Stars Share Their New Year's Resolutions (omg!)

What are your favorite stars' goals for 2012? Read on!

STACY KEIBLER: "To stay centered and balanced and to breathe."

PHOTOS: Do you think these stars can stick to their New Year's resolutions?

HUNTER PARRISH: "I've had so many over the years, all including working out and eating right. I've had a departure from my workout routine recently, so maybe to get more into that."

BRYAN BATT: "I know that everyone else says 'get healthy,' but I don't give a damn. I'm just going to drink more and eat more. My last checkup, I was fine. I'm always fine. So why bother?"

PHOTOS: Stars' favorite healthy snacks

PATTI STANGER: "I'm de-cluttering. Personally as well as physically in my house. I'm giving everything away! I'm going to have an estate sale."

BLACK EYED PEAS' APL.DE.AP: "Work even harder, try to keep healthier and just keep going. Keep making music."

VIDEO: How to get A-list abs in just minutes at home

REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS' DANA WILKEY: "I have a big one. It's kind of vain, maybe I should change it. It will be to try not to fight with anyone of the cast members."

HULK HOGAN: "My New Year's resolutions are to be a better person every day. I catch myself thinking about praying or being happy or good, and all of a sudden I've got my whole mindset changed. I've moved on with my life, things are great again, and I know what it's like to be happy again."

PHOTOS: Best celeb New Year's kisses ever!

SETH GREEN: "I'd like to learn from all the mistakes I've made and try harder in the areas that may need a little improvement."

ABIGAIL BRESLIN: "Umm?To stop saying 'umm' so much!"

KELLY BENSIMON: "Take 30 days off of everything that's toxic and see how I come out the other end."

PHOTOS: The year in Us Weekly!

LA LA ANTHONY: "I always say that I'm going to work out and eat better and lose weight, and last year it probably lasted a good three weeks, so hopefully this year I can go a little longer."??

VAMPIRE DIARIES' KAT GRAHAM: "To eat as many donuts as possible and lose weight while doing so!"

WHITNEY PORT: "Just to have a little more patience with everybody."

ROB KARDASHIAN: "I have a dress sock line I'm working on..I want that to launch successfully. Obviously getting into shape is big for me?that's one of my main things."

Tell Us: What's your New Year's resolution?

Get more Us! Follow us on Twitter, Friend us on Facebook, Subscribe to Us Weekly

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Italian who fought for votes for emigres dies (AP)

ROME ? Mirko Tremaglia, a right-wing politician who won a decades-long battle for the right of Italian emigres to vote in Italian elections, died on Friday. He was 85.

Italian news agencies and Sky TG24 TV said Tremaglia died at home in Bergamo, northern Italy, after a long illness.

Tremaglia was a co-founder of the Italian Social Movement, a neo-fascist party built on the ashes of Benito Mussolini's political legacy. But he gradually moved toward what is now Italy's center-right ? first as a leader of the National Alliance and then as a prominent member of Silvio Berlusconi's conservatives ? before breaking with the media mogul in 2010 to defect to a new center-right party.

In a condolence message to Tremaglia's family, President Napolitano, a former Communist, noted that the late lawmaker and himself had "different experiences" and ideological positions but they shared a "sense of national responsibility."

"Particularly strong remains the mark of his commitment to give voice and representation to Italians abroad," Napolitano said.

Tremaglia campaigned tirelessly in Parliament for rights for millions of Italians who had emigrated, or who were born to emigre parents, to cast ballots in Italian elections. His dream became law in 2001, the same year he became minister for Italians abroad, in one of Berlusconi's governments.

In spring 2006, campaigning for Berlusconi in parliamentary elections, Tremaglia energetically worked the crowds in South America, where many of the 3.5 million Italian voters abroad lived. The law also gave Italian emigres the right, for the first time, to have representation in Parliament.

Tremaglia had served as a lawmaker in Parliament's lower chamber, the Chamber of Deputies, since 1972. Chamber President Gianfranco Fini, himself a former neo-fascist leader and former Berlusconi ally, hailed Tremaglia in a tribute Friday, as a "great political and personal friend."

Fini called Tremaglia a "great protagonist of the Italian right ? a cause to which Tremaglia, right to the end, dedicated himself with coherence and loyalty."

Fini's defection, along with several lawmakers like Tremaglia, from Berlusconi's coalition after nasty bickering in 2010, weakened the premier's government. Berlusconi resigned in November amid criticism over his handling of Italy's financial crisis.

In 2004, as a minister in then-premier Berlusconi's government, Tremaglia caused uproar when he complained about what he called the influence of gays in the European Union and used a pejorative term for homosexuals in remarks carried by Italian media.

Tremaglia was commenting on a European Parliament committee's decision not to endorse an Italian nominee to become EU justice minister after the candidate, a former Christian Democrat with close ties to the Vatican, testified that he considered homosexuality a sin.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111230/ap_on_re_eu/eu_italy_obit_tremaglia

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ZDNet: Facebook phasing out support for Internet Explorer 7 http://t.co/FDfpEC4N

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Saturday, 07 January, 2012 - Church Women United-Madison

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RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Final Destination 5 and Apollo 18

Plus, a few other choices during this post-Christmas lull.

It's shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone that the home video choices this week are rather slim; most studios try to make sure they have all of their best stuff ready to go before Christmas, naturally. With that in mind, we bring you an abbreviated edition of RT on DVD, focusing on just five new releases that are hitting shelves. For those of you who are also avid television-watchers, some items of interest we won't be covering include Season 2 of the animated series Archer, the first seasons of two Showtime dramas The Borgias and Shameless, and the first season of IFC sitcom The Increasingly Poor Decisions of Todd Margaret, which stars Arrested Development alumni David Cross and Will Arnett. That said, we will be covering two horror movies, a raunchy comedy, a Romanian film, and a fascinating documentary. See below for the full list!

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1924204/news/1924204/

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HTC unlocks all Android bootloaders from smartphones launched after September 20...

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Man killed amid Boxing Day shoppers in London

Originally published: December 26, 2011 11:46 AM
Updated: December 26, 2011 2:31 PM
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Photo credit: Getty Images | Eager shoppers descend on stores on Oxford Street for the Boxing Day sales in London, England. (Dec. 26, 2011)

LONDON - A teenager was fatally stabbed Monday after an argument broke out in a sports store on London's most famous retail street as thousands of shoppers flocked to Britain's capital seeking post-Christmas bargains.

The killing of the 18-year-old man on Oxford Street did little to deter shoppers crowding into neighboring stores in the landmark shopping district. Bargain hunters were also largely untroubled by a subway strike which badly disrupted the city's public transport services.

Selfridges ? close to the scene of Monday's stabbing and one of Britain's most popular department stores ? reported its biggest ever first hour of trading Monday morning, while the New West End Company, which represents traders on central London's shopping streets, reported 15 million pounds (US$23.5 million) in sales in the first three hours of trading.

"As ever, the West End's Boxing Day sales have attracted shoppers in their hundreds of thousands," said Jace Tyrrell, of the New West End Company.

Sue West, Selfridges' director of operations, said that ladies' accessories and jewelry were the most popular items snapped up. "Despite Tube disruptions ... we had record sales in our first hour," West said.

London's air ambulance helicopter had earlier rushed to the street following the stabbing, but the teenage victim died before medics could administer help.

Police, who erected a tent outside a Foot Locker sports store as they carried out investigations, said ten people had been arrested in connection with the death.

Det. Chief Insp. Mark Dunne, of London's Metropolitan police, said two groups of young people appeared to have become involved in a large-scale altercation.

Dunne said little more was known about the circumstances, but there was likely to be a large number of witnesses. "This is probably the busiest place in the United Kingdom right now, on the busiest shopping day," he told reporters at the scene.

On London's subway network, the ASLEF train drivers' labor union staged a one-day strike to demand extra pay and additional time off for members working on the public holiday.

Despite the disruptions, huge crowds ? some lining up outside stores from midnight ? rushed into department stores in London and other British cities as soon as doors opened early Monday.

The London Underground, the organization that manages the subway system, condemned the move, saying it was pointless and demonstrated "a complete disregard for our customers." Authorities said extra buses were running in main shopping areas to cater to the increased flow of travelers on one of the year's busiest shopping days.

The ASLEF union has warned it plans to stage three more strikes in January and February if the dispute is not resolved.

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

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Source: http://www.newsday.com/news/world/man-killed-amid-boxing-day-shoppers-in-london-1.3411798

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DA: No charges against son of OJ Simpson relative (AP)

SANTA ANA, Calif. ? Prosecutors have decided not to file charges against the 25-year-old son of Denise Brown and his girlfriend after they were arrested in a reported domestic violence incident.

Brown became an advocate against domestic violence after her sister, Nicole Brown Simpson, was slain in 1994.

Sean Brown and his girlfriend, 22-year-old Amy Johnson, were arrested after police answered a pre-dawn call Tuesday and found the couple with superficial wounds that didn't require hospitalization.

They were held in jail for investigation of inflicting injury on a spouse, but they were released when the district attorney decided not to file charges.

O.J. Simpson was acquitted of murder in a high-profile trial where Denise Brown testified that he had physically abused his ex-wife. She founded the Nicole Brown Simpson Foundation to fight domestic violence.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111228/ap_on_re_us/us_denise_brown_s_son

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offseasonblog: Los Angeles, if you want to support a champion, the Galaxy start back up in March.

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Emma Watson @ ?Harry Potter? London premieres 2001 - 2011.

Aline, 14 anos, Ravenclaw, Brasil, Harry Potter, chocolate, RBD, Disney, Twilight, Snape/Lily, Lady Gaga, Alan Rickman, Helena Bonham Carter, Emma Watson, etc. Sigo de volta. Pottermore user: WillowWatch123.

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UPDATE: Blue Santa comes to the rescue for E. Texas family

UPDATE: A family who lost all their Christmas presents to a thief will still be able to celebrate.

The Longview Police Department's "Blue Santa" program delivered bags of presents Thursday to single mom Crystal Lee and her son Avery.

Tuesday, Lee reported to police that all her Christmas presents for her and her son had been stolen from under her tree.

The sight of Blue Santa was overwhelming.

"I said, 'Oh my, what do I do,' then I went to the door, and she had a huge gift, I mean bags of gifts , I'm sorry I was so excited for my son," Crystal expressed.

And, two-year-old Avery even got to open up a couple of his gifts.

---

LONGVIEW,TX (KLTV)- In a matter of moments, the Christmas for two East Texas single mothers was stolen right out from under them, leaving their children with nothing under the tree. Thieves struck Tuesday afternoon at their apartments in the 4-hundred block of Tammy Lynn drive in Longview. Crystal Lee says she was playing with her son Avery in her back yard, with her front door unlocked. She came back in to see her Christmas presents gone.

"You should have seen him crying last night , where's my toys momma. He knew," Lee says. "The gifts are gone , the gifts are gone, the things I got him from my heart is gone, I'm taking the tree down its over, I'm taking the tree down," she says.

Neighbor Markethia Winston had her presents under the tree as well, they were planning on having Christmas together with their children.

"My first thought was oh my gosh my baby's presents are gone, she's not going to have Christmas, that hurt me because this is her first Christmas," Winston says.

Nothing else was taken, but every present under the tree and even what was in the stockings was gone. Lee filed a police report for the missing items. Clothes and toys, but it was what she had worked hard to provide for her son.

"They have to be heartless people who just don't care, why would you do that," Winston says.

"Oh my god its four days , what am I going to do? what am I supposed to tell my son Christmas morning," Lee says.

But all is not lost. The Longview Police Department Blue Santa program will be providing Christmas gifts to the kids.

Copyright 2011 KLTV. All rights reserved.

Source: http://longview.kltv.com/news/news/75848-update-blue-santa-comes-rescue-e-texas-family

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Quiznos Reaches Deals With Lenders; May Seek Bankruptcy If Fails In Debt Issues - NASDAQ

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Video: Foreign policy presidency

October 30: Plouffe, roundtable

Nearly a year away from the 2012 election, we?ll talk to the president?s 2008 campaign manager, now White House Senior Adviser, David Plouffe. Then author of the definitive new biography on the late Apple CEO, Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson; Author of the new book ?The Time of Our Lives,? NBC News Special Correspondent, Tom Brokaw; Former Governor of Michigan, Jennifer Granholm; and Republican strategist, Mike Murphy.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032608/vp/45787105#45787105

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zeitgeistblog: Google News: New Air Jordans still incite shopper violence 9 years after player's retirement - CNN http://t.co/tv4Wjxcj

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Study linking virus and chronic fatigue retracted

NEW YORK (AP) ? A prestigious scientific journal is retracting a controversial 2009 report that linked chronic fatigue syndrome to a virus.

In an unusual move, the journal Science is taking that step on its own. Normally, authors retract their own research papers when serious problems arise after publication.

But Science has lost confidence in the report and the validity of its conclusions, editor-in-chief Bruce Alberts writes in Friday's issue. He said most of the authors have agreed in principle to retract the paper "but they have been unable to agree on the wording of their statement." A retraction signed by all the authors "is unlikely to be forthcoming," Alberts wrote.

Chronic fatigue syndrome is characterized by severe fatigue for at least six months, impaired memory and other symptoms.

The 2009 paper, from scientists at the Whittemore Peterson Institute in Reno, Nev., the Cleveland Clinic and the National Cancer Institute, reported finding a virus called XMRV in blood cells of some patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. That raised hope that a cause of the mysterious illness had been found, although other viral suspects over the years had proven to be false leads.

But follow-up studies found no evidence of such a link. Last May, Science published two reports suggesting the original finding was due to lab contamination.

At the time, Alberts published a statement declaring that the validity of the study was "now seriously in question."

Then in September, the authors retracted some of the data, citing contamination.

In his statement on the full retraction, Alberts said the authors had also acknowledged omitting important information about the study's procedures in an illustration of some lab results.

Robert Silverman of the Cleveland Clinic, one of the paper's 13 authors, said in a statement Thursday that he was pleased by the full retraction. He said he had sought one this summer after finding that blood samples were contaminated.

Through a spokeswoman, another study author, Francis Ruscetti of the cancer institute, declined to comment.

Annette Whittemore, president of the Whittemore institute, said in a statement that her organization remains committed to discovering the roots of the disorder. "It is not the end of the story, rather it is the beginning of our renewed efforts," she said. "We ... look forward to the rigorous review of our scientific research."

A key figure in the research, Judy Mikovits, is no longer with the Whittemore institute.

___

Online:

Science: http://www.sciencemag.org

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2011-12-22-Chronic%20Fatigue/id-fdd408b951a14ca2b2abcb644c2ccf3a

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ultrasn0w bumped to version 1.2.5, now unlocking even more iOS 5.0.1 devices

Given that you're out on Christmas break and all, isn't it about time you finally tried out that whole "unlocking" thing you've been hearing about? A new build of ultrasn0w just hit the Cydia app store, with v1.2.5 adding more support for iOS 5.0.1. Of note, novice jailbreakers may want to reach out to more experienced pals before embarking, as you'll need a a compatible baseband in order for the unlock to work. The iPhone 3GS (running iOS 5.0.1.) is supported with the following basements: 04.26.08 - 05.11.07 - 05.12.01 - 05.13.04 - 06.15.00. The iPhone 4 is supported if your baseband checks in as 01.59.00. If you're looking to upgrade from a dustier firmware, make sure you preserve your baseband before unlocking. Hit the source link for a few tips, and remember: friends don't let friends jailbreak before completing a backup.

ultrasn0w bumped to version 1.2.5, now unlocking even more iOS 5.0.1 devices originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 21:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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EPA tells nation's dirty power plants to clean up

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The largest remaining source of uncontrolled toxic air pollution in the United States, the nation's coal- and oil-fired power plants, will be forced to reduce their emissions or shut down, under a federal regulation released Wednesday.

The long-overdue national standards for mercury and other toxic pollutants are the first to be applied to nation's oldest and dirtiest power plants.

About half of the 1,300 coal- and oil-fired units nationwide still lack modern pollution controls, despite the Environmental Protection Agency in 1990 getting the authority from Congress to control toxic air pollution from power plant smokestacks. A decade later, in 2000, the agency concluded it was necessary to clamp down on the emissions to protect public health.

Decades of litigation and changing political winds have allowed power plants to keep running without addressing their full environmental and public health costs.

EPA administrator Lisa Jackson said in a statement that the standards "will protect millions of families and children from harmful and costly air pollution and provide the American people with health benefits that far outweigh the costs."

The rule ranks as one of the most expensive in the EPA's history, with an estimated $9.6 billion price tag.

Its release comes after intense lobbying from power producers and criticism from Republicans, who said the rule would threaten jobs and electric reliability and raise electricity prices.

To ease those concerns, the administration will encourage states to make "broadly available" an additional fourth year to comply with the rule, as allowed by the law. Case-by-case extensions could also be granted to address local reliability issues, according to a presidential memorandum to Jackson.

In the memorandum, President Barack Obama said the new standards "will promote the transition to a cleaner and more efficient U.S. electric power system." He directed the EPA to ensure that implementation of the rule "proceed in a cost-effective manner that ensures electric reliability."

Some in the industry wanted an automatic and longer delay, to ensure that the combination of power plants retiring and those shutting down temporarily to install pollution control equipment would not affect reliability. But even the chair of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the independent body that ensures electric reliability, did not see evidence for a blanket extension.

An AP survey of 55 power plants producers found that more than 32 mostly coal-fired power plants in a dozen states would retire because of the regulation issued Wednesday, and another rule aimed at reducing pollution downwind from power plants. The survey found, however, that the power plant retirements alone would not cause homes to go dark. Another 36 power plants may have to shut down because it would be cheaper than complying with the rule. The estimated age of the units retiring or at risk was 51 years.

For coal, which was already struggling because of low natural gas prices and lackluster demand for electricity, the environmental regulations may well be the final blow.

Two other federal environmental regulations in the works to address cooling water intakes and coal ash disposal could lead to more power plant retirements, according to experts.

___

Online: Environmental Protection Agency: http://www.epa.gov/mats

___

Follow Dina Cappiello on Twitter (at)dinacappiello

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Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-21-US-EPA-Power-Plants/id-7cc32b0a137d4f68b55c7e057624d3b0

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Video: Deal reached to extend payroll tax cut

Ventre: Penn St. ugliness dominated 2011 headlines

Ventre: 2011 was one big surprise party in sports. There were enough astounding developments ? both positive and negative ? to keep mouths agape, eyes agog and Twitter atwitter. Unfortunately, the one that stands out the most is the ugliest story possible.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/45770121#45770121

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Summary Box: Portugal sells utility stake to China (AP)

CHINA POWER: Portugal will sell the state's 21.35 percent stake in national utility Energias de Portugal to China Three Gorges Corp. for $3.5 billion. Three Gorges Corp. beat rival bids from German gas and electricity company E.On AG and Brazilian utilities Eletrobras and Cemig SA in what was Portugal's biggest-ever privatization.

RAISING CASH: The deal was the first in a raft of sell-offs that aim to earn at least $6.5 billion to ease Portugal's crippling debt burden. The country needed a $102 billion bailout earlier this year to avoid bankruptcy.

BEIJING BOOSTS EUROPE: Cash-rich Chinese companies have in recent years made a string of investments in European countries hit by the continent's sovereign debt crisis. Three Gorges promised to invest in developing EDP's manufacturing capacity for renewable energy equipment and in Portugal's green energy sector.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111222/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_portugal_financial_crisis_summary_box

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Investors give 'Farmville' maker a cold shoulder (AP)

NEW YORK ? As its workers celebrated with hot chocolate and cinnamon buns, Zynga saw its stock dinged on its first day of trading Friday ? an unexpected turn of events for a closely watched public debut seen as a precursor to Facebook's next year.

Zynga Inc., the online game developer behind "FarmVille," "Mafia Wars" and other popular time killers on Facebook, raised at least $1 billion in its initial public offering of stock, the largest for a U.S. Internet company since Google's $1.4 billion IPO in 2004.

But by Friday afternoon, Zynga's stock fell 50 cents, or 5 percent, to close at $9.50. The stock priced at $10 on Thursday, at the high end of its expected range. It traded as high as $11.50 on Friday before heading into a downward spiral on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

It was far from the eye-popping jump that has been the trend this year for freshly public Internet darlings such as LinkedIn Corp., which saw its stock double on its first trading day.

Zynga's opening ? with a ticker symbol of "ZNGA" ? was supposed to be big. After all, unlike many others with IPOs, the company is profitable, with more than 220 million people playing its games on Facebook each month.

What this all means for Facebook's IPO, expected sometime after April, is hard to say. One thing is clear, though.

"A hot IPO is not guaranteed," said Kathleen Smith, principal of IPO investment advisory firm Renaissance Capital.

Despite the big-name public offerings this year, the IPO market is not in good health. Buyers are skittish and concerned about the high volatility of freshly public stocks, Smith said. Big name or not, investors don't want to pay sky-high prices for stocks, especially not before a company has proven itself with good earnings reports and analyst ratings.

Seventy percent of the 125 companies that went public this year are now trading below their IPO price, according to Renaissance Capital.

While Friday's drop doesn't look good, it's not devastating for Zynga. Its CEO, Mark Pincus, said the company's focus is on "delivering great products" that expand audience for social games over the next few years ? and not on the next trading day.

"We didn't have any expectations coming into this whole process," he said in an interview. "We decided to go public a long time ago."

Pincus rang the Nasdaq's opening bell in San Francisco, a first in the city for a freshly public company. The company's roughly 1,700 San Francisco employees woke up at the crack of down to celebrate with cinnamon buns and hot cocoa. Zynga also delivered video of the opening ceremony over the Internet to its offices around the world.

Thursday's pricing gives Zynga a market value of about $7 billion. That's roughly half of the value of online deals site Groupon, which began trading in early November. Zynga, though, sold a much bigger chunk of its available shares, 14.3 percent compared with Groupon's 5.5 percent. It's an issue of supply and demand ? selling more shares means investors don't have to scramble to get their hands on them.

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter said stocks trade based on supply and demand on the first day.

In Zynga's case, he believes the IPO's underwriters placed more shares with investors who were going to "flip" the stock ? that is, buy a hot stock and quickly sell it to make a profit instead of holding on to it for the long run. All that selling tempered the stock's price, and other nervous investors started selling, too.

Sterne Agee's Arvind Bhatia said the issue came down to valuation ? what people are willing to pay.

"You might like a company but not its valuation," said Bhatia, who took the unusual step of starting coverage of Zynga's stock before it went public, giving it an "Underperform" rating and a price target of $7.

With its huge player base and a few loyal spenders, Zynga had net income of $90.6 million in 2010, an unusual pre-IPO money-maker in the sector.

Cowen & Co. analyst Doug Creutz, however, initiated coverage Friday with a "Neutral" rating on the stock. Although Zynga is the leader in Facebook gaming, he's concerned that it won't be able to grow fast enough to justify its stock price. Growth in Facebook gaming has slowed, and Zynga's market share has declined from 50 percent to 38 percent of daily active users, he wrote.

He's also concerned that Zynga's famously aggressive and hard-charging culture may not be the best field to grow good games in. Others have raised concerns that the focus on deadlines and profits might be squeezing out creativity and talent.

In November, Groupon raised $700 million in its IPO. The granddaddy of all Internet IPOs might happen next year, as Facebook Inc. is expected to raise as much as $10 billion.

Bhatia declined to speculate about what Zynga's first-day drop might mean for Facebook. But he pointed out that what was a bad year for Zynga was a good year for Facebook. That's because Facebook stated charging application developers a 30 percent cut of the money they make through its site. That means for every dollar a player spends on "FarmVille" crops, 30 cents goes to Facebook.

"They are in the driver's seat," Bhatia said of Facebook. The company, he added, is "in class of its own."

DreamWorks CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg, who sits on Zynga's board, said Zynga and Facebook have both benefited by working together.

"As important as Facebook is to Zynga, Zynga is to Facebook," he said in an interview. "I have seen very good rapport with the two Marks and I would expect that relationship to continue to grow."

___

AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111216/ap_on_hi_te/us_zynga_ipo

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Berenson says she was barred from leaving Peru

FILE - U.S. political activist Lori Berenson speaks to The Associated Press at her home in Lima, Peru, in this Nov. 9, 2010 file photo. Paroled U.S. activist Lori Berenson was headed for New York early Saturday Dec. 17, 2011 after a Peruvian court ruled she and her toddler son could travel there for the holidays, airport security officials said. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro, File)

FILE - U.S. political activist Lori Berenson speaks to The Associated Press at her home in Lima, Peru, in this Nov. 9, 2010 file photo. Paroled U.S. activist Lori Berenson was headed for New York early Saturday Dec. 17, 2011 after a Peruvian court ruled she and her toddler son could travel there for the holidays, airport security officials said. (AP Photo/Karel Navarro, File)

LIMA, Peru (AP) ? Paroled U.S. activist Lori Berenson said Saturday that she and her toddler son were not permitted to leave Peru despite being granted permission in court to spend the holidays in New York with her family.

"They didn't let me leave and they're putting out this version that I arrived late," she said in a brief phone conversation with The Associated Press, referring to media reports citing unnamed airport officials.

Her lawyer, Anibal Apari, accused the government of making an arbitrary political decision to halt her departure. He said it had provided no official explanation for not allowing Berenson to board a New York-bound flight the previous night.

"An abuse of authority has been committed," Apari told the AP. "Administratively, you can't block a court order."

An Interior Ministry press offical reached by the AP said he could not immediately offer a response.

Berenson, 42, was paroled last year after serving 15 years for aiding leftist rebels. She was given permission to leave the country beginning Friday with the stipulation that she return by Jan. 11.

She had been denied such permission in October, but a three-judge appeals court on Wednesday overturned the lower court judge's ruling.

Peru's anti-terrorism prosecutor, Julio Galindo, told the AP that he had on Friday asked the court that approved Berenson's leave to nullify the decision because it violated a law prohibiting paroled prisoners from leaving the country.

He said he did not know if the court had acted on his appeal and Peru's courts spokesman, Guillermo Gonzalez, said he had no information on the matter.

Galindo's move was precisely the kind of action feared by Berenson's parents, who did not respond to phone calls seeking comment on Saturday.

The prosecutor had opposed letting Berenson out of prison before her 20-year sentence for aiding terrorism ends in 2015, arguing that it would set a bad precedent for the early release of others convicted of terrorism-related crimes.

Berenson's father Mark told the AP on Friday that he was "petrified" that negative local reaction could prevent the trip, including celebrating his 70th birthday Dec. 29.

"My worry is that there's going to be screaming to stop this," he said. Some Peruvians consider his daughter a terrorist and have publicly insulted her on the street.

Mark Berenson said his daughter had every intention of returning to Peru.

"As Lori says, if she doesn't come home, let Interpol arrest her," Mark Berenson said.

Peru could seek her extradition and return her to prison if she doesn't return in the allotted time, Gonzalez said.

A local TV station displayed video on Friday night of Berenson pacing nervously in front of a ticket counter, wearing a bulky black backpack, with Salvador in a stroller beside her. She wore pants and a brown polo shirt.

On Saturday, she left her apartment around midday to take Salvador for a walk and did not comment to new crews other than to ask them to leave her in peace.

Berenson has been repeatedly hounded and mobbed by Peruvian news media, which has occasionally frightened young Salvador. Last month, one TV channel obtained her new address and showed video of her home.

"It was very dangerous," Mark Berenson said. "The (U.S.) Embassy complained."

"It's just not fair to Salvador or to her," he said. "They used her like she's a celebrity and she just wants to be a low-profile person and get on with her life and be a good citizen."

He said he would appeal to President Ollanta Humala to send his daughter home.

Humala could by law commute her sentence but has not indicated whether he might do so. The AP sought presidential palace comment but its calls were not returned.

Lori Berenson is separated from Salvador's father, Anibal Apari, whom she met in prison and who serves as her lawyer.

Mark Berenson said his daughter is looking forward to seeing relatives she hasn't met since her 20s, including his 96-year-old aunt, and that he wants his grandson, who loves trees, see the New York Botanical Garden's holiday display.

Since her initial parole in May 2010, Lori Berenson repeatedly expressed regret for aiding the rebel Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement.

Arrested in 1995, the former MIT student was accused of helping the rebels plan an armed takeover of Congress, an attack that never happened.

A military court convicted her the following year and sentenced her to life in prison for sedition. But after intense U.S. government pressure, she was retried in civil courts in 2001 and sentenced to 20 years for terrorist collaboration.

Berenson was unrepentant at the time of her arrest, but softened during years of sometimes harsh prison conditions, eventually being praised as a model prisoner.

Yet she is viewed by many as a symbol of the 1980-2000 rebel conflict that claimed some 70,000 lives. The fanatical Maoist Shining Path movement did most of the killing, while Tupac Amaru was a lesser player.

Berenson has acknowledged helping the rebels rent a safe house, where authorities seized a cache of weapons. But she insists she didn't know guns were being stored there. She denies ever belonging to Tupac Amaru or engaging in violent acts.

In an interview with the AP last year, Berenson said she was deeply troubled at having become Peru's "face of terrorism."

Its most famous prisoner, she also became a politically convenient scapegoat, she said.

___

Associated Press writer Franklin Briceno contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-17-LT-Peru-Lori-Berenson/id-8ab9b858b95d4b578f4e59b40ac0ff34

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World trade body agrees to Russia becoming member (AP)

GENEVA ? The World Trade Organization agreed Friday to allow Russia to become its newest member, giving a critical boost to the ailing economy of its biggest trading partner, the European Union.

Until now, Russia has been the only member of the Group of 20 leading world economies still outside the WTO, the global body that sets legally binding rules for international trade and mediates disputes.

The deal is expected to quickly increase EU exports by some euro4 billion ($5.2 billion) a year, EU trade officials say. Under the deal, Russians will be able to buy European-made goods at far lower prices and to sell its oil and gas more efficiently.

The 27-nation EU bloc is Russia's biggest trading partner for agriculture, fuels, mining and manufacturing. The EU buys 52 percent of Russia's exports, including the fossil fuels that keep Europe running. Russia, in turn, is third-biggest customer for EU exports, after the U.S. and China.

Elvira Nabiullina, Russia's minister of economic development, hailed the deal and said Russia is ready to help counter the risks of the global economic slowdown.

"We are ready to counter these risks actively," she told WTO trade ministers, just after their decision to welcome Russia.

The agreement is also likely to provide a boost for Russia's heavily state-managed economy, trade experts say, because it would bring the nation under international trade rules that could give outside investors more confidence.

"The EU has high expectations of Russia as a responsible partner able to respect rules," EU trade chief Karel De Gucht told the WTO.

As a WTO member, Moscow would provide annual reports to other members on its continuing privatization and gradually lower its average tariff ceiling to 7.8 percent from its current 10 percent.

A final hurdle to joining the WTO was the deal Russia signed with Georgia, its neighbor with whom it waged a brief war in 2008, to allow a neutral company to monitor all trade between the two nations.

Russia would become a WTO member next year, 30 days after it notifies WTO that the Russian Duma has ratified membership.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111216/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_wto_russia

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Superheroes Prove Nobody is Immune to Breast Cancer | Madame ...

The Associa??o da Luta Contra o Cancer is making sure young women in Mozambique get the message that breast cancer can happen to anyone with a new ad campaign using images of some of the most popular female superheros like Storm, Wonder Woman, Catwoman, and She-hulk.

The illustrations show the comic book characters performing breast exams and run with the words, ??When we talk about breast cancer, there?s no women or superwomen. Everybody has to do the self-examination monthly. Fight with us against the enemy and, when in doubt, talk with your doctor.?

Wording above the images, created by Maisa Chaves, reads ?Nobody is Immune to Breast Cancer.?

According to the Daily Mail, the association isn?t afraid to get creative in order to get the message out, previous ads made it appear as though spiders and cockroaches were living under the skin of women?s breasts as motivation to perform monthly self-checks.

What do you think about the superhero breast cancer campaign?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

More on Madame Noire!

Source: http://madamenoire.com/119433/superheroes-prove-nobody-is-immune-to-breast-cancer/

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Safety seemed to be an afterthought before the BP oil spill

Reporting from Washington?

?

The petroleum industry and federal regulators focused more on exploration and production than safety in the years leading up to the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill, helping to set the stage for the worst offshore environmental disaster in U.S. history, according to a new independent report by the National Academy of Engineering and the National Research Council.

Conducted at the behest of Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, the report said the "multiple flawed decisions that led to a blowout" on the Deepwater Horizon rig resulted from "a deficient overall systems approach to safety" among the corporations that ran the drilling of the Macondo well, including BP, Transocean and Halliburton.

The report, titled "Macondo Well ? Deepwater Horizon Blowout, Lessons for Improving Offshore Drilling Safety," echoed many findings from previous studies of the disaster. But it added new levels of detail and put the nation's top engineering peer group behind a call for redesigning a massive set of valves, rams and hydraulic devices once thought to be fail-safe: the blowout preventer that failed to stem the flow of more than 200 million gallons into the Gulf of Mexico.

"There were numerous warnings to both industry and regulators about potential failures of existing BOP [blowout preventer] systems" over the previous decade, according to the report, which demanded greater emphasis on safety than industry and regulators have shown, and questioned industry and regulatory norms that could erode safety.

The fragmented nature of offshore oil drilling, with different companies responsible for highly specialized tasks, means that few people on a rig may have a complete sense of the risks involved in the drilling operation, the report concluded.

The report committee's chairman, former Navy Secretary Donald C. Winter, said that improvements in regulatory oversight and in industry response to offshore disasters gave him confidence that offshore drilling should continue. But he stressed that more work needed to be done.

"Our concern is whether this is a good first step in the right direction," Winter said in a conference call, "or whether these changes represent a transient response in the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon."

The Interior Department said in a statement that it welcomed the report's findings, which it said backed the regulatory policies it has pursued since the Deepwater Horizon explosion on April 20, 2010.

The department introduced more stringent environmental and safety regulations, and the industry responded by developing new oil spill response and containment systems, incorporating lessons from the gulf disaster.

But the report expressed concerns about how serious and sustained industry efforts might be, given that its research and development efforts over the last 20 years have been shrunk and outsourced. And most of those efforts have "been focused disproportionately on exploration, drilling, and production technologies as opposed to safety."

Erik Milito of the American Petroleum Institute trade group defended the industry's research focus. "The industry is leading the way in applying the best elements of the most successful existing safety programs, including the use of independent auditing and certification by third parties," Milito said.

Complacency about safety, particularly in the case of blowout preventers, became apparent in testimony before the committee that showed "a misplaced confidence that blowout preventers could provide a guarantee, an insurance policy to the blowout," Winter said.

The industry seems to have tempered its confidence in the reliability of blowout preventers, said Roger L. McCarthy, a private engineering consultant from Palo Alto and a member of the report committee. Still, there is no uniform standard for blowout preventers and no independent certification of their efficacy, McCarthy said.

"You can't buy a circuit breaker for your home that hasn't been independently certified by Underwriters Laboratories," McCarthy said, "while a BOP is kind of a circuit breaker for an incredible amount of power that comes up the drill string, and it's not certified to any standard."

Deep offshore oil drilling is becoming more common, as evidenced by the $337 million in bids offered Wednesday in the Interior Department's first auction of federal leases in the western Gulf of Mexico since the BP spill.

In such an environment, the industry needs to approach safety through a "proactive" system that articulates all the risks inherent to each particular process and puts in place steps to prevent them, the report recommended. Although that approach was adopted in the North Sea in the wake of disasters there a generation ago, not all companies use the approach beyond their North Sea operations.

neela.banerjee@latimes.com

Source: http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes/news/science/~3/LHAVta1iv7Q/la-na-bp-spill-report-20111215,0,6496189.story

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Vikings RB Peterson probable for Sunday (AP)

EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. ? Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson is listed as probable to return to the lineup Sunday against the New Orleans Saints after missing the past three games with a high ankle sprain.

Coach Leslie Frazier said Peterson's ankle responded well to increased repetitions in practice this week. He hinted Peterson might not return to a full workload immediately on Sunday because of the missed time. Peterson said Thursday he was about 85 percent healthy.

Quarterback Christian Ponder (hip pointer) was a full participant in practice this week and was listed as probable Friday.

The Vikings listed linebacker E.J. Henderson (shoulder), cornerback Asher Allen (shoulder), defensive tackle Letroy Guion (ankle), receiver Greg Camarillo (concussion) and safety Jarrad Page (hip) as probable for Sunday.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111216/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_vikings_peterson

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How to Remove Light Scratches from Your Windshield

December 15, 2011 3:00 PM Text Size: A . A . A

Scratching the Surface I've got some light scratches in my windshield. My nail doesn't catch in them, so they're not deep, but the usual Windex is not having an effect. Can I buff these out? How?

There are two ways to address light scratches in glass. The easiest is to fill the scratches with an acrylic scratch remover, which is applied as a liquid and dries hard and transparent, hiding the damage by filling the scratches chemically. For deeper scratches, the most popular fix is buffing the glass with cerium oxide, a popular glass, ceramic and metal polish with very low abrasiveness?it's widely used in jewelry and ceramics. Add water to the fine powder and make a slurry the consistency of Elmer's Glue, then cover the damaged areas with the paste. Using a drill with a hard rubber polishing wheel attached, apply firm pressure to slowly grind the surface smooth. To make things a bit easier, mark the location of the scratch on the other side of the glass so you can keep track of where you should be working. It may take a while, but keep the paste moist and add more cerium oxide as needed, and the result will be a smooth, scratch-free surface.

Source: http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/how-to/maintenance/how-to-remove-light-scratches-from-your-windshield?src=rss

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Request Denied: Verizon Must Pay Royalties To ActiveVideo Without Delay

Verizon really can't catch a break in this ActiveVideo case. After a jury determined that they had infringed upon a handful of ActiveVideo's patents, Verizon fought to have the court stay their monthly royalty payments. That motion was just recently shot down, and Verizon must start shelling out a few million dollars to ActiveVideo every month beginning on December 16.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/4bUWjHFKQ30/

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