Saturday, December 24, 2011

AndrewLewistv: Asking to network right now over twitter or sending emails until the new year is pretty much pointless. Everyone is away!

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Asking to network right now over twitter or sending emails until the new year is pretty much pointless. Everyone is away! AndrewLewistv

Andrew Lewis

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Source: http://twitter.com/AndrewLewistv/statuses/150012560320643073

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AT&T wins regulatory approval to buy Qualcomm spectrum (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? AT&T Inc said late on Thursday that it won regulatory approval to buy wireless spectrum from U.S. chipmaker Qualcomm Inc, a move that would boost the company's 4G network.

AT&T is buying 700 megahertz (MHz) airwaves for about $1.93 billion, with the aim of countering criticism over iPhone service quality and competitive threats from rivals like Verizon Wireless.

"This spectrum will help AT&T continue to deliver a world-class mobile broadband experience to our customers," Bob Quinn, an AT&T senior vice president, said in a statement.

The companies expect to close the transaction in the coming days, AT&T said.

(Reporting by Sakthi Prasad in Bangalore; Editing by Matt Driskill)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111223/tc_nm/us_att

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Mark Richt, Georgia Handled Payments Wrong, but That Doesn't Make NCAA Right

Ohio State was just handed down sanctions for breaking NCAA rules and Miami and UCF are both still awaiting their fate. But now Mark Richt has gotten Georgia in trouble because he paid some of his staff members out of pocket.

As first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Richt paid his assistants upwards of $63,000 dollars over a course of three years for not getting paid what they were worth, as well including over $21,000 to two coaches who left Georgia.

This goes directly against NCAA bylaw 11.3.2.2, which regulates supplemental pay for staff members.

The thing is, neither Richt nor the athletic administration knew that what he was doing was against the rules. In some instances, the university was entirely aware of the situation, but the other instances all came during Georgia?s campus-wide spending freeze.

He went to then-athletic director Damon Evans and asked for raises of $10,000 for then-recruiting assistant Charlie Cantor and then-linebackers coach John Jancek, but he could not give them any more money.

Richt wrote them checks of $834 per month as compensation. He also gave director of player development John Eason a check for over $6,000 because he moved Eason to an administrative role, which paid less.

It?s obvious what the NCAA was trying to do when it implemented bylaw 11.3.2.2; they didn?t want to create a situation where coaches are being paid under the table to stay at a certain university.

This situation is not like that at all.

Should Richt and the athletics administration be aware that writing checks to staff members is against the rules? Of course, and now everyone in the country will know not to do it. But the NCAA needs to make an exception to the rules in situations like this.

Universities all across the country are having tough economic times and faculty and staff are getting cut across the board. If a coach who receives millions of dollars per year wants to make sure the people he has around him are financially compensated for their work, he should be able to do that.

Contrary to what some believe, the NCAA is not an evil organization, but it is certainly flawed; this situation is just one instance. Richt and the athletics department messed up, but so did the NCAA by having such a strict rule.

No one wins from all of this until the rules are changed.

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/992877-mark-richt-georgia-handled-payments-wrong-but-that-doesnt-make-ncaa-right

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Future Shop Canada In-Store Boxing Day Sale: Starts 6am December 27th

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The Deals

Panasonic 60? S30 1080p Plasma HDTV for $999.99
Monster Mobile Jamz In-Ear Heaphones for $39.99
Sharp D69 Series LCD TV for $399.99
Apple 8GB iPod Touch for $179.99
Telus Optimus One Prepaid for $59.99 with no contract
Frigidaire 3.1 Cu. Ft. Front-Load Washer / 5.7 Cu. Ft. Dryer for $599.99
LG 50? Plasma 1080p 600Hz, PV400 HDTV for $599.99
Samsung BD-D5100/ZC 1080P Blu-ray Disc Player with Netflix for $79.99
Sharp 70? LED HDTV w/ Wall Mount, Apple TV and ConnectPro Installation Bundle for $2499.99
Logitech Harmony 700 Universal Remote for $69.99

Gears of War 3, Batman Arkham City, Madden 12, NHL 12, Battlefield 3 for Xbox 360 for $39.99 each
Dark Souls, Saints Row The Third, Rage, Madden 12 for PS3 for $39.99 each
Bioshock 2, Halo Reach for Xbox 360 for $9.99 each
World of Warcraft Battle Chest for PC for $9.99
Duke Nukem Forever for PS3 for $9.99
The Bank Job, The Boondock Saints, Sin City, RoboCop on Blu-ray for $4.99 each

Logitech Performance Mouse MX for $59.99
D-Link DIR 615 N300 Wireless Router for $29.99
MacBook Pro 13.3? with 2.3GHz Intel Core i5 Processor, 4GB, 320GB for $999.99
Canon MF4450 Monochrome Laser Printer/Scanner/Copier/Fax for $79.99
GoPro Wearable HD Camera/Camcorder for $189.99
Monster Beats by Dr. Dre Studio Headphones for $229.99
Samsung 5.0 Cu. Ft. Powerfoam Front-Load Washer / 7.5 Cu. Ft. Steam Dryer for $1699.98
Miele S2 Air Clean Canister Vacuum for $299.99
Panasonic Four Handset Cordless Phone with Answering Machine for $89.99

Samsung 3-Piece Appliance Package with 17.8 Cu. Ft. Stainless Steel French Door Fridge, 5.9 Cu. Ft. Smooth Top Range, Tall Dub Dishwasher for $1999.97
Bosch Tall Tub Stainless Interior/Exterior Dishwasher for $499.99
BlueAnt S4 In-Care Bluetooth Speakerphone for $59.99

The Details

The doors open 6am on December 26th and they close at 9pm. On December 27th they open at 9am and close at 10pm. The times may vary slightly by region, so be sure to check your local flyer.

Click here for the full flyer

Source: http://dealcetera.com/future-shop-canada-in-store-boxing-day-sale-starts-6am-december-27th/

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Friday, December 23, 2011

[OOC] Schools and Students

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Watch This Stunning 3D-Printed Shadow Portrait Transform from Einstein to Marilyn Monroe [Video]

Remember those shifting pictures you'd get in Cracker Jack boxes—the ones with the ridged plastic that changed as they were tilted? This is the same basic idea, but way more awesome. Super genius turns to super model in the blink of an eye. More »


Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/_ZddpTsc-QQ/watch-a-3d+printed-shadow-portrait-transform-from-einstein-to-marilyn-monroe

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Thursday, December 22, 2011

Gracenote launches ACR TV recognition, HABU mood-based music curation

It's that pop song again -- you know, the one that forces you to flip the radio to anything else. But still, you're dying to know what it's called, if only to avoid hearing it ever again. Boom Boom? Heartbeat? Shazam! Super Bass, by Nicki Minaj. If you haven't used Shazam, chances are you know someone that does, and often. Gracenote's new Automatic Content Recognition (ACR) technology takes that same concept and applies it to TV shows and movies, and it's coming soon to a smartphone or tablet near you. A yet-to-be-named app will let your device "listen" to whatever you're watching, identifying TV shows and movies based on dialogue or the soundtrack, then displaying a variety of info about whatever's on screen. Gracenote is also expanding its audio offerings, showing off both HABU and MoodGrid, which are mood-based music curation services for mobile devices and in-car systems, respectively. Software groups songs based on emotional themes, then plays them back depending on your selected mood. Happy? Sad? Intrigued? We'll need to wait until CES for the full scoop from Gracenote.

Gracenote launches ACR TV recognition, HABU mood-based music curation originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 10:13:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink   |   | Email this | Comments


Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/ETqk1bme9pg/

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Sunday, December 18, 2011

Video: Consumer Protection & Capitalism

"We should judge the risk of those activities (banking products and services), the higher the risk, the higher the capital, says Kelly King, BB&T Corporation chairman/CEO, who discusses his thoughts behind "too big too fail."

Related Links:

Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/45696188/

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Rebecca Black crowned top search term in Google Zeitgeist 2011 (Digital Trends)

zeitgeist-2011

Announced in an official blog post, Google rolled out the 11th annual version of the?Google Zeitgeist earlier today. The?Zeitgeist shows off the search terms that grew the fastest during the year as well as the most popular terms in various countries around the world. In the Fastest Rising category, YouTube star Rebecca Black took the top spot this year in regards to Google searches, both globally and within the United States. Black beat out Jackass star Ryan Dunn, Casey Anthony as well as Steve Jobs. She also topped Google Plus, Battlefield 3, iPhone 5, professional singer Adele and the iPad 2. Alternatively, a few terms on the fastest falling list include Myspace, social gaming site Hi5, Hotmail and Delta Airlines.?

ziet-graphThe?Zeitgeist also breaks down terms into a variety of categories at the global level including food and drink, Google Maps, consumer electronics, sports, entertainment and Google News. Further?categorization?can be found within each countries top terms. On the Food and Drink list, several fast food locations topped the list including Wendys, Little Caesars, Chick Fil A and Popeyes. Recipe site Allrecipes also seemed to be a dominant term in addition to the term cupcakes. When searching on Google Maps within the United States, popular terms included airport, casinos,?veterinarian,?laundromat and?Mexican?restaurants. Businesses that made that list included Wells Fargo, Starbucks and Ikea.?

Amazon?s Kindle Fire beat out all other consumer electronic products to become the top term for global searches. The iPhone 4S took the number two spot and other Apple products on that list include the iPad 2 and the unreleased iPad 3. Other popular terms within the consumer electronics category included Sidekick 4G, HP Touchpad, HTC Sensation, Samsung Nexus Prime and the Sony NPG. Specific to the United States, Apple dominated searches with 8 out of the top 10 results in the technology category; only the terms Touchpad and Toshiba Tablet made it into the top ten.

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

More from Digital Trends

Why Google+ kicked out William Shatner

What you need to buy now: Hottest gadget gifts of the season

Survey: Apple products top holiday wish lists

Google hits us with yet another YouTube redesign

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/applecomputer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrends/20111215/tc_digitaltrends/rebeccablackcrownedtopsearchtermingooglezeitgeist2011

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Saturday, December 17, 2011

Ariz. prosecutor wants immigration checks restored (AP)

PHOENIX ? The federal government's decision to stop an Arizona sheriff from checking inmates' immigration status will allow criminals to be released into the community, Maricopa County's top prosecutor said Friday as he asked the president to order Homeland Security officials to restore access to federal systems revoked a day earlier.

The Obama administration action came after the Department of Justice determined that Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio's office participated in a "systematic disregard" for the Constitutional rights of Latinos while targeting illegal immigrants.

The fallout from the report was swift. Homeland Security officials announced the department is severing ties with Arpaio, stripping his jail officers of their federal power to check whether inmates in county jails are in the county illegally. Department officials also are restricting Arpaio's office from using a program that uses fingerprints collected in local jails to identify illegal immigrants.

"They don't need to do this. This effort at leverage is placing Arizona citizens at risk," Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery said. "Preventing us from being able to get the necessary information to provide a court with the non-bondable status for serious offenses jeopardizes the community's safety, and limiting our ability to get information in order to comply with international treaty obligations for consular access calls into question future prosecutions."

The Justice Department comments' Thursday that Arpaio's office carried out a blatant pattern of discrimination against Latinos and held a disregard for the Constitution brought the most bruising criticism yet to the lawman's boundary-pushing foray into Arizona's immigration enforcement over the last six years.

Montgomery on Friday questioned the timing of the Justice Department's findings, because a civil rights case that raises similar issues is currently before a federal judge in Phoenix.

But he acknowledged the findings raised significant issues, although he "is not going to accept the findings at face value.

"Nor am I going to reject them," he said.

Montgomery said the federal government's actions will prevent his office from enforcing an Arizona law denying bail to illegal immigrants charged with serious felonies.

Arpaio, defiant and caught by surprise by the report's release on Thursday, called the allegations a politically motivated attack by President Barack Obama's administration that will make Arizona unsafe by keeping illegal immigrants on the street.

The Obama administration "might as well erect their own pink neon sign at the Arizona-New Mexico border saying welcome illegals to your United States, my home is your home," he said.

The government found that Arpaio's office committed a wide range of civil rights violations against Latinos, including unjust immigration patrols and jail policies that deprive prisoners of basic Constitutional rights. "We found discriminatory policing that was deeply rooted in the culture of the department, a culture that breeds a systematic disregard for basic constitutional protections," said Thomas Perez, who heads the Justice Department's civil rights division.

The report will be used by the Justice Department to seek major changes at Arpaio's office, such as new policies against discrimination and improvements of staff and officers. Arpaio faces a Jan. 4 deadline for saying whether he wants to work out an agreement to make the changes. If not, the federal government will sue him, possibly putting in jeopardy millions of dollars in federal funding for Maricopa County.

Arpaio has long denied the racial profiling allegations, saying people are stopped if deputies have probable cause to believe they have committed crimes and that deputies later find many of them are illegal immigrants. He also said the decision by Homeland Security to sever ties will result in illegal immigrants being released from jail and large numbers.

Montgomery said he will ask the Justice Department to provide him with more specific information so he can do his own review of cases now in his office.

___

Associated Press Writer Alicia A. Caldwell contributed to this report from Washington, D.C.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111216/ap_on_re_us/us_arizona_sheriff_civil_rights

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It's the cable guys! Antarctic ice wired

One of the most desolate spots on Earth recently got a visit from one of the most elusive characters on Earth ? the cable guy. Four very high-tech and capable cable guys, to be specific.

A small team of scientists recently installed a fiber-optic cable in the Ross Ice Shelf, a colossal plain of floating ice larger than the state of California that clings to the edge of Antarctica, straddling a massive bay between the eastern and western halves of the continent.

The cable, more than half a mile (1 kilometer) in length, is threaded straight down through 600 feet (200 meters) of solid ice and 2,000 feet (600 m) of water to dangle above the seafloor.

The fiber-optic cable is "like the kind that goes to your television or computer," said project leader David Holland, a professor at New York University, and was set in place so that the giant ice plain can, in essence, make phone calls to his office in Manhattan, and tell him what things are like in the ocean underneath it.

Holland and three colleagues ? an NYU graduate student and researchers from Ohio State University and the University of Nevada ? spent two weeks living out on the ice, sleeping in tiny tents to complete the pilot project, which is a year-long test run for the technology.

"You can measure the temperature on a fiber-optic cable at every meter," Holland told OurAmazingPlanet. "With this technology you can 'watch' the ice shelf," he said.

It took three days of drilling to bore a tiny hole just 2 inches (3 centimeters) across into the ice to complete the installation, which was sponsored by the National Science Foundation.

Loquacious ocean
A nifty suite of instruments sits atop the ice shelf, connected to the fiber-optic cable ? a data logger, a low-power laser and a modem ? powered by solar panels, wind turbines and batteries to get through the dark winter months, Holland said.

Every three hours, a modem on the roof of Holland's NYU building calls up the modem parked on the Antarctic ice to get a full rundown of temperatures throughout the ice shelf and, far more important, the ocean below.

So who wants to talk to a chatty ice shelf about its watery nether regions? Just about anyone who studies the mechanisms driving the significant changes observed in Antarctic ice. Research has revealed that warm ocean water gnawing away at ice shelves is a key player in unprecedented losses to the West Antarctic Ice Sheet over the last two decades.

"The temperature of the water underneath the ice shelves and the rate that water circulates in the ocean cavities underneath the ice shelves are the major determinants of the mass balance at the bottom of the ice shelves ? in other words, how fast they're melting at the bottom," said Stan Jacobs, an oceanographer at Columbia University's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory.

Ice shelves act as door stops for glaciers ? which are, essentially, slow-moving rivers of ice ?? and slow glaciers' inexorable march into the sea. When ice shelves thin, or completely disappear, glaciers speed up.

"That moves more ice more rapidly into the ocean, and of course that has sea-level implications," Jacobs told OurAmazingPlanet.

Satellites have glimpsed changes in ice shelves, and even their disappearance ? the dramatic collapse of the Larsen B ice shelf on the Antarctic Peninsula made headlines in 2002 ? yet they can't see underneath them to capture the details concerning how warm ocean water is taking a toll.

Holland said the fiber-optic cable can operate for many years at a time, delivering a steady stream of data on temperature conditions in the ocean under the ice shelf.

Jacobs, who was not associated with the project, said that getting temperature data during the winter months, when the darkness and brutal conditions make field work impossible, would be valuable.

"You'd like to have year-round measurements, and once you have year-round measurements, you'd like to have them more than one year," Jacobs said. "We already know that properties and circulation (of the water) change from one year to the next."

Testing, testing
Holland said that so far, the data indicate things are pretty stable under the Ross Ice Shelf, which is precisely what he expected. Unlike its neighbors in western Antarctica, the ice shelf doesn't appear to be suffering any losses.?

"This was not necessarily the most important place to go," Holland said, "but it's a smart idea for testing the technology." The ice shelf is next door to McMurdo Station, the largest of the United States' three research stations in Antarctica.

"If it works for one year, it will be a proven technology ? and if it's good I would ask that it be installed elsewhere," Holland said.

Jacobs said that ice shelves in the Amundsen Sea, particularly the Pine Island Glacier Ice Shelf, are of most concern to scientists, because they appear to be melting rapidly.

The glaciers in this western region of Antarctica are responsible for about 7 percent of annual global sea level rise, and of those speedy glaciers, the Pine Island Glacier is moving the fastest, at a clip of about 2.5 miles (4 km) per year.

A team of scientists is currently camping out on the Pine Island Glacier ice shelf to get some of the first precise measurements of temperature beneath it, yet they will have to pack up and go home when Antarctic winter approaches.

Although drilling into a giant piece of ice clinging to a continent at the bottom of the world may appear frivolous to some, Holland said, the research is important.

"It's just one element in a puzzle," he said. The ultimate goal is to hand over enough puzzle pieces to climate modelers, Holland said, because it's clear that changes in the atmosphere are driving changes in Antarctic ice, and changes in Antarctic ice drive changes in global sea level.

"If you talk to one individual, they're working on some piece of the puzzle around the change," he said. "No one piece is more important than the other, but if one piece is ignored you can't figure out this story."

Reach Andrea Mustain at amustain@techmedianetwork.com. Follow her on Twitter @AndreaMustain.Follow OurAmazingPlanet for the latest in Earth science and exploration news on Twitter @OAPlanet and on Facebook.

? 2011 OurAmazingPlanet. All rights reserved. More from OurAmazingPlanet.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45690009/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Friday, December 16, 2011

Knight Foundation awards NPR $1.5M for web news

(AP) ? NPR is getting a $1.5 million grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to boost web training and content at member stations nationwide.

In the grant announced Wednesday, $1 million will be devoted to training at about 70 local stations. About $500,000 will be devoted to further integration of radio and digital coverage in NPR's newsroom.

John Bracken, the Knight Foundation's program director for journalism and media innovation, said the foundation hopes NPR will be seen as a model for digital news even as it has seen a "tumultuous year" of leadership changes at the radio network.

"In making this grant, Knight Foundation is betting on NPR," Bracken wrote in a blog post Wednesday. "Our expectation is that NPR will not just continue to provide quality journalism, but that it will become a model for nimbleness in the digital age and that it bring some stations along with it."

NPR Senior Vice President Kinsey Wilson, who oversees digital news, said public radio stations can fill a news void at the local level with their websites.

"We see an opportunity, particularly with the fairly precipitous decline in newspapers in local markets, to become an even more significant source of local news in those areas," he said.

Some public radio stations have been slower to develop online news content as their audiences have increased on the radio. For small stations strapped for cash, NPR is providing web services including design and technology to lower the cost for stations to enhance their websites through an existing program.

The new training will include strategies in multimedia, writing for the web, photography and use of social media. Stations will be able to apply for the grant-funded program.

Radio and digital news are becoming more entwined, Wilson said, with audiences growing on both sides for NPR. By the network's count, it has 19 million unique visitiors each month to NPR's web and mobile sites. It's national radio audience also has grown to 26.8 million listeners each week. In the years ahead, those numbers may shift.

"Increasingly, radio will be delivered digitally," Wilson said.

In 2007, the Knight Foundation awarded NPR a similar $1.5 million grant to boost its national digital initiatives.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2011-12-14-NPR-Digital%20News%20Grant/id-2273eacdbe9645a4b0360b74c45003c3

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Fed's moves to aid economy since financial crisis (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The Federal Reserve has taken many unprecedented steps in the past three years to try to boost the U.S. economy and counter the effects of a financial crisis that triggered a painful recession. It has kept the short-term interest rate it controls at a record low near zero since December 2008.

And it's bought about $2 trillion in U.S. Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities to try to hold down longer-term rates. That's caused the Fed's portfolio of securities to balloon to nearly $2.9 trillion, from less than $1 trillion in 2007.

Some steps the Fed has taken:

? Dec. 15-16, 2008: The Fed creates a target range for interest rates and cuts its key federal funds rate to between zero and 0.25 percent. That's a record low. The Fed vows to use all the tools it has to rescue the economy from the worst financial crisis and recession since the 1930s.

? Jan. 27-28-2009: The central bank signals it's prepared to buy longer-term Treasuries and expand other programs.

? March 17-18, 2009: The Fed says it will start buying up to $300 billion in government bonds over six months. It also decides to boost purchases of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac mortgage-backed securities and debt. The actions are aimed at driving down rates on mortgages and other debt.

? Sept. 22-23, 2009: The Fed slows a mortgage-buying program to complete its purchases by March 31, 2010, instead of at the end of 2009.

? Aug. 10, 2010: It decides to use some money generated by its mortgage portfolio to buy government debt, to try to lower rates on mortgages and other loans.

? Aug. 27, 2010: In a speech in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, Chairman Ben Bernanke lists several options to boost the economy, including the purchase of additional government bonds.

_Oct. 15, 2010: Bernanke signals the Fed will buy more government bonds to boost the economy, drive down unemployment and protect against deflation.

? Nov. 3, 2010: The Fed announces it will buy $600 billion more in Treasury bonds to try to hold down longer-term rates.

? June 22, 2011: The Fed confirms it will complete its purchases of $600 billion in Treasury bonds by the end of the month. The purchases were intended to drive down rates on mortgages and other debt.

? Aug. 9, 2011: It pledges to keep its benchmark short-term rate at nearly zero until mid-2013. It's the first time the Fed has committed to keeping the rate at that level for a specific period. The pledge reflects its assessment that the economy will remain weak.

? Aug. 26, 2011: Bernanke proposes no new steps to boost the economy. But he signals that Congress should do more to promote hiring and growth, or risk delaying the economy's return to full health. He also says the Fed's September policy meeting will last two days instead of one, prompting speculation that the Fed might take further steps then.

? Sept. 21, 2011: The Fed announces that it will sell $400 billion of its shorter-term securities to buy longer-term holdings to try to lower Treasury yields further. The Fed also says it will reinvest its holdings of mortgage-backed securities, which could help keep mortgage rates at super-low levels.

? Nov. 2, 2011: The Fed sketches a bleaker outlook for the economy. Still, it says the economy improved since nearly stalling in the spring, and it puts off any new actions so it can gauge the impact of the steps it's taken.

? Dec. 13, 2011: The Fed portrays the economy as slightly healthier and holds off on any new steps to boost growth. It says hiring is picking up and consumers are spending more despite slower growth globally.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111213/ap_on_bi_ge/us_federal_reserve_timeline

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Wednesday, December 7, 2011

'All My Children' star Denise Vasi joins "Single Ladies" (omg!)

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) - "All My Children" star Denise Vasi has joined the cast of VH1's "Single Ladies," replacing Stacey Dash, who exited after the show's first season.

Vasi will play "Raquel," a savvy businesswoman who is a friend of Keisha (LisaRaye McCoy). Charity Shea also stars on the show.

"Denise is the perfect addition to the 'Single Ladies' cast," said Flavor Unit Entertainment Executive Producer Queen Latifah. "She is bringing a fun, new element to the show."

The show was greenlit for a second season after averaging 2.8 million total viewers for premieres plus first encores in its first season. Filming for the second season will begin in January in Atlanta, and the season will air in early summer 2012.

"All My Children" aired its last episode in September. Plans to continue the show online were called off last month.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_children_star_denise_vasi_joins_single_ladies181522416/43810822/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/children-star-denise-vasi-joins-single-ladies-181522416.html

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Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Brinkley hit with $531K tax lien by IRS

Christie Brinkley vows she'll immediately repay the $531,000 she owes in back taxes. New York's Daily News recently reported the Internal Revenue Service has filed a tax lien against the supermodel.

Brinkley says in a statement the lien was a "result of an error" and pledges it will be paid in full by Wednesday.

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Brinkley says she regrets not paying more attention to her accounting. She says she's been focused on her parents, who are dealing with "serious health issues."

The 57-year-old Brinkley was married to Billy Joel and appeared in his "Uptown Girl" video. She made her Broadway debut this year playing Roxie Hart in the musical "Chicago."

She says she considers herself "lucky to have been employed" since she was 17 years old.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45565751/ns/today-entertainment/

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Ex-UN climate chief to AP: talks are rudderless (AP)

DURBAN, South Africa ? Yvo de Boer said he left his job as the U.N.'s top climate official in frustration 18 months ago, believing the process of negotiating a meaningful climate agreement was failing. His opinion hasn't changed.

"I still have the same view of the process that led me to leave the process," he told The Associated Press Sunday. "I'm still deeply concerned about where it's going, or rather where it's not going, about the lack of progress."

For three years until 2010, the Dutch civil servant was the leading voice on global warming on the world stage. He appeared constantly in public to advocate green policies, traveled endlessly for private meetings with top leaders and labored with negotiators seeking ways to finesse snags in drafting agreements.

In the end he felt he "wasn't really able to contribute as I should be to the process," he said.

Today he can take a long view on his years as a Dutch negotiator in the 1990s and later as a senior U.N. official with access to the highest levels of government, business and civil society. He is able to voice criticisms he was reluctant to air when he was actively shepherding climate diplomacy.

Negotiators live "in a separate universe," and the ongoing talks are "like a log that's drifted away," he said. Then, drawing another metaphor from his rich reservoir, he called the annual 194-nation conferences "a bit of a mouse wheel."

De Boer spoke to the AP on the sidelines of the latest round of talks in this South African port city, which he is attending as a consultant for the international accounting firm KPMG.

World leaders have failed to become deeply engaged in efforts to reach an international accord to control greenhouse gas emissions causing global warming, he said. In recent years, their inattention has been compounded by their preoccupation with the economic and Eurozone crises.

Negotiators have been at the job so long ? since the 1992 climate convention ? that they have lost touch with the real world, he said. But it wasn't their fault.

"I completely understand that it is very difficult for a negotiator to move if you haven't been given a political sense of direction and the political space to move," he said, chatting on a hilltop terrace overlooking the Indian Ocean.

Rather than act in their own national interests, many leaders look to see what others are willing ? or unwilling ? to concede.

"You've got a bunch of international leaders sitting 85 stories up on the edge of a building saying to each other, you jump first and I'll follow. And there is understandably a reluctance to be the first one to jump," he said.

The 2009 Copenhagen summit was a breaking point. Expectations soared that the conference would produce an accord setting firm rules for bringing down global carbon emissions. When delegates fell short, hopes remained high that President Barack Obama, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, most of Europe's heads of government and more than 100 other top leaders would save the day at the last minute.

De Boer said he spent the last 24 hours of the summit in "a very small and very smelly room" with about 20 prime ministers and presidents, but the time was not ripe for the hoped-for international treaty.

Obama still hoped to push domestic legislation through the Senate, and any prior commitment to a U.N. treaty would have killed his chances. The bill died anyway. China and India, too, were not ready in Copenhagen to accept internationally binding limits on their emissions.

Many Americans, he said, have still not bought into the "green story," he said. In the meantime, the U.S. is losing a competitive edge against China, which is investing heavily to shift the course of its economy ? from which it will benefit regardless of the global warming issue, he said.

Despite their failures, De Boer said he thought most leaders sincerely want a deal on climate change.

"I do not see the negotiating process being able to rise to that challenge, being capable of delivering on that," he said. "I believe the sincerity on the part of world leaders is there, but it's almost as though they do not have control of the process that's suppose to take them there."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111204/ap_on_re_af/af_climate_conference

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Monday, December 5, 2011

Iranian diplomats expelled from London arrive home (AP)

TEHRAN, Iran ? Iranian diplomats expelled from London in retaliation for attacks on British compounds in Tehran arrived home Saturday, the official IRNA news agency reported, sealing Iran's most serious diplomatic rift with the West in decades.

About 150 hard-liners waiting with flower necklaces had gathered at Tehran's Mehrabad airport to give the roughly two dozen diplomats and their families a hero's welcome. But the Iranian government, apparently opposed to any high-profile display that could worsen the fallout, took the diplomats off unseen from a backdoor, reflecting Iran's own internal political rifts.

Tuesday's storming of the British Embassy and residential complex ? which the British government alleges was sanctioned by Tehran's ruling elite ? deepened Iran's isolation, which has grown over the decade-long standoff with the West over its nuclear program.

Germany, France and the Netherlands have recalled their ambassadors, and Italy and Spain summoned Iranian envoys to condemn the attacks.

It amounted to the most serious diplomatic fallout with the West since the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy after the Islamic Revolution, and some Iranian political figures have voiced doubts over whether anything can be gained from escalating the diplomatic battle.

The obstruction of Saturday's welcome ceremony reflected the disagreements between hard-liners and the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which opposed downgrading relations with Britain and condemned the attack on Britain's embassy.

Iran's relations with Britain have become increasingly strained in recent months, largely due to tensions over Tehran's refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a key component of its nuclear program. The process is of deep concern internationally because it can be used to produce material for nuclear warheads in addition to reactor fuel. Iran insists its program is entirely peaceful.

Along with the United States and other nations in Europe, Britain has backed sanctions that have so far failed to push Iran to halt its enrichment program.

Hard-liners in Iran have said the embassy attack was an outpouring of the wrath of the Iranian people who believe Britain is a hostile country seeking to damage and weaken the Islamic Republic. Mohammad Mohammadian, a representative of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, praised the attackers, saying they had targeted the "epicenter of sedition."

Iran's hard-line constitutional watchdog, the Guardian Council, approved a parliamentary bill into law requiring the Iranian government to downgrade relations with Britain. The government opposed it but said it would carry out the law.

The diplomatic freeze from Europe, including key trading partner Germany, further isolates Iran just weeks after a report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency that alleged Iran was making strides toward mastering critical elements for atomic weapons.

The current breakdown in relations with the West could embolden hard-liners who want a tougher stance against the International Atomic Energy Agency, which they accuse of being manipulated by the U.S. and allies.

Britain's ambassador to Iran, Dominick Chilcott ? now back in Britain ? offered new details about the attacks, saying the experience had been "frightening."

"We had no idea how it was going to end," he said, describing how the mob trashed rooms, damaged furniture, scrawled graffiti and tore up a portrait of Queen Victoria, as staff took shelter in a secure area of the embassy.

"It felt like very spiteful, mindless vandalism, but it wasn't quite mindless," Chilcott said. "They removed anything that was electronic ? mobile telephones, personal computers ? anything that might give information about who you were talking to or what you were doing."

At one point, the intruders started a fire inside the chancery building, forcing the staff to leave the safe area, climb down a fire escape and exit the building. A small number of police escorted them to a building on the edge of the compound and told them to lie low.

"We turned all the lights out and we sat in the dark and we could hear the noise of the intruders going on around us," he said.

He said seven staff at a separate residential compound that was also attacked were seized and "quite roughly handled" by the invaders.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague has led the accusations that the rioters had a green light from Iranian authorities, including the powerful Revolutionary Guard. On Thursday, he said the attacks were "clearly premeditated" by high-ranking officials.

Iranian government officials said the storming of the embassy by angry protesters was unexpected and Iranian police intervened to protect the British diplomats and get the attackers out of the buildings.

The demonstrations had been organized by hard-line groups on university campuses and Islamic seminaries and included denunciations of the latest sanctions on Iran over its nuclear efforts.

Such major anti-Western rallies are rarely allowed to occur without official approval and often include state-backed forces including a paramilitary group known as the Basij, which is part of the vast security network controlled by the Revolutionary Guard.

Images broadcast around the world showed demonstrators tearing down Union Jack flags, brandishing a looted picture of Queen Elizabeth II and tossing out looted documents.

The deepening tensions with Britain and others may also trigger further rifts within Iran.

For months, Iran's ruling system has ordered arrests and intimidation against political allies of President Ahmadinejad, who has sharply fallen from favor after challenging decisions by the head of the theocracy, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Ahmadinejad has remained silent since the attacks, but his supporters have raised questions about whether Iran's interests are served by a diplomatic battle with the West.

___

Associated Press writers David Stringer, Jill Lawless and Cassandra Vinograd in London contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111203/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_britain

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Sunday, December 4, 2011

Russian space probe failure: Should someone go to jail?

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said he wants to 'punish those guilty' for the failures of the Phobos-Grunt space probe and other space mishaps that have embarrassed Russia.?

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev raised the prospect of criminal prosecution for space mishaps on Saturday following a series of failed launches that have embarrassed Russia.

Skip to next paragraph

Earlier this month, a probe designed to bring back soil samples from the Mars moon Phobos got stuck in Earth's orbit, leaving Russia's first interplanetary mission in years with almost no chance of success.

The probe failure came less than three months after a cargo ship carrying food and fuel to the International Space Station burned up in the atmosphere shortly after launch.

"Recent failures are a strong blow to our competitiveness. It does not mean that something fatal has happened, it means that we need to carry out a detailed review and punish those guilty," Medvedev told reporters in televised comments.

"I am not suggesting putting them up against the wall like under Josef Vissarionovich (Stalin), but seriously punish either financially or, if the fault is obvious, it could be a disciplinary or even criminal punishment," he said.

Medvedev has recently made similar calls for strict punishment after disasters blamed on carelessness, corruption and problems with Russia's rusty infrastructure, such as a riverboat sinking in July that killed 122.

(Editing by Steve Gutterman and Sophie Hares)

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/EIWPW_yxWbQ/Russian-space-probe-failure-Should-someone-go-to-jail

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Iranian diplomats expelled from London arrive home (AP)

TEHRAN, Iran ? Iranian diplomats expelled from London in retaliation for attacks on British compounds in Tehran arrived home Saturday, the official IRNA news agency reported, sealing Iran's most serious diplomatic rift with the West in decades.

About 150 hard-liners waiting with flower necklaces had gathered at Tehran's Mehrabad airport to give the roughly two dozen diplomats and their families a hero's welcome. But the Iranian government, apparently opposed to any high-profile display that could worsen the fallout, took the diplomats off unseen from a backdoor, reflecting Iran's own internal political rifts.

Tuesday's storming of the British Embassy and residential complex ? which the British government alleges was sanctioned by Tehran's ruling elite ? deepened Iran's isolation, which has grown over the decade-long standoff with the West over its nuclear program.

Germany, France and the Netherlands have recalled their ambassadors, and Italy and Spain summoned Iranian envoys to condemn the attacks.

It amounted to the most serious diplomatic fallout with the West since the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy after the Islamic Revolution, and some Iranian political figures have voiced doubts over whether anything can be gained from escalating the diplomatic battle.

The obstruction of Saturday's welcome ceremony reflected the disagreements between hard-liners and the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which opposed downgrading relations with Britain and condemned the attack on Britain's embassy.

Iran's relations with Britain have become increasingly strained in recent months, largely due to tensions over Tehran's refusal to halt uranium enrichment, a key component of its nuclear program. The process is of deep concern internationally because it can be used to produce material for nuclear warheads in addition to reactor fuel. Iran insists its program is entirely peaceful.

Along with the United States and other nations in Europe, Britain has backed sanctions that have so far failed to push Iran to halt its enrichment program.

Hard-liners in Iran have said the embassy attack was an outpouring of the wrath of the Iranian people who believe Britain is a hostile country seeking to damage and weaken the Islamic Republic. Mohammad Mohammadian, a representative of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, praised the attackers, saying they had targeted the "epicenter of sedition."

Iran's hard-line constitutional watchdog, the Guardian Council, approved a parliamentary bill into law requiring the Iranian government to downgrade relations with Britain. The government opposed it but said it would carry out the law.

The diplomatic freeze from Europe, including key trading partner Germany, further isolates Iran just weeks after a report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency that alleged Iran was making strides toward mastering critical elements for atomic weapons.

The current breakdown in relations with the West could embolden hard-liners who want a tougher stance against the International Atomic Energy Agency, which they accuse of being manipulated by the U.S. and allies.

Britain's ambassador to Iran, Dominick Chilcott ? now back in Britain ? offered new details about the attacks, saying the experience had been "frightening."

"We had no idea how it was going to end," he said, describing how the mob trashed rooms, damaged furniture, scrawled graffiti and tore up a portrait of Queen Victoria, as staff took shelter in a secure area of the embassy.

"It felt like very spiteful, mindless vandalism, but it wasn't quite mindless," Chilcott said. "They removed anything that was electronic ? mobile telephones, personal computers ? anything that might give information about who you were talking to or what you were doing."

At one point, the intruders started a fire inside the chancery building, forcing the staff to leave the safe area, climb down a fire escape and exit the building. A small number of police escorted them to a building on the edge of the compound and told them to lie low.

"We turned all the lights out and we sat in the dark and we could hear the noise of the intruders going on around us," he said.

He said seven staff at a separate residential compound that was also attacked were seized and "quite roughly handled" by the invaders.

British Foreign Secretary William Hague has led the accusations that the rioters had a green light from Iranian authorities, including the powerful Revolutionary Guard. On Thursday, he said the attacks were "clearly premeditated" by high-ranking officials.

Iranian government officials said the storming of the embassy by angry protesters was unexpected and Iranian police intervened to protect the British diplomats and get the attackers out of the buildings.

The demonstrations had been organized by hard-line groups on university campuses and Islamic seminaries and included denunciations of the latest sanctions on Iran over its nuclear efforts.

Such major anti-Western rallies are rarely allowed to occur without official approval and often include state-backed forces including a paramilitary group known as the Basij, which is part of the vast security network controlled by the Revolutionary Guard.

Images broadcast around the world showed demonstrators tearing down Union Jack flags, brandishing a looted picture of Queen Elizabeth II and tossing out looted documents.

The deepening tensions with Britain and others may also trigger further rifts within Iran.

For months, Iran's ruling system has ordered arrests and intimidation against political allies of President Ahmadinejad, who has sharply fallen from favor after challenging decisions by the head of the theocracy, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Ahmadinejad has remained silent since the attacks, but his supporters have raised questions about whether Iran's interests are served by a diplomatic battle with the West.

___

Associated Press writers David Stringer, Jill Lawless and Cassandra Vinograd in London contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/britain/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111203/ap_on_re_mi_ea/iran_britain

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Saturday, December 3, 2011

Asia pilot gap grows as airlines order new jets

FILE - In this May 22, 2010 file photo, civilians look on as Indian firefighters and rescue personnel try to extinguish the fire around the site of an Air India plane that crashed in Mangalore, in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. From 2011-2030, Boeing and Airbus both predict Asia will account for about a third of global aircraft deliveries worth a total of more than $1 trillion. To keep up with growth and replace retiring pilots, Boeing forecasts Asia-Pacific will need 182,300 new pilots over the next 20 years, with about two-fifths of that demand coming from China. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - In this May 22, 2010 file photo, civilians look on as Indian firefighters and rescue personnel try to extinguish the fire around the site of an Air India plane that crashed in Mangalore, in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. From 2011-2030, Boeing and Airbus both predict Asia will account for about a third of global aircraft deliveries worth a total of more than $1 trillion. To keep up with growth and replace retiring pilots, Boeing forecasts Asia-Pacific will need 182,300 new pilots over the next 20 years, with about two-fifths of that demand coming from China. (AP Photo/File)

FILE - In this April 29, 2011 file photo, passenger jets from Air India, India's national carrier, stand at Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, India. From 2011-2030, Boeing and Airbus both predict Asia will account for about a third of global aircraft deliveries worth a total of more than $1 trillion. To keep up with growth and replace retiring pilots, Boeing forecasts Asia-Pacific will need 182,300 new pilots over the next 20 years, with about two-fifths of that demand coming from China. (AP Photo/Kevin Frayer, File)

In this Nov. 30, 2011 photo, a pilot from Japan's ANA airline walks in the Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong. From 2011-2030, Boeing and Airbus both predict Asia will account for about a third of global aircraft deliveries worth a total of more than $1 trillion. To keep up with growth and replace retiring pilots, Boeing forecasts Asia-Pacific will need 182,300 new pilots over the next 20 years, with about two-fifths of that demand coming from China. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

In this Nov. 30, 2011 photo, two pilots from Cathay Pacific walk in the Hong Kong International Airport in Hong Kong. From 2011-2030, Boeing and Airbus both predict Asia will account for about a third of global aircraft deliveries worth a total of more than $1 trillion. To keep up with growth and replace retiring pilots, Boeing forecasts Asia-Pacific will need 182,300 new pilots over the next 20 years, with about two-fifths of that demand coming from China. (AP Photo/Vincent Yu)

FILE - In this May 1, 2011 file photo, Air India pilots who are on strike shout slogans against corruption near to the Gateway of India monument in Mumbai, India. The pilots demanding more pay refused to work for a fifth day, defying a court order to end their strike and forcing the beleaguered national carrier to cancel most of its scheduled flights. To keep up with growth and replace retiring pilots, Boeing forecasts Asia-Pacific will need 182,300 new pilots over the next 20 years, with about two-fifths of that demand coming from China. (AP Photo/Rajanish Kakade, File)

(AP) ? Fast-growing Asian and Middle Eastern airlines have signed orders recently for hundreds of new airplanes ? now they face the problem of finding enough pilots to fly them. For safety-conscious travelers, that means sticking with the big, well known airlines who can afford to lure the best staff as the scramble to fill the cockpit intensifies.

While there have been warnings for several years of a pilot shortage in Asia, the latest orders add to the urgency. The region is forecast to account for the lion's share of global aircraft deliveries over the next two decades as demand for air travel surges amid strong economic growth. It's also forecast to need the largest number of new pilots and the widening shortage of experienced staff is raising safety concerns and playing havoc with flight schedules.

"Quite a number of carriers are increasing their orders. So where are the pilots coming from? The shortage is going to manifest itself certainly as we go into next year because there'll be a lot of planes coming in then, so these guys are going to have a hard time finding the pilots to fly them," said Shukor Yusof, an aviation analyst with Standard & Poor's.

Last month, Indonesia's Lion Air ordered 230 Boeing Co. 737s with options for 150 more. Qatar Airways ordered at least 55 jets from Airbus SAS while Emirates ordered 50 Boeing 777s. From 2011 to 2030, Boeing and Airbus both predict Asia will account for about a third of global aircraft deliveries worth a total of more than $1 trillion.

To keep up with growth and replace retiring pilots, the International Civil Aviation Organization forecasts Asia will need 229,676 new pilots over the next two decades ? up from 50,344 in 2010. In the most likely scenario, Asia will be short about 9,000 pilots a year because it will need about 14,000 but have capacity to train only about 5,000.

"Never in human history have we seen a time when 2 billion people will enter the middle class and demand air travel. That time is now," said William Voss, president of the Washington, D.C.-based Flight Safety Foundation.

Some airlines are already acting.

Emirates has announced plans to set up a dedicated $109 million flight training center in Dubai that will be able to train up to 400 students at a time. Earlier this year, Canadian flight-training company CAE Inc. said it was expanding its training center in Zhuhai, China that it runs jointly with China Southern Airlines.

But Roei Ganzarski, Boeing's chief customer officer for flight services, warns that recruiting pilots will be a long-term problem for the aviation industry. "We've already heard of a few airlines that have either reduced their operations or even grounded their airplanes because they don't have enough people to fly them."

Training a commercial airline pilot takes time ? up to three or four years. Trainees must obtain a Private Pilot's License and then a Commercial Pilot's License. Then they need an Air Transport Pilot's License ? the advanced credential required to fly a commercial airliner ? which involves logging about 1,500 flying hours. It's an expensive and time-consuming entire process that rookies starting from scratch will need two to three years to complete.

Once they're hired by an airline as a first officer, candidates will need more time for additional conversion training for the type of aircraft they'll be flying, which could take another year.

Aviation industry executives say small airlines will be hit hardest because they can't compete with big, rich carriers such as Dubai-based Emirates, the Middle East's biggest airline.

Capt. Alan Stealey, senior vice president for flight operations, said Emirates isn't facing problems recruiting its target of 600 pilots this year, up from about 400 or 450 in past years.

Emirates lures staff with generous salaries and benefits. First officers earn tax-free annual salaries averaging $95,000 while captains get about $135,000 as well as free housing, medical benefits and tuition fees.

Emirates also operates some of the world's newest, most advanced jets ? another draw for recruits.

"We're an airline of choice from a pilot's point of view," said Stealey. "The shortage will not be in carriers like Emirates," but rather will hit smaller, regional carriers hardest, he predicted.

The crash of an Air India Express jet in May 2010 highlighted the problems smaller airlines are facing. An investigation blamed the Serbian pilot for the disaster in which a Boeing 737 operated by the national carrier's low-cost arm crashed while landing at Mangalore's airport, killing 158 people.

The probe found that the pilot slept through more than half the flight and woke up disoriented when it was time to land the aircraft.

India's pilot shortage has been driven by fierce demand as a slew of carriers have started up in the past decade and expanded rapidly. Pilots complain that they don't have enough rest time between flights, a violation of international aviation safety practices.

Indian airlines have been forced to look abroad for staff, which comes with its own problems as some Eastern European pilots had difficulties with English ? the international language of aviation.

By hiring pilots from countries where English isn't spoken widely, "you have to accept that there's potential for confusion, or less comprehension," said Gideon Ewers, a spokesman for the U.K.-based International Federation of Airline Pilots' Associations.

Airlines across Asia have been recruiting foreigners. China has at least 1,300 foreign flight captains, according to the state-run China Daily newspaper. Garuda Indonesia and Korean Airlines have also been forced to hire foreign pilots. In China, state media quoted an American pilot for Spring Airways complaining he had to rely on his Chinese first officer to communicate with air traffic controllers who wouldn't or couldn't speak English.

Experts say while some smaller airlines are forced to hire pilots on short-term contracts, they don't have as much control over the quality of the pilot's training and experience as big airlines with cadet programs do. The result is that while airlines may have crews that meet the minimum training requirements, some airlines will have crews that are excellent but others are "dangerously marginal," said Voss.

At airlines where safety and training standards are closely followed, the pilots in the cockpit "correct the missteps and correct problems on the spot. All of those little corrections eventually define the safety culture of that airline," said Voss.

"If the crews are all on six-month contracts, that doesn't happen. Risky behavior goes unchallenged, professionalism decays, and disaster inevitably follows."

A potentially even graver shortage looms of maintenance personnel, aviation groups say. Boeing forecasts that Asia will need a quarter-million new technicians over the next two decades, up from about 46,500 now.

"It is a more difficult problem to solve," said Voss,"since the job is very unattractive and harder to train."

___________

AP Business Writer Adam Schreck in Dubai, Aviation Writer Slobodan Lekic in Brussels and AP Writer Nirmala George in New Delhi contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-01-AS-Asia-Pilot-Shortage/id-743bddfd61bb49c59fffb38c2be58e46

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