Etta James, a Life and Legend (ContributorNetwork)

Etta James's sultry voice provided an entire generation's worth of inspiration to modern songstresses. CNN reports major players in the music industry such as Mariah Carey and Beyonce Knowles were both influenced by her songs and style. The Associated Press reports James passed away Jan. 20 in California from complications related to leukemia.

James was a matriarch for the modern female blues singer throughout her life.

1938: Born

The Biography Channel states James was born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles on Jan. 25, 1938. By the age of 5, she was singing gospel choir songs in church and on the radio.

1950: Moved North

When James turned 12, she and her family moved north to San Francisco. She formed a trio with two other girls and singing became an even larger part of her life. Very quickly, the girls got noticed and James turned to professional singing.

1954: Return to L.A.

In 1954, James returned to Los Angeles to get more heavily involved in the recording industry. Johnny Otis spotted her two years earlier in San Francisco and the young lady embarked on a singing career, against the will of her mother. She changed her stage name to Etta James, a re-arrangement of her first name and was given a back up group called the Peaches (James's childhood nickname).

Her first recording, and first hit, came a year later. James sang "Roll with Me Henry" with Richard Berry. The song was renamed "The Wallflower" and it topped the R&B charts in 1955.

1960: Meteoric Rise

James signed a recording deal with Chess Records in Chicago in 1960. From this point, her career took off and never looked back. Hits such as "All I Could Do Was Cry," "Somthing's Got a Hold on Me," and "Trust in Me" were all hits during her run with Chess Records in the 1960s and early 1970s.

1973: Grammy Nomination

Her self-titled album "Etta James" earned James the first of several Grammy nominations in her career.

1984: Olympic Glory

James sang "When the Saints Go Marching In" for the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

1993: Hall of Fame

James was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland in 1993. At this point in her career, James was recognized for her wide-ranging vocals and styles that marked her long career.

2003: Grammy

In 2003, James was honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Her sassy and no-nonsense singing style was recognized for being open, honest and heart wrenching simultaneously.

2011: Last Album

James's last album entitled "The Dreamer" was released in November 2011, three months before her death. The Associated Press reports her last album was typical James fare as she even rocked out to the Guns 'N Roses song "Welcome to the Jungle."

The audacious songstress died five days short of her 74th birthday.

William Browning is a research librarian.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/cancer/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120121/en_ac/10862597_etta_james_a_life_and_legend

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Brady practices after missing Wednesday (AP)

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. ? Tom Brady is back practicing. Everyone associated with the New England Patriots is acting like he never missed a snap.

Brady returned to the field Thursday after being out the previous day resting his left, non-throwing shoulder. If it's a big deal to the football world that the Patriots' star quarterback briefly was sidelined four days before the AFC championship, his teammates and coach treated it as an inconsequential blip.

So did the two-time league MVP.

"It's not the first practice I have missed over the years," Brady said with a shrug of his shoulders ? including the sore left one. "When coach feels its best that you do other things to get yourself ready, that's what you do, and you still use all that time very wisely. When your coach feels it is best to do other things to get yourself ready, that is what you do."

Coach Bill Belichick revealed little about Brady's absence on Wednesday, lumping it in with every other player in the NFL who gets nicked. Then again, Belichick doesn't give out much information or insight on anything injury-related. Ever.

New England hosts the Baltimore Ravens for the AFC championship on Sunday.

Brady missed one practice and was limited for two others during the final week of the regular season, but he played all but the final offensive series in a 49-21 win over Buffalo. Last Saturday, he played every New England offensive series in a 45-10 divisional playoff win over Denver after being on the injury list but practicing in full all week.

The quarterback stretched and ran a few drills Thursday during the 15 minutes the media were allowed access to the session. He ran with the ball in his left arm as backup quarterback Brian Hoyer half-heartedly attempted to knock it out. Brady showed no signs of being in pain.

The day before, Brady had to find ways to keep himself occupied during the missed session.

"You don't go lounging around taking naps or anything like that," he said with a chuckle. "You just try to do other things to get yourself ready to go. So catch up on your film work and get some extra treatments and so forth. It's just a matter of ultimately we're trying to be as prepared as we can for Sunday. I'm certainly going to be as prepared as I possibly can be.

"It's not the first practice that I've missed over the years. You come off a game Saturday or Sunday and you're just doing everything you can to be prepared. You're just putting in extra work and making sure you're getting prepared."

Then Brady promised to be out on the field, and a while later he was.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_sp_fo_ne/fbn_patriots_brady_s_shoulder

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Climate change invites alien invaders - Is Canada ready?

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 19-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Andrea Smith
geckoals@yorku.ca
Canadian Science Publishing (NRC Research Press)

Ottawa, Ontario - A comprehensive multi-disciplinary synthesis just published in Environmental Reviews reveals the urgent need for further investigation and policy development to address significant environmental, social and economic impacts of invasive alien species (IAS) and climate change. "Effects of climate change on the distribution of invasive alien species in Canada: a knowledge synthesis of range change prediction in a warming world" is the collaborative effort of a team of dedicated researchers at York University's Institute for Research and Innovation in Sustainability (IRIS).

"Many species' distributions are already changing in response to a warming climate, and ecosystems are predicted to become more vulnerable to invasive species as climatic barriers are eliminated," says author Dr. Andrea Smith, IRIS Senior Fellow, currently conducting a legislative review of invasive species policy in Canada for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and the Canadian Aquatic Invasive Species Network. "The interactive effects of climate change and invasive species are expected to have profound consequences for environments, economies and societies worldwide. For example, many new infectious diseases will likely spread to the Arctic, and coordinated circumpolar disease monitoring and targeted healthcare planning will be needed to handle this new pressure. Yet, these two drivers of global change are rarely considered jointly in policy and management initiatives."

This review reveals the barriers to predicting invasive species' range changes under climate change, including the complexity of the issue, lack of ecological data, and failure to address climate changeIAS interactions in research and policy. Despite the multi-disciplinary nature of the issue, very few studies examine the socio-economic dimensions of the problem and research has tended to focus on predictions of how the distribution of existing invasive species in Canada (including mountain pine beetle, gypsy moth, smallmouth bass and lyme disease) will be affected by climate change, rather than on potential invasive species that might expand their range into Canada.

"This is just another example of how climate change is a big threat multiplier," notes Dr. John P. Smol, Editor of Environmental Reviews and professor at Queen's University where he also holds the Canada Research Chair in Environmental Change. "We simply have not even begun to understand all the negative repercussions of this problem." This synthesis is the first to characterize the current state of knowledge on this critical issue in Canada. According to Smith, this knowledge synthesis approach is useful for identifying both what we know and what we don't know, so that research, policy, and management can be targeted toward addressing those gaps. And, although knowledge of the impact of climate change on invasive species distribution is incomplete, scientific research is accumulating which can be used as the foundation for policy development.

###

The IRIS research team received funding from the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS www.cfcas.ca), an independent funding body dedicated to supporting research that improves our understanding of climate change impacts on health, safety, economy and environment.

Smith's co-authors are Dr. Nina Hewitt (IRIS Senior Fellow and York University Department of Geography), Dr. Nicole Klenk (IRIS Senior Fellow), Professor Dawn Bazely (IRIS Director and York Department of Biology), Professor Norman Yan (IRIS Core Faculty and Dorset Environmental Science Centre and York Department of Biology), Professor Stepan Wood (IRIS Acting Director and Osgoode Hall Law School), Dr. James MacLellan (IRIS Senior Fellow and York Faculty of Environmental Studies), Professor Carla Lipsig-Mumm (Director of IRIS - affiliated Work in a Warming World program and York Department of Social Science) and Irene Henriques (IRIS Core Faculty member and Schulich School of Business).

Environmental Reviews, published by NRC Research Press, is an electronic-only quarterly review journal that covers a wide range of important environmental issues, including climate change. http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/er

For more information contact:

Corresponding author: Andrea Smith (email: geckoals@yorku.ca) Full Reference: Smith, A., Hewitt, N., Klenk, N., Bazely, D.R., Yan, N., Wood, S., Henriques, I., MacLellan, J.I., Lipsig-Mumm, C. 2012. Effects of climate change on the distribution of invasive alien species in Canada: a knowledge synthesis of range change projections in a warming world. Environmental Reviews, 20, 1-16. doi: 10-1139/a11-020. [Available Open Access on the http://www.nrcresearchpress.com website.]

About the Publisher

NRC Research Press, the publishing arm of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) since 1929, transitioned in September 2010 from NRC and the Federal Government of Canada into an independent not-for-profit organization operating under the new name Canadian Science Publishing. Canadian Science Publishing (which continues to operate under the brand NRC Research Press) is the foremost scientific publisher in Canada and one of the most advanced electronic publishing services in the world. With over 50 highly skilled experts and an editorial team comprising some of the world's leading researchers, NRC Research Press communicates scientific discoveries to more than 175 countries.

About IRIS

IRIS (http://www.irisyorku.ca) is an interdisciplinary research centre at York University dedicated to pursuing multifaceted approaches to the contemporary challenges of sustainability. It is a focal point for sustainability-related research and action at all ten of York's faculties. Through collaborative and interdisciplinary research, IRIS strives to push beyond traditional research methods to tackle real-world challenges with unique solutions. It supports sustainability-related research of York faculty members and students and is a leader in trans-disciplinary team-based research.

Disclaimer

Canadian Science Publishing operates under the brand NRC Research Press but is not affiliated with the National Research Council Canada. Papers published by Canadian Science Publishing are peer-reviewed by experts in their field. The views of the authors in no way reflect the opinions of Canadian Science Publishing or the National Research Council of Canada. Requests for commentary about the contents of any study should be directed to the authors.

PLEASE CITE Canadian Science Publishing (operating under the brand NRC Research Press), AND OUR WEBSITE, http://nrcresearchpress.com, AS THE SOURCE OF THE FOLLOWING ITEM. IF PUBLISHING ONLINE, PLEASE CARRY A HYPERLINK TO http://nrcresearchpress.com/action/showNews?filter=recent



[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 19-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: Andrea Smith
geckoals@yorku.ca
Canadian Science Publishing (NRC Research Press)

Ottawa, Ontario - A comprehensive multi-disciplinary synthesis just published in Environmental Reviews reveals the urgent need for further investigation and policy development to address significant environmental, social and economic impacts of invasive alien species (IAS) and climate change. "Effects of climate change on the distribution of invasive alien species in Canada: a knowledge synthesis of range change prediction in a warming world" is the collaborative effort of a team of dedicated researchers at York University's Institute for Research and Innovation in Sustainability (IRIS).

"Many species' distributions are already changing in response to a warming climate, and ecosystems are predicted to become more vulnerable to invasive species as climatic barriers are eliminated," says author Dr. Andrea Smith, IRIS Senior Fellow, currently conducting a legislative review of invasive species policy in Canada for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and the Canadian Aquatic Invasive Species Network. "The interactive effects of climate change and invasive species are expected to have profound consequences for environments, economies and societies worldwide. For example, many new infectious diseases will likely spread to the Arctic, and coordinated circumpolar disease monitoring and targeted healthcare planning will be needed to handle this new pressure. Yet, these two drivers of global change are rarely considered jointly in policy and management initiatives."

This review reveals the barriers to predicting invasive species' range changes under climate change, including the complexity of the issue, lack of ecological data, and failure to address climate changeIAS interactions in research and policy. Despite the multi-disciplinary nature of the issue, very few studies examine the socio-economic dimensions of the problem and research has tended to focus on predictions of how the distribution of existing invasive species in Canada (including mountain pine beetle, gypsy moth, smallmouth bass and lyme disease) will be affected by climate change, rather than on potential invasive species that might expand their range into Canada.

"This is just another example of how climate change is a big threat multiplier," notes Dr. John P. Smol, Editor of Environmental Reviews and professor at Queen's University where he also holds the Canada Research Chair in Environmental Change. "We simply have not even begun to understand all the negative repercussions of this problem." This synthesis is the first to characterize the current state of knowledge on this critical issue in Canada. According to Smith, this knowledge synthesis approach is useful for identifying both what we know and what we don't know, so that research, policy, and management can be targeted toward addressing those gaps. And, although knowledge of the impact of climate change on invasive species distribution is incomplete, scientific research is accumulating which can be used as the foundation for policy development.

###

The IRIS research team received funding from the Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences (CFCAS www.cfcas.ca), an independent funding body dedicated to supporting research that improves our understanding of climate change impacts on health, safety, economy and environment.

Smith's co-authors are Dr. Nina Hewitt (IRIS Senior Fellow and York University Department of Geography), Dr. Nicole Klenk (IRIS Senior Fellow), Professor Dawn Bazely (IRIS Director and York Department of Biology), Professor Norman Yan (IRIS Core Faculty and Dorset Environmental Science Centre and York Department of Biology), Professor Stepan Wood (IRIS Acting Director and Osgoode Hall Law School), Dr. James MacLellan (IRIS Senior Fellow and York Faculty of Environmental Studies), Professor Carla Lipsig-Mumm (Director of IRIS - affiliated Work in a Warming World program and York Department of Social Science) and Irene Henriques (IRIS Core Faculty member and Schulich School of Business).

Environmental Reviews, published by NRC Research Press, is an electronic-only quarterly review journal that covers a wide range of important environmental issues, including climate change. http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/er

For more information contact:

Corresponding author: Andrea Smith (email: geckoals@yorku.ca) Full Reference: Smith, A., Hewitt, N., Klenk, N., Bazely, D.R., Yan, N., Wood, S., Henriques, I., MacLellan, J.I., Lipsig-Mumm, C. 2012. Effects of climate change on the distribution of invasive alien species in Canada: a knowledge synthesis of range change projections in a warming world. Environmental Reviews, 20, 1-16. doi: 10-1139/a11-020. [Available Open Access on the http://www.nrcresearchpress.com website.]

About the Publisher

NRC Research Press, the publishing arm of the National Research Council of Canada (NRC) since 1929, transitioned in September 2010 from NRC and the Federal Government of Canada into an independent not-for-profit organization operating under the new name Canadian Science Publishing. Canadian Science Publishing (which continues to operate under the brand NRC Research Press) is the foremost scientific publisher in Canada and one of the most advanced electronic publishing services in the world. With over 50 highly skilled experts and an editorial team comprising some of the world's leading researchers, NRC Research Press communicates scientific discoveries to more than 175 countries.

About IRIS

IRIS (http://www.irisyorku.ca) is an interdisciplinary research centre at York University dedicated to pursuing multifaceted approaches to the contemporary challenges of sustainability. It is a focal point for sustainability-related research and action at all ten of York's faculties. Through collaborative and interdisciplinary research, IRIS strives to push beyond traditional research methods to tackle real-world challenges with unique solutions. It supports sustainability-related research of York faculty members and students and is a leader in trans-disciplinary team-based research.

Disclaimer

Canadian Science Publishing operates under the brand NRC Research Press but is not affiliated with the National Research Council Canada. Papers published by Canadian Science Publishing are peer-reviewed by experts in their field. The views of the authors in no way reflect the opinions of Canadian Science Publishing or the National Research Council of Canada. Requests for commentary about the contents of any study should be directed to the authors.

PLEASE CITE Canadian Science Publishing (operating under the brand NRC Research Press), AND OUR WEBSITE, http://nrcresearchpress.com, AS THE SOURCE OF THE FOLLOWING ITEM. IF PUBLISHING ONLINE, PLEASE CARRY A HYPERLINK TO http://nrcresearchpress.com/action/showNews?filter=recent



[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share 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.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/csp-cci011712.php

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Obama sings soul, briefly (AP)

NEW YORK ? President Barack Obama took a brief and unexpected turn as a soul singer at a New York fundraiser, crooning a bar from an Al Green classic and then joking that he hadn't been ushered offstage.

It happened at Manhattan's Apollo Theater late Thursday, when Obama stepped to the podium and veered from prepared remarks to thank Green for warming up the crowd.

Apparently not content with simply praising him, Obama suddenly launched into Green's "Let's Stay Together," starting with the vibrato "I" and pausing for enthusiastic applause before finishing up with the line "so in love with you."

Obama said his staff didn't believe he'd really do it.

Then he joked that the Sandman hadn't come out ? a reference to Sandman Sims, the tap dancer who chased unpopular acts offstage at the Apollo for decades.

___

Online: http://apne.ws/x7ak4B

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/music/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120120/ap_en_mu/us_obama_al_green

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Gingrich calls Romney, Bain Capital 'exploitive' (AP)

COLUMBIA, S.C. ? Republican candidate Newt Gingrich on Tuesday leveled a forceful new attack on Mitt Romney, calling the GOP front-runner's former private equity firm "exploitive."

Gingrich had attacked Bain Capital before, but his comments before a gathering of business leaders in Columbia contained some of his harshest rhetoric yet and came just four days before the South Carolina primary, a critical benchmark for the Gingrich campaign.

After lagging behind in the Iowa causes and the New Hampshire primary, Gingrich is hoping a strong showing in the nation's first Southern primary will re-energize his White House bid.

And he's holding little back as he goes for broke against Romney.

The former House speaker said that, in at least some instances, the Bain model has meant "leverage the game, borrow the money, leave the debt behind and walk off with all the profits."

"Now, I'll let you decide if that's really good capitalism. I think it's exploitive. I think it's not defensible," he said.

Gingrich continued that what Romney engaged in "is not venture capital."

"Venture capital is when you go in and put in your capital and you stick it out," he said.

Gingrich has faced rebuke in some quarters as attacking the GOP bedrock of free enterprise in his criticism of Romney and Bain. But he argued Tuesday that raising questions about Romney's track record at Bain should not be confused with an attack on capitalism.

"I'm proud of real capitalists. I'm proud of guys who say to their workers I'm in it with you. If I lose money and you lose a job we lost together because we both tried," he said.

Earlier in the day Gingrich said at a town hall meeting in West Columbia that a Muslim-American seeking office in the U.S. would have to publicly renounce Islamic law to receive his backing.

When asked if he could support a Muslim for office, the former House speaker replied that it "would depend entirely on whether the person would commit in public to give up sharia," or Islamic law.

Gingrich said he is totally opposed to Islamic law and supports a federal law that would pre-empt it.

"A truly modern person who worshipped Allah would not be a threat," he said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120118/ap_on_el_ge/us_gingrich

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Scientists: Meteorite that fell in Africa was from Mars

Story Published: Jan 17, 2012 at 7:25 AM PST

WASHINGTON (AP) - Scientists are confirming a recent and rare invasion from Mars: meteorite chunks from the red planet that fell in Morocco last July.

This is only the fifth time scientists have chemically confirmed Martian meteorites that people witnessed falling. The small rock refugees were seen in a fireball in the sky six months ago, but they weren't discovered on the ground in North Africa until the end of December.

Scientists and collectors of meteorites are ecstatic and already the rocks are fetching big bucks because they are among the rarest things on Earth.

A special committee of meteorite experts, which includes some NASA scientists, confirmed the test results Tuesday. They certified that 15 pounds of meteorite recently collected came from Mars. The biggest rock weighs over 2 pounds.

Astronomers think millions of years ago something big smashed into Mars and sent rocks hurtling through the solar system. After a long journey through space, one of those rocks eventually landed here. It plunged into Earth's atmosphere, splitting into smaller pieces and one chunk shattered into shards when it hit the ground.

This is an important and unique hands-on look at Mars for scientists trying to learn about the planet's potential for life. So far, no NASA or Russian spacecraft have returned bits of Mars, so the only Martian samples scientists can examine are those that come here in a meteorite shower.

Most other samples had been on Earth for millions of years - or at the very least decades - which makes them tainted with Earth materials and life. These new rocks, while still likely contaminated because they have been on Earth for months, are still more pure and better to study.

The last time a Martian meteorite fell and was found fresh was in 1962. All the Martian rocks on Earth add up to less than 240 pounds.

The new samples were scooped up by dealers from those who found them. Even before the official certification, scientists at NASA, museums and universities scrambled to buy or trade these meteorites.

"It's a free sample from Mars, that's what these are, except you have to pay the dealers for it," said University of Alberta meteorite expert Chris Herd, who heads the committee that certified the discovery.

He's already bought a chunk of meteorite and said he was thrilled just to hold it, calling the rock "really spectacular."

One of the key decisions the scientists made Tuesday was to officially connect these rocks to the July fiery plunge witnessed by people and captured on video. The announcement and naming of these meteorites - called Tissint - came from the International Society for Meteoritics and Planetary Science, which is the official group of 950 scientists that confirms and names meteorites.

Meteorite dealer Darryl Pitt, who sold a chunk to Herd, said he charges from $11,000 to $22,500 an ounce and he's sold most of his already. At that price, the new Martian rock costs about 10 times more per ounce than gold.

Source: http://www.kpic.com/news/national/Scientists-Meteorite-that-fell-in-Africa-was-from-Mars-137482088.html

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France seeks to brush off S&P's downgrade (AP)

PARIS ? French President Nicolas Sarkozy secured a small boost from Moody's rating agency Monday following a bruising downgrade last week of the way the country had been handling its economy.

Moody's said Monday it was maintaining France with a top AAA rating and stable outlook for its debt. Rival agency Standard & Poor's, more downbeat about the prospects for France and Europe as a whole, stripped France of its long-cherished triple A rating last Friday.

In early trading, markets appeared to brush off S&P's decision to cut the credit ratings of nine European countries, including France. Though the downgrades late Friday had been expected, they served as a reminder that the 17 countries that use the euro as their currency still have a long way to go to get a handle on the two-year debt crisis.

Europe's economies will likely remain the focus of attention across markets all week as a number of bond auctions are due at the same time as Greece tries to clinch a debt-reduction deal with its private investors.

Sarkozy's budget minister Valerie Pecresse said Monday she was optimistic that S&P's knockdown would not lead to a rise in the country's borrowing costs. A short-term French bond auction later on that day is seen as a test of the impact of the downgrade.

In its announcement, Moody's cited the French economy's overall strength but said bleak growth prospects in France and the region present "risks to the French government's fiscal consolidation plans."

Moody's had said in October it was putting France on review, as Sarkozy and other European leaders struggled to find solutions to Europe's protracted debt crisis.

Moody's said Monday it "will update the market during the first quarter of 2012 as part of the initiative to revisit the overall architecture of our sovereign ratings in the EU."

The rating agency detailed the strengths of the French economy, but noted that the country's debt levels have deteriorated because of the "global economic and financial crisis" and were now among the weakest of all AAA countries.

"France, like other eurozone sovereigns, may face a number of challenges in the coming months. The need to provide additional support to other European sovereigns or to its own banking system cannot be excluded. In that case this could give rise to significant new (contingent) liabilities for the government's balance sheet," Moody's warned.

Moody's notes the government has less room to maneuver than during the 2008 meltdown. "The domestic and external economic growth outlook presents significant risks to the French government's fiscal consolidation plans."

Sarkozy meets later Monday with Spain's new Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy, whose country was also downgraded Friday by S&P.

The S&P move was especially brutal for France, one of the world's biggest economies and a financier of bailouts for smaller, poorer eurozone countries.

Sarkozy has yet to speak publicly about the downgrade, leaving his government ministers to try to calm the public.

Pecresse said on Europe-1 radio Monday that she doesn't expect "mechanical consequences" of the downgrade because France has "credibility" and is a "sure value."

She noted that the United States didn't see its borrowing costs spike after last August's decision by Standard & Poor's to strip it of its AAA rating. Like France, the U.S. is rated AA+.

Pecresse and the prime minister promised to continue cost-cutting reforms, despite criticism from the left ? and S&P itself ? that austerity measures alone could crimp growth.

Sarkozy's challengers for the presidency have seized on the downgrade as what they call evidence that his policies are wrong-headed and ineffective.

Sarkozy hasn't announced his candidacy but is near certain to seek a second term in two-round elections in April and May. He trails Socialist Francois Hollande in polls and is facing increasing pressure from far-right candidate Marine Le Pen and a centrist, Francois Bayrou.

It will be a bruising battle for Sarkozy, a dynamic leader who has a strong international profile but is widely disliked at home. Leftists say he has coddled the rich, while many of those who supported him in his 2007 campaign say he hasn't fulfilled his promises.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120116/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_europe_financial_crisis

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Egypt's ElBaradei ends presidential bid in protest

FILE - In this Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011 file photo, pro-reform leader and Nobel peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei poses for a portrait during an interview with The Associated Press in his home in Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. Egypt reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei said Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012 that he won't run for president to protest military rule. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

FILE - In this Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011 file photo, pro-reform leader and Nobel peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei poses for a portrait during an interview with The Associated Press in his home in Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. Egypt reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei said Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012 that he won't run for president to protest military rule. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

FILE - In this Sunday, Dec. 4, 2011 file photo, pro-reform leader and Nobel peace laureate Mohamed ElBaradei speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in his home in Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. Egypt reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei said Saturday, Jan. 14, 2012 that he won't run for president to protest military rule. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue, File)

(AP) ? Egypt's reform leader Mohamed ElBaradei withdrew from the presidential race Saturday, saying a fair election is impossible under the military's grip nearly a year after Hosni Mubarak's ouster. Many fear that the ruling generals will push through a candidate of their own to preserve their power.

The Nobel Peace laureate's pullout is a slap to the military and the credibility of its plans for Egypt's transition. He was seen as the most pro-revolution of the candidates and the strongest advocate of deep change in a country long under autocratic rule. His participation, therefore, gave a degree of legitimacy to the military-run election process.

But in a statement Saturday, ElBaradei made clear that he saw no hope that the presidential election due by the end of June would bring a real end to the military's rule, and he added a sharp criticism that the military has behaved as if Mubarak's regime never fell.

"I had said from the start that my conscience will not allow me to run for president or any official position unless there is a real democratic framework, that upholds the essence of democracy and not only its form," he said.

The military council, headed by Mubarak's defense minister of 20 years, "has insisted on going down the same old path, as if no revolution took place and no regime has fallen," he said.

ElBaradei's decision could energize the anti-military protest movement, which has been in disarray and has failed to present a unified alternative path to a transition to democracy. In a meeting with ElBaradei after his announcement Saturday, some activists expressed hope that he was now stepping forward to become a forceful, crystalizing leader for the movement.

In an apparent attempt to keep the move from helping fuel antimilitary protests on the Jan. 25 anniversary of the start of the uprising that toppled Mubarak, the military council asked ElBaradei not to announce his decision until later, a person close to ElBaradei said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a private interaction.

Many of those who organized the protests feel that the military is keeping the structure of Mubarak's regime and its own power in place. They fear that the Muslim Brotherhood, which is poised to dominate the new parliament, will cede the military's continued influence over the executive in return for a freer hand in writing a new constitution.

"To have total change, we must work from outside the system," ElBaradei said in a video released later Saturday. He said he would work to unify youth groups, reclaim the goals of the revolution and address social justice, freedom and economic development.

The 69-year-old ElBaradei, who received the Nobel for his work as head of the U.N. nuclear watchdog, has been a frustrating figure for some activists amid Egypt's upheaval.

He had a significant role behind the scenes in putting together the network of youth activists that launched the 18-day uprising that ousted Mubarak. He has been sharply critical of the military's handling of the transition since.

But he has resisted pressure to step forward as the leader of the movement, which some feel needs a figure to unify and guide it. His reluctance gave him a Hamlet-like reputation that frustrated some activists. Many Egyptians in the broader public saw him as aloof or arrogant, or too "foreign" because of his decades living abroad.

Given that image, even some supporters worried he could not win the presidential race.

Presidential elections are key because the ruling generals have promised to hand over power to the winner.

But many activists and observers believe the military wants to ensure the race produces a president who will support its interests and allow it to have a strong voice in politics even after it formally steps aside.

The military has already tried to prevent or limit civilian oversight of its budget under the future system. After decades of military men serving as president in Egypt, the generals are unlikely to want a civilian president who might try to rein in their considerable influence over the state, economic interests or seek radical changes.

At least half a dozen other candidates have stepped forward, including ex-Arab League chief Amr Moussa, a former foreign minister under Mubarak and a popular figure. Another figure in the race who would likely be looked on favorably by the generals is Ahmed Shafiq, a former air force pilot who was a longtime friend of Mubarak and prime minister at the height of the anti-Mubarak protests.

Moussa said he hoped ElBaradei would continue his efforts to rebuild Egypt.

"I regret ElBaradei's withdrawal from the race, and I value his role and participation in the developments that Egypt has witnessed recently," Moussa said on his Twitter account.

Also running is an Islamist, Abdel-Moneim Aboul-Fottouh, a longtime liberal within the Muslim Brotherhood who has gained support among the pro-revolution crowd. Aboul-Fottouh was dismissed from the Brotherhood because he entered the presidential race after the group said it would not field a candidate.

The powerful Brotherhood continues to say it will not endorse a contender in the race. Its focus has instead been on increasing the powers of parliament, where it has emerged as the biggest faction from Egypt's nearly complete, multistage elections. A chief role of parliament will be to put together a panel to write a new constitution.

Mahmoud el-Hetta, the activist who had first floated the idea of ElBaradei as a presidential candidate in 2009, said he was distraught at first over the withdrawal decision. But after the meeting with him Saturday, el-Hetta reconsidered.

"He has once again turned things upside down, and has embarrassed other presidential candidates who have a weak chance because the military council has weakened the idea of a president," he said. "This would revive the idea that the revolution is not over and wins the heart of the youth groups."

Issandr el-Amrani, an analyst on Egypt and columnist, said ElBaradei's withdrawal is "quite an indictment for the transition."

"ElBaradei has never acted like a politician and has always acted like the moral conscience of the country," he said.

ElBaradei has long been critical of the military's handling of the transition. The process has often been confused and nonsensical with shifting timetables ? for example, presidential candidates will begin campaigning even before the constitution is written defining the president's role.

ElBaradei and other liberals feel the transition has now become solely an issue between the military and the Brotherhood. The military council "only needs to negotiate with the Muslim Brotherhood. He rejects that ... it is not an inclusive process," el-Amrani.

His decision to stand down from elections, and thus ? in the revolutionaries' eyes ? to not play the army's game, may restore some of his standing.

Activist and blogger Omar Elhady wrote on his Twitter account: "ElBaradei's withdrawal proves he is a respectable and devoted man. I had stopped supporting him as president a while back. Now I see him as a national leader above official positions, and feared by presidents."

But some saw in his withdrawal a blow to the youth camp who could have found in him a rallying point in the upcoming elections.

"This is very upsetting," said Khaled Abdel-Hamid, a member of the Socialist Alliance, a youth party that contested the parliamentary elections and who also attended the stormy meeting with ElBaradei Saturday. "We lost a candidate that could have proved a challenge to the military council. He pulled out and didn't tell us what is the alternative."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-14-ML-Egypt/id-7ff7958cb94d4ec592a077017ebe6db1

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Paul's flights fly in face of cut-spending theme

Republican presidential candidate, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, of Texas, speaks during a campaign event in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. (AP Photo/The Sun News, Matt Silfer)

Republican presidential candidate, U.S. Rep. Ron Paul, of Texas, speaks during a campaign event in Myrtle Beach, S.C., Sunday, Jan. 15, 2012. (AP Photo/The Sun News, Matt Silfer)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul has been spending large amounts on airfare as a congressman, flying first class on dozens of taxpayer-funded flights to his home state. The practice conflicts with the image that Paul portrays as the only presidential candidate serious about cutting federal spending.

Paul flew first class on at least 31 round-trip flights and 12 one-way flights since May 2009 when he was traveling between Washington and his district in Texas, according to a review by The Associated Press of his congressional office expenses. Four other round-trip tickets and two other one-way tickets purchased during the period were eligible for upgrades to first-class after they were bought, but those upgrades would not be documented in the expense records.

Paul, whose distrust of big government is the centerpiece of his presidential campaign, trusts the more expensive government rate for Continental Airlines when buying his tickets. Paul chose not to buy the cheaper economy tickets at a fraction of the price because they aren't refundable or as flexible for scheduling, his congressional staff said.

"We always get him full refundable tickets since the congressional schedule sometimes changes quickly," said Jeff Deist, Paul's chief of staff. Paul might have to pay out of his own pocket for canceled flights in some cases if he didn't buy refundable tickets, Deist said.

But records show that most of the flights for Paul were purchased well in advance and few schedule changes were necessary. Nearly two-thirds of the 49 tickets were purchased at least two weeks in advance, and 42 percent were bought at least three weeks in advance, the AP's review found.

Paul charged taxpayers nearly $52,000 on the more expensive tickets, or $27,621 more than the average Continental airfare for the flights between Washington and Houston, according to the AP's review of his congressional expenses and average airfares compiled by the Department of Transportation.

The more expensive tickets have other benefits as well, including allowing Paul to upgrade to first class when his staff reserves a flight because his frequent government travel gives him membership in an elite class of Continental customers who earn travel perks. Upgrades to first-class with cheaper fares are possible, at times limited to available seats days before the flight. But those upgrades are not guaranteed and some require ticket changes at the airport, according to the airline's frequent flyer rules.

The AP reviewed congressional travel before the Iowa caucuses for the two members of Congress running at the time ? Paul and Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota. Bachmann later ended her presidential campaign.

House records show Bachmann, like most other congressional members, also paid the more expensive government rate for airfare. But her staff would not provide access to more detailed expense records that show when and what type of tickets were purchased.

Paul's congressional staff provided access to all expense records requested.

Congressional members don't have to pay the government rate for travel, but most do, including many like Paul and Bachmann who advocate cuts in federal spending.

"You could almost always beat the government rate," said Steve Ellis, vice president of the Washington-based Taxpayers for Common Sense, a federal budget watchdog group. "They need to be walking the walk, and one of the ways they can do that is to be fiscally responsible for how they spend their member office money."

Jesse Benton, Paul's campaign manager, didn't respond to a written request to explain how Paul's use of more expensive airfare, which allows him to fly first class, corresponds with his commitment to cut federal spending. Instead, he sent a statement that started, "No one is more committed to cutting spending than Dr. Paul."

But Paul's congressional travel conflicts with claims in campaign appearances that he's the most frugal and serious deficit hawk in the race.

"The talk you hear in Washington is pure talk, because there is nobody suggesting, the other candidates are not talking about real cuts," Paul said in a speech to supporters last week after his second-place finish in New Hampshire.

He has proposed cutting $1 trillion from the federal budget during his first year as president, and has confronted other candidates in public forums as "big government conservatives."

"You're a big spender, that's all there is to it," Paul told former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania during a GOP debate in New Hampshire.

Paul boasts on his website about declining other congressional perks, such as a pension and all-expense-paid travel "junkets" that other lawmakers take. And he says he regularly returns money from his congressional account to the treasury.

But when it comes to his congressional travel, Paul has opted not to search for cheaper airfares that could mean returning more of his office account to the treasury, which uses any money returned by House or Senate members to help reduce the federal deficit.

Paul paid $51,972 for his government-rate flights between Washington and Houston between May 2009 and March 2011, or more than twice the $24,351 average airfare on Continental for travel between Washington and Houston. The average airfare figure represents the price for all tickets purchased for Continental flights between Washington and Houston, including economy and first-class travel, according to the Transportation Department's Domestic Airline Fares Consumer Report, which collects airfare information for the nation's busiest travel routes.

Paul's staff regularly booked him in first class on flights when tickets were purchased, according to expense records. His office paid between $1,217 and $1,311 for each round-trip flight, compared to the average airfare for that trip ranging from $528 to $760, according to the airline fares consumer report.

The period reviewed by the AP was the most recent period for which complete congressional expense records were available.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-16-Paul-Travel/id-3da4816704a64434937250cbeab71291

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