Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday he will sign a controversial bill barring Americans from adopting Russian children, while the Kremlin's children's rights advocate recommended extending the ban to the rest of the world.
The bill is part of the country's increasingly confrontational stance with the West and has angered some Russians who argue it victimizes children to make a political point.
The law would block dozens of Russian children now in the process of being adopted by American families from leaving the country and cut off a major route out of often-dismal orphanages. The U.S. is the biggest destination for adopted Russian children — more than 60,000 of them have been taken in by Americans over the past two decades.
"I still don't see any reasons why I should not sign it," Putin said at a televised meeting. He went on to say that he "intends" to do so.
UNICEF estimates that there are about 740,000 children not in parental custody in Russia, while only 18,000 Russians are now waiting to adopt a child. Russian officials say they want to encourage more Russians to adopt Russian orphans.
Children's rights ombudsman Pavel Astakhov on Thursday petitioned the president to extend the ban to other countries.
"There is huge money and questionable people involved in the semi-legal schemes of exporting children," he tweeted.
Kremlin critics say Astakhov is trying to extend the ban only to get more publicity and win more favors with Putin. A graduate of the KGB law school and a celebrity lawyer, Astakhov was a pro-Putin activist before becoming children's rights ombudsman and is now seen as the Kremlin's voice on adoption issues.
"This is cynicism beyond limits," opposition leader Ilya Yashin tweeted. "The children rights ombudsman is depriving children of a future."
The bill is retaliation for an American law that calls for sanctions against Russian officials deemed to be human rights violators.
The U.S. law, called the Magnitsky Act, stems from the case of Sergei Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer who died in jail after being arrested by police officers whom he accused of a $230 million tax fraud. The law prohibits officials allegedly involved in his death from entering the U.S.
Kremlin critics say that means Russian officials who own property in the West and send their children to Western schools would lose access to their assets and families.
Putin said U.S. authorities routinely let Americans suspected of violence toward Russian adoptees go unpunished — a clear reference to Dima Yakovlev, a Russian toddler for whom the adoption bill is named. The child was adopted by Americans and then died in 2008 after his father left him in a car in broiling heat for hours. The father was found not guilty of involuntary manslaughter.
The U.S. State Department says it regrets the Russian Parliament's decision to pass the bill, saying it would prevent many children from growing up in families.
Astakhov said Wednesday that 46 children who were about to be adopted in the U.S. would remain in Russia if the bill comes into effect.
The passage of the bill follows weeks of a hysterical media campaign on Kremlin-controlled television that lambasts American adoptive parents and adoption agencies that allegedly bribe their way into getting Russian children.
A few lawmakers claimed that some Russian children were adopted by Americans only to be used for organ transplants and become sex toys or cannon fodder for the U.S. Army. A spokesman with Russia's dominant Orthodox Church said that the children adopted by foreigners and raised outside the church will not "enter God's kingdom."
Critics of the bill have left dozens of stuffed toys and candles outside the parliament's lower and upper houses to express solidarity with Russian orphans.
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In 2013, possibilities for stability from Somalia to South China Sea
Labels: WorldThe international news of any year is a disparate affair, a global chronicle of courage, calamity, and close calls. The interconnectedness of events is not always clear.
But looking ahead to 2013, whether in Syria, South America, or the South China Sea, policymakers have a common New Year's wish: for unity to usher in and consolidate political and economic stability.
EUROPE TURNS TOWARD INTEGRATION
After another year in the depths of a debt crisis that has tested the viability of the European Union, leaders made a major step forward at the end of the year: agreeing to give the European Central Bank oversight of the biggest banks in the Union.
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Skeptics dismiss the agreement as a watered-down initiative of common-denominator compromises and delays. But it paves the way for an eventual banking union, and caps off a year of expressed commitments to deeper integration.
"The decision of European heads of state to create a banking union and a fiscal union still needs to be implemented. But that was a genuine game changer in a sense," says Jan Techau, director of Carnegie Europe at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Brussels. "It is by no means perfect and is not seen in action yet; but if this comes, that will create momentum for more political integration."
IN AFRICA, A NEW DAWN FOR SOMALIA?
In Somalia, Al Qaeda was on the run in 2012 after four years in control of the country's south, pushed out of all of its major urban strongholds by African Union military offensives.
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Somalia's Western allies – also its financiers – have begun proclaiming a new dawn. International commercial flights now land regularly at Mogadishu's refurbished airport. Investors from the large Somali diaspora are returning home. Aid workers have ever-greater access to the millions of people still in grave need.
But analysts are wary. A large number of rank-and-file fighters may have deserted Al Shabab, but hard-line commanders remain. Many of them, trained in Pakistan with Al Qaeda, are regrouping in Somalia's north.
"The Somali government is going to need very quickly to show that it brings dividends, health, education, road repairs, to the population, or they may well turn back to supporting Shabab," one Western diplomat focused on Somalia says in an e-mail. "There is a very narrow window to prove the government is the better option. Probably less than nine months. The early part of 2013 will be crucial."
Meanwhile, across the continent in Mali, events moved in the opposite direction in 2012. An ethnic Taureg rebellion spiraled into a takeover of the north by Islamist militants, while the army ousted Mali’s democratically elected president. Malians hope that in 2013 their country can reunite and that democracy will be restored. If not, Western and African leaders fear Mali could become a failed state.
Some Malians say only force can dislodge the Islamists, while others place hope in dialogue. Meanwhile, worry is growing that ethnic grudges might transform a possible intervention into a tragedy of unintended consequences.
“Families affected by crisis may seek vengeance,” says Mohamed Ag Ossad, the director of Tumast, a Tuareg cultural center in Bamako. “The state should take things in hand before there’s an ethnic war.”
This month soldiers loyal to coup leader Captain Amadou Sanogo removed Mali’s interim prime minister – a brazen show of force that the US said endangered national dialogue and delayed a government recapture of the north, according to a statement on Dec. 11. Members of the security forces are also accused of beating, detaining, and killing critics of the army, as well as Tuareg and Arab men, said a December 20 report by Human Rights Watch.
For Moussa Mara, an accountant and district mayor in Bamako, such problems underline the need to reestablish democratic rule by holding presidential elections that were derailed by this year’s coup. “Crisis can be an opportunity for our country,” he says. “If we’re intelligent.”
MIDDLE EAST: TO THE VICTORS, MORE DIVISIONS?
As pressure has mounted against Syria's embattled president, Bashar al-Assad, many are starting to ask what will come of the opposition Free Syrian Army should the regime fall.
A number of Syria experts warn that without a plan to disarm opposition groups, they risk destabilizing the country.
"What do you do with the men with guns? The men who don't have jobs.... We've seen this in Libya, and we also saw it in Iraq," says Aram Nerguizian, a Syria expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
The vast majority of Free Syrian Army units in Syria say they will put down their weapons and let democracy determine their future after Mr. Assad. Still, a number of observers worry that there is a possibility armed groups may want an undue stake in Syria's government, and the challenge for 2013 will be to incorporate them into civilian life.
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In Israel and the Palestinian territories, positions on both sides hardened as the window for a two-state solution rapidly closed. Israel moved further to the right heading into January elections, while Palestinians became more assertive with a perceived victory against Israel in the November Gaza conflict and an overwhelming vote recognizing Palestine as a state at the United Nations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly invited the Palestinians to return to the negotiating table without preconditions at any time and indicated that the Palestinians’ failure to do so shows they are not serious about peace. But Palestinians say they cannot afford to negotiate while Israel steadily expands settlements in the West Bank. Nearly 10 percent of Israeli Jews now live over the 1967 borders, which the recent UN resolution recognized as the basis for a future Palestinian state.
In 2013, Palestinians want to see an end to settlement expansion before it is too late to implement a two-state solution. “We are witnessing today a very crucial moment … a moment of irreversibility,” says Mustapha Barghouthi, a former Palestinian presidential candidate and democracy activist.
Israelis, for their part, seek Palestinian recognition of Israel as a Jewish state, as well as assurances that a peace deal will mark the end to the conflict and not merely a stepping stone to regaining all of historic Palestine.
EAST ASIA'S SYMBIOTIC TIES
In a year when China made several neighbors nervous over its territorial claims, Beijing's most alarming spat was with Japan over a handful of uninhabited islands known in China as the Diaoyu and in Japan as the Senkaku. Although a war over the issue is highly unlikely, it has come to be seen as not altogether impossible, as tensions have risen in recent months.
But it is the economic fallout already under way that analysts say the two must address immediately. "China is Japan's biggest market, and Japan is a very important source for China to learn new science and technology," says Zhou Weihong, a Japan expert at Beijing Foreign Studies University. If the second-largest economy in the world [China] and the third-largest [Japan] are not getting along, "that is bad news for the rest of the world," Professor Zhou says. "There are big enough motives for both sides to want to improve their relationship."
THE REACH OF CHáVEZ
The biggest story of 2012 in Venezuela was the reelection of President Hugo Chávez in October, despite significant gains made by the opposition. But now, facing illness, Mr. Chávez might not be able to stand for his Jan. 10 inauguration – and may have to step down.
Venezuela is holding its breath – as is the region that sees Chávez as a beacon of the left, some of whose members, like Cuba, depend heavily on his largess. Within the oil-rich country, political tensions will flare in 2013 until a new leader is selected, while daily problems such as crime and inflation mount, says Caracas-based political analyst Jose Vicente Carrasquero. "Over time, we will adjust under a new government," he says, "and surely after this process of transition we will discover a new way of doing politics in Venezuela, something that we need."
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Cabinet resignations deal setback for Egypt's Mursi
Labels: WorldAn Islamist minister quit Egypt's government on Thursday, the second cabinet resignation this week, as President Mohamed Mursi tries to shore up his authority and gather support for unpopular austerity measures.
An economic crisis and a battle over a new constitution have underlined bitter divisions between Islamist-backed Mursi and his liberal opponents and delayed a return to stability almost two years since a popular uprising.
Rivals accuse Mursi, who won Egypt's first freely contested leadership election in June, of polarizing society by foisting a divisive, Islamist-leaning constitution on the country and using the autocratic ways of his deposed predecessor Hosni Mubarak.
Deadly violence preceded a referendum on the basic law, dealing a blow to a struggling economy. Mursi's political rivals refused to accept the result - the text won about 64 percent in the vote - and they reject his call for national unity talks.
In a move that may pre-empt a planned reshuffle, parliamentary affairs minister Mohamed Mahsoub announced he was quitting because he disagreed with the slow pace of reform.
"I have reached a clear conclusion that a lot of the policies and efforts contradict my personal beliefs and I don't see them as representative of our people's aspirations," he said in his resignation letter, which has yet to be accepted by the prime minister.
Communications Minister Hany Mahmoud quit earlier this week, citing his inability to adapt to the government's "working culture".
Neither were major figures in the cabinet but their decision to criticize the substance and style of Mursi's administration suggests his decisions are unnerving not just opponents but also some allies.
Earlier on Thursday, a Christian member of Egypt's upper house of parliament, Nadia Henry, quit a day after the Islamist-dominated chamber took over legislative authority under the new constitution.
The charter crafted by an Islamist-dominated assembly is meant to be the cornerstone of a democratic and economically stable Egypt after decades of authoritarian rule. The opposition says it does nothing to protect minorities.
Mursi says the constitution and an upcoming vote to re-elect the lower house of parliament will help end squabbling among feuding politicians.
He and his Muslim Brotherhood allies say ordinary people are fed up with street protests that often turn violent and want the government to focus on urgent bread-and-butter issues.
The strife has cast doubt on the government's ability to push through the spending cuts and tax hikes needed to secure a vital $4.8 billion International Monetary Fund loan.
The Egyptian pound tumbled to its weakest in almost eight years against the dollar this week as people rushed to withdraw savings from banks.
Egypt's defense chief said the army - which dominated Egypt for decades and has wide ranging business interests - was ready to step in to help the economy.
"The Egyptian economy is going through a very difficult stage," Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was quoted as saying by state news agency MENA. "The armed forces are keen to participate in development and service projects in all parts of Egypt as part of its promise to serve the great people."
CRISIS MODE
The resignations come ahead of a promised cabinet reshuffle. Cabinet sources told Reuters as many as eight cabinet members from second-tier ministries might go next week.
Mursi is also promising incentives aimed at making Egypt - once a darling of emerging market investors - an attractive place to do business again.
The 270-seat upper house, or Shura Council, holds legislative authority until a new parliament is elected in early 2013. Opposition figures say they fear the Council could issue laws curbing freedoms.
Henry represents Anglican Christians in Egypt. In a letter published by state media, she said minority groups were not represented properly in the chamber.
Her resignation underscores fears by Egypt's Christians, who make up about a tenth of its 83 million population, about the gains by Islamists since Mubarak was ousted in 2011.
Mubarak, who was sentenced to life in prison in June, was moved to an army hospital on Thursday following a fall that raised concerns about his fragile health.
Under pressure to acknowledge Egypt's diversity, Mursi appointed 90 members including Christians, liberals and women to the Council - alongside figures from the Muslim Brotherhood and ultra-conservative Salafis - last week. Two-thirds of the upper house were already elected in a vote this year.
"We stress again that the nation should achieve internal reconciliation and forget its differences," the Muslim Brotherhood's supreme guide, Mohamed Badei, told Egyptians in his weekly message.
"Let's work seriously to end the reciprocal wars of attrition. We urgently need to unify ranks and group together and focus our capabilities and assets for the general benefit.
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Syria envoy calls for political change to end conflict
Labels: World The international envoy seeking a negotiated solution to Syria's 21-month-old conflict said on Thursday political change was needed to end the violence which has killed 44,000 people.
Speaking in Damascus at the end of a five-day trip during which he met President Bashar al-Assad, Lakhdar Brahimi called for a transitional government to rule until elections and said only substantial change would meet demands of ordinary Syrians.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov added to the envoy's call for a peaceful solution when he told a senior Syrian diplomat that only a "broad inter-Syria dialogue and political process" could end the crisis.
Brahimi's push for a transitional government suggested he was trying to build on an international agreement in Geneva six months ago which said a provisional body - which might include members of Assad's government as well as the opposition - should lead the country into a new election.
But the mainly Sunni Muslim Syrian rebels have seized the military initiative since the Geneva meeting in June and the political opposition has ruled out any transitional government in which Assad, from Syria's Alawite minority, plays a role.
Rebel fighters resumed attacks on Thursday against the military base of Wadi Deif, which lies next to Syria's main north-south highway linking Aleppo with Damascus.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a British-based opposition group which monitors the violence, said rebels also clashed with Assad's forces inside the Minakh air base in Aleppo province after several days of fighting outside its perimeter, although the army still controlled the base itself.
Around the capital, Assad has used artillery and air strikes for weeks to try to dislodge rebels from suburbs which ring the east and south of the city.
"Certainly it was clear in Geneva, and it's even clearer now that the change which is needed is not cosmetic or superficial," Brahimi told a news conference in Damascus before leaving Syria.
"I believe the Syrian people need, want and aspire to genuine change and everyone knows what this means," he said.
"A government must be created ... with all the powers of the state," Brahimi added. He said it should hold power for a transitional period until elections - either for a new president or a new parliament - are held.
"This transitional process must not lead to the ... collapse of state institutions. All Syrians, and those who support them, must cooperate to preserve those institutions and strengthen them," he said.
Radwan Ziadeh of the opposition Syrian National Council dismissed Brahimi's proposal as "unrealistic and fanciful" and said a transitional government could not be built on the same "security and intelligence structure as the existing regime".
TOO SOON FOR COMPLETE PLAN
Russia's Lavrov met Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Makdad in Moscow on Thursday. Interfax news agency quoted Lavrov as saying the chances of forging a solution based on the Geneva agreement were decreasing, but it was necessary to keep seeking a peaceful solution because the alternative is "bloody chaos".
"The longer it continues, the broader its scale and the worse (it will be) for everyone," it quoted Lavrov as saying.
Syrian and Lebanese sources said Makdad had been sent to Moscow to discuss details of a peace plan proposed by Brahimi.
Brahimi is due in Moscow on Saturday and said he also expected to have a third joint meeting with U.S. and Russian officials soon following two rounds of talks earlier this month. But he denied the existence of a U.S.-Russian plan to end the crisis and said it was too soon to present a "complete plan".
"What is preferred is that we don't present such a plan until we feel that all sides have agreed to it. That way, implementing it is easy. If that doesn't happen, the other solution could be to go to the (United Nations) Security Council to issue a binding resolution for everyone," he said.
A Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman also denied any joint initiative between Moscow and Washington.
World powers remain divided over what has become an increasingly sectarian struggle, with Sunni Muslim states such as Turkey and the Gulf Arab countries supporting the rebels while Shi'ite Iran and Hezbollah have backed Assad, whose Alawite community has its roots in Shi'ite Islam.
Syria's struggle "has taken a vicious form of sectarian confrontation", Brahimi said. "Syrian officials foremost, as well as the international community, must not let Syria slide down this very dangerous path which threatens the future of Syria."
Deep differences between Western powers opposed to Assad - led by the United States - and Russia and China which have supported his government, have left the U.N. Security Council paralyzed and largely sidelined throughout the conflict.
The political stalemate has helped transform a once-peaceful uprising into a civil war in which rebels have grown in military strength and taken control of swathes of territory in the north, leaving Assad increasingly reliant on air power to curb them.
Activists in the central province of Hama, where rebels launched an offensive last week to extend their control southwards towards the capital, reported on Thursday that rebels shot down a MiG fighter near the town of Morek.
The Syrian Observatory said air force fighters launched three raids on rebel forces around Wadi Deif. The British-based group also reported fierce clashes in the area.
The violence has been accompanied by an escalation in apparently sectarian attacks between the Sunni Muslim majority and minorities such as Assad's Alawite sect, which has largely supported the president.
Activists in Hama uploaded a video of what appeared to be Assad soldiers and shabbiha militia members stabbing the body of a dead man and setting it on fire. The man looked as if he had been beaten to death.
"This is a terrorist, a brother of a whore, one of those trying to destroy the country," one of the men shouted. Two men in camouflage uniforms and army helmets stood by watching. Samer al-Hamawi, an activist from Hama, said rebels in his area found the video on the phone of a soldier they captured this week.
The video emerged a day after Islamist rebel units released footage showing the bodies of dozens of Assad's fighters along a highway near an Alawite town in Hama.
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Benazir Bhutto's son takes up the family trade in Pakistan
Labels: WorldFive years after the assassination of Pakistan’s former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, her son Bilawal Bhutto Zardari made his first major speech today aimed at galvanizing supporters of the Bhutto family-led Pakistan Peoples Party.
The speech, delivered in the family’s hometown of Garhi Khuda Bux in Pakistan’s Sindh Province, was attended by thousands of party supporters gathered to mark the anniversary of Benazir Bhutto’s death. Days after her 2007 assassination, the then 19-year-old Bilawal was elected as the party’s chairperson, though his role has been largely symbolic until now.
As Mr. Bhutto Zardari takes a more active role in his party, it is a reminder that Pakistani politics have long been dominated by influential families and that one's position in government is often determined by family ties.
While many of the Pakistan Peoples Party's voters, particularly in rural areas, are happy that the party is led by Benazir's son, nepotism in politics and government has increasingly become a sore point for urban, middle class voters who are less supportive of the PPP. Of late, most political scandals in Pakistan have involved family members of leading politicians, including the Chief Justice's son, who is accused of taking money from a prominent businessman.
“If you look at any mainstream political party in Pakistan, it is seen as a family business at every level, passed down from father to son – and occasionally daughter – to grandson,” says Cyril Almeida, an assistant editor at Pakistan’s leading daily Dawn. “It is the nature of politics out here. Society puts a premium on personality rather than performance; and so last names matter.”
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The Pakistan Peoples Party was founded in 1967 by Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, a charismatic yet controversial leader, who was deposed in a military coup and executed on charges of abetting murder. After he was imprisoned, his widow Nusrat Bhutto led the party, followed by his daughter Benazir, who chaired the party until her death. Though grandson Bilawal was elected to lead the Pakistan Peoples Party, his father Asif Ali Zardari was also elected co-chairperson before he became president of Pakistan in 2008, and has largely run party affairs.
The trend of family-dominated politics is prevalent across the subcontinent.
In India, members of the Gandhi/Nehru dynasty have led the Congress Party and the country as prime ministers for decades. Sheikh Hasina, the twice-elected prime minister of Bangladesh, is the daughter of the country’s founder, and her leading rival Khaleda Zia is the widow of a former president. The other leading political party in Pakistan, the Pakistan Muslim League, features a number of members of the Sharif family in prominent positions, and many major politicians in Pakistan have a similarly strong lineage.
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Mr. Almeida points out that in the case of Sindh Province, where the Pakistan Peoples Party has long held sway, there is a “cult of personality and a client-patron relationship in politics,” and Bilawal leading the party was a “a connection to the original person who energized political support.” In some way, he says, the parties are just trying to capture that original energy the name still garners to affect political change.
In his speech, Bhutto Zardari did mention his bloodline, but also reaffirmed the party’s vision, including providing basic needs to every citizen and opposition to terrorist groups. He recalled the assassinations of prominent party leaders such as Punjab Governor Salmaan Taseer and Federal Minister for Minorities Affairs Shahbaz Bhatti, who were killed in 2011 for their opposition to misuse of the country’s controversial blasphemy laws.
Still, says journalist Sohail Warraich, the author of an extensive tome on the assassination of Benazir Bhutto and who was on stage as Bhutto Zardari spoke on Thursday, “You have to know how to handle people. Both Zulfikar Ali Bhutto and Benazir Bhutto made their way [in] politics” by proving they had what it took to govern, he says.
Mr. Warraich acknowledges there are many challenges ahead for the aspiring politician, despite his name and because of his name: He still has to answer for the PPP-led government’s failures in governance.
“Even abroad, you see the Kennedy family etc, people do have these feelings of attachment toward them [family names]. But the real test is in politics. Benazir, after 1988 [when she became prime minister], was assessed on how she conducted politics, not just because of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto,” he says. “Bilawal will also be tested on the same.
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Bee Bee Enterprises Launches Website and Blog Featuring Quality Lighting Products
Labels: BusinessFounders of Bee Bee Enterprises, Linda and Dewayne Walker are excited to announce the launch of their new website venture, BestTiffanyLighting.com, a website featuring Tiffany lamps, chandeliers, floor lamps, billiard and table lighting, as well as plenty other products to light and decorate the home. For more information, visit the website’s blog at TiffanyLightingReview.com.
Long Beach, CA (PRWEB) December 26, 2012
Linda and Dewayne Walker are proud to announce the creation and launch of their new website venture, http://www.BestTiffanyLighting.com. The website carries many excellent decorative and lighting-related products such as Tiffany lamps, chandeliers, floor lamps, wall sconces, billiard lighting, table lighting, fireplace screens, and stained glass windows. The Walkers have done much research to ensure that they have the best product lines possible ready for purchase on their website.
The Walkers have a dedication to making a great deal of quality products available on BestTiffanyLighting.com at reasonable and affordable prices. Customer service is something that is very important to the Walkers and thusly, they want every transaction made on their website to be pleasant and efficient for every customer. The website also has some connections with profiles on eBay, Amazon, and Pinterest.
Eventually, the Walkers would like to expand the website’s merchandise and perhaps add some furniture as well as a number of other products to BestTiffanyLighting.com. In addition to adding new lines of products, the Walkers also intend to periodically expand the existing lines of products that are already available on the website, so that there are always fresh and new items that will keep customers coming back to the website for more. This is part of the customer satisfaction that the Walkers intend to pay close attention to with their website.
To complement the main website, the Walkers are also launching a blog located at http://www.TiffanyLightingReview.com. The blog will feature a number of topics related to the products that are available in the online store; the Walkers intend to write blog posts that are related to interesting lamps that are part of the website’s merchandise with anecdotes and information about these high quality products.
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Long Beach, CA (PRWEB) December 26, 2012
Linda and Dewayne Walker are proud to announce the creation and launch of their new website venture, http://www.BestTiffanyLighting.com. The website carries many excellent decorative and lighting-related products such as Tiffany lamps, chandeliers, floor lamps, wall sconces, billiard lighting, table lighting, fireplace screens, and stained glass windows. The Walkers have done much research to ensure that they have the best product lines possible ready for purchase on their website.
The Walkers have a dedication to making a great deal of quality products available on BestTiffanyLighting.com at reasonable and affordable prices. Customer service is something that is very important to the Walkers and thusly, they want every transaction made on their website to be pleasant and efficient for every customer. The website also has some connections with profiles on eBay, Amazon, and Pinterest.
Eventually, the Walkers would like to expand the website’s merchandise and perhaps add some furniture as well as a number of other products to BestTiffanyLighting.com. In addition to adding new lines of products, the Walkers also intend to periodically expand the existing lines of products that are already available on the website, so that there are always fresh and new items that will keep customers coming back to the website for more. This is part of the customer satisfaction that the Walkers intend to pay close attention to with their website.
To complement the main website, the Walkers are also launching a blog located at http://www.TiffanyLightingReview.com. The blog will feature a number of topics related to the products that are available in the online store; the Walkers intend to write blog posts that are related to interesting lamps that are part of the website’s merchandise with anecdotes and information about these high quality products.
PolyU Researchers Develop Novel Treatment for People with Hemiplegic Arms
Labels: BusinessResearchers of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU)'s Department of Rehabilitation Sciences have developed a novel treatment for people with hemiplegic arms because of stroke or unilateral cerebral palsy in order to speed up their recovery. Coined "Remind to move," the treatment requires the patients to wear a specially made sensory cueing wristwatch (SCW-V2), which is designed to provide pertinent sensory signals at a fixed interval.
(PRWEB) December 26, 2012
Researchers of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU)'s Department of Rehabilitation Sciences have developed a novel treatment for people with hemiplegic arms because of stroke or unilateral cerebral palsy in order to speed up their recovery. Coined "Remind to move," the treatment requires the patients to wear a specially made sensory cueing wristwatch (SCW-V2), which is designed to provide pertinent sensory signals at a fixed interval.
The research was led by Dr Kenneth N. K. Fong, Associate Professor of the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, who indicated that one of the common problems with arm recovery after stroke or in children with cerebral palsy is the "learned non-use." With learned non-use, a portion of motor impairment of the patient is not resulted from the brain cell damage but from the learned suppression of the movement, and that makes an individual unable to move or develop the arm further.
Dr Kenneth Fong therefore developed a sensory cueing wristwatch to promote the attention and overcome "non-use" of hemiplegic arm through sensory cueing (e.g. vibration) emitted by a portable ambulatory wristwatch device tied to the upper limb, thereby reminding the subject to move his/her arm as instructed by the therapist.
Three initial clinical trials have been completed in hospitals and in the community settings over the past few years. Not only have the research team published their results in top international rehabilitation journals, but also obtained patents for the device in the United States and on the Chinese mainland.
The results of a randomized controlled trial done in the hospitals supported the proposition that sensory cueing using a cueing device was better than using a placebo device in improving arm functions for patients with stroke and unilateral neglect. In the community settings, participants with chronic stroke were asked to wear a ambulatory sensory cueing device on their affected arms for three hours a day and engage in repetitive task practice for two weeks; while school children with unilateral cerebral palsy were asked to wear a sensory cueing wristwatch device for five hours a day over a three-week period to remind them to perform a set of pre-determined arm exercises to enhance their arm functions. All subjects ended up with significant improvement in using their hemiplegic arms.
The device is now being used in the occupational therapy departments of five hospitals under the Hospital Authority. As the device is small, light, user-friendly and cost effective, the treatment can be carried out at home and even in the absence of therapists' supervision. This allows patients to practise more using the hemiplegic arms in real life.
More recently, PolyU researchers have been awarded research funding from the Research Grants Council to support the further development of this novel treatment. The research team will also look for business and industry partners to further develop the wristwatch device with better design and a new monitoring system.
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(PRWEB) December 26, 2012
Researchers of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU)'s Department of Rehabilitation Sciences have developed a novel treatment for people with hemiplegic arms because of stroke or unilateral cerebral palsy in order to speed up their recovery. Coined "Remind to move," the treatment requires the patients to wear a specially made sensory cueing wristwatch (SCW-V2), which is designed to provide pertinent sensory signals at a fixed interval.
The research was led by Dr Kenneth N. K. Fong, Associate Professor of the Department of Rehabilitation Sciences, who indicated that one of the common problems with arm recovery after stroke or in children with cerebral palsy is the "learned non-use." With learned non-use, a portion of motor impairment of the patient is not resulted from the brain cell damage but from the learned suppression of the movement, and that makes an individual unable to move or develop the arm further.
Dr Kenneth Fong therefore developed a sensory cueing wristwatch to promote the attention and overcome "non-use" of hemiplegic arm through sensory cueing (e.g. vibration) emitted by a portable ambulatory wristwatch device tied to the upper limb, thereby reminding the subject to move his/her arm as instructed by the therapist.
Three initial clinical trials have been completed in hospitals and in the community settings over the past few years. Not only have the research team published their results in top international rehabilitation journals, but also obtained patents for the device in the United States and on the Chinese mainland.
The results of a randomized controlled trial done in the hospitals supported the proposition that sensory cueing using a cueing device was better than using a placebo device in improving arm functions for patients with stroke and unilateral neglect. In the community settings, participants with chronic stroke were asked to wear a ambulatory sensory cueing device on their affected arms for three hours a day and engage in repetitive task practice for two weeks; while school children with unilateral cerebral palsy were asked to wear a sensory cueing wristwatch device for five hours a day over a three-week period to remind them to perform a set of pre-determined arm exercises to enhance their arm functions. All subjects ended up with significant improvement in using their hemiplegic arms.
The device is now being used in the occupational therapy departments of five hospitals under the Hospital Authority. As the device is small, light, user-friendly and cost effective, the treatment can be carried out at home and even in the absence of therapists' supervision. This allows patients to practise more using the hemiplegic arms in real life.
More recently, PolyU researchers have been awarded research funding from the Research Grants Council to support the further development of this novel treatment. The research team will also look for business and industry partners to further develop the wristwatch device with better design and a new monitoring system.
Home Business Owners Data Now Available on ConsumerBase
Labels: BusinessB2B files contain email, telephone, postal and firmographic data for these entrepreneurs.
Evanston, IL (PRWEB) December 26, 2012
ConsumerBase LLC, a multi-channel mailing list provider located in Evanston, IL, is updating its home business owner data on its website. Business-to-business direct marketers seeking consumers with entrepreneurial interests and burgeoning businesses are able to access firmographic, geographic and contact information data through these comprehensive files.
“ConsumerBase home business data mailing lists provide our clients with high quality data for their business-to-business marketing needs,” says Larry Organ, CEO of ConsumerBase. “Our continuous data cleansing techniques ensure we always have accurate and up-to-date data available.”
ConsumerBase home business owner mailing lists include, but are not limited to:
Direct Response Home Office and Home Business Opportunity Seekers Mailing List
Home Business Owners Mailing List
Money from Home- Home Business Owners Mailing List
ConsumerBase mailing lists contain up-to-date email, telephone, postal, demographic, and firmographic data. Daily list additions to all categories and monthly updates on existing lists ensure that the resulting high data quality gives direct marketers the advantage in a competitive marketplace.
ConsumerBase
ConsumerBase provides multi-channel direct marketing services with a specialty in postal, email, and telephone solutions. Encompassing the entire lifecycle of customer information, ConsumerBase services focus on acquiring and retaining customers, validating, cleaning, and enhancing customer data, and improving the overall performance of marketing communications.
ConsumerBase is an Evanston-based multi-channel mailing list company. The company was founded in 2001 and is based in Evanston, Illinois. ConsumerBase operates as a subsidiary of Organ Worldwide LLC.
Read More..
Evanston, IL (PRWEB) December 26, 2012
ConsumerBase LLC, a multi-channel mailing list provider located in Evanston, IL, is updating its home business owner data on its website. Business-to-business direct marketers seeking consumers with entrepreneurial interests and burgeoning businesses are able to access firmographic, geographic and contact information data through these comprehensive files.
“ConsumerBase home business data mailing lists provide our clients with high quality data for their business-to-business marketing needs,” says Larry Organ, CEO of ConsumerBase. “Our continuous data cleansing techniques ensure we always have accurate and up-to-date data available.”
ConsumerBase home business owner mailing lists include, but are not limited to:
Direct Response Home Office and Home Business Opportunity Seekers Mailing List
Home Business Owners Mailing List
Money from Home- Home Business Owners Mailing List
ConsumerBase mailing lists contain up-to-date email, telephone, postal, demographic, and firmographic data. Daily list additions to all categories and monthly updates on existing lists ensure that the resulting high data quality gives direct marketers the advantage in a competitive marketplace.
ConsumerBase
ConsumerBase provides multi-channel direct marketing services with a specialty in postal, email, and telephone solutions. Encompassing the entire lifecycle of customer information, ConsumerBase services focus on acquiring and retaining customers, validating, cleaning, and enhancing customer data, and improving the overall performance of marketing communications.
ConsumerBase is an Evanston-based multi-channel mailing list company. The company was founded in 2001 and is based in Evanston, Illinois. ConsumerBase operates as a subsidiary of Organ Worldwide LLC.
Online Shopping Mall and Blog Launches New Info Site to Help Shoppers Choose Best Printer for Photos
Labels: Business
MyReviewsNow.net, a leading online shopping mall, blog, reviews and information hub, has launched a new website designed to help people choose the right photo printer when they shop online. There is no cost to access the new website, and no membership or registration is required.
Las Vegas, NV (PRWEB) December 26, 2012
For parents to students to professionals and everyone in between trying to shop online and choose the best printer for photos can be a challenge – especially when many products look the same, and trying to separate apples from oranges is easier said than done. Fortunately, online shopping mall and blog MyReviewsNow.net has a helpful solution with the launch of their new, no-cost information website.Las Vegas, NV (PRWEB) December 26, 2012
The new website, located at bestprinterforphotos.com, provides simple, jargon-free information and tips on how to choose the best printer for photos. In particular, the website reminds shoppers that new, portable and lightweight battery-operated photo printers are available that rival many larger options in terms of print quality, speed and performance – yet at a fraction of the size.
“At the end of the day, there is no single best printer for photos,” commented a Spokesperson from MyReviewsNow.net. “Ultimately, it all comes down to finding the right mix of features and specifications, and of course, ensuring that it doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, and makes it cost-effective over the long term to print photos at home or the office, instead of visiting a professional print shop. Our website provides helpful information that people – from homemakers to a small business owner – can trust to choose the right solution that works for them and their needs.”
People who want to learn more about choosing the best printer for photos can access MyReviewsNow.net’s new information website now. There is no cost, and no membership or registration is required.
People are also encouraged to visit MyReviewsNow.net’s giant shopping mall, and browse for a variety of products and services from the convenience of their home, office, or wherever their busy lifestyle takes them. Shoppers can also read hundreds of helpful reviews, leave their own feedback and ratings, explore the informative shopping blog, sign-up for the e-newsletter, and more.
For more information or media inquiries, contact Lina Andrade at info(at)myreviewsnow(dot)net. Press release issued by SEOChampion.com.
About MyReviewsNow.net Shopping Blog and Mall
A shopping blog, gift ideas hub and online shopping superstore that features thousands services, products and publications available online, MyReviewsNow.net is a business directory that sets itself apart from similar sites by offering both professional reviews and consumer reviews on the Internet’s hottest offerings in a fun, simple format that is easy for visitors to shop online and enjoy. Plus, MyReviewsNow.net is 100% free, open 24/7, and the best way avoid crowded shopping malls and parking lots.
About SEO Champion
SEO Champion was started in 1999 and is owner operated by Michael Rotkin, SEO Specialist for over 17 years. Michael Rotkin’s goal for his clients is to “own” keyword placements for the top 3 slots organically, so that his clients can earn a higher return on investment from their advertising dollars. Rotkin realizes the value of SEO over Pay-Per-Click campaigns, where click-throughs are generally more expensive and harder to convert into sales. SEOChampion’s intense work ethic can be seen in daily and weekly reports that show progress through organic keyword gain. This effort is the reason his SEO firm has been able to build a loyal client base for many years. Learn more at SEO Champion.
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University promotes knowledge enterprises through MAKE Award
Labels: BusinessThe Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU)'s Knowledge Management and Innovation Research Centre (KMIRC) has successfully run the Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise (MAKE) Award in Hong Kong for five years. This Award has encouraged more Hong Kong enterprises to keep abreast of best practices in knowledge management (KM) and provided a platform for local enterprises to benchmark their KM performance for further improvement.
(PRWEB) December 26, 2012
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU)'s Knowledge Management and Innovation Research Centre (KMIRC) has successfully run the Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise (MAKE) Award in Hong Kong for five years. This Award has encouraged more Hong Kong enterprises to keep abreast of best practices in knowledge management (KM) and provided a platform for local enterprises to benchmark their KM performance for further improvement.
This year's MAKE Award Presentation Ceremony was held at Cyberport on 18 December, followed by a sharing forum jointly organized by KMIRC and Cyberport. The event has won support of government officials, educational and business leaders. Officiating at the ceremony were Mr Kim Salkeld, Head of the HKSAR Government's Efficient Unit; Ir Professor Choy Kin-kuen, President of Hong Kong Institution of Engineers; Mr Herman Lam, Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Ltd; and Mr Nicholas W. Yang, Executive Vice President of PolyU. Mr Stephen Selby, Former Chair of the APEC Intellectual Property Experts' Group also delivered a speech on behalf of the judging panel.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Nicholas Yang said, "To compete in the knowledge-based economy nowadays, enterprises should adopt a new business model, i.e. to effectively manage the intangible assets and intellectual capital for enhancing the competitive advantage and the innovation capability which are the key factors to productivity, competitiveness and sustainability."
All winning enterprises have exhibited outstanding knowledge management achievements with mature and humanistic KM strategy. This year's top prize went to Hong Kong Productivity Council. Other winning enterprises included Arup; Ernst & Young, Hong Kong; Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong Holdings Limited; MTR Corporation Limited; and Pfizer Corporation Hong Kong Limited.
A sharing forum was organized after the ceremony during which Mr Neil Salton of Woods Bagot, winner of Asian MAKE Award, Mr Jiejia Lin of Kingdee Software (China) Co. Ltd., winner of MAKE Award (Chinese mainland) and Mrs Agnes Mak of Hong Kong Productivity Council (Top winner of Hong Kong MAKE Award) shared their KM experiences with the audience. In the panel discussion session, local winners also shared their successful experience in KM implementation.
The Global MAKE award is an international benchmark of best practice knowledge management. It was launched in 1998 by KNOW Network, an international web-based professional knowledge sharing network and Teleos, a research firm specializing in knowledge management. Since 2008, the MAKE Award has been introduced in Hong Kong and Chinese mainland by the PolyU Knowledge Management and Innovation Research Centre.
Read More..
(PRWEB) December 26, 2012
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU)'s Knowledge Management and Innovation Research Centre (KMIRC) has successfully run the Most Admired Knowledge Enterprise (MAKE) Award in Hong Kong for five years. This Award has encouraged more Hong Kong enterprises to keep abreast of best practices in knowledge management (KM) and provided a platform for local enterprises to benchmark their KM performance for further improvement.
This year's MAKE Award Presentation Ceremony was held at Cyberport on 18 December, followed by a sharing forum jointly organized by KMIRC and Cyberport. The event has won support of government officials, educational and business leaders. Officiating at the ceremony were Mr Kim Salkeld, Head of the HKSAR Government's Efficient Unit; Ir Professor Choy Kin-kuen, President of Hong Kong Institution of Engineers; Mr Herman Lam, Chief Executive Officer of Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Ltd; and Mr Nicholas W. Yang, Executive Vice President of PolyU. Mr Stephen Selby, Former Chair of the APEC Intellectual Property Experts' Group also delivered a speech on behalf of the judging panel.
Speaking at the ceremony, Mr Nicholas Yang said, "To compete in the knowledge-based economy nowadays, enterprises should adopt a new business model, i.e. to effectively manage the intangible assets and intellectual capital for enhancing the competitive advantage and the innovation capability which are the key factors to productivity, competitiveness and sustainability."
All winning enterprises have exhibited outstanding knowledge management achievements with mature and humanistic KM strategy. This year's top prize went to Hong Kong Productivity Council. Other winning enterprises included Arup; Ernst & Young, Hong Kong; Hutchison Telecommunications Hong Kong Holdings Limited; MTR Corporation Limited; and Pfizer Corporation Hong Kong Limited.
A sharing forum was organized after the ceremony during which Mr Neil Salton of Woods Bagot, winner of Asian MAKE Award, Mr Jiejia Lin of Kingdee Software (China) Co. Ltd., winner of MAKE Award (Chinese mainland) and Mrs Agnes Mak of Hong Kong Productivity Council (Top winner of Hong Kong MAKE Award) shared their KM experiences with the audience. In the panel discussion session, local winners also shared their successful experience in KM implementation.
The Global MAKE award is an international benchmark of best practice knowledge management. It was launched in 1998 by KNOW Network, an international web-based professional knowledge sharing network and Teleos, a research firm specializing in knowledge management. Since 2008, the MAKE Award has been introduced in Hong Kong and Chinese mainland by the PolyU Knowledge Management and Innovation Research Centre.
Bengals book playoff spot with win over Steelers
Labels: Sports Josh Brown booted a 43-yard field goal with four seconds left to play to earn the Cincinnati Bengals a 13-10 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers and a ticket to the National Football League playoffs on Sunday.
The victory was the Bengals' (9-6) first over their bitter AFC North rivals in six meetings and eliminated the Steelers (7-8) from post-season contention spoiling the holiday mood for the capacity crowd who had arrived at Heinz Field expecting to kick off the Christmas holidays with a win.
"It's very satisfying, quite honestly," Brown told reporters. "I've had some bad runs against Pittsburgh, including a bad game with the Rams last year, so really I just needed to exercise some demons.
"It's a good Christmas."
The outcome marks the first since 2006 that the Steelers will enter the final game of the regular season with no chance to make the playoffs while the Bengals earned back-to-back post-season berths for the first time in 30 years.
"It was not our day, not our year, not enough physical play at the moment," said Steelers coach Mike Tomlin. "It sounds like a broken record but the reality, as we sit here, we accept responsibility for it. ...
"It's disheartening because we had chances."
As is typical when the Steelers and Bengals clash, the meeting was a bruising defensive battle, the Cincinnati defense accounting for the Bengals' only touchdown when Leon Hall intercepted Ben Roethlisberger in the opening quarter and returned the ball 17 yards for the score.
Roethlisberger connected with Antonio Brown on a 60-yard touchdown in the third quarter to get Pittsburgh back into the contest but made a critical mistake with 14 seconds to play, throwing his second interception that was returned to the Steelers 46.
Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton then hooked up with A.J. Green on a 21-yard pass to set up Brown's game-winning kick.
Pittsburgh had a chance to take control with 1:47 left on the clock when Shaun Suisham lined up to attempt a 53-yard field goal into the teeth of Heinz Field's notorious swirling winds. But the kick fell short, giving the Bengals the ball.
Brown had missed on a 56-yard attempt on the previous series as both teams struggled to generate offence.
Roethlisberger, who was intercepted in overtime in last Sunday's loss to the Dallas Cowboys, completed 14-of-28 passes for 220 yards but was under pressure all afternoon from a tenacious Bengals pass rush that sacked the Pittsburgh quarterback four times.
Pittsburgh's top-ranked defense surrendered just 14 yards rushing while Dalton completed just 24-of-41 attempts for 278 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. Almost half of Dalton's completions went to Green, who hauled in 10 catches for 116 yards.
"It's a big win for the city of Cincinnati," said Bengals coach Marvin Lewis. "We did a good job of hanging in there and not flinching and making big plays.
"There were a lot of big plays today. A lot of guys came up with big plays.
"That's what you have to keep having all the time.
Read More..
The victory was the Bengals' (9-6) first over their bitter AFC North rivals in six meetings and eliminated the Steelers (7-8) from post-season contention spoiling the holiday mood for the capacity crowd who had arrived at Heinz Field expecting to kick off the Christmas holidays with a win.
"It's very satisfying, quite honestly," Brown told reporters. "I've had some bad runs against Pittsburgh, including a bad game with the Rams last year, so really I just needed to exercise some demons.
"It's a good Christmas."
The outcome marks the first since 2006 that the Steelers will enter the final game of the regular season with no chance to make the playoffs while the Bengals earned back-to-back post-season berths for the first time in 30 years.
"It was not our day, not our year, not enough physical play at the moment," said Steelers coach Mike Tomlin. "It sounds like a broken record but the reality, as we sit here, we accept responsibility for it. ...
"It's disheartening because we had chances."
As is typical when the Steelers and Bengals clash, the meeting was a bruising defensive battle, the Cincinnati defense accounting for the Bengals' only touchdown when Leon Hall intercepted Ben Roethlisberger in the opening quarter and returned the ball 17 yards for the score.
Roethlisberger connected with Antonio Brown on a 60-yard touchdown in the third quarter to get Pittsburgh back into the contest but made a critical mistake with 14 seconds to play, throwing his second interception that was returned to the Steelers 46.
Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton then hooked up with A.J. Green on a 21-yard pass to set up Brown's game-winning kick.
Pittsburgh had a chance to take control with 1:47 left on the clock when Shaun Suisham lined up to attempt a 53-yard field goal into the teeth of Heinz Field's notorious swirling winds. But the kick fell short, giving the Bengals the ball.
Brown had missed on a 56-yard attempt on the previous series as both teams struggled to generate offence.
Roethlisberger, who was intercepted in overtime in last Sunday's loss to the Dallas Cowboys, completed 14-of-28 passes for 220 yards but was under pressure all afternoon from a tenacious Bengals pass rush that sacked the Pittsburgh quarterback four times.
Pittsburgh's top-ranked defense surrendered just 14 yards rushing while Dalton completed just 24-of-41 attempts for 278 yards with no touchdowns and two interceptions. Almost half of Dalton's completions went to Green, who hauled in 10 catches for 116 yards.
"It's a big win for the city of Cincinnati," said Bengals coach Marvin Lewis. "We did a good job of hanging in there and not flinching and making big plays.
"There were a lot of big plays today. A lot of guys came up with big plays.
"That's what you have to keep having all the time.
Column: NFL's 'nice little story' gets even better
Labels: SportsThe Colts were a nice little story six weeks ago.
That's when a team that started 1-2 and had "rebuilding" written all over it responded to the loss of rookie coach Chuck Pagano with one of those how-did-they-do-it winning streaks — and that was supposed to be that. Considering the Colts finished 2-14 a year ago, then said goodbye to Peyton Manning and turned the rest of the roster upside-down, the season was already a success.
Fans in Indianapolis knew can't-miss rookie quarterback Andrew Luck was bound to improve, but explaining the 4-1 run after Pagano left the team to deal with leukemia was tough enough, especially because there was precious little room elsewhere for improvement. The Colts still can't run the ball, and they still start rookies at nearly every one of the skill positions. The defense? Don't ask.
Yet the story just got better.
Indianapolis was outgained by more than 200 yards Sunday in Kansas City. The Colts lost the time-of-possession battle but still won 20-13 and locked up an improbable playoff spot.
"Mission accomplished," Colts interim coach Bruce Arians said, as though he expected as much. "That's all I can say. It's a fantastic feeling."
And the story is about to get better still.
Pagano has been cleared to return, perhaps as early as Monday. He might have been the only guy in the entire organization who was expecting great things when he took over, but an entire squad and staff have come over to his side in his absence.
Arians, who stepped in for his close pal and consulted Pagano throughout his ordeal, is a candidate for coach of the year. And Luck, who threw for a modest 205 yards and a touchdown, still made up a lot of ground in his race against similarly impressive first-year quarterback starters Robert Griffin III of Washington and Russell Wilson of Seattle because of something he didn't do — throw a costly interception.
Even the much-maligned defense got into the act, with Darius Butler picking off Brady Quinn's pass and returning it for a touchdown five plays into the game, and whole unit rising up to stuff Quinn on a quarterback sneak late in the game, turning the ball back over to Luck in time for a rookie-record seventh winning drive.
"Whenever teams go for it on fourth down, the defense takes it personal," Indianapolis end Dwight Freeney said.
If the defensive stand was a surprise, what Luck did with the opportunity wasn't. The Colts' running game is still little more than a chance for Luck to catch his breath, and despite the emergence of receivers T.Y. Hilton and Dwayne Allen, just about everybody in Arrowhead Stadium was looking at veteran wideout Reggie Wayne. So was Luck, who saw him cut through a seam in the middle of the defense, then fired a high, hard pass that Wayne latched onto in the end zone for a 7-yard score.
Luck owns the rookie records for most yards, most 300-yard games, most winning drives, and the strike to Wayne put him closer to the rookie record of 26 touchdown passes set by none other than Manning. And just like Manning, to whom Luck was often compared before the season, the rookie knew exactly what to say about all of them.
"I think it definitely means something. After the season I'll have a chance to reflect back on it. Obviously, it is nicer to be in the playoffs and know that," Luck said, "but it is nice to have a couple records that I'm sure will be broken in the next year."
What he said next, though, came as something of a surprise.
"I think we were confident in the locker room from day one. I remember going in, trying to gauge the feel of what it was going to be like. Guys were confident on this team, like Reggie Wayne who had never missed a playoff until that year. Dwight Freeney, Robert Mathis, those guys are winners, they know how to win, so I think they imparted some of that magic, if you will, on some of the younger guys, the newer guys.
"It was a confident bunch, we never prepared to lose a game, we always prepared to win, and I guess that worked out."
It's still a mystery exactly how, but Luck wasn't going to spend much more time dwelling on that than he did on accumulating records.
"I guess it will be an extra special Christmas," he said, referring to Pagano's return. "There will be a lot of emotions when he comes through the door. It's funny, there are probably 10 guys who have never met Chuck on the team, but I think they will be emotional too because I'm sure they feel like they know him, too, because his presence is felt so much in the building out here, and wherever we go.
Read More..
That's when a team that started 1-2 and had "rebuilding" written all over it responded to the loss of rookie coach Chuck Pagano with one of those how-did-they-do-it winning streaks — and that was supposed to be that. Considering the Colts finished 2-14 a year ago, then said goodbye to Peyton Manning and turned the rest of the roster upside-down, the season was already a success.
Fans in Indianapolis knew can't-miss rookie quarterback Andrew Luck was bound to improve, but explaining the 4-1 run after Pagano left the team to deal with leukemia was tough enough, especially because there was precious little room elsewhere for improvement. The Colts still can't run the ball, and they still start rookies at nearly every one of the skill positions. The defense? Don't ask.
Yet the story just got better.
Indianapolis was outgained by more than 200 yards Sunday in Kansas City. The Colts lost the time-of-possession battle but still won 20-13 and locked up an improbable playoff spot.
"Mission accomplished," Colts interim coach Bruce Arians said, as though he expected as much. "That's all I can say. It's a fantastic feeling."
And the story is about to get better still.
Pagano has been cleared to return, perhaps as early as Monday. He might have been the only guy in the entire organization who was expecting great things when he took over, but an entire squad and staff have come over to his side in his absence.
Arians, who stepped in for his close pal and consulted Pagano throughout his ordeal, is a candidate for coach of the year. And Luck, who threw for a modest 205 yards and a touchdown, still made up a lot of ground in his race against similarly impressive first-year quarterback starters Robert Griffin III of Washington and Russell Wilson of Seattle because of something he didn't do — throw a costly interception.
Even the much-maligned defense got into the act, with Darius Butler picking off Brady Quinn's pass and returning it for a touchdown five plays into the game, and whole unit rising up to stuff Quinn on a quarterback sneak late in the game, turning the ball back over to Luck in time for a rookie-record seventh winning drive.
"Whenever teams go for it on fourth down, the defense takes it personal," Indianapolis end Dwight Freeney said.
If the defensive stand was a surprise, what Luck did with the opportunity wasn't. The Colts' running game is still little more than a chance for Luck to catch his breath, and despite the emergence of receivers T.Y. Hilton and Dwayne Allen, just about everybody in Arrowhead Stadium was looking at veteran wideout Reggie Wayne. So was Luck, who saw him cut through a seam in the middle of the defense, then fired a high, hard pass that Wayne latched onto in the end zone for a 7-yard score.
Luck owns the rookie records for most yards, most 300-yard games, most winning drives, and the strike to Wayne put him closer to the rookie record of 26 touchdown passes set by none other than Manning. And just like Manning, to whom Luck was often compared before the season, the rookie knew exactly what to say about all of them.
"I think it definitely means something. After the season I'll have a chance to reflect back on it. Obviously, it is nicer to be in the playoffs and know that," Luck said, "but it is nice to have a couple records that I'm sure will be broken in the next year."
What he said next, though, came as something of a surprise.
"I think we were confident in the locker room from day one. I remember going in, trying to gauge the feel of what it was going to be like. Guys were confident on this team, like Reggie Wayne who had never missed a playoff until that year. Dwight Freeney, Robert Mathis, those guys are winners, they know how to win, so I think they imparted some of that magic, if you will, on some of the younger guys, the newer guys.
"It was a confident bunch, we never prepared to lose a game, we always prepared to win, and I guess that worked out."
It's still a mystery exactly how, but Luck wasn't going to spend much more time dwelling on that than he did on accumulating records.
"I guess it will be an extra special Christmas," he said, referring to Pagano's return. "There will be a lot of emotions when he comes through the door. It's funny, there are probably 10 guys who have never met Chuck on the team, but I think they will be emotional too because I'm sure they feel like they know him, too, because his presence is felt so much in the building out here, and wherever we go.
UPDATE 1-NFL-Bengals and Colts claim playoff berths
Labels: Sports* Colts complete turnaround season as AFC playoff list set
* Ravens claim AFC North title, top-seed not yet decided (Adds later games, quotes)
Dec 23 (Reuters) - The Cincinnati Bengals edged the Pittsburgh Steelers to reach the NFL playoffs, and the Indianapolis Colts joined the postseason party by capping their remarkable turnaround in pressure-packed action on Sunday.
The advancement of Cincinnati (9-6), 13-10 winners over their bitter AFC North rivals, and Indianapolis (10-5), who beat the Kansas City Chiefs 20-13, completed the playoff list in the American Football Conference, though seeding issues remained.
The Houston Texans (12-3) failed to capitalize on a chance to clinch top seeding in the AFC by losing 23-6 to the Minnesota Vikings (9-6), who stayed alive for an NFC playoff berth.
AFC North title honors went to the Baltimore Ravens (10-5), who ended a three-game losing streak by dominating the New York Giants 33-14.
Playoff hopes for the Super Bowl champion Giants(8-7) hung by a thread after losing their last two games by an aggregate score of 67-14.
Several playoff berths remained up for grabs in the NFC, with the East Division title and two wildcard spots still at stake.
The Washington Redskins (9-6) maintained the upper hand in their quest for the NFC East title by hanging on for a 27-20 win against the Philadelphia Eagles (4-11), while the Dallas Cowboys (8-7) suffered a 34-31 overtime loss to the New Orleans Saints.
Next week the Redskins, riding a six-game winning streak, host the Cowboys with the winner capturing the division title.
DOUBLY SATISFYING
In Pittsburgh, it was a doubly satisfying result for the Bengals whose three-point victory on Josh Brown's 43-yard field goal with four seconds left to play not only put them in the playoffs but also knocked the Steelers (7-8) out of contention.
It was the first victory for the visiting Bengals over their bitter AFC North rivals in six meetings.
For the Colts, victory over the Chiefs gave them their 10th playoff trip in 11 years but first in that span without Peyton Manning as quarterback.
This postseason berth came one season after a woeful 2-14 record that put them in position to take quarterback Andrew Luck from Stanford with the first pick of the 2012 NFL Draft.
Luck led the Colts to victory over the Chiefs (2-13) by hitting a leaping Reggie Wayne in the back of the end zone for the winning touchdown with 4:08 left in the game.
That connection capped a 73-yard drive that marked their NFL record-tying seventh fourth-quarter comeback victory.
"I'm very proud to be a part of this team, to be associated with a playoff team. What a great win for us," Luck told reporters.
Luck set the league record for passing yards in a season for a rookie, finishing the game with 4,183 yards to eclipse the mark of 4,051 yards last season by Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers with one regular season game still to play.
Houston slowed down league-leading rusher Adrian Peterson, but the Minnesota Vikings held the Texans to just a pair of field goals in their road victory.
Peterson was held to 86 yards, but quarterback Christian Ponder threw a touchdown pass, Toby Gerhart rushed for a score and Blair Walsh kicked three field goals to lift the Vikings.
Peterson, who had a streak of eight 100-yard games snapped, finished the game with 1,898 yards this season and still needs 208 yards to break the NFL single-season rushing record set by Eric Dickerson in 1984.
GUT-WRENCHER
Washington, who welcomed rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III back to the lineup after being sidelined a week with a knee injury, escaped a scare when Philadelphia had a first-and-goal at the five-yard line with 11 seconds left but failed to score a touchdown that would have sent the game to overtime.
"Winning always cures all ills. It was just good to be back out there with the guys," said Griffin.
"We're playing the best ball we've played all year at the right time. We're rolling. We know that we can win any kind of game we have to, whether it's a high-scoring game or a low-scoring game or a gut-wrencher at the end."
Dallas rallied with 14 points in the last four minutes to send their game against the Saints into overtime, but they failed to mount a threat with their first possession in extra time and New Orleans (7-8) won on a 20-yard field goal.
The Chicago Bears (9-6) stayed in playoff contention with a 28-13 victory over the Arizona Cardinals (5-10).
NFC North champion Green Bay Packers (11-4) maintained their strong form with a 55-7 thrashing of the Tennessee Titans as Aaron Rodgers threw for three touchdowns and 342 yards.
Tom Brady threw a pair of interceptions in the first quarter but recovered to lead the AFC East champion New England Patriots (11-4) to a 23-16 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars (2-13).
Read More..
* Ravens claim AFC North title, top-seed not yet decided (Adds later games, quotes)
Dec 23 (Reuters) - The Cincinnati Bengals edged the Pittsburgh Steelers to reach the NFL playoffs, and the Indianapolis Colts joined the postseason party by capping their remarkable turnaround in pressure-packed action on Sunday.
The advancement of Cincinnati (9-6), 13-10 winners over their bitter AFC North rivals, and Indianapolis (10-5), who beat the Kansas City Chiefs 20-13, completed the playoff list in the American Football Conference, though seeding issues remained.
The Houston Texans (12-3) failed to capitalize on a chance to clinch top seeding in the AFC by losing 23-6 to the Minnesota Vikings (9-6), who stayed alive for an NFC playoff berth.
AFC North title honors went to the Baltimore Ravens (10-5), who ended a three-game losing streak by dominating the New York Giants 33-14.
Playoff hopes for the Super Bowl champion Giants(8-7) hung by a thread after losing their last two games by an aggregate score of 67-14.
Several playoff berths remained up for grabs in the NFC, with the East Division title and two wildcard spots still at stake.
The Washington Redskins (9-6) maintained the upper hand in their quest for the NFC East title by hanging on for a 27-20 win against the Philadelphia Eagles (4-11), while the Dallas Cowboys (8-7) suffered a 34-31 overtime loss to the New Orleans Saints.
Next week the Redskins, riding a six-game winning streak, host the Cowboys with the winner capturing the division title.
DOUBLY SATISFYING
In Pittsburgh, it was a doubly satisfying result for the Bengals whose three-point victory on Josh Brown's 43-yard field goal with four seconds left to play not only put them in the playoffs but also knocked the Steelers (7-8) out of contention.
It was the first victory for the visiting Bengals over their bitter AFC North rivals in six meetings.
For the Colts, victory over the Chiefs gave them their 10th playoff trip in 11 years but first in that span without Peyton Manning as quarterback.
This postseason berth came one season after a woeful 2-14 record that put them in position to take quarterback Andrew Luck from Stanford with the first pick of the 2012 NFL Draft.
Luck led the Colts to victory over the Chiefs (2-13) by hitting a leaping Reggie Wayne in the back of the end zone for the winning touchdown with 4:08 left in the game.
That connection capped a 73-yard drive that marked their NFL record-tying seventh fourth-quarter comeback victory.
"I'm very proud to be a part of this team, to be associated with a playoff team. What a great win for us," Luck told reporters.
Luck set the league record for passing yards in a season for a rookie, finishing the game with 4,183 yards to eclipse the mark of 4,051 yards last season by Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers with one regular season game still to play.
Houston slowed down league-leading rusher Adrian Peterson, but the Minnesota Vikings held the Texans to just a pair of field goals in their road victory.
Peterson was held to 86 yards, but quarterback Christian Ponder threw a touchdown pass, Toby Gerhart rushed for a score and Blair Walsh kicked three field goals to lift the Vikings.
Peterson, who had a streak of eight 100-yard games snapped, finished the game with 1,898 yards this season and still needs 208 yards to break the NFL single-season rushing record set by Eric Dickerson in 1984.
GUT-WRENCHER
Washington, who welcomed rookie quarterback Robert Griffin III back to the lineup after being sidelined a week with a knee injury, escaped a scare when Philadelphia had a first-and-goal at the five-yard line with 11 seconds left but failed to score a touchdown that would have sent the game to overtime.
"Winning always cures all ills. It was just good to be back out there with the guys," said Griffin.
"We're playing the best ball we've played all year at the right time. We're rolling. We know that we can win any kind of game we have to, whether it's a high-scoring game or a low-scoring game or a gut-wrencher at the end."
Dallas rallied with 14 points in the last four minutes to send their game against the Saints into overtime, but they failed to mount a threat with their first possession in extra time and New Orleans (7-8) won on a 20-yard field goal.
The Chicago Bears (9-6) stayed in playoff contention with a 28-13 victory over the Arizona Cardinals (5-10).
NFC North champion Green Bay Packers (11-4) maintained their strong form with a 55-7 thrashing of the Tennessee Titans as Aaron Rodgers threw for three touchdowns and 342 yards.
Tom Brady threw a pair of interceptions in the first quarter but recovered to lead the AFC East champion New England Patriots (11-4) to a 23-16 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars (2-13).
Luck sets rookie record, rookie PK sets NFL mark
Labels: SportsAndrew Luck has broken the NFL rookie record for yards passing, and rookie kicker Blair Walsh has broken the league mark for 50-yard plus field goals in a season.
On a Sunday featuring a slew of records, Luck topped Cam Newton's year-old mark for yards passing in the first half of Indianapolis' win at Kansas City. Newton's record was 4,051 yards. Luck entered the game needing 74 yards to break the mark. He finished with 205 yards and now has 4,183 yards with a game against Kansas City remaining in the regular season.
"Yes, it definitely means something," Luck said of the record. "And after the season I'll have a chance to look back and reflect on it. It's nice; obviously it's nicer to be in the playoffs but it's nice to have a couple records, which I'm sure will be broken in the next year."
Minnesota's Walsh kicked a 56-yard field goal in the second quarter against Houston, giving him a record ninth field goal of 50 yards or more.
Also, Redskins kicker Kai Forbath set the NFL record for consecutive field goals to begin a career with 17 straight. He had field goals of 45 and 42 yards in the first half against the Eagles. New Orleans' Garrett Hartley had 16 straight.
On Saturday, Detroit's Calvin Johnson broke Jerry Rice's single-season yards receiving record, and is at 1,892 with a game left. He also became the only NFL player with 100 yards receiving in eight straight games, and with 10-plus receptions in four straight games.
Read More..
On a Sunday featuring a slew of records, Luck topped Cam Newton's year-old mark for yards passing in the first half of Indianapolis' win at Kansas City. Newton's record was 4,051 yards. Luck entered the game needing 74 yards to break the mark. He finished with 205 yards and now has 4,183 yards with a game against Kansas City remaining in the regular season.
"Yes, it definitely means something," Luck said of the record. "And after the season I'll have a chance to look back and reflect on it. It's nice; obviously it's nicer to be in the playoffs but it's nice to have a couple records, which I'm sure will be broken in the next year."
Minnesota's Walsh kicked a 56-yard field goal in the second quarter against Houston, giving him a record ninth field goal of 50 yards or more.
Also, Redskins kicker Kai Forbath set the NFL record for consecutive field goals to begin a career with 17 straight. He had field goals of 45 and 42 yards in the first half against the Eagles. New Orleans' Garrett Hartley had 16 straight.
On Saturday, Detroit's Calvin Johnson broke Jerry Rice's single-season yards receiving record, and is at 1,892 with a game left. He also became the only NFL player with 100 yards receiving in eight straight games, and with 10-plus receptions in four straight games.
UPDATE 1-NFL results
Labels: SportsDec 24 (Infostrada Sports) - Results from the NFL games on Sunday (home team in CAPS)
GREEN BAY 55 Tennessee 7
CAROLINA 17 Oakland 6
MIAMI 24 Buffalo 10
Cincinnati 13 PITTSBURGH 10
New England 23 JACKSONVILLE 16
Indianapolis 20 KANSAS CITY 13
New Orleans 34 DALLAS 31 (OT)
Washington 27 PHILADELPHIA 20
St. Louis 28 TAMPA BAY 13
Minnesota 23 HOUSTON 6
San Diego 27 NY JETS 17
DENVER 34 Cleveland 12
Chicago 28 ARIZONA 13
BALTIMORE 33 NY Giants 14
SEATTLE 42 San Francisco 13
Read More..
GREEN BAY 55 Tennessee 7
CAROLINA 17 Oakland 6
MIAMI 24 Buffalo 10
Cincinnati 13 PITTSBURGH 10
New England 23 JACKSONVILLE 16
Indianapolis 20 KANSAS CITY 13
New Orleans 34 DALLAS 31 (OT)
Washington 27 PHILADELPHIA 20
St. Louis 28 TAMPA BAY 13
Minnesota 23 HOUSTON 6
San Diego 27 NY JETS 17
DENVER 34 Cleveland 12
Chicago 28 ARIZONA 13
BALTIMORE 33 NY Giants 14
SEATTLE 42 San Francisco 13
Bringing Sunlight to Light an Underground Garden
Labels: TechImagine an inviting green park with tall, shady trees and wide swaths of grassy lawn where you can hear live music or see theater or simply sit quietly soaking up the noonday sun.
Now, imagine that all underground in an old disused parking garage … but still with trees and grass in the bright sunlight - a little less bright, of course, on cloudy days.
This paradoxical vision is already halfway to becoming a reality in downtown Manhattan, a dream made possible partly by fiber-optic technology that can capture sunlight on high rooftops and literally pipe it down to shine further from big underground "skylights."
Dan Barasch and James Ramsey envisioned it all in 2008 when they teamed up with an idea to transform an abandoned trolley terminal, a 1.5-acre lot underneath the Williamsburg Bridge and next to the Delancey St. subway station.
They dubbed their underground park the "Lowline," a nod to Manhattan's popular Highline Park that transformed another swatch of urban blight - in that case an unused and overgrown elevated rail bed.
PHOTOS: Lowline Park Project
Since they teamed up, Ramsey, an architect and principal at RAAD Studio, and Barasch, formerly VP of strategic partnerships for PopTech, have raised more than $500,000 for the project, including a Kickstarter campaign that totaled $155,000.
This past September, Ramsey and Barasch also staged an exhibit at a warehouse on Essex Street, just above where the proposed park would exist, in an effort to show the public what the Lowline could look like.
But lighting the underground space is a challenge and that is where Ramsey's background in engineering comes in; the former NASA employee turned architect had already been working on a way to collect and funnel light when he approached Barasch about the idea of an underground park.
Ramsey and Barasch explain their concept and in more detail here:
The technology consists of fiber optic cables attached to devices Ramsey refers to as remote skylights. Equipped with GPS, these solar collectors follow and capture the sun funneling it down through the cables. The glass surface of the skylights filters out infrared and UVA rays, but still harvests the light necessary for photosynthesis to take place.
For the exhibit, Ramsey and Barasch, alongside a team of volunteers put this technology to the test; together with their team they hand fit together 600 pieces of anodized-aluminum sheets to create a curved dome, a silver canopy that cast the light down on the warehouse space. On the warehouse roof, 20 feet above, six tracking systems collected the light and piped it down to the space below.
"We looked to the way that they build space telescopes to actually cobble together a mesh of flat pieces to create a very completed curved surface, and that curved surface is calibrated to actually deploy the light," said Ramsey, who worked with infrared spectrometry while at NASA.
With the help of volunteers, including engineers and team members from RAAD Studio, the duo created a mock-up complete with moss-covered knolls and Japanese maples. For their installation, they partnered with Sun Central, a Canadian-based solar technology firm, and Arup, a design and engineering firm that is also working on the Second Avenue subway line in Manhattan.
"All of a sudden you have this idea beginning to emerge where you can take this ancient disused space underneath the city and actually turn it into a public space, a garden really, for everyone to enjoy," Ramsey said.
Both Barasch and Ramsey point out despite their success so far, they still have a long way to go before making the Lowline a reality; first, they need to convince city and MTA officials (and ultimately the state) to let them use the site, a process that Barasch says requires both political and public support.
Barasch, who resigned from his position at PopTech in March, is devoting his efforts full time to the project focusing on fundraising and engaging with members of the community.
"This is not a short-term project," Barasch said. "It's very big in terms of its integration with the overall ecosystem of the space, the neighborhood, the subway line, the community and the city and we want to do this right."
If they gain control of the terminal, Ramsey and Barasch estimate the project would cost $50 million in capital costs for construction and may take five to eight years to complete. Nevertheless, both remain determined to see the Lowline complete.
"It taps into this thing that every human actually just needs, which is public space and some semblance of being outdoors as well as being inspired by making the city more beautiful, more livable," Barasch said.
For now, the trolley terminal remains an empty, shadowy cavern with an undetermined future, but one in which Ramsey and Barasch hope they can play a part.
Read More..
Now, imagine that all underground in an old disused parking garage … but still with trees and grass in the bright sunlight - a little less bright, of course, on cloudy days.
This paradoxical vision is already halfway to becoming a reality in downtown Manhattan, a dream made possible partly by fiber-optic technology that can capture sunlight on high rooftops and literally pipe it down to shine further from big underground "skylights."
Dan Barasch and James Ramsey envisioned it all in 2008 when they teamed up with an idea to transform an abandoned trolley terminal, a 1.5-acre lot underneath the Williamsburg Bridge and next to the Delancey St. subway station.
They dubbed their underground park the "Lowline," a nod to Manhattan's popular Highline Park that transformed another swatch of urban blight - in that case an unused and overgrown elevated rail bed.
PHOTOS: Lowline Park Project
Since they teamed up, Ramsey, an architect and principal at RAAD Studio, and Barasch, formerly VP of strategic partnerships for PopTech, have raised more than $500,000 for the project, including a Kickstarter campaign that totaled $155,000.
This past September, Ramsey and Barasch also staged an exhibit at a warehouse on Essex Street, just above where the proposed park would exist, in an effort to show the public what the Lowline could look like.
But lighting the underground space is a challenge and that is where Ramsey's background in engineering comes in; the former NASA employee turned architect had already been working on a way to collect and funnel light when he approached Barasch about the idea of an underground park.
Ramsey and Barasch explain their concept and in more detail here:
The technology consists of fiber optic cables attached to devices Ramsey refers to as remote skylights. Equipped with GPS, these solar collectors follow and capture the sun funneling it down through the cables. The glass surface of the skylights filters out infrared and UVA rays, but still harvests the light necessary for photosynthesis to take place.
For the exhibit, Ramsey and Barasch, alongside a team of volunteers put this technology to the test; together with their team they hand fit together 600 pieces of anodized-aluminum sheets to create a curved dome, a silver canopy that cast the light down on the warehouse space. On the warehouse roof, 20 feet above, six tracking systems collected the light and piped it down to the space below.
"We looked to the way that they build space telescopes to actually cobble together a mesh of flat pieces to create a very completed curved surface, and that curved surface is calibrated to actually deploy the light," said Ramsey, who worked with infrared spectrometry while at NASA.
With the help of volunteers, including engineers and team members from RAAD Studio, the duo created a mock-up complete with moss-covered knolls and Japanese maples. For their installation, they partnered with Sun Central, a Canadian-based solar technology firm, and Arup, a design and engineering firm that is also working on the Second Avenue subway line in Manhattan.
"All of a sudden you have this idea beginning to emerge where you can take this ancient disused space underneath the city and actually turn it into a public space, a garden really, for everyone to enjoy," Ramsey said.
Both Barasch and Ramsey point out despite their success so far, they still have a long way to go before making the Lowline a reality; first, they need to convince city and MTA officials (and ultimately the state) to let them use the site, a process that Barasch says requires both political and public support.
Barasch, who resigned from his position at PopTech in March, is devoting his efforts full time to the project focusing on fundraising and engaging with members of the community.
"This is not a short-term project," Barasch said. "It's very big in terms of its integration with the overall ecosystem of the space, the neighborhood, the subway line, the community and the city and we want to do this right."
If they gain control of the terminal, Ramsey and Barasch estimate the project would cost $50 million in capital costs for construction and may take five to eight years to complete. Nevertheless, both remain determined to see the Lowline complete.
"It taps into this thing that every human actually just needs, which is public space and some semblance of being outdoors as well as being inspired by making the city more beautiful, more livable," Barasch said.
For now, the trolley terminal remains an empty, shadowy cavern with an undetermined future, but one in which Ramsey and Barasch hope they can play a part.
Cancer Immunotherapy Where Are We Going?
Labels: TechThe compelling concept of utilizing the patient's own immune system for a stronger and more effective way to attack cancer cells is not a new one. William Coley observed in 1891 that infections produced in patients with inoperable cancer following an injection of streptococcal organisms (Gram-positive bacteria) led to tumor shrinkage especially when the patients developed fever and other signs of a full-blown infection.1 Since then, research has embraced approaches to "train" the patient's own immune system to recognize certain biomarkers or proteins that are mainly found on cancer cells and to destroy the cells.
After several setbacks the first cellular immunotherapy, Dendreon's Sipuleucel-T (Provenge(R)), was approved for the treatment of prostate cancer in 2010. Today, new promising cancer immunotherapy approaches are in clinical trials. Most recently, researchers at the 54th American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting reported early success with a developmental-stage cell-based cancer vaccine for the treatment of leukemia and have shown remission in several patients 2,3, including a 7-year old girl who relapsed twice after chemotherapy.
Cancer immunotherapy can be thought of as either active or passive immunotherapy. The most prominent passive immunotherapies, which have revolutionized cancer therapy, are monoclonal antibodies that either target tumor-specific antigens and receptors or block important pathways central to tumor growth and survival. Therapeutic monoclonal antibodies are the market leader in the targeted cancer therapy space and include blockbusters such as trastuzumab (Herceptin(R)) or rituximab (Rituxan(R)).
In general, antibodies are significant elements of the body's adaptive immune system. They play a dominant role in the recognition of foreign antigens and the stimulation of the immune response. Therapeutic antibodies target and bind to antigens, usually proteins that are mainly expressed on diseased cells such as cancer cells. After binding, cancer cells can be destroyed by different mechanisms such as antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, the activation of the complement system -- an important part of the immune system -- and triggering cell death.
Although very successful, especially in oncology, therapeutic antibodies have a significant limitation: they don't generate a memory response by the immune system, and thus, repeated antibody infusions are required. Further, monoclonal antibodies are only able to recognize specific proteins present of the cell surface. Monoclonal antibodies are mostly produced in cell culture systems which are often costly. Humanization of murine monoclonal antibodies by replacing of certain parts of the antibody with human sequences has improved the tolerability of antibodies and made them less immunogenic, but even fully human sequence-derived antibodies can carry some immunological risk.
Novel approaches in the passive immunization strategy include antibody drug conjugates, a combination of targeting antibody with a very potent drug such as the recently approved brentuximab vedotin (ADCETRIS(TM)) for Hodgkin lymphoma and anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL). ADCETRIS comprises an anti-CD30 monoclonal antibodyanti-CD30 monoclonal antibody and a cytotoxic (cell-killing) agent that is released upon internalization into CD30-expressing tumor cells. Currently, the development of next generations of ADCs is underway.
Alternatively, specific and durable cancer immunotherapies designed to actively "train" or stimulate the patient's intrinsic immune response have been more problematic; however, recent success stories, such as the cell-based immunotherapy Provenge, have revitalized this field. Dendreon's approach modifies the patients' own dendritic cells to present a protein specific to prostate cancer cells.
Dendritic cells are the most potent, "professional" antigen-presenting cells. They process the antigen material and present it on their surface to other cells of the immune system. Once activated, the dendritic cells migrate to the lymphoid tissues where they interact with T-cells and B-cells -- white blood cells and important components of the immune system -- to initiate and shape the adaptive immune response. To develop Provenge, each patient's own dendritic cells are harvested and then loaded ex vivo with the tumor-associated antigen. Now "presenting" the antigen, the dendritic cells are administered back into the patient to induce a potent, cell-mediated anticancer immune response resulting in tumor shrinkage and clinical benefit.
In another experimental approach for the treatment of leukemia, patients' own modified T-cells were infused back into the patients. Prior to this, the T-cells were transduced with a lentivirus to express the CD19-specific chimeric antigen receptor. CD19 is an antigen which is found on B-cell neoplasms, cancerous B-cells, and the lentivirus was the vehicle to transfer the genetic material for CD19 into the cells. A case report published in the New England Journal of Medicine stated that a patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) was in ongoing remission 10 months after treatment.3
These promising results have spurred continued research for new and safe ways to achieve effective tumor vaccination, and drug developers have explored many cancer immunotherapy strategies. To generate an effective antitumor immunity, therapeutic intervention should drive several functions; specifically, it should promote the antigen presentation functions of dendritic cells, promote the production of protective T-cell responses, stimulate B-cells and overcome immunosuppression characteristics that are common to tumor cells.4
Cell-based therapeutic vaccines are most frequently produced outside the patient's body and involve isolation of the specific cells, such as dendritic cells, and the introduction of preselected antigens, often with the use of specific vehicle, into the cells. The antigens can be encoded in viral vectors (frequently DNA) or administered as peptides or proteins in a suitable adjuvant and carrier through a long and cumbersome process.
During my doctoral thesis, I conducted immunization experiments using RNA as a negative control, assuming that the RNA would be degraded during the experiment thus making it impossible to use as a vaccine. The physiological role of messenger (m) RNA is to transfer genetic information from the nucleus to the cytoplasm where this information is translated into the corresponding protein. mRNA is known to be very unstable and has a relatively short half-life. But astonishingly, we were able to measure a solid T-cell immune response. We repeated the experiment and confirmed that the RNA we had produced had the potential to be used as a vaccine. Importantly, we didn't need to isolate the patients' cells: mRNA-based vaccines can be injected directly into the skin (intradermal). The mRNA-based vaccines are then taken up by antigen-presenting cells, such as dendritic cells, and are then able to induce an immune response. Importantly, mRNA-vaccines can also be synthesized quickly for any antigen sequence identified.5
The first mRNA-based vaccines (RNActive(R)) are now in the clinic for the treatment of prostate cancer and lung cancer and have demonstrated that they do what they are supposed to do - induce a balanced humoral, as well as T cell-mediated, immune response that is entirely HLA independent. The HLA (human leukocyte antigen) system is used to differentiate the body's own cells (self) and non-self cells. Additionally, RNA-vaccines do not need a vehicle such as a virus for delivery to the cells, nor do they contain virus-derived elements that are often found in DNA-vaccines. These attributes make RNActive a very safe therapeutic.
The risk of integration of the RNA into the host-genome is minimized (RNA would have been transcribed first to DNA, and then it has to be transported to the nucleus), as is the residual risk of DNA-based vaccines for inactivating or activating genes or affecting cellular regulatory elements, which can induce oncogenesis. Thus, the favorable safety profile of mRNA-based therapies broadens their potential use not only for the treatment of diseases but for use as prophylactic vaccinations. A recent proof-of-concept study using mRNA-based vaccines (RNActive) in animal models for influenza was published in Nature Biotechnology.6
Therapeutic cancer immunotherapies and vaccines have come a long way, and novel, promising approaches give hope for safe and effective treatment options. This may one day lead to the treatment of all cancers as chronic diseases.
Read More..
After several setbacks the first cellular immunotherapy, Dendreon's Sipuleucel-T (Provenge(R)), was approved for the treatment of prostate cancer in 2010. Today, new promising cancer immunotherapy approaches are in clinical trials. Most recently, researchers at the 54th American Society of Hematology (ASH) meeting reported early success with a developmental-stage cell-based cancer vaccine for the treatment of leukemia and have shown remission in several patients 2,3, including a 7-year old girl who relapsed twice after chemotherapy.
Cancer immunotherapy can be thought of as either active or passive immunotherapy. The most prominent passive immunotherapies, which have revolutionized cancer therapy, are monoclonal antibodies that either target tumor-specific antigens and receptors or block important pathways central to tumor growth and survival. Therapeutic monoclonal antibodies are the market leader in the targeted cancer therapy space and include blockbusters such as trastuzumab (Herceptin(R)) or rituximab (Rituxan(R)).
In general, antibodies are significant elements of the body's adaptive immune system. They play a dominant role in the recognition of foreign antigens and the stimulation of the immune response. Therapeutic antibodies target and bind to antigens, usually proteins that are mainly expressed on diseased cells such as cancer cells. After binding, cancer cells can be destroyed by different mechanisms such as antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity, the activation of the complement system -- an important part of the immune system -- and triggering cell death.
Although very successful, especially in oncology, therapeutic antibodies have a significant limitation: they don't generate a memory response by the immune system, and thus, repeated antibody infusions are required. Further, monoclonal antibodies are only able to recognize specific proteins present of the cell surface. Monoclonal antibodies are mostly produced in cell culture systems which are often costly. Humanization of murine monoclonal antibodies by replacing of certain parts of the antibody with human sequences has improved the tolerability of antibodies and made them less immunogenic, but even fully human sequence-derived antibodies can carry some immunological risk.
Novel approaches in the passive immunization strategy include antibody drug conjugates, a combination of targeting antibody with a very potent drug such as the recently approved brentuximab vedotin (ADCETRIS(TM)) for Hodgkin lymphoma and anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL). ADCETRIS comprises an anti-CD30 monoclonal antibodyanti-CD30 monoclonal antibody and a cytotoxic (cell-killing) agent that is released upon internalization into CD30-expressing tumor cells. Currently, the development of next generations of ADCs is underway.
Alternatively, specific and durable cancer immunotherapies designed to actively "train" or stimulate the patient's intrinsic immune response have been more problematic; however, recent success stories, such as the cell-based immunotherapy Provenge, have revitalized this field. Dendreon's approach modifies the patients' own dendritic cells to present a protein specific to prostate cancer cells.
Dendritic cells are the most potent, "professional" antigen-presenting cells. They process the antigen material and present it on their surface to other cells of the immune system. Once activated, the dendritic cells migrate to the lymphoid tissues where they interact with T-cells and B-cells -- white blood cells and important components of the immune system -- to initiate and shape the adaptive immune response. To develop Provenge, each patient's own dendritic cells are harvested and then loaded ex vivo with the tumor-associated antigen. Now "presenting" the antigen, the dendritic cells are administered back into the patient to induce a potent, cell-mediated anticancer immune response resulting in tumor shrinkage and clinical benefit.
In another experimental approach for the treatment of leukemia, patients' own modified T-cells were infused back into the patients. Prior to this, the T-cells were transduced with a lentivirus to express the CD19-specific chimeric antigen receptor. CD19 is an antigen which is found on B-cell neoplasms, cancerous B-cells, and the lentivirus was the vehicle to transfer the genetic material for CD19 into the cells. A case report published in the New England Journal of Medicine stated that a patient with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) was in ongoing remission 10 months after treatment.3
These promising results have spurred continued research for new and safe ways to achieve effective tumor vaccination, and drug developers have explored many cancer immunotherapy strategies. To generate an effective antitumor immunity, therapeutic intervention should drive several functions; specifically, it should promote the antigen presentation functions of dendritic cells, promote the production of protective T-cell responses, stimulate B-cells and overcome immunosuppression characteristics that are common to tumor cells.4
Cell-based therapeutic vaccines are most frequently produced outside the patient's body and involve isolation of the specific cells, such as dendritic cells, and the introduction of preselected antigens, often with the use of specific vehicle, into the cells. The antigens can be encoded in viral vectors (frequently DNA) or administered as peptides or proteins in a suitable adjuvant and carrier through a long and cumbersome process.
During my doctoral thesis, I conducted immunization experiments using RNA as a negative control, assuming that the RNA would be degraded during the experiment thus making it impossible to use as a vaccine. The physiological role of messenger (m) RNA is to transfer genetic information from the nucleus to the cytoplasm where this information is translated into the corresponding protein. mRNA is known to be very unstable and has a relatively short half-life. But astonishingly, we were able to measure a solid T-cell immune response. We repeated the experiment and confirmed that the RNA we had produced had the potential to be used as a vaccine. Importantly, we didn't need to isolate the patients' cells: mRNA-based vaccines can be injected directly into the skin (intradermal). The mRNA-based vaccines are then taken up by antigen-presenting cells, such as dendritic cells, and are then able to induce an immune response. Importantly, mRNA-vaccines can also be synthesized quickly for any antigen sequence identified.5
The first mRNA-based vaccines (RNActive(R)) are now in the clinic for the treatment of prostate cancer and lung cancer and have demonstrated that they do what they are supposed to do - induce a balanced humoral, as well as T cell-mediated, immune response that is entirely HLA independent. The HLA (human leukocyte antigen) system is used to differentiate the body's own cells (self) and non-self cells. Additionally, RNA-vaccines do not need a vehicle such as a virus for delivery to the cells, nor do they contain virus-derived elements that are often found in DNA-vaccines. These attributes make RNActive a very safe therapeutic.
The risk of integration of the RNA into the host-genome is minimized (RNA would have been transcribed first to DNA, and then it has to be transported to the nucleus), as is the residual risk of DNA-based vaccines for inactivating or activating genes or affecting cellular regulatory elements, which can induce oncogenesis. Thus, the favorable safety profile of mRNA-based therapies broadens their potential use not only for the treatment of diseases but for use as prophylactic vaccinations. A recent proof-of-concept study using mRNA-based vaccines (RNActive) in animal models for influenza was published in Nature Biotechnology.6
Therapeutic cancer immunotherapies and vaccines have come a long way, and novel, promising approaches give hope for safe and effective treatment options. This may one day lead to the treatment of all cancers as chronic diseases.
Viral Video Recap: Funniest Memes of the Week
Labels: TechA cat stuck in a box. A dramatic reading of Fifty Shades of Grey from George Takei. And another "Gangnam Style" remix. These are just three examples of the top videos that the web world watched this week.
We rounded up the most viral videos from this past week for your holiday weekend viewing pleasure. After all, what's better than explaining the significance of a philosophic cat to your mother at the dinner table?
[More from Mashable: 83 of 2012′s Best Viral Videos Crammed Into 4 Minutes]
What was your favorite video from this week? Tell us in the comments below.
12. Photobombing Stingray
Five years ago, three college girls on a Caribbean vacation got a serious case of the heebeejeebies when a stingray photobombed their “say cheese” moment. The hilarious photograph could have ended up as just a fond vacay memory if it weren’t for a friend, who shared the image on Reddit in September of this year.
Read More..
We rounded up the most viral videos from this past week for your holiday weekend viewing pleasure. After all, what's better than explaining the significance of a philosophic cat to your mother at the dinner table?
[More from Mashable: 83 of 2012′s Best Viral Videos Crammed Into 4 Minutes]
What was your favorite video from this week? Tell us in the comments below.
12. Photobombing Stingray
Five years ago, three college girls on a Caribbean vacation got a serious case of the heebeejeebies when a stingray photobombed their “say cheese” moment. The hilarious photograph could have ended up as just a fond vacay memory if it weren’t for a friend, who shared the image on Reddit in September of this year.
Top 5 Apps for Kids This Week
Labels: Tech1. I Spy With Lola HD
Ages 3-8 Overall rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars Why we like it: This app effectively takes the common hunt-and-find play pattern down a notch by way of a series of carefully leveled challenges, clear labels and a playful theme. Need to know: Don't confuse this with the Scholastic I SPY titles. This is a different kettle of fish. And get the paid version. It is well worth the $2 -- there are no gimmicks or in-app purchases. Ease of use: 9/10 Educational: 9/10 Entertaining: 9/10 $1.99
Click here to view this gallery.
[More from Mashable: 10 Apps to Keep You Safe and Healthy in 2013]
Chris Crowell is a veteran kindergarten teacher and contributing editor to Children's Technology Review, a web-based archive of articles and reviews on apps, technology toys and video games. Download a free issue of CTR here.
In this week's Top 5 Kids Apps, we've got a creepy crawly feeling. Your kids can learn counting with Bugs and Numbers or take up Spanish as a hobby. There's also a beautifully-designed interactive e-book sure to capture your child's attention and spark the imagination.
Read More..
Ages 3-8 Overall rating: 4.4 out of 5 stars Why we like it: This app effectively takes the common hunt-and-find play pattern down a notch by way of a series of carefully leveled challenges, clear labels and a playful theme. Need to know: Don't confuse this with the Scholastic I SPY titles. This is a different kettle of fish. And get the paid version. It is well worth the $2 -- there are no gimmicks or in-app purchases. Ease of use: 9/10 Educational: 9/10 Entertaining: 9/10 $1.99
Click here to view this gallery.
[More from Mashable: 10 Apps to Keep You Safe and Healthy in 2013]
Chris Crowell is a veteran kindergarten teacher and contributing editor to Children's Technology Review, a web-based archive of articles and reviews on apps, technology toys and video games. Download a free issue of CTR here.
In this week's Top 5 Kids Apps, we've got a creepy crawly feeling. Your kids can learn counting with Bugs and Numbers or take up Spanish as a hobby. There's also a beautifully-designed interactive e-book sure to capture your child's attention and spark the imagination.
Analysis: Amazon, Google on collision course in 2013
Labels: TechWhen Amazon.com Inc CEO Jeff Bezos got word of a project at Google Inc to scan and digitize product catalogs a decade ago, the seeds of a burgeoning rivalry were planted.
The news was a "wake-up" call to Bezos, an early investor in Google. He saw it as a warning that the Web search engine could encroach upon his online retail empire, according to a former Amazon executive.
"He realized that scanning catalogs was interesting for Google, but the real win for Google would be to get all the books scanned and digitized" and then sell electronic editions, the former executive said.
Thus began a rivalry that will escalate in 2013 as the two companies' areas of rivalry grow, spanning online advertising and retail to mobile gadgets and cloud computing.
It could upend the last remaining areas of cooperation between the two companies. For instance, Amazon's decision to use a stripped down version of Google's Android system in its new Kindle Fire tablet, coupled with Google's ambitious plans for its Motorola mobile devices unit, will only add to tensions.
The confrontation marks the latest front in a tech industry war in which many combatants are crowding onto each others' turf. Lurking in the shadows for both Google and Amazon is Facebook with its own search and advertising ambitions.
"Amazon wants to be the one place where you buy everything. Google wants to be the one place where you find everything, of which buying things is a subset," said Chi-Hua Chien, a partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. "So when you marry those facts I think you're going to see a natural collision."
Both companies have a lot at stake. Google's market capitalization of $235 billion is about double Amazon's, largely because Google makes massive net earnings, expected by analysts to be $13.2 billion this year, based on a huge 32 percent net profit margin, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. By contrast, Amazon is seen reporting a small loss this year.
Amazon shareholders have been patient as the company has invested for growth but it will have to start producing strong earnings at some stage - more likely if it grows in higher margin areas such as advertising. Google's share price, on the other hand, is vulnerable to signs of slowing margin growth.
AD CLASH
Not long after Bezos learned of Google's catalog plans, Amazon began scanning books and providing searchable digital excerpts. Its Kindle e-reader, launched a few years later, owes much of its inspiration to the catalog news, the executive said.
Now, Amazon is pushing its online ad efforts, threatening to siphon revenue and users from Google's main search website.
Amazon's fledgling ad business is still a fraction of Google's, with Robert W. Baird & Co. estimating Amazon is on track to generate about $500 million in annual advertising revenue - tiny, given it recorded $48 billion of overall revenue in 2011. By contrast, 96 percent of Google's $38 billion in 2011 sales came from advertising.
But Amazon's newly developed "DSP" technology, which taps into the company's vast store of consumer purchase history to help marketers target ads at specific groups of people on Amazon.com and on other websites, could change all that.
"From a client's perspective, the data that Amazon owns is actually better than what Google has," said Mark Grether, the chief operating officer of Xaxis, an audience buying company that works with major advertisers. "They know what you just bought, and they also know what you are right now trying to buy."
Amazon is discussing a partnership with Xaxis in which the company would help Amazon sell ads for the service, Grether noted.
Amazon did not respond to an email seeking a comment.
STARTING POINT
Amazon can bring in higher-margin revenue by selling advertising than it can from its retail operations. By showing ads for products that it may not actually sell on its own website, Amazon establishes itself as a starting point for consumers looking to buy something on the Web.
Research firm Forrester reported that 30 percent of U.S. online shoppers in the third quarter began researching their purchase on Amazon.com, compared with 13 percent who started on a search engine such as Google - a reversal from two years earlier when search engines were more popular starting points.
Amazon now sells ads that show up to the side of product search results on its website. There were 6.7 billion display ad impressions on Amazon.com in the third quarter, more than triple the number in the same period of 2011, according to comScore.
That early success is a "huge concern" for Google, whose business relies heavily on product searches and product search ads, said Macquarie Research analyst Ben Schachter.
Partly in response, Google recently revamped its product search service, Google Shopping, by charging retailers and other online sellers a fee to be listed in results.
Founded four years apart in the late 1990s, Bezos has long worried about Amazon's reliance on Google for traffic, according to people close to the company, while also being dubious about Google's high market valuation.
"He'd say: ‘This is the first time in the history of the world where the map maker is worth more than the territory that it's mapping,'" recalled the former Amazon executive of Bezos' comments about Google's popular online mapping service.
TENSIONS BUILD
Google's Android system is thriving but still has not cracked the nut of how to make money from mobile search ads and sales of digital goods like games, apps, music and video.
"If they can figure out mobile ads, that would truly be Google's second act," said Forrester analyst Sucharita Mulpuru.
But Amazon launched a broadside against Google in 2011 with the creation of its own version of Android for its Kindle Fire tablets that replaces key Google money-making services, such as a digital music and application storefront, with its own.
Not unlike Apple, "Amazon wants to control the experience on their devices," said Oren Etzioni, a University of Washington computer science professor. "That doesn't make Google happy."
The two are also clashing in cloud computing software.
Amazon started its cloud business more than six years ago, providing data storage, computing power and other technology services from remote locations. Google only launched its cloud computing business this year, but the market is growing so quickly there is still room to grab share, Etzioni said.
"I would not write Google off," he added. "Amazon has the early lead but it's very early."
TRANSACT OR DIE?
Still, mobile gadgets and cloud computing are currently tiny businesses compared with the multibillion-dollar opportunity presented by advertising and online commerce.
Google recently acquired BufferBox, a company with a network of lockers that shoppers can use to receive packages. It is also testing same-day delivery in San Francisco, hinting at growing interest in a larger role in online retail.
It is not talking about its full plans for retail, but some analysts think features such as same-day delivery or "pick-up" lockers, are valuable features it can use to enhance its existing online ad business. An ad for shoes, for example, might also make the shoes available for pick-up in a locker nearby, said Needham & Co analyst Kerry Rice.
If Google can own the search and the delivery, it will be able to provide the same experience as Amazon, with no inventory - "a higher margin, more efficient model," Chien said.
Earlier this year, Google launched a new certification service highlighting merchants that ship quickly and reliably and backing it with up to $1,000 in "purchase protection."
Google could create a database of products and send shoppers to a page that has a way to buy quickly through the company's payments service Google Wallet, Forrester's Mulpuru said.
Google could then send that transaction to the retailer who would ship the product to the consumer. That ability is critical, according to Schachter, who said if consumers lack the ability to purchase items through Google it will lag Amazon and eBay Inc.
Read More..
The news was a "wake-up" call to Bezos, an early investor in Google. He saw it as a warning that the Web search engine could encroach upon his online retail empire, according to a former Amazon executive.
"He realized that scanning catalogs was interesting for Google, but the real win for Google would be to get all the books scanned and digitized" and then sell electronic editions, the former executive said.
Thus began a rivalry that will escalate in 2013 as the two companies' areas of rivalry grow, spanning online advertising and retail to mobile gadgets and cloud computing.
It could upend the last remaining areas of cooperation between the two companies. For instance, Amazon's decision to use a stripped down version of Google's Android system in its new Kindle Fire tablet, coupled with Google's ambitious plans for its Motorola mobile devices unit, will only add to tensions.
The confrontation marks the latest front in a tech industry war in which many combatants are crowding onto each others' turf. Lurking in the shadows for both Google and Amazon is Facebook with its own search and advertising ambitions.
"Amazon wants to be the one place where you buy everything. Google wants to be the one place where you find everything, of which buying things is a subset," said Chi-Hua Chien, a partner at venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. "So when you marry those facts I think you're going to see a natural collision."
Both companies have a lot at stake. Google's market capitalization of $235 billion is about double Amazon's, largely because Google makes massive net earnings, expected by analysts to be $13.2 billion this year, based on a huge 32 percent net profit margin, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. By contrast, Amazon is seen reporting a small loss this year.
Amazon shareholders have been patient as the company has invested for growth but it will have to start producing strong earnings at some stage - more likely if it grows in higher margin areas such as advertising. Google's share price, on the other hand, is vulnerable to signs of slowing margin growth.
AD CLASH
Not long after Bezos learned of Google's catalog plans, Amazon began scanning books and providing searchable digital excerpts. Its Kindle e-reader, launched a few years later, owes much of its inspiration to the catalog news, the executive said.
Now, Amazon is pushing its online ad efforts, threatening to siphon revenue and users from Google's main search website.
Amazon's fledgling ad business is still a fraction of Google's, with Robert W. Baird & Co. estimating Amazon is on track to generate about $500 million in annual advertising revenue - tiny, given it recorded $48 billion of overall revenue in 2011. By contrast, 96 percent of Google's $38 billion in 2011 sales came from advertising.
But Amazon's newly developed "DSP" technology, which taps into the company's vast store of consumer purchase history to help marketers target ads at specific groups of people on Amazon.com and on other websites, could change all that.
"From a client's perspective, the data that Amazon owns is actually better than what Google has," said Mark Grether, the chief operating officer of Xaxis, an audience buying company that works with major advertisers. "They know what you just bought, and they also know what you are right now trying to buy."
Amazon is discussing a partnership with Xaxis in which the company would help Amazon sell ads for the service, Grether noted.
Amazon did not respond to an email seeking a comment.
STARTING POINT
Amazon can bring in higher-margin revenue by selling advertising than it can from its retail operations. By showing ads for products that it may not actually sell on its own website, Amazon establishes itself as a starting point for consumers looking to buy something on the Web.
Research firm Forrester reported that 30 percent of U.S. online shoppers in the third quarter began researching their purchase on Amazon.com, compared with 13 percent who started on a search engine such as Google - a reversal from two years earlier when search engines were more popular starting points.
Amazon now sells ads that show up to the side of product search results on its website. There were 6.7 billion display ad impressions on Amazon.com in the third quarter, more than triple the number in the same period of 2011, according to comScore.
That early success is a "huge concern" for Google, whose business relies heavily on product searches and product search ads, said Macquarie Research analyst Ben Schachter.
Partly in response, Google recently revamped its product search service, Google Shopping, by charging retailers and other online sellers a fee to be listed in results.
Founded four years apart in the late 1990s, Bezos has long worried about Amazon's reliance on Google for traffic, according to people close to the company, while also being dubious about Google's high market valuation.
"He'd say: ‘This is the first time in the history of the world where the map maker is worth more than the territory that it's mapping,'" recalled the former Amazon executive of Bezos' comments about Google's popular online mapping service.
TENSIONS BUILD
Google's Android system is thriving but still has not cracked the nut of how to make money from mobile search ads and sales of digital goods like games, apps, music and video.
"If they can figure out mobile ads, that would truly be Google's second act," said Forrester analyst Sucharita Mulpuru.
But Amazon launched a broadside against Google in 2011 with the creation of its own version of Android for its Kindle Fire tablets that replaces key Google money-making services, such as a digital music and application storefront, with its own.
Not unlike Apple, "Amazon wants to control the experience on their devices," said Oren Etzioni, a University of Washington computer science professor. "That doesn't make Google happy."
The two are also clashing in cloud computing software.
Amazon started its cloud business more than six years ago, providing data storage, computing power and other technology services from remote locations. Google only launched its cloud computing business this year, but the market is growing so quickly there is still room to grab share, Etzioni said.
"I would not write Google off," he added. "Amazon has the early lead but it's very early."
TRANSACT OR DIE?
Still, mobile gadgets and cloud computing are currently tiny businesses compared with the multibillion-dollar opportunity presented by advertising and online commerce.
Google recently acquired BufferBox, a company with a network of lockers that shoppers can use to receive packages. It is also testing same-day delivery in San Francisco, hinting at growing interest in a larger role in online retail.
It is not talking about its full plans for retail, but some analysts think features such as same-day delivery or "pick-up" lockers, are valuable features it can use to enhance its existing online ad business. An ad for shoes, for example, might also make the shoes available for pick-up in a locker nearby, said Needham & Co analyst Kerry Rice.
If Google can own the search and the delivery, it will be able to provide the same experience as Amazon, with no inventory - "a higher margin, more efficient model," Chien said.
Earlier this year, Google launched a new certification service highlighting merchants that ship quickly and reliably and backing it with up to $1,000 in "purchase protection."
Google could create a database of products and send shoppers to a page that has a way to buy quickly through the company's payments service Google Wallet, Forrester's Mulpuru said.
Google could then send that transaction to the retailer who would ship the product to the consumer. That ability is critical, according to Schachter, who said if consumers lack the ability to purchase items through Google it will lag Amazon and eBay Inc.
Madonna leads Billboard's top-grossing tours
Labels: EntertainmentWhile this year's pop charts have been dominated by young singers, it is veteran music stars, led by Madonna, who are commanding big money in tour ticket sales, according to a new Billboard list released on Tuesday.
Madonna, 54, topped Billboard's list of highest-grossing live tours, earning an estimated $228.4 million in ticket sales from her sold-out ninth worldwide tour in support of her 12th studio album "MDNA." The singer will wrap her tour in South America this weekend, after performing more than 80 shows across the world starting in Israel in May.
Madonna came ahead of pop star Lady Gaga, who landed at No. 6, with ticket sales of $124.9 million from her worldwide "Born This Way Ball" tour. Gaga, 26, is currently midway through her tour, which kicked off in South Korea in April, and will wrap in Oklahoma in March 2013.
Music publication Billboard compiled its list through estimated gross ticket sales figures from Billboard box scores, which tracks concert tours, ticket prices and sales.
The top five highest-grossing tour acts of 2012 included Bruce Springsteen, 63, and the E Street band at No. 2 with $199 million from 72 shows and Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, 69, at No. 3 with $186 million.
Cirque Du Soleil's homage to late singer Michael Jackson in "The Immortal World Tour" ranked No. 4 with $147.3 million over 183 shows, and British rock band Coldplay was fifth with $147.2 million over 67 shows.
The only other young stars in the list of 25 top-grossing tours was Canadian pop star Justin Bieber, 18, at No. 20 with $30 million from 29 shows as part of his ongoing "Believe" tour, and country-pop darling Taylor Swift, 23, who raked in $26 million from 21 shows from her "Speak Now World Tour."
Last year, Swift ranked No. 5 on Billboard's list with an estimated $97 million in ticket sales from her "Speak Now World Tour," while Bieber came in at No. 15 with $44 million.
Swift will embark on her third worldwide concert tour in support of her studio album "Red" in March 2013.
Read More..
Madonna, 54, topped Billboard's list of highest-grossing live tours, earning an estimated $228.4 million in ticket sales from her sold-out ninth worldwide tour in support of her 12th studio album "MDNA." The singer will wrap her tour in South America this weekend, after performing more than 80 shows across the world starting in Israel in May.
Madonna came ahead of pop star Lady Gaga, who landed at No. 6, with ticket sales of $124.9 million from her worldwide "Born This Way Ball" tour. Gaga, 26, is currently midway through her tour, which kicked off in South Korea in April, and will wrap in Oklahoma in March 2013.
Music publication Billboard compiled its list through estimated gross ticket sales figures from Billboard box scores, which tracks concert tours, ticket prices and sales.
The top five highest-grossing tour acts of 2012 included Bruce Springsteen, 63, and the E Street band at No. 2 with $199 million from 72 shows and Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, 69, at No. 3 with $186 million.
Cirque Du Soleil's homage to late singer Michael Jackson in "The Immortal World Tour" ranked No. 4 with $147.3 million over 183 shows, and British rock band Coldplay was fifth with $147.2 million over 67 shows.
The only other young stars in the list of 25 top-grossing tours was Canadian pop star Justin Bieber, 18, at No. 20 with $30 million from 29 shows as part of his ongoing "Believe" tour, and country-pop darling Taylor Swift, 23, who raked in $26 million from 21 shows from her "Speak Now World Tour."
Last year, Swift ranked No. 5 on Billboard's list with an estimated $97 million in ticket sales from her "Speak Now World Tour," while Bieber came in at No. 15 with $44 million.
Swift will embark on her third worldwide concert tour in support of her studio album "Red" in March 2013.
Taylor Swift keeps Bruno Mars out of Billboard 200 top spot
Labels: Entertainment Country pop star Taylor Swift held her reign at the top of the Billboard 200 album chart on Wednesday, keeping retro-inspired R&B singer Bruno Mars' new album at bay.
Swift's latest album, "Red," released in October, held the No. 1 slot for a fifth non-consecutive week with sales of 208,000, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.
Mars' second album, "Unorthodox Jukebox," sold 192,000 copies in its opening week to take the No. 2 slot.
The album's lead single, "Locked Out of Heaven," stayed at the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for a second week, and is the singer's fourth chart-topping single. It also tops the Digital Songs chart this week.
Hip hop artist The Game entered the chart at No. 6 with his fifth studio album, "Jesus Piece," selling 86,000 copies.
Four festive albums sat in the top ten this week, with Michael Buble's "Christmas" at No. 3, Rod Stewart's "Merry Christmas Baby" at No. 5, Blake Shelton's "Cheers, It's Christmas" at No. 8, and Lady Antebellum's "On This Winter's Night" at No. 10.
Read More..
Swift's latest album, "Red," released in October, held the No. 1 slot for a fifth non-consecutive week with sales of 208,000, according to figures from Nielsen SoundScan.
Mars' second album, "Unorthodox Jukebox," sold 192,000 copies in its opening week to take the No. 2 slot.
The album's lead single, "Locked Out of Heaven," stayed at the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 chart for a second week, and is the singer's fourth chart-topping single. It also tops the Digital Songs chart this week.
Hip hop artist The Game entered the chart at No. 6 with his fifth studio album, "Jesus Piece," selling 86,000 copies.
Four festive albums sat in the top ten this week, with Michael Buble's "Christmas" at No. 3, Rod Stewart's "Merry Christmas Baby" at No. 5, Blake Shelton's "Cheers, It's Christmas" at No. 8, and Lady Antebellum's "On This Winter's Night" at No. 10.
Music, roses at singer Jenni Rivera's memorial
Labels: Entertainment Jenni Rivera's "celestial graduation" was marked by festive music, heartfelt speeches in Spanish and English and passionate chants of "Jen-ni! Jen-ni!"
Rivera's children and famed singers Olga Tanon and Joan Sebastian performed during the nearly 2 ½-hour Christian-themed memorial service Wednesday at the Gibson Amphitheatre, where thousands of fans gathered to salute the "Diva de la Banda" who died in a plane crash Dec. 9.
One fan, Veronika Flores, drove nearly eight hours from her home in Woodland, Calif., near Sacramento, to be united with other fans at the service.
"I just came to say goodbye to a Latina woman, La Gran Senora," she said, invoking the name of one of Rivera's most beloved songs.
Mexican singers Marco Antonio Solis and Ana Gabriel and actors Lou Diamond Phillips and Kate del Castillo were also among the guests at Wednesday's service.
A red casket sat onstage amid a sea of white roses as images of Rivera played on three big screens. Family members embraced and kissed the casket at the conclusion of the service, and thousands of fans lined up to lay more white roses atop it.
While most of the speeches and songs were delivered in Spanish, Rivera's children spoke in English, often directly to their late mother.
"We're not here to mourn the death," said son Michael, 21. "We're here to celebrate the life and graduation of a singer, an entertainer, a diva, a fighter, an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, and more than anything, a mother — the best mother."
He then called for 27 seconds of silence for the victims of the massacre in Newtown, Conn.
Rivera's youngest child, 11-year-old Johnny, was heartbreakingly poised as he said, "The person that everyone's talking about is my mom."
"Mama, I've been crying so much these last few days. I miss you so much," said the little boy, wearing a red bow tie like many of his family members. "I hope you're taking care of my dad and I hope he's taking care of you, too."
Rivera's second husband, Juan Lopez, died in 2009. The couple divorced in 2003.
Rivera's brothers and sisters spoke lovingly of the singer, calling her "the queen of queens," ''perfectly imperfect" and an "eternal diva." Her father said Rivera's "happiness, smile and care for the public will never be forgotten." He then performed a song he wrote about his daughter, a woman who rose from humble roots to become "la Diva de la Banda."
One of Rivera's brothers said his sister "made it OK for women to be who they are. Jenni also made it OK to be from nothing with the hopes of being something."
The family asked that Latin radio stations play Rivera's song "La Gran Senora" at noon Thursday in her honor.
The service was closed to most media, although a broadcast of the proceedings was made available. A reporter from The Associated Press obtained entry to the venue.
The burial will be private.
Rivera's last album before her death, "La Misma Gran Senora," topped the Latin albums chart this week, selling 27,000 copies — the best sales week for any Latin album this year. Rivera also holds three spots on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
Rivera and six other people died Dec. 9 in a northern Mexico plane crash that remains under investigation. Rivera, a mother of five children and grandmother of two, was 43.
Rivera sold more than 15 million copies of her 12 major-label albums. Her soulful singing style and honesty about her tumultuous personal life won her fans on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. She was also an actress and reality TV star.
Born in Los Angeles, Rivera launched her career by selling cassette tapes at flea markets. By the end of the 90s, she won a major-label contract and built a loyal following.
Many of her songs deal with themes of dignity in the face of heartbreak, which Rivera spoke of openly with her fans.
She had recently filed for divorce from her third husband, was once detained at a Mexico City airport with tens of thousands of dollars in cash, and publicly apologized after her brother assaulted a drunken fan who verbally attacked her in 2011.
"She was a fighter, a woman who can push boundaries," said Flores. "That's why I liked her, because I'm just like her.
Read More..
Rivera's children and famed singers Olga Tanon and Joan Sebastian performed during the nearly 2 ½-hour Christian-themed memorial service Wednesday at the Gibson Amphitheatre, where thousands of fans gathered to salute the "Diva de la Banda" who died in a plane crash Dec. 9.
One fan, Veronika Flores, drove nearly eight hours from her home in Woodland, Calif., near Sacramento, to be united with other fans at the service.
"I just came to say goodbye to a Latina woman, La Gran Senora," she said, invoking the name of one of Rivera's most beloved songs.
Mexican singers Marco Antonio Solis and Ana Gabriel and actors Lou Diamond Phillips and Kate del Castillo were also among the guests at Wednesday's service.
A red casket sat onstage amid a sea of white roses as images of Rivera played on three big screens. Family members embraced and kissed the casket at the conclusion of the service, and thousands of fans lined up to lay more white roses atop it.
While most of the speeches and songs were delivered in Spanish, Rivera's children spoke in English, often directly to their late mother.
"We're not here to mourn the death," said son Michael, 21. "We're here to celebrate the life and graduation of a singer, an entertainer, a diva, a fighter, an entrepreneur, a philanthropist, and more than anything, a mother — the best mother."
He then called for 27 seconds of silence for the victims of the massacre in Newtown, Conn.
Rivera's youngest child, 11-year-old Johnny, was heartbreakingly poised as he said, "The person that everyone's talking about is my mom."
"Mama, I've been crying so much these last few days. I miss you so much," said the little boy, wearing a red bow tie like many of his family members. "I hope you're taking care of my dad and I hope he's taking care of you, too."
Rivera's second husband, Juan Lopez, died in 2009. The couple divorced in 2003.
Rivera's brothers and sisters spoke lovingly of the singer, calling her "the queen of queens," ''perfectly imperfect" and an "eternal diva." Her father said Rivera's "happiness, smile and care for the public will never be forgotten." He then performed a song he wrote about his daughter, a woman who rose from humble roots to become "la Diva de la Banda."
One of Rivera's brothers said his sister "made it OK for women to be who they are. Jenni also made it OK to be from nothing with the hopes of being something."
The family asked that Latin radio stations play Rivera's song "La Gran Senora" at noon Thursday in her honor.
The service was closed to most media, although a broadcast of the proceedings was made available. A reporter from The Associated Press obtained entry to the venue.
The burial will be private.
Rivera's last album before her death, "La Misma Gran Senora," topped the Latin albums chart this week, selling 27,000 copies — the best sales week for any Latin album this year. Rivera also holds three spots on the Billboard 200 albums chart.
Rivera and six other people died Dec. 9 in a northern Mexico plane crash that remains under investigation. Rivera, a mother of five children and grandmother of two, was 43.
Rivera sold more than 15 million copies of her 12 major-label albums. Her soulful singing style and honesty about her tumultuous personal life won her fans on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border. She was also an actress and reality TV star.
Born in Los Angeles, Rivera launched her career by selling cassette tapes at flea markets. By the end of the 90s, she won a major-label contract and built a loyal following.
Many of her songs deal with themes of dignity in the face of heartbreak, which Rivera spoke of openly with her fans.
She had recently filed for divorce from her third husband, was once detained at a Mexico City airport with tens of thousands of dollars in cash, and publicly apologized after her brother assaulted a drunken fan who verbally attacked her in 2011.
"She was a fighter, a woman who can push boundaries," said Flores. "That's why I liked her, because I'm just like her.
Singer Odell first male to win Brit newcomer award
Labels: Entertainment Singer-songwriter Tom Odell was named the Brit Awards' tip for the top in 2013, the first male artist to receive the honor previously won by chart queens including Adele and Jessie J.
The 22-year-old, whose musical style and voice has drawn comparisons to Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin, beat London electronic duo AlunaGeorge and classically trained soul singer Laura Mvula to the Critics' Choice Award.
Selected by a panel of music industry experts, the annual prize goes to a British artist tipped for mainstream success, and previous winners have gone on to top charts in Britain and beyond.
"Looking at the list of amazing female artists who have won the Award already, I just hope I don't let the boys down!" Odell said in a statement.
He released his debut E.P. "Songs From Another Love" in late 2012 and followed up with a performance on the popular live music show "Later...with Jools Holland".
Odell also appears on the BBC's Sound of 2013 longlist and MTV's Brand New For 2013 selection of 10 up-and-coming artists, as the music business seeks to identify the chart-toppers of tomorrow.
Many acts, including Odell, already have record deals with major labels.
Read More..
The 22-year-old, whose musical style and voice has drawn comparisons to Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin, beat London electronic duo AlunaGeorge and classically trained soul singer Laura Mvula to the Critics' Choice Award.
Selected by a panel of music industry experts, the annual prize goes to a British artist tipped for mainstream success, and previous winners have gone on to top charts in Britain and beyond.
"Looking at the list of amazing female artists who have won the Award already, I just hope I don't let the boys down!" Odell said in a statement.
He released his debut E.P. "Songs From Another Love" in late 2012 and followed up with a performance on the popular live music show "Later...with Jools Holland".
Odell also appears on the BBC's Sound of 2013 longlist and MTV's Brand New For 2013 selection of 10 up-and-coming artists, as the music business seeks to identify the chart-toppers of tomorrow.
Many acts, including Odell, already have record deals with major labels.
"Gangnam Style" in line for UK dictionary inclusion
Labels: EntertainmentHe has the most-watched video in Youtube history, become a pop sensation with a horse-riding dance craze that has swept the world and now Korean singer Psy may cement his place in popular culture with recognition from a British dictionary.
"Gangnam Style," Psy's signature song, has been chosen along with "fiscal cliff" and "Romneyshambles" as some of Collins Dictionary's words of the year.
"We were looking for words that told the story of the year," said Ian Brookes, the dictionary's consultant editor.
"Some words are from events that have been and gone and so are not likely to stick around ... but others are probably here to stay."
Other headline entries centered on American politics.
"Fiscal cliff" has drawn a lot of attention as the deadline for Congress and President Obama to agree on government spending and tax plans draws nearer.
While the term "Romneyshambles" entered the British public's consciousness after Mitt Romney's gaffe-ridden visit to London in July in which he questioned Britain's readiness to host the Olympics.
The inclusion of "47 percent" on the list after a leaked video showed Romney telling donors that 47 percent of Americans would definitely vote for Obama because of their dependency on the government capped off a bad year for the losing presidential candidate.
Collins received over 7,000 submissions on its online database.
Twelve words of the year - one for each month - were then selected on the basis of the frequency with which they were spoken, how many places they appeared and their longevity in public discourse.
Appearing on the Collins words of the year list is no guarantee of insertion in the next dictionary.
But Gangnam Style stands a very good chance, Brookes said.
"It's obviously a craze, so there's the possibility it will go away. But it's been heard by so many people that I think it's probably earned the right to go into the dictionary."
Other words of the year include "mummy porn" after the popularity of the "Fifty Shades of Grey" books, and "superstorm" after Superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc along the east coast of America in October.
Read More..
"Gangnam Style," Psy's signature song, has been chosen along with "fiscal cliff" and "Romneyshambles" as some of Collins Dictionary's words of the year.
"We were looking for words that told the story of the year," said Ian Brookes, the dictionary's consultant editor.
"Some words are from events that have been and gone and so are not likely to stick around ... but others are probably here to stay."
Other headline entries centered on American politics.
"Fiscal cliff" has drawn a lot of attention as the deadline for Congress and President Obama to agree on government spending and tax plans draws nearer.
While the term "Romneyshambles" entered the British public's consciousness after Mitt Romney's gaffe-ridden visit to London in July in which he questioned Britain's readiness to host the Olympics.
The inclusion of "47 percent" on the list after a leaked video showed Romney telling donors that 47 percent of Americans would definitely vote for Obama because of their dependency on the government capped off a bad year for the losing presidential candidate.
Collins received over 7,000 submissions on its online database.
Twelve words of the year - one for each month - were then selected on the basis of the frequency with which they were spoken, how many places they appeared and their longevity in public discourse.
Appearing on the Collins words of the year list is no guarantee of insertion in the next dictionary.
But Gangnam Style stands a very good chance, Brookes said.
"It's obviously a craze, so there's the possibility it will go away. But it's been heard by so many people that I think it's probably earned the right to go into the dictionary."
Other words of the year include "mummy porn" after the popularity of the "Fifty Shades of Grey" books, and "superstorm" after Superstorm Sandy wreaked havoc along the east coast of America in October.
Factbox: U.S. House "Plan B" tax bill likely to have short shelf life
Labels: BusinessWASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. House of Representatives is likely to vote this week on what is being called "Plan B" on avoiding the "fiscal cliff."
The Republican-sponsored legislation aims to extend current low tax rates for most families. Without such action by Congress, across-the-board income tax rates will rise on January 1.
The combination of $500 billion in tax hikes and $100 billion in spending cuts, which are scheduled to start in the new year, could push the U.S. economy into recession, according to experts.
House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, and Democratic President Barack Obama have been trying for weeks to avoid the fiscal cliff with an alternative tax and spending-cut deal. Boehner says he is offering this very limited alternative in case negotiations with Obama fail.
Here are key elements of Boehner's Plan B:
* A House vote is expected on Thursday.
* Boehner expressed confidence on Wednesday that the measure would pass but some House Republican aides were not yet predicting that.
* The White House has said Obama would veto the Boehner Plan B in the unlikely event it made it to his desk.
* Democrats are viewing Plan B as nothing more than a diversion from attempts to reach a broad deficit-reduction deal to avoid the fiscal cliff. They see it as a way for Boehner to give his conservatives a vote on a measure that they can tout as a tax-cut bill for all but the wealthiest and inoculate them against Democratic accusations of obstruction.
* Republicans argue that they are acting responsibly by providing a backstop against massive tax increases in case the Obama-Boehner negotiations fail.
* Once Plan B is dealt with, all attention will shift to whether Obama and Boehner can work out a broad agreement by December 31 or whether the country will go off the cliff. If that happens, there is speculation that some sort of deal might be worked out in the early weeks of January to avoid the full brunt of the tax hikes and spending cuts.
* Under Boehner's Plan B, current low tax rates would be made permanent for families with net annual incomes of up to $1 million. The measure would let tax rates rise on income above $1 million. Without action by Congress, all income tax rates are set to rise on January 1 with the expiration of tax cuts enacted a decade ago by then-President George W. Bush.
* Plan B includes a grab bag of other expiring tax provisions. It would permanently fix the alternative minimum tax so that middle-class taxpayers do not creep into a tax bracket intended for the wealthiest. Annual AMT fixes have prevented tens of millions of households from paying a higher tax rate.
Also included are moves to maintain estate taxes at their current 35 percent rate per individual after a $5 million exemption. The White House backs reverting to the 2009 estate tax levels of 45 percent tax after a $3.5 million exemption per individual, though some moderate Democrats back keeping the current law.
Plan B legislation would raise dividend and capital gains tax rates for those earning $1 million and over to 20 percent, from its current 15 percent for most who pay such taxes. Most Democrats back raising the current 15 percent tax rate on investment income to 20 percent for households earning more than $250,000.
* The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates the plan would reduce U.S. revenues by around $4 trillion over 10 years.
* The plan does not address spending issues, including automatic across-the-board spending cuts also looming at year's end.
* The bill does not address how to resolve a looming stand-off over the government's borrowing authority. The government will need to raise the "debt ceiling" in the next few months to avoid default, and Obama wants higher borrowing authority approved promptly. House Republicans continue to want to hold back and use it as leverage in ongoing fiscal cliff talks, according to aides.
* Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid already has warned there are not the votes in his chamber to pass Boehner's plan. But if the House sent the Senate such a bill, Reid could respond in one of a few ways. He could declare that the Senate in July passed its version of this legislation, but with a $250,000 threshold, and take no further action. Or, he could offer a variation of the Senate-passed bill. Obama has proposed a $400,000 cut-off for maintaining low income tax rates. Reid could embrace that level or another one.
* The legislation is being inserted into an existing bill that originally had to do with Burma trade policy. A House Rules Committee spokesman said this was being done to avoid some potential procedural delays.
Read More..
The Republican-sponsored legislation aims to extend current low tax rates for most families. Without such action by Congress, across-the-board income tax rates will rise on January 1.
The combination of $500 billion in tax hikes and $100 billion in spending cuts, which are scheduled to start in the new year, could push the U.S. economy into recession, according to experts.
House Speaker John Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, and Democratic President Barack Obama have been trying for weeks to avoid the fiscal cliff with an alternative tax and spending-cut deal. Boehner says he is offering this very limited alternative in case negotiations with Obama fail.
Here are key elements of Boehner's Plan B:
* A House vote is expected on Thursday.
* Boehner expressed confidence on Wednesday that the measure would pass but some House Republican aides were not yet predicting that.
* The White House has said Obama would veto the Boehner Plan B in the unlikely event it made it to his desk.
* Democrats are viewing Plan B as nothing more than a diversion from attempts to reach a broad deficit-reduction deal to avoid the fiscal cliff. They see it as a way for Boehner to give his conservatives a vote on a measure that they can tout as a tax-cut bill for all but the wealthiest and inoculate them against Democratic accusations of obstruction.
* Republicans argue that they are acting responsibly by providing a backstop against massive tax increases in case the Obama-Boehner negotiations fail.
* Once Plan B is dealt with, all attention will shift to whether Obama and Boehner can work out a broad agreement by December 31 or whether the country will go off the cliff. If that happens, there is speculation that some sort of deal might be worked out in the early weeks of January to avoid the full brunt of the tax hikes and spending cuts.
* Under Boehner's Plan B, current low tax rates would be made permanent for families with net annual incomes of up to $1 million. The measure would let tax rates rise on income above $1 million. Without action by Congress, all income tax rates are set to rise on January 1 with the expiration of tax cuts enacted a decade ago by then-President George W. Bush.
* Plan B includes a grab bag of other expiring tax provisions. It would permanently fix the alternative minimum tax so that middle-class taxpayers do not creep into a tax bracket intended for the wealthiest. Annual AMT fixes have prevented tens of millions of households from paying a higher tax rate.
Also included are moves to maintain estate taxes at their current 35 percent rate per individual after a $5 million exemption. The White House backs reverting to the 2009 estate tax levels of 45 percent tax after a $3.5 million exemption per individual, though some moderate Democrats back keeping the current law.
Plan B legislation would raise dividend and capital gains tax rates for those earning $1 million and over to 20 percent, from its current 15 percent for most who pay such taxes. Most Democrats back raising the current 15 percent tax rate on investment income to 20 percent for households earning more than $250,000.
* The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates the plan would reduce U.S. revenues by around $4 trillion over 10 years.
* The plan does not address spending issues, including automatic across-the-board spending cuts also looming at year's end.
* The bill does not address how to resolve a looming stand-off over the government's borrowing authority. The government will need to raise the "debt ceiling" in the next few months to avoid default, and Obama wants higher borrowing authority approved promptly. House Republicans continue to want to hold back and use it as leverage in ongoing fiscal cliff talks, according to aides.
* Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid already has warned there are not the votes in his chamber to pass Boehner's plan. But if the House sent the Senate such a bill, Reid could respond in one of a few ways. He could declare that the Senate in July passed its version of this legislation, but with a $250,000 threshold, and take no further action. Or, he could offer a variation of the Senate-passed bill. Obama has proposed a $400,000 cut-off for maintaining low income tax rates. Reid could embrace that level or another one.
* The legislation is being inserted into an existing bill that originally had to do with Burma trade policy. A House Rules Committee spokesman said this was being done to avoid some potential procedural delays.
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