GENEVA — The U.S. has tumbled further down a global ranking of the world’s most competitive economies, landing at fifth place because of its huge deficits and declining public faith in government, a global economic group said Wednesday. The announcement by the World Economic Forum was the latest bad news for the Obama administration, which has been struggling to boost the sinking U.S. economy and lower an unemployment rate of more than 9 percent. Switzerland held onto the top spot for the third consecutive year in the annual ranking by the Geneva-based forum, which is best known for its exclusive meeting of luminaries in Davos, Switzerland, each January. Singapore moved up to second place, bumping Sweden down to third. Finland moved up to fourth place, from seventh last year. The U.S. was in fourth place last year, after falling from No. 1 in 2008. The rankings, which the forum has issued for more than three decades, are based on economic data and a survey of 15,000 business executives. The forum praised the U.S. for its productivity, highly sophisticated and innovative companies, excellent universities and flexible labor market. But it also cited “a number of escalating weaknesses” such as rising government debt and declining public faith in political leaders and corporate ethics. The results of a survey of 142 nations comes a day before Obama is preparing to tackle jobs issues in a speech to the U.S. Congress, and just as U.S. polls show a clear majority of those surveyed say they disapprove of the way Obama is handling the economy. Switzerland held onto its top ranking, the forum said, because of “continuing strong performance across the board” with innovation, technological readiness, even-handed regulation and having one of the world’s most stable economic environments. Germany, Europe’s economic powerhouse, was sixth, followed by the Netherlands and Denmark. Japan came in ninth, and Britain was 10th. France was 18th, and Greece, saddled with debt, fell to 90th. The report looked at broader trends: While the U.S. slipped, emerging markets gained traction. China took 26th place, highest among major emerging economies; Brazil was 53rd; India was 56th; and Russia was 66th. “Fiscal imbalances that have been building up around the world are really a danger to future competitiveness, in terms of the ability of countries to invest in those things that will be very important for competitiveness going forward, things like education, infrastructure and so on,” said Jennifer Blanke, an economist with the forum.
Continue reading …GENEVA — The U.S. has tumbled further down a global ranking of the world’s most competitive economies, landing at fifth place because of its huge deficits and declining public faith in government, a global economic group said Wednesday. The announcement by the World Economic Forum was the latest bad news for the Obama administration, which has been struggling to boost the sinking U.S. economy and lower an unemployment rate of more than 9 percent. Switzerland held onto the top spot for the third consecutive year in the annual ranking by the Geneva-based forum, which is best known for its exclusive meeting of luminaries in Davos, Switzerland, each January. Singapore moved up to second place, bumping Sweden down to third. Finland moved up to fourth place, from seventh last year. The U.S. was in fourth place last year, after falling from No. 1 in 2008. The rankings, which the forum has issued for more than three decades, are based on economic data and a survey of 15,000 business executives. The forum praised the U.S. for its productivity, highly sophisticated and innovative companies, excellent universities and flexible labor market. But it also cited “a number of escalating weaknesses” such as rising government debt and declining public faith in political leaders and corporate ethics. The results of a survey of 142 nations comes a day before Obama is preparing to tackle jobs issues in a speech to the U.S. Congress, and just as U.S. polls show a clear majority of those surveyed say they disapprove of the way Obama is handling the economy. Switzerland held onto its top ranking, the forum said, because of “continuing strong performance across the board” with innovation, technological readiness, even-handed regulation and having one of the world’s most stable economic environments. Germany, Europe’s economic powerhouse, was sixth, followed by the Netherlands and Denmark. Japan came in ninth, and Britain was 10th. France was 18th, and Greece, saddled with debt, fell to 90th. The report looked at broader trends: While the U.S. slipped, emerging markets gained traction. China took 26th place, highest among major emerging economies; Brazil was 53rd; India was 56th; and Russia was 66th. “Fiscal imbalances that have been building up around the world are really a danger to future competitiveness, in terms of the ability of countries to invest in those things that will be very important for competitiveness going forward, things like education, infrastructure and so on,” said Jennifer Blanke, an economist with the forum.
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It's not often that you see a member of the liberal media elite concede an important point to conservatives. It's even rarer when the person doing it is Obama cheerleader Chris Matthews. But that's just what happened
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If your laptop spends more time spinning Netflix hits from yesteryear than yomping around campus, you’ll probably love these new offerings from ASUS . It’s launching the 15.6-inch N55SF and 17.3-inch N75SF laptops — depending on budget, you can select an Intel Core i3, i5 or i7 chip and a variety of displays that go up to 1920 x 1080 on the high-end units. Each model gets a HD webcam, instant-on (which picks up where you left off in under two seconds) and USB Charger+, a USB port powered directly from the battery for hasty, direct charging. The company is pushing these as multimedia machines, bundling in Bang & Olufsen’s ICEpower tech and a standalone SonicMaster subwoofer as standard — the latter isn’t recommended for those frequenting the library, of course. 15-inchers will arrive later this month, with pricing to start at around €1,100 / $1,500; meanwhile, the larger ones will arrive in early October and begin closer to €1,350 / $1,800. Oh, and we’ve got some press shots to whet your appetite. They’re below. Gallery: ASUS N55SF and N75SF ASUS N55SF, N75SF multimedia laptops are back… in piano black originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 09 Sep 2011 15:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds . Permalink
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Grab some popcorn! NewsFeed’s Glen Levy brings you the movies you should check out (or avoid) this weekend. Contagion Tagline: The World Goes Viral What is it with long haul flights fueling the plot devices for A-list packed vehicles? Last year’s Inception only really got going once everyone dozed off during the Sydney-Los Angeles leg
Continue reading …As the floodwaters rose in Pennsylvania’s Hersheypark ZooAmerica, zookeepers made a tough—and controversial—choice: Rather than let two American bison drown while trapped in their pen, zookeepers shot both. Though other zoo animals were evacuated, officials say no one anticipated how quickly the floodwaters would rise, and that euthanization…
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Dieser Schuh kommt zurück aus der Zukunft Back to the Future: Part III (1990) Watch Full Movie Part 1 … Back to the Future… The Sneakers sherlockhopes says: Genuinely didn’t know Michael J Fox had Parkinson’s. What a shame
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Since 2005, nonprofit organization StoryCorps has worked with the National September 11 Memorial & Museum to “record at least one story to honor each life lost in the attacks on September 11, 2001 and February 26, 1993″ in their September 11 Initiative. They have “recorded and archived 1,193 September 11th stories, representing 583 individual victims”. Broadcasting platform : YouTube Source : Laughing Squid Discovery Date : 08/09/2011 17:25 Number of articles : 3
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Protesters claim deaths happened at Damascus barracks as analysts report increasing number of troop defections Eight soldiers were executed in the Syrian capital Damascus on Friday for refusing to fire on protesters, activists have claimed. The Local Co-ordination Committees (LCCs), which monitor demonstrations in the country, said the soldiers were killed in the Kesweh area of the capital after a dispute at their barracks. Six people were injured, some of them critically, when security forces fired on demonstrators, the LCCs said. Analysts say the number of soldiers defecting from the Syrian army seems to be increasing, but this poses little threat to President Bashar al-Assad’s regime because there is no sign of senior figures deserting or heavy weaponry being lost. Army attacks on mosques in Hama and Deir Ezzor seem to have been the catalyst for some of the desertions. Elsewhere, two civilians were killed in the central city of Homs and Idlib province near the Turkish border as security forces fired on protesters across the country when demonstrations followed Friday prayers. Murhaf Jouejati, a Syria expert at the National Defense University in Washington DC, said the protests in Homs seemed “far larger than usual” and the pro-Assad militiamen, known as Shabiha or “ghosts”, had descended on the town in large numbers. Most foreign journalists are banned from Syria and it is impossible to properly verify what is happening in the country. Security forces were reported to have broken up a demonstration in another part of Damascus using pump-action shotguns and teargas, and a new video emerged purporting to show a mass grave in the capital. Protesters have been increasingly calling for international protection from the Assad regime’s crackdown as the death toll tops 2,200. The uprising began six months ago with modest calls for reform and an insistence that there be no foreign intervention such as the Nato operation that helped topple the government of Libya. But now protesters have called for observation missions and human rights monitors to help deter attacks on civilians. The calls are a sign of the growing frustration – and desperation – by a remarkably resilient movement that has nonetheless failed to bring down Assad, who still has the iron loyalty of the armed forces, which is key to his power. Widespread international condemnation and sanctions have done little to stop the crackdown. The regime has all but sealed off the country to foreigners, saying the unrest is being driven by terrorists and thugs who want to destroy Syria. The media blackout makes it difficult to independently confirm reports, but amateur video and other witness accounts have become vital lines of information. On Friday, videos showed crowds in flashpoint areas, including Damascus, Homs and Idlib, calling for Assad’s execution and hoisting signs that read: “Bashar: Game Over!” Security forces broke up most gatherings by firing bullets and teargas or chasing protesters with batons, activists said. Several people were killed, but the death toll was not immediately clear. On Thursday, a leading human rights group said Syrian security forces “forcibly removed” patients from a hospital and prevented doctors from reaching the wounded during a military siege in Homs this week. The New York-based Human Rights Watch cited testimony from witnesses, including doctors. “Snatching wounded people from the operating room is inhumane and illegal,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, its Middle East director. “Cutting people off from essential medical care causes grave suffering and perhaps irreparable harm.” Wednesday’s military operation in Homs killed at least 20 people. It was among the most severe crackdowns on an urban centre during the uprising. A doctor at the al-Barr hospital told Human Rights Watch that security forces seized some of the wounded from the hospital. “When we tried to help the wounded, the security forces pushed us back, saying these were criminals and rapists,” he said. “They were beating the wounded as they moved them out of the hospital.” There have been other reports of security forces targeting hospitals and rounding up the wounded in Syria and in Bahrain, where there have been widespread protests by the Shi’ite majority against the long-ruling Sunni monarchy. Doctors and nurses who treated protesters during rallies in Bahrain were rounded up in a crackdown that resulted in the arrests of hundreds of activists. Syria Middle East Bashar Al-Assad Arab and Middle East unrest Paul Owen guardian.co.uk
Continue reading …Ministers accused of ‘hypocrisy’ over relaxation of planning regulations
September 9, 2011 No Comment
George Osborne and Eric Pickles are pushing for planning changes but oppose developments in their own constituencies All the government ministers pushing through a controversial relaxation of planning regulations have opposed developments in their own constituencies, including new housing and businesses, a care home for elderly people and a memorial to Princess Diana. The Guardian revelations leave the chancellor, George Osborne, and Eric Pickles and his ministers in the Department for Communities and Local Government accused of “breathtaking hypocrisy” for saying major changes to planning laws are vital to boost economic growth and ease the shortage of homes, while fighting such developments in their own backyards. In August 2010, Osborne was the first of 25,000 people to sign a petition against an energy-from-waste plant in his Cheshire constituency, despite having described the company Brunner Mond as an ” important local employer “. He is also honorary president of a campaign against a second local incinerator . Pickles, the secretary of state for communities and local government, also campaigned against a waste facility , a composting site at Stondon Massey in his Essex constituency, saying approval would “open the doors for our county to become the waste dump for the south-east”. In addition, he successfully opposed a residential care home for 114 elderly people in Pilgrims Hatch in 2003, saying it would be a “heavy burden” on local services. “This is hypocrisy of the highest order,” said Craig Bennett, policy director of Friends of the Earth. “These ministers have used the planning system to stop developments like composting sites which are part of a sustainable economy. Now they are taking away the ability for people to oppose developments that are unsustainable. It is an outdated ideological mantra that a development free-for-all is needed for economic growth.” The government’s proposals to introduce a presumption in favour of development in planning applications have provoked a huge outcry from countryside and green groups including the National Trust, Friends of the Earth and the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE), which described the plan as a “free for all” for developers. Politicians, including Conservatives, have decried the proposals as undermining local democracy. Ministers have responded aggressively, with planning minister Greg Clark accusing critics of “nihilistic selfishness” for preventing young people from getting on the housing ladder and Osborne lending his political weight by stating: “When planning acts as a brake on growth, and on the much needed new jobs and new businesses, reform is imperative.” In 2004, Pickles spoke out against previous efforts to liberalise the planning system, saying Gordon Brown’s Treasury “seems … determined to loosen control to make development easier ” and he feared “sprawling housing estates dumped by Whitehall on green land “. He argued that “adding to suburban sprawl will detract from rather than help urban regeneration” and that “there has to be a greater emphasis on … using previously developed brownfield land”. Pickles’s new national planning policy framework (NPPF) would end the “brownfield first” policy. Clark, who has been at the forefront of the government’s defence of the NPPF, fiercely opposed the previous government’s attempts to increase the number of homes built in and around his Tunbridge Wells constituency. He called the plan for 6,000 new homes a “nationally imposed hike in housing numbers [that] will place yet more pressure on our precious green spaces” and said brownfield sites must be the priority for building. Clark also waged a long campaign against the redevelopment of gardens in towns and cities, which increases the number of homes available. The practice, dubbed “garden grabbing” by critics, left whole streets “changed out of all recognition”, Clark said in 2006. The other four ministers in the department have also supported anti-development campaigns. Grant Shapps opposed plans for thousands of new houses in his Welwyn Hatfield constituency. Shapps, who holds a pilot’s licence, also defended a threatened small airfield as “good for biodiversity” and useful to “train pilots who eventually fly for airlines”. He also opposes an energy-from-waste incinerator plant in New Barnfield . Andrew Stunell, the only Liberal Democrat minister in the department, has mounted a long campaign against the building of mobile phone masts , putting a motion before parliament in 2007 saying that “the current planning system is not sufficiently robust”. He has also opposed new homes being built on gardens and the possibility of a new supermarket in his Hazel Grove constituency in Greater Manchester. Another minister, Bob Neill, promised in opposition to ” make it harder for developers to appeal against properly made local decisions” and opposed the conversion of a historic pub in his Chislehurst constituency into flats . The department’s minister in the House of Lords, Lady Hanham, led Kensington and Chelsea borough council from 1989 until 2000. In 1998, eight months after the death of Princess Diana, she objected to proposals for a memorial garden at Kensington Palace , saying its visitors would cause disruption. Under her leadership, the council also blocked proposals from Persimmon Homes for a residential tower in west London. Neil Sinden, CPRE policy director, said: “Wanting to protect a place or landscape you love is no bad thing, and it’s good to see these ministers standing up for the concerns of their constituents. However, it seems hypocritical for the same ministers to label those opposed to their planning reforms as nimbys and nihilists. Good planning can enable communities to grow without trashing the environment. But to give one aspect – economic growth – excessive weight will not result in sustainable development but a much diminished countryside.” Caroline Flint, the shadow communities and local government secretary, said: “Tory ministers are showing breathtaking hypocrisy. Time and again, they have decried the lack of housing, while cynically campaigning against new homes for families in their own constituencies. Labour supports the streamlining of the planning system but by ripping up 60 years of planning policy, the government has created chaos and confusion in the planning system, threatening the very areas they promised to protect.” A spokesperson for Pickles said: “All MPs are well within their rights to campaign against bad planning,” adding that the minister utterly rejected the accusation of hypocrisy. Osborne and the communities and local government department declined to comment. Planning policy George Osborne Eric Pickles Local government Communities Green politics Damian Carrington guardian.co.uk
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