitrous oxide emissions, another greenhouse gas. But quantifying all these emission reductions is a work in progress, and research has only really begun. …
Byline: DAN HIGGINS Staff Writer
Property owners around Great Sacandaga Lake worried about losing beach access are mobilizing by the hundreds as spring weather nears and the body that governs the lake considers updating its rules.
A new group calling itself the Back-Lot Owners Committee, or BLOC, already claims 600 members in its quest to keep the current practice on the lake intact. But they are looking for more support.
"Unless access permits stay linked to our homes when we put them up for sale, property values will plummet," said Debbie Parker, a Broadalbin resident who lives near the lake.
The issue concerns property owners whose land …
GLENVILLE A Pattersonville man was jailed Monday evening after a routine traffic stop showed him wanted for 27 separate license suspensions, according to town police.
Raymond J. Soto, 32, was arrested shortly before 4:30 p.m. when Officer William Gallup stopped him on a charge of driving without a seat belt. A check showed him wanted …
In the mid-19th century, manufacturing engineers considered mechanical power transmission to be state-of-the-art technology. Before the advent of individual electric-drive motors in the early 20th century, a mind-boggling maze of overhead line shafts, countershafts, leather belts, belt shifters, pulleys and gears were a common sight in manufacturing plants.
Complex networks distributed power to machine tools and assembly equipment. However, they were cumbersome, loud, finicky and dangerous. The devices also required constant maintenance and repair.
Early multistory factories relied on a central power source, such as a steam engine or a water wheel, which was located in the basement or on the first floor. It turned a vertical main shaft that extended through each floor of the facility. On every floor, one or more line shafts attached to the ceiling connected to the main shaft and extended the length of the floor. Each line shaft turned as the main shaft turned. A series of belts, gears and pulleys attached to each line shaft powered individual machines.
Shafting was supported by metal hanger-plates that were attached to the bottom faces of girders, beams and joists. They were spaced according to either the number of machines, the power load taken off or the layout of the shop, with an 8 to 10 foot span between hangers. Sections of the line shaft were joined together by a wide variety of coupling devices, such as exposed flanges.
From a main shaft on each floor, power was distributed to several countershafts. Pulleys transferred power from the shaft that connected with each machine. Belts extended downward from the shaft to the machinery below it. Sometimes, belts ran through slots in the floor to power equipment …
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Gordon Hayward made a go-ahead free throw with 11 seconds remaining, lifting the Utah Jazz past the Golden State Warriors 88-87 on Saturday night for their fourth straight victory.
Hayward finished with 18 points, six rebounds and four assists, and Al Jefferson added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Jazz, who shot …
Katerine Burnside's dark brown eyes studied the flower bedseriously before she pressed her second-grade fingers far enoughintothe compost that the bulb she was planting would be guaranteed totake root and bloom next spring.
Burnside was one of 150 children and teachers at ChandlerElementary who weathered 42 degree temperatures Friday to plantWilliam daffodils, Dutch irises, blue grape hyacinths, Red Glorytulips and golden Dixie tulips around their simple school sign.
Donated by Charleston resident Helene Rotkin, 70, the bulbs - onefor every student and teacher - were intended to help the schoolbeautify its outside appearance, a goal Principal Barry Bowe …
Auto Business News-17 August 2009-GM to invest USD43m at Michigan plant(C)2009 ENPublishing - http://www.enpublishing.co.uk
Auto Business News - 17 August 2009(c)2005 - Electronic News Publishing - http://www.enpublishing.co.uk
General Motors Company (GM) (NYSE: GM), a United States-based automaker, is investing USD43m at its Brownstown Township in Michigan.
The company is investing to …
Byline: Washington Post
WASHINGTON -- Federal health officials will issue detailed guidelines today for vaccinating the entire U.S. population against smallpox within five days of an outbreak of the dreaded disease.
Intended as a blueprint for state and local health officials nationwide, the unprecedented move reveals a growing belief within the Bush administration that even one case of smallpox anywhere in the Western Hemisphere would signify a terrorist assault and should therefore trigger a far …
TORONTO -- The most pressing concern for the retail pharmacy industry is its future within Canada's health care system.
In the nationally insured system the provinces and territories meet a substantial part of the costs of health care and are responsible for overseeing the entities that actually deliver the services.
The federal government establishes the standards the system is to meet and pays a substantial share of the costs.
Those costs, however, continue to escalate exponentially, threatening the level of funds governments can devote to other deserving priorities, including education, maintenance of infrastructure and social services.
…
LEWISTON, Idaho (AP) — Police said it didn't take them long to locate an Idaho man suspected in the robbery of a Cedars Inn — he was next door at The Alibi bar. Lewiston police said 40-year-old Donald Mosley Jr. was arrested less than 15 minutes after he walked into the hotel and demanded cash from the desk clerk late Wednesday.
Police found Mosley at The Alibi, a bar located next to the hotel. Mosley was booked into the Nez Perce County Jail early Thursday and faces possible …
Vendtronics Corp., one of the industry leaders in the manufacturing of frozen food and ice cream vending machines, manufactures two different environmentally-controlled vending machines. The VC-1100 has a single compartment that can be used for hard freeze, soft freeze or refrigerated foods. The DT-2100 is the only machine on the market that has two separate compartments controlled by a single compressing unit. Each side operates independently from the other and can operate in hard freeze, soft freeze, refrigerated or chilled snack temperature ranges.
Vendtronics has teamed up with some of the nations …
Byline: David Perilstein
Start-up companies in need of solutions to problems associated with growth have an opportunity in the Capital Region to find various services under one roof.
The 1-year-old Advanced Technology Support Center, located at the Rensselaer Technology Park, is a group of professional companies and consultants who help each other and provide full service support like marketing, corporate finance, patent law and software development.
The Center also acts as an incubator for its tenants since the small companies share common equipment, personel and experiences.
"The Center is like a Crossgates Mall, if you will," said Robert …
