Thai Government Scraps Plan to Transfer Debt to Central Bank

December 31, 2011, 5:53 AM EST

By Daniel Ten Kate and Suttinee Yuvejwattana

(Adds analyst?s comment in fifth paragraph.)

Dec. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Thailand?s government scrapped a proposal to transfer $35 billion of legacy debt from bank bailouts to the central bank and will instead seek to extract cash from commercial lenders to finance flood defenses.

?Transferring debts to the Bank of Thailand will be like printing money,? Finance Minister Thirachai Phuvanatnaranubala told reporters today after meeting Bank of Thailand Governor Prasarn Trairatvorakul. ?The methods we are using must not affect fiscal and monetary discipline and must not hurt confidence among foreign investors and international agencies.?

Deputy Prime Minister Kittiratt Na-Ranong said yesterday the step would save the government as much as 65 billion baht ($2 billion) in annual interest costs that could be used to fund anti-flood measures. Thirachai had opposed the measure, warning this week it could hurt investor confidence and stoke inflation.

The proposal increased concerns that Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra?s administration was infringing on the central bank?s independence, after Kittiratt in October said the Bank of Thailand should lower interest rates to help businesses cope with the country?s worst flooding since 1942.

The government ?didn?t study this issue well enough to argue with the Bank of Thailand,? said Pipat Luengnaruemitchai, vice president of Phatra Capital Pcl, Thailand?s second-biggest brokerage by market value. ?Anything involving monetary policy discipline, the government loses the debate all the time because the Bank of Thailand has better credibility.?

Baht Gains

The baht gained 0.7 percent to 31.54 per dollar as of 3:06 p.m. in Bangkok, the biggest advance in a month. Yesterday it fell the most in two months to the weakest level since Aug. 16, 2010, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

The government will attempt to raise about 50 billion baht for debt payments by taking 0.39 percent of the 0.4 percent fee that commercial banks pay to the Deposit Protection Agency and by amending the law to allow the Financial Institutions Development Fund to collect fees from commercial banks. The government paid 45 billion baht in interest on the debt this year, Thirachai said today.

?This will remove the interest burden from the government,? he said. ?If the central bank records a profit, they can also use that to reduce the debt.?

The Financial Institutions Development Fund racked up a 1.4 trillion-baht debt bailing out lenders after the 1997 Asian financial crisis, when the government closed more than 60 financial companies and seized half of the nation?s 14 commercial banks.

Bank Losses

Under a repayment agreement in 2002, the finance ministry makes interest payments while the central bank pays down the principal whenever it earns a yearly profit. The Bank of Thailand has reported annual net income once since 2004 and last year reported a net loss of 117 billion baht, mostly due to losses on foreign exchange.

Thailand?s central bank expects to record a loss this year, Prasarn told reporters today. Kittiratt yesterday said that it would post a ?high profit.? Prasarn said the Bank of Thailand, finance ministry and Council of State would meet again to discuss legal amendments to help pay the debt.

?We agreed that what we will do must not prompt the central bank to print money and it should help reduce the fiscal burden,? Prasarn told reporters today after the meeting. ?It must not affect foreign reserves too.?

Interest Payments

Since 1997, the principal on the debt has fallen by 300 billion baht, or about 21 billion baht per year. During that time, the government has paid as much as 65 billion baht in interest annually, according to Kittiratt.

Korn Chatikavanij, Thirachai?s predecessor under a previous administration, opposed the idea to transfer fees from the Deposit Protection Agency to the government to pay the debt.

?If you shift the revenue to the government, eventually the government would be morally bound to support banks if they run into liquidity problems,? he said in a telephone interview yesterday. ?The whole idea of having a deposit guarantee scheme is to avoid the government having to be involved.?

--Editors: Tony Jordan, Stephanie Phang

To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel Ten Kate in Bangkok at dtenkate@bloomberg.net; Suttinee Yuvejwattana in Bangkok at suttinee1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Chris Anstey at canstey@bloomberg.net

Source: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-12-31/thai-government-scraps-plan-to-transfer-debt-to-central-bank.html

dancing with the stars results there will be blood there will be blood walmart black friday sales walmart black friday sales ucla basketball michelle obama booed at nascar

A Comparison of Recent Presidential Vacation Time (ContributorNetwork)

Presidential vacations are typically a working retreat and often draw a lot of attention from the press. The location, length and cost of traveling American presidents commonly garner even more headlines during an election year. This week, President Barack Obama spent the afternoon with his family on the beach in Hawaii released green sea turtles into the ocean with Sea Life Park staffers, according to ABC News. Before returning to Washington next week the president is expected to request Congress to increase the debt ceiling by $16 trillion, according to ABC News.

Obama

President Obama opted not to stay at his Winter White House in Hawaii during this visit. He and his family are renting a beachfront home on Kailua. President Obama's staff and the White House Press Corps are staying nearby at the Westin Moana Surfrider hotel, according to the Huffington Post. The president's vacation cost the taxpayers $4 million, approximately $2.5 million more than the first family's trip to Hawaii last year, according to the Huffington Post.

Prior to the Christmas trip to Hawaii, President Obama had spent 61 days during his first 31 months in office. The cost of the president's 11-day vacation to Martha's Vineyard required rental homes for secret service agents, armored SUVs were flown to the area to transport the Obama's, a motorcade of approximately 20 cars and security coverage by the U.S. Coast Guard, according to CBS News.

George W. Bush

President Bush spent 180 days on his Crawford Ranch and at Camp David during his first 31 months in office, according to CBS News. The cost of flying Air Force One to the Texas ranch cost approximately $56,800 per trip, according to Media Matters. President Bush spent each Christmas at the White House so his staff and secret service could spend the holiday with their family, according to Conservative Byte.

Bill Clinton

President Clinton spent 28 days on vacation during his first 31 months in office according to CBS News. Clinton typically vacationed at Martha's Vineyard and the Hamptons, but also took two summer trips to Jackson Hole, Wyo., according to History News Network. President Clinton spent 233 abroad during 55 trips, according to Truth Quake. A Clinton excursion in 2000 is pegged as the most expense presidential trip ever, with a price tag of $50 million, according to the Free Republic.

Ronald Reagan

President Reagan spent 112 days on vacation during his first 31 months in office according to CBS News. He spent most of his vacation time on his California ranch near Santa Barbara, according to NBC Bay Area News. The White House communications team and national security staff accompanied President Reagan during trips home to his ranch. President Reagan issued the order to fire striking air force controllers during a vacation at his ranch in 1981, according to NBC Bay Area News. Taxpayers covered the cost of approximately $8 million for presidential travel during the Reagan's first 6 years in office, according to the LA Times.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/pets/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20111229/pl_ac/10759877_a_comparison_of_recent_presidential_vacation_time

chili recipe grimm jello shots tashard choice tashard choice amityville horror puss in boots

What's the Most Surprising New Addition to the National Film Registry?

The Library of Congress today announced an eclectic batch of new inductees into the National Film Registry for 2011, ranging from no-brainers (Charlie Chaplin's The Kid) to fantastic finds (the 1930s-era Nicholas Brothers Family Home Movies). And also: Silence of the Lambs! Forrest Gump! ... El Mariachi? Which of these 25 newly anointed selections, to be preserved on account of their cultural, historical or aesthetic significance, is the most surprising addition?

The 2011 National Film Registry Additions:

Allures (1961)

Bambi (1942)

The Big Heat (1953)

A Computer Animated Hand (1972)

Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963)

The Cry of the Children (1912)

A Cure for Pokeritis (1912)

El Mariachi (1992)

Faces (1968)

Fake Fruit Factory (1986)

Forrest Gump (1994)

Growing Up Female (1971)

Hester Street (1975)

I, an Actress (1977)

The Iron Horse (1924)

The Kid (1921)

The Lost Weekend (1945)

The Negro Soldier (1944)

Nicholas Brothers Family Home Movies (1930s-1940s)

Norma Rae (1979)

Porgy and Bess (1959)

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

Stand and Deliver (1988)

Twentieth Century (1934)

War of the Worlds (1953)

I could be convinced of El Mariachi's worthiness given Robert Rodriguez's famed hardscrabble production legend and the fact that he's created a manageable cottage industry for himself working on the periphery of Hollywood. And yeah, El Mariachi's pretty good, but for my money it's the weakest new addition of the bunch.

Which is not to say it's the most surprising; Forrest Gump was well-loved and somewhat groundbreaking in its time even if it feels cringe-inducingly dated now, but many of these selections are of a distinct era or creatively, socially, or technically significant. (Ed Catmull's 3-D grad project A Computer Animated Hand is another inspired choice.) Besides, Groundhog Day made the list back in 2006. Groundhog Day. So here's what I want to know: How the heck has it taken this long for Bambi to make the list?

Read more on each selection from the Library of Congress's press release over at the Library of Congress website.

[Library of Congress]

?

?

Source: http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1924215/news/1924215/

miami marlins hanley ramirez blago mumia abu jamal mumia abu jamal pearl harbor alec baldwin

'Dark Knight Rises' Star Anne Hathaway Talks Catwoman

'It's just a matter of doing your homework and getting underneath the character's skin,' actress says.
By Kevin P. Sullivan

Anne Hathaway in "The Dark Knight Rises"
Photo: Warner Bros

While it may feel like the trailers and photos from "The Dark Knight Rises" have shown us a lot from Christopher Nolan's third and supposed final trip to Gotham City, we have yet to see that much from Catwoman.

After spy photos from the set forced their hand, Warner Bros. released an early look at Anne Hathaway's take on Gotham's most notorious cat burglar astride the Batpod, but aside from that photo and her brief but enticing appearance in the theatrical trailer, Selina Kyle's role in "Rises" remains a mystery.

Hathaway did, however, open up to the L.A. Times' Hero Complex during a visit to the London set of "The Dark Knight Rises." She spoke at length about why she loves her so-far divisive costume and how her Catwoman fits into Nolan's Gotham.

Check out our photo analysis of Hathaway's Catwoman.

When Warner Bros. released the first photo of Hathaway in full Catwoman attire, fan reaction ranged from full-fledged support to outright hatred. Hathaway has always stood by the costume's unusual take on the classic look, and she once again made her case to Hero Complex. "I love the costume because everything has a purpose," she said. "Nothing is in place for fantasy's sake, and that's the case with everything in Christopher Nolan's Gotham City."

Once Hathaway won the highly coveted role, she dove deep into research, taking in Catwoman's classic comic book appearance and the original inspirations Bob Kane and Bill Finger used to create the character. Hathaway said she drew inspiration from actress Hedy Lamarr to help shape her performance. "[Lamarr] takes these long, deep, languid breaths and exhales slowly," Hathaway said. "There's a shot of her in [the 1933 film] 'Ecstasy' exhaling a cigarette and I took probably five breaths during her one exhale. So I started working on my breathing a lot."

From there, a lot of the heavy lifting belonged to Nolan and his brother Jonathan, who co-wrote the script with the director. According to Hathaway, this Catwoman follows the pattern set by Nolan's other Gotham City residents. "You look at Heath's performance as the Joker, there was a lot of madness there but there was also a grace and he had a code there. There's a lot of belief and codes of behavior in Gotham and my character has one, too," she said. "A lot of the way she moves and interacts with people is informed by her worldview. Chris has given us all such complex, defined, sophisticated worldviews that it's just a matter of doing your homework and getting underneath the character's skin."

Do you think Anne Hathaway will kill it as Catwoman? Let us know in the comments below!

Related Photos

• Analyzing Anne Hathaway's Catwoman Costume In 'Dark Knight Rises'

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1676589/dark-knight-rises-anne-hathaway-catwoman-la-times.jhtml

bérénice marlohe google offers tim gunn tim gunn death clock death clock cerebral palsy

Man 'wearing Afghan army uniform' kills two NATO troops

A man wearing an Afghan army uniform on Thursday shot dead two members of NATO's US-led International Security Assistance Force, military officials said.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack which they said targeted French troops in Kapisa province, which is east of the capital Kabul.

"An individual wearing an Afghan National Army uniform turned his weapon against two International Security Assistance Forces service members in eastern Afghanistan, today, killing both service members," a coalition statement said.

ISAF said it was investigating but did not identify the nationality of the victims in line with policy.

"This morning one Afghan soldier named Ebrahim killed three French soldiers. He was also martyred," Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid said.

The Taliban frequently exaggerate their claims.

He said the incident took place in Tagab district in Kapisa province, which is part of the volatile east of the country.

There have been several incidents over the past year in which Afghan government security forces -- or those purporting to be -- have turned their weapons on foreign troops.

On Christmas eve an Afghan soldier was killed after opening fire on US troops in southwestern Farah province.

Copyright AFP 2008, AFP stories and photos shall not be published, broadcast, rewritten for broadcast or publication or redistributed directly or indirectly in any medium

Source: http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.d0714ba0d0186c4659fa08ce083e7ccc.a1&show_article=1

jewelry stores the firm sleep no more cyber monday deals war eagle war eagle pawn stars

Sony Sells LCD Venture Stake to Partner Samsung

Sony Corp. sold its stake in the venture with Samsung Electronics Co. to make liquid-crystal displays to the South Korean company after predicting an eighth consecutive year of losses from TVs amid sluggish demand.

Samsung will pay 1.08 trillion won ($935 million) in cash for Sony?s stake in S-LCD Corp., a venture formed in 2004, the Suwon, South Korea-based company said in a statement today. Sony, which invested 1.65 trillion won in the venture, will take a charge of about 66 billion yen ($846 million) in the quarter ending Dec. 31 after the deal, Japan?s biggest consumer- electronics exporter said in its statement.

The stake sale enables Sony Chief Executive Officer Howard Stringer, 69, to shed the responsibility of panel manufacturing amid losses in the TV business, where Samsung is the world?s biggest. To turn around Sony, which has forecast a fourth consecutive annual loss this year, Stringer has announced $8.4 billion of acquisitions in 2011 to bolster the profitable phones and music divisions and introduced tablet computers to challenge Apple Inc.?s iPad.

?It?s a step forward for Sony,? said Shiro Mikoshiba, an analyst at Nomura Holdings Inc. in Tokyo. ?Canceling out the venture enables Sony to become more flexible in procuring panels. Still, Sony continues to face falling prices and heavy fixed costs.?

Sony shares gained 1.6 percent to 1,394 yen at the close of trading in Tokyo today, while Samsung fell 0.2 percent to 1.07 million won. The deal was announced after the stock market closed for trading. The Nikkei reported the news earlier Monday.

?Substantial Savings?

The maker of Walkman music players and PlayStation consoles has declined 52 percent this year, valuing the company at $18 billion, down from more than $100 billion in September 2000. Samsung has risen 12 percent in Seoul this year and Apple has jumped 25 percent.

Samsung had 50 percent of the venture plus one share, while Sony held the remainder, according to the statement. The two companies have also entered into an agreement for supply and purchase of LCD panels, Samsung said in the statement.

The transaction and the subsequent agreement will enable Sony to secure a flexible and steady supply of LCD panels from Samsung, based on market prices, and without the responsibility and costs of operating a manufacturing facility, Japan?s biggest consumer-electronics exporter said in its statement.

?Despite this one-time loss, Sony estimates that the transaction will result in substantial savings,? starting January, Sony said in the statement.

Downgrading Sony

Earlier this month, Fitch Ratings downgraded Sony?s long- term ratings to ?BBB-,? one level above junk, from ?BBB,? citing difficulties in reviving the money-losing TV business and deals that won?t improve profit.

Sony, the world?s No. 3 TV maker, is streamlining its main TV operation, which is estimated to lose 175 billion yen in the year to March. Last month, Sony predicted it will post a loss in the year to March 31 after the company slashed its TV sales target and the yen reached a postwar high.

The Japanese company lagged behind Samsung and Seoul-based LG Electronics Inc. in the global TV market last year, with 12 percent of sales, according to DisplaySearch. In the U.S., Samsung and Vizio, founded in 2002, had the biggest share for flat-panel televisions, based on research from IHS iSuppli.

Last March, Sony agreed to sell 90 percent of a TV factory in Nitra, Slovakia, to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., after disposing of 90 percent of its largest North American TV-making site to Taipei-based Hon Hai. Sony also agreed to sell a TV facility in Barcelona in September.

?Unflagging Resolve?

Earlier this year, Sony agreed to divest its money-losing smaller-sized LCD business to a government-backed fund, which also bought a similar unit from Toshiba Corp. and Hitachi Ltd. expenses at its marketing units.

?I have unflagging resolve? to turn the TV business around, Executive Deputy President Kazuo Hirai said Nov. 2. Sony?s management ?feels a sense of crisis? about the unit?s losses, he said.

TV makers also face what Credit Suisse called a ?generational culture shift surrounding video consumption.? Teens live in an Internet-based video culture that doesn?t depend on cable and satellite broadcasts, and they are satisfied with ?small-screen experiences? and lower picture quality, the analysts led by New York-based Stefan Anninger said in the Nov. 28 report.

For Samsung, finding another buyer for Sony?s stake would have been ?difficult,? said Jeff Kang, an analyst at Daishin Securities Co.

Separately, Samsung Monday said it will merge with Samsung LED on April 1.

? Copyright 2011 Bloomberg News. All rights reserved.

Source: http://www.moneynews.com/Companies/sony-samsung-electronics-lcd/2011/12/26/id/422128

jessie james clayton kershaw osu basketball dale sveum jets broncos thursday night football demi moore

Calculated Risk: Private Investment and the Business Cycle

by CalculatedRisk on 12/26/2011 03:41:00 PM

Discussions of the business cycle frequently focus on consumer spending (PCE: Personal consumption expenditures), but one key is to watch private domestic investment. Even though private investment usually only accounts for about 15% of GDP, private investment experiences significantly larger swings than PCE during the business cycle and has an outsized impact on GDP. Note: currently private investment is just over 12% of GDP - much lower than normal.

The first graph shows the real annualized change in GDP and private investment since 1960 (this is a 3 quarter centered average to smooth the graph).

Click on graph for larger image.

GDP has fairly small annualized changes compared to the huge swings in investment, especially during and just following a recession. This is why investment is one of the keys to the business cycle.

The second graph shows the contribution to GDP from the four categories of private investment: residential investment, equipment and software, nonresidential structures, and "Change in private inventories". Note: this is a 3 quarter centered average of the contribution to GDP.

This is important to follow because residential investment tends to lead the economy, equipment and software is generally coincident, and nonresidential structure investment lags the business cycle. Red is residential, green is equipment and software, and blue is investment in non-residential structures. The usual pattern - both into and out of recessions is - red, green, and blue.

The dashed purple line is the "Change in private inventories". This category has significant ups and downs, but is always negative during a recession, and provides a boost to GDP just after a recession. Change in private inventories has made a large negative contribution to GDP over the last four quarters, and will probably make a positive contribution in Q4.

The key leading sector - residential investment - has lagged this recovery because of the huge overhang of existing inventory. Usually residential investment is a strong contributor to GDP growth and employment in the early stages of a recovery, but not this time - and that weakness is a key reason why the recovery has been sluggish so far.

Equipment and software investment has made a significant positive contribution to GDP for nine straight quarters (it is coincident).

The contribution from nonresidential investment in structures was positive in Q3. Nonresidential investment in structures typically lags the recovery; however investment in energy and power is masking weakness in office, mall and hotel investment.

And residential investment has finally turned slightly positive and will make a positive contribution to GDP in 2011 for the first time since 2005.

What does this mean for the business cycle? Usually residential investment would turn down before a recession, and that isn't happening right now. Instead residential investment is mostly moving sideways.

The third graph shows residential investment as a percent of GDP. Residential investment as a percent of GDP is at a record low, and it seems unlikely that residential investment will decline significantly lower as a percent of GDP - especially with a pickup in multifamily investment and some increase in home improvement (Note: Residential investment is mostly investment in new single family and multifamily structures, home improvement and brokers' commissions). It seems likely that residential investment will make a positive contribution to GDP in 2012.

The last graph shows non-residential investment in structures and equipment and software.

Equipment and software investment has increased sharply, but is still at a fairly normal level of GDP. And non-residential investment in structures increased in Q3, but this is still very low.

A key fear is that the financial crisis in Europe could drag the US economy into another recession. That is possible, especially combined with ongoing household deleveraging and fiscal tightening in the US (with current policy, Federal, state and local governments will all subtract from GDP growth in 2012).

However it seems unlikely there will be a sharp decline in private investment. Residential investment is already at record lows as a percent of GDP and will probably increase in 2012. Changes in private inventories will probably rebound a little, and investment in non-residential structures is also near record lows. It is possible that investment in equipment and software could decline in 2012, but it doesn't seem likely there will be a sharp decline in overall private investment.

If the euro zone comes apart rapidly - or there is further non-private tightening - a new recession is possible in the US, but without a sharp decline in private investment, it is unlikely a US recession would be severe. Right now it appears overall US private investment will increase in 2012, and that the US will avoid a new recession.

Source: http://www.calculatedriskblog.com/2011/12/private-investment-and-business-cycle.html

new planet new planet green bay packers stock jeff garcia jeff garcia big east jesse james

Japan hopes Europe will boost rescue mechanism: sources (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) ? Europe should boost the total firepower of its rescue fund and frontload its funding to send a positive signal to investors and international partners that it is determined to solve its debt crisis, Japanese officials said on Monday.

Japan has repeatedly expressed its willingness to help Europe contain its debt crisis, but has also stressed it wanted to see a convincing action plan before making any firm commitments.

"Japan like other non-euro countries is prepared to do something, but unless European countries take decisive action it is hard to make those steps effective," a senior Japanese government official said.

Lifting the combined size of the current bailout fund (EFSF) and the new permanent European Stability Mechanism (ESM) beyond the current 500 billion euros would be a major step and an encouraging signal.

"We expect European countries will review the combined ceiling of 500 billion euro of EFSF (European Financial Stability Fund) and ESM in a very positive manner," the official told Reuters.

European leaders agreed in Brussels earlier this month to accelerate the launch of the ESM by a year to mid-2012 with an effective lending capacity of 500 billion euros ($650 billion), but questions have arisen about the size and timing of contributions.

Japanese officials said that while bringing forward the launch of the fund was positive, a more ambitious ceiling might be needed given that Europe had little success in bringing in outside investors to boost the firepower of the EFSF fund.

"The leveraging of EFSF money by investors' money doesn't look like materializing very well. That's why they are frontloading the ESM and the review of the ceiling of 500 billion euro is very important," said the official, who declined to be named.

"European countries may think what they've already decided is a major step forward, but markets want Europe to act more decisively."

German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble signaled over the weekend that Europe's biggest economy and its main paymaster could boost its contribution to the fund and support its swift launch, although any decisions would have to be made in January.

Since the beginning of the crisis more than two years ago, European leaders have orchestrated bailouts of Greece, Ireland and Portugal, set up a euro zone rescue fund and earlier this month agreed to boost the International Monetary Fund's resources by 150 billion euros.

Still, throughout the crisis that has also shaken Italy and Spain, investors have repeatedly been left with the impression that whatever was agreed in Brussels was too little, too late.

Japan, the United States, Canada and others have voiced their frustration with Europe's piecemeal progress and repeatedly called for bold steps that would create effective "firewalls" around the euro zone's weaker, heavily indebted economies.

Another Japanese government official reiterated on Monday that Tokyo, which led an international effort to boost the IMF's coffers after the Lehman crisis, was open to contributing more but that its decision depended on Europe's actions.

Officials in Tokyo said markets needed to see both effective defenses in the form of funds sufficient enough to cover the crisis-hit nations' financing needs and commitments to fiscal discipline.

"Fiscal discipline is very important. Even if we provide firewalls we need fiscal discipline," the official said.

While Tokyo has repeatedly voiced concern about developments in Europe, its plans to buy Chinese government debt did not reflect lack of confidence in the euro or U.S. dollar assets, another official said.

He said the plans, discussed during Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda's visit to Beijing, aimed at strengthening economic ties between the two nations rather than diversifying Japan's exchange reserves, mostly made up of dollar and euro assets.

"The idea is not to depart from the dollar or U.S. government bonds or the euro, so it should not be interpreted as diversification of our portfolio," the official said.

"I don't have any doubts about creditworthiness of the dollar or U.S. government bonds. The dollar will remain the most important currency for the foreseeable future."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/japan/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111226/bs_nm/us_japan_eurozone

nook tablet eagles magic johnson involuntary manslaughter stevens johnson syndrome verdict in michael jackson trial verdict in michael jackson trial

Pro Football Hall of Fame Youth Touchdown Faux Layered T-Shirt

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/rss/nfl/en_us/sandiegochargers/newarrivals/~3/ACn2rA1FFsQ/entry.point

nor easter nor easter st.louis cardinals st.louis cardinals drag me to hell alot alot

ENJOY NCAA FOOTBALL Nevada vs Southern Miss Live Sheraton Hawaii Bowl game online

Hey NCAAFB Fans ! Watch live NCAAFB match on your PC. Watch Sheraton Hawaii Bowl game Southern Miss vs Nevada will be exiting and interesting. Wellcome to watch Southern Miss vs Nevada live NCAAFB match online. Yes man watch your hot sports match Southern Miss vs Nevada in a NCAAFB match. Watch Southern Miss vs Nevada live streaming NCAAFB match today. Watch this important and favorite match of NCAAFB Southern Miss vs Nevada on your PC

CLICK HERE TO WATCH Southern Miss vs Nevada LIVE NCAA FOOTBALL

Match details

NCAA College Football
Southern Miss vs Nevada
Kick off Time : 8:00 PM ET
Date: Decenber 24 2011

CLICK HERE TO WATCH Southern Miss vs Nevada LIVE NCAA FOOTBALL

Watching sports on the go has never been easier. Watch all the big games, match highlights and player interviews live on any computer! Access all sports all the time! Waiting in the airport or on a long train ride? Watch your favorite sport on your laptop!
Southern Miss vs Nevada Live Streaming, Southern Miss vs Nevada Live Video, Southern Miss vs Nevada online, Watch Southern Miss vs Nevada NCAAWatcH NCAA FOOTBALL Nevada vs Southern Miss Live Sheraton Hawaii Bowl game online on PC

Source: http://androidcommunity.com/forums/f12/enjoy-ncaa-football-nevada-vs-southern-miss-live-sheraton-hawaii-bowl-game-online-83135-new/

darrell hammond boxer rebellion boxer rebellion stanford football lsu football schedule lsu football schedule terrapin

Putin's time is running out: Russian protest leader (Reuters)

MOSCOW (Reuters) ? Up to 1 million Russians are ready to take to the streets to protest against a disputed election and Vladimir Putin's "corrupt regime" is unlikely to hold on to power for more than two years, protest leader Alexei Navalny said on Friday.

Navalny, an anti-corruption blogger who has emerged a leading light of the disparate opposition, said the public mood had turned against Russia's paramount leader and large crowds would join a protest rally in Moscow on Saturday.

"I am absolutely sure that up to 1 million people are ready to take part in such rallies ... I see the people's mood," Navalny told Reuters in an interview on the eve of the rally against alleged fraud in an election Putin's party won on December 4.

"They stole about 1 million votes. And that's only in Moscow. I think that these people are completely dissatisfied with what happened and are ready to defend their rights, including going out on to the streets," he said by telephone.

The 35-year-old lawyer has become the voice of the opposition since protests began over the election, in which Putin's United Russia won a slim majority in the lower house.

"I don't think Putin's regime of absolute power, which prevails in this country, will last for more than two years - that's the maximum," he said.

Navalny will address Saturday's rally on Moscow's Sakharov Avenue a few days after being released from jail after serving a 15-day sentence for obstruction of justice during one of the earlier protests.

He has gained a large following, particularly among young professionals and Internet users, by using his small shareholdings in various Russian companies to expose high-level corruption and to campaign for greater transparency.

The Internet has been vital for organizing protests in the country of more than 140 million, where state television is tightly controlled and has paid little attention to the biggest opposition rallies since Putin rose to power in 1999.

CARRYING ON TILL DEMANDS ARE MET

Opposition leaders have said they hope at least 50,000 people will attend Saturday's rally in Moscow, which will also be addressed by former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. More than 40,000 people have pledged online to show up.

"One meeting, another meeting. One day the people will go out on the street, and they will not return. There is only one scenario. We have to carry on until they meet our demands," Navalny said.

The demands include annulling the election and holding a new one, registering opposition parties, dismissing the election commission head and freeing people the protesters consider political prisoners.

Calls by some opposition leaders for another demand to be added to the list - Putin's resignation - have been resisted by some of the organizers who say the main aim of the demonstration is to demand an election rerun.

But Navalny called on Russians to unite against Putin as soon as he was freed from jail early on Wednesday and his influence has risen since the protests began.

Navalny's politics, which mix scorn for the ruling elite and rhetoric on illegal immigration, have gained traction with the middle class. But his chances of becoming a genuine threat to Putin's tightly controlled political system could depend on whether he can mobilize large numbers of protesters.

Although his popularity has fallen, Putin is still widely seen as Russia's most popular politician and is regarded as the ultimate arbiter by the clans which own swathes of the world's biggest energy producer.

Even so, Navalny has increasingly pitted himself against Putin, who is almost certain to extend his 12-year rule by returning to the presidency in an election in March.

"I don't think we need to demand the resignation of Putin. we only need to demand free elections ... The country needs a decent, legitimate president," he said.

Navalny has repeatedly said he is not afraid of reprisals for speaking out against what he has called a corrupt government, and he has warned that authorities have more to lose than protesters from a show of force.

"I think that they (the authorities) have simply realized a simple fact ... it has become more and more obvious that they would lose very quickly, lose everything, if they met us with force. These people are not stupid," he said.

(Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova, writing by Thomas Grove; editing by Timothy Heritage and Matthew Jones)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/russia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111223/wl_nm/us_russia_navalny

oregon ducks oregon football lana turner donald glover julio cesar chavez jr jason segel turducken

Egyptian Salafi spokesman's interview with Israel-Army-Radio (Full text)

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/friday-lunch-club/~3/8E1Fg_kVjqk/egyptian-salafi-spokesmans-interview.html

kim zolciak jerry sandusky interview white house shooting internet censorship sveum benetton ads cornucopia

ITC judge favours Microsoft in patent dispute against Motorola

CBR Staff Writer Published 21 December 2011

The judge ruled out that Motorola violated six other patents that were stated in the complaint

A judge from the US International Trade Commission (ITC) ruled that Motorola Mobility, the company to be acquired by Google, infringed one of Microsoft's patents.

According to Reuters, the judge found that Motorola had used Microsoft's patented technology--which enables users to schedule meetings via mobile devices--in the making of its Android-based mobile phones.

However, the judge ruled out that Motorola violated six other patents that were stated in the complaint filed in October 2010.

Meanwhile, according to Motorola, the ruling is preliminary and needs approval by the full six-member Commission. A final decision is expected by April 20, 2012 and then the decision will be subject to a 60-day review period by the Obama administration.

Microsoft deputy general counsel David Howard said that they were pleased with the ITC's initial determination. "As Samsung, HTC, Acer and other companies have recognized, respecting others' intellectual property through licensing is the right path forward," said Howard.

As Microsoft praised the decision, Motorola too said it was pleased with the outcome.

Source: http://mobility.cbronline.com/news/itc-judge-favours-microsoft-in-patent-dispute-against-motorola-211211

mike quade mike quade sticks and stones sticks and stones top chef powerball winner powerball winner

Swype Android Keyboard App Features Dragon Dictation

The Swype for Android keyboard application has received an update which?provides support for Nuance's Dragon Dictation.

The app, first launched in a TechCrunch, provides users an easier way to type on the virtual keyboard - allowing them to type without lifting their fingers. These new features are the result of a business deal in which Nuance acquired Swype for $100 million?this past?October.

The first, most notable feature, is the integration with Dragon Dictation, Nuance's voice activated typing solution. This feature allows users to dictate messages to the Swype keyboard which types it out.

Swype?claims the updated version comes with 40 percent improvement in voice transcriptions and is capable of improving as it learns. The app includes support for English, French, Spanish, Italian and German - more languages to be added soon, reports AndroidOS.in.

The company also?claims the update also includes new abilities that let the app analyse what users have already typed in the past and make word suggestions accordingly, to make typing via Swype much faster.

The update, however,?is not available for versions of Swype that come pre-installed on some Android smartphones.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/itproportal/rss/~3/RFXjA1Gj170/

gazelle pumpkin carving patterns pumpkin carving patterns lizzie borden lizzie borden 20/20 maps directions

Lawyers for Sheen's ex-wife fear media frenzy (AP)

ASPEN, Colo. ? Attorneys for Charlie Sheen's ex-wife want to stop what they expect to be a media frenzy when she appears in court on drug and assault charges.

Attorneys asked a judge to deny a live Internet feed from the courtroom requested by TMZ Productions when Brooke Mueller appears on Jan. 23.

The 34-year-old Mueller faces a felony charge of possession of cocaine with intent to distribute and a misdemeanor assault charge.

She was arrested Dec. 3 after a woman reported being assaulted at a nightclub.

The Aspen Times reported ( http://bit.ly/rWhvw7) that police found between four and five grams of cocaine when they contacted Mueller.

Sheen and Mueller divorced earlier this year after Sheen was arrested on suspicion of assaulting her in 2009. He completed his probation in November 2010.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/celebrity/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111222/ap_en_ce/us_mueller_sheen_arrest

rick perry ad rick perry ad richard cordray dragnet dragnet immaculate conception immaculate conception

Featured Advertiser (Washington Post)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/178130324?client_source=feed&format=rss

tower heist reviews recursion amy schumer amy schumer ascii art ascii art andrew mason

Kindle iPad Update Adds Print Replica Textbooks, PDF Support

Amazon has updated the Kindle app for iPhone and iPad, adding some basic improvements to the standard assortment of reader functions. These include the addition of "print replica" textbooks so students can follow along with the paper copy in class as well as improved PDF support and a personal document system that lets you send files to an Amazon address for conversion.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/M3Iv02uFrHE/

virgin diaries kevin smith kevin smith carlos mencia aaron rodgers packers stock sale packers stock sale

U.S. "BBQ diplomat" wary of young North Korean leader (Reuters)

HACKENSACK, New Jersey (Reuters) ? Photographs of North Korean diplomats line the walls at Cubby's, a New Jersey barbecue restaurant whose owner says he bonded with officials from the secretive Communist state over baby back ribs.

Bobby Egan is one of few Americans who has traveled to North Korea. He claims friends among Pyongyang's former diplomats to the United Nations and said he used to go on occasional fishing and hunting trips with some of them in New Jersey.

But Egan said he had the same bewildered response as anybody else to Kim Jong-un, the 20-something son of Kim Jong-il who became North Korea's leader when his father died last weekend.

"He's got a pudgy face. You want to squeeze his cheeks and give him a kiss," said Egan, a charismatic, barrel-chested New Jersey native of Irish and Italian ancestry.

"Quite frankly, he doesn't look like he's been in a fist fight. How is he going to run the fifth-largest military in the world?" he said. "This is a rough and tumble world out there, especially for a dictator in 2011."

Egan's story goes back to the late 1970s, when he launched a personal crusade over U.S. prisoners of war unaccounted for in North Korea and Vietnam. He says he became friendly with several officials at the U.N. mission of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, as North Korea is known.

Over the years, Egan held several unofficial roles, including head of the U.S.A.-D.P.R.K. Trade Council - a largely made-up group that made it possible for him to travel to North Korea.

The quirky relationship between Egan and several North Korean diplomats was the subject of a 2007 article in the New Yorker (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/10/08/071008fa_fact_mead?currentPage=all).

Egan's memoir "Eating with the Enemy: How I Waged Peace with North Korea From My BBQ Shack in Hackensack" was published last year by St Martin's Press and HBO has bought the film rights.

But North Korea experts cast doubt on the significance of any relationship between Egan and North Korean officials.

Charles Pritchard, the U.S. special envoy for talks with North Korea in 2001-2003 and now president of the Korea Economic Institute in Washington, said Egan has embellished his role and the North Koreans saw him as nothing more than a "free meal."

"There is so much that is not true and so much that is exaggerated. It is more entertainment and fantasy than reality," he said in an interview. "I certainly got nothing from him."

Egan, 53, says North Korean diplomats ate for free at Cubby's, a short drive from midtown Manhattan, and some became regulars.

"Baby back ribs - well done, light on the sauce" was their favorite dish, Egan said. He added, in a hushed voice, the North Koreans' teeth cannot handle too much sweet sauce.

Egan eventually made several trips to the secretive state, beginning in 1994. But he said he never saw Kim Jong-un and knows little about him.

KEEP YOUR FRIENDS CLOSE

For Egan, who did not graduate from high school and describes himself as a former drug addict, his connection to North Korea offered the chance for some excitement.

"I was for a while our only in-country guy who was feeding back intelligence. I was our guy inside there. And I was also Pyongyang's guy in New Jersey," he said, summing up his diplomatic philosophy as "keep your friends close and your enemies closer."

Any connection between Egan and U.S. intelligence could not be confirmed.

John McCreary, a retired analyst for the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency and a North Korea expert, said in an interview when Egan's book was published that the restaurateur's role had been one of personal diplomacy.

"On a local, personal level there was a breakthrough. That's a good thing," McCreary said, describing Egan as a friend. He added it was not clear Egan had accomplished any more than that.

A representative at North Korea's U.N. mission told Reuters last year he understood Egan had ties with the mission but gave no further information.

Egan said he now has only infrequent contact with North Koreans. His last trip there was about five years ago but he hopes to return to open a branch of his restaurant in Pyongyang.

"My dream is that (President Barack) Obama appoints me ambassador and then I'll open my Cubby's right next to the embassy," he said.

(Editing by Michelle Nichols, Claudia Parsons and John O'Callaghan)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/nkorea/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111221/us_nm/us_korea_north_usa_diner

beverly hills hotel beverly hills hotel rajon rondo tori spelling duke basketball brian williams patrice o neal

Iraq, a fight that should not have started, ends (Seattle Times)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/176273958?client_source=feed&format=rss

immaculate conception rule 5 draft lindsay lohan playboy cover lindsay lohan playboy cover shooting at virginia tech shooting at virginia tech blagojevich

Egyptian soldiers battle protesters, three dead (Reuters)

CAIRO (Reuters) ? At least three people were killed and 257 wounded in Cairo on Friday as troops fought demonstrators in the worst violence since Egypt began its first free election in six decades.

In a pattern that has recurred during nine months of army rule since President Hosni Mubarak's overthrow in February, the confrontation swiftly grew as more people took to the streets.

The Health Ministry said three people had been killed and 257 wounded in the unrest in the city centre. A third died from gunshot wounds, a worker at a makeshift field hospital said.

Egypt's Dar al-Iftah, the body responsible for issuing fatwas (religious recommendations) said one of its top officials, Emad Effat, was killed during the violence, the state news agency MENA said.

Clashes raged on after nightfall, with protesters throwing petrol bombs and stones at the cabinet building, breaking windows and security cameras. Soldiers fired at demonstrators hurling rocks at the parliament building. It was not clear if they were using rubber bullets or live ammunition.

The violence erupted the previous night when military police tried to break up a sit-in in front of the cabinet offices, activists said. That ignited clashes that quickly turned the streets around parliament into a rock-strewn battle zone.

The ruling military council, in a statement read on state television, denied troops had tried to disperse the sit-in.

It also denied troops had used fire-arms and said the violence started when one of the officers maintaining security outside parliament was attacked while on duty. The public prosecutor would investigate that incident, the council said.

A new civilian advisory council that was set up to offer guidance to the army generals on policy said it would resign if its recommendations on how to solve the crisis were not heeded.

Presidential candidate Amr Moussa, who is a member of the civilian council, told an Egyptian satellite television station, the council had suspended its meetings until the military council meets its demands that include an end to all violence against demonstrators.

By early afternoon, ambulance sirens were wailing as troops tried to disperse around 10,000 protesters with truncheons and what witnesses said appeared to be electric cattle prods.

Reports of beatings of well-known pro-democracy activists buzzed across social media and politicians from Islamists to liberals lined up to condemn the army's tactics.

"Even if the sit-in was not legal, should it be dispersed with such brutality and barbarity?" asked Mohamed ElBaradei, a presidential candidate and former U.N. nuclear watchdog head.

The sit-in outside the cabinet office was a remnant of far bigger protests last month around Cairo's Tahrir Square in which 42 people were killed shortly before voting began in Egypt's first election since a military council took over from Mubarak.

"The council wants to spoil the elections. They don't want a parliament that has popular legitimacy unlike them and would challenge their authority," said Shadi Fawzy, a pro-democracy activist. "I don't believe they will hand over power in June."

In Friday's disturbances, cars were set alight and part of a state building was torched.

Troops and unidentified men in plain clothes hurled rocks from the roof of one parliament building onto protesters who were throwing stones, shards of glass and petrol bombs.

Demonstrators burned piles of car tires to send up plumes of black smoke and block the view of the street from above.

The head of the military council, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, ordered that everyone wounded in the fighting be treated in army hospitals, state television said.

An army source said 32 security personnel had been wounded while trying to stop protesters from breaking into parliament.

Ziad el-Elaimy, a leading figure in the liberal Egyptian Bloc, who ran for parliament in Cairo, said he was beaten by security forces when he arrived to witness the scene.

When he protested, army officers told him: "To hell with you and your parliament," according to Elaimy.

BATTLEGROUND

The actual voting in the election, which is staggered over six weeks, has been mostly peaceful since it began on November 28.

A big first-round turnout had partially deflated the street protests against army rule, which prompted the government to resign and the generals to pledge to step aside by July.

On Sunday, a new cabinet is to hold its first full meeting since it was sworn in on December 7 and plans to weigh new austerity measures to address a wider-than-expected budget deficit.

Protesters have occupied an area outside the cabinet office since late November, forcing the government to meet elsewhere.

They said the army provoked the violence, which worsened after images appeared online of an activist, named as Abboudi Ibrahim, being supported by a crowd, his face badly bruised and eyes swollen and shut after he was detained by military police.

Protester Bebars Mohamed, 19, said he was at the sit-in when military police grabbed Ibrahim.

"The army pushed us away from Parliament Street and burnt the tents. They threw rocks and glass on us," he said.

ISLAMISTS LEAD IN ELECTION

The clashes broke out after two days of voting in the second round of the election on Wednesday and Thursday. Turnout again appeared high as voting moved to districts of greater Cairo, Suez, Ismailiya, Aswan and parts of the Nile Delta.

The Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) said it expected to keep its first-round lead but that it was not clear whether its vote share would stay around 40 percent.

Early indications showed the FJP still in the lead, followed again by the hardline Islamist Salafi al-Nour party, with the liberal Egyptian Bloc in third place, state newspapers said.

The army is in charge until a presidential election in mid-2012, but parliament will have a popular mandate that the military will find hard to ignore as it oversees the transition.

Prime Minister Kamal al-Ganzouri, who has made law and order a priority for his new interim government, has said little.

"The prime minister said he now had presidential powers, but he hasn't moved or spoken or issued clear directions," said Adel Soliman, head of Cairo's International Centre for Future and Strategic Studies. "There is complete silence from all those in power."

(Additional reporting by Marwa Awad, Omar Fahmy, Shaimaa Fayed, Ahmed Tolba, Ashraf Fahim, Amr Dalsh; Writing by Tom Pfeiffer; Editing by Alistair Lyon)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111216/wl_nm/us_egypt_protest

annie hall jon lester mitchel musso bad lip reading gilad shalit gilad shalit santonio holmes

Israeli changes his name to Mark Zuckerberg

JERUSALEM (AP) ? Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, meet your Israeli doppelganger: Mark Zuckerberg.

Israeli entrepreneur Rotem Guez says he has legally changed his name to that of Facebook's CEO, a gimmick meant to persuade the social networking site to back down from what he says are threats to take legal action against him.

He's telling Facebook: "If you want to sue me, you're going to have to sue Mark Zuckerberg."

He says a lawyer for Facebook pressed him this week to close his online business Like Store, calling it illegal. Like Store promises to enhance companies' online reputations by offering Facebook users free content only accessible by clicking "like" on the companies' profiles.

The Israeli acknowledged on Saturday his company violates Facebook's terms of use, but says many U.S. companies offer similar services.

Facebook declined to comment specifically on the name change, but said it was going after those who violate the company's terms as part of efforts to protect users.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/495d344a0d10421e9baa8ee77029cfbd/Article_2011-12-16-Israel-Facebook/id-5ede6deb008147fe8413fbbeb8bb4417

seven days in utopia seven days in utopia big 10 championship game big 10 championship game lsu state of play the national defense authorization act

Video: Sound Off

The euro zone crisis, Europe's shaky banks, the IPO market, and better than expected earnings were just some of the topics discussed by our guests on CNBC Wednesday.

Related Links:

Business & financial news headlines from msnbc.com

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/45674771/

jim boeheim bill of rights toys r us toys r us shame shame hedy lamarr

Magnitude 5.6 quake hits off Japan (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? A magnitude 5.6 quake struck off Japan shortly after midnight at a depth of 15 (10 miles), the U.S. Geological Survey said.

It said it hit 219 km southeast of Hachijo-jima, in the Izu Islands, at 1512 GMT. It earlier gave the magnitude as 6. It was not immediately clear whether it had caused any damage.

Japan, situated on the "Ring of Fire" arc of volcanoes and oceanic trenches which partly encircles the Pacific Basin, accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

(Writing by Alison Williams)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/japan/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111215/wl_nm/us_quake_japan

2011 election results 11/11/11 11 11 11 activision blizzard acrylamide advent calendar adobe air

Hide and seek signals

Public release date: 15-Dec-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Yivsam Azgad
news@weizmann.ac.il
972-893-43856
Weizmann Institute of Science

The white blood cells that fight disease and help our bodies heal are directed to sites of infection or injury by 'exit signs' chemical signals that tell them where to pass through the blood vessel walls and into the underlying tissue. New research at the Weizmann Institute, which appeared in Nature Immunology online, shows how the cells lining blood vessel walls may act as 'selectors' by hiding the signals where only certain 'educated' white blood cells will find them.

In previous studies, Prof. Ronen Alon and his team in the Immunology Department had found that near sites of inflammation, white blood cells rapidly crawl along the inner lining of the blood vessels with tens of tiny legs that grip the surface tightly, feeling for the exit sign. Such signs consist of migration-promoting molecules called chemokines, which the cells lining the blood vessels endothelial cells display on their outer surfaces like flashing lights.

In the new study, Alon and his team, including Drs. Ziv Shulman and Shmuel Cohen, found that not all chemokine signals produced by endothelial cells are on display. They observed the recruitment of subsets of immune cells called effector cells that are the 'special forces' of the immune system: They receive training in the lymph nodes, where they learn to identify a particular newly-invading pathogen and then return to the bloodstream on a search and destroy mission. Like the other white blood cells, effector cells crawled on tiny appendages along the lining of inflamed blood vessels near the site of pathogen entry, but rather than sensing surface chemokines, they used their legs to reach into the endothelial cells in search of the migration-promoting chemokines.

As opposed to the external exit signs, these chemokines were held in tiny containers vesicles inside the inflamed endothelial cell walls. The effector cells paused in the joins where several cells met, inserting their legs through the walls of several endothelial cells at once to trap chemokines as they were released from vesicles at the endothelial cell membrane. Once they obtained the right chemokine directives, the immune cells were quickly ushered out through the blood vessel walls toward their final destination.

The researchers think that keeping the chemokines inside the endothelial cells ensures, on the one hand, that these vital signals will be safe from getting washed away in the blood or eaten by various enzymes. On the other hand, it guarantees that only those effector cells with special training that can make the extra effort to find the signals will pass through.

Alon: 'We are now seeing that the blood vessel endothelium is much more than just a passive, sticky barrier it actively selects which recruited cells actually cross the barrier and which will not. The endothelial cells seem to play an active role in showing the immune cells the right way out, though we're not sure exactly how. Moreover, we think that tumors near blood vessels might exploit these trafficking rules for their benefit by putting the endothelial cells in a quiescent state or making the endothelium produce the 'wrong' chemokines. Thus, immune cells capable of destroying these tumors will not be able to exit the blood and navigate to the tumor site, while other immune cells that aid in cancer growth will.'

###

Prof. Ronen Alon's research is supported by the Kirk Center for Childhood Cancer and Immunological Disorders. Prof. Alon is the incumbent of the Linda Jacobs Professorial Chair in Immune and Stem Cell Research.

The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, is one of the world's top-ranking multidisciplinary research institutions. Noted for its wide-ranging exploration of the natural and exact sciences, the Institute is home to 2,700 scientists, students, technicians and supporting staff. Institute research efforts include the search for new ways of fighting disease and hunger, examining leading questions in mathematics and computer science, probing the physics of matter and the universe, creating novel materials and developing new strategies for protecting the environment.

Weizmann Institute news releases are posted on the World Wide Web at http://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il, and are also available at http://www.eurekalert.org.

The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, is one of the world's top-ranking multidisciplinary research institutions. Noted for its wide-ranging exploration of the natural and exact sciences, the Institute is home to 2,700 scientists, students, technicians and supporting staff. Institute research efforts include the search for new ways of fighting disease and hunger, examining leading questions in mathematics and computer science, probing the physics of matter and the universe, creating novel materials and developing new strategies for protecting the environment.

Weizmann Institute news releases are posted on the World Wide Web at http://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il, and are also available at http://www.eurekalert.org.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 15-Dec-2011
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Yivsam Azgad
news@weizmann.ac.il
972-893-43856
Weizmann Institute of Science

The white blood cells that fight disease and help our bodies heal are directed to sites of infection or injury by 'exit signs' chemical signals that tell them where to pass through the blood vessel walls and into the underlying tissue. New research at the Weizmann Institute, which appeared in Nature Immunology online, shows how the cells lining blood vessel walls may act as 'selectors' by hiding the signals where only certain 'educated' white blood cells will find them.

In previous studies, Prof. Ronen Alon and his team in the Immunology Department had found that near sites of inflammation, white blood cells rapidly crawl along the inner lining of the blood vessels with tens of tiny legs that grip the surface tightly, feeling for the exit sign. Such signs consist of migration-promoting molecules called chemokines, which the cells lining the blood vessels endothelial cells display on their outer surfaces like flashing lights.

In the new study, Alon and his team, including Drs. Ziv Shulman and Shmuel Cohen, found that not all chemokine signals produced by endothelial cells are on display. They observed the recruitment of subsets of immune cells called effector cells that are the 'special forces' of the immune system: They receive training in the lymph nodes, where they learn to identify a particular newly-invading pathogen and then return to the bloodstream on a search and destroy mission. Like the other white blood cells, effector cells crawled on tiny appendages along the lining of inflamed blood vessels near the site of pathogen entry, but rather than sensing surface chemokines, they used their legs to reach into the endothelial cells in search of the migration-promoting chemokines.

As opposed to the external exit signs, these chemokines were held in tiny containers vesicles inside the inflamed endothelial cell walls. The effector cells paused in the joins where several cells met, inserting their legs through the walls of several endothelial cells at once to trap chemokines as they were released from vesicles at the endothelial cell membrane. Once they obtained the right chemokine directives, the immune cells were quickly ushered out through the blood vessel walls toward their final destination.

The researchers think that keeping the chemokines inside the endothelial cells ensures, on the one hand, that these vital signals will be safe from getting washed away in the blood or eaten by various enzymes. On the other hand, it guarantees that only those effector cells with special training that can make the extra effort to find the signals will pass through.

Alon: 'We are now seeing that the blood vessel endothelium is much more than just a passive, sticky barrier it actively selects which recruited cells actually cross the barrier and which will not. The endothelial cells seem to play an active role in showing the immune cells the right way out, though we're not sure exactly how. Moreover, we think that tumors near blood vessels might exploit these trafficking rules for their benefit by putting the endothelial cells in a quiescent state or making the endothelium produce the 'wrong' chemokines. Thus, immune cells capable of destroying these tumors will not be able to exit the blood and navigate to the tumor site, while other immune cells that aid in cancer growth will.'

###

Prof. Ronen Alon's research is supported by the Kirk Center for Childhood Cancer and Immunological Disorders. Prof. Alon is the incumbent of the Linda Jacobs Professorial Chair in Immune and Stem Cell Research.

The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, is one of the world's top-ranking multidisciplinary research institutions. Noted for its wide-ranging exploration of the natural and exact sciences, the Institute is home to 2,700 scientists, students, technicians and supporting staff. Institute research efforts include the search for new ways of fighting disease and hunger, examining leading questions in mathematics and computer science, probing the physics of matter and the universe, creating novel materials and developing new strategies for protecting the environment.

Weizmann Institute news releases are posted on the World Wide Web at http://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il, and are also available at http://www.eurekalert.org.

The Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel, is one of the world's top-ranking multidisciplinary research institutions. Noted for its wide-ranging exploration of the natural and exact sciences, the Institute is home to 2,700 scientists, students, technicians and supporting staff. Institute research efforts include the search for new ways of fighting disease and hunger, examining leading questions in mathematics and computer science, probing the physics of matter and the universe, creating novel materials and developing new strategies for protecting the environment.

Weizmann Institute news releases are posted on the World Wide Web at http://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il, and are also available at http://www.eurekalert.org.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-12/wios-has121511.php

lions terrelle pryor aids walk alex smith alex smith christine christine