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Source: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/denzel-musumba/2011/12/29/east-africa-radio-usa
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Saturday, December 31, 2011
Friday, December 30, 2011
France condemns Israel's settlement plans
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- France on Thursday condemned Israel's decision to expand Gilo settlement and build a tourism center in East Jerusalem.
Jerusalem municipality on Wednesday approved 130 new settler homes in Gilo and a tourism complex in Silwan, a flashpoint Palestinian neighborhood.
France said it was "deeply concerned" by the announcements, which it described as "provocative" in a statement from its consulate in Jerusalem.
"France also condemns the agreement concluded by the Israeli government to retroactively legalize the outpost of Ramat Gilad in the northern West Bank. All outposts must be dismantled, as Israel pledged to do so under the 2003 roadmap," the statement added.
Israel on Wednesday agreed to legalize the Ramat Gilad outpost near Qalqiliya.
Noting that all settlement activities are illegal under international law, France urged Israel to abandon the projects "in order to establish between the parties a climate of trust that is conducive to the resumption of direct negotiations."
Source: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=448852
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North Korea vows no softening under its new leader (AP)
PYONGYANG, North Korea ? North Korea warned the world Friday there would be no softening of its position toward South Korea's government after Kim Jong Il's death as Pyongyang strengthened his son and heir's authority with a new title: Great Leader.
North Korea's powerful National Defense Commission said the country would never deal with South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, a conservative who stopped a no-strings-attached aid policy toward the North in 2008.
The stern message also said North Korea was uniting around Kim Jong Un, referring to him for the first time with the title Great Leader ? previously used for his father ? in a clear message of continuity. It was the latest incremental step in a burgeoning personality cult around the son following the Dec. 17 death of Kim Jong Il.
The younger Kim on Thursday was pronounced Supreme Leader of the ruling party, military and people at a massive public gathering on the final day of official mourning for his father.
The top levels of government appear to have rallied around Kim Jong Un, who is in his late 20s, in the wake of his father's death. Still, given his inexperience and age, there are questions outside North Korea about his leadership of a nation engaged in delicate negotiations over its nuclear program and grappling with decades of economic hardship and chronic food shortages.
"We declare solemnly and confidently that the foolish politicians around the world, including the puppet group in South Korea, should not expect any change from us," the National Defense Commission said. "We will never deal with the traitor group of Lee Myung-bak."
In a combative voice, a female news anchor for state TV read the National Defense Commission statement, saying the "evil misdeeds" of the Lee administration reached a peak when it prevented South Koreans from visiting North Korea to pay respects to Kim Jong Il, except for two delegations led by a former first lady and a business leader, both of whose husbands had ties to North Korea.
North Korea had said foreign official delegations would not be allowed at the funeral but that it would welcome any South Koreans who wanted to travel to pay respects to Kim.
"Even though we lost Kim Jong Il, we have the dear respected Kim Jong Un," Kang Chol Bok, a 28-year-old officer of the Korean People's Internal Security Forces, told The Associated Press. "We will turn our profound sorrow into strength and courage."
In a newly released postage stamp, Kim Jong Un was featured alongside Kim Jong Il against the backdrop of sacred Mount Paektu, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said. It appeared to be the first time that the son has been featured on a postage stamp. North Korea has often depicted Kim Jong Il and his father, North Korean founder Kim Il Sung, together in official artwork.
The North's statement is a warning for Seoul not to take the new leadership lightly, said Koh Yu-hwan, a North Korea expert at Seoul's Dongguk University.
"It is also raising the stakes in case the South wants better relations so Pyongyang can extract greater concessions" during any later talks, Koh said. He added that it's "too early to say the North is dashing hopes for reforms."
While blasting the South's leader, the North also offered a bit of hope for improved ties with the South, saying it "will continue to push hard toward the path of improved relations."
But it added that any better ties won't be "based on the deceitful ploys South Korea is employing by mixing 'toughness' and 'flexibility.'" Seoul has signaled a change in its approach toward Pyongyang in recent months, saying it will be more flexible in dealing with the North.
South Korea's Unification Ministry will maintain its North Korea policy and not react to every statement out of Pyongyang, according to a ministry official who declined to be identified citing the sensitivity of the relations between the countries.
U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta spoke by phone with his South Korean counterpart and they agreed to keep close ties in the coming months, Pentagon press secretary George Little said.
Panetta and South Korean Minister of Defense Kim Kwan-jin discussed the situation on the Korean peninsula in the 20-minute call, Little said in a statement sent out late Thursday.
"The secretary and the minister shared the view that peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula is our overarching priority and agreed to maintain close cooperation and coordination in the weeks and months ahead," Little said.
On Thursday, Kim Jong Un stood with his head bowed at the Grand People's Study House, overlooking Kim Il Sung Square, as mourners gathered below. Top officials flanking him included Kim Jong Il's younger sister, Kim Kyong Hui, and her husband, Jang Song Thaek, who are expected to be mentors of their young nephew.
"The father's plan is being implemented," Ralph Cossa, president of Pacific Forum CSIS, a Hawaii-based think tank, said of the power transfer. "All of these guys have a vested interest in the system and a vested interest in demonstrating stability. The last thing they want to do is create havoc."
Titles are important in North Korea and part of the myth-building surrounding the Kim family legacy.
Kim Il Sung, the country's first and only president, retains the title Eternal President even after his death.
Kim Jong Il held three main positions: chairman of the National Defense Commission, general secretary of the Workers' Party and supreme commander of the Korean People's Army. According to the constitution, his position as chairman of the National Defense Commission made him Supreme Leader of North Korea.
Kim Jong Un was made a four-star general last year and appointed a vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Workers' Party. Since his father's death, North Korean officials and state media have given him a series of new titles: Great Successor, Supreme Leader and now Great Leader.
___
Associated Press writers Foster Klug, Scott McDonald and Sam Kim in Seoul, South Korea, and Pauline Jelinek in Washington contributed to this report. Follow AP's North Korea coverage at twitter.com/APklug and twitter.com/samkim_ap.
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Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Local Songwriter Pays Tribute to the Troops
MT. VERNON - A local songwriter wrote a tribute for U.S. troops stationed overseas. "A Soldiers' Song," written by Greg Backes and performed by the Mt. Vernon High School Choir.
"It was drawn from having two boys in the military and seeing the sacrifice our military pays," Backes said. "I'm just wanting to get people to realize, that even though we are out of Iraq, we still have soldiers fighting in Afghanistan and other places,"
Backes is a part time music teacher. He says his students have a different perspective on the song and the world.
"My 4th and 5th graders, they've never lived in world when our soldiers weren't at war from the United States," Backes said.
Source: http://www.wsiltv.com/news/local/Local-Songwriter-Pays-Tribute-to-the-Troops-136210098.html
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Illini Arrive In California 12/27/11
Oakland, California-The Fighting Illini have arrived in California to begin preparations for the Fight Hunter Bowl in San Francisco.? The game will be played Saturday.? The 6-6 Illini will face the 6-7 UCLA Bruins.
Tuesday the Illini held their first workout in California at tiny Laney College.
A victory for the Illini would take some of the sting out of their second half collapse this season.? They've lost six straight games and head coach Ron Zook was fired.
A victory would also make Illinois history because it would be the first time the Illini have won bowl games in back-to-back years.
Illini quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase is looking forward to that opportunity.? To hear his comments click on the media player.
Source: http://mystateline.com/fulltext/?nxd_id=309617
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Tuesday, December 27, 2011
NBA roundup: Bulls stun Lakers in season tip-off
NBA roundup: Bulls stun Lakers in season tip-off
LOS ANGELES ? Derrick Rose drove the lane and lofted home a smooth floating shot for the winning points in the Chicago Bulls? opener, just in case anybody doubted the youngest MVP in NBA history can
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Source: http://www.rgj.com/article/20111226/SPORTS/111225014/1018
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IsmPalestine: New: Kufr Qaddoum: Israeli military fulfills its promise to make arrests http://t.co/DJmhRZom #palestine #israel #ism
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New: Kufr Qaddoum: Israeli military fulfills its promise to make arrests j.mp/uY8Hq7 #palestine #israel #ism 
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Monday, December 26, 2011
Iowa race quieter than in the past (The Arizona Republic)
Egyptian political party rejects ?normalization? with Israel
JERUSALEM?(JTA) -- A radical Islamist party in Egypt that said it would respect the country's peace treaty with Israel has amended its statement to say it is against "normalization" between the two countries.
The Salafi Al-Nour party, which won up to 30 percent of the vote in the first two rounds of parliamentary elections in Egypt, reportedly said Sunday in a statement that the party will "stand firmly against normalization between the two countries in all forms, and are against ties with any entity that wants to harm the Egyptian identity."
Last week, a spokesman for the party announced in an interview with Israel's Army Radio that the party would respect all treaties signed by Egypt, including the 1979 peace treaty with Israel, though party leaders later clarified that the party is looking into the matter. The spokesman later told the Associated Press that he was not aware that he was talking to Army Radio.
He told the AP that the party supports changes to the peace agreement, including increasing the number of troops in the Sinai Peninsula, a number regulated by the treaty.
"We call for full Sinai rights for Egypt and for our brothers in Palestine and occupied lands, and we see this as directly related to the agreement," he told the AP.
The Salafi Al-Nour party finished second behind the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party; the Muslim Brotherhood refuses to negotiate with Israel.
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Sunday, December 25, 2011
Obesity Linked to Higher Esophageal Cancer Death Rates - iVillage
FRIDAY, Dec. 23 (HealthDay News) -- Obese people who have had surgery to treat esophageal cancer are twice as likely to have a recurrence of the disease or die from cancer within five years as patients of normal weight, according to a new study.
In the study, published in the Dec. 1 issue of the Journal of Clinical Oncology, researchers from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., suggested their findings could change the way some doctors treat obese patients with this type of cancer.
The investigators followed 778 people who had surgery for esophageal cancer and found that those who were classified as obese (a body mass index of 30 or higher) had a five-year survival rate of 18 percent. That survival rate jumped to 36 percent among people who were not overweight.
"Obesity is considered a risk factor in the development of this cancer, which is known to be both highly lethal and increasingly common," the study's lead investigator, Dr. Harry Yoon, an oncologist at the Mayo Clinic Comprehensive Cancer Center, said in a Mayo news release. "But prior to this study, we did not really understand the impact of obesity in this upper gastrointestinal cancer."
The study authors pointed out that their findings applied only to nonsmokers who had their esophagus removed. Yoon added that previous research has linked obesity to greater risk for cancer as well as increased risk of death from other types of tumors because extra weight results in a chronic inflammatory state.
The researchers noted their findings could change the approach they take with obese patients with esophageal cancer.
"As an oncologist, I did not typically speak to my patients about excess body weight as part of their care, because we are more often concerned about weight loss and maintaining proper nutrition, but that may change," said Yoon. "It would be helpful to be able to offer patients some measures that they can take to possibly impact their prognosis."
More information
The U.S. National Cancer Institute has more about obesity and cancer.
Source: http://www.ivillage.com/obesity-linked-higher-esophageal-cancer-death-rates/4-a-413602
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Nigerian Oil Spill Stretches 900 Square Kilometers, says Environmental Group
?December 24, 2011
Photo: AFP
An aerial view 120 kms off the coast of Nigeria, south of Lagos, shows the FPSO (Floating, Production, Storage and Offloading) Bonga unit, (2008 file photo).
An environmental group says an oil spill off the coast of Nigeria this past week could stretch across more than 900 square kilometers of ocean.
The U.S.-based group, SkyTruth, says it estimates from satellite images it has obtained that the slick is 70 kilometers long and spans 17 kilometers at its widest point.
Royal Dutch Shell discovered the spill Tuesday about 120 kilometers off the southern coast of Nigeria.
Shell estimates the amount of leaked oil at less than 40,000 barrels and says the spill has been stopped.
Nigeria's National Oil Spill Detection and Response Agency says the amount of oil that leaked into the ocean is similar to the last major spill at a Mobil field in 1998.
Shell says the leak happened in a pipeline that transfers crude oil from a production vessel to a waiting oil tanker.
The company says it has deployed airplanes and vessels with dispersants to locate and break up the leaked oil, which is moving towards the shore.
Some information for this report was provided by AP, AFP and Reuters.
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Saturday, December 24, 2011
6 Chinese Stocks Undervalued By Levered Free Cash Flows
In the never-ending search for potentially undervalued stocks, one indicator is the ratio levered free cash flow/enterprise value. Companies with higher ratios appear more undervalued relative to their levered free cash flows.
Levered free cash flow is the free cash flow after deducting interest payments on outstanding debt. Enterprise value is the sum of the firm?s value from all ownership sources: market cap, outstanding debt, and preferred shares. From this value we subtract cash holdings because, in the event of a takeover, that cash would be used towards the takeover price.
We ran a screen on US-traded stocks of companies based in China for those with relatively high ratios of levered free cash flow/enterprise value, possibly indicating that they are undervalued.
Interactive Chart: Press Play to compare changes in analyst ratings over the last two years for the stocks mentioned below. Analyst ratings sourced from Zacks Investment Research.
We also created a price-weighted index of the stocks mentioned below, and monitored the performance of the list relative to the S&P 500 index over the last month. To access a complete analysis of this list's recent performance, click here.
Do you think the market is undervaluing these companies? Use this list as a starting point for your own analysis.
List sorted by levered free cash flow/enterprise value.
1. AsiaInfo-Linkage, Inc. (ASIA): Provides telecommunications software solutions and information technology (IT) products and services to telecommunications carriers and other enterprises in the People's Republic of China. Market cap of $494.23M. Levered free cash flow/enterprise value at 18.96% (levered free cash flow at $47.75M and enterprise value at $251.80M). The stock is a short squeeze candidate, with a short float at 25.47% (equivalent to 10.33 days of average volume). It's been a rough couple of days for the stock, losing 18.7% over the last week.
2. Sohu.com Inc. (SOHU): Engages in the brand advertising, online gaming, sponsored search, and wireless businesses in China. Market cap of $1.78B. Levered free cash flow/enterprise value at 16.92% (levered free cash flow at $164.86M and enterprise value at $974.09M). It's been a rough couple of days for the stock, losing 6.77% over the last week.
3. Guangshen Railway Co. Ltd. (GSH): Provides passenger and freight transportation services on the Shenzhen-Guangzhou-Pingshi railway in the People's Republic of China. Market cap of $2.41B. Levered free cash flow/enterprise value at 16.18% (levered free cash flow at $346.21M and enterprise value at $2.14B). Offers a good dividend, and appears to have good liquidity to back it up--dividend yield at 4.07%, current ratio at 1.8, and quick ratio at 1.71. The stock has lost 13.73% over the last year.
4. China XD Plastics Company Ltd. (CXDC): Rubber & Plastics Industry. Market cap of $240.03M. Levered free cash flow/enterprise value at 15.69% (levered free cash flow at $17.90M and enterprise value at $114.05M). The stock has lost 0.98% over the last year.
5. China Hydroelectric Corporation (CHC): Engages in the acquisition, ownership, development, construction, operation, and financing of hydroelectric power projects in the People's Republic of China. Market cap of $53.99M. Levered free cash flow/enterprise value at 13.34% (levered free cash flow at $61.73M and enterprise value at $462.58M). It's been a rough couple of days for the stock, losing 21.26% over the last week.
6. China Eastern Airlines Corp. Ltd. (CEA): Operates in civil aviation industry. Market cap of $3.87B. Levered free cash flow/enterprise value at 12.35% (levered free cash flow at $758.04M and enterprise value at $6.14B). This is a risky stock that is significantly more volatile than the overall market (beta = 2.28). The stock has lost 27.48% over the last year.
*Levered free cash flow and enterprise value data sourced from Yahoo! Finance, all other data sourced from Finviz.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.
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Family hopes $150B civil award prompts charges (AP)
HOUSTON ? An attorney who persuaded a Texas jury to award a $150 billion judgment says he hopes the civil verdict will persuade prosecutors to seek charges against a man he says set a boy on fire.
Robbie Middleton survived for 12 years before dying last year of a rare skin cancer that attorneys argue was related to burns he suffered on his eighth birthday.
Lawyer Craig Sico and Middleton's family say they likely won't see any money from the verdict reached this week in La Grange. However, they hope it prompts a renewed investigation into Don Wilburn Collins, who Middleton accused of setting him on fire.
Prosecutors say Collins never faced charges, in part because inconsistencies in evidence. Collins, in prison on an unrelated conviction, is to be released next year.
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Friday, December 23, 2011
IVPNews: RT @IVNewsday: Calexico Residents, lets take a jolly look back at your Downtown Christmas Parade! http://t.co/Dz598lT9
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Calexico Residents, lets take a jolly look back at your Downtown Christmas Parade! ivnewsday.com/index.asp?vide? 
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Turkey: 25 killed when bus crashes into truck (AP)
ANKARA, Turkey ? A bus carrying passengers collided head-on with a speeding, brick-laden truck on a narrowed road in southeast Turkey on Wednesday, killing 25 people including a baby, officials said.
Gov. Mustafa Toprak of Diyarbakir province said 16 other passengers were injured in the accident on a road linking Diyarbakir with the neighboring Batman province. Some of the injured were in serious condition.
The truck was trying to overtake a slower vehicle when it slammed into the bus, which was heading in the opposite direction, he said.
The truck "was traveling way over the speed limits," Toprak told Turkey's Anadolu Agency. The truck driver was seriously injured in the crash.
The thoroughfare had been reduced to a single lane each way due to roadwork, which probably contributed to the crash, said Ferit Basar, the mayor of nearby Yukari Salat town.
The list of the dead contained no foreigners, but Recep Ziyadanogullari, president of a university in neighboring Siirt province told Anadolu that 15 students may be among the dead. Three university officials were heading to Yukari Salat, he said.
Video footage from the Dogan news agency showed a medic stepping over a partly-covered body to rush an injured person on a stretcher to an ambulance. Body bags were placed side by side on the road, while bricks were scattered about. Another medic was seen performing a heart massage on one of the injured passengers laying on the road. The front end of the bus appeared cut open, while the truck had toppled to its side.
Such accidents are relatively common in Turkey but becoming rarer as the government has been expanding major roads from single lanes each way to double lanes.
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Thursday, December 22, 2011
The Culture Gabfest, ?Tinker Tailor Soldier Fry? Edition
In this week's Culture Gabfest, our critics Stephen Metcalf, Dana Stevens, and Julia Turner ponder the mysteries of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy and demonstrate the verbal tic known as ?vocal fry.? For their final segment, they are joined by Slate?s chairman Jacob Weisberg to discuss the legacy of essayist, literary critic, and Slate contributor Christopher Hitchens, who died last week at the age of 62.
Here are some links to the things we discussed this week:
Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=e7787f6d5ed3d65f7dd714c5313c0796
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Monday, December 19, 2011
Fitch says comprehensive euro zone deal "beyond reach" (Reuters)
ROME/BERLIN (Reuters) ? Credit rating agency Fitch told the euro zone on Friday it thinks a comprehensive solution to the bloc's debt crisis is beyond reach, as it put an number of the bloc's economies including Italy on watch for potential downgrades.
It reaffirmed France's top-notch triple-A rating but even here said the outlook was now negative over a longer term.
Underscoring the tensions within the bloc over the crisis that has spread relentlessly over the past two years, Italy's prime minister earlier urged European policymakers to beware of dividing the continent with their efforts to fight its debt crisis, warning against a "short-term hunger for rigor" in some countries, in a swipe at Germany.
Germany has led resistance to allowing the European Central Bank to ramp up its buying of government bonds on the open market to a big enough scale to douse the crisis.
Fitch said that following the EU summit a week ago it had concluded that "a 'comprehensive solution' to the eurozone crisis is technically and politically beyond reach.
"Of particular concern is the absence of a credible financial backstop. In Fitch's opinion this requires more active and explicit commitment from the ECB to mitigate the risk of self-fulfilling liquidity crises for potentially illiquid but solvent Euro Area Member States," Fitch said.
It put Belgium, Spain, Slovenia, Italy, Ireland, and Cyprus on negative watch. Another ratings agency, Standard & Poor's, had already warned 15 of the currency bloc's 17 members they were close to a downgrade.
Earlier German Chancellor Angela Merkel gained some respite from domestic pressure to take a tougher line in the euro zone crisis when Eurosceptics hostile to more bailouts lost a referendum in her junior coalition partner, the Free Democrats, aimed at blocking a permanent rescue fund.
Meanwhile, a first draft of a planned fiscal union treaty among euro zone countries and aspiring members, published on Friday, showed that countries could be taken to the European Court of Justice if they fail to meet agreed budget targets.
Merkel - under pressure from the revered Bundesbank to force debt-saddled euro zone countries to reform and save their way out of crisis with austerity measures - has led a push for automatic sanctions for deficit "sinners" in the bloc.
This has fed concerns that excessive belt-tightening in southern countries could send their economies into a negative spiral with no prospect of growing out of the crisis, while feeding resentment in the prosperous north.
Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti said Europe's response to the debt crisis "should be wrapped in a long-term sustainable approach, not just to feed short-term hunger for rigor in some countries.
"To help European construction evolve in a way that unites, not divides, we cannot afford that the crisis in the euro zone brings us ... the risk of conflicts between the virtuous North and an allegedly vicious South," he told a conference in Rome.
In Germany, turnout in the FDP bailout referendum fell short of the necessary quorum of one-third of the party's membership, and only 44.2 percent voted for dissident lawmaker Frank Schaeffler's motion against the planned European Stability Mechanism.
A victory for the Eurosceptics could have brought down Merkel's centre-right coalition, but the outcome still left the FDP split, with its public support in tatters.
BANKS TO SHUN BONDS?
French officials have sought to prepare the public for the likelihood that Paris will lose its top-notch rating from S&P for the first time since 1975, playing down the potential setback and focusing attention instead on neighbouring Britain.
"The economic situation in Britain today is very worrying, and you'd rather be French than British in economic terms," Finance Minister Francois Baroin said in a radio interview, a day after Bank of France governor Christian Noyer said that if ratings agencies were even-handed, Britain deserved to be downgraded before France.
Britain's Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg said French Prime Minister Francois Fillon had called him to explain that "it had not been his intention to call into question the UK's rating but to highlight that ratings agencies appeared more focused on economic governance than deficit levels."
Clegg's office said he accepted the explanation "but made the point that recent remarks from members of the French Government about the UK economy were simply unacceptable and that steps should be taken to calm the rhetoric."
Euro zone officials said potential downgrades, particularly from S&P, could raise the cost of borrowing for the region's existing EFSF bailout fund but would not make a big difference to its operations.
EFSF chief Klaus Regling told the Rome conference there was about 600 billion euros available to fight the crisis, more than Italy and Spain's combined funding needs for 2012.
"If Italy and Spain were to ask for support their gross financing needs for 2012 are less than that and I don't think they would need to be taken off the market," he said.
The EFSF has the option of providing first loss insurance on new bond issues, but the country concerned would have to make a formal request and negotiate conditionality, while the sum guaranteed would have to be agreed unanimously by EFSF members, subject to German parliamentary approval.
Euro zone countries are to hold a conference call next Monday to agree on a boost to the International Monetary Fund's lending capacity, as part of measures to help cope with the debt crisis, to which they will commit 150 billion euros, Slovak Finance Minister Ivan Miklos told Reuters.
The United States has refused to offer any additional funding and it remains to be seen how much non-European economies such as China, Russia, Brazil and India are willing to commit.
The European Central Bank has resisted calls to embark on unlimited purchases of euro zone sovereign bonds to quell the debt crisis, putting the onus back on governments and their collective financial firewalls.
ECB President Mario Draghi said on Thursday that euro zone governments were on the right track to restore market confidence and the ECB's bond-buy plan was "neither eternal nor infinite."
But in one intriguing hint on Friday, Bank of Italy governor Ignazio Visco told the Rome conference: "The impression is that there is only one way to convince markets and we'll work on that." He did not elaborate.
The comments came amid growing signs that banks are resisting pressure from governments to come to the aid of debt-choked euro zone countries by using cheap money lent by the ECB to buy more sovereign bonds.
With euro zone governments needing to sell almost 80 billion euros of fresh debt in January alone, the stand-off between policymakers and banks could turn the slow-burning debt crisis into a conflagration in the New Year.
The chief executive of UniCredit, one of Italy's two biggest banks, said this week using ECB money to buy government debt "wouldn't be logical."
In Greece, where the debt crisis began two years ago, a senior official of the EU/IMF troika team negotiating terms for a second bailout package said there was no guarantee that talks on the private sector's contribution would lead to a voluntary deal involving the bulk of its creditors.
Agreement has been held up by wrangling over issues ranging from the credit status and interest coupons on the new bonds to legal guarantees to be offered by the official sector. Another key question is how many sign up to a private sector debt swap.
Failure to secure agreement could force a disorderly default which might in turn trigger a wider emergency across the euro zone.
Asked if there was a risk of a disorderly Greek default, the troika official said: "Our objective is still to have a voluntary operation. If you ask me: is there a guarantee that there will be a voluntary operation? Of course there can never be a guarantee."
(Additional reporting by Steve Scherer in Rome, Annika Breidthardt in Berlin, Gareth Gore, Natsuko Waki, Kirsten Donovan and Ana Nicolaci da Costa in London, Martin Santa in Bratislava, Ingrid Melander in Athens; Writing by Paul Carrel and Paul Taylor/Ruth Pitchford; Editing by Jeremy Gaunt)
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Sunday, December 18, 2011
Senate OKs payroll tax cut, huge spending bill (AP)
WASHINGTON ? The Senate voted Saturday to temporarily avert a Jan. 1 payroll tax increase and benefit cutoff for the long-time unemployed, forcing a reluctant President Barack Obama to make an election-year choice between unions and environmentalists over whether to build an oil pipeline through the heart of the country.
The action set up a Monday vote in the House, where many GOP lawmakers told their leaders they are ready to reject the measure.
With the still-reeling economy serving as a backdrop, the Senate's 89-10 vote belied a tortuous battle between Democrats and Republicans that produced the compromise two-month extension of the expiring tax breaks and jobless benefits and forestalled cuts in doctors' Medicare reimbursements.
Senate passage capped a year of divided government marked by raucous partisan fights that tumbled to the brink of a first-ever U.S. default and three federal shutdowns, only to see eleventh-hour deals emerge. It also put the two sides on track to revisit the payroll tax cut early next year as the fights for control of the White House and Congress heat up.
However, House GOP leaders held a conference call Saturday with rank-and-file lawmakers in which participants said strong anger was expressed about the Senate bill, including its lack of House-approved cuts in last year's health care overhaul law and its failure to erase the reductions in doctors' payments for more than two months.
"You can't have an economic recovery with this," said Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., said of the bill "If the Senate is incapable of doing that, we don't have to accept it."
A House GOP aide said afterward, "Members are overwhelmingly disappointed in the Senate's decision to just `kick the can down the road' for two months.'
By 67-32, senators gave final congressional approval to a separate $1 trillion bill financing the Pentagon and scores of other federal agencies through next September. That measure avoided a shuttering of government offices that otherwise would have occurred this weekend when temporary financing expired.
The tax legislation delivers tax cuts and jobless benefits that some Republicans opposed. It also represents a rebuff of Obama's original demands for a yearlong payroll tax reduction for 160 million workers that was to be even deeper than this year's cut, extended to employers and paid for by boosting taxes on the highest-earning Americans.
The measure's $33 billion price tag will be paid for instead by raising fees that government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will charge to back new mortgages or refinancings, beginning next year. When fully phased in, those increases could cost a person with a $200,000 mortgage about $17 a month.
Despite the changes, Obama praised the Senate for passing the bill and prodded the Republican-run House to give it final approval in a vote, which has been expected early next week. He exhorted lawmakers to extend the tax cuts and jobless aid for the entire year, saying it would be "inexcusable" not to.
"It should be a formality, and hopefully it's done with as little drama as possible when they get back in January" from their holiday recess, he said.
The Senate adjourned for the year after its votes Saturday.
While Obama and Democrats used the fight to portray themselves as defenders of beleaguered middle- and lower-income people, Republicans used it to cast themselves as champions of job creation.
Headlining that was a provision they inserted forcing Obama to make a decision within two months on whether to allow construction of the proposed 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline, which is to deliver up to 700,000 barrels of oil daily from tar sands in Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Texas. The language requires him to issue the needed permit unless he declares the pipeline would not serve the national interest.
Unions have clamored for the thousands of jobs the project could create. Environmentalists have decried the huge amounts of energy it would take to extract the oil. Obama originally announced he was delaying a decision until 2013, which would have allowed him to avoid choosing between two Democratic constituencies before Election Day next November.
When the House inserted the language into its version of the payroll tax bill this month, Obama said he would "reject" the legislation if it retained the Keystone provision. He abandoned that stance this past week as GOP leaders said they would insist on keeping the Keystone language and the final deal jelled.
"The only thing standing between thousands of American workers and the good jobs this project will provide is a presidential decision," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.
An administration official said Friday that Obama would almost surely refuse to grant the permit, a stance echoed Saturday by congressional Democrats.
"We feel we're giving them the sleeves off a vest," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.
Democrats said when Congress revisits the issue of renewing the tax cuts and jobless benefits early next year, they would win the political battle because they would be viewed as protecting peoples' household budgets.
Republicans, though, said they would once again focus the fight on jobs, with some predicting they would try adding provisions to repeal pollution curbs and other government regulations that they say make it harder for companies to hire people.
"There are lots of issues Republicans are interested in as job creators that will still be alive in March," said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.
The tax bill would renew this year's 4.2 percent payroll tax through February, preventing the rate from bouncing back to its normal 6.2 percent on New Year's Day. Obama pushed that cut through Congress a year ago as a way to help spark the economy by leaving more money in people's pockets.
A $50,000-a-year wage earner would save about $170 during next year's first two months under the bill the Senate approved Saturday.
Obama had proposed reducing the payroll tax employees pay to 3.1 percent next year. The levy is the chief source of revenue for Social Security.
For two more months, the tax measure would also continue current jobless benefits that provide a maximum 99 weeks of coverage for people who have been out of work the longest. Without any extension, the White House said, 2.5 million people would have lost coverage by the end of February.
The bill also prevents a 27 percent cut in Medicare reimbursements for doctors that might have induced some to stop treating the program's elderly beneficiaries.
The spending legislation carries out budget cuts across government that Republicans won earlier this year and includes GOP provisions blocking energy efficiency and coal dust requirements. Democrats fought off Republican language that would have blocked limits on greenhouse gases and hazardous emissions from utility plants and other sources.
___
Associated Press writer Andrew Taylor contributed to this report.
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Box Office Preview: 'Sherlock' set to solve slump (AP)
LOS ANGELES ? After two sluggish weeks at the domestic box office, "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows" is on the case and ready to solve the recent slump with an expected gross of around $65 million.
The Warner Bros. film starring Robert Downey Jr. and Jude Law is the follow-up to 2009's hugely successful "Sherlock Holmes," which opened with $65.4 million and went on to earn over half a billion dollars worldwide.
Chipping away at second place with around $35 million will be the debut of Fox's "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked," the third installment of the popular family franchise that has made nearly $800 million globally.
IMAX will make a splash with preview showings of Paramount's "Mission: Impossible ? Ghost Protocol" in 300 large format venues in advance of its wide release on Dec. 21. Add to that 125 engagements in selected traditional theaters, and total preview receipts could hit $10 million ? in only 425 theaters.
The fourth-place position should belong to Warner Bros.' romantic ensemble comedy "New Year's Eve," with a second-weekend gross of around $7 million to $8 million.
Fifth-place honors will likely go to the second weekend of Fox's R-rated comedy "The Sitter," at around $5 million to $6 million.
___
Paul Dergarabedian is president of the Box Office Division of Hollywood.com and provides box office analysis for The Associated Press.
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Saturday, December 17, 2011
[OOC] Winged Or Horned
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This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?Winged Or Horned?. Anything posted here will also show up there.Topic Tags:
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Music Makes Life, Music Makes Your Personality :3I'm living in the 21st century doin' something mean to it
Do it better then anybody you ever seen do it
Screams from the haters, got a nice ring to it
I guess every superhero need his theme music ~ Power - Kanye West
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DarkPixel123 - Member for 0 years
This looks cool! is there a character template?
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SkyRight - Member for 0 years
I may join as a demon. What type of powers do each side usually posses? And can the demons have horns and wings?
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kelsiikhaos - Member for 1 years
Return to Out of Character
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Democrats mull dropping millionaire surtax (Reuters)
WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? President Barack Obama and fellow Democrats on Wednesday considered dropping their proposed surtax on millionaires in a bid to reach a deal with Republicans to extend a payroll tax cut for 160 million Americans set to expire at year's end.
Obama discussed the possibility of abandoning the millionaire tax, which Republicans strongly oppose, at a White House meeting with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and other top Senate Democrats, a senior Senate Democratic aide told Reuters.
"It remains to be seen if we will drop it," the aide said. "But we want to strike a deal and get this done."
The action comes amid an end-of-year rush in Congress to find deals on several major initiatives beyond the payroll tax cut extension.
The two political parties are still fighting over a nearly $1 trillion spending bill to keep several government agencies operating through the end of the fiscal year on September 30. Without action by Friday at midnight, these agencies would have to close, further eroding sagging public confidence in elected leaders.
Congress also is trying to extend jobless benefits for the long-term unemployed so that those payments do not start phasing out early next year, as well as passing legislation to avoid a cut in government payments to doctors participating in the Medicare healthcare program.
Democrats will not consider making any offer on the millionaire surtax, however, until Republicans agree to negotiate, another Democratic aide said.
"Let's talk in a bipartisan way. Let's see what happens," the aide said. "They have to be willing to talk to get any deal."
Possible tradeoffs for dropping the millionaire surtax could be Republicans backing off their demands to reduce jobless benefits and tighten Medicare eligibility.
The Democrats' proposed 1.9 percent surtax on income above $1 million a year has long been a major stumbling block to a bipartisan deal, and one that many suspected would be dropped.
"They know they have to drop it if they want to get something to pass," a senior Republican aide said.
The tax proposal was seen by some congressional aides as the Democrats' main bargaining chip, one they might be willing to give up if Republicans abandoned an effort to speed up a decision by Obama on the Keystone XL oil pipeline project between the United States and Canada.
But there still could be other sticking points between the two parties that would have to be worked out.
Without an extension by the end of this month, the payroll tax would revert to 6.2 percent from the current 4.2 percent, resulting in an average increase of $1,000 per family. Independent economists have warned that could hurt the country's fragile economic recovery.
Any setback for the economy would hurt Obama's re-election chances next November, as he is already struggling in the polls because of voter frustration with high unemployment.
House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner did not respond directly when asked by a reporter about Democrats possibly abandoning the surtax on the rich.
The Republican-controlled House passed its version of a payroll tax cut bill on Tuesday. It included a provision, opposed by the White House, aimed at accelerating approval of the Keystone XL pipeline project between the United States and Canada.
Senate Democrats have been trying to stage a vote on the House measure - so it can be defeated and thus clear the way for a new round of negotiations - but Republican leaders have so far blocked that move.
Lawmakers had hoped to wrap up their 2011 work session by week's end, but they might have to stay in town until at least early next week.
If a deal cannot quickly be reached on the massive government funding bill, Congress could be forced to pass a very short-term measure to avoid any interruption of government services and give more time to cut a deal.
The stalled spending bill would fund health, education, defense, homeland security and other programs.
Political jockeying over these bills is the latest example of the gridlock in Washington that has driven public confidence in Congress to record lows.
"That is the kind of stuff that is driving the American people bat crazy right now and we have to stop it," Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill, told reporters.
(Additional reporting by Matt Spetalnick, Rachelle Younglai and Caren Bohan; Writing by Ross Colvin; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111215/ts_nm/us_usa_taxes
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Friday, December 16, 2011
House backs tough sanctions on Iran (AP)
WASHINGTON ? The House on Wednesday endorsed harsher sanctions on Iran as it seeks to weaken Tehran economically and derail its pursuit of nuclear weapons.
The overwhelming votes of 410-11 and 418-2 were largely symbolic, however, as the Senate was not expected to act on the legislation in the few remaining days of the congressional session.
Separately, Congress was poised to back a sweeping defense bill that already included crippling sanctions on foreign financial institutions that do business with Iran's Central Bank, a provision that the Senate backed unanimously last week.
Determined to show their hawkish stand on Iran and pro-Israel credentials, House lawmakers voted for two bills that would strengthen current sanctions while expanding the list of companies and individuals subject to penalties.
The legislation builds on sanctions that Congress overwhelmingly passed ? and President Barack Obama signed ? last year. Those penalties targeted exports of gasoline and other refined petroleum products to Iran and banned U.S. banks from doing business with foreign banks providing services to Iran's Revolutionary Guard. The United Nations and the European Union have also imposed sanctions on Iran.
"Our fundamental strategic objective must be to stop Iran before it obtains nuclear weapons capabilities and to compel it to permanently dismantle its pursuit of such weapons," said Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, R-Fla., chairwoman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The United States has tried repeatedly to coax Iran into international negotiations with the U.S., Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany over its nuclear program. Iran contends that its program is designed to generate electricity, not build weapons.
Among the new provisions, the House bills would restrict foreign subsidiaries of U.S. companies from doing business with Iran. Bartering is included among the activities that could be sanctioned, and Americans would be prohibited from conducting commercial or financial transactions with the Revolutionary Guard.
Directing its ire at Syria and North Korea as well, one provision would strengthen the prohibition on granting landing rights in the United States to vessels that have visited Iran, North Korea or Syria in the last two years.
The defense bill would impose tough new penalties on Iran, targeting foreign financial institutions that do business with the Central Bank in Tehran. The legislation requires the president to prohibit or impose strict conditions on that financial institution and its ability to maintain corresponding accounts in the United States.
The sanctions appear to be taking a toll in Tehran. Last month, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad acknowledged that the current penalties were impeding Iran's financial institutions, saying, "our banks cannot make international transactions anymore."
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Mariah Yeater's Ex: "I Feel Sorry for Justin Bieber"
It seems fair to say that no one really thought 17-year-old Justin Bieber was the father of 20-year-old Mariah Yeater's baby, despite her vehement claims. Now, Yeater's ex-boyfriend, 23-year-old Robert Powell, has come forward with his side of the story. As Powell -- who believes that he is the father of Yeater's 4-month-old son Tristyn -- tells RumorFix, that story can be summed up in two words: "She lied."
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Wednesday, December 7, 2011
China begins to admit 'fog' is really smog
Chinese are growing more outspoken about the "fog," now accurately calling it "smog," covering cities like Beijing.
By Adrienne Mong
BEIJING?While China?s chief climate negotiator is getting rock star treatment at the Durban climate summit this week, his peers back in the capital are suffering a third straight day of foul air.
As a leading Canadian newspaper put it, China provided ?the few glimmers of hope at the stalled negotiations? in Durban, where "photographers and television journalists swarmed around the chief Chinese negotiator, Xie Zhenhua, as he entered a news conference on Monday to announce his list of conditions for considering a legally binding treaty on carbon emissions after 2020."
It seems that despite being the world's biggest carbon emitter, China could be the key to a deal on a legally binding agreement to reduce emissions.
However, not many glimmers of hope could be spotted back home.
From the China Daily website
A grid image posted on the China Daily newspaper showing the dramatic changes in air quality in Beijing in the past four days.
A persistent 'fog'
The Chinese state-run print media all ran headline stories Tuesday morning on the persistent "fog" that has blanketed Beijing and parts of the country?s northeast since the weekend.?(See video above of the "hazardous" level of smog on Monday).
Much of the coverage focused on the hundreds of flights cancelled at the Beijing Capital International airport?the world?s second busiest hub?or the rising and very vocal concerns about air pollution.? Some local reports referred to sales of air filter masks and air filter machines spiking in the past week.
Still more reports tried to cast the air pollution issue as one of sovereignty.? "The heavy fog or smog that has shrouded Beijing in the past couple of days has triggered a renewed round of debate over the different air pollution standards applied by China and the United States," said an opinion piece in the Global Times, a state-run newspaper with a strong nationalist overtone.
But at least these same newspapers are now calling it "smog" rather than "fog," as they were just a day ago.? The China Daily, another state-run newspaper, ran a headline on page 3 crying, "Exposure to smog is severe hazard."? Later in the day, the paper?s web site posted four stark images of the same location showing changes in air visibility.?(See photo above).?The images are pretty staggering.
Only 13 days of 'good' air this year so far
And as we write this, the ever-trusty and ever-reliable @BeijingAir Twitter feed has been down five hours, prompting followers to wonder whether the pollution has finally gotten to the air quality index monitor that lives on top of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.
Post by @TomVandeWeghe
An image of an iPhone app circulating on Twitter this afternoon, showing the @BeijingAir monitor out of commission.
A sobering analysis of the @BeijingAir feed can be found in this post by China Dialogue, which notes that the improvements in air quality claimed by officials at the Beijing Environmental Protection Bureau "are due to irregularities in the monitoring and reporting of air quality ? and not to less polluted air."
Moreover, based on the analysis using the @BeijingAir data, this year there have?only?been?13 days of "good" air quality.?
Buried further amidst the quantitative data was one more alarming point: "?if Beijing?s fine particulate concentration even reached the polluted levels of Los Angeles, life expectancy may increase by over five years."
We at NBC News Beijing are trying to claw back a few months to our life span.? We have just taken delivery of two air filter machines for the bureau.
Source: http://behindthewall.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/06/9244068-chinas-smog-gathers-steam
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Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Saints defeat Lions 31-17 for 4th straight win (AP)
NEW ORLEANS ? Drew Brees makes setting records sound so simple.
"Every guy on our team knows that just get where you are supposed to be and we'll find the open guy and continue to move the ball down the field," Brees said.
The Saints' star quarterback did just that Sunday night, completing 26 of 36 passes for 342 yards and touchdowns to three different receivers in a 31-17 victory over the Detroit Lions.
The performance gave Brees 4,031 yards this season, making him the first quarterback in NFL history to eclipse the 4,000-yard mark in a season's first 12 games.
"We were able to spread the ball around and come up with some big plays," Brees said. "I hope our hopes and aspirations are bigger than setting records."
Brees' touchdown passes went for 67 yards to Robert Meachem, 20 yards to Lance Moore and 6 yards to Darren Sproles. He also connected eight times with tight end Jimmy Graham for 89 yards as the Saints (9-3) improved to 6-0 at home while taking a two-game lead over Atlanta in the NFC South.
"He's a surgeon out there and makes me look good," Graham said of Brees. "When your quarterback has confidence in you, it raises you to a new level."
During the Saints' three touchdown drives in the first half, Brees completed 12 straight passes for 216 yards.
Matthew Stafford passed for 408 yards and one touchdown for the Lions (7-5), who have lost five of their last seven, but remain in playoff contention.
The Lions hurt themselves with 11 penalties for 107 yards, including three offensive pass interference penalties and a personal foul on tight end Brandon Pettigrew for shoving an official who was trying to get between him and Saints safety Roman Harper after the whistle.
"We beat ourselves today. Our offense continued to get derailed by penalties," Lions coach Jim Schwartz said. "We cannot afford to be selfish and put the team at risk of taking points off the board and there was way too much of that today."
The mistakes made it impossible for the Lions to keep pace with the league's No. 1 offense, and Detroit missed a chance to take a one-game lead over Chicago and Atlanta in the NFC wild-card race.
"We had a great opportunity to do what we wanted to do," Stafford said. "Obviously, we did not do it tonight. Smart football teams are still playing in January. Teams that make smart decisions don't beat themselves."
Mark Ingram scored New Orleans' first touchdown on a 14-yard run. The Saints then built a 24-7 halftime lead on the touchdowns to Meachem and Moore before Detroit showed signs of mounting a comeback.
Jason Hanson's 31-yard field goal made it 24-10. The Lions pulled within one score on Maurice Morris' 9-yard touchdown reception.
Hanson lined up for 55-yarder early in the fourth quarter that could have pulled the Lions even closer, but missed it wide left. That set up the Saints' decisive seven-play, 55-yard scoring drive on which Brees found Graham four times for 46 yards before hitting Sproles for his score.
"I like the fact that we answered in the second half when the momentum shifted," Saints coach Sean Payton said.
Although the Lions were without Ndamukong Suh because of his two-game suspension, and also without injured defensive backs Chris Houston (left knee) and Louis Delmas (left knee), Schwartz said that was no excuse for several defensive lapses, particularly in the first half.
"We played poorly on defense. We never gave ourselves a chance," Schwartz said. "We didn't get the job done in coverage. We didn't get the job done rushing the passer."
Still, Detroit got more pressure on Brees than the Saints' recent opponents, sacking him twice, including rookie Nick Fairley's first career sack. Brees had not been sacked in three previous games.
Stafford completed 31 of 44 passes, but was sacked three times and intercepted by Tracy Porter.
Nate Burleson had five catches for 93 yards, while Calvin Johnson had six catches for 69 yards. Kevin Smith had a 2-yard touchdown run in the first half.
Meachem caught three passes for 119 yards, and the Saints' defense was bolstered by the return of linebacker Jonathan Vilma, who had missed three games with left knee injury that required surgery. He had a team-leading 10 tackles.
Notes: Lions T Jeff Backus set a new franchise record with his 172nd consecutive start, surpassing Hall of Fame CB Dick LeBeau. ... Schwartz said Fairley was limited by pain in his left foot, which he'd injured during training camp, but X-rays were negative. ... Brees is the second quarterback in NFL history to pass for 4,000 or more yards in six straight seasons. Peyton Manning did it from 1999-2004. ... Graham now has 1,046 yards this season, making him the first Saints tight end to have more than 1,000 yards receiving in a season.
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