Catholic Mom

Business gifts used to foster customer goodwill and retention are the most common use for promotional items at 18.5%. Other objectives that marketers use promotional items to facilitate include tradeshow traffic-building, brand awareness, public relations, employee relations and events, dealer and distributor programs, new customer generation, not-for-profit programs, employee service awards, new product introductions, internal incentive programs, safety education, customer referrals and marketing research.[citation needed]

Jasper Meeks, a printer in Coshocton, Ohio, is considered by many to be the originator of the industry when he convinced a local shoe store to supply book bags imprinted with the store name to local schools. Henry Beach, another Coshochton printer and a competitor of Meeks picked up on the idea and soon the two men were selling and printing bags for marbles, buggy whips, card cases, fans, calendars, cloth caps, aprons and even hats for horses.

Promotional Items

WASHINGTON – The couple that got into the White House state dinner for the visiting Indian prime minister without invitations denied Tuesday that they were gatecrashers.
Appearing on a nationally broadcast morning news show with his wife, Tareq Salahi said the furor surrounding his and his wife Michaele's attendance at the dinner a week ago has been a "most devastating" experience. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs described President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama as angered by the incident.
Salahi told NBC's "Today" show Tuesday there's more to their side of the story — an explanation that would exonerate them from allegations of misconduct in the breach of White House security. Appearing on the same program, Gibbs insisted the Salahis had not been invited.
"This wasn't a misunderstanding," Gibbs said. "You don't show up at the White House as a misunderstanding."
For his part, Salahi said he and his wife were cooperating with the Secret Service in its investigation of the incident a week ago. And he said they both have "great respect" for President Barack Obama.
"We're greatly saddened by all the circumstances ... portraying my wife and I as party crashers. I can tell you we did not party-crash the White House," Salahi said.
The White House gate caper captivated a capital frequently as well known for its high-end social life and celebrity eruptions as the occasionally mundane day-to-day business of governance.
Interviewed on MSNBC, Gibbs said "it's safe to say he (Obama) was angry. Michelle was angry."
Gibbs noted that the Secret Service is investigating what went wrong and said the White House was also re-examining its procedures. He told the network, "I think the president really had the same reaction the Secret Service had, and that was great concern for how something like this happened."
Michaele Salahi described the couple as "shocked and devastated" when they saw accounts of the incident the following morning.
Asked if they had been mischaracterized through the media and other paparazzi forums," Tareq Salahi said, "No question ... It's been devastating what's happened to Michaele and I ... Our lives have really been destroyed."
"Everything we've worked for," Michaele Salahi told interviewer Matt Lauer.
"We were invited, not crashers, and there isn't anyone who would have the audacity or the poor behavior to do that," she said. "No one would do that, and certainly not us."
Tareq Salahi said that the couple has been "very candid" with the Secret Service and said "we have turned over documentation to them."
"We're going to definitely work with the Secret Service between Michaele and I to really shed light on this," Tareq Salahi said. He indicated the couple had e-mails that would reinforce their position that they did not go uninvited to the dinner.
The couple also said they had not discussed accepting money from any party or organization, including NBC, for telling their story.
NBC's parent company, NBC Universal, also owns the cable network Bravo. Michaele Salahi had hoped to land a part on an upcoming Bravo reality show, "The Real Housewives of D.C."
On Monday there were more twists in the unfolding mystery of how the Virginia couple managed to get into the highly secured White House dinner Nov. 24 and shake hands with Obama. It was revealed that they communicated with a senior Pentagon official about going to the event, but the official denied that she helped the couple get in.

Michele Jones, a special assistant to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, said in a written statement issued through the White House that she never said or implied she would get the Salahis into the event.

"I specifically stated that they did not have tickets and in fact that I did not have the authority to authorize attendance, admittance or access to any part of the evening's activities," Jones said. "Even though I informed them of this, they still decided to come."

Asked about this Tuesday, Gibbs declined to comment directly, except to note that the matter remains under investigation.

WTTG-TV, the Fox affiliate in Washington, reported on a similar incident a month before, in which the Salahis sneaked in through a back entrance to a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Awards dinner at which Obama spoke. A guest complained that the couple didn't belong at his table.

"I double-checked my (guest) list and when they weren't on that list we escorted them out," a foundation representative, Lance Jones, said in an interview early Tuesday.

The Salahis insisted that they had, indeed, been invited to the Black Caucus dinner, saying they'd gotten the invitation from the Gardner Law Group.

The Salahis' lawyer, Paul Gardner, is the managing partner of the Baltimore law firm, which handles corporate and entertainment lazw. A message left early Tuesday at the law firm was not immediately returned.

Also on Monday, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee asked the couple, Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan and White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers to testify at a hearing Thursday on the incident.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said he wants answers about the Secret Service's security deficiencies that allowed the Salahis to attend the White House dinner. A White House photo showed the Salahis in the receiving line in the Blue Room with Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in whose honor the dinner was held.

"This is a time for answers," Thompson said in a statement Monday. "This is not the time for political games or scapegoating to distract our attention from the careful oversight we must apply to the Secret Service and its mission."

Some lawmakers have called for criminal charges to be brought against the couple, but the Secret Service has not yet decided whether to refer the case for criminal prosecution.

The Secret Service declined to comment on whether Sullivan would testify Thursday.

The couple's publicist, Mahogany Jones, could not immediately be reached for comment about whether the Salahis would testify Thursday. But earlier Monday, she said allegations that the Salahis were shopping interviews and demanding money from television networks to tell their story are false.

A TV executive who spoke on condition of anonymity to publicly discuss bookings told The Associated Press that the couple's representatives had urged networks to "get their bids in" for an interview.

___

Associated Press writers Julie Pace and Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.

___

Web site: http://www.thegardnerlawgroup.com/about.html

NEW YORK – Alicia Keys says her first visit to Africa was so emotional and inspiring that she is ready to take others there to experience something similar.
The Grammy-winning singer is launching a contest through her charity, Keep a Child Alive, that will give five people an opportunity to visit the continent with Keys. She says her initial trip to Africa totally changed her life.
Keys will announce the contest Tuesday night, when she performs at the Nokia Theatre in New York's Time Square. The concert will air live on YouTube at 8 p.m. EST.
___
On the Net:
http://www.keepachildalive.org/
http://www.aliciakeys.com/

The murder of four police officers in Washington on Sunday cast a pall on the nation's Thanksgiving holiday weekend, and now there's a political controversy brewing over the the main suspect in the killings. Investigators have named former Arkansas prison inmate Maurice Clemmons their primary suspect. Clemmons was released nine years ago after being granted clemency by then-governor and former GOP presidential-candidate hopeful Mike Huckabee. Huckabee now faces questions about that decision, which could damage his standing as a prospective Republican presidential nominee.

Huckabee commuted Clemmons' 1989 conviction for aggravated burglary and theft of property in 2000, citing the fact that Clemmons was only 17 at the time of the crimes. Clemmons, however, violated his parole and was returned to prison in Arkansas, where he remained until 2004. Just six days ago, he was released from a Washington jail on bail after being arrested several months ago for second-degree rape of a child and assaulting a police officer.

Huckabee distanced himself from Clemmons' release in a statement last night, arguing that the commutation was not the final word:

He was recommended for and received a commutation of his original sentence from 1990. This commutation making him parole eligible and was paroled by the parole board once they determined he met the conditions at that time. He was arrested later for parole violation and taken back to prison to serve his full term, but prosecutors dropped the charges that would have held him.

He went further today on Fox News Radio, saying: ''If I could've known nine years ago, looked into the future, would I have acted favorably upon the parole board's recommendation? Of course not."

Though he's been coy about possible future political ambitions, Huckabee is frequently mentioned as a contender for the 2012 Republican presidential nomination and remains popular among conservatives. A recent poll of Republican voters conducted by The Washington Post found him trailing only Sarah Palin as the party's favorite candidate for the presidency in 2012. The conservative voters who dominate Republican primary contests, however, frown on anything less than a hard line when it comes to so-called "law and order" issues.

In fact, this line of attack has been used on Huckabee before. Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney criticized Huckabee throughout 2007 for his role in the release of convicted murderer and rapist Wayne DuMond. DuMond was released from an Arkansas prison in 1999, only to rape and murder another woman. Romney and Arkansas parole officials claimed Huckabee had played a central role in securing DuMond's release. Huckabee denies it.

The DuMond case haunted Huckabee during his attempt to secure the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. Some dubbed it "Huckabee's Willie Horton" in reference to the clemency case that dogged Michael Dukakis during the 1988 presidential campaign.

If Clemmons is found and convicted of this quadruple murder, the same thing could happen to Huckabee's attempts to win the nomination in 2012.
For now, however, Clemmons is keeping authorities on edge.

-- Brett Michael Dykes is a contributor to the Yahoo! News Blog

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) –
Disney is preparing another expedition into "The Black Hole."

Joseph Kosinski and Sean Bailey, the director and producer of Disney's new "Tron: Legacy," and screenwriter Travis Beacham are teaming up for what is being labeled a reinvention of the 1979 sci-fi film, which at the time was the most expensive movie Disney had ever produced.

The original followed a group of space explorers aboard the USS Palomino who come across a lost ship, the USS Cygnus, hovering outside a black hole. Inside the Cygnus, the explorers meet a scientist, commanding an army of faceless robots, who explains that his crew deserted him as he planned to go through the black hole. The explorers soon discover that the robots are the remnants of the former crew and that the scientist has no intention of letting them leave.

The $26 million movie, which featured a menacing red robot named Maximilian and two smaller, friendlier robots, was Disney's first PG-rated production and helped put the company on the special-effects map.

The details of the update are being kept secret, but it's known that the take will ground the story in the science of a black hole, much more so than in the original. The character Maximilian will return.

"Hole" marks one of the first projects to be put into development by new studio chief Rich Ross.

"Hole" puts Bailey, who is making "Hole" via his Idealogy banner, back on track after seeing his "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea" project shelved by Ross shortly after the November reorganization at Disney.

Kosinski is a commercial director making his feature debut with "Tron," which is set for release on December 17, 2010.

Beacham came onto the screenwriting scene with "Killing on Carnival Row" and worked on the "Clash of the Titans" remake.

PARIS (AFP) –
Lionel Messi of Barcelona and Argentina on Tuesday was awarded the Ballon d'Or accolade as Europe-based footballer of the year.

Messi, whom Cristiano Ronaldo beat into second place last season, easily saw off the Portuguese striker, who moved to Real Madrid from Manchester United, by 473 points to 233.

Messi got the vote for a tremendous year in which his mercurial talents stood out for Barcelona as the Catalan club marched to an unprecedented treble of Champions League - he scored against United in the final - Spanish league title and Spanish Cup.

Barca teammates were also hailed with midfielder Xavi taking third place with 170 points while Iniesta was fourth on 149.

In fifth place was Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o, who left Barca to join Inter Milan in the summer after winning his second Champions League. He was the club's other scorer in the 2-0 final win over United as Barcelona won their third crown.

Messi, who Argentina coach Diego Maradona picked out as his heir four years ago, was in the youth team in Newells Old Boys in his homeland before Barcelona discovered him. The club swiftly brought him to Europe - paying for treatment for the youngster's growth hormone deficiency.Facts: Lionel Messi

"Without growth hormones Lionel would have grown, at best, to 1m50 by the time he reached adulthood," his father Jorge once told L'Equipe Magazine.

Messi becomes the first Argentine to win the award - opened to non-European nationals 15 years ago with Liberia's George Weah the first non-European winner.

Brazilian Kaka, who won two years ago, came in sixth this year with just 58 points.

Swedish forward Zlatan Ibrahomovic, now Messi's teammate at Barca after arriving from Inter Milan, placed seventh ahead of Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney, Chelsea's Ivorian striker Didier Drogba and Liverpool midfielder Steven Gerrard.

Gerrard's Liverpool teammate Fernando Torres was 11th and Arsenal's Cesc Fabregas was 12th.

Thierry Henry, another of Messi's Barca colleagues and who has never won the award, came in 15th.

The first winner, in 1956, was England wing wizard Stanley Matthews.

Others honours include Alfredo Di Stefano, Raymond Kopa, Denis Law, Lev Yashin, Eusebio, Bobby Charlton - in England's World Cup-winning year of 1966 - George Best, Gerd Muller, Johan Cruyff, Franz Beckenbauer, Kevin Keegan, Karl-Heinz Rummenigge, Michel Platini, Ruud Gullit, Marco van Basten, Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Michael Owen and Ronaldinho.

Having added to his growing personal trophy haul, Lionel Andres Messi, nicknamed La Pulga - the flea - is now itching to follow up and transfer his talents to the World Cup stage in South Africa next summer.

Last time out, in 2006, he was a frustrated spectator as former coach Jose Pekerman left him on the bench for the 2006 quarter-final penalty shootout loss on penalties to Germany.

In December, 2005 the FIA gave approval to Superleague Formula racing, set to debut in 2008. This will be open-wheel, single-seat stock car racing around Grand Prix racetracks. The teams will be owned and run by prominent sports clubs such as AC Milan and FC Porto. The race weekend will follow the GP2 format of Saturday qualifying and two Sunday races, one featuring a reverse grid.

There are also other stock car governing bodies, such as Automobile Racing Club of America and United Speed Alliance Racing.

Racing School

When it comes to dealing with a personal crisis, Tiger Woods could learn a lot from David Letterman, media experts say.
Instead of a vague statement that left many questions unanswered, the late-night comic went very public with his admission of bad behavior, and even cracked a few jokes at his own expense. After a few days, everyone moved on.
"Men and women have been forgiven by their public for misbehavior or misstepping, and even philandering," said Gene Grabowski, who guides high-profile figures — Roger Clemens is a client — through public relations crises as a senior vice president with Washington-based Levick Strategic Communications.
"But what they have never been forgiven for is the cover-up," he said.
Of course, Woods doesn't have his own talk show, and a public mea culpa isn't his style, anyway. The world's most famous athlete and No. 1 golfer goes to great lengths to guard his image, on and off the course. He steers clear of anything with even a hint of controversy, anything that would raise an eyebrow.
But his statement Sunday about the "embarrassing" situation surrounding his car crash, coupled with his refusal to meet with police, is only heightening suspicion that something is not quite what it seems.
"It's his privilege not to address the other innuendoes and reports that have surfaced over the last three or four days," said Steve Rosner, co-founder of 16W Marketing. "But by not addressing them, I believe he has set up a situation where the story will continue to be the story."
Woods withdrew from his own golf tournament this week, the Chevron World Challenge in Thousand Oaks, Calif., citing injuries from the car crash. While that may spare him from facing reporters for now, he is almost certain to be questioned about it at the end of January, when he is likely to make his 2010 debut at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, Calif.
Letterman's indiscretions had all the makings of a long-running tabloid cover story. While not telling all, the married father admitted he'd had sex with women who worked on his show, with one of the trysts leading to an alleged blackmail plot.
By revealing that himself, Letterman followed the No. 1 rule in crisis communication: Take control of the story.
"My recommendation is always to get out in front and curtail speculation by distributing fact," said George Merlis, founder of Experience Media Consulting Group. "Because the speculation gets dangerous and, once it's out there, speculation has a nasty habit of becoming accepted as fact.
"By not talking or addressing issues, you're inviting everyone on all sides to express vague opinions, and they end up dominating the conversation."
New York Yankees Alex Rodriguez and Andy Pettitte figured that out. Rather than stonewalling or sidestepping allegations they used performance-enhancing drugs, like Barry Bonds and Mark McGwire did, both admitted it and apologized. While Bonds and McGwire remain pariahs, Rodriguez was treated like a hero as the Yankees won their 27th World Series title. Pettitte hung out with Letterman.
When Kobe Bryant was accused of sexual assault, he tearfully admitted he was guilty of adultery — and nothing else. Charges were later dropped and while his reputation took a brief hit, fans have obviously gotten over it. His jersey is the top seller in the United States, Europe and China.
Woods' troubles began with a middle-of-the-night accident outside his Isleworth estate.
He crashed his Cadillac SUV at 2:25 a.m. Friday, and his wife told police she used a golf club to smash the back window to help him out. But Woods has yet to say where he was going at that hour, or explain how he lost control of the SUV when the speed didn't even cause the air bags to deploy.
"It doesn't add up," Grabowski said. "He needs to do a better job of describing the cause of the accident. That's the crux of the question."
In a statement posted Sunday on his Web site, Woods said only that the accident was his fault.

"It's obviously embarrassing to my family and me," he said. "I'm human and I'm not perfect. I will certainly make sure this doesn't happen again."

He acknowledged the "many false, unfounded and malicious rumors that are currently circulating about my family and me," but didn't address them except to say they are "irresponsible." He then asked for privacy.

The accident came two days after the National Enquirer published a story alleging that Woods had been seeing a New York night club hostess. The woman, Rachel Uchitel, denied having an affair with Woods when contacted by The Associated Press.

"I'm not sure it's his moral responsibility to the general public to say every bit of what's going on," Rosner said. "But I personally don't think it's going to go away now because he did not address the rumors and innuendoes of the reports about his personal life."

And the truth always comes out, said Mike Paul, founder and president of MGP & Associates PR. Evading an issue, Paul said, will only encourage people to dig further, to find evidence of what they assume or suspect to be true.

Besides, it's a little too late to plead for privacy, Paul said.

In becoming a professional athlete — particularly one who earns tens of millions each year from endorsements — Woods assumed a responsibility to fans, Paul said. He owes them answers, even when they're embarrassing, deeply personal or concern matters ordinary people would never be asked to discuss.

"Your fans are asking the question, you have to answer it," Paul said. "They will not stop asking it until they get an answer."

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates – If global investors were looking for reassurances from Dubai that it would stand behind its massive, debt-swamped investment conglomerate, they got none Monday. Instead, the Gulf city-state seemed to wash its hands of the financial woes that have rattled world markets.
The muddled message from Dubai has fueled worries over a possible default by the conglomerate, which is involved in projects around the world — from Gulf banks and ports in 50 countries to luxury retailer Barneys New York and a grandiose six-tower hotel-entertainment complex in Las Vegas.
Many investors are hoping that the conglomerate, Dubai World, will either openly discuss restructuring of some $60 billion in debt with its creditors, or that Dubai's larger, oil-rich neighbor, Abu Dhabi, will step in to restore confidence by promising to foot any bills.
Dubai and Abu Dhabi are the most powerful of the seven highly autonomous statelets that make up the United Arab Emirates, but their sharply different styles have long made them rivals. For any help, Abu Dhabi will likely demand a price, possibly including increased say over Dubai's affairs.
Abu Dhabi, the seat of the UAE's federal government, has been the more conservative, religiously and financially, relying on its oil wealth to fuel growth. Meanwhile, smaller Dubai — without any oil resources — has for the past decade been the freewheeling boomtown, racking up debt as it built extravagant skyscrapers, artificial residential islands and malls complete with indoor ski slopes.
Government-owned Dubai World has been the engine for much of that growth at home and abroad. So it was a bombshell last week when Dubai announced that the conglomerate wanted to defer debt payments until at least May.
The United Arab Emirates' two main stock exchanges registered record declines Monday as they opened for the first time since the announcement, after a long Islamic holiday.
The Dubai Financial Market was down 7.3 percent, while Abu Dhabi's bourse was off over 8 percent. Brokers said they hadn't seen such declines in at least a year.
Mohammed al-Ghussein, managing partner of Atlas Financial Services in Dubai, summed up the day's trading, saying, "The whole screen is red, regardless of the industry."
Global markets leveled after heavy drops last week. Investors appeared to have a better sense of the size of potential losses from Dubai and were reassured for the moment that its woes don't signal a new crunch for credit markets, still recovering from last year's near-shutdown.
But the impact from Dubai's comments Monday could rekindle the same concerns. Investors with strong exposure to Dubai had the sinking feeling that not only is Dubai sticking to the opaque ways that many feel helped cause the mess, it was continuing to deny the city-state even has a problem.
Dubai officials have largely been silent since last week and, when its top financial official made his first comments Monday, it was hardly reassuring.
Abdulrahman al-Saleh distanced the emirate from Dubai World's debt, saying that while the conglomerate was government-owned, it was "established as an independent company."
"Given that the company has various activities and is exposed to various types of risks, the decision, since its establishment, has been that the company is not guaranteed by the (Dubai) government," he said on Dubai TV.
Moreover, lenders should take some of the responsibility for the problems, he said, arguing that they lent money to the company on the basis of the feasibility of its projects, not on assurances provided by Dubai's government.
Further fueling the confusion from Dubai authorities, the only other official to speak out about the debt mess was the emirate's police chief, Lt. Gen. Dhahi Khalfan Tamim.
Tamim said Dubai faces "unfair competition" aimed at "the defiling of the emirate so that it will not be a hub for finance, work or foreign investment." He said the Dubai government's debts "are not worth mentioning" and shouldn't be confused with those of local companies.
Dubai World broke its silence in a pre-dawn announcement Tuesday.

The company said in an e-mailed statement from the Dubai ruler's media office early Tuesday that "constructive" discussions have begun with banks. It said the restructuring would include about $6 billion covered by Islamic bonds issued by its Nakheel subsidiary. Nakheel, which is the real estate developer famous for building Dubai's palm tree-shaped islands, has a roughly $3.5 billion Islamic bond coming due in two weeks and it was considered the litmus test of Dubai World's debt woes.

The conglomerate emphasized that the proposed restructuring would not include a number of its other portfolio companies, including Infinity World Holding, Istithmar World and Ports & Free Zone World.

While the statement offered the first taste of clarity for a financial world eager for some transparency, it did not deal with the broader issue of how the company and Dubai itself would deal with the overall debt.

One possibility is that Abu Dhabi will step in, more to salvage the UAE's creditworthiness and economy than out of any filial or legal obligation to Dubai. Abu Dhabi's rulers appear to be furious over Dubai's handling of last week's debt announcement, showing it by remaining silent amid the crisis.

"Abu Dhabi's leaders have long viewed Dubai's economic growth model as excessively risky, and they now feel vindicated," Hani Sabra, a Middle East expert with the New York-based Eurasia Group, wrote in a recent report.

But it also can't allow Dubai or Dubai World to fail. "Some of Dubai's largest creditors are domestic Emirati banks in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, and Abu Dhabi does not want Dubai's troubles to spook international investors away from the UAE as a whole," he said.

In a move to partly allay liquidity concerns, the UAE's Abu Dhabi-based central bank on Sunday reaffirmed it was standing behind local and foreign banks in the country by offering additional funds at a low cost.

The move was ostensibly to ward of a run on the banks. The conglomerate, alone, is responsible for about 75 percent of Dubai's at least $80 billion in liabilities.

Abu Dhabi could earn additional political leverage by stepping up.

Intervening "gives Abu Dhabi the leverage it needs to extend its influence more broadly across the UAE federation," wrote Sabra.

"Abu Dhabi wants to get the message across that it will not simply write blank checks," he said. "In the medium and long term, Dubai's financial model will change to look more like Abu Dhabi's as Dubai's rulers lose political clout."

___

El-Tablawy reported from Cairo and AP Business Writer Adam Schreck contributed from Georgetown, Malaysia.

BERLIN (AFP) –
Both Germany captain Michael Ballack and his Chelsea team-mate Didier Drogba are out of Wednesday's friendly as the mourning Germans prepare to take on the Ivory Coast.

The entire German squad was in Hanover on Sunday at the memorial service for goalkeeper Robert Enke who committed suicide last Tuesday aged just 32 after a long battle against depression.

The game at Schalke 04's Veltins Arena in Gelsenkirchen will be full of tributes to the Hanover goalkeeper as both sides use the match to prepare for next June's World Cup.

A minute's silence will be observed, the Germany players will wear black armbands, Enke's Number One shirt will be on the German bench and a video montage of his career will be played before kick-off.

German coach Joachim Loew, who has been deeply affected by Enke's suicide, said he is not sure who will face the Ivory Coast and will see how his side trains.

"I think that after the memorial service, which was very important for us all to attend ... we must now try to get back into a normal rhythm, to look ahead," said Loew.

"The next few days will of course be important for me as coach in order to observe the players and talk to them to see who is capable and who has the strength to perform well on Wednesday."

"I can guarantee that we want to put in a good performance."

With Germany's first-choice goalkeeper Rene Adler injured, either Werder Bremen's Tim Wiese or Manuel Neuer will take his place in goal.

Ballack, who had known Enke since he was 13, will be missing with a knee injury while his fellow Chelsea team-mate Drogba has failed to recover from a chest injury he picked up against Manchester United recently.

With Ballack out, there may be a starting place for Bremen's promising star Aaron Hunt, who qualifies for either Germany or England through his English mother.

Germany striker Miroslav Klose has not joined the squad after being quarantined for four days last week after his twin sons contracted swine 'flu.

Just like Loew's Germany, the Ivory Coast qualified for the World Cup finals unbeaten at the top of their group and Drogba says the Elephants - coached by Bosnian Vahid Halilhodzic - have lofty ambitions in South Africa.

"To make it to the final will not be easy because there are great teams like Brazil and Germany, who have won the World Cup for many years,' he told FIFA's website recently.

"But my teammates and I want to make history and want to change the way the world sees African football.

"I hope that we'll be the team that is going to go to the final and win the competition."

The Nation -- When Yiang Jiemian, president of the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies, gets together with his brother, Yang Jiechi, China's minister of foreign affairs, they don't talk strategy or politics. "We talk about our grandfather," he says, with a smile.

We're sitting in a conference room at SIIS, though, and Yang Jiemian is talking strategy with a few visiting journalists. I ask Dr. Yang about China's view of US policy in the Middle East and central Asia. What, exactly, is his opinion of the notion that the United States is seeking to control that crucial region, including its oil and natural gas reserves, as part of a strategy of containing China? President Obama has just left Shanghai, the sprawling city of 19 million people, and he told China that the United States does not want to contain or limit China's influence in Asia or the world. Yet the United States and China don't always agree on Iran, Afghanistan, and other questions.

"There might be a slight difference of understanding between our two cultures, our two languages," says Yang, who is flanked by a team of strategists and area specialists. ""When America talks about strategy, it implies military, security, confrontation. In China, we have a much broader view of the idea of 'strategy.' We mean something that is long-term and systematic."

Is he concerned about the idea of US hegemony in the Middle East? Could it be a detriment to China, which is excruciatingly dependent on that part of the world for its energy? "If you ask different people in China, you will get different answers," he says. "Personally, I'm concerned about the possibility that these things could be part of a plan to 'contain' China." But, he adds, China's view is to work cooperatively with all countries in the region, and with the United States, to deal with what he calls a critical transition that the countries of central Asia and the Middle East need to make.

On Iran, Yang made it clear that, despite his pleas, Obama isn't likely to get much support from Beijing over confrontation and sanctions against Iran if the nuclear talks don't move quickly. "China and the United States have similar views on some issues regarding Iran, and we have some differences," he says. He points out that China has supported limited, targeted sanctions against Iran at the UN Security Council in recent years, and he notes that China and the US both support the strengthening of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty. "We will work together to persuade Iran to become part of the mainstream of the world community," he says. "But China supports Iran's right to the peaceful use of nuclear energy, and we oppose a military solution to the problem." Adds a colleague, "Most of us believe that Iran's nuclear program is for peaceful uses."

In a separate conversation, an expert from another thinktank says that Iran's negotiations with the P5 + 1, including China and the United States, may go on for a long time. "The important word is patience," he says. "Not sanctions." The talks are just starting. When I tell him that Obama is under pressure from neoconservatives and hawks in Congress to end the talks quickly if there is no immediate result, he scoffs. "We must approach Iran with patience. It is not just a question of months, but perhaps of years. And perhaps, in two or three years, the leaders of Iran will change." In that, he is echoing the notion of some US and Israeli diplomats with whom I've talked, who suggest that the political turmoil in Iran means that the "political clock" in Iran is ticking faster than the "nuclear clock." Iran, US intelligence believes, is several years away from being able to build a nuclear bomb, if that is indeed Tehran's intention.

China, overwhelmingly concerned about economic growth and domestic political stability, is worried that instability in the Persian Gulf and Central Asia, including Afghanistan, could threaten China's energy lifeline and undermine China's surging economy.

What's true of Iran is also true of the war in Afghanistan, China believes. Wang Xiaoshu is vice president of the Shanghai Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, a kind of "foreign minister" for the city of Shanghai. The US intervention in Afghanistan is "not wise," he says, adding that no country has successfully invaded Afghanistan in centuries and that NATO cannot solve the problem militarily. He stresses that because of the US invasion and the current stalemate, the situation in Afghanistan and Pakistan is very dangerous. "China's interest is stability in the region, and a crisis there means that the entire region could become inflamed," says Wang.

Yang, of SIIS, expresses concern over Obama's turn from Iraq to "AfPak." "It is natural for us to think that there is now a US and NATO presence at China's Western border." (Afghanistan and China share a border in China's far west.) "We hope," he says, "that the United States respects China's interests." In conversations, though, the Chinese officials and experts seem to believe that, in essence, Afghanistan is America's mess and that there is little or nothing that China can do to help the United States clean it up.

That's unfortunate, because under the right circumstances China might be able to help convince Pakistan, China's ally, to reign in the Afghan Taliban and brings the Taliban to the negotiating table. But that, of course, won't work unless Obama signals that he's prepared to draw down US forces there. As long as the United States is escalating the war, China's isn't going to providing any help. It's our quagmire, not theirs.

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Current issues and debates surrounding disability include social and political rights, social inclusion and citizenship. In developed countries, the debate has moved beyond a concern about the perceived cost of maintaining dependent people with disabilities to an effort of finding effective ways to ensure that people with disabilities can participate in and contribute to society in all spheres of life.

Many are concerned, however, that the greatest need is in developing nations -- where the vast bulk of the estimated 650 million people with disabilities reside. A great deal of work is needed to address concerns ranging from accessibility and education to self-empowerment and self-supporting employment and beyond. In the past few years, disability rights activists have also focused on obtaining full citizenship for the disabled.

Stair Lift

COLOMBO (AFP) –
Sri Lanka on Tuesday released a banknote to mark the end of the country's 37-year separatist war, following the crushing of Tamil Tiger rebels in May, the central bank said.

The first commemorative banknote in the 1,000-rupee (nine dollars) denomination was given to President Mahinda Rajapakse on Tuesday, the bank said in a statement.

"The valiant contribution made by the nation's victorious sons and daughters, of the security forces and the police, is the theme on the reverse of the note," the bank said in a statement.

"The design at the centre depicts the hoisting of the national flag by members of the security forces."

Government troops killed the leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and declared the total annihilation of the separatist guerrillas on May 18, ending Asia's longest running ethnic conflict.

Tiger rebels bombed the central bank headquarters in January 1996, killing 91 people and wounding another 1,200, in one of the deadliest suicide bombings during their campaign for a separate Tamil state.

SIMI VALLEY, Calif. – A 28-year-old clerk at a Christian bookstore in Simi Valley has been arrested on charges of peeping at customers in the restroom with a video camera. Police said the man was cited and released on suspicion of peeping by means of an electronic device Sunday after a customer spotted the device hidden among boxes in the corner of the bathroom of the Family Christian Book Store.
The 40-year-old woman and her husband called police to report the suspiciously placed camera.
Sgt. Dwight Thompson said the recording shows the suspect hiding the video camera in the bathroom because it was taping as he positioned it.
Thompson says investigators believe the incident was isolated because the victim and the suspect are the only people seen on the video.

The lingerie industry has expanded in the 21st century with designs that double as outerwear. The French refer to this as 'dessous-dessus' which basically means innerwear as outerwear. The boutique Faire Frou Frou, which is an antiquated phrase meaning "show it off", heralds this philosophy by categorizing lingerie as an accessory with details such as straps and lace trim that should be layered and shown as part of one's outerwear.

In recent years, the term "corset" has also been borrowed by the fashion industry to refer to tops which, to varying degrees mimic the look of traditional corsets without actually acting as one. While these modern "corsets" and "corset tops" often feature lacing and/or boning and generally mimic a historical style of corsets, they have very little if any effect on the shape of the wearer's body. Genuine corsets are usually made by a corsetmaker and should ideally be fitted especially for the individual wearer.

Plus Size Lingere

However, the remaining vast tracts of unsettled land were often used as a commons, or, in the American west, "open range." As degradation of habitat developed due to overgrazing and a tragedy of the commons situation arose, common areas began to either be allocated to individual landowners via mechanisms such as the Homestead Act and Desert Land Act and fenced in, or, if kept in public hands, leased to individual users for limited purposes, with fences built to separate tracts of public and private land.

The "open range" tradition of requiring landowners to fence out unwanted livestock was dominant in most of the rural west until very late in the 20th century, and even today, a few isolated regions of the west still have open range statutes on the books. Today, across the nation, each state is free to develop its own laws regarding fences, but in most cases for both rural and urban property owners, the laws are designed to require adjacent landowners to share the responsibility for maintaining a common boundary fenceline, and the fence is generally constructed on the surveyed property line as precisely as possible.

http://www.vikingfence.com/dallas-fort-worth-fence-experts

SEOUL (AFP) –
North Korea's military provocations this year angered its ally China but Beijing remains reluctant to tighten the screws on Pyongyang, an influential think-tank said Tuesday.

China is more concerned about its neighbour's stability than its nuclear programme and views the nuclear issue as mainly the responsibility of the United States, the Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) said in a report.

The North's April rocket launch and withdrawal from six-party nuclear disarmament talks, and its nuclear test in May, coincided with reports that leader Kim Jong-Il may be seriously ill.

"Together, the nuclear tensions and succession worries drew out an unusually public, and critical, discussion in China about its ties with North Korea," the report said.

Beijing backed new United Nations sanctions against Pyongyang but its strategic calculations remain unchanged, the ICG said. It would continue to shield its neighbour from the effect of stronger sanctions.

"China prioritises stability over denuclearisation due to a vastly different perception than the US and its allies of the threat posed by a nuclear North Korea," the report said.

Its greatest concerns were a possible military confrontation between North Korea and the US, regime collapse, a flood of hundreds of thousands of North Korean refugees into China, or "precipitous reunification" with South Korea leading to a US military presence north of the 38th parallel.

In order to limit the damage that sanctions might do to Kim's regime "it remains reluctant to tighten the screws on Pyongyang."

While the North's "dangerous brinkmanship" had sparked a continuing policy debate, China overall remained averse to any move which might destabilise a border state.

"Beijing therefore views the nuclear issue as a longer-term endeavour for which the US is principally responsible, and continues to strengthen its bilateral relationship with North Korea," the ICG said.

China does not want North Korea to have nuclear weapons, said Robert Templer, the ICG's Asia programme director, in a statement.

"But it is willing to go only so far in applying pressure, as it wants instability on its periphery even less."

The North Monday repeated its call for direct talks with the United States to end the nuclear standoff, and said successful bilateral talks could lead to a resumption of the six-nation negotiations chaired by China.

The US State Department said it was still considering whether to hold talks.

WASHINGTON – For Republicans, an election win of any size Tuesday would be a blessing. But victories in Virginia, New Jersey or elsewhere won't erase enormous obstacles the party faces heading into a 2010 midterm election year when control of Congress and statehouses from coast to coast will be up for grabs.
It's been a tough few years for the GOP. The party lost control of Congress in 2006 and then lost the White House in 2008 with three traditional Republican states — Indiana, North Carolina and Virginia — abandoning the party.
So even if political winds start blowing harder behind them and even if they can capitalize on Democratic missteps, Republicans still will have a long way to go over the next year because of their party's own fundamental problems — divisions over the path forward, the lack of a national leader and a shrinking base in a changing nation.
The GOP would overcome none of those hurdles should Republican Bob McDonnell win the Virginia governor's race, Chris Christie emerge victorious in the New Jersey governor's contest, or conservative Doug Hoffman triumph in a hotly contested special congressional election in upstate New York.
In fact, 2009 seems to have underscored what may be the biggest impediment for Republicans — the war within their base.
Not that the GOP would casually brush off even a small stack of victories on Tuesday.
One or more wins would give the Republicans a jolt, and a reason to rally in the coming months. Victories certainly would help with grass-roots fundraising and candidate recruiting. And they might just be enough to reinvigorate a party that controlled the White House and Congress through much of this decade, only to lose power in back-to-back national elections.
Viewed from the other side, a GOP sweep would be a setback for Democrats. It could be seen as a negative measure of President Barack Obama's standing and could signal trouble ahead as he seeks to get moderate Democratic lawmakers behind his legislative agenda and protect Democratic majorities in Congress next fall.
Still, with Democrats in control, the onus is on the GOP to get its act together. George W. Bush, the president many Republicans came to see as an election-day albatross, is gone, but the party troubles born under him linger.
Republican leaders in Washington certainly are mindful of the challenges.
"It's going to be a difficult road to walk, to work with relatively new entrants into the political system and to work with them to show them that, by and large, we are the party who represents their interests," House Republican leader John Boehner told CNN on Sunday, arguing that there's "a political rebellion" taking place in the country.
Others are more blunt.
"Right now there's no central Republican leader to turn to, and there's no central Republican message," conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh told Fox News on Sunday. "The Republican message is sort of muddied. What do they stand for? Right now it's opposition to Obama."
A debate is waging over whether that's enough — or whether the party has to be for something, anything really, to be able to claw its way back to the top. Similar hand-wringing happened in the GOP ahead of the 1994 midterms. Just weeks before those elections, Republicans came up with the Contract with America — and ended up taking control of Congress.
Heading into the 2010 elections, the GOP also faces a very real split between conservatives who want to focus on social issues — which tend to work best during peaceful, prosperous times — and the rest of the party, which generally wants a broader vision, particularly given recession.
Proof of a divide is in the special election in New York's 23rd Congressional District. Potential 2012 presidential hopefuls trying to solidify their conservative credentials, Sarah Palin and Tim Pawlenty, endorsed Hoffman, a conservative third-party upstart, over the GOP-chosen candidate, moderate Dierdre Scozzafava. Badly trailing in polls, she ended up dropping out and — in a slap at the GOP — endorsing Democrat Bill Owens.
The White House is suggesting that those developments show that hard-liners are taking over the GOP and the trend will affect the 2010 elections. Predicted presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs on Monday: "This is a model for what you'll see throughout the country."
Indeed, there are similar tensions in Senate primaries in Florida, California and elsewhere, where conservatives are challenging establishment-backed candidates.

Adding to the party's woes: No one — or rather everyone — is speaking for the GOP.

Fiery talk show hosts like Limbaugh and Glenn Beck have become the angry white face of the party, filling a vacuum created by Bush's departure as the its standard-bearer and the lack of one single person to emerge as its next generation leader.

The 2008 presidential nominee, John McCain, has all but disappeared from the Republican power structure. His running mate, Palin, refuses to disappear — much to the delight of tabloids and to the chagrin of elder party statesmen. And one of the most unpopular politicians in recent times, former Vice President Dick Cheney, keeps popping up to attack Obama — a reminder of the country's and the party's problems under Bush.

What's more, the GOP's ranks are thinning: Only 32 percent of respondents called themselves Republicans in a recent AP-GfK survey compared with 43 percent who called themselves Democrats.

Also, the party's power center is mostly limited to the South, the one region McCain dominated last fall; Obama won almost everywhere else — including making inroads in emerging powerhouse regions like the West, although Republicans still solidly control several lightly populated states in the area.

And demographic, cultural and, perhaps, economic changes in America tilt in the Democrats' favor. Consider that Hispanics, a part of the Democratic base, are the nation's fastest growing minority group. Consider that more states than ever are permitting same-sex unions; Maine will vote Tuesday on whether to allow gay marriage. Consider that the emerging new industry — so-called "green jobs" — is focused on the environment, a core Democratic issue.

Still, Republicans sense opportunity — at least in the short term.

The bloom is off the Obama rose, and the public is giving the Democratic-controlled Congress low ratings.

Economists say the recession is over but jobs aren't reappearing and unemployment is still expected to hit 10 percent. The war in Afghanistan continues, and the public is deeply divided over it. Obama's expansion of government and budget-busting spending isn't sitting well with most Americans. And independents are tilting away from Democrats.

All that raises this question: Can the GOP take advantage of such conditions — or are the problems the party faces too great? Stay tuned to 2010 for the answer.

WASHINGTON – The snows of Kilimanjaro may soon be gone. The African mountain's white peak — made famous by writer Ernest Hemingway — is rapidly melting, researchers report.
Some 85 percent of the ice that made up the mountaintop glaciers in 1912 was gone by 2007, researchers led by paleoclimatologist Lonnie Thompson of Ohio State University report in Tuesday's edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
And more than a quarter of the ice present in 2000 was gone by 2007.
If current conditions continue "the ice fields atop Kilimanjaro will not endure," the researchers said.
The Kilimanjaro glaciers are both shrinking, as the ice at their edges melts, and thinning, the researchers found.
Similar changes are being reported at Mount Kenya and the Rwenzori Mountains in Africa and at glaciers in South America and the Himalayas.
"The fact that so many glaciers throughout the tropics and subtropics are showing similar responses suggests an underlying common cause," Thompson said in a statement. "The increase of Earth's near surface temperatures, coupled with even greater increases in the mid- to upper-tropical troposphere, as documented in recent decades, would at least partially explain" the observations.
Changes in cloudiness and snowfall may also be involved, though they appear less important, according to the study.
On Kilimanjaro, the researchers said, the northern ice field thinned by 6.2 feet (1.9 meters) and the southern ice field by 16.7 feet (5.1 meters) between 2000 and 2007.
Researchers compared the current area covered by the glaciers with maps of the glaciers based on photographs taken in 1912 and 1953 and satellite images from 1976 and 1989.
The research was funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
___
On the Net:
PNAS: http://www.pnas.org

MIAMI (Reuters) –
Cocaine kingpin Diego Montoya, the one-time head of Colombia's Norte del Valle cartel, apologized in a U.S. court to the victims of drug violence and was sentenced on Wednesday to 45 years in prison.

Montoya pleaded guilty in August to drug and racketeering charges as head of the cartel that the FBI said was once responsible for 60 percent of the cocaine exported from Colombia to the United States.

"I have come to the conclusion that there is nothing I could ever to do repair the great harm I have caused," The Miami Herald quoted Montoya as telling the court.

With the sentence, he said, "It is my sincere hope to be able to bring relief to my family and the families of the victims and bring their nightmare to a conclusion."

U.S. District Judge Cecilia Altonaga handed down the 45-year sentence, which Montoya had agreed to as part of his guilty plea. The extradition agreement prohibited a life sentence.

Known as Don Diego, Montoya became a billionaire as he built the Norte del Valle cartel into an organization that smuggled 1.2 million pounds (545,000 kgs) of cocaine worth more than $10 million into the United States between 1990 and 2004, supplanting the once-dominant Cali cartel.

A two-year battle between Montoya and another cartel kingpin, Wilber Varela, from 2003 to 2005 resulted in hundreds of deaths, prosecutors said.

Montoya, 48, was once on the FBI's 10 most-wanted list next to Osama bin Laden. He was captured by Colombian police in 2007 hiding in a ditch dressed only in his underwear and was extradited to the United States in December to face charges.

He pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to import more than 11 pounds (5 kg) of cocaine into the United States, one count of obstructing justice by murder, and one count of racketeering conspiracy.

FBI special agent John Gillies, who heads the bureau's Miami division, praised Colombia for co-operating to end "a brutal chapter in the history of drug trafficking."

"Unprecedented co-operation between Colombia and the United States was instrumental to the success of this case and led to the dismantlement of the Norte Valle Cartel," Gillies said.

In April, Montoya's brother, Eugenio Montoya Sanchez, was sentenced by a U.S. court in Miami to 30 years in prison for conspiring to import cocaine into the United States. Another brother and a cousin were sentenced to U.S. prison terms of 21 and 19 years in the case.

(Reporting by Jane Sutton)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) –
The U.S. Federal Reserve issued bank pay guidelines on Thursday to curb the type of excessive risk-taking it said contributed to the crisis that nearly collapsed the financial system last year.

The guidelines apply to any employee able to take risks that could significantly and adversely affect the safety of a firm, the Fed said in a statement. The Fed will conduct a review of the practices of the 28 largest and most complex banking organizations.

The Fed's directions come as U.S. pay czar Kenneth Feinberg is poised to dramatically cut compensation for the 25 highest-paid employees at seven firms that received "exceptional" taxpayer bailouts.

The move to cut executive pay follows public outrage over continued high salaries and bonuses in the financial sector, whose practices set the stage for a painful recession, and for companies that benefited from taxpayer-funded handouts even as unemployment hit a 26-year high.

"Compensation practices at some banking organizations have led to misaligned incentives and excessive risk-taking, contributing to bank losses and financial instability," Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said in a statement.

A senior Fed official told reporters that setting the guidelines on pay is part of the central bank's duty to ensure the soundness of the financial system.

The Fed said it was not imposing pay caps or outlawing any specific practices. It asked for public comment on formulas that shape the way executives are paid, such as ones requiring that at least 60 percent of the pay of bankers at large firms be deferred, and that at least 50 percent of incentive compensation be paid in the form of stock, options, or other equity-linked instruments.

The proposed guidelines will be aimed at all firms the Fed regulates and be enforceable under its existing powers. The Fed asked banks to review pay and incentive practices immediately.

Feinberg, the pay czar, is expected to cut the overall compensation for key employees by half and to slash their cash payouts by an average of 90 percent.

The companies affected by Feinberg's rulings are: AIG Inc, Bank of America Corp, Citigroup Inc, General Motors, Chrysler, GMAC and Chrysler Financial.

The Fed's proposed guidelines are designed to reform compensation at firms outside of Feinberg's jurisdiction.

Regulators have said Wall Street pay was dangerously tied to short-term returns and risky financial bets, not long-term shareholder value.

(Reporting by Karey Wutkowski and Mark Felsenthal; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn, Phil Berlowitz, Padraic Cassidy)

WASHINGTON – A coalition of black, Latino and Asian lawmakers on Thursday expressed opposition to a proposal that would require next year's census forms to ask about the status of a person's citizenship.
The House lawmakers criticized a proposal by Sens. David Vitter, R-La., and Bob Bennett, R-Utah, as a political ploy designed to discourage immigrants from participating in the high-stakes count, which begins April 1.
They also echoed warnings from the Census Bureau that making a last-minute change to the census would add burdensome costs to print new forms and prevent the head count from being completed on time, as legally required.
"Every census since 1790 has included citizens and noncitizens alike, and presidential administrations of both parties have repeatedly upheld counting all persons residing in the United States," Rep. Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., who chairs the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said at a news briefing.
She was joined by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., as well as leaders of the Congressional Black Caucus and Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus.
"With only 160 days until the census, Congress should be encouraging constituents to get counted, not debating the contents of the questionnaire," Velazquez said.
The Republican proposal, which currently remains in limbo in the Senate, would freeze Census Bureau funds if it doesn't add the citizenship question to the more than 600 million forms. More than 400 million have already been printed.
Vitter has said the goal of his measure is to ultimately block illegal immigrants from being included in the decennial count, which is used to apportion House seats, redraw congressional boundaries and distribute billions of dollars in federal aid.
"If the current census plan goes ahead, the inclusion of non-citizens toward apportionment will artificially increase the population count in certain states, and that will likely result in the loss of congressional seats," he said.
In House testimony this week, Census Director Robert Groves said he opposed the Senate proposal. He noted that the exact wording of the questionnaire was made available to Congress last year and that there was no opposition then.
"I can say with absolute confidence, that if we add a question to this census questionnaire at this point, we will not deliver the reapportionment counts in 2010 on time, and we will not provide the data for redistricting," he said.
The census has long disproportionately missed minorities. In 2000, the bureau noted for the first time an overcount of 1.3 million people, due mostly to duplicate counts of whites with multiple residences. About 4.5 million people were missed, mostly blacks and Hispanics.
California, with its slowing population growth, could lose a House seat if its high numbers of Asian and Hispanic immigrants — both legal and illegal — aren't fully counted.
New York City faces challenges with a resident population that is more than one-third foreign born. The state is projected to lose either one or two House seats.
Florida could pick up one or two seats depending on a count of residents, who have seen high rates of mortgage foreclosures. Arizona, North Carolina and Texas also stand to gain seats.
(This version CORRECTS story to say previous administrations of both parties have repeatedly upheld counting all persons, not just citizens.)

Ownership of the fence varies. In some parts of the country all boundaries are shared; in other parts of the country you may own the boundary on the left-hand or right-hand side, however, only the title deeds can be depended on to tell you which side is yours. (A 'T' symbol indicates who is the owner). It used to be normal for the cladding to be on the non-owners side (enabling access to the posts for the owner when repairs need doing), but increasingly this cannot be depended on.

Five foot high fences (over which many people can see and talk) are increasingly being superseded by six-foot fences giving the impression of complete privacy.

http://www.vikingfence.com/

Golf courses have not always had eighteen holes. The St Andrews Links occupy a narrow strip of land along the sea. As early as the 15th century, golfers at St Andrews, in Fife, established a customary route through the undulating terrain, playing to holes whose locations were dictated by topography.

There are six principal tours for women, each based in a different country or continent. The most prestigious of these is the United States based LPGA Tour.

http://www.hiousa.com/quote/putting.shtml

Wind Spinners

The thread used to fly kites in Hyderabad is known as 'Manjaa'. Highly maneuverable single-string paper and bamboo kites are flown from the rooftops while using line friction in an attempt to cut each other's kite lines, either by letting the line loose at high speed or by pulling the line in a fast and repeated manner. In some Indian cities kite flying/fighting is an important part of other celebrations, including Republic Day, Independence Day, Raksha Bandhan, and Janmashtami.

In Pakistan, kite flying is a popular ritual for the spring festival known as Basant. However, kite flying is currently banned as some kite fliers engage in kite battles by coating their strings with glass or shards of metal, leading to injuries and death. Kite fighting is a very popular sport in Pakistan, mainly centered in Lahore. Kup, Patang, Guda, and Nakhlaoo are some of the kites used in fighting and they vary in balance, weight and speed through the air.

BOSTON (Reuters) –
General Electric Co (GE.N) reported a 42 percent drop in profit, as a global economic slump hammered its hefty finance arm and eroded demand for the heavy equipment it manufactures.

The largest U.S. conglomerate, whose shares were down 0.8 percent in premarket trading, reported third-quarter profit of $2.49 billion, or 23 cents per share, compared with earnings of $4.31 billion, or 43 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue fell 20 percent to $37.8 billion.

Chief Executive Jeff Immelt said the economy "is beginning to slowly recover."

The world's largest maker of jet engines and electricity-producing turbines has faced falling demand for its big capital equipment. But so far this year it has counted on revenue for maintaining products it has already sold to boost results.

At the same time, it has been cutting back its GE Capital finance arm, which had invested heavily in commercial real estate and has been hard hit by the credit crunch.

After plumbing 18-year lows in March, GE shares are now up about 4 percent so far this year, trailing the 15 percent rise of the Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI).

(Reporting by Scott Malone; Editing by Derek Caney)

Lingerie

An overbust corset encloses the torso, extending from just under the arms to the hips. An underbust corset begins just under the breasts and extends down to the hips. Some corsets extend over the hips and, in very rare instances, reach the knees (example). A shorter kind of corset, which covers the waist area (from low on the ribs to just above the hips), is called a 'waist cincher'. A corset may also include garters to hold up stockings (alternatively a separate garter belt may be worn for that).

The center front was further reinforced by a busk made of ivory, wood, or metal. It was most often laced from the back, and was, at first, a garment reserved for the aristocracy.

WASHINGTON, Pa. – They've heard it all before — the tanking economy, the bleeding of jobs, the creeping hardship that never seems to ebb. And the desperate hope that hangs over everything and whispers that maybe, just maybe, tomorrow might be a tiny bit better.
In the river valley where Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia meet, the anticipation of change never really goes away. Because of that, it seems, people still are willing to give Barack Obama a chance as he maneuvers through the murkiness of a nation in transformation.
"No one is feeling satisfied with the state of the country," Derek Duffee says from behind his coffee bar's counter in Pennsylvania's Washington. "I don't know if what he's doing will work, but he's trying," says Miyoshi Braxton, an Obama fan smoking on a park bench outside her downtown apartment building in Steubenville, Ohio.
And this from antique dealer and Obama skeptic Bob Yocum in Wheeling, W.Va., who is sticking with the president for now: "He's the only one we've got."
In a country of deep divisions and ideological extremes, impressions of Obama around here fall somewhere in the middle. Eight months into his presidency, he's not the hero who will fix all the problems, nor is he the villain who caused them. Instead, he is seen as a bridge that leads toward the country's next era — a guide into the new unknown.
He inherited two wars and a complicated recession and, while grappling with those, is trying to revamp the nation's health care and energy policies as he tackles a slew of other ambitious agenda items.
Complicating matters is public that both wants him to stanch the bleeding but is also, as always, skittish about true change. And he's is trying to do it all during a national transition that many fear could leave American dominance in doubt.
"He stepped into a time when there were probably the most problematic things going on," says Dan Moschetta, a 22-year-old recent college graduate from this southwestern Pennsylvania city, 260 miles west of the Washington where Obama lives. "If he could get to all the issues, I'd say he was Superman."
As Obama heads into an autumn filled with challenges as immense as the summer's, public opinion suggests both opportunity and political peril. Polls show people in the U.S. are split over how he's performing, and that's echoed in the voices of more than three dozen people in this ailing but resilient corridor.
Here, three politically different states come together: Democratic-tilting Pennsylvania, GOP-leaning West Virginia and the perennial swing state of Ohio. Once the country's economic engine, the area self-identifies strongly with hard work, family and patriotism.
It's also a place that first felt the United States' producing economy shift toward a consumer economy when steel mills, glass factories and pottery barns that dotted the Ohio River shut down in the 1970s, victims of globalization's birthing pangs.
The way people around here feel is notable. This is a relatively conservative area that, at any other time, could reasonably be expected to reject a Democrat out of hand. And like elsewhere in America, patience is not natural in an instant-gratification society that tends to demand quick results from its leaders and to view politics in black and white.
Why the middle ground, then? Does it hint at a new flexibility? Or is it quintessential American optimism, tempered by the pragmatism of a country growing up? Are the nation's problems subverting knee-jerk politics?
Or perhaps this is a reflection of Obama himself as he straddles issue after issue with a management style that's both pragmatic and idealistic, but also leaves him open to criticism that he's failing to lead.
Also perhaps this: Facing the possibility of American decline, people may simply be at a loss for what to do — and looking, as so often before, to their president to guide them.
"This is really a whole new chapter in the state of America, and there's nothing we can do but keep doing what we're doing and hope it gets better," says Phil Axworthy, 58, a software developer taking a coffee break in Pittsburgh's Market Square.
"I'm scared," says college sophomore Mary Lesniewski, 19, as she reads a book on the green at Franciscan University in Steubenville. Will the country turn around by the time she graduates? "With the help of God, maybe," she says.
People here manage to be at once optimistic and pessimistic. They say the country eventually will persevere and rebound. But they also say they're aren't as confident that the next generation will have it better than they do or that the United States will be as powerful as, say, China.

When it comes to Obama, they are wary but not ready to abandon him. They like him personally but are not embracing his policies. Yes, he inherited a country in chaos, but the troubles, they say, may be too great for him alone to reverse.

"Dude didn't do a lot of this mess," said Bill Marroulis, 53, a recently laid off security guard in Steubenville. But, he said, Obama may not solve all the problems while in office. "It may be the next president's time."

They worry that Obama's big-spending economic prescriptions are plunging the country deeper into debt — banking and automotive bailouts, the $787 billion stimulus law and even popular car-buying rebates. But they also say it may just work.

"I'm just afraid it's a Band-Aid," said Donna Schwinghammer, 54, the co-owner of a home decor shop in Washington, Pa. Later she added: "If the things that he's done to spark the economy do that and hold, I'll be the first to say he was right in what he did."

They seethe about the expansion of government. But they also shrug that the country got what it elected — a Democrat whose Senate voting record tilted to the left.

"The socialist approach of government solving all the problems and controlling industry and controlling finance, that's not the way to continued greatness," Peter Marx, 57, at his used bookstore in Steubenville. That said, Marx added: "He won."

They express confusion about sending more troops to Afghanistan, they don't get what Obama wants to do with health care and they worry he's taking on too much. But they are seeking explanations and giving him time. They also seem inclined to support him — even if they don't agree with him.

"I'm leery about all of this. He's steamrolling a little too fast to suit me," said Robert Pavilky, 65, as he rested under a tree outside of Centre Market in Wheeling. Still, he added: "I'm not sitting in judgment just yet."

This wait-and-see attitude is understandable given the public's uncertainty with an economy that shows signs of recovery one day and higher unemployment the next. And in the purely political sense, the time for measurable judgment comes next fall with the congressional elections, the first real measure of a new president's standing.

As Congress and Obama return from summer break this week, such lukewarm feelings are a double-edge sword for the president.

In his short tenure, he has had his share of victories — Sonia Sotomayor's smooth Supreme Court confirmation and quick passage of the economic stimulus measure, for example. He's also had his share of troubles, including a failed push for bipartisanship. And he has started to draw down troops in Iraq and boost American forces in Afghanistan.

Through it all, the country has caught glimpses of the kind of leader he is. But he remains largely undefined. Even in the areas where he's made progress — stabilizing the financial sector, for example — people aren't feeling it, so they necessarily aren't giving him any credit.

In the coming weeks, as Obama's strength is tested in his drives to overhaul health care and energy policies, he can cast himself as an agile leader able to exploit the country's incomplete take on him by shifting with the public's views. But in doing so, he also risks appearing calculating — a big problem for a president who promised to do things differently.

Ultimately, voters will either give Obama a pass because the problems are so great and the expectations for a quick turnaround so low, or they will dismiss him outright as just another say-one-thing-do-another politician. A bridge is of limited use, after all, if you're stuck in a long, dark tunnel with no end in sight.

"I haven't seen much change," said Mark Wheitendorf, 51, a golf pro from Westlake, Ohio, who didn't vote for Obama. Still, he added as he finished breakfast: "I hope he does well. He is the president."

In an eight-month-old presidency, it's too soon to say which way it will go. Or, as people around here say, cast any sort of judgment at all.

___

EDITOR'S NOTE — Liz Sidoti has covered national politics for The Associated Press since 2003.

FIORANO, Italy – Giancarlo Fisichella made it clear that he has no plan to become a full-time replacement for injured driver Felipe Massa at Ferrari.
"I spoke with Massa by phone and he told me he's very happy for me and that I was the right choice," Fisichella said Monday during his introduction as a Ferrari driver for the final five races of the Formula One season.
"I responded that I'm very sorry about what happened to him and told him to get better soon. 'Whenever you want your car come and take it because this is yours. I just hope I can do what you would have done,'" Fisichella recounted, according to the ANSA news agency.
Massa is not expected to return until next season after an accident almost cost him his life at the Hungarian GP.
Ferrari's longtime test driver Luca Badoer filled in for Massa in the first two races after the accident but qualified last and finished no better than 14th, prompting the team to hire Fisichella from Force India last week.
"I began my career with Minardi in 1996 and after nearly 14 years I had pretty much given up hope of driving a Ferrari, so I'm filled with happiness and pride now," Fisichella said.
Only one Formula One colleague called Fisichella after the move — former Ferrari driver Rubens Barrichello.
"He congratulated me. We've been good friends since we were 14," said Fisichella, whose first call after the move was to his father Roberto, a mechanic in Rome.
"He's my No. 1 fan and he was waiting anxiously. He kept on asking me and I didn't know what to tell him," Fisichella said. "It was one of the most beautiful moments of our lives."
Fisichella will get his Ferrari debut on home soil at the Italian Grand Prix in Monza this weekend.
"I've been racing there since 1992 when I was in Formula Three," he said. "It's a track I know well."

Cap Cana Villa Rental

Cap Cana is located in the Eastern region of the Dominican Republic known as Juanillo. The site was founded as a new and more ambitious touristic site with contributions from international investors and strategic partners such as Ritz-Carlton, Sotogrande, Donald Trump and many others. The site has a Marina, Large resorts, beaches, and many others. Primarily founded as a site to attract international visitors. The Cap Cana Championship, a Champions Tour golf tournament, is held at Punta Espada Golf Club in Cap Cana, a course designed by Jack Nicklaus.

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