CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? A huge crowd filled the streets of Venezuela's capital on Sunday cheering for opposition candidate Henrique Capriles, waving flags in a show of support one week before the country's hotly contested presidential election.
Capriles waved from a truck that rolled through the vast expanse of supporters. The crowd overflowed from Bolivar Avenue, the widest downtown thoroughfare, which according to some estimates has a capacity to hold about 260,000 people. The authorities didn't provide a crowd estimate.
"Bolivar Avenue is too small for us," Capriles shouted to the crowd, which was the largest of any opposition gathering in recent years.
While President Hugo Chavez led a rally with tens of thousands of supporters in western Zulia state on Sunday, authorities were investigating the killings of two men in a shooting that erupted elsewhere during an opposition campaign caravan on Saturday.
Capriles condemned the killings in western Barinas state.
"On Oct. 7 we're going to defeat violence in Venezuela," Capriles said. "Our country is tired of the violence, of the division, of the confrontation. ... The time of hatred is going to be buried in Venezuela."
Justice Minister Tareck El Aissami said in a message on Twitter that a suspect was arrested in the killings, but he didn't immediately identify him.
Opposition lawmaker Julio Cesar Reyes said on Saturday that a group of Chavez's supporters blocked the caravan and people on both sides were arguing when a gunman appeared and started shooting.
Opposition officials said both men killed were participants in the motorcade of Capriles supporters.
One video posted on YouTube showed the two groups arguing on a street when gunshots rang out and people ran for cover.
Violence has erupted previously during the campaign for the Oct. 7 vote, but these were the first deaths.
Chavez rallied thousands of supporters during weekend street events in Guarenas, a town east of Caracas, and in western Zulia state.
"It's impossible for us to lose," Chavez said at Saturday's rally in Guarenas. The crowd chanted: "Ooh, Ahh, Chavez won't go!"
People grabbed at red T-shirts that were thrown into the crowd. Some stood on rooftops cheering, and women screamed as Chavez passed.
Yusneidy Rondon, a 26-year-old student, shouted with emotion and danced in the street after getting close enough to hand Chavez a letter.
"Chavez forever. ... I love him!" gushed Rondon, who said that in her letter she had asked the president to provide her with a computer, just as she now enjoys free university tuition.
While Chavez touted his achievements during his speech, he also said "self-criticism" is important and acknowledged that problems including a housing shortage and sporadic blackouts remain.
"There are reasons for many people to be dissatisfied with this government that I lead," Chavez told the crowd. But, he added, "On Oct. 7, it isn't at stake whether the light went out or not... whether they've given me a house or not."
"Those are very important problems and we're working to solve them," Chavez said. "My socialist government is going to continue solving our big problems."
Many analysts say they expect a tight race. A recent poll by the Venezuelan firm Consultores 21 put the two candidates roughly even, with 46.5 percent saying they would vote for Capriles and nearly 46 percent saying they would vote for Chavez. The poll had an error margin of 3 percentage points.
Another survey by Datanalisis this month showed Chavez with a 10-point lead over Capriles, while 11 percent of those interviewed didn't reveal a preference.
Addressing the crowd in Caracas, Capriles criticized Chavez for what he called a long list of unfulfilled promises, noting that years ago the president pledged to clean up the sewage-filled Guaire River in Caracas and it remains badly polluted.
"Where's the cleanup? Pure chatter," Capriles told the crowd.
The opposition leader criticized what he called gifts by Chavez's government to other countries, and rattled off a list including a donation to a Puerto Rican music group, a hospital in Uruguay and prefabricated homes in Guatemala.
Capriles' supporters converged on the demonstration by marching down several avenues, blowing horns and whistles. Some chanted: "We see it, we feel it, Capriles president!"
"I'm marching for my grandchildren, for my future," said Segunda Palacios, a retired teacher. "We don't want a tyrant anymore."
She said if Chavez wins re-election, "that would be catastrophic for the country."
___
Associated Press writers Jorge Rueda and Ian James contributed to this report.
DOVER, Del. (AP) ? Brad Keselowski had fuel to spare for a couple of victory burnouts.
Those few splashes of gas left down the stretch were just enough for a checkered flag ? and a sign Keselowski is a championship favorite.
With other contenders battling fuel woes and limping toward pit road, Keselowski had enough gas in the No. 2 Dodge to win Sunday at Dover International Speedway for his second victory in three weeks.
Keselowksi's stout start to the Chase for the Sprint Cup championship allowed him to swipe the points lead from Jimmie Johnson.
Keselowski holds a five-point lead over Johnson as the Chase shifts to Talladega Superspeedway. Keselowski, who won the Chase opener at Chicagoland, has deftly avoided the famed Big Ones that strike the Alabama track to win twice there in seven career starts.
He held off a late push from runner-up Jeff Gordon to match Denny Hamlin for the season victory lead with five.
"I can't state loudly enough how much longer this battle is," Keselowski said.
Keselowski, Johnson and Hamlin have staked their claim through the first three of 10 Chase races as the drivers to beat.
Johnson and Hamlin each led a chunk of laps on the mile concrete oval, but failed to stretch their fuel to the end. Johnson, who has seven career wins at Dover, was ordered to back off the gas and salvaged a fourth-place finish. Hamlin pitted with 10 laps left, opening the door for Keselowski, and denying him his first win at the Monster Mile. Hamlin faded to eighth after starting from the pole.
"They're not going to beat us on the track, that's just plain and simple," Hamlin said. "We're just too fast right now and I feel like everything is going well. These strategy games, and the way these cautions are falling, it's ill-timed."
There was a caution at the end of a cycle of green-flag pit stops only 69 laps into the race that quickly dropped drivers a lap back. Amazingly, most of the field couldn't ever get that lap back, and only six drivers finished on the lead lap.
Non-Chase drivers Mark Martin finished third and Carl Edwards was fifth. Kyle Busch led a race-high 302 laps until his own battles with the pump cost him what would have been a nice victory in a season where he failed to make the Chase. He finished seventh.
There were some rough finishes for the rest of the Chase field. Martin Truex Jr. was sixth, Clint Bowyer was ninth, Dale Earnhardt Jr. 11th, Kevin Harvick 13th, Kasey Kahne 15th, Greg Biffle 16th, Tony Stewart 20th, and Matt Kenseth was knocked out of the race and was 35th.
There are seven races left in the Chase.
"By no means, do I feel like we're the favorite," Keselowski said. "Certainly, we're not the underdog."
Nope, not with a complete team effort turning the No. 2 Dodge into a regular contender to win.
Keselowski joked he had about another "100 miles" of racing left in his tank.
While crew chief Paul Wolfe didn't want to reveal too much of his fuel-saving strategy, he conceded the car was "within a lap or two" or running on fumes. Keselowski raced the last 89 laps without a stop.
"There's always some risk in calls like that," Wolfe said. "We know where we stand. We know what we need to do. We know the guys are racing right now for the championship. I felt like we were as good as anybody on mileage."
Johnson had his record eighth win at Dover in sight until he was forced to start saving fuel with about 15 laps left. Crew chief Chad Knaus told Johnson to yield the lead so the No. 48 could at least salvage a top-five.
"I wish we could have raced for it," said Johnson, a five-time Cup champion. "We finally got control of the race late. But it just didn't unfold like a normal race here."
Hamlin had talked this week about embracing Dover after calling the mile concrete oval his least favorite one on the circuit. He won the pole and seemed in position to pull off a breakthrough win until fuel issues forced him down pit road behind Busch, his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate.
That left it to Gordon and Keselowski with 10 laps left to duel for the lead over the closing laps.
Gordon hoped Keselowski's No. 2 Dodge would run out of gas.
Instead, Keselowski ran off with the victory.
Gordon followed his third place last week at New Hampshire with another strong run at Dover. He needed it after a 35th-place finish in the opener at Chicagoland buried him in the standings. Gordon is 10th in points.
"We're not going to continue in this championship against those guys up front if they keep running the way they're running," he said. "The only way we're going to get a chance at them is if they have a problem like we had (in the opener). If we keep running like this, we'll get the wins."
Keselowski had four career wins coming into the season. He had his career breakthrough at Talladega in 2009 when he raced to his first career victory. He won there again this season in May and knows a season sweep will give him a nice cushion in the standings.
"He didn't make a mistake. We didn't lose any time on the track," team owner Roger Penske said. "He's doing a terrific job and I love the position we're in."
The Eugene Police Department received 18 calls from 9 p.m. to 3 a.m. Friday night. There were also 35 officer-initiated stops and 22 people were arrested. Official count of citations and charges given out on Friday night:
16 Open container ?(eight University students)
9 ??Minor in possession ?(eight University students)
2 ??Prohibited noise ?(both University students)
2 ??Furnishing/Allowing alcoholic beverages to a minor
1 ???Possession of less than an ounce of marijuana ?(University student)
Former Pakistan ambassador to the United States, Husain Haqqani has said that Pakistani civilians will have to 'step up to the plate' if they wish to see an end to the Pakistani military's role in domestic politics and its influence on the country's security and foreign policies.
"I think that Pakistan's civilians have to step up to the plate. As civilians clarify their own worldview [and] make it obvious as to where they disagree or differ from the traditional paradigm that has been defined by military officers in the past, Pakistan will be able to move away from military dominance," the Daily Times quoted Haqqani, as saying, during an interview with Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL).
"Pakistan has suffered a lot from the military's political role. The military's political role is not only when it takes over the country, but also when it tries to define what is good for the country and what is not. That job should rest with parliament, with the Pakistani media, with open debate, [and] with civil society," he added.
Haqqani also said that the full US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2014 would have a disastrous impact on Pakistan, adding that the US cannot afford to "leave Afghanistan in a state of chaos."
"The United States cannot afford to leave Afghanistan in a state of chaos. If it does, the fallout for Pakistan is going to be disastrous. It is in Pakistan's interest to have a stable Afghanistan. The disagreement [between the United States and Pakistan] that we see sometimes is on the definition of what constitutes a stable Afghanistan," he said.
On the 2013 parliamentary elections in Pakistan, Haqqani said that whatever maybe the outcome, he hopes that democracy continues to flourish in the nation and treads a path towards progress.
"I hope that whatever the outcome of Pakistan's next elections, democracy continues to flourish and Pakistan's politics become more mature and reach a point where, instead of just fighting the battles of yesterday, Pakistan's politicians also start addressing the issues of today and tomorrow," he said. (ANI)
Israel has already breached its own red line set by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by acquiring "dozens of nuclear warheads," Iranian Defence Minister Ahmad Vahidi said on Saturday, the AFP news agency reports.
"If having the atomic bomb is passing the red line, the Zionist regime, that possesses dozens of nuclear warheads and weapons of mass destruction, has passed the red line years ago, and it has to be stopped," he said, according to the ISNA news agency.
Vahidi was responding to a speech by Netanyahu to the UN General Assembly this week in which -- using a cartoon bomb diagram -- the Israeli leader called for a "clear red line" to be applied to Iran's nuclear activities, which he charged are aimed at developing atomic weapons.
"Is the occupying and aggressor Zionist regime that possesses nuclear weapons more dangerous? Or an Iran that doesn't have nuclear weapons and which insists more than anybody on nuclear disarmament, and seeks only to have peaceful nuclear energy abiding by international rules," Vahidi asked.
Israel has maintained a policy of nuclear ambiguity, but is widely assumed to possess nuclear weapons.
It is a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency but has never signed the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Iran insists its nuclear program is entirely peaceful and rejects Israel's accusations of military intent. However, Iranian leaders have repeatedly called to eliminate the Jewish state.
This is really about OnSIP and their collaboration with others who are sponsoring the All Conference Party for ITEXPO West 2012, but first check out their OnSIP customers at http://www.onsip.com/success-stories. It is a star-studded list that includes Mozilla, Tumblr, TaskRabbit, Pandora (my favorite radio streaming service) and Cloudera!
But hold on, veryone knows what an avid proponent of active conference and exhibition activities I am. You know, the ones that enable attendees to do more than just trading business cards, visiting booths, listening to lectures and staring at Power Point presentations. I'm talking about collaborative/competitive activities such as golf or bowling, All Conference Parties, receptions, Fun Runs, and city tours of unique and innovative technology in use. These activities help people to mix and talk! ITEXPO West 2012 in Austin has an "in-the-know" collection of All Conference Party sponsors who know this to be a fact: OnSIP, DIDX, Coredial, Taqua, and Conexiant.
Junction Networks' OnSIP CEO Mike Oeth is in agreement with me on the premise of being in-tune ?to event participants' need to really interact in entertaining ways while developing business. He agreed to let me record a short conversation with him that I would like to share with you.?
Click to hear audio podcast between Mike Oeth of OnSIP and Suzanne Bowen, public communications entrepreneur and DIDX co-founder.
Some highlights of our talk:
1. Listen to OnSIP IVR. It has a warm and welcoming voice. I liked it and wondered whose voice it is.
2. Some interesting trivia about Mike that I found via research:
a. He's a Harvard Economics graduate. I found that out through research. Pretty impressive!
b. OnSIP is headquartered in Manhattan.
c. Mr. Oeth is a popular speaker.
3. About OnSIP ... a hosted platform that completely replaces a PBX system, has over 15K SMB customers; most growth is through their reseller/VAR program.
4. Their VAR program does not charge per User per Phone per Extension (the most common method of VAR or even white label hosted platform services). Nice!
5. Around 05:27.9 point in the podcast, Mike explains how they work with VARs and resellers and how they are able to not charge per User per Phone per Extension like most other VoIP companies do.
6. The advantages of unified communications, voIP, and the like for educational systems such as universities and libraries, cutting cost up to 80 %. For example, why pay a higher price for unlimited calling when calls are only made from certain locations in an institution to other locations in the same institution physically or remotely. That's the beauty of SIP.
7. The power and control that unified communications gives users such as answering and making calls from many different devices and methods: cell phone, wired IP phone, soft phone on Internet device, or even web-browser based phone.
Listen to Mike share how MyOnSIP can change your work style to be more convenient and effective about the point of 14:11.7 in the podcast. It's all about "presence" when you need it to get things done efficiently.
?
Meet with OnSIP, DIDX and thousands of other ITEXPO West participants at the exhibition, conference, and All Conference Party.?Plus, Mike Oeth is a presenter on the?
?
(A bit more about Mike Oeth ... He is the CEO of Junction Networks, creators of OnSIP and winner of a TMC 2011 Communications Solutions Product of the Year Award. Mike graduated from Harvard College in 1991 with a degree in Economics and has since become a technology veteran. He has held multiple senior level positions throughout the industry in software, telecommunications managed services, and the Internet. Mr. Oeth has served as the CTO of LivePerson, Inc | Nasdaq: LPSN |. He's been featured in the InfoWorld Magazine and has presented at public gatherings such as the CTO Forum.
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Today, Mike and his team promote OnSIP, a leading hosted communications service used by over 15,000 smlpall and medium-sized businesses. Headquartered in Manhattan, OnSIP is one of the sponsors of ITEXPO West 2012 All Conference Party. )
AgriLife Research to participate in $3.3 million wheat disease studyPublic release date: 27-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dr. Charlie Rush crush@ag.tamu.edu 806-354-5804 Texas A&M AgriLife Communications
AMARILLO Texas A&M AgriLife Research in Amarillo will participate in a $3.3 million grant to look at wheat diseases caused by mite-vectored viruses, according to Dr. Charlie Rush, plant pathologist.
The project, "A Predictive Model to Increase Adoption of IPM of a Mite-Virus Disease Complex in Wheat," is a Coordinated Agricultural Project, or CAP, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Rush and two others in his plant pathology unit Dr. Fekede Workneh and Jacob Price will be part of a 22-member team from Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Montana and North Dakota universities and the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service.
According to the study outline, the Great Plains region of the U.S. from Montana south to Texas produces more than 1 billion bushels of wheat annually or 50 percent of U.S. wheat production. In the southern half of the region, the use of wheat to supplement forage for livestock adds significantly to the importance of the crop and the economic vitality of the region. And stakeholders have identified wheat viruses as a major priority that constrains wheat production.
Wheat streak mosaic virus will be the primary focus, Rush said, along with Triticum mosaic virus and High Plains virus. All three viruses are vectored by the wheat curl mite and cause similar disease symptoms on infected wheat plants. The mite can't fly but is carried by the wind from plant to plant, and there is no chemical control at this time.
"To control the diseases caused by these viruses, we really have to learn to control the mite," he said.
Dr. Gary Hein, a University of Nebraska entomologist, is the program director. Rush said he and Hein have been talking for years about this project and have finally pulled everything together.
The scientists plan to determine the impact of environmental conditions, alternate hosts and management tactics on mite populations and disease incidence, as well as the risk in geographically and environmentally diverse production regions across the Great Plains.
They will identify the primary interactions that occur in this wheat-mite-virus complex across the region and increase producer implementation of integrated management principles for managing the complex across the Great Plains, Rush said.
"We plan to develop an accurate forecasting model that will improve growers' ability to anticipate and take action," Rush said. "We plan to deploy that model through Extension and educational curricula."
Wheat streak commonly starts at the edge of a field and then the mite, which is carrying the virus, will move on the wind across the field, he said. When the mite begins feeding on a plant, the virus is transmitted and the plant becomes infected. Once the plant is infected, it takes about a week or two, depending on temperature, for the disease symptoms to appear.
One of the things the AgriLife Research scientists will study is the disease threshold for management purposes.
"We know in March and April that you can tell if wheat streak is in the field and how widespread it might be," Rush said. "At that time, we can determine if the producer needs to discontinue fertilizing and watering, which he might be applying extra of, if he thinks the field is yellow due to reasons other than wheat streak."
If it is yellow due to wheat streak, he said, it will not get better no matter how much water and fertilizer are added, so the producer is just wasting money on those inputs.
"Once wheat streak gets going in a field, there's really nothing a producer can do," Rush said. "We want to look at management practices that might keep it from getting that bad. We know planting date is a key factor. Planting late breaks the cycle, but in this region, dual-purpose wheat is the norm and leaves fields open to early infestation by the wheat curl mite."
Rush said this study will allow them to look at the problem from a Great Plains' perspective, instead of the state view previously used.
"We want to first understand the common areas, and once we understand the primary factors, we can develop a disease risk assessment model," he said.
This grant will take advantage of existing facilities and personnel, such as those associated with the Great Plains Diagnostic Network, which is already set up in all these states, Rush said. That group already coordinates diagnostics of diseases and trains first detectors.
"Being able to access those scientists' expertise made it simple to pull together a strong team to work on this issue," he said.
The team will replicate the same work from Texas to Montana, Rush said, planting and monitoring a common susceptible control wheat variety; varieties such as Ron L, Mace and TAM 112, each of which offers a different type of resistance; and local cultivars from each state.
"We will record weather data, cultural practices and even hail storms," Rush said. "Hail plays an important role on volunteer and wheat streak the following year. In our area and in Oklahoma, we will focus to a high degree on native pasture and Conservation Reserve Program grasses, because we think those are important to the vector and disease carryover."
Scientists will do individual studies and then group studies so the entire project will provide a tremendous amount of information over the five years of the grant, Rush said.
Helping guide the study will be a program advisory board made up of growers, industry and commodity representatives from each state who will help identify the areas that impact them the most.
"With their help, we will be able to identify the most important aspects of wheat diseases caused by mite-vectored viruses and get something that is useful and valuable to the producers," Rush said.
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
AgriLife Research to participate in $3.3 million wheat disease studyPublic release date: 27-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Dr. Charlie Rush crush@ag.tamu.edu 806-354-5804 Texas A&M AgriLife Communications
AMARILLO Texas A&M AgriLife Research in Amarillo will participate in a $3.3 million grant to look at wheat diseases caused by mite-vectored viruses, according to Dr. Charlie Rush, plant pathologist.
The project, "A Predictive Model to Increase Adoption of IPM of a Mite-Virus Disease Complex in Wheat," is a Coordinated Agricultural Project, or CAP, funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's National Institute of Food and Agriculture.
Rush and two others in his plant pathology unit Dr. Fekede Workneh and Jacob Price will be part of a 22-member team from Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, Montana and North Dakota universities and the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service.
According to the study outline, the Great Plains region of the U.S. from Montana south to Texas produces more than 1 billion bushels of wheat annually or 50 percent of U.S. wheat production. In the southern half of the region, the use of wheat to supplement forage for livestock adds significantly to the importance of the crop and the economic vitality of the region. And stakeholders have identified wheat viruses as a major priority that constrains wheat production.
Wheat streak mosaic virus will be the primary focus, Rush said, along with Triticum mosaic virus and High Plains virus. All three viruses are vectored by the wheat curl mite and cause similar disease symptoms on infected wheat plants. The mite can't fly but is carried by the wind from plant to plant, and there is no chemical control at this time.
"To control the diseases caused by these viruses, we really have to learn to control the mite," he said.
Dr. Gary Hein, a University of Nebraska entomologist, is the program director. Rush said he and Hein have been talking for years about this project and have finally pulled everything together.
The scientists plan to determine the impact of environmental conditions, alternate hosts and management tactics on mite populations and disease incidence, as well as the risk in geographically and environmentally diverse production regions across the Great Plains.
They will identify the primary interactions that occur in this wheat-mite-virus complex across the region and increase producer implementation of integrated management principles for managing the complex across the Great Plains, Rush said.
"We plan to develop an accurate forecasting model that will improve growers' ability to anticipate and take action," Rush said. "We plan to deploy that model through Extension and educational curricula."
Wheat streak commonly starts at the edge of a field and then the mite, which is carrying the virus, will move on the wind across the field, he said. When the mite begins feeding on a plant, the virus is transmitted and the plant becomes infected. Once the plant is infected, it takes about a week or two, depending on temperature, for the disease symptoms to appear.
One of the things the AgriLife Research scientists will study is the disease threshold for management purposes.
"We know in March and April that you can tell if wheat streak is in the field and how widespread it might be," Rush said. "At that time, we can determine if the producer needs to discontinue fertilizing and watering, which he might be applying extra of, if he thinks the field is yellow due to reasons other than wheat streak."
If it is yellow due to wheat streak, he said, it will not get better no matter how much water and fertilizer are added, so the producer is just wasting money on those inputs.
"Once wheat streak gets going in a field, there's really nothing a producer can do," Rush said. "We want to look at management practices that might keep it from getting that bad. We know planting date is a key factor. Planting late breaks the cycle, but in this region, dual-purpose wheat is the norm and leaves fields open to early infestation by the wheat curl mite."
Rush said this study will allow them to look at the problem from a Great Plains' perspective, instead of the state view previously used.
"We want to first understand the common areas, and once we understand the primary factors, we can develop a disease risk assessment model," he said.
This grant will take advantage of existing facilities and personnel, such as those associated with the Great Plains Diagnostic Network, which is already set up in all these states, Rush said. That group already coordinates diagnostics of diseases and trains first detectors.
"Being able to access those scientists' expertise made it simple to pull together a strong team to work on this issue," he said.
The team will replicate the same work from Texas to Montana, Rush said, planting and monitoring a common susceptible control wheat variety; varieties such as Ron L, Mace and TAM 112, each of which offers a different type of resistance; and local cultivars from each state.
"We will record weather data, cultural practices and even hail storms," Rush said. "Hail plays an important role on volunteer and wheat streak the following year. In our area and in Oklahoma, we will focus to a high degree on native pasture and Conservation Reserve Program grasses, because we think those are important to the vector and disease carryover."
Scientists will do individual studies and then group studies so the entire project will provide a tremendous amount of information over the five years of the grant, Rush said.
Helping guide the study will be a program advisory board made up of growers, industry and commodity representatives from each state who will help identify the areas that impact them the most.
"With their help, we will be able to identify the most important aspects of wheat diseases caused by mite-vectored viruses and get something that is useful and valuable to the producers," Rush said.
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Intel outed just outed its new Atom SoC, and at its tablet event in San Francisco today, the company had a whole slew of slates packing the Clover Trail silicon on hand. Dell's Latitude 10, the ASUS Tablet 810, Acer's Iconia W510 and W700, Lenovo's ThinkPad 2, the HP Envy x2 and Samsung's Series 5 were all there. However, it was the handsome slice of Windows 8 from ZTE that really caught our attention. Called the V98, it has a 10.1-inch, 1366 x 768 LCD on top of an aluminum chassis with a beveled edge similar to what you'd find on a white iPhone 5. Beneath that handsome exterior is the aforementioned Intel Z2760 chipset, 64GB of ROM, 2GB of RAM and 32GB of storage (plus a microSD slot if you need more digital space). There's 802.11 b/g/n WiFi, GPS, Bluetooth 4.0, tri-band UMTS and quad-band GSM radios, plus NFC and LTE can be had as options. It's got an accelerometer, proximity and ambient light sensors, a magnetometer and a gyro, too. An 8-megapixel camera is stuck in the back, while a 2-megapixel shooter resides round front. ZTE managed to stuff all that and a 7,000mAh battery inside a svelte 8.9mm-thin package.
We got to spend a little bit of time with a prototype ZTE model, and found the hardware to be solid for a hand-built unit. Its aluminum chassis makes for quite a rigid device in hand, and the machined and polished bevel gives the V98 a very high-end look. The chromed plastic volume rocker, power button and screen orientation lock switch nestled in the plastic radio reception strip at the top of the device are decidedly less luxurious, however -- the travel of each was shallow, and the finish on the plastic appeared a bit cheap to our eyes. That said, the rotating magnetic aluminum door that reveals the SD card and SIM slots is slick -- far easier to open and close than the plastic port covers found on most other slates. There's also a 30-pin docking port on the bottom edge of the tablet, but ZTE informed us it'd be another month or so before the dock is ready for public consumption. Unfortunately, the V98 won't be available for purchase until Q1 of next year, but you can see if its worth waiting for in our gallery of shots below.
??Grieving pet owners have started warning other consumers with fliers, cards and posters about potentially dangerous chicken jerky treats from China. After the death of her German shepherd, one Illinois woman gathered 60,000 signatures demanding retailers stop selling the treats.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks fell on Wednesday as renewed turbulence in the euro zone over financial bailouts led investors to book profits from recent gains as a strong third quarter nears an end.
Violent protests in Madrid against expected austerity measures and growing talk of secession in Catalonia increased pressure on Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy as he maneuvers before asking euro zone policymakers for rescue money.
Meanwhile, Greece faced its biggest anti-austerity protest in more than a year as international lenders admitted to difficulty in working out how to solve Athens' debt crisis.
"There is still a real risk that Europe has to make some decisions that could hold the market together ... over the next few weeks as it relates to Greece and certainly Spain," said T. Doug Dale, chief investment officer for Security Ballew in Jackson, Mississippi.
"There are still enough unknowns out there that it doesn't take a whole lot to get the S&P back off."
The Dow Jones industrial average shed 11.25 points, or 0.08 percent, to 13,446.30. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index lost 6.06 points, or 0.42 percent, to 1,435.53. The Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 26.02 points, or 0.83 percent, to 3,091.71.
The S&P 500 is up more than 5 percent for the third quarter and nearly 2 percent for September, historically a weak month for equities, largely due to actions taken by the U.S. Federal Reserve and European Central Bank to prop up their economies.
But the benchmark index has fallen 1.8 percent since the Fed's most recent stimulus plan on September 13 as earnings warnings from bellwethers such as FedEx Corp and Caterpillar Inc have sparked concerns about global growth.
Jabil Circuit tumbled 9.3 percent to $19.01 after the technology company reported fourth-quarter earnings that missed expectations and forecast weak first-quarter results.
Investors' sentiment was reflected in the session's best performing sectors, which were defensive plays such as utilities, telecoms and consumer staples.
Longer term, the equity outlook is positive. While the S&P 500 isn't expected to move much from its current level through to the end of the year, according to a Reuters poll of analysts, it is seen advancing in the first half of 2013, largely on central bank actions.
Stocks fell despite a government report that prices of new U.S. single-family home sales vaulted to their highest level in more than five years in August.
American Greetings Corp jumped 13.5 percent to $16.27 after the company said it received an offer to go private from a group led by its chief executive, valuing the greetings card company at about $580 million.
Yahoo Inc new Chief Executive Marissa Mayer laid out goals for the Internet company in her first company wide address Tuesday and chose a new chief financial officer. Shares slipped 0.3 percent to $15.63.
In this Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012 photo, budget airlines' passenger jets, Malaysia's AirAsia, top, Indonesia's Badavia Air, third from bottom and bottom, and Indonesia's Lion Air, second bottom, are parked on the tarmac with Indonesian planes of domestic airline Merpati Nusantara, second top, and the flagship carrier Garuda Indonesia at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia. From almost none a decade ago, Asia now has more than 50 low cost carriers. The fast growth of no-frills airlines underline surging demand in the region for affordable air travel. (AP Photo/Trisnadi)
In this Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012 photo, budget airlines' passenger jets, Malaysia's AirAsia, top, Indonesia's Badavia Air, third from bottom and bottom, and Indonesia's Lion Air, second bottom, are parked on the tarmac with Indonesian planes of domestic airline Merpati Nusantara, second top, and the flagship carrier Garuda Indonesia at Juanda International Airport in Surabaya, East Java, Indonesia. From almost none a decade ago, Asia now has more than 50 low cost carriers. The fast growth of no-frills airlines underline surging demand in the region for affordable air travel. (AP Photo/Trisnadi)
In this Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012 photo, Chinese passengers use self check-in machines at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing. From almost none a decade ago, Asia now has more than 50 low cost carriers. The fast growth of no-frills airlines underline surging demand in the region for affordable air travel. But in China, where the government still keeps tight control of the rapidly growing airline industry, three big state-owned carriers dominate, leaving Chinese travelers out of the massive budget airline boom that has swept the region. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
In this Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012 photo, a passenger carries her luggage past a flight direction sign at the Beijing Capital International Airport in Beijing. From almost none a decade ago, Asia now has more than 50 low cost carriers. The fast growth of no-frills airlines underline surging demand in the region for affordable air travel. But in China, where the government still keeps tight control of the rapidly growing airline industry, three big state-owned carriers dominate, leaving Chinese travelers out of the massive budget airline boom that has swept the region. (AP Photo/Andy Wong)
In this Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012 photo, a Muslim woman talks on her mobile phone outside an AirAsia ticketing office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The fast growth of no-frills airlines such as AirAsia and the slew of recent start-ups including Singapore's Scoot and AirAsia Japan underline surging demand in the region for affordable air travel. But in China, where the government still keeps tight control of the rapidly growing airline industry, three big state-owned carriers dominate, leaving Chinese travelers out of the massive budget airline boom that has swept the region. (AP Photo/Lai Seng Sin)
In this Sept. 21, 2012 photo, passengers line up at a check-in counter of Spring Airline at Hongqiao Airport in Shanghai, China. A budget airline boom that is sweeping Asia is leaving Chinese travelers behind. From almost none a decade ago, the region now has more than 50 low cost carriers. But China's government still keeps tight control of the rapidly growing airline industry. Even for tickets on Shanghai-based Spring Airlines, considered China's only discount carrier, "their price is just as same as the big airlines" during high season, Ren Hong, a 37-year-old who runs an export business and also blogs about her travels in her spare time, said. (AP Photo/Eugene Hoshiko)
HONG KONG (AP) ? When businesswoman Ren Hong flew home after a recent trip to Beijing on state-owned Air China, she was hoping for a decent inflight meal to tide her over until she got back to the spicy cuisine of her native Sichuan province.
The airline's meager offering, which was little more than "just bread," was a galling experience for Ren who wondered why the carrier didn't cut both the pretense of full service and the price of the ticket.
Her gripe highlights how Chinese travelers have been left out of the massive budget airline boom that has swept Asia. From almost none a decade ago, the region now has more than 50 low cost carriers. The fast growth of no-frills airlines such as AirAsia and the slew of recent start-ups including Singapore's Scoot and AirAsia Japan underline surging demand in the region for affordable air travel. The rise of budget carriers in Asia follows similar expansion in Europe and North America in previous decades.
But in China, where the government still keeps tight control of the rapidly growing airline industry, three big state-owned carriers dominate. Aviation authorities' efforts to shield them, as well as keep the industry from growing too rapidly and compromising safety, mean travelers like Ren pay up to twice as much.
"I've found that flight tickets domestically sometimes are more expensive than the international ones due to monopolization and less competition," said Ren, a 37-year-old who runs an export business and also blogs about her travels in her spare time. Even for tickets on Shanghai-based Spring Airlines, considered China's only discount carrier, "their price is just as same as the big airlines" during high season, she said.
While Chinese travelers are benefiting from foreign budget airlines flying to some Chinese cities, analysts and consultants say government policy measures are preventing the domestic aviation market from opening up too quickly. China's domestic market is one of the biggest prizes in Asia's travel industry, with 264 million passengers last year, according to the Civil Aviation Authority of China, which forecasts the number will grow about six-fold by 2030.
"The domestic market in China has more or less remained a fortress," Xiaowen Fu, an aviation expert at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, said at a recent conference in Macau organized by the Sydney-based CAPA-Center for Aviation.
Like other essential industries in China, the policy measures are aimed at protecting the chosen few national champions from too much competition. China's three major state-owned airlines, Beijing-based Air China Ltd., Shanghai-based China Eastern Airlines Corp. and Guangzhou-based China Southern Airlines Ltd., carried 191 million passengers among them in 2011. But in the first half of 2012 their profits collapsed because of higher fuel prices and foreign currency losses. The rest of the market is divided between smaller state carriers ? some owned by the big three ? and a handful of private operators.
An unsurprising outcome of the cossetted state airline industry is a perpetual sense of grievance among travelers at poor service and lack of choice.
"The food on Chinese airlines is worse and more basic than it is on the international airlines," said 25-year-old Li Peng, who recently quit his job in Beijing to travel overseas for a year.
"And when the flight is delayed, I never get any feedback after my complaints. Many flights are delayed more than two hours" he said. "I do wish there were more budget airlines, especially in China," he said.
China's civil aviation policy hinders the country's budget airline industry in two ways, according to experts. First, it makes it almost impossible for a private company to start a new airline. Second, the policy limits growth by existing airlines, including state-run carriers, through measures including requiring approvals for new airplanes and routes.
For airlines operating in China, "they've got constraints whether it be on operating strategy, or what they're allowed to do at the airports, or how they're allowed to recruit pilots, or what the airport charges," said Con Korfiatis, director of Flight Ideas Consulting. "So the low-cost carrier explosion in China is still being constrained."
In contrast, discount airlines continue to spread their wings elsewhere in Asia. Three started flying in Japan this year, including Peach Aviation and local ventures from Malaysia's AirAsia and Australia's Jetstar. Also taking flight in 2012 were Singapore Airlines' Scoot, Thai Airways International's Thai Smile and AirAsia Philippines. Next year, Indonesia's Lion Air plans to start flights on Malindo Airways, a low-cost Malaysia operation, the company said earlier this month.
Even China Eastern Airlines Co. is joining in, although its low-cost carrier is a joint venture with Qantas subsidiary Jetstar that will be based in Hong Kong rather than mainland China.
The Civil Aviation Authority of China hinted in July that it would support budget airlines by loosening price controls. But director Li Jiaxiang stopped short of announcing any major policy reforms.
The measures aren't just aimed at China's private or discount carriers ? they also apply to China's state-owned carriers. Analysts say policies are designed to prevent unfettered growth. Authorities clamped down following a spell of supercharged growth during which the number of passengers expanded by 40 percent in 2003-2004. Such red-hot growth puts tremendous strain on pilots and infrastructure such as air traffic control and airports, especially on heavily congested air routes between major Chinese cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou.
"The market is already growing at 11-16 percent domestically at average fares," said Mario Hardy, a vice president at research firm UBM Aviation. "Imagine if an AirAsia or a Spring was able tomorrow to lower that price by half. How many more people would be travelling?"
Hardy and other experts and industry insiders believe that Chinese authorities will allow the aviation market to open up gradually so that there's enough time to build up the required infrastructure. China is building 82 new airports and renovating 101 others in a five-year plan that runs until 2015.
"Otherwise it will be a mess," Hardy said. "It would be chaos."
Until then, travelers like Ren, the businesswoman and travel blogger, will have to put up with higher prices. Ren is thinking of going to India on her next trip but is disappointed with the limited options. She could fly with Air China at a cost of 4,000-5,000 yuan ($$635-$790) round trip. Or she could pay 2,000 yuan ($320) on AirAsia ? but she would need to change planes at AirAsia's home base in Malaysia.
"It's annoying," said Ren. But "life is not perfect and I have no choice. I could not ask for the flight to be both cheap and offer the perfect route."
______
Researcher Fu Ting in Shanghai contributed to this report
By Jim Marous, SVP/Corporate Development at New Control
I?ve been involved in financial services direct marketing for the better part of two decades, and while there have been a number of advances in the way banks communicate to their customers, there are still a number of bad habits that haven?t been broken, as well as some new habits that just don?t make sense.
Why is collecting valuable customer data so difficult?
If my dry cleaner, grocer, department store and virtually every retailer online can ask for email addresses and cell phone numbers, why can?t banks? This problem is similar to one that banks faced two decades when new account personnel were reluctant to collect birth dates because the question made them uncomfortable. Eventually birth dates became a non-issue when the government required financial institutions gather this information. So why is it so difficult to collect email addresses and cell phone numbers that makes communication easier? This basic insight collection should be required from our staff and should be used for marketing based on the customer?s communication channel preferences.
Key Point: If Old Navy and Apple can get every customer to give up their email address, so can your staff.
Why don?t we ask our customers for their preferred communication channel?
In addition to asking for the customer?s email address and mobile phone number, why is it so hard to also ask what channel the customer wants to be communicated with? In my household, I will look at almost all email but not very much direct mail. My wife is the opposite. Seeing that my wife makes virtually all of the decisions regarding banking relationships, wouldn?t knowing her preferred channel be helpful for a financial marketer to know? Wouldn?t this be helpful for a bank trying to optimize their marketing communication? For a bank trying to cut costs and reduce waste? All we need to do is to position this issue as a benefit to customers: ?So that we may keep you informed of account changes and special offers, how would you prefer we communicate with you??
Key Point: If you let customers choose what channels you use for communications, they?ll be more receptive to the messages you send.
Why do bank marketers still fear email?
Many banks are very tentative about using email as a communications tool. When asked for a reason, some say they?ve promised customers that they?ll never send any emails ever, so that way customers can easily spot scams ? anything purporting to be from the bank would a phishing attempt. Others say their list of email addresses are probably outdated and would likely trigger a significant number of returned emails. While this, by itself, should not prohibit the bank from communicating using this channel, these are usually the same institutions that avoid doing a proactive clean up of their email database. In other words, the challenge will only get bigger in the future. Banks need to build an ongoing process for updating email lists.
Key Point: Email marketing works.
Why limit the number of touches?
A number of banks I have worked with put a subjective limit on the number of times a customer can be communicated with, either in a specific channel or overall. The number normally is not based on any quantitative research, but usually based on what feels right. Who determines this limit? Why would there be a limit if the bank?s research shows the customer has been responsive or that there is a need? (note: In some cases, the limit on communication is more stringent for higher value customers even though these are the same customers who are most likely to respond) We need to stop putting communication limits on any channel, but rather use advanced analytics to determine when communication should occur and through which channel.
Key Point: If a communications strategy works, it works? whether that strategy involves four touches or forty.
Why are we moving all communication to digital channels?
Are digital channels less expensive than more traditional channels such as direct mail, email and mass media? Yes. Are digital channels more effective than traditional and mass media channels?At times. Is the integration of multiple channels more effective than using solely digital channels? Almost always. The key is to use behavioral and response data to determine the best mix of channels that should be used for each individual customer at different stages of the buying process. While many consumers use digital channels as part of their shopping process, research shows that direct mail and email can lift results/ROI when used in tandem with digital channels. In fact, recent research also shows that even direct mail influences Gen-Y?s financial decisions.
Key Point: Multichannel marketing is more effective than one channel or another. You need to measure attribution of each channel, and test the sequence, cadence and mix of channels to generate optimum results.
Why is result measurement so slow (or non-existent)?
In an age of massive data, technology and knowledge, most banks don?t have immediate access to program results and the tools to apply these results to future initiatives. Amazing? In many cases, the analysis of programs lags program completion by weeks or months, eliminating the potential for insight to be applied quickly for subsequent programs. While the challenge is usually blamed on the lack of human resources, there is still the ability to do tracking studies that can provide 80% of the insights needed to make informed decisions quickly. While cross-tabbed evaluation of data may not be available as quickly as you?d like, major trends can be determined using tracking data that can assist with? program planning ? immediately, and down the road.
Key Point: Effective direct marketers use data to sharpen all the arrows in their sling.
What?s bugging you about direct marketing in banking?
I know I haven?t touched on all of the bad direct marketing habits we have as financial marketers, but these are some of my favorites. I would love to hear some of the rants other financial marketers may have.
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All fishermen and women know fishing can be a relaxing as well as rewarding experience. Although few modern-day anglers probably have a plaque dedicated to them from the city for their heroism. Serbian Renato Grbic, 51, has definitely deserved the title.
In the past 15 years, since his first rescue, he has pulled 25 people out of the water when they attempted to jump to their deaths from the Pancevo Bridge which stands above the Danube River in Belgrade, Serbia.
It all started 15 years ago when he and his brother were fishing the river. People used to throw trash off the bridge then, but one time Grbic noticed that what he thought was trash wasn?t sinking, so he went to investigate. He found a man floating there and worked to pull him out.
Grbic has saved 24 more people since then of all backgrounds, genders, ages and reasons for trying to commit suicide. Although, he doesn?t keep in touch with them with the exception of one then-18-year-old girl who threw herself in the river in January six years ago. She has since married and had a baby and her and Grbic get together to celebrate the baby?s birthday.
While others were not so fortunate. Grbic did recall seeing the face of man he saved in the newspaper after he had successfully taken his life in his apartment building.
Grbic has become somewhat of a watchdog on the river. He and his wife operate a fish restaurant on the river just below the bridge and so Grbic is always in view of the river. He has learned how to spot those who look as if they are about to jump. ?Those who go over the bridge in order to cross walk at a busy pace and do no more than glimpse at the water. The suicides walk slowly, hesitantly, looking down at the river,? Grbic told ABC News.
Any views or opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not reflect those of Outdoor Hub. Comments on this article reflect the sole opinions of their writers.
The Recreation Department says it still has space in some of its upcoming programs for both adults and kids. Here?s a list of what?s coming up. For more information, or to register, visit their website at?www.southboroughrecreation.com.
Adult Classes
Tai Chi beginning November 3
Zumba Drop In $10
BootCamp beginning October 29
Men?s basketball beginning January 3
Adult Tennis beginning 9/16 at Westboro Tennis
Various golf programs at Juniper Hill beginning this September
Floral Designs begins October 17
Men?s ice hockey begins in November
Youth
Swimming lessons at Shrewsbury Health Club
Youth Tennis at Westboro Tennis
Various golf lessons at Juniper Hill
Horse programs at Lil Folk Farm
Intro to Gaelic Games November 6
Lego & Science Workshops during November ? February
Preschool
Swim Lessons at Shrewsbury Health Club
Skating Lessons at FMC ? Marlboro
Skating Lessons at St Marks begins November 25
PK Basketball begins November 3
Indoor Soccer Tots begins November 3
Pee Wee Sports Clinic begins November 3
Winter Wonderland Crafts November 26
New Year Noisemaker December 29
(Image: Floral Design by My Southborough sponsor Le Jardin Blanc is just one of many programs offered by the Southborough Recreation Department this fall. Photo by Kristin Spencer Photography via Facebook)
With so many mothers choosing to stay home with young children, families often find themselves struggling to make ends meet. The top 10 home based business ideas that serve such women and their families offer flexible schedules, reasonable income potential and an opportunity to use personal skills to their best advantage.
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Public release date: 27-Sep-2012
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By Jim Marous, SVP/Corporate Development at New Control
