Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/170075376?client_source=feed&format=rss
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Monday, December 5, 2011
Media business chiefs brace for bleak 2012 (Reuters)
NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Top media executives across North America and Europe are bracing for a global economic slowdown in 2012, and are already surrendering to demands by advertisers that they offer shorter-term, flexible deals in case of another crisis.
After finally increasing advertising spending -- the lifeblood of the media business -- corporations have yet to show any sign that they are cutting budgets as they did in dramatic fashion between 2007 and 2008.
Still, executives who attended the Reuters Global Media Summit in New York, London and Paris this week said advertisers have turned more cautious in recent months and want to protect against uncertainty around the euro zone's future and political gamesmanship in the United States.
Globally, advertising deals and other business partnerships are being re-assessed and reworked, meaning deals that would normally run for six or nine months are now being shortened to just two or three months -- or less.
"It's very short-term thinking," said David Carey, president of Hearst Magazines. "There was a time when advertisers would commit three or four print issues at a time four or five months out. People are now committing a month or two out."
This fall, markets around the world suffered through weeks of turmoil as fears of an unraveling of the euro zone mounted with little sign of a settlement until the last minute. The result for corporations was a rethinking of previous plans, including how they would spend advertising money, among the most economically sensitive parts of any budget.
"You just can't run your business on the basis that something will turn up, so you have to plan on the basis that it doesn't turn up," said Sir Martin Sorrell, chief executive
of WPP, the world's largest advertising holding company.
"So you think about what legally and contractually it is going to mean. You also say 'I'm going to run my balance sheet as conservatively as possible,'" he said.
CHICKENS COMING HOME
Jacki Kelley, global CEO of Interpublic Group's Universal McCann, was among those who said that advertisers had taken a noticeably "more cautious approach" in recent months.
"Advertisers are still hanging in there," she said. "While there hasn't been a significant pullback, there has been a shorter-term, more cautious approach."
Kelley, whose media agency's clients include Microsoft Corp and Exxon Mobil Corp, is expecting U.S. advertising to climb a modest 2-3 percent next year, with worldwide spending at a healthier 5 percent growth rate.
Several European executives, meanwhile, said they had high hopes the Euro zone issues would be resolved in time.
"Is it the apocalypse? I don't think so, said Maurice Levy, chief executive of Publicis, the third-largest advertising holding company in the world. "There are some serious issues, very serious issues. Can we find a solution? I am hopeful for a lot of reasons."
One bright spot is that corporate balance sheets in countries like the United States remain healthy. According to Federal Reserve data, there is more than $2 trillion on S&P 500 companies' balance sheets which is not being plowed directly back into the U.S. economy.
The question is how to spend the cash: A number of executives complained this week that solid decisions were impossible given the bitter atmosphere and political gridlock in Washington.
"I'm critical in a bipartisan way, it's pretty problematic," said Strauss Zelnick, chief executive of video game company Take Two Interactive and private equity firm Zelnick Media.
Zelnick, who called himself a liberal Democrat, said he believed that President Barack Obama's administration has "demonized capitalism."
A number of companies have used their cash to repurchase stock, and have come under criticism for not investing that money in growth and hiring. The U.S. unemployment rate has hovered above 9 percent for much of the past 18 months, though new numbers on Friday showed it had dipped to 8.6 percent.
Zelnick, however, pointed out that a closer look at the unemployment picture reveals a growing divide between classes.
"We have some really bad structural issues that are the chickens coming home to roost, no wonder people are camping out in Zuccotti Park," said Zelnick.
(Reporting by Yinka Adegoke, additional reporting by Liana B. Baker, Lisa Richwine and Peter Lauria in New York; Kate Holton and Georgina Prodhan in London ; Editing by Paul Thomasch, Dave Zimmerman)
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Sunday, December 4, 2011
Iranian diplomats leave UK after expulsion (AP)
TEHRAN, Iran ? Iran prepared a high-profile welcome for its diplomats expelled Friday from London in retaliation for attacks on British compounds in Tehran that Western leaders claim were sanctioned by Tehran's ruling elite.
The official reception planned for the roughly two dozen diplomats and their families ? including a rare invitation to foreign media to cover the airport event ? apparently was designed to send a message that Iran will not seek quick measures to heal the most serious diplomatic fallout with the West since the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy after the Islamic Revolution.
Germany, France and the Netherlands have recalled their ambassadors, and Italy and Spain summoned Iranian envoys to condemn Tuesday's storming of the British Embassy and residential complex.
Britain withdrew its diplomatic staff and their families, shuttered its ransacked embassy and ordered the Iranian diplomats expelled by Friday afternoon.
The larger blow may be to Iran's relations with the West and others. The diplomatic freeze from Europe, including key trading partner Germany, further isolates Iran just weeks after a report by the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency that alleged Iran was making strides toward mastering critical elements for atomic weapons.
Iran claims its nuclear program only seeks reactors for power and research. But the current breakdown in relations with the West could embolden hard-liners who want a tougher stance against the International Atomic Energy Agency, which they accuse of being manipulated by the U.S. and allies.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast said Iran will certainly "retaliate" for the British expulsions.
The British Foreign Office said "all diplomatic staff of the Iranian Embassy in London took off from Heathrow airport" on Friday afternoon. They were to be welcomed back by a group of Iranians early Saturday at the Tehran airport, Iran's semiofficial Fars news agency reported.
The offer for foreign media to cover their arrival stands in sharp counterpoint to an order Thursday banning non-Iranian outlets from reporting on rallies in front of the now-vacant British diplomatic sites in the capital without specific permission.
Britain's ambassador to Iran, Dominick Chilcott ? now back in Britain ? offered new details about the attacks, saying the experience had been "frightening."
"We had no idea how it was going to end," he said, describing how the mob trashed rooms, damaged furniture, scrawled graffiti and tore up a portrait of Queen Victoria, as staff took shelter in a secure area of the embassy.
"It felt like very spiteful, mindless vandalism, but it wasn't quite mindless," Chilcott said. "They removed anything that was electronic ? mobile telephones, personal computers ? anything that might give information about who you were talking to or what you were doing."
He said seven staff at a separate residential compound that was also attacked were seized and "quite roughly handled" by the invaders.
Hard-liners in Iran have said the attack was an outpouring of the wrath of the Iranian people who believe Britain is a hostile country seeking to damage and weaken the Islamic Republic. Mohammad Mohammadian, a representative of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, praised the attackers, saying they had targeted the "epicenter of sedition."
Iranian government officials, meanwhile, said the storming of the embassy by angry protesters was unexpected and Iranian police intervened to protect the British diplomats and get the attackers out of the buildings.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague has led the accusations that the rioters had a green light from Iranian authorities, including the powerful Revolutionary Guard. On Thursday, he said the attacks were "clearly premeditated" by high-ranking officials.
The demonstrations had been organized by hard-line groups on university campuses and Islamic seminaries and included denunciations of the latest sanctions on Iran over its nuclear efforts. Such major anti-Western rallies are rarely allowed to occur without official approval and often include state-backed forces including a paramilitary group known as the Basij, which is part of the vast security network controlled by the Revolutionary Guard.
Images broadcast around the world showed demonstrators tearing down Union Jack flags, brandishing a looted picture of Queen Elizabeth II and tossing out looted documents.
The deepening tensions with Britain and others may also trigger further rifts within Iran.
For months, Iran's ruling system has ordered arrests and intimidation against political allies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who has sharply fallen from favor after challenging decisions by the head of the theocracy, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Ahmadinejad has remained silent since the attacks, but his supporters have raised questions about whether Iran's interests are served by a diplomatic battle with the West.
___
Associated Press writers David Stringer, Jill Lawless and Cassandra Vinograd in London contributed to this report. Vinograd can be reached at http://twitter.com/CassVinograd.
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Saturday, December 3, 2011
US lawmaker blocking Obama's pick for Russia envoy (AP)
WASHINGTON ? A Republican senator is blocking President Barack Obama's nominee to become ambassador to Russia over suspicions the U.S. might provide Moscow with sensitive missile defense information.
The administration says it has no plans to provide such data. But it says the assurances sought by Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Ill., are so broad, they would prevent any substantial cooperation on missile defense.
The dispute with Kirk further complicates the Obama administration's efforts to get U.S.-Russian relations back on track at a time of increased tensions over missile defense.
It also has political overtones ahead of next year's elections. The White House considers improved relations with Russia, including the signing of a major arms reduction treaty, to be one of the big foreign policy successes of Obama's presidency. Republicans have accused Obama of granting too many concessions to Russia and getting little in return.
Kirk is holding up the nomination of Michael McFaul, a senior adviser to Obama on Russia. In an interview with The Associated Press, Kirk said he wants written assurances that the United States will not provide Russia with any currently classified information on the missile defense system.
Kirk said he is particularly concerned that the administration could offer Russia data on the speed of interceptors planned for Europe in order to ease Russian fears that the system could knock out Russian ballistic missiles.
He said he also is concerned about Russia's "record of espionage and cooperation and dialogue with Iran." He said precise data on the interceptor speeds could help Iran evade the U.S. defenses. The U.S. insists its missile interceptors are aimed at countering a threat from Iran.
The administration says that while it is not considering such an offer, it does not want to limit its options by ruling out any exchange of sensitive information they say would be essential for any substantial missile defense cooperation.
"In the future, some classified information exchange may benefit the United States," White House spokesman Tommy Vietor said in a statement.
U.S. missile defense plans in Europe have been one of the touchiest subjects in U.S.-Russian relations going back to the administration of Obama's predecessor, George W. Bush.
One of Obama's earliest moves to ease tensions was the administration's 2009 announcement that it would revamp Bush's plan to emphasize shorter-range interceptors. Russia initially welcomed that move, but has more recently suggested that the new interceptors could threaten its missiles as the U.S. interceptors are upgraded.
U.S. talks with Russia over missile defense cooperation have nearly broken down. Russia recently threatened to target missiles at the U.S. missile defense systems in Europe and just commissioned a radar in Kaliningrad, near the Polish border, capable of monitoring missile launches from Europe and the North Atlantic.
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PFT: Signs point to Reid staying put for now
APBills coach Chan Gailey praised the work of WR Brad Smith.
The Dolphins? recent winning ways killed their chances to draft Stanford QB Andrew Luck, but USC?s Matt Barkley, Oklahoma?s Landry Jones and Baylor?s Robert Griffin all could be draft-day options in Miami.
Former Patriots WR/DB Troy Brown likes what he sees in current Patriots WR/DB Julian Edelman.
Said Jets QB Mark Sanchez of the way the team played in the win over the Bills, ?We play like that again, lose the turnover battle, lose time of possession, all those stats ? I think our chances of winning the game were probably somewhere like 20, 30 percent chance. Maybe less. Maybe in the teens. Because you can?t win like that. That?s not a winning formula.?
Asked about offensive coordinator Cam Cameron?s play calling, Ravens coach John Harbaugh said, ?I think all of our coaches have done a great job. I think Cam has done a great job.?
Bengals coach Marvin Lewis has a 5-13 career record against the Steelers.
The Browns seem to be heading toward another Top 10 pick.
Said Steelers coach Mike Tomlin of the team?s struggles on third down, ?We need more separation. We need to make more competitive catches in order to keep the chains moving and keep ourselves on the field.?
Texans coach Gary Kubiak calls QB Jake Delhomme a good fit for the offense.
Colts QB Dan Orlovsky, who just became the team?s starter, has started seven games in his career, all for the 0-16 Lions.
Here?s a look at new Jaguars interim head coach Mel Tucker.
Titans coach Mike Munchak says he?s just taking care of his own business, and not worrying about whether the Texans? quarterback situation will allow Tennessee to catch up in the AFC South.
Some in Denver think Tim Tebow should be a Pro Bowler.
What the Chiefs have got here is a failure to communicate.
Raiders RB Michael Bush was on the field for 68 of 71 offensive plays against the Bears.
Said Chargers DB Eric Weddle of the team?s playoff chances, ?It?s like Dumb and Dumber, where the guy says, ?So I have a chance???
In Dallas, there?s talk that Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan could leave to become a head coach.
The Giants are bringing back LB Chase Blackburn.
The Eagles insist they?re not quitting on their season.
Redskins FB Darrel Young is expected to play this week despite suffering a concussion Sunday against the Seahawks.
There?s optimism in Chicago that QB Caleb Hanie will be better in his second start for the Bears than he was in his first.
Asked about Lions DT Ndamukong Suh, Mean Joe Greene said, ?If you haven?t played interior defensive line, you won?t know and you?ll never know what it?s like in there. I don?t think anything that happens on the field is dirty, but Suh shouldn?t have done what he did. He let the moment get away.?
Packers G Evan Dietrich-Smith hasn?t talked to the media about the Suh suspension.
Viking QB Christian Ponder will see Broncos QB Tim Tebow again on Sunday; when they met in college Tebow?s Florida Gators whipped Ponder?s Florida State Seminoles 45-15.
Injuries are forcing the Falcons to shuffle their secondary.
Panthers offensive coordinator Rob Chudzinski says he sees improvement in the running game.
Asked if he thinks about breaking Dan Marino?s passing yardage record, Saints QB Drew Brees said, ?Absolutely. But only in the framework of winning.?
Bucs QB Josh Freeman says the cut he suffered on his thumb while shooting a gun was ?just cosmetic.?
The Cardinals think they have a bright future, given how young their roster is.
Asked about the fans in St. Louis booing, Rams coach Steve Spagnuolo said, ?I?d rather have that than people not caring. I want to thank the fans for their passion, and I mean that sincerely. I know with that it goes both ways. Frustration and disappointment, and their reactions to that. I understand it. I get it.?
Long snapper Brian Jennings is the only player left who?s been to the playoffs with the 49ers.
Seahawks DE Chris Clemons is having a big season but not getting much attention.
Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/11/30/signs-point-for-now-to-reid-staying-put/related/
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Friday, December 2, 2011
ScienceOnline2011 interview with Paul Raeburn
Continuing with the tradition from last three years, I will occasionally post interviews with some of the participants of the ScienceOnline2011 conference that was held in the Research Triangle Park, NC back in January 2011. See all the interviews in this series here.
Today my guest is Paul Raeburn (blog, Twitter)
Welcome to A Blog Around The Clock. Would you, please, tell my readers a little bit more about yourself? Where are you coming from (both geographically and philosophically)? What is your (scientific) background?
I came up through newspapers and the Associated Press, where I worked for 15 years, all but the first two years of that as science editor. I have a bachelor?s degree in physics from MIT, which had nothing to do with my science writing career?except that it prompted editors to send me out on ?science? stories (rising gas prices, nuclear plant protests). I liked it, and it was a great way to distinguish myself from the rest of the staff. That is how I became a science writer.
Tell us a little more about your career trajectory so far: interesting projects past and present?
When I worked at the AP, I fought the image that many then had of AP reporters?they were fast, clear, and could do almost anything in 500 words. But they couldn?t do much else. I freelanced for magazines as much as I could, and I wrote my first book, The Last Harvest, about agriculture and the environment, while I was working full time at the AP. (I know others have done that sort of thing, too, but I don?t recommend it. A much better plan is to be independently wealthy.)
I moved to Business Week as science editor for seven years, where I wrote two more books, one on Mars for National Geographic, and a memoir called Acquainted with the Night. I left Business Week to write the last one, and so was able to immerse myself in it. I liked that. I detoured through radio, including hosting two shows on XM for a couple of years, but mostly stuck with print.
What is taking up the most of your time and passion these days? What are your goals?
These days I?m holding down multiple jobs, somehow, including writing for magazines, blogging at the Knight Science Journalism Tracker, teaching, and working (slowly) on my fourth book, called Do Fathers Matter?
My goals? I?m a slow learner. I seem to learn something with each piece I write, so my goal is to keep getting better at this?and to try to shed a little light in dark corners while doing it.
How does blogging figure in your work? How about social networks, e.g., Twitter, FriendFeed, Facebook and others? How do you integrate all of your online activity into a coherent whole? Do you find all this online activity to be a net positive (or even a necessity) in what you do?
I?m blogging at the Tracker, and I?ve blogged for Psychology Today and others. I find it to be incredibly liberating. I think I get more story ideas and tips?and more wonderful reading?from FB and Twitter than anywhere else now. The online activity is essential to my work, and it has opened up all kinds of new opportunities for all of us?something I don?t have to explain to the ScienceOnline crowd. If all of this had not happened, I?m sure I would enjoy writing for newspapers and magazines and book publishers, but it?s incredibly exciting to be exploring a whole new world after more than 20 years as a reporter. I feel very fortunate to be around for the revolution.
What was the best aspect of ScienceOnline2011 for you?
The energy?the energy! No other conference I?ve attended as a reporter has been fueled by so much enthusiasm, energy, and excitement about telling the kinds of stories we tell.
Thank you so much for the interview. See you again in January!
Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=c6ecc4905f61263959c9e5b6ccabe79a
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McCready: I'm fighting courts to protect my son
TAMPA, Fla.?? Country singer Mindy McCready, who had been reported missing, spoke with Florida authorities Wednesday and is aware of a court order to return her 5-year-old son by Thursday afternoon, police said.
Cape Coral Police Lt. Tony Sizemore said McCready and her son are not in the Lee County, Fla., area, and that she is "currently outside of the terms of her family court stipulation." She knows that she is supposed to bring her son back to Lee County by 5 p.m. Thursday, he said.
"The million dollar question is whether she will comply," said Sizemore.
The state Department of Children and Families said a missing person report was filed with Cape Coral police Tuesday night after McCready took her son Zander from her father's home.
McCready doesn't have custody of her son ? her mother does ? and the singer was allowed to visit the boy at her father's home, according to a department spokesman. On Tuesday, DCF discovered that McCready and the boy were not at her father's home.
DCF spokesman Terry Field told The Associated Press the agency asked a Lee County judge for an emergency pickup order, and the judge ruled McCready must return the boy voluntarily by 5 p.m. Thursday or risk an arrest warrant.
Meanwhile, McCready said on Facebook that she is not missing.
"I have been fighting the Florida court system to protect my son, and bring him home," she posted, adding that she spoke with Cape Coral Police via Skype ? something that the agency confirmed.
The singer's brother, Josh McCready, told The Associated Press in a private Facebook message that his sister was "fine."
"Mindy is fine and so is Zander. There is nothing to worry about," he wrote.
Kat Atwood, McCready's publicist, issued a statement Wednesday saying McCready and her son are "safe, healthy and comfortable," and denies that she has done anything wrong. The statement says McCready has been awaiting a court order on whether she would be awarded custody of her son.
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"No Amber Alert has been issued; this is not a missing child case," Atwood said in the statement.
According to Aimee McLaughlin of the Childrens Network of Southwest Florida, a case manager filed a missing person report with the Cape Coral Police on Tuesday. The DCF spokesman said Children's Network of Southwest Florida is the Community-Based Care agency for the area.
Since topping the country charts in the mid-1990s with her music, the troubled 36-year-old singer's life has been filled with domestic abuse, drug and DUI arrests and a suicide attempt. In August, she filed a libel suit in Palm Beach County against her own mother and the National Enquirer's parent company, American Media Inc., over a story published in the tabloid newspaper that quoted her mother.
In 2010, she spoke with The Associated Press about her life.
"It is a giant whirlwind of chaos all the time," she said. "I call my life a beautiful mess and organized chaos. It's just always been like that. My entire life, things have been attracted to me and vice versa that turn into chaotic nightmares or I create the chaos myself. I think that's really the life of a celebrity, of a big, huge, giant personality."
In July 2007, she was accused of scuffling with her mother and resisting arrest at her mother's home in Florida. She was sentenced to jail for 60 days for a probation violation and released; she served 30 days in jail. She also lost custody of her son.
And in 2008, McCready was admitted to a Nashville hospital after police said she cut her wrists and took several pills in a suicide attempt.
During the TV show "Celebrity Rehab 3" in 2010 McCready came off as a sympathetic figure, and host Dr. Drew Pinsky called her an angel in the season finale.
On the show she said she suffered from love addiction, not substance abuse. In one of the show's scarier moments, McCready suffered a seizure and was rushed to a hospital where scans showed brain damage.
Also in 2010, police went to McCready's mother's home for a report of an overdose, and McCready was taken to a Florida hospital. However, neither the hospital nor McCready's publicist would say why McCready was hospitalized.
Cape Coral is on Florida's Gulf coast, about 120 miles northwest of Miami.
McCready also fought the release of a tape in which she reportedly talked about former Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees pitcher Roger Clemens, with whom she had an affair as a teenager.
A call to a lawyer representing McCready in the custody case was not immediately returned.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Source: http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45494644/ns/today-entertainment/
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