Local small-business leaders cheer White House talks ...

When Ulysses Turner left the White House on Friday, he was eager to explore new investment in Hampton Roads.

The CEO of Atlantic Apartment Rentals and Development Co., which builds multifamily housing primarily in Norfolk, spent the day with 27 other Hampton Roads business leaders who met with the Obama administration to discuss ways to help small businesses grow. The visit convinced Turner that the economy would head in a positive direction this year.

"I came away feeling that the president's policies are very pro-small business," he said. "It was a very inspirational day."

Gary McCollum, senior vice president and general manager of Cox Communications Inc.'s operations in Virginia, agreed that the meetings showed the administration's belief in small business "as a key driver in this economy."

During a series of afternoon workshops, McCollum said, he heard encouraging ideas about the use of technology to improve productivity and about opportunities for small- and medium-size defense contractors. Despite reductions in defense spending, administration officials assured the local companies that money is available and that the process to get it would become more efficient, McCollum said.

Among those who attended the White House meetings were Mike Petters, president and CEO of Huntington Ingalls Industries in Newport News; Gilbert Bland, president and CEO of Tymark Enterprises Inc., the Norfolk-based owner of several Burger King franchises; and Tom Walker, president of Chesapeake technology development firm Web Teks. The meetings were set up by Business Forward, which organizes businesses to inform government decision-making on economic issues.

Some in the group attended President Barack Obama's news conference earlier in the day, when he suggested shrinking the number of federal agencies that deal with business.

The simplification of government regulations arose as a common theme, Turner and McCollum said. So did the need to nurture an educated workforce, from kindergarten through college, McCollum said.

"So we're producing the talent that can not only get a job but can create a job."?

Carolyn Shapiro, (757) 446-2270, carolyn.shapiro@pilotonline.com

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Source: http://hamptonroads.com/2012/01/local-smallbusiness-leaders-cheer-white-house-talks

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Sitting: 6 New Reasons It's Bad For Your Health

Back in October, researchers from the University of Missouri published results suggesting that sitting throughout most of the day may put individuals at higher risk for diabetes, obesity and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease -- even if you clear time for daily exercise.

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/13/sitting_n_1202800.html

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Air Jordan shoe collection taken from US home

(AP) ? A North Carolina man says 30 pairs of Nike Air Jordan sneakers still in their boxes that he's been collecting since middle school have been stolen.

WCNC-TV reports that 22-year-old Bryant Toala told police that someone broke into a home Monday night and took the shoes that he says could be worth more than $10,000. The burglars came in through a bedroom window and made off with the boxes that Toala says were hidden.

He says a collection of baseball hats that matched the shoes was also taken.

Charlotte-Mecklenburg police say they have no suspects.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2012-01-13-Stolen%20Air%20Jordans/id-3e31050ce75243a29a6c10548968d2d7

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Mississippi AG seeks to void governor's pardons (Reuters)

JACKSON, Mississippi (Reuters) ? Mississippi Attorney General Jim Hood said on Friday he would ask a court to overturn the majority of former Governor Haley Barbour's 222 pardons of convicts because they failed to meet constitutional requirements.

Barbour, a prominent Republican, sparked controversy by pardoning 222 convicts -- including murderers and rapists -- during his final days in office this month, generating debate about how much power a governor should have to pardon criminals convicted of serious crimes.

"We will introduce our evidence in Hinds County Circuit Court on January 23 and ask the court to hold these purported pardons null and void," Hood said in a statement.

Of the 181 pardons reviewed so far, at least 167 did not meet the constitutional requirement of having published notice of their request for clemency in local newspapers where the crimes were committed, Hood said.

A preliminary review found 203 of the 222 pardons were full pardons, Hood said.

He described it as an "arduous task" to contact all the local newspapers to determine how many of the pardons had met the public notification requirement.

Barbour, in remarks broadcast on CBS Evening News on Friday, said he was "fully confident the pardons and other clemency that I have given are all valid."

"I believe in second chances, and I try hard to be forgiving," Barbour said. "None of these people are considered dangerous or threats to society. Some of them are in wheelchairs or are amputees."

A Mississippi judge on Wednesday barred the state from releasing 21 inmates still serving time when their pardons were announced and ordered five others who had already been freed to appear for a hearing on January 23.

Hood's office was able to contact four of the five men who had already been released to inform them of the court date, but appealed for the public to help in finding the remaining individual.

Barbour, a former Republican National Committee chairman who considered running for president this year, pardoned more people on his last day of office than his four most recent predecessors combined, according to state government statistics.

Barbour's office has said a minority of those convicts who received clemency remained behind bars and that 90 percent of them were no longer in prison when the pardons were granted.

Barbour had said that the pardons were intended to allow the inmates "to find gainful employment or acquire professional licenses as well as hunt and vote," and that his decisions were typically based on the recommendation of the Parole Board.

One of those pardoned was the brother of former National Football League quarterback Brett Favre. Earnest Scott Favre was convicted in 1996 of driving while intoxicated after a vehicle he was driving crashed and killed his best friend.

Also included were four men convicted of murder and another convicted of armed robbery, all serving life sentences, who worked at the governor's mansion cleaning vehicles, waiting tables and performing other domestic duties.

(Reporting by Marcus Stern and Peter Cooney; Writing by Michelle Nichols; Editing by Daniel Trotta and Paul Thomasch)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120114/pl_nm/us_pardons_mississippi

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Researchers discover particle which could 'cool the planet'

Friday, January 13, 2012

In a breakthrough paper published in Science, researchers from The University of Manchester, The University of Bristol and Sandia National Laboratories report the potentially revolutionary effects of Criegee biradicals.

These invisible chemical intermediates are powerful oxidisers of pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide, produced by combustion, and can naturally clean up the atmosphere.

Although these chemical intermediates were hypothesised in the 1950s, it is only now that they have been detected. Scientists now believe that, with further research, these species could play a major role in off-setting climate change.

The detection of the Criegee biradical and measurement of how fast it reacts was made possible by a unique apparatus, designed by Sandia researchers, that uses light from a third-generation synchrotron facility, at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Advanced Light Source.

The intense, tunable light from the synchrotron allowed researchers to discern the formation and removal of different isomeric species ? molecules that contain the same atoms but arranged in different combinations.

The researchers found that the Criegee biradicals react more rapidly than first thought and will accelerate the formation of sulphate and nitrate in the atmosphere. These compounds will lead to aerosol formation and ultimately to cloud formation with the potential to cool the planet.

The formation of Criegee biradicals was first postulated by Rudolf Criegee in the 1950s. However, despite their importance, it has not been possible to directly study these important species in the laboratory.

In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about 0.8 ?C with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades.

Most countries have agreed that drastic cuts in greenhouse gas emissions are required, and that future global warming should be limited to below 2.0 ?C (3.6 ?F).

Dr Carl Percival, Reader in Atmospheric Chemistry at The University of Manchester and one of the authors of the paper, believes there could be significant research possibilities arising from the discovery of the Criegee biradicals.

He said: "Criegee radicals have been impossible to measure until this work carried out at the Advanced Light Source. We have been able to quantify how fast Criegee radicals react for the first time.

"Our results will have a significant impact on our understanding of the oxidising capacity of the atmosphere and have wide ranging implications for pollution and climate change.

"The main source of these Criegee biradicals does not depend on sunlight and so these processes take place throughout the day and night."

Professor Dudley Shallcross, Professor in Atmospheric Chemistry at The University of Bristol, added: "A significant ingredient required for the production of these Criegee biradicals comes from chemicals released quite naturally by plants, so natural ecosystems could be playing a significant role in off-setting warming.'

###

University of Manchester: http://www.manchester.ac.uk

Thanks to University of Manchester for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116715/Researchers_discover_particle_which_could__cool_the_planet_

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Children Exposed to HIV Before Birth at Risk for Language Delay (HealthDay)

THURSDAY, Jan. 12 (HealthDay News) -- School-age children exposed to HIV before birth are at increased risk for language problems and could benefit from early diagnosis and classroom intervention, according to a new study.

Researchers looked at 468 children, ages 7 to 16, born to mothers with HIV infection during pregnancy. Of those children, 306 were HIV-infected and 162 did not have HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

Overall, 35 percent of the children had difficulty understanding spoken words and expressing themselves verbally, said the researchers at the U.S. National Institutes of Health and other institutions.

On a series of language ability tests, the average score of the children exposed to HIV before birth was in the lowest 21 percent of all children who have taken the test.

All the children exposed to HIV before birth tended to have language delays, regardless of whether they later become infected with HIV, the researchers said.

"Our results show that children exposed to HIV have more than twice the chance of having a language impairment than do children in the general population," Dr. George Siberry, of the Pediatric, Adolescent and Maternal AIDS Branch of the U.S. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, said in an NIH news release.

The researchers weren't able to determine if the high rates of language problems in HIV-exposed children are actually due to HIV exposure or are caused by other factors, such as family status, mothers' substance use, environment, or social or economic background.

The study recently appeared in the Journal of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics.

Routine screening for language impairment might benefit children exposed to HIV before birth, even if they don't have any obvious signs of language problems, the researchers suggested.

More information

The U.S. National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities has more about speech and language impairments.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/diseases/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/20120113/hl_hsn/childrenexposedtohivbeforebirthatriskforlanguagedelay

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Nigerian unions to meet president over fuel strike (Reuters)

ABUJA (Reuters) ? Nigerian unions will meet President Goodluck Jonathan Saturday evening to try to defuse a row over the removal of fuel subsidies that has paralyzed the economy and raised fears of a shutdown of its oil industry, a presidency spokesman said.

Strikes and protests brought the country to a standstill this week and workers in the oil industry, which produces 2 million barrels a day, have threatened to halt production.

The strikes are costing Africa's second biggest economy around $600 million a day, Central Bank Governor Lamido Sanusi told Reuters Thursday.

"The strike is affecting us badly and they need to agree on something soon so that Nigeria can get back to normal," said shopkeeper John Ikechukwu at Lagos' run-down Falomo market.

Presidency spokesman Reuben Abati said by telephone that the meeting was scheduled to start at 6 p.m. (1700 GMT).

Union leaders will meet members' representatives in the capital Abuja to agree a negotiating position ahead of the talks in Jonathan's presidential villa, said Owei Lakemfa, general secretary of the National Labor Congress.

"We'll review the situation of the past one week, and set a fresh mandate for those who would represent labor in the talks in the villa today," he told Reuters.

Tens of thousands of people have taken to the streets and staged strikes for five straight days in protest against the removal of a fuel subsidy on January 1, which raised the price of petrol at the pump to 150 naira ($0.93) per liter from 65 naira before.

Unions have suspended strike action for the weekend, pending the Saturday talks in which they and the government are expected to reach some kind of agreement. If they do not, strikes will continue from Monday next week, unions said.

"The government's expectation is that today's meeting will bring an end to the whole crisis so that the nation can move forward," a senior source at the presidential villa told Reuters.

Gasoline tankers have been unable to deliver supplies to Nigeria, which despite its oil riches, imports most of its refined petroleum products.

Motorists formed a long queue at one pump station near central Lagos, Nigeria's largest city, in the search for fuel that after a week of strikes was not readily available even at the new higher price.

Nearby a young man peddled black market petrol, using a hose spouting out of a jerrycan.

"I have fuel for 350 naira a liter if you want," he said.

STRIKE FATIGUE

Officially, the unions' negotiating position has been to accept nothing less than the old 65 naira per liter price, although economy watchers expect them to soften their stance.

One possibility is an agreement on a higher, but still heavily subsidised, price that would mean it remained a major burden on public finances.

"I think they might agree on a compromise and remove part of the subsidy. I think they will come to around the 100 naira range in the end," said David Negedu, a Lagos-based financial analyst at investment advisory firm S&C Consultancy Ltd.

Another is that the government agrees to reinstate the subsidy fully, but then aggressively phases it out from April, as was originally planned before its shock axing on January 1. That would be unlikely to please the unions.

"In the alternate scenario ... the two sides are unable to bridge the negotiating gap in so little time," Eurasia Group's Philippe de Pontet wrote in a research note.

"This is both because of union intransigence and because factions around President Jonathan think the non-union participation in strikes will start to dissipate next week ... that strike fatigue will set in among ordinary Nigerians."

The confrontation is a serious setback for Jonathan, already under fire for failing to quell an increasingly violent Islamist insurgency in the north.

Most fuel price demonstrations have been peaceful this week, but at least three protesters have been shot dead by police. A police officer has been arrested for killing a man in Lagos.

Industry officials doubt unions can stop crude oil exports completely because production is largely automated and Nigeria has crude stored in reserves, but even a minor outage could have a significant impact on the economy.

Nigeria accounts for 8 percent of U.S. oil imports, and is also a key source for Europe and Asia. Crude oil exports account for more than 90 percent of foreign exchange earnings and 80 percent of government revenues.

(Additional reporting by Camillus Eboh in Abuja, James Jukwey, Chijioke Ohuocha and Tim Cocks in Lagos; Writing by Tim Cocks; editing by Ben Harding)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120114/wl_nm/us_nigeria_strike

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Desecration of the dead is as old as war itself

This image made on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012 from undated video posted on the Internet on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012 by a YouTube user who identified themself as "semperfiLoneVoice" shows men in U.S. Marine combat gear, standing in a semi-circle over three bodies. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is branding as "utterly despicable" the video purporting to show four U.S. Marines urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters. The Marine Corps had said Wednesday that it was looking into the YouTube video but hadn't yet verified its origin or authenticity. (AP Photo)

This image made on Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012 from undated video posted on the Internet on Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012 by a YouTube user who identified themself as "semperfiLoneVoice" shows men in U.S. Marine combat gear, standing in a semi-circle over three bodies. U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is branding as "utterly despicable" the video purporting to show four U.S. Marines urinating on the corpses of Taliban fighters. The Marine Corps had said Wednesday that it was looking into the YouTube video but hadn't yet verified its origin or authenticity. (AP Photo)

Since before Achilles dragged Hector's body around the walls of Troy, warriors have been desecrating the corpses of their vanquished enemies, whether to send a message or exact revenge.

And for just as long, they have known in their hearts it was wrong.

The video that surfaced this week of four Marines apparently urinating on three Taliban corpses has stirred outrage in the U.S. and beyond, but also focused attention on the brutalizing effects of war on those sent to wage it.

Reserve Marine Lt. Col. Paul Hackett, who teaches the law of war to Marines before they are sent off to Afghanistan, made it clear Friday that he was not condoning the Marines' actions. But he warned against judging them too harshly, saying: "When you ask young men to go kill people for a living, it takes a whole lot of effort to rein that in."

In the long history of war, the episode pales in comparison to other battlefield atrocities. But one difference this time was that, in the Internet age, it was captured on camera and instantly shared with the rest of the world.

"This outrage is so interesting to me because it almost tops that" of other, more ghastly war crimes, said psychologist Eric Zillmer, a Drexel University professor and co-editor of the book "Military Psychology: Clinical and Operational Applications." ''Because of the technology, the video, you actually see it. Most of the other war crimes, you heard about, you read about."

The Geneva Conventions forbid the desecration of the dead, and officials in the U.S. and abroad have called for swift punishment for the four Marines, identified as members of the 3rd Battalion, 2nd Marines, which fought in the Afghan province of Helmand for seven months before returning to Camp Lejeune, N.C.

The prohibition against desecrating the battlefield dead is almost as old as war itself.

In Homer's "Iliad," the epic poem about the Trojan War, which may have occurred in the 12th century B.C., Achilles kills Hector and refuses to allow for a proper burial. He relents after Zeus sends word that Achilles "tempts the wrath of heaven too far" with his desire to "vent his mad vengeance on the sacred dead."

In the 7th century, Abu Bakr, father-in-law of the prophet Muhammad and Islam's first caliph, issued 10 rules to his people for their guidance on the battlefield. Among them: "You must not mutilate dead bodies."

In 1907, the Hague Convention said that after every engagement, the combatants should take steps to protect the dead against "pillage." The first Geneva Convention in 1949 addressed preventing the dead from "being despoiled."

The history of war is replete with stories of atrocities committed to send a message. In the 15th century, Prince Vlad III of Wallachia struck fear in his Turkish enemies ? and earned his gruesome nickname, Vlad the Impaler ? by littering the battlefield with the impaled corpses of the vanquished.

Over the centuries, fingers, scalps and other body parts have been taken as battlefield trophies.

Nevertheless, Zillmer said the desecration of a dead foe is "taboo across cultures."

"It doesn't need to be explained to be inappropriate," he said. "Anybody who looks at it says it's disgusting."

But, like Hackett, he said it can be difficult for soldiers, particularly members of a tightknit group, to go on killing missions and then just "switch off." And he said the inhibitions against such misconduct tend to fall away as the number of participants increases, a phenomenon he calls "diffusion of responsibility."

Soldiers have long understood that savagery begets savagery ? or at least breeds indifference.

In his World War II memoir "With the Old Breed," E.B. Sledge wrote of seeing the bloated, blackened corpse of a fellow Marine on the Pacific island of Peleliu, his head and hands cut off, his severed penis stuffed in his mouth.

"My emotions solidified into rage and a hatred for the Japanese beyond anything I ever had experienced," he wrote. "From that moment on I never felt the least pity or compassion for them no matter what the circumstances. My comrades would field-strip their packs and pockets for souvenirs and take gold teeth, but I never saw a Marine commit the kind of barbaric mutilation the Japanese committed if they had access to our dead."

Urinating on the dead is not exactly a new idea.

In the same book, Sledge wrote with disgust about a young Marine officer on Okinawa: "If he could, that 'gentleman by the act of Congress' would locate a Japanese corpse, stand over it, and urinate in its mouth. It was the most repulsive thing I ever saw an American do in the war. I was ashamed that he was a Marine officer."

On the very day the video from Afghanistan emerged, Sgt. Sanick Dela Cruz took the stand in a courtroom at Camp Pendleton in California and testified that he urinated on the skull of a dead Iraqi in 2005. Dela Cruz made the admission during the court-martial of a Marine charged in the killings of 24 Iraqis in the town of Haditha.

Dela Cruz said he was overcome with grief over a comrade killed by a roadside bomb. "The emotion took over, sir," he told a military defense attorney.

Marty Brenner, an anger management specialist in Beverly Hills, Calif., who treats combat veterans and civilians, said the acts depicted in the video ? and the Marines' recording of it ? demonstrate rage.

"They have no other way of expressing their anger at these people," Brenner said, "so what they're doing is urinating on them to show, 'I'm better. I want the world to see you guys are crap and that's what you deserve.'"

In Jacksonville, N.C., the home of Camp Lejeune, some people resented criticism of the Marines over the video, and some expressed fear the footage would make their job harder.

"It demolished me to see that," said Arthur Wade, a Vietnam veteran who retired in 1989. "If one of those men being urinated on was your father, would you want to help the United States?"

But Maynard Sinclair, a Marine veteran of Vietnam and the peacekeeping mission in Beirut, said the outrage shows the public's naivet? about war.

"I did a hell of a lot worse in Vietnam than urinate on some dead bodies," he said. "We cut left ears off and wore them around our necks to show we were warriors, and we knew how to get revenge."

Gary Solis, a former Marine Corps prosecutor and judge who teaches law of war at Georgetown University, said the Internet has added a dimension that soldiers in the past did not have to deal with: "In Vietnam, when you screwed up, no one back home heard about it."

___

Breed reported from Raleigh, N.C., Watson from San Diego. Associated Press writer Tom Breen also contributed to this story from Jacksonville, N.C.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-13-Desecrating%20Corpses/id-6e2de8029ffe444ea25b8b706d6fc271

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Euro, stocks up ahead of Italian debt sale (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? European shares and the euro rose on Friday on expectations debt-scarred Italy's first bond sale of the year would go well, but unease over Greece's debt swap deal and prospects for the broader euro zone economy capped gains.

The market mood was lifted on Thursday by a strong debt auction from Spain, tapping a flood of three-year loans to banks from the European Central Bank, which was cautiously optimistic on the region's outlook after leaving the door open to further interest rate cuts.

"The euro has risen after (Thursday's) auctions were much better than expected,," said Manuel Oliveri, currency strategist at UBS in Zurich.

"But it's only a correction so far and there's no serious fresh buying."

The euro rose 0.3 percent to $1.2824, having climbed to as high as $1.2879 in Asian trading, and pulling further away from a 16-month low near $1.2662 hit earlier in the week.

The FTSEurofirst 300 (.FTEU3) index of top European shares rose sharply at the open before easing back to a gain of 0.3 percent at 1,022.06 points by 0940 GMT. It reached a five-month high of 1,031.08 on Thursday before closing 0.3 percent lower.

Banks were the main gainers, with the STOXX Europe 600 Bank index (.SX7P) up 1.6 percent.

The MSCI global index (.MIWD00000PUS) rose 0.4 percent.

In a second key test in two days of market appetite for debt from the countries at the frontline of the euro zone crisis, Italy sells three-year bonds along with 2018 paper in an auction due at 1000 GMT.

The difference between the rates it pays compared with benchmark German bonds - a key measure of investor confidence -narrowed early on Thursday, and a successful sale could see the spread shrink further.

Italy's 10-year government bond was yielding around 6.5 percent on Friday compared to levels of around 7.0 percent before the Spanish debt auction.

Alan McQuaid, chief economist at Bloxham Stockbrokers, said he expected the auction to draw strong demand.

"It wouldn't surprise me if peripherals continue to do well, especially with another three-year (ECB funding injection) coming up in February.

"But the critical point is the end of the month to see what the (euro zone) policymakers come up with to improve sentiment further. Sentiment is still fragile. It has been encouraged by the actions of the ECB, but politicians have to deliver as well."

The outcome of make-or-break debt swap talks to prevent the euro zone's weakest link, Greece, from slipping into default remained in the balance.

Private sector bondholders said time was running out to seal a deal on a voluntary debt exchange, though Greek officials sounded more optimistic and French bank Societe Generale said agreement was close on a writedown of at least half the value of the debt.

Whatever the outcome, "an agreement on the Greek debt swap is unlikely to be enough to bring Greece back to a sustainable path," said Oliveri at UBS.

RISK APPETITE

Another key yardstick of investor sentiment, the Euro STOXX 50 volatility index (.V2TX), dropped 4.3 percent to touch a five-month low in early trade. At 0935 GMT it was down 3.2 percent at 0935 GMT.

Greater appetite for risk also weighed on safe haven gold, pushing it down 0.6 percent to $1,642 an ounce after it hit a one-month high on Thursday, but oil recovered from a sell-off in the previous session on a report that a proposed European Union embargo on Iranian crude imports would be delayed.

"If more people become bullish, prices, particularly in equities and commodities, will rise. It's now just a matter of when you make the switch." said Tetsu Emori, a fund manager with Astramax Co. in Tokyo.

Brent crude rose close to $112 a barrel, boosted by worries over supply disruption from Nigeria, but gains capped by a report that a proposed European Union embargo on imports of Iranian crude would be phased in over six months.

On Thursday the ECB left official interest rates unchanged and did not offer to take any further action to tackle the euro-zone's debt crisis, saying there were tentative signs the economy was stabilizing.

The bank said its cheap three-year loans were helping banks and supporting morale across the euro zone.

The outcome came as little surprise to investors given the slightly firmer tone of some of the recent data and recent back-to-back rate cuts.

Italy will hope to match the success of Thursday's Spanish auction when it sells up to 4.75 billion euros of bonds on Friday.

On the data front, British factory gate inflation fell more than expected in December, official data showed on Friday, boosting expectations that the Bank of England will inject more stimulus into the struggling economy soon.

Sterling fell to a two-week low against the euro following the data.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Asset performance in 2012: http://link.reuters.com/nyw85s

ECB bank borrowing, deposits: http://link.reuters.com/nyd85s

ECB in graphics: http://link.reuters.com/neg32s

Europe earnings expectations: http://link.reuters.com/duc95s

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

(Additional reporting by Richard Hubbard and Neal Armstrong,; Editing by Catherine Evans)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120113/bs_nm/us_markets_global

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Balmy winter brings plenty of economic surprises

FILE - In this Jan. 11, 2012 photo, winter hats are displayed on a sales rack, in New York. Stores are supposed to be in the throes of clearing out cold weather items like coats and wooly sweaters to make room for spring receipts. Instead, unusually mild temperatures across a broad swath of the country has left them with mounds of winter merchandise they're trying to get rid of at rock bottom prices, a move that's taking a toll on profits.(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

FILE - In this Jan. 11, 2012 photo, winter hats are displayed on a sales rack, in New York. Stores are supposed to be in the throes of clearing out cold weather items like coats and wooly sweaters to make room for spring receipts. Instead, unusually mild temperatures across a broad swath of the country has left them with mounds of winter merchandise they're trying to get rid of at rock bottom prices, a move that's taking a toll on profits.(AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

Winter jackets are on sale at Timberland, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012 in New York. Stores are supposed to be in the throes of clearing out cold weather items like coats and wooly sweaters to make room for spring receipts. Instead, unusually mild temperatures across a broad swath of the country has left them with mounds of winter merchandise they're trying to get rid of at rock bottom prices, a move that's taking a toll on profits. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

Hooded fleece jackets are on sale at Who.A.U, Thursday, Jan. 12, 2012 in New York. Stores are supposed to be in the throes of clearing out cold weather items like coats and wooly sweaters to make room for spring receipts. Instead, unusually mild temperatures across a broad swath of the country has left them with mounds of winter merchandise they're trying to get rid of at rock bottom prices, a move that's taking a toll on profits. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

(AP) ? Out of a relatively balmy winter have sprung some economic surprises. People have more cash in their pockets because they aren't turning up the thermostat. Airlines don't have to de-ice planes or battle blizzards. And shoppers are finding great deals on coats and boots.

But there are also disappointments. Merchants are stuck with unsold shovels and snow blowers. Drugstores say customers aren't buying cold medicine or getting as many flu shots.

The weather has been so mild that at some hardware outlets, rakes are flying off the shelf, and grass seed is outselling ice-melting salt.

"I haven't seen this mix of sales since I can remember," said David Ziegler, whose family owns nine Ace Hardware stores in the northwest Chicago area. "They're buying rakes ... just because it's warmer and people are not holed up."

This winter has been remarkably tame, especially in regions accustomed to a three-month tussle with freezing temperatures, snow, sleet and ice. In the Northeast, only four Decembers in the last 117 years have been warmer, according to the National Weather Service.

The weather feels especially gentle after two straight seasons of bitter cold and heavy snow. And it will take much more than Friday's relatively moderate snowstorm in the Midwest and Northeast to change that.

For Rocco A. Guadagna, it's been a lazy winter. He owns a lawn care and snow-removal company in Buffalo, N.Y. Because he charges an upfront fee for an entire season of plowing, he's getting paid even though he's hardly had to do any work.

Last year, his plows went out 42 times, more than usual. This year, he went out Friday for just the second time. But he doesn't think customers mind paying for something they barely use.

"Ninety percent, when they pay me, they say 'I hope I never see you,'" he said.

He's not the only one saving money. The weather and low natural gas prices have combined to push down home heating costs for the 51 percent of American households that use gas.

A typical bill this winter will be $700, a 3 percent drop from last year and the fourth straight year of declines, according to Mark Wolfe, executive director of the National Energy Assistance Director's Association.

Jim Cusick, a state employee in St. Paul, has been able to run his radiators less and catch up on an out-of-control home heating bill aggravated by the big, drafty old house where he lives with five of his six kids.

Because of last winter, Cusick said, he owed his utility more than $3,000 in back payments. As of this month, he said, his negative balance is down to $650.

"It's a bummer for the kids. They miss the skating and stuff," Cusick said. "But if winter stays mild, life will be better."

Airlines are enjoying savings, too. During storms, they often lose money because of refunds, delays and added costs for labor and expensive de-icing fluid.

United Continental Holdings Inc., the world's largest airline, said December snowstorms in 2010 hurt its fourth-quarter profit by $10 million and wiped out $25 million in revenue from fares and fees.

Not this season though. There were about 7,000 flight cancelations in the U.S. in December, down from 29,000 the year before, according to FlightStats. On-time performance improved to 79 percent, from 66 percent the year before.

The weather is a mixed bag for stores that offer outdoor gear. Henry Carter, co-owner of 9th Street Cycles, a bike store in Brooklyn, N.Y., said sales of winter equipment have been slow, but bike sales have been surprisingly brisk. And customers are riding more. So instead of the occasional cleaning or adjustment, the repair shop is busy will full tuneups.

"That's usually the stuff of summertime," he said.

For retailers, the weather has been a challenge and an opportunity. They want the weather to be cold, but not too cold. They hope for a few snowstorms that inspire people to buy coats and snow blowers, but not blizzards that keep shoppers inside for days.

So, while more people are out shopping now, they're not buying the bulky winter merchandise. And since they can't sell it, stores have to discount it heavily, which eats away at profit.

Now, instead of clearing out what's left of the cold-weather stuff to make room for spring supplies, they have mounds of winter things for sale at rock-bottom prices.

Coats are the biggest headache. They take up a lot of space, and they are expensive, so big markdowns hurt the bottom line more. Stores are discounting coats by 70 percent on average, and many are slashing prices on entire coat departments.

"Stores can't get rid of the outerwear fast enough," said Scott A. Bernhardt, chief operating officer of Planalytics Inc., a research firm that uses weather patterns to advise stores what they should buy to sell to customers.

Barbara Paschal of Muncie, Ind., recently got a coat at Sears for $48, marked down from $120. Still, she's holding off on buying gloves for three of her four teenage sons.

"There's no reason to buy gloves," said Paschal, noting the temperature is around 40 degrees. "If we get snow, then I will get the gloves."

Drugstore operators Walgreen Co. and Rite Aid Corp. both say the warm weather has hurt sales of cough, cold and flu products compared with last year. They are also giving fewer flu shots and filling fewer prescriptions.

Walgreen administered about 5.3 million flu shots between August and December, down from 6 million over the same period in 2010. In December, prescriptions for cough, cold and flu treatments were down 1.5 percent at established stores.

The temperatures have even stifled good-natured winter humor.

Ellen Shubart, who volunteers for the Chicago Architecture Foundation, recently started guiding a tour of the city's underground walkway system downtown called "Warm Walk, Cool Architecture."

The jokes she devised about gloves, boots and hats have been falling flat.

"We planned it with the idea that it's going to be cold outside," she said.

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Associated Press writers Anne D'Innocenzio, Samantha Bomkamp and Marley Seaman in New York City; Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, N.Y.; Barbara Rodriguez in Chicago; and Patrick Condon in St. Paul, Minn., contributed to this report.

___

Jonathan Fahey can be reached at http://twitter.com/JonathanFahey .

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-13-US-Warm-Weather-Economy/id-4338c6d0a2f249deb8bce889d4ce1ec3

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