Hackers? victim turns out to be a Las Vegas woman, Dana White visits to apologize

You got the wrong Dana White, says the real Dana White and a poor woman on the eastside of Las Vegas. The UFC president's battle with online hackers resulted in Julie Breeler getting hundreds of phone calls the last few days.

FOX5 Las Vegas covered the story of the woman getting harassed by haters of Dana White and even those calling him for a job. There is no Dana White at the address and it certainly isn't the home of the fight-promoting millionaire.

The UFC boss heard about the woman's plight and actually showed up at her house on Monday.

"[I] went over and apologized for all the trouble caused by the online terrorists," White told FOX5's Claudine Grant.

Breeler wasn't exactly greeting folks at her front door with open arms.

"I get my gun before answering the door," Breeler told FOX5 Monday. "I crack the door and say 'Yes?' He says 'Julie Breeler?' and I'm like 'Yes.' He says 'Hi, I'm Dana White!'"

UFC.com was hacked and re-directed back Jan. 22. Shortly after the UFC on Fox 2 press conference on Thursday, an angry White launched into an attack on the hackers calling them terrorists.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/hackers-victim-turns-las-vegas-woman-dana-white-165911903.html

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Winter cold snap kills 36 in eastern Europe

A couple walks on a snow covered road near the Lake of Eymir, Ankara, Turkey, on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Winter temperatures and recent snowfall has partially paralyzed life in Turkey. (AP Photo/Selcan Hacaoglu)

A couple walks on a snow covered road near the Lake of Eymir, Ankara, Turkey, on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Winter temperatures and recent snowfall has partially paralyzed life in Turkey. (AP Photo/Selcan Hacaoglu)

Coots fight for a piece of bread on the frozen Lake of Eymir, near Ankara, Turkey, on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Winter temperatures and recent snowfall has partially paralyzed life in Turkey. (AP Photo/Selcan Hacaoglu)

Coots run for a piece of bread on the frozen Lake of Eymir, near Ankara, Turkey, on Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. Winter temperatures and recent snowfall has partially paralyzed life in Turkey. (AP Photo/Selcan Hacaoglu)

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) ? A severe and snowy cold snap across central and eastern Europe has left at least 36 people dead, cut off power to towns, and snarled traffic. Officials are responding with measures ranging from opening shelters to dispensing hot tea, with particular concern for the homeless and elderly.

This part of Europe is not unused to cold, but the current freeze, which spread to most of the region last week, came after a period of relatively mild weather. Many were shocked when temperatures in some parts plunged Monday to minus 20 Celsius (minus 4 Fahrenheit).

"Just as we thought we could get away with a spring-like winter ..." lamented Jelena Savic, 43, from the Serbian capital of Belgrade, her head wrapped in a shawl with only eyes uncovered. "I'm freezing. It's hard to get used to it so suddenly."

Officials have appealed to people to stay indoors and be careful. Police searched for the homeless to make sure they didn't freeze to death. In some places, heaters will be set up at bus stations.

Still, 18 people, most of them homeless, died in Ukraine from hypothermia and nearly 500 people sought medical help for frostbite and hypothermia in just three days last week, the Emergency Situations Ministry said.

Temperatures in parts of Ukraine fell to minus 16 C (3 F) during the day and minus 23 C (minus 10 F) in the night. Authorities opened 1,500 shelters to provide food and heat and closed schools and nurseries. More than 17,000 people have sought help in such shelters in the past three days, authorities said.

In Poland, at least 10 people froze to death as the cold reached minus 26 C (minus 15 F) on Monday.

Malgorzata Wozniak, a spokeswoman for Poland's Interior Ministry, told The Associated Press that elderly people and the homeless were among the dead. Police were checking unheated empty buildings for homeless people they could take to shelters.

Warsaw city authorities decided to place more than 40 heaters in the busiest city transport stops to help waiting passengers keep warm.

City authorities in the Czech capital of Prague set up tents for an estimated 3,000 homeless people. Freezing temperatures also damaged train tracks, slowing railway traffic.

In central Serbia, three people died and two more were missing, while 14 municipalities were operating under emergency decrees. Efforts to clear roads blocked by snow were hampered by strong winds and dozens of towns faced power outages.

Police said one woman froze to death in a snowstorm in a central Serbian village, while two elderly men were found dead, one in the snow outside his home. Further south, emergency crews are searching for two men in their 70s who are feared dead.

"We are getting some 'real' winter this week," Croatian meteorologist Zoran Vakula said.

In Bulgaria, a 57-year-old man froze to death in a northwestern village and emergency decrees were declared in 25 of the country's 28 districts. In the capital of Sofia, authorities handed out hot tea and placed homeless people in emergency shelters.

Strong winds also closed down Bulgaria's main Black Sea port of Varna, while part of a major highway leading to Bulgaria and Greece from Turkey was closed after a heavy snowfall. Nearly 200 Turkish Airlines flights to and from Istanbul's Ataturk Airport were canceled, and a city sports hall was turned to a temporary shelter for some 350 homeless people.

The temperature in Turkey's province of Kars, which borders Armenia, dropped to minus 25 C on Sunday night.

The situation was similar in Romania, where reports said four people have died because of freezing weather. There, authorities sent prison inmates to shovel snow and unblock paths leading to a shelter with some 300 stray dogs and puppies.

Weather forecasts say the cold snap will continue through the week.

_____

Associated Press writers across the region contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-30-EU-Europe-Weather/id-5ad7e01a4a3d4ba3aef4a7e2ef6420e6

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Roberto Carlos says he will retire this year

Associated Press Sports

updated 8:23 a.m. ET Jan. 30, 2012

SAO PAULO (AP) -Former Brazil left back Roberto Carlos says he will retire from football by the end of the year.

The 38-year-old Roberto Carlos has a contract with Russian club Anzhi until 2013 but said he will stop playing either in June or in December of 2012.

He told Brazil's GloboEsporte.com on Monday that he intends to continue "helping" the Russian club off the field after retiring.

Roberto Carlos played for Brazil until the 2006 World Cup. He helped the national team win the 2002 tournament in South Korea and Japan. He also was a starter when Brazil was runner-up in 1998.

He thrived with Real Madrid from 1996 until 2007 and also played for Inter Milan and Fenerbahce.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

advertisement

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46188327/ns/sports/

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Peru: 26 killed in fire at rehabilitation center

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

___

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

Associated Press

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

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Cambodia holds Senate elections; most can't vote (AP)

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia ? Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen's party is expected to sweep Senate elections in a vote that is closed to the general population and criticized for lacking credibility.

The country's 61-member upper house of Parliament is being chosen Sunday by local officials and members of the National Assembly, or lower house. Two seats are appointed by King Norodom Sihamoni and two by the National Assembly.

In the last Senate election in 2006, the ruling Cambodian People's Party won 45 seats, followed by the royalist Funcinpec party with 10. Two seats went to the opposition Sam Rainsy Party.

The Senate has no power to amend or veto legislation and is widely seen as an ineffectual body that rubber-stamps bills from the lower house, which the ruling party dominates.

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

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Test Might Predict Risk of Lung Cancer's Return (HealthDay)

THURSDAY, Jan. 26 (HealthDay News) -- A new industry-funded study suggests that a molecular test can provide insight into whether patients are at high risk of a relapse after surgical treatment for a form of lung cancer.

The test, which is currently available, could help doctors decide whether the patients should undergo chemotherapy to prevent the cancer from returning.

There are caveats: The test is expensive, and researchers don't yet know whether patients determined to be at high risk will live longer if they undergo chemotherapy.

Still, "this may be one of the very first examples of where we understood enough about the molecular biology of a cancer to truly personalize the treatment of patients and actually improve the cure rate for that cancer," said study co-author Dr. Michael Mann, an associate professor of surgery at the University of California, San Francisco.

At issue is non-small-cell lung cancer, by far the most common kind of lung cancer. Even if tumors are diagnosed early and removed, the cancer will spread and kill 35 percent to 50 percent of patients.

In these cases, "even when the tumor is small and they got it all, microscopic disease has spread around the body," said Dr. John Minna, co-author of a commentary accompanying the study. He is a cancer researcher and professor of medicine at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

Scientists are trying to find a way to predict what will happen to patients after surgery so they can figure out if chemotherapy treatment is a good idea.

In the new study, researchers gave the molecular test to 433 lung cancer patients in California and 1,006 patients in China. The researchers found that the test helped them to predict the likelihood that patients would survive for five years.

Conceivably, physicians could adjust the treatment of patients after surgery to coincide with the risk of a recurrence of their cancer. For now, though, that's not proven. The research "doesn't tell you that if you had a bad prognosis and you were treated with chemotherapy, then you'd do better," Minna said.

Still, information about the risks faced by a patient could help doctors make choices about treatments, said Minna, who called the test "promising."

Study co-author Mann agreed: "There may be an important conversation that you can have with your oncologist about potential benefit from additional therapy to reduce the likelihood of the cancer coming back."

Mann said the test -- which is currently available -- could cost several thousand dollars. Minna, the commentary co-author, said any cost over a few hundred dollars could be an issue for insurors.

The research was funded by the firm that developed the molecular test, and several of the study authors serve as consultants to the firm.

The study appears in the Jan. 27 online issue of The Lancet.

More information

For more about lung cancer, try the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120127/hl_hsn/testmightpredictriskoflungcancersreturn

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Fading Gingrich behind in new poll, hits Romney in ad (Reuters)

MIAMI (Reuters) ? Newt Gingrich struggled to regain momentum in the race for the Republican U.S. presidential nomination on Friday as another poll showed him falling behind his main rival Mitt Romney, who was seen as the winner of the final debate before the Florida primary.

The two men courted Florida's sizable Hispanic vote, many of them Cubans, with appearances on Friday at the Hispanic Leadership Network where Romney received an unusually warm reception and the reaction to Gingrich was more sedate.

Bouncing back from losing the South Carolina primary on Saturday, Romney has a 9-percentage point lead over Gingrich in Florida, according to the Quinnipiac University poll.

That margin was similar to three polls on Thursday.

Quinnipiac pollster Peter Brown said Romney appeared to be pulling away in Florida, where he enjoys a financial and organizational advantage over Gingrich. Romney battered the former House of Representatives speaker in two debates this week, wounding him in the format that has helped fuel Gingrich's campaign.

"With the debates now over, Gingrich will need some other way to reverse the tide that appears to be going against him," Brown said.

Tuesday's Florida primary is the fourth contest in the state-by-state battle for the Republican nomination to challenge President Barack Obama, a Democrat, in the November 6 U.S. election.

Romney repeatedly attacked Gingrich at the Thursday debate in Florida, scoring points on immigration, candidates' finances and even lunar exploration.

"That was Romney on Red Bull," Republican strategist Ron Bonjean said. "You could tell Newt was tired, he's carrying a heavy load. He was counting on pure momentum to carry him through Florida, and that momentum has stopped."

Romney, whom Gingrich has described as the most anti-immigrant candidate in the Republican race, won several standing ovations from the Hispanic crowd in Miami on Friday.

"There is a time coming soon when Cuba will be free," Romney told them, adding "America can't sit back" in dealing with the island nation off the coast of Florida.

GINGRICH CROWD MUTED

Gingrich received a much quieter response, once again mocking Romney's call for "self-deportation" of illegal immigrants as "a fantasy. It's not a solution."

Gingrich said the concept might work for younger illegal immigrants who had been in the United States a short time, but not for older immigrants with deep family ties. They should be allowed to apply for citizenship through local councils similar to draft boards, he said.

A Florida win for Romney would put him in a strong position to capture the nomination - the primary map will tilt in his favor in February with contests in seven states where he has the potential for strong showings.

Next up on February 4 is Nevada, where Romney won with 51 percent of the vote during his failed 2008 presidential bid. On February 7 Minnesota and Colorado hold caucuses and Missouri holds a primary. Gingrich did not make the ballot in Missouri.

Four of the states with February contests - Nevada, Maine, Colorado and Minnesota - use caucus systems, which often require greater organization to rally voter turnout. That could help Romney take advantage of his superior financial and staff resources.

On February 28, Michigan and Arizona hold primaries. Romney was raised in Michigan, where his father was a governor and car executive.

A new pro-Gingrich television ad in Florida asked: "What kind of man would mislead, distort and deceive just to win an election?"

"This man would be Mitt Romney," the ad's narrator said.

Romney's camp said the sharp tone from Gingrich was a sign he was desperate to distract from his own record as House speaker, where he faced an ethics probe, and as a consultant with mortgage giant Freddie Mac.

"It is laughable to see lectures on honesty coming from a paid influence peddler who suffered an unprecedented ethics reprimand, was forced to pay a $300,000 penalty, and resigned in disgrace at the hands of his own party," Romney spokeswoman Andrea Saul said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/pl_nm/us_usa_campaign

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Fly Me to the Moon (TIME)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/191690389?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Delta, US Airways learn to stay profitable (AP)

Delta and US Airways are learning to stay profitable.

Both reported better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings on Wednesday, capping two straight years of annual profits. By avoiding deep discounts on fares and unprofitable routes, the two carriers have done well even as fuel costs soar and the economic recovery remains fragile.

It's the same discipline that's helping the entire U.S. airline industry. Southwest last week reported higher earnings and said travel demand is strong. United Continental Holdings Inc. is expected to report a fourth-quarter profit on Thursday.

"We simply do not see any evidence of macroeconomic weakness in our business," said US Airways President Scott Kirby.

It was Delta's first back-to-back annual profit since 1999-2000. US Airways last reported profits two years in a row in 2006-2007.

Delta's stock price rose more than 6 percent while shares of US Airways leaped 17 percent.

Both airlines kept a lid on the amount of flying they did last year and raised fares 10 times, a high number of increases.

The same strategy appears to be in place for 2012. Delta plans to reduce flying 2 percent to 3 percent this year, maybe more. Airlines can reduce flying by cutting flights, eliminating destinations, or switching to smaller planes. US Airways said it will increase flying by only 1 percent this year, mostly overseas.

Airlines executives have been saying explicitly that they aim for profits in good times and bad. That's a change from previous years, when they accepted losses during bad times and hoped to make up for it in boom years, said S&P Capital IQ stock analyst Jim Corridore. Part of that meant adding flights whether or not there was enough demand, just to grab business from competitors.

Now, "they're looking to make money first, before gaining market share," Corridore says.

That means cutting flying even though demand is up. "That's going to lead to higher fares," Corridore says. "It's a complete change in airline industry executive philosophies."

Delta said its biggest priority in 2012 would be keeping non-fuel costs in check. Raises are in store for former Northwest Airlines workers who came to Delta when it bought Northwest in 2008. Other costs have been rising, too. Delta said. CEO Richard Anderson said the company will try to cut costs by reducing maintenance expenses, increasing productivity, and renegotiating contracts with regional airline partners.

Delta's fourth-quarter profit totaled $425 million, up from $19 million a year earlier. Revenue rose 8 percent to $8.4 billion, countering a 5-percent rise in fuel expenses on its mainline operations. Other costs were flat. Delta is the nation's second-largest airline company.

US Airways Group Inc., the fifth-biggest airline, earned $18 million, down from $28 million a year earlier as fuel prices rose. Revenue rose 9 percent to $3.2 billion.

Both companies' profits were better than analysts expected.

Delta's 2011 profit totaled $854 million, up from $593 million in 2010. Tempe, Ariz.-based US Airways earned $71 million for the year, down from $502 million in 2010.

Analysts surveyed by FactSet expect Delta to earn $1.86 billion this year, while US Airways is expected to post net income of $326 million.

Neither airline would talk about potential mergers with American Airlines, although US Airways Chairman and CEO Doug Parker confirmed that it has hired financial advisers to study the possibility. American, the nation's third-largest airline, filed for Chapter 11 protection Nov. 29.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_airlines

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Rescue operations resume on ship off Italian coast (AP)

GIGLIO, Italy ? Divers have set off two controlled explosions on the toppled Costa Concordia cruise ship as rescue operations resumed following a brief halt during the night because of bad weather.

Workers also kept up preparations to remove a half-million gallons (1.9 million liters) of fuel from the ship before it leaks into the Tuscan sea. Pumping is expected to begin Saturday.

Spokesman Martin Schuttevaer said "based on what we have seen the position of the tanks are in line with what we expected."

The Concordia ran aground and capsized off the island of Giglio on Jan. 13 after the captain veered from his approved course and gashed the ship's hull on a reef, forcing the panicked evacuation of 4,200 passengers and crew.

Rescuers have found 16 bodies, with 17 people are still unaccounted for.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_italy_cruise_aground

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Iran ready for nuclear talks with West, says Ahmadinejad

>>> israeli minister of financial. very good to have you with us.

>> good morning.

>> we want to talk about finance, but let's talk about iran first. obviously in america that's what so president of our presidential candidates are obsessed with. dr. brzezinski here, a great picture. does iran overshadow just about everything that goes on in israel right now as far as foreign policy goes?

>> this is a little bit too much, about you of course the gravity of the iranian threat, and not just to israel and the middle east , about you to europe and --

>> would you call it an existential threat when ahmadinejad says he wants to destroy israel orb do you dismiss him as a clown?

>> no. many people in the world dismissed hitler as a clown. we know this is serious. and the gravity of the iran nuclear threat is of enormous magnitude. it's also to the western world all together, to the free western world . i would put it like this -- since italy and since russia during the cold war , this is the most potential threat to the peace of the world together.

>> since 1948 for israel , the greatest threat since that time?

>> i cannot say this is the greatest threat --

>> come on, make a sweeping statement. come on.

>> it's a real threat, and i want to emphasize it's not just a threat to israel . if a threat to the entire middle east , it's a threat to europe , as you probably know, the iranian missiles can now reach most of europe , and now they're waiting on enter continental ballistic missiles . so it's not just israel that is under the threat here.

>> prime minister netanyahu just yesterday praised the new tougher sanctions imposed on iran . do you think they go far enough?

>> first, i put it like this. it's very important that finally, finally the europeans like the americans are putting almost an economic blockade on the iranians, yet it's very significant, but the gravity of the threat might make it insufficient yet. if the world wants to prevent this -- the realization of the threat, they should come under a complete economic blockade in order to force them not to proceed. of course all the options should remain on the table. i'm very happy both america and israel are making it very clear that all the options are on the table if necessary. what more specifically would you like to see done?

>> those are very significant, but still partial.

>> what more can be done?

>> a complete economic blockade. also a sea blockade on the iranians. you know, it should be prevented. the world will be different and much more dangerous world if those iranian get nuclear weapons with long-range missiles. already berlin and -- and they were working currently, on i mentioned before, intercontinental ballistic missiles .

>> so let's move from military threats to economic threat. how much a threat is the european crisis economically on israel ?

>> like the rest of the world , we are concerned. you know, 50% of israeli gdp, or export is like 50% of the gdp, and much of it is going to europe . if europe is declining, the impact on israel might be immediate.

>> and yet you had a record sale of israeli bonds over the weekend. what is it that foreign investors see in israel that they like?

>> well, first, in the last two years, the israeli economy is really growing, the fastest-growing economy in the western world . and it's mainly not due to a shopping -- the volume of economic activity , but due to new investments in the real economy in the country. the level of investing current will i in israel is 75 march beyond the b.r.i.i.c. crisis in investments. which is extremely significant. part of it, we are the first nation to implement a two-year budget in the middle of the crisis. this was extremely helpful to stabilize the system during the crisis, and part of it because we gave many incentives for investors to invest in the israeli economy in the economile of the crisis. we are putting a lot of emphasis on improving all the infrastructure, including dramatically improving the higher education in israel , in order to continue to produce very strong human capital , which is the secret of the success of the israeli economy .

>>> when stan signor wrote about in "start upnation." he's a great guy to make bets with. he always loses. anyway, "start-up nation" and it sounds like the rest of the world is agreeing with stan.

>>> thank you for being on the show this morning.

>> my pleasure.

>>> more " morning joe " in just a minute. brad, where we going? just a second. just,

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46145422/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/

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Senate Legislation Targets Aggressive Recruiting Of Veterans By For-Profit Colleges

Over the past two years, for-profit colleges have been aggressively recruiting returning veterans in an effort to tap into billions of dollars in federal benefits available for soldiers to pay for college.

Not only have the schools have been eager to capture a new source of revenues, but former soldiers represent an added benefit for the industry: a way to secure more federal student loan and grant money.

By law, for-profit colleges must come up with at least 10 percent of their revenue from sources other than federal student aid programs in order to keep that money flowing.

The 90 percent threshold, known as the 90/10 rule, was put in place to ensure that at least 10 percent of the revenues at for-profit schools would come from the private sector, according to congressional testimony and reports from the early 1990s.

Yet many schools are complying with the requirement for private funds by dipping into a separate government revenue stream: educational benefits given to former military personnel.

The military subsidies, part of the new GI bill passed by Congress in 2008, aren't technically considered federal student aid funds, which gives corporations an incentive to actively pursue veteran enrollments.

Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) on Monday said he will propose legislation that would prevent for-profit colleges from counting the military assistance money as private funding. He, along with Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa), plans to introduce the measure this week.

Durbin's legislation would, for the purpose of for-profit colleges, consider any benefits from the GI bill and the Department of Defense tuition-assistance program to be federal student aid revenues. The bill would also lower from 90 percent to 85 percent the amount of money that schools can receive from the federal government.

Lawmakers and advocacy groups say current practices have resulted in many returning veterans being steered into high-cost programs of dubious value.

Since the GI bill went into effect in 2009, it has "inadvertently created a federal bonus for the for-profit schools," Durbin told HuffPost.

"For-profit college companies have created aggressive marketing plans and a sales force specifically designed to target and enroll as many veterans, service members and family members as possible," Durbin said at a Monday forum on for-profit colleges and veteran enrollment in Chicago.

QUESTIONS ABOUT OUTCOMES

Trade groups representing for-profit colleges say that their schools are providing flexible course offerings and crucial career training for veterans returning from duty.

"Career colleges are proud to offer members of the military and veterans access to higher education and job training for in-demand careers," Penny Lee, managing director of the Coalition for Educational Success, an industry lobbying group, said in a statement.

Yet veterans advocates argue that the GI bill has created perverse incentives for the industry to prey on soldiers. Holly Petraeus, who handles military affairs issues at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, appeared with Durbin at Monday's forum and has raised concerns at past Senate hearings.

"Unfortunately, I think military folks at this point are seen like a dollar sign wearing a uniform for many recruiters in a for-profit model," she said at a hearing in July. "They're seen as cash that enables them to sell more of their product, and that's unfortunate," added Petraeus, who is married to CIA director and former Army General David Petraeus.

For-profit colleges are, on average, nearly twice as expensive as public four-year universities and cost nearly five times as much as public community colleges. But the expense of obtaining a college degree at a for-profit institution isn't necessarily translating into success in the workplace. A recent report by Harvard researchers found that students exiting for-profit colleges are more likely to be unemployed in the years after graduation than are those finishing traditional universities.

For-profit schools have higher graduation rates than public community colleges for short-term programs of two years and less but have significantly lower graduation rates for bachelor's degree programs.

While questions have been raised about whether these schools truly serve former military personnel, the institutions themselves have much to benefit from obtaining military subsidies.

PUBLIC FUNDS FUEL FOR-PROFIT SCHOOLS

The stakes involved are enormous for the for-profit college industry. For-profit institutions have struggled to find students willing to put up their own money for their programs but have ended up attracting mostly lower-income students who require federal aid. In order to create a private stream of revenue to comply with the 90/10 law, some schools have even gone so far as to increase tuition for some of their programs so that students must find outside private loans beyond what they receive from the government.

Complying with the law has become a central concern of higher-education companies and their shareholders. On quarterly earnings calls, executives at for-profit college companies are constantly quizzed about compliance with the law, and many have referenced the veteran-recruiting strategy in public filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Internal documents from Kaplan University provided to Senator Harkin's staff showed a list of objectives related to recruiting of military, including "Grow our military enrollments to 9K per year by 2011" and "Improve 90/10 by 5 %." Among the strategies to achieve these goals were "Drive awareness via print advertising in key military publications and targeting key military installations."

As things stand today, many of the largest for-profit colleges receive more than 85 percent of their revenues from federal student aid programs, not counting military benefits. The Apollo Group, which owns the University of Phoenix, noted in a recent filing that 86 percent of its cash revenues came from federal student aid subsidies.

The Washington Post Co., which owns Kaplan University, another major industry player, said in a quarterly filing that a number of its schools could be in violation of the 90/10 rule this year, based on recent enrollment trends. Because of this, several Kaplan-run schools could be at risk of losing access to their federal funds, according to the filing.

In general, for-profit college corporations are enormous beneficiaries of government aid, relying almost entirely on the federal government for revenues and profits. In 2010, the industry took in more than $30 billion in federal student loan and Pell Grant dollars. And the eight largest for-profit college corporations received more than a half-billion dollars in veterans' assistance money from the Post-9/11 GI Bill during the 2010-11 school year.

Overall, for-profit colleges received nearly 40 percent of the $4.4 billion money given out under the GI bill program since 2009, despite educating only a quarter of the veterans using those benefits. By contrast, public colleges instructed 59 percent of the veterans and took in 40 percent of the GI bill money.

PROSPECTS FOR REFORM

Durbin will find that obtaining support for his bill will be a tough task,
as most Republicans in Congress have traditionally been strong backers of for-profit colleges. The current House speaker, John Boehner, was a strong supporter of eliminating the 90/10 rule when he chaired the House Education and Workforce Committee from 2001 to 2006.

The for-profit college industry has also hired many Democratic lobbyists in recent years, including former House Speaker Dick Gephardt, and lawmakers on the left have increasingly come to the aid of the industry. Lee, who heads the industry trade group, was a former top adviser to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and a senior staff member on the Democratic National Committee.

"The industry is going to fight tooth and nail," Durbin said. "There's so much money at stake here -- millions if not billions of dollars."

Related on HuffPost:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/24/for-profit-colleges-veterans_n_1224407.html

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Dinosaur 'nursery' the oldest yet discovered

Tiny prints from baby dinosaurs dot the oldest dino nesting site found to date, a 190 million-year-old nursery in South Africa, researchers said.

The hatchery and the baby footprints uncovered there are significant clues about the evolution of complex family behaviors in early dinosaurs, providing the oldest-known evidence that dinosaur hatchlings remained at nests long enough to at least double in size.

The newly unearthed clutches of eggs, many with embryos inside, belonged to the plant-eating dinosaur Massospondylus, a prosauropod, or predecessor of the largest animals to ever walk the Earth, long-necked sauropods such as Brachiosaurus.

How to unearth a dinosaur egg
The international team of researchers conducted their excavation in the Golden Gate Highlands National Park in South Africa. The nesting ground, now largely covered in reddish-brown muddy siltstone, predates previously known nesting sites by 100 million years.

"The eggs, embryos and nests come from the rocks of a nearly vertical road cut only 25 meters (82 feet) long," said researcher Robert Reisz, a paleontologist at the University of Toronto at Mississauga. "Even so, we found 10 nests, suggesting that there are a lot more in the cliff, still covered by tons of rock. We predict that many more nests will be eroded out in time as natural weathering processes continue."

The eggs and nests proved difficult to unearth because the eggshells are extremely delicate at less than 100 microns in thickness, or less than the width of a human hair, making it easy to inadvertently destroy them. "We literally spent days and days searching for the eggs and nests, spending most of our time on our hands and knees, but once we were able to recognize what to look for, we found four nests within 10 minutes," Reisz told LiveScience.

The nests unearthed to date each held up to 34 round eggs in tight clusters. The skeletal remains of the mothers suggest they were about 20 feet (6 meters) long, while their eggs were only about 2.3 to 2.7 inches (6 to 7 centimeters) wide. The mothers carefully arranged these eggs, the researchers say, basing this on the high level of organization of the nests and eggs.

Dinosaur day care
From the fine-grained nature of the sediments holding the eggs, the researchers think the nests were built near a lake or a slow-moving river. "The fact that the nests are relatively close to water, and the soil was moist, suggests that there was lots of vegetation," Reisz said. This likely made the area attractive to these herbivores.

And the site seemed to be a popular one for dino day care, as the nests were found in at least three distinct layers of rock within the excavation, each indicating a different point in time. In fact, the researchers suggest the dinosaur moms likely returned repeatedly to the site. Also, the fact that multiple nests were found within the same layers ? and thus were laid at about the same time ? reveals the dinosaurs likely gathered in groups to lay their eggs, the oldest evidence of such behavior in the fossil record.

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"Even though the fossil record of dinosaurs is extensive, we actually have very little fossil information about their reproductive biology, particularly for early dinosaurs," said researcher David Evans, associate curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Royal Ontario Museum in Canada. "This amazing series of 190 million-year-old nests gives us the first detailed look at dinosaur reproduction early in their evolutionary history, and documents the antiquity of nesting strategies that are only known much later in the dinosaur record."

The researchers are now slowly uncovering embryos within these eggs. They have embryos in several different stages of development, "allowing us to do actual comparisons between them," Reisz said. "The preservation is exquisite."

The scientists detailed their findings online Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience? and on Facebook.

? 2012 LiveScience.com. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46106669/ns/technology_and_science-science/

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Giffords says farewell to Tucson constituents

U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., tours the Gabrielle Giffords Family Assistance Center, one of her favorite charities, with her staffer Ron Barber, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in Tucson, Ariz. The tour is her last act as a congresswoman in Tucson before her resignation this week. (AP Photo/Matt York, Pool)

U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., tours the Gabrielle Giffords Family Assistance Center, one of her favorite charities, with her staffer Ron Barber, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in Tucson, Ariz. The tour is her last act as a congresswoman in Tucson before her resignation this week. (AP Photo/Matt York, Pool)

U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords, D-Ariz., tours the Gabrielle Giffords Family Assistance Center, one of her favorite charities, with her staffer Ron Barber, Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in Tucson, Ariz. The tour is her last act as a congresswoman in Tucson before her resignation this week. (AP Photo/Matt York, Pool)

U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords tours the Gabrielle Giffords Family Assistance Center, one of her favorite charities, with Community Food Bank CEO Bill Carnegie Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in Tucson, Ariz. The tour is her last act as a congresswoman in Tucson before her resignation this week. (AP Photo/Matt York, Pool)

U.S. Rep Gabrielle Giffords, left, tours the Gabrielle Giffords Family Assistance Center, one of her favorite charities, with Community Food Bank CEO Bill Carnegie Monday, Jan. 23, 2012, in Tucson, Ariz. The tour is her last act as a congresswoman in Tucson before her resignation this week. (AP Photo/Matt York, Pool)

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) ? On a bittersweet day for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, the outgoing congresswoman spent her final hours in Tucson as the city's U.S. representative, finishing the meeting she started on the morning she was shot and bidding farewell to constituents who supported her through a long recovery.

It may not be the end, though. The woman whose improbable recovery captivated the nation promised, "I will return."

Giffords spent time Monday at her office with other survivors of the shooting rampage that killed six people and injured 13. She hugged and talked with survivors, including Suzi Hileman, who was shot three times while trying to save her young friend and neighbor, 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green. The little girl died from a gunshot wound to the chest.

"The last time I did this I had Christina's hand," Hileman said. "It was something that was hanging out there, and now it's not."

Others who met with Giffords included Pat Maisch, who was hailed as a hero for wrestling a gun magazine from the shooter that day, and Daniel Hernandez, Giffords' intern at the time who helped save her life by trying to stop her bleeding until an ambulance arrived.

"It was very touching," said Maisch, who was not hurt in the attack. "I thanked her for her service, wished her well, and she just looked beautiful."

Giffords announced Sunday that she would resign from Congress this week to focus on her recovery. Maisch was sad to think that Giffords would no longer be her congresswoman.

"But I want her to do what's best for her," she said. "She's got to take care of herself."

However, an upbeat Giffords hinted that her departure from public life might be temporary. In a message sent on Twitter, she said: "I will return & we will work together for Arizona & this great country."

In her last act in Tucson as a congresswoman, the Democrat visited one of her favorite charities, the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona.

The food bank established the Gabrielle Giffords Family Assistance Center with $215,000 it received in the wake of the shooting. Giffords' husband and former astronaut Mark Kelly told people who wanted to help Giffords after the shooting that the best way to do so was to donate to one of her favorite charities.

The center has helped 900 families get on food stamps in the last year and offered guidance to needy families seeking assistance with housing, insurance, clothing and other basic needs.

"It's a wonderful thing that she gets to come here and see the center we built," said Bill Carnegie, the food bank's CEO. "But it's also her exit from Congress. I'm concerned about the future."

Giffords' aides had to yell at TV cameramen and reporters who surrounded the congresswoman as she arrived, telling them to back up. Giffords didn't bat an eye and walked with confidence through the crowd and into the building, where she promptly hugged Carnegie and others.

When she saw the center that is named in her honor, she said "Wow" and "Awesome."

When one woman told Giffords, "I love your new hairstyle," she beamed and responded with "Thank you."

Giffords did not address reporters at the center and planned to head to the airport right after her visit. She was expected in Washington on Tuesday for President Barack Obama's State of the Union address.

In her announcement Sunday, Giffords said that by stepping down, she was doing what is best for Arizona.

"I don't remember much from that horrible day, but I will never forget the trust you placed in me to be your voice," she said in a video posted online.

The video showed a close-up of Giffords gazing directly at the camera and speaking in a voice that was both firm and halting.

"I have more work to do on my recovery," the congresswoman said at the end of the two-minute message, appearing to strain to communicate.

C.J. Karamargin, who was Giffords' spokesman until recently, said he can only imagine what she is feeling as she steps down.

"But Gabby would never want to do a job unless she could give everything to it," he said.

"The news of her stepping down was almost more emotional than this time last year because then, she had survived and had a positive prognosis. Now we've got this pause, this comma, in her career ... and she won't be back anytime soon."

Giffords was shot in the head at point-blank range as she was meeting with constituents outside a grocery store. Her recovery progressed to the point that she was able to walk into the House chamber last August to cast a vote.

Giffords' resignation set up a free-for-all in a competitive district.

She could have stayed in office for another year even without seeking re-election, but her decision to resign scrambles the political landscape.

Arizona must hold a special primary and general election to find someone to finish out her remaining months in office. That will probably happen in the spring or early summer. Then voters will elect someone in November for a full two-year term.

Giffords would have been heavily favored to win again.

She was elected to her third term just two months before she was shot, winning by only about 1 percent over a tea party Republican. But she gained immense public support during her recovery.

Among those mentioned as potential candidates were several Republican and Democratic state lawmakers and the name of Giffords' husband, Mark Kelly, although he has publicly quashed such speculation.

A state Democratic party official who met with Giffords on Sunday also suggested that she could return to politics.

Jim Woodbrey, a senior vice chairman of the state party, said Giffords strongly implied at a meeting that she would seek office again someday. He said the decision to resign came after much thought.

"It was Gabby's individual decision, and she was not in any condition to make that decision five months ago," he said. "So I think waiting so that she could make an informed decision on her own was the right thing to do."

___

Associated Press writers Bob Christie and Jacques Billeaud in Phoenix and David Espo in Washington contributed to this story.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-23-US-Giffords/id-be6c5f0e8b124b2fa1d34b77213efc12

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Croatia says 'yes' to EU membership (AP)

ZAGREB, Croatia ? Croatians voted Sunday in favor of joining the European Union despite a poor turnout for the referendum ? a sign of how much the debt-stricken 27-nation bloc has lost its appeal within countries aspiring to join.

Croatia's state referendum commission said that with nearly all ballots counted, about 66 percent of those who took part in the referendum answered "yes" to the question: "Do you support the membership of the Republic of Croatia in the European Union?"

About 33 percent were against, while the rest of the ballots were invalid. About 47 percent of eligible voters took part in the referendum, illustrating voters' apathy toward the EU. That compares to 84 percent who voted in a referendum for Croatia's independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1992.

"The people are obviously tired," Prime Minister Zoran Milanovic said. "It would have been better that the turnout was larger, but that's reality."

It was among the lowest turnouts in any of the EU states that have held accession referendums before they joined. Nearly 46 percent took part in the vote in Hungary, while more than 90 percent voted in Malta.

Milanovic said: "This is a historic decision, the turning point in our history, as from now on, everything, including success or failure, depends only on us."

The EU congratulated Croatians on their vote, saying it's good news for the whole Balkan region.

"The upcoming accession of Croatia sends a clear signal to the whole region of southeastern Europe," it said in a statement. "It shows that through political courage and determined reforms, EU membership is within reach."

Croatian anti-EU activists were furious.

"The turnout shows that Croatia has turned its back on the EU," said war veteran Zeljko Sacic, who led a campaign against membership. "This referendum is illegitimate. We will never recognize it."

Croatia signed an EU accession treaty last year and will become its 28th member in July 2013 after all the bloc's states ratify the deal.

The Croats were deeply divided before the referendum.

Those who were for the EU say their Balkan country's troubled economy ? burdened by recession, a euro48-billion ($61-billion) foreign debt and a 17 percent unemployment rate ? will revive because of access to wider European markets and job opportunities that the membership should bring.

"It's a big moment in our history ... we are joining more successful countries in Europe," Croatia's President Ivo Josipovic said after casting his ballot. "I'm happy that Europe will become my home."

Opponents said Croatia has nothing to gain by entering the bloc, which is fighting off the bankruptcy of some of its members. They said that Croatia will lose its sovereignty and the national identity it fought for in a war for independence from Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

"I voted against, because I don't think we'll do well in the EU," said university student Matea Kolenc, 23. "I heard a lot of bad things about the EU, its economic situation and what it has to offer."

The Balkan nation started negotiating its EU entry six years ago, but since then the popularity of the bloc has faded, as Croats realized that EU membership would not automatically lead to prosperity.

Many in Croatia ? and the rest of the EU ? also wonder what is the bloc going to gain from the country, which is rife with corruption and has economic woes that are among the deepest in the Balkans.

Croatia's credit rating was last year reduced to a step above junk by ratings agency Standard & Poor's which cited its deteriorating fiscal position and external financing for its decision. If it enters the EU in 2013, Croatia won't be adopting the euro currency for several more years, and is unlikely to contribute to its further plunge.

In a sign of deep divisions in Croatia over the membership, police clashed Saturday in downtown Zagreb with a group of nationalist protesters who attempted to take down an EU flag.

Numerous anti-EU graffiti, some saying "Stop the Destruction, No to EU," appeared Sunday on the walls of voting stations in the Croatian Adriatic coast port of Split, the hotbed of nationalists. Police covered the signs with white paint.

Croatian officials, who have launched a pro-EU campaign before the referendum, warned that a "no" vote would have deprived the country of the much-needed accession funds, and that even the payment of pensions for retirees and war veterans could be in jeopardy.

Croatia has received around euro150 million ($193 million) in pre-accession assistance since 2007. It is to receive another euro150 million for 2012 and euro95 million ($122 million) in 2013.

Croatia's pro-government media have also tried to scare Croatians by saying that if they reject the EU, they would have to return to some sort of a Balkan union with their former wartime foe, Serbia, which has been struggling to gain a candidacy status in the bloc.

The approval rating for EU membership has also dropped to 52 percent in Serbia because of Germany's conditioning for the candidacy with the de facto recognizing of the independence of its former Kosovo province which declared independence in 2008.

___

Eldar Emric contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_re_eu/eu_croatia_eu_referendum

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Political Parties Win Campaign Finance Lawsuit Against City of San ...

On January 20, a U.S. District Court struck down several campaign finance restrictions enacted in 1973 by the city of San Diego. Here is the 32-page opinion in Thalheimer v City of San Diego, 09-cv-2862. Probably the most important part of the decision is the deference that the court paid to political parties.

The decision upholds a contribution limit of $500 from individuals to candidates for city office. It also upholds a ban on direct corporate contributions to candidates. But it strikes down a contribution limit of $1,000 from political parties to candidates. The decision explains that parties are intended to represent their members, by aggregating contributions and broadcasting messages more wisely than individual contributors generally could afford to do.? Because parties are large groups of like-minded citizens, they are entitled to a larger contribution limit.

There are other issues in the case. The decision strikes down a law that prevents candidates from contributing to their own campaign more than a year before the election (the city didn?t even try to defend that law), but upholds a law making it illegal for anyone else to make a contribution more than a year before the election. Thanks to Rick Hasen for the link.

Source: http://www.ballot-access.org/2012/01/21/political-parties-win-campaign-finance-lawsuit-against-city-of-san-diego/

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Google Sky Map getting open sourced

Google's own window into the night sky is all set to head down the open-source road. The Google Sky Map application has been massively successful, currently boasting over 20 million users. Not bad considering this app was created in part just to show off the capabilities of the early Android smartphones. 

Now though, Google has decided that it is "donating Sky Map to the community." Through a collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University, future development of the application will be the result of student projects. In addition to this, the app itself has been open-sourced, allowing budding astronomers to take the code and "augment it as they wish."

You'll find download links to Google Sky Map after the break -- it's still a brilliant way to show off what Android can do. 

Source:Google Research Blog

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/xtjzq9FayTQ/story01.htm

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Kodak gets 2013 deadline to reorganize

Colorful vintage Kodak film canisters are displayed in Newtown, Pa., Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. Eastman Kodak Co. has obtained a bankruptcy judge's approval to borrow an initial $650 million from Citigroup Inc. to keep operations running while it peddles a trove of digital-imaging patents. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

Colorful vintage Kodak film canisters are displayed in Newtown, Pa., Friday, Jan. 20, 2012. Eastman Kodak Co. has obtained a bankruptcy judge's approval to borrow an initial $650 million from Citigroup Inc. to keep operations running while it peddles a trove of digital-imaging patents. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (AP) ? Eastman Kodak Co. has a little over a year to reshape its money-losing businesses and deliver a get-out-of-bankruptcy plan.

Girded by a $950 million financing deal with Citigroup Inc., the photography pioneer aims to keep operating normally during bankruptcy while it peddles a trove of digital-imaging patents.

After years of mammoth cost-cutting and turnaround efforts, Kodak ran short of cash and sought protection from its creditors Thursday. It is required under its bankruptcy financing terms to produce a reorganization plan by Feb. 15, 2013.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Allan Gropper in New York gave Kodak permission to borrow an initial $650 million from Citigroup.

He also set a June 30 deadline for Kodak to seek his approval of bidding procedures for the sale of 1,100 patents that analysts estimate could fetch at least $2 billion. No buyers have emerged since Kodak started shopping them around in July.

Through negotiations and lawsuits, Kodak has already collected $1.9 billion in patent licensing fees and royalties since 2008. Last week, it intensified efforts to defend its intellectual property by filing patent-infringement lawsuits against Apple Inc., HTC Corp., Samsung Electronics and Fujifilm Corp.

Kodak is also pursuing another high-stakes dispute before the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington, D.C., against Apple and BlackBerry maker Research in Motion Ltd. over image-preview technology it patented in 2002.

Kodak has said it hopes to garner $1 billion from the two-year-old claim. But the commission, a U.S. arbiter for trade disputes, recently put off its decision until September.

Founded by George Eastman in 1880, Kodak turned photography into a mass commodity at the dawn of the 20th century and was known all over the world for its Brownie and Instamatic cameras and its yellow-and-red film boxes. It was brought down first by Japanese competition and then an inability to keep pace with the shift from film to digital technology.

"They're a company that knows more about imaging than anyone else in the world," said Robert Burley, a photography professor at Ryerson University in Toronto. "But I think they lost their ability in their corporate structure to turn those innovations into real-world applications and get them on the market fast.

"There were just too many fronts to deal with, too many battles all at the same time."

In its Chapter 11 filing, Kodak said its nearly decade-long overhaul has been undermined since 2008 by a sluggish economy and high restructuring costs. Its payroll has plunged below 19,000 from 70,000 in 2002, and it hasn't had a profitable year since 2007.

"At the same time as we have created our digital business, we have also already effectively exited certain traditional operations, closing 13 manufacturing plants and 130 processing labs, and reducing our workforce by 47,000 since 2003," CEO Antonio Perez said.

"Now we must complete the transformation by further addressing our cost structure and effectively monetizing non-core (intellectual-property) assets," Perez said in a statement.

Kodak's stock edged up to 32 cents in over-the-counter trading Friday afternoon. The bankruptcy filing prompted the New York Stock Exchange to delist the securities.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-20-Kodak%20Bankruptcy/id-fa42ebfb76424f10b02d1fcb8ae8ec17

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