Former kidnap victim Elizabeth Smart engaged to marry (Reuters)

By | Published: January 23, 2012

SALT LAKE CITY (Reuters) ? Elizabeth Smart, who was kidnapped at age 14 from her Salt Lake City home and held for nine months in a case that gripped the nation, is engaged to be married with a wedding anticipated for the early summer, a family spokesman said on Friday.

Smart, now a 24-year-old missing child advocate and sometimes TV news commentator, has not publicly identified her fiance, spokesman Chris Thomas said.

“Elizabeth got engaged this past weekend,” Thomas said in a written statement. “A date for the wedding has not been set but the couple anticipates early summer.”

“While she plans to be very publicly involved with her child advocacy work, she has decided she wants to keep the details of her personal life private,” Thomas added.

Smart was abducted at knifepoint from her bedroom in June 2002 by a homeless street preacher, Brian David Mitchell, and was repeatedly raped and forced to wander with her captor from town to town for nine months.

She was ultimately freed after being spotted by passers-by in a Salt Lake City suburb in 2003. Her kidnapping shocked Americans, and the exhaustive search for the missing teen was covered exhaustively in the U.S. media.

Mitchell was convicted in 2010 of kidnapping and unlawful transportation of a minor across state lines to engage in sexual activity. He was sentenced in May to life in prison.

Smart testified during Mitchell’s trial, describing her time as his captive as “nine months of hell.”

Mitchell’s wife, Wanda Barzee, was sentenced to a 15-year prison term in 2010 after pleading guilty to conspiracy and cooperating with prosecutors in the case against Mitchell.

ABC News in July announced that it had hired Smart, who has shown composure since her release from captivity, as a contributor on stories about missing persons.

(Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/crime/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/us_nm/us_smart_engagement

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RSS Feed Search Engine – Real-Time Search Powered by FeedRank

By | Published: January 22, 2012

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.rssmicro.com/rss.web?q=Oil

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Perry likely endorsing Gingrich for president: sources (reuters)

By | Published: January 22, 2012
Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics – Top Stories Stories, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/188576478?client_source=feed&format=rss

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AUTOMOTIVE – AUTOS: Charities, Celebrities Shine At B-J

By | Published: January 22, 2012

The charitable sale of Brad Keselowski?s NASCAR Nationwide Series Dodge Charger cranked up the generous bidders at the Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale on Thursday, not only selling for $250,000 but with another $350,000 also donated to benefit Paralyzed Veterans of America.

That resounding sale capped the bidding so far at the 41st annual Scottsdale auction, with a Thursday sale that was rich with celebrities and charity cars. Charity offerings have become a signature feature for Barrett-Jackson, which has raised well over $40 million for worthy causes during the past five years.

Rock star Bret Michaels threw in his comboy hat to sweeten the bidding for his Bentley Continental GT. (Photo: Lisa Horne) With a cadre of wheelchair-bound veterans lining the stage, the sale of Keselowski?s Penske Racing car ? in which the young driver dominated the Nationwide Series in 2010 ? was an emotion-charged event with Keselowski and the famed Roger Penske up on the podium with the auctioneers.

?I thought it was going to go for $100,000, so I?m blown away,? Keselowski said after the money was counted.

The bidding raced up through $200,000 before settling and declared sold at $250,000 to bidder Sean Jordan of La Habra, Calif. After that came the announcement that another donor, Bruce Halle, CEO of Scottsdale-based Discount Tire, would add another $250,000 for the charity. Halle was standing up on stage during the sale and passed the word back to the auctioneers.

Then, Barrett-Jackson regular George Deigh added yet another $100,000 to the total. Keselowski and Penske looked thrilled from the result of the race-car sale.

“I just didn’t know what to expect,? Keselowski said. ?It’s like the fair meets the Daytona 500. A great time with some great people. And I love cars, so this is really cool.”

That exciting charity sale highlighted Barrett-Jackson?s strong auction results as the evening progressed. With the day starting with more than $11.6 million total sales for Tuesday and Wednesday, the Thursday auction was a crowd-pleaser with an electric atmosphere as the bidding climbed for the charity cars and the celebrities shined on stage.

Just after the sale of the Keselowski race car, one of the most acclaimed race drivers of all time, Mario Andretti, stood at the podium to announce the sale of the MagnaFlow Mario Andretti Edition 2011 Camaro SS, with all proceeds benefitting the Wounded Warrior Project Inc.

A celebrity of another sort was the official Yellow Submarine of Beatles fame that sold with a guitar signed by Paul McCartney for $58,300, including bidder fee. (Photo: Lisa Horne) The Andretti Camaro raised $75,000 for the cause, with winner bidder David Clark of Onaiaska, Wis., re-donating the car to be sold again for the veteran?s charity at a future Barrett-Jackson auction.

Veteran race driver and performance-driving-school owner Bob Bondurant and performance-car pro Steve Saleen of SMS Supercars introduced another top charity-car sale benefitting Cox Charities and the Make A Wish Foundation. The 620-horsepower 2011 Camaro SMS Bondurant created by Saleen raised $100,000 for the charitable causes.

Rock star and TV personality Bret Michaels was on stage to rile up the bidding for four of his personal cars ? a 2004 Bentley Continental GT, two SUVs and a custom motorcycle.

Michaels called the gorgeous silver Bentley a ?baby-making machine,? bringing on a chorus of laughs and bidding that hit $117,000, the highest seller of his collection. To juice the bidding, Michaels threw in a custom-made guitar and the cowboy hat that he was wearing, as well as free admission to an upcoming concert of his band, Poison.

The Scottsdale auction attracted about 120,000 attendance over the first four days, with a record 39,000 people coming through the gates during Sunday?s Family Fun Day before the bidding started Tuesday. More than 50 percent of the bidders are first-timers at Barrett-Jackson, and about 30 percent of the collector cars sold on Tuesday went to first-time bidders.

The auction continues through Sunday, with the top offerings coming up during ?prime time? Friday and Saturday, with SPEED broadcasting live coverage from 2 p.m. to midnight ET both days and 2 to 6 p.m. ET on Sunday.

Bob Golfen, Automotive Editor for SPEED.com, is a veteran auto writer based in Phoenix, Arizona, with a passion for collector cars, car culture and the automotive lifestyle. SPEED.com fans can email Bob Golfen at

Source: http://automotive.speedtv.com/article/autos-charities-celebrities-shine-at-b-j/

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World stocks up as Greece debt talks continue (AP)

By | Published: January 22, 2012

BANGKOK ? World markets rose Thursday as investors grew more comfortable with riskier assets such as stocks after a pledge by the IMF to help stave off a financial crisis and as hopes rose for an agreement on the restructuring of Greece’s debt.

Benchmark oil rose above $101 per barrel while the dollar fell against the euro and the yen.

European bourses were mostly higher in early trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 fell 0.1 percent to 5,697.70. Germany’s DAX rose 0.1 percent 6,359.08 and France’s CAC-40 added 0.4 percent to 3,276.87.

Futures pointed to a lower open on Wall Street after shares rallied on Wednesday. Dow Jones industrial futures drifted marginally lower to 12,494 while S&P 500 futures lost 0.2 percent to 1,300.

Earlier Thursday, Asian shares posted broad gains. Japan’s Nikkei 225 index rose 1 percent to close at 8,639.68. South Korea’s Kospi rebounded 1.2 percent to 1,914.97 after a losing session Wednesday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.3 percent at 19,942.95.

Benchmarks in Singapore and mainland China also rose. Markets in Taiwan were closed for Chinese New Year.

Analysts said investors were becoming more comfortable with taking on risk despite multiple headwinds ? including a likely recession in Europe, a possible debt default by Greece and a warning from the World Bank on Wednesday of a possible slump in global economic growth.

“Evidence that markets are becoming increasingly resilient to bad news emerged from the muted reaction to sharp downgrades in growth forecasts by the World Bank,” Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong said in a research note.

Fears that the euro common currency might implode amid a mountain of sovereign debt eased Wednesday after the International Monetary Fund said it was looking at ways to raise another $500 billion for loans to struggling countries.

The IMF has put up roughly a third of the money given as rescue loans to European governments. But analysts cautioned that the crisis was far from over.

“What needs to be understood is that the IMF doesn’t have enough money to help the eurozone countries. They could only get it from newly printed money from the ECB and that would mean inflation,” said Martin Hennecke, associate director of Tyche Group in Hong Kong, referring to the European Central Bank.

“There’s only two choices: Either you have bankruptcy of major countries like Italy, which would basically be Armageddon, or the ECB prints money and lends it to banks and the IMF, and that would mean high inflation.”

For its part, Greece is running out of time to avoid becoming the first euro country to default on its debts and potentially trigger a chain reaction that could ultimately destabilize the global economy. Talks are taking place in Athens between the government and private creditors trying to negotiate a debt restructuring.

Negotiations resumed Wednesday after breaking down late last week amid disagreement over the terms of new bonds that Greece would issue to replace expiring bonds that it cannot afford to pay off. Greece needs to clinch the agreement quickly to qualify for more bailout loans before it faces a major bond repayment March 20.

Banks and insurance companies were among the beneficiaries of the better investment mood. Hong Kong-listed Ping An Insurance soared 7 percent and China Life Insurance Co. Ltd. rose 2.8 percent. China Construction Bank added 2.5 percent. South Korea’s Shinhan Financial Group added 2 percent.

Australia’s Lynas Corp. Ltd. soared 8.5 percent amid speculation that the rare earths miner will be cleared to proceed with its Malaysian project by officials later this month.

Benchmark oil for February delivery was up 69 cents to $101.28 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell 12 cents to $100.59 per barrel on the Nymex on Wednesday.

In currencies, the euro rose to $1.2884 from $1.2841 late Wednesday in New York. The dollar fell to 76.75 yen from 76.80 yen.

___

Follow Pamela Sampson on Twitter at http://twitter.com/pamelasampson

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_bi_ge/world_markets

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Video: After Hours Earnings Parade

By | Published: January 22, 2012

CNBC’s Bertha Coombs has the rundown on Thursday’s earnings reports, including tech giants; Google, Microsoft, Intel and IBM. Also, GM is once again the world’s top selling auto maker, but its competitor, Ford, is giving out bonuses and raises to salar…

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/46064312/

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Coalition touts renewable energy for Maine (AP)

By | Published: January 21, 2012

AUGUSTA, Maine ? A coalition that’s pushing for a referendum to mandate increased use of renewable energy in Maine says its initiative would reduce dependence on foreign oil, strengthen the economy and promote energy efficiency.

The Maine Citizens for Clean Energy held a news conference Wednesday in support of a referendum proposal to require that at least 20 percent of Maine’s electricity come from new renewable energy sources by 2020. Leaders of the initiative said they’re confident they’ll collect more than 57,000 valid signatures needed by the end of January to get the question on the ballot.

Environment Northeast’s Maine director, Beth Nagusky, said Wednesday that residential electric bills would rise initially, but then decrease if the measure passes.

Gov. Paul LePage says the initiative would result in increased energy costs.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/environment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120118/ap_on_bi_ge/us_renewable_energy_maine

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Jerry Brown’s defiant State of the State: California is still golden

By | Published: January 21, 2012

With chronic budget woes engulfing California, many analysts had expected a ‘gloom and doom’ State of the State address from Gov. Jerry Brown. They got nothing of the sort. ?

California Gov. Jerry Brown defied expectations Wednesday, delivering a State of the State speech that was?unapologetically ambitious and even visionary despite a perpetual budget crisis that has, in recent years, dimmed the luster of the Golden State.

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Governor Brown had been expected to use his address to further persuade voters to support a ballot initiative that asks voters to raise taxes on themselves ? a last-ditch effort to solve California’s chronic budget shortfalls. Instead, he attempted to rally Californians to a sense of common purpose and destiny.

The state which birthed Apple, Intel, Hewlett-Packard, Twitter, Facebook, and ?countless other creative companies ? is still the land of dreams,? he said.??Rumors of [California?s] demise are greatly exaggerated.?

It was the platform for?an exhaustive list of goals that Brown laid out for California: stimulate jobs, build renewable energy, launch the nation?s only high-speed rail system, reach agreement on a plan to fix the Delta, improve schools, reform pensions, and ?make sure prison realignment is working.?

?He came in a fighting mood that spoke to the critics ? me included ? who think there is only so much we can do,” said Sherry Jeffe of the University of Southern California School of Policy, Planning, and Development, in a post-speech analysis on KQED radio. “This is the ambitious agenda he suggested when he ran for governor saying, ‘I’m too old to mess around.’ It was not all gloom and doom. A lot of us didn?t expect that.”

During the 15-minute speech he thanked the Legislature for passing a tough budget in 2011 and cited?positive economic statistics, such as: ?In 2011, California personal income grew by almost $100 billion, and 230,000 jobs were created ? a rate much higher than the nation.?

He also directly disputed the findings of an independent commission, which recommended last week that?California?not proceed with its first-in-the-nation, high-speed rail network because it can?t afford the $20 billion price tag.?

?Critics of the high-speed rail project abound, as they often do when something of this magnitude is proposed,” he said. “The Panama Canal was for years thought to be impractical and [British politician] Benjamin Disraeli himself said of the?Suez Canal: ‘Totally impossible to be carried out.’ “

“The critics were wrong then, and they?re wrong now,? he said.

Some analysts say the speech was a success.?

?He is realistic and honest and his agenda is out in the open,” says Barbara O?Connor, director emeritus of the Institute for Study of Politics and Media at California State University, Sacramento. “He had enough in there to alienate most groups in California or provide an opportunity for their constructive involvement depending on their view.”

“It was a speech of humility and recognition of all the key issues without claiming to be an expert on them,” she adds.

But others were not so impressed.

?The governor tried to be both realistic and inspirational, but the two parts of the speech were in conflict,? says Jack Pitney, professor of government at?Claremont?McKenna?College, in an e-mail. ?On the one hand, he talked about the necessity of spending cuts and tax increases. On the other hand, he renewed his support for a monstrously expensive high-speed rail system.”

“He sounded like a father telling his kids that they had to go without breakfast so that he could buy a?Cadillac,? Professor Pitney adds.

Michael Shires,?a political scientist at?Pepperdine?University, agrees that such promises sound good in a speech, but not when voters really consider them.

?I think voters will feel differently about approving a $20 billion rail project when they realize they can fly to?Oakland?for $50 on Southwest,? says Professor Shires.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/YOfKkp_dceY/Jerry-Brown-s-defiant-State-of-the-State-California-is-still-golden

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For many, job loss would mean missing bills

By | Published: January 21, 2012

Mark Lennihan / AP

People wait to talk with potential employers at a job fair in New York last December.

By Allison Linn

The sudden loss of a job has become, if not commonplace over the last years, at least not very surprising.

And yet, many Americans remain unprepared for not having an income. A new survey from Country Financial finds that one-third of Americans would immediately fall behind on their bills if they lost a job and were left with no income.

That?s virtually the same result that Country Financial got the last time they asked the same question, in July of 2009.

The good news: About one-quarter of Americans are well-prepared for a job loss. The January survey found that 24 percent of respondents could weather five months without an income. That?s also virtually the same percentage as in July of 2009.

Country Financial conducts the survey of 3,000 people bi-monthly.

Although the economy is consistently adding more jobs than it is shedding, some workers continue to be let go. For example, Kraft Foods said this week that it would cut 1,600 jobs as it prepares to split its business in two.

If you do lose a job, the market remains tough. The median time it takes to find a new job is 21 weeks, or about five months, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

There are currently about 13 million unemployed Americans who are looking for work, and the unemployment rate is at 8.5 percent.

Related:

Role reversal: Employers say they can’t find workers

Few part-timers but more working multiple jobs

How long could you pay your bills if you lost your job?

Source: http://lifeinc.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/19/10183131-for-many-job-loss-would-mean-immediately-missing-bills

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Lawyer Demands Pacemaker Vendor Supply Source Code

By | Published: January 21, 2012

Oh, come on. The source code is not going to tell you a whole lot, it would be only comprehensible to experts and it says nothing about the little hardware bits. Does Mr. Lawyer want Medtronics to go over the schematics with him? Explain the physics?

Sometimes you just have to settle down and let things go. Yes, regulatory agencies should review operations of medical devices closely. No, they don’t need to peek inside.

I don’t even think the FAA looks at the code for the flight control computers on airli

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/MBaFPIyBa00/lawyer-demands-pacemaker-vendor-supply-source-code

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