Venezuela sends Miami consulate personnel home (AP)

CARACAS, Venezuela ? Venezuela is withdrawing personnel from the country's consulate in Miami more quickly than planned because the personnel have been threatened by exiles with links to terrorism, the foreign ministry announced on Monday.

"With the intention of preserving their physical and moral integrity, the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela has decided to withdraw its consular personnel," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

The decision comes shortly after President Hugo Chavez said his government would close the consulate in response to Washington's expulsion of a diplomat there.

The accused exiles reject the terrorism charges.

Livia Acosta Noguera, Venezuela's consul general in Miami, was ordered out of the U.S. last weekend following an FBI investigation into allegations that she discussed a possible cyber-attack on the U.S. government while she was assigned to the Venezuelan Embassy in Mexico. The allegations were detailed in a documentary aired by the Spanish-language broadcaster Univision.

The documentary was based on recordings of conversations with her and other officials, and alleged that Cuban and Iranian diplomatic missions were involved. Citing audio and video obtained by students at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, Univision alleged Acosta was seeking information about the servers of nuclear power plants on U.S. soil.

The foreign ministry says the consulate will cease functioning once its personnel have returned to Venezuela.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120116/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_venezuela_us

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Weaker Europe starts to lose appetite for US goods (AP)

WASHINGTON ? A sign that Europe's crisis has begun to weigh on the U.S. economy emerged Friday from a report that exports to the continent sank in November ? far more than overall U.S. exports did.

Europe, which consumes nearly one-fifth of America's exports, may already be in a recession. A weakening Europe could further shrink demand for American goods and slow the U.S. economy just as the job market has started to strengthen.

"The decline in our sales to Europe was fairly large and may be the start of a longer-term trend in declining exports to the continent," said Joel Naroff, chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors.

The U.S. trade deficit rose 10.4 percent in November to $47.8 billion, the Commerce Department said.

Higher oil prices were the main reason the deficit widened. Oil rose above $100 per barrel in November. It had been as low as $75 a barrel the previous month. More expensive oil drove the value of imports up 1.3 percent, to a record $225.6 billion.

Overall exports dropped 0.9 percent to $177.8 billion. American exports to Europe fell much more sharply ? nearly 6 percent.

Economic growth weakens when exports decline because factories tend to produce fewer goods. And U.S. companies earn less. Friday's trade report led some economists to cut their growth estimates for the October-December quarter.

Many economists had expected growth to be stronger after seeing more hiring, an increase in company stockpiles and faster production at U.S. factories. Most had been predicting that the economy would grow this quarter at an annual rate of roughly 3 percent.

But Paul Dales, senior U.S. economist for Capital Economists, said he now expects growth to be closer to 2 percent, in part because of the weaker trade report and also because of December's disappointing retail sales.

"The widening in the U.S. trade deficit in November ... is perhaps the first real sign that the crisis in Europe and the more general global slowdown is starting to take its toll on the U.S.," Dales said.

The trade deficit hit a 2011 peak of $52.1 billion in June. Then it fell for four straight months. The narrower trade gap helped boost economic growth as foreign nations bought more American goods.

Exports hit an all-time high of $180.6 billion in September, reflecting healthy auto sales in foreign markets. Greater exports lead to more U.S. jobs and higher consumer spending, which boosts growth.

Through 11 months, the 2011 deficit is running at an annual rate of $559.4 billion. That's nearly 12 percent above the 2010 deficit.

For November, the deficit with China dropped 4.3 percent. But for the year, the imbalance with China climbed to $272.3 billion. That's on track to surpass last year's record of $273.1 billion.

Auto imports rose to $22.3 billion. But consumer goods fell to $42.5 billion. The drop reflected declines in household goods, clothing and televisions.

The drop in exports covered several manufacturing categories. Sales of commercial aircraft, U.S.-made cars and machinery all fell.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120113/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/us_economy

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Weird Celebrity Baby Names: Vote For Your Favorite!


All babies are beautiful. All celebrity baby names, however? Let's just say some are better than others. Below, we rank our favorite weird ones of recent years.

NOTE: We are defining weird as in unusual, not in a negative sense. If you don't know anyone else with said name, it qualifies as unusual, even if you love it.

The birth of Beyonce's baby Blue got us thinking: Where does that little one rank? Without further ado, give it up for the (possibly stoned) parents of ...

Sarah PicA Beautiful BeyonceA Nicolas Cage Pic

10. Pilot Inspektor. Overcompensating for your own boring name, Jason Lee?

9. Kal-El. The son of Nic Cage. Yes, Kal dash El.

8. Track and Trig. Todd and Sarah Palin's daughters, Piper, Willow and Bristol Palin, have downright normal names compared to their brothers.

7. Blue Ivy Carter. This one's kinda cool, but still out there.

6. Sparrow. We liked this name for Nicole Richie and Joel Madden's second child more when we thought Sparrow was a girl. He is not a girl.

Katie and Suri PicAshlee and Bronx Picture

5. Jermajesty. Jermaine Jackson's son. Yes, Jer-effing-majesty. MJ is exempt, barely, since Blanket is merely a nickname ... for Prince Michael II.

4. Spec and Hud. The latter of John Cougar Mellencamp and Elaine Irwin's sons may be sponsored by the Dept of Housing and Urban Development.

3. Bronx Mowgli. Borough of New York City + Jungle Book character = perfect baby name ... at least if you're Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz.

2. Suri. The apple of Tom and Katie's eye. Speaking of ...

1. Apple. Gwyneth and Chris take the cake on this one.

What's your favorite weird celebrity baby name?

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/weird-celebrity-baby-names-vote-for-the-best/

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Samsung may consider alliance with Olympus: source (Reuters)

SEOUL/TOKYO (Reuters) ? South Korea's Samsung Electronics is open to forging an alliance with Japan's troubled Olympus Corp, potentially joining other electronics firms in circling one of the world's biggest names in medical equipment, sources said.

Samsung's major Japanese rivals, Sony and Panasonic, have already shown interest in Olympus, now in need of capital after being swamped by a $1.7 billion accounting scandal over the past three months, sources in Tokyo have told Reuters.

Olympus is best known for cameras, but makes most of its money in healthcare, dominating the market for gastro-intestinal endoscopes which are seen as the kind of high-tech, profitable and stable business that electronics firms would covet.

Samsung has ruled out any interest in Olympus' loss-making camera business, but a company source said on Thursday that it might consider an alliance with Olympus in other areas.

"We are open to the possibility of an alliance with Olympus," the source with knowledge of the matter said on condition of anonymity, without elaborating.

Earlier, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper reported that Olympus was scouting out the electronics industry for a friendly investor to take a minority stake in the company, and that Olympus had drawn up a short-list of five potential partners.

The daily, quoting unnamed sources, listed them as Samsung, Sony, Panasonic, Japanese medical-equipment firm Terumo Corp, which already has a small stake in Olympus, and endoscope rival Fujifilm Holdings.

Olympus turned almost overnight from a venerable blue chip to an investor's nightmare in October, when it fired its British chief executive, Michael Woodford, who then went public with his concerns about the firm's dubious book-keeping.

It has since lost about 40 percent of its share price - though it has recovered from an 80 percent sell-off at one stage - and its management is in disgrace after the firm was found to have hidden losses from investors for 13 years.

Its plight is a potential opportunity for the electronics industry, which has been pushing into healthcare.

A Samsung Electronics spokeswoman said on Thursday it had not received a detailed offer from Olympus regarding a tie-up.

Samsung has targeted healthcare for growth as it diversifies away from businesses where it commands leading positions such as electric components, mobile phones and TVs. It has said it will aggressively pursue investments and acquisitions in new areas such as healthcare and renewable energy.

In November, it bought U.S. cardiac-testing firm Nexus, its second healthcare acquisition last year.

OLYMPUS LOOKS TO RAISE UP TO $1.3 BLN - ASAHI

The Asahi said Olympus planned to decide on a tie-up as soon as next month and was looking to raise up to about 100 billion yen ($1.3 billion) in new equity, although it was unclear if either Olympus or its major owners were in talks with any of the short-listed five.

Olympus, responding to the Asahi report, said only that it was considering various reform options and nothing was decided.

Sony, Panasonic and Fujifilm have already been examining the scope and timing of a possible equity stake in Olympus, sources familiar with the matter have said. All three firms are keen on the lucrative medical equipment sector.

Any Olympus-Fujifilm deal, however, would face tough scrutiny from Japan's anti-monopoly watchdog given the two would have a combined market share of more than 80 percent in flexible diagnostic endoscopes, used to look inside patients to check for intestinal cancers and other diseases.

The Asahi report sent shares in Olympus climbing as much as 6 percent, recovering further from the depths of a crisis. The stock closed up 3.25 percent at 1,270 yen, valuing Olympus at around $4.35 billion.

Sony, Fujifilm and Terumo declined comment on Thursday, though Sony boss Howard Stringer had said this week the Olympus situation was still evolving and he could not comment.

"That situation isn't far enough along for me to comment on," he told reporters at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

"We have a relationship with Olympus, have had a relationship because we make components for Olympus. We haven't marched forward in that particular area. It's a little confusing..."

A Panasonic official said on Thursday: "We are not considering a capital tie-up at this point."

Panasonic's comment has failed to extinguish talk in Japan that it might yet take a stake in Olympus, once the disgraced firm has finally put the accounting scandal behind it.

Panasonic President Fumio Ohtsubo, also speaking at the Las Vegas event earlier this week, had said: "The situation is unclear, so we aren't doing anything at this time."

Having recently restated its accounts, Olympus is left highly geared and in need of fresh capital. It remains under investigation by police, prosecutors and regulators.

It is also in the extraordinary position of being run by a board of directors of whom more than half are being sued by Olympus for mismanagement. The current board, however, plans to resign and usher in a new board by March or April.

(Additional reporting by Chikafumi Hodo, Isabel Reynolds and Nathan Layne in TOKYO, and Miyoung Kim and Timothy Kelly in LAS VEGAS; Writing by Mark Bendeich; Editing by Joseph Radford and Ian Geoghegan)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120112/bs_nm/us_olympus

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Video: Alaska town runs out of snow shovels

We've been reporting this week on the town of Cordova, Alaska, which has been buried under an incredible 15-FEET of snow and is having a very hard time digging out: it's so bad they've ordered a special shipment of huge shovels to dig with. NBC's Kristen Dahlgren reports on the ongoing efforts to reach the snowbound.

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/45964376/

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Microsoft CES 2012 keynote liveblog

1. knights4life03 posted on 1 hour ago 0 0

wat about windows 8? possibilities!!! lol

2. PAPINYC posted on 1 hour ago 0 1

No one, I mean no one, cares about Windows imMobile anymore (sadly).

4. knights4life03 posted on 57 min ago 1 0

windows 8 is gonna be a powerhouse for tablets desktops/laptops... if there will be a windows 8 tablet? im definitely puttin my hands on one and especially with a nokia design too... omg tech orgasm x8! ;)

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/phonearena/ySoL/~3/Og98A7VlDR0/Microsoft-CES-2012-keynote-liveblog_id25643

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1788_: Bitte solange RT bis es stimmt. Gewinner erhalt ipad free Giftklingeltoncard signed by @mogelpony RT @zurvollenstunde: Es ist jetzt 16 Uhr.

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