World stocks higher on China recovery optimism

BANGKOK (AP) — World stock markets rose Monday on optimism that China's economic recovery is firmly taking root.
Many analysts expect China's fourth quarter and 2012 growth figures due Friday to show the world's No. 2 economy continuing to bounce back from its worst slump since the 2008 financial crisis.
Sentiment improved last week after Japan announced a $224 billion stimulus package to boost its recession- and deflation-mired economy. A strong economic recovery has eluded Japan for more than 20 years since the bursting of its financial bubble in the early 1990s.
Britain's FTSE 100 rose marginally to 6,123.87. Germany's DAX gained 0.2 percent to 7,727.68. France's CAC-40 added 0.2 percent to 3,713.79.
Wall Street was set for slight gains, with Dow Jones industrial futures rising slightly to 13,437 while S&P 500 futures gained 0.1 percent to 1,468.20.
Stock markets in Asia posted gains as investors grew more confident about China's economic recovery. China reported improving exports and imports last week, a sign of higher demand both inside and outside the country. More signs of improvement are expected when China releases a slew of data on Friday, including factory output, investment and retail sales.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.6 percent to 23,413.26. South Korea's Kospi added 0.3 percent to 2,002.77 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 advanced 0.2 percent to 4,719.70. Japan's financial markets were closed for a public holiday.
Mainland Chinese stock markets were boosted when Guo Shuqing, chairman of the China's securities regulator, said at a conference in Hong Kong that there was room to raise by "at least" tenfold the quota of foreign institutions allowed to invest in China's domestic stock markets, which are largely off-limits to outsiders because of capital controls.
Mainland China's Shanghai Composite Index soared 3.1 percent to 2,311.74 while the Shenzhen Composite Index for China's second, smaller stock market jumped 3.6 percent to 918.23.
Dariusz Kowalczyk of Credit Agricole CIB in Hong Kong said China's growth likely picked up in the fourth quarter of 2012 to 7.9 percent from 7.4 percent in the three months ended in September. He expects first quarter growth in 2013 to hit 8.5 percent. He said such figures should put to rest worries that China's economy might be in for a hard landing.
"Risks have diminished both externally and domestically, and if they rebound, China has sufficient resources to manage them, so we are upbeat that a relapse will not occur," he said in an email.
Still, a bobble in trade could cause a reversal, while inflation pressure is rising because of poor winter harvests, which would make it harder for Beijing to embark on new stimulus measures without pushing prices up more.
Analysts at Societe Generale have not ruled out a hard landing, which they define as real GDP growth falling below 6 percent, partly because of China's vulnerability to trade shocks.
Among individual stocks, South Korea's SK Telecom advanced 4.2 percent while Hyundai Heavy Industries fell 1.1 percent. In Shanghai, gold retailer Lao Feng Xiang Co. Ltd. jumped 7 percent. China AVIC Avionics Equipment soared 10 percent.
Benchmark oil for February delivery was up 49 cents to $94.05 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract dropped 26 cents to finish at $93.56 a barrel in New York on Friday.
In currencies, the euro rose to $1.3354 from $1.3338 late Friday in New York. The dollar rose to 89.37 yen from 89.20 yen.

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UPS to withdraw TNT Express bid after EC veto

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - United Parcel Service Inc (UPS) said it will withdraw its 5.2 billion euro ($7 billion) bid for TNT Express because it expects the European Commission (EC) to block the deal.
UPS, the world's No. 1 package delivery company, was seeking to buy Dutch peer and European market leader TNT Express to gain access to its network in the fast-growing Asian and Latin American markets.
The EC has informed UPS and TNT Express that it is working on a decision to prohibit the proposed acquisition, the two companies said in separate statements.
"UPS will pay TNT a termination fee in the amount of 200 million euros and will withdraw the offer," once the formal decision is taken, UPS said on Monday.
The collapse of the deal is a blow for TNT Express, which has struggled to turn around in a weak European market.
The U.S. delivery company had offered various concessions in a bid to win EU regulatory approval for its bid, including a proposal to sell warehouses and customer bases in about 15 countries, mainly in eastern Europe.
"We proposed significant and tangible remedies designed to address the EC's concerns with the transaction," Scott Davis, UPS chairman and chief executive said in a statement, expressing disappointment at the decision after months of talks.
"The combined company would have been transformative for the logistics industry, bringing meaningful benefits to consumers and customers around the world, while supporting growth in Europe in particular," Davis added. ($1 = 0.7493 euros)

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Samsung sells 100 million Galaxy S smartphones

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Samsung Electronics Co. said Monday that global sales of its Galaxy S smartphones surpassed 100 million units since the first model in the series was released less than three years ago.
Samsung said it has sold more than 25 million Galaxy S smartphones, 40 million Galaxy S II smartphones and 41 million Galaxy S III smartphones.
Samsung launched the first Galaxy S model at the end of May 2010, scrambling to catch up with Apple, which was reshaping the market with the iPhone.
But Samsung was quick to narrow the gap with bigger smartphone makers. Research firm IHS iSuppli said last month that Samsung beat Nokia in cellphone sales and Apple in smartphone sales last year.
Apple's iPhone sales hit the 100-million mark in March 2011, nearly four years after the introduction of the phone in 2007.
Analysts expect Samsung to announce the fourth version of the Galaxy S smartphone before this summer.

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Soccer-Ireland full back Kelly swaps Fulham for Reading

LONDON, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Ireland full back Stephen Kelly joined Premier League strugglers Reading from mid-table Fulham on Friday on a two-and-a-half year deal.
"I'm delighted to have Stephen here," Reading manager Brian McDermott said in a club statement.
"He has played a lot of games in the Premier League and more than 30 times for his country. He's the kind of player I've been talking about - someone with great experience but at 29 still young in football terms and at a really good stage in his career."
Reading, in their first season back in the top flight, are second bottom after 21 of 38 games and five points from safety.

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Soccer-Thai forward Teerasil trains with Atletico Madrid

MADRID, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Forward Teerasil Dangda trained with Atletico Madrid for the first time on Friday as part of a two-week trial programme involving the Spanish club and Thai side Muangthong United.
The 24-year-old, who has scored 28 goals in 54 appearances for Thailand, worked with La Liga's second-placed team at their training ground just outside the Spanish capital.
"I am very proud and very happy," Teerasil told the Atletico website. "It is a great opportunity to be alongside players and stars that you watch every week on television in my country.
"I hope I will be able to play in Europe one day."
Teerasil, who had an ill-fated few months with Manchester City five years ago, is one of 11 players who have travelled to work with Atletico as part of a collaboration deal agreed between the two clubs in 2010.

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Soccer-Debuchy set for debut in Newcastle's stretched defence

Jan 11 (Reuters) - France right back Mathieu Debuchy is poised to make his Newcastle United debut at Norwich City on Saturday with the stuttering Premier League side hoping for some good news in defence after a period of woe.
The north east club finished fifth last term but are down in 15th this season and have been shipping goals, with a 4-3 loss at Manchester United and 7-3 defeat at Arsenal followed by a 2-1 reverse at home to Everton.
Last weekend they were eliminated from the FA Cup third round by second tier Brighton and Hove Albion and now media reports say influential centre back and captain Fabricio Coloccini wants to return to Argentina for personal reasons.
Boss Alan Pardew once compared Coloccini to England's 1966 World Cup-winning captain Bobby Moore but on Friday he was eulogising about Debuchy following his move from Lille.
"Mathieu has come in and been accomplished," Pardew, hit by injuries to his back line all season, told the club website (www.nufc.co.uk).
"He's not really ripped any trees up but he just looks like a proper, senior player who knows the game. I haven't had to give him too much information but a few of our wide players haven't had too much joy against him.
"I'm really looking forward to seeing him in a Newcastle shirt - I think he will add some real quality to us."
Debuchy's France team mate Yohan Cabaye is also in contention to return from a two-month injury layoff at Norwich along with fellow midfielder Jonas Gutierrez but striker Shola Ameobi is banned.

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Factbox: Key companies in the phablet space

(Reuters) - Phablets, a cross between a smartphone and a tablet, are gaining popularity globally as consumers opt for bigger screens to perform multimedia functions.
Here are some companies that will likely benefit or feel the impact of the fast-growing phablet market, which analysts expect to quadruple in value to $135 billion in about three years:
WINNERS
Samsung Electronics Co Ltd
LG Electronics Inc
Lenovo Group Ltd
Asustek Computer Inc
Google Inc (Android software runs on most of these devices)
Nuance Communications Inc (develops Swype software for keypads, enabling easier text entry on larger screens)
Nvidia Corp (CPU)
Qualcomm Inc (CPU)
POTENTIAL WINNERS
HTC Corp
Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Panasonic Corp
Sony Corp
ZTE Corp
RIDING THE WAVE
Chinese manufacturers, and their regional partners, are building a niche for themselves. The main players are:
Byond Tech Electronics Pvt Ltd (India)
http://www.byondtech.com/
Cherry Mobile (Philippines) http://www.cherrymobile.com.ph/
Karbonn Mobiles (India) http://www.karbonnmobiles.com/
Micromax (India) http://www.micromaxinfo.com/
MyPhone (Philippines) http://www.myphone.com.ph/
NXG Labs Pvt Ltd (India) http://www.nxglabs.in/
Oppo (China) http://www.oppo.com/
Zopo Mobile (China) http://en.zopomobile.com/
ON THE SIDELINES
Microsoft Corp (its Windows Phone software is only a handful of large-screen devices)
Nokia Oyj (its largest smartphone, the Lumia 920, has a 4.5-inch screen which puts it outside most definitions of a phablet)
Research In Motion Ltd
Dell Inc

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Laboratorio nuclear EEUU aparta tecnología china por temores de seguridad

LONDRES (Reuters) - Uno de los principales laboratorios de armas nucleares de Estados Unidos halló recientemente que sus sistemas informáticos contenían conmutadores para redes hechos en China y reemplazaron al menos dos componentes debido a preocupaciones de seguridad nacional, muestra un documento.
Una carta del Laboratorio Nacional Los Alamos en Nuevo México, fechada el 5 de noviembre de 2012, declara que el centro de investigaciones había instalado dispositivos fabricados por H3C Technologies Co, con base en Hangzhou, China, según una copia vista por Reuters.
H3C comenzó como un emprendimiento conjunto entre la china Huawei Technologies Co y 3Com Corp, una firma de tecnología de Estados Unidos, y se llamó Huawei-3Com durante un tiempo. Hewlett Packard Co adquirió la firma en 2010.
El hallazgo plantea incógnitas sobre las prácticas de adquisición en departamentos estadounidenses responsables por la seguridad nacional. Las autoridades y el Congreso de ese país plantearon preocupaciones sobre Huawei y sus supuestos lazos con el gobierno y las fuerzas armadas de China.
La compañía, la segunda mayor fabricante mundial de equipos de telecomunicaciones, niega que sus productos planteen riesgos de seguridad o que las fuerzas armadas chinas influyan en sus negocios.
Los conmutadores son usados para administrar el tráfico de datos en redes informáticas. No está claro el número exacto de conmutadores de fabricación china instalados en Los Alamos, ni cómo ni cuándo fueron adquiridos, ni tampoco si fueron usados en sistemas sensibles o plantean riesgos de seguridad.
El laboratorio -donde fue diseñada la primer bomba atómica- es responsable del mantenimiento del arsenal nuclear de Estados Unidos.
Un portavoz del laboratorio Los Alamos derivó preguntas a la Administración Nacional de Seguridad Nuclear del Departamento de Energía, o NNSA según su sigla en inglés, que declinó hacer comentarios.
La carta del 5 de noviembre vista por Reuters fue escrita por el director de información a cargo en el laboratorio Los Alamos y estaba dirigida al subdirector de salvaguardia y seguridad de la NNSA.
Declara que en octubre, un ingeniero informático del laboratorio -que no es identificado en la carta- advirtió a sus superiores que los dispositivos de H3C "estaban comenzando a ser instalados en" sus redes.
La carta dice que un equipo de especialistas, parte de la unidad de contrainteligencia del laboratorio, comenzaron a investigar, "con un enfoque en redes sensibles". El laboratorio "determinó que una pequeña cantidad de los dispositivos instalados en una red eran dispositivos de H3C. Dos dispositivos usados en casos aislados fueron reemplazados rápidamente", declara la nota.

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Why 2013 could be the ‘Year of the Phablet’

Few expected Samsung (005930) would spark a global revolution last year when it unleashed its oversized Galaxy Note “phablet.” But now that the Note has proven to be a hit, electronics companies around the world are apparently scrambling to steal Samsung’s thunder by manufacturing their own giant smartphones. Strategy Analytics executive director Neil Mawston tells Reuters that he expects “2013 to be the Year of the Phablet,” with companies such as TCL Communications’ (2618) Alcatel One Touch brand, ZTE and Huawei already bringing their own Note-like devices to the Consumer Electronics Show this week. The big reason that phablets have become so popular, ABI Research analyst Joshua Flood tells Reuters, is that voice calls are simply much less important to users than having a large, attractive screen they can use to read and watch videos. Or as Flood puts it, “smaller was better until phones got smart, became visual.

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Google's Schmidt urges Internet openness in NKorea

BEIJING (AP) — Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt said Thursday it's up to North Korea to shed its self-imposed isolation and allow its citizens to use the Internet and connect with the outside world, or risk remaining way behind other countries.
Schmidt was returning from a private trip to North Korea with former New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson that was not sanctioned by the U.S. government and has been criticized for appearing to boost Pyongyang's profile after its widely condemned rocket launch put a satellite into space last month.
"As the world is becoming increasingly connected," Schmidt said, "their decision to be virtually isolated is very much going to affect their physical world, their economic growth and so forth. It will make it harder for them to catch up economically. We made that alternative very, very clear."
The nine-member delegation, which also included Jared Cohen, director of the company's Google Ideas think tank, was greeted at the Beijing airport by a throng of reporters at the end of their four-day trip.
"The government has to do something," Schmidt said. "It has to make it possible for the people to use the Internet. It is their choice now. It's in my view time for them to start, or else they will remain behind."
During the trip, Richardson said they also urged Pyongyang to halt all missile and nuclear tests, which have incurred U.N. sanctions, and sought fair treatment for an American who has been detained in North Korea.
Schmidt, CEO of the U.S.-based Internet giant until 2011, has been a vocal proponent of Internet freedom and openness around the world. He and Cohen are publishing a book in April about the power of global connectivity in transforming people's lives, policies and politics.
Cohen doesn't typically accompany Schmidt on Google-sanctioned trips, so his inclusion in the delegation may be a sign that the two men may have mainly been interested in gathering material for their book.
In Pyongyang, Schmidt's group visited a university computer lab and met with students and North Korean officials. They toured the frigid brick building in central Pyongyang that is the heart of North Korea's own computer industry, where Schmidt asked pointed questions about a new homegrown tablet computer as well as its Red Star operating system. He briefly donned a pair of 3-D goggles during the tour of the Korea Computer Center.
Many experts see the country as one of the least connected in the world, where few people have any access to computers, and even those who do are typically able to connect only to a domestic intranet that does not connect with the World Wide Web.
Global broadband Internet is available in North Korea, as well as a 3G mobile network that can't currently connect to the Internet. But few have unrestricted access, though "it would be very easy for them to turn that on," Schmidt said.
The State Department has criticized the trip as "unhelpful" at a time when the U.S. is rallying support for additional U.N. Security Council action against Pyongyang. Schmidt advised President Barack Obama during his 2008 campaign and was once considered a potential candidate for a Cabinet-level appointment, though he has repeatedly said that he has no plans to leave Google for a government job.
Richardson said the message about expanding the use of technology in North Korea was very "well received."
He said the delegation strongly urged the government "to proceed with a moratorium on ballistic missiles and a possible nuclear test" and that they had "very frank discussions" with North Korean officials about the current tensions on the Korean Peninsula.
Richardson said the North Koreans were encouraged by recent statements by the new South Korean leader, President-elect Park Geun-hye, who has said she will make efforts in her five-year term to boost aid and engage with the North.
Richardson said they also expressed concern about an American detained in North Korea, and were told his health was good and that judicial proceedings would start soon. Pae Jun Ho, who is known as Kenneth Bae in his home state of Washington, is a 44-year-old tour operator of Korean descent who was arrested in November in the northern city of Rajin.
"The delegation's trip to North Korea was productive, was successful," Richardson said at the airport in Beijing, adding that the group was invited to return. "We do expect to go back."
There are no major U.S. firms operating in North Korea, which fought against the United States in the Korean War of the 1950s. The foes signed a truce in 1953 to end the fighting, but never a peace treaty, and the two countries still do not have diplomatic relations.
Even if Schmidt wasn't officially representing Google in North Korea, the company stands to benefit if the country's leadership loosens its Internet restrictions. For years, the Mountain View, California, company has pushed for more accessible and affordable Internet connections and Web-surfing devices on the premise that its business ultimately will make more money if people spend more time online.

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Bill Richardson says didn't meet detained American on North Korea trip

BEIJING (Reuters) - Former New Mexico governor Bill Richardson and Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt failed to secure the release of a Korean-American held in North Korea during a controversial trip to the secretive state that ended on Thursday.
Richardson told a media briefing at Beijing's airport he was unable to meet Korean-American Kenneth Bae, a 44-year-old tourist who was detained late last year and has been charged with unspecified crimes against the state.
Richardson said he was told that judicial proceedings against Bae would start soon, although he gave no details. North Korean authorities assured him of Bae's good health, he said.
"That is encouraging," Richardson said of Bae's condition, adding he was also given permission to "proceed with a letter from his son, and that will happen shortly".
It was unclear if Richardson had left such a letter with North Korean authorities or if it would be sent later. Bae is being held in a location far from Pyongyang, Richardson said.
The timing of the trip by Schmidt and Richardson was criticized by the U.S. State Department. It came after North Korea carried out a long-range rocket launch last month, which Washington considers a provocative test of ballistic missile technology.
Schmidt said his visit to Pyongyang was private and was to talk about a free and open Internet.
"As the world becomes increasingly connected, their decision to be virtually isolated is very much going to affect their physical world, their economic growth and so forth", Schmidt said in brief remarks.
"The technology in North Korea is very limited," Schmidt said, with a 3G cellphone network for about a million phones run by Egypt's Orascom Telecom Media and Technology Holding SAE that does not support the Internet.
Access to the Internet is available to the government, the military and to universities but not the general public and users are supervised, he said.
"The government has to do something. They have to make it possible for people to use the Internet", he said. "It's their choice now, and time, in my view, for them to start or they will remain behind."
"They showed up and listened to us and asked us a lot of questions", he said.
"NOT PRODUCTIVE"
There was no immediate comment from North Korea about the visit by Richardson and Schmidt other than a report on the official KCNA news agency to say the delegation had left. The trip was met with skepticism across the border in South Korea.
"It wasn't productive on humanitarian grounds", said Chang Yong-seok, a senior researcher at the Institute for Peace and Unification Studies at Seoul National University.
The trip came as the United States, South Korea, Japan and their European allies were pushing at the United Nations to expand long-standing U.N. Security Council sanctions on North Korea after the North's December 12 rocket launch.
Richardson said the North Koreans he met, including a vice foreign minister and other foreign ministry officials, maintained their missile activity was scientific and peaceful.
"I must say I personally disagree", said Richardson, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. "I don't think it is science-based, and it is a violation of the United Nations moratorium."
Pyongyang, according to satellite imagery, is continuing work on its nuclear testing facilities, potentially paving the way for a third nuclear bomb test.
Chang said North Korea would not be budged easily.
"It is possible North Korea will take action after watching to see if the United States changes its policy", Chang said. "It tells us that North Korea is confident and not in a rush; it is going on its own way unyieldingly."
Tensions on the tinderbox Korean peninsula could be reduced following the election of new leaders in South Korea, Japan, and a new secretary of state in the United States, Richardson said.
"The North Koreans were encouraged by the recent statements of the new south Korean president", he said, referring to President-elect Park Gyeun-hye.

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Lowered UK flag sparks Protestant fury in Belfast

BELFAST, Northern Ireland (AP) — At Belfast City Hall, the flagpole is bare — and the streets are filled with nighttime fear and fury.
These are dangerous times in Northern Ireland, a long-divided corner of the United Kingdom that is supposed to be at peace after decades of unrest thanks to its hard-won cease-fires and a Catholic-Protestant government. But the lowering of a single Union Jack has exposed a society still split between two competing identities.
Last month, Catholics who narrowly outnumber Protestants on the council voted to reduce the flying of the flag to just 18 official days a year, ending a century when the British national symbol favored by Protestants flew uninterrupted year-round.
Catholics billed the move as a compromise, since they wanted the flag removed completely. On Wednesday, the flag fluttered for the first time since the vote to mark the 31st birthday of Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, but was taken down again at sunset.
Protestant hard-liners have responded with nightly illegal street blockades that often have degenerated into street battles between riot police and masked protesters armed with everything from sledgehammers to snooker balls. Police say 66 officers have been wounded, including six this week, and more than 100 rioters arrested.
Nobody seems to know how, or when, the strife will end. While Northern Ireland suffers intercommunal conflict each summer because of traditional Protestant marches, this is the first time that Northern Ireland has suffered a month straight of angry civil disturbances in the winter.
Some analysts, reflecting on how past Northern Ireland crises have unfolded, suspect that the extremists won't stop until someone is killed.
"The quickest end looks like it would be in an atrocity. I fear that," said Duncan Morrow, a University of Ulster lecturer and former chief of Northern Ireland's Community Relations Council, a group that tries to bridge the persistent divide between Irish Catholics and British Protestants.
At the heart of the resumed conflict is the rapid change in Northern Ireland's population balance and political system.
Northern Ireland was created as a Protestant-majority state in the U.K. shortly before the overwhelmingly Catholic rest of Ireland won independence in 1922. But the days of Protestant domination of politics and the police are distant memories.
The latest census published last month shows Catholics in the majority in Belfast and gaining throughout Northern Ireland. The peace process has produced a new system in which a former Irish Republican Army commander now jointly leads the government, and a decade of preferential Catholic recruitment has produced a more Irish-oriented police force that Protestant militants increasingly view as the enemy.
For many Protestants, the change has overwhelmed the senses. Stripping "their" flag from City Hall has brought their central fear into focus — that they could become the minority in a land that eventually could fly the green, white and orange flag of the neighboring Republic of Ireland.
"The vote on the flag was a touchstone. It transformed Protestant and unionist frustration into outright anger," said Mike Nesbitt, leader of the No. 2 Protestant-backed party, the Ulster Unionists. "Even if you put the flag back up 365 days a year — and I accept it's not going to happen — that would not fix the anger on the streets."
Many shop and restaurant owners in downtown Belfast are fuming, too — about scared-off customers, bills they can't pay and a political culture that wreaks economic havoc over matters of symbolism. They blame Catholic politicians for picking a needless fight right before Christmas, and blame Protestants for inflaming mobs with no ability to rein them back in.
But Peter Robinson, the Protestant first minister of the government who still backs the protests so long as they remain peaceful, insists he's done all he can.

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Soccer-Benitez says time almost over for Chelsea "legends"

LONDON, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Chelsea interim coach Rafael Benitez has heralded a changing of the guard at the Premier League club by saying that new players are needed for them to carry on winning.
The Londoners' joint-second top scorer of all time, Frank Lampard, looks unlikely to be offered a new deal with the 34-year-old's contract expiring at the end of the season, his agent says.
Media reports have said other fan favourites Ashley Cole and captain John Terry could also be sacrificed in the next two years after Chelsea showed they mean business by letting Champions League-winning hero Didier Drogba leave in May.
"I think it's always easy to talk about the legends and you have to have a lot of respect for them," Benitez told British newspapers ahead of Wednesday's Capital One (League) Cup semi-final first leg against Swansea City.
"What they've achieved for this club has been fantastic. But you have to have new players and carry on winning games. That's what the fans are expecting."
The European champions, fourth in the Premier League, also have an eye on big wage earners given the onset of UEFA's Financial Fair Play rules where they have to break even or risk exclusion from European competition.
"Everyone knows the legends who have been here and what they have achieved. That is the good thing about English football, you have good memories and respect people who achieve something for the club, which is very positive," the Spaniard added.

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Soccer-Australia's Rogic to train with Celtic

SYDNEY, Jan 9 (Reuters) - Promising young Australian midfielder Tom Rogic will take part in a training camp with Scottish club Glasgow Celtic but no offer has been tabled for the 20-year-old, his Central Coast Mariners club said on Wednesday.
Rogic won his first international cap in a friendly against South Korea last November and is rated is one of the most exciting young talents in the A-League.
A three-match suspension for a rash tackle in an A-League match last month will allow him to travel to Spain to join the Scottish champions in mid-season.
"This is a great opportunity for Tomas to train with Celtic's first team squad," said Mariners general manager of football Lawrie McKinna.
"Celtic are in their mid-season break and are busy preparing for their Champions League matches against Juventus in February, so Tom will undoubtedly learn a lot from the experience."
Rogic earned his call-up for the Socceroos after scoring twice in an A-League match against Sydney FC in early November.
"Technically he is very sound but he has that element of creativity, he does the unexpected, which can decide a game and can give a certain flavour to a game," Australia coach Holger Osiek said at the time.
"That is what I like, he is not an average player. Physically he has to mature, his endurance capacity has to improve and his mobility in tight areas needs to get better.

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Soccer-Man City send back 'expensive' tickets for Arsenal clash

Jan 9 (Reuters) - While Manchester City's wealthy Dubai owners continue to bankroll the club, the Premier League champions' supporters look to be adopting a more frugal approach.
According to local media reports, City have sent back 912 of the 3,000 tickets they were allocated for Sunday's league clash at Arsenal, with travelling fans unhappy at the 62 pounds ($100) cost for a seat at the Emirates.
"It's the most expensive amount I can ever remember paying for a ticket in my life," Kevin Parker, the general secretary of the Manchester City Supporters Club, was quoted as saying by British media on Tuesday.
"It just shows that football clubs are out of touch with reality. If City supporters are travelling on a supporters' club coach it will cost 30 pounds per person. That's 92 pounds before they have even done anything. Add in a programme, food, drink and you are looking at 125-130 pounds per person."
Widely regarded as one of the richest clubs in the world after they were bought by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan in 2008, they have forked out millions to sign the likes of Sergio Aguero, David Silva and Mario Balotelli in recent seasons.
Despite the massive outlay, the most expensive ticket prices at the Etihad Stadium are 58 pounds with the cheapest at 26 pounds, according to an October survey by the BBC.
Arsenal sold the Premier League's most expensive match day ticket at 126 pounds and, like City, also one of the cheapest available at 26 pounds.
"Some people cannot afford the price, especially as it is just after Christmas, and there are some who just refuse to pay 62 pounds," Parker said of the Arsenal cost.
"This is also the first time in a long while that I remember City fans saying to me they could pay the money but are refusing to do so.
"That is a brave decision to take. Soon, though, fans will vote more strongly with their feet and clubs like Arsenal will have to decide what to do about ticket prices."

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Existing home sales rise to fastest pace in three years

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Home resales rose sharply in November to their fastest pace in three years, a sign the recovery in the housing market is gaining steam.
The National Association of Realtors said on Thursday that existing home sales climbed 5.9 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.04 million units.
That was the fastest since November 2009, when a federal tax credit for home buyers was due to expire. Sales were well above the median forecast of a 4.87 million-unit rate in a Reuters poll.
The U.S. housing market tanked on the eve of the 2007-09 recession and has yet to fully recover, but steady job creation has helped the housing sector this year, when it is expected to add to economic growth for the first time since 2005.
NAR economist Lawrence Yun said superstorm Sandy, which slammed in the U.S. East Coast in late October and disrupted the regional economy for weeks, had only a slight negative impact on home resales.
The NAR expects some purchases delayed by the storm to add a slight boost to resales over the next few months, Yun said.
Nationwide, the median price for a home resale was $180,600 in November, up 10.1 percent from a year earlier as fewer people sold their homes under distressed conditions compared to the same period in 2011. Distressed sales include foreclosures.
The nation's inventory of existing homes for sale fell 3.8 percent during the month to 2.03 million, the lowest level since December 2001.
At the current pace of sales, inventories would be exhausted in 4.8 months, the lowest rate since September 2005.
Distressed sales fell to 22 percent of total sales from 29 percent a year ago.
The share of distressed sales, which also include those where the sales price was below the amount owed on the home, was also down from 24 percent in October.

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New York City should hike taxes on big business-comptroller

(Reuters) - New York City's top financial officer and possible contender for mayor in 2013, John Liu, proposed on Thursday tax hikes for big businesses and an end to Madison Square Garden's $15 million annual property tax exemption.
The proposals by New York City Comptroller John Liu include tax hikes on private equity firms, which would help offset his plan for $500 million in tax breaks and lowered fines for 90 percent of the city's small businesses.
Liu is expected to vie for the Democratic mayoral nomination for the election in November 2013.
The city could end tax breaks for big companies - more than $250 million of which were handed out last year, Liu said.
The city could also eliminate its $15 million annual property tax exemption for Madison Square Garden, the indoor arena in midtown Manhattan that's home to the New York Knicks basketball team. Madison Square Garden has been exempt from paying taxes on real property since 1982 under New York state law.
The arena is owned by The Madison Square Garden Co, which also owns the Knicks and other professional sports teams. The company also owns Radio City Music Hall, the Beacon Theatre and others venues, as well as television networks.
Liu also proposed examining tax breaks for special interests. Insurance companies, for instance, have not paid the general corporation tax since 1974, at a cost of $300 million annually to the city, he said.
Private equity firms could also start paying the unincorporated business tax for carried interest or gains from assets being held for investment. The exemption costs New York City about $200 million a year, Liu said.
Liu's package would use the revenue generated by those measures to offset his plan to ease the tax burden for small businesses.
He proposed ending the city's general corporation tax for all businesses with liabilities under $5,000 -- about 240,000 business in the city, or 85 percent of those that currently pay the tax.
His plan would also reduce some fines, as well as exempt businesses that make less than $250,000 in annual income from the city's unincorporated business tax.
The proposals would have to be approved by the governor and state legislature after a request by the city council.
The city is facing a possible $2.7 billion gap in fiscal 2014 that could grow to $3.8 billion the following year, Liu said.

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IRS finalizes new tax for medical devices in healthcare law

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Internal Revenue Service on Wednesday released final rules for a new tax on medical devices, products ranging from surgical sutures to knee replacement implants, that starts next year as part of President Barack Obama's 2010 healthcare law.
The 2.3-percent tax must be paid, effective after December 31, by device-makers on their gross sales. The tax is expected to raise $29 billion in government revenues through 2022.
Companies including Boston Scientific Corp, 3M Co and Kimberly-Clark Corp have been lobbying the U.S. Congress for a repeal of the tax.
A repeal bill passed the Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives in June, but it has not been voted on by the Democratic-controlled Senate.
"The excise tax is on the medical device manufacturers and importers (who) will now have access to 30 million new customers due to the health care law," Treasury Department spokeswoman Sabrina Siddiqui said in a statement.
Many medical devices that are sold over-the-counter - such eyeglasses, contact lenses and hearing aids - are exempt from the tax, as are prosthetics, the IRS said.
The tax applies mostly to devices used and implanted by medical professionals, including items as complex as pacemakers or as simple as tongue depressors.
Products sold for humanitarian reasons, such as experimental cancer treatment devices, are not exempt from the tax.
Some medical device companies are hoping to delay the tax's start date as part of a resolution of the "fiscal cliff" deadline at the end of the year involving many tax and spending measures, said Steve Ferguson, chairman of Cook Group Inc.
"We would like to be part of the punt," Ferguson said, referring to an extension of current tax policy into 2013.
In one potentially problematic aspect of the tax, companies selling dual-use products to medical and non-medical customers must pay the tax on those products, potentially putting them at a competitive disadvantage, said Lew Fernandez, a director at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and a former IRS official.

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PGA Tour opener delayed _ again _ by wind

KAPALUA, Hawaii (AP) — On the third attempt at starting the PGA Tour season, Matt Kuchar stepped to the 10th tee at Kapalua and could barely hear his name through the wind. When he finally steadied himself, a gust blew his golf ball off the tee. And then it happened again.
"We had a powwow and took us five or six minutes to laugh it off and say, 'We're really going to go through with this?'" Kuchar said. "Made the best of it."
But not for long.
Just more than one hour after the Tournament of Champions finally got under way, it was scrapped again with all the scores erased.
Most golf tournaments end on Sunday. This one couldn't even get started Sunday.
The wind came roaring down the Plantation Course at Kapalua again, and it left officials no choice but to stop play and try to start again. With more manageable wind in the forecast, the plan was to play 36 holes Monday and finish with 18 holes Tuesday.
That was good news for Ben Curtis. He had birdie putts on the first two holes and was 5-over par.
"It's crazy. That's the only way to describe it," Curtis said. "I've never hit two greens in regulation at the start and walked away at 5 over. But hey. At least we had to try."
And they will try again.
Rickie Fowler will hit the opening tee shot of the 2013 season on Monday — for the third time this week.
For those wondering why this tournament keeps getting postponed, an hour of television Sunday was all the evidence they needed.
Ian Poulter posed over his 4-iron shot to the 13th green and was so stunned to see it come up short that he looked at his small gallery for the longest time, repeating loud enough for them to hear that he was only 138 yards from the front of the green. Off to his right, Charlie Beljan had a search party stomping through high grass to the right of the 10th fairway looking for both his tee shots. He had a 15-foot putt for triple bogey when play was stopped.
Moments later, a call came over the radio for a ruling on the 12th green. Scott Stallings was trying to tap in a 2-foot putt when a gust blew his ball 8 feet away.
"We need to try to put the show on," Poulter said. "Hyundai spent a lot of money. We want to play. Fans want to see us play. TV wants to see us play. We're backed into a corner. I don't think they understand how windy it really is. Now they've seen it."
It was comical from the start, with Kuchar having to tee it up three times before he could hit, and removing his cap the rest of the way. Jonas Blixt had a 1-foot par putt on the 10th hole and took about two minutes. He had to wait as a cup and someone's hat blew across the green.
Blixt has played 10 holes over two days in these conditions in 1-under par. None of it counts, but the Swede learned one thing.
"There's no instruction book for this," Blixt said. "You just go by instincts."
The Tournament of Champions was supposed to finish on Monday, the day it now hopes to start. The tour insists on a 54-hole tournament, no matter how complicated that will be with the next tournament, the Sony Open, starting on Thursday in Honolulu.
Andy Pazder, the tour's chief of operations, said television and operational equipment can only be transported to Oahu on a barge that takes 16 hours on a good day. The plan was to televise the final round at Kapalua, and go with a limited TV production for the opening round of the Sony Open.
Defending champion Steve Stricker lounged on a sofa in the dining room watching the NFL playoffs with Dustin Johnson and Brandt Snedeker. Along with Bubba Watson, they have yet to tee off all week. Fowler made it through eight holes Friday and five holes Sunday.
But what a wild hour of golf that turned out to be.
"It seems like the first day was a cake walk compared to today," Webb Simpson said. "But you know, they're trying to get us to play some golf. Matt and I were hanging in there, and it was fun. But you don't want to see stupid things happen. I think that was what they were starting to see."
Carl Pettersson began his round by hitting his tee shot into the native grass for a lost ball and a triple bogey. Kyle Stanley had 88 yards to the 10th green and went with a punch 9-iron that sailed over the green. Curtis felt hopeless from the start.
After a four-putt double bogey, he hit the green on the par-3 11th.
"We're walking halfway down and my caddie said, 'Hey, your ball is moving.' And it rolled about another 5 feet," Curtis said.
Before he had a chance to putt, a gust blew the ball to the left some more and went down a slope. He chipped up to about 15 feet and four-putted again.
Poulter had to back off six times on a 10-foot birdie putt at the 11th hole. Two holes later, he had hit a beauty of a 4-iron, starting out to the right as the wind brought back toward the flag — and it landed short.
"That's not golf," Poulter said. "I don't know what that is. You saw it. You can't pull a trigger. You're taking 20 practice swings because you can't stand up. I guess what we've done is shown everyone it's unplayable. In some respect, at least we hit a couple of shots. Three days of sitting in the hotel is not good. At least I've warmed up for something. I'm just not sure what I've warmed up for."
Beljan is one of the biggest hitters in golf who never hits a hook, unless the wind blows him off the ball as he says it did on the 10th hole. At least he found his second shot. After the five-minute search ended, a woman found his original tee shot. When she went to show him, she couldn't find it — that's how deep the grass was. Beljan played his provisional, took a whack and whiffed. He hammered at it again and moved it back to the fairway, then hit 8-iron from 102 yards.
"I hit it 170, 175 on a normal day," Beljan said.
This was not a normal day. And when they headed back to the hotel on a gorgeous day in Maui, it wasn't even an official round. So they will try again on Monday. When asked the possibility of 36 holes on Tuesday if the wind doesn't cooperate, Pazder paused and said, "Can we save that question for tomorrow?"

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AP Source: Browns moving on from Oregon's Kelly

CLEVELAND (AP) — Chip Kelly wouldn't jump. So the Browns bailed.
Oregon's visor-wearing coach isn't coming to Cleveland.
A person familiar with Cleveland's coaching search said the team is no longer considering Kelly for its coaching vacancy after the offensive mastermind nearly reached an agreement with the Browns on Friday. The 49-year-old Kelly was indecisive about making the leap to the NFL and the team decided to move on to other candidates, said the person who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity Sunday because of the sensitivity of the search.
The Browns questioned whether Kelly "was committed to coming to the NFL," said the person. And because of his hesitation, Browns owner Jimmy Haslam and CEO Joe Banner returned to Cleveland to continue searching for the club's sixth fulltime coach since 1999.
ESPN's Chris Mortensen was the first to report Kelly wasn't signing with Cleveland.
It's possible Kelly used the Browns to get a better deal from another NFL team or a raise in Oregon.
Whatever the case, he's not joining the Browns.
Kelly turned down Tampa Bay's job deep into negotiations last season. He could accept a job with Philadelphia or Kelly may steer away from the pros again and return to Oregon, where he has built the Ducks into a national powerhouse. Oregon has gone 46-7 the past four seasons and made four BCS bowl games under Kelly .
With Kelly gone, the Browns will now consider some of the candidates they've already met with or maybe begin a second wave of interviews. Haslam and Banner spent most of last week in Arizona and are known to have spoken to former Arizona coach Ken Whisenhunt, Cardinals defensive coordinator Ray Horton, Syracuse's Doug Marrone and Penn State's Bill O'Brien.
Marrone accepted Buffalo's coaching job Sunday, three people familiar with the negotiations told The AP. O'Brien decided to stay with the Nittany Lions.
The Browns aren't confirming any of their interviews or commenting on any candidates.
Haslam could still make a run at Alabama coach Nick Saban following Monday night's BCS title game. Saban has not given any indication he wants to take another stab at coaching in the NFL, but it's possible the 61-year-old could be persuaded by Haslam with the promise of power and a monstrous contract.
A former NFL player, Whisenhunt, who went 45-51 in six seasons and led the Cardinals to a Super Bowl, spent one year as a special teams coordinator with Cleveland. The 50-year-old coach served as Pittsburgh's offensive coordinator from 2004-06, and that connection could serve him well with Haslam, who had a minority share in the Steelers before he bought the Browns.
Horton spent seven seasons on Pittsburgh's staff before joining the Cardinals in 2011.
Haslam and Banner fired Pat Shurmur last week, one day after the Browns finished a 5-11 season with a loss in Pittsburgh. Shurmur went 9-23 in two seasons for the Browns, who have lost at least 11 games in each of the past five seasons and have changed coaches four times since 2002.
Before embarking with Banner on the coaching search, Haslam said there was no set time frame on finding a coach. He promised to wait as long as necessary to "bring the right person to Cleveland."
"Our goal is to get the best person and if we happen to find that person within a week, that's great and if it takes a month, that's great also," Haslam said.
Haslam and Banner are focused on hiring a coach first before turning their attention to a personnel executive. Tom Heckert, who overhauled Cleveland's roster in the past three years, also was fired last week. It's not known if the Browns have interviewed any GM candidates.
Cleveland's courtship of Kelly turned into a two-day fling with no shortage of drama.
After Kelly met with the Browns for seven hours Friday, it appeared he was headed to Cleveland. The Eagles left Arizona after they were informed a deal between the Browns and Kelly was imminent. Kelly, though, kept his commitment for an interview with the Eagles and reportedly spent nine hours with him on Saturday, preventing the Browns from a second meeting
Kelly also met Friday with the Bills, but that was nothing more than a cursory interview for both sides.
The pursuit of Kelly created an interesting subplot between the Browns and Eagles. Banner spent 19 seasons in Philadelphia before leaving the team last year amid a power struggle. Banner is longtime friends with Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, and the two of them potentially squaring off in a bidding war for Kelly was straight out of a screenplay.
It's not known what kind of offer the Browns made for Kelly, who earned a base salary of $2.8 million last season at Oregon and has five years left on his contract.
Kelly's high-octane, hurry-up offense has raised his profile and made the Ducks, with their splashy array of colorful Nike uniforms, more than a curiosity. Several NFL teams, including New England and Washington, are using elements of Kelly's schemes.
The Browns were intrigued enough to see if they could work something out with Kelly.
But in the end, they felt he didn't feel the same way.

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Column: Wilson stands tall as only rookie QB left

This was always going to be one of those once in a decade quarterback classes, even before Russell Wilson announced his arrival from what is arguably the loneliest outpost in the NFL.
Everyone expected big things out of Robert Griffin III and Andrew Luck. Wilson was more of a pleasant surprise, catapulted from third-round obscurity to what passes for football stardom in a city far removed from the media spotlight.
Now he's the only rookie quarterback left in the playoffs. Next thing you know, he'll get some Subway commercials of his own — or maybe something even better.
A rookie quarterback winning a Super Bowl? The way Wilson and the Seattle Seahawks have been playing, the notion is no longer so unimaginable.
On a Sunday that was painful for RG3 and brutal for Luck, it was the undersized and once-unappreciated Wilson who emerged a star. He played with the calmness and efficiency of a veteran, rallying the Seahawks from a 14-0 deficit against the Washington Redskins almost before he had a chance to fasten his chin strap.
And if you didn't know enough about him before, one look at Wilson racing downfield to block for Marshawn Lynch on the go-ahead touchdown should get everyone excited about this kid.
"Marshawn always tells me, 'Russ I got your back,'" Wilson said. "I let him know I have his back, too."
What was billed as a matchup of young stars turned into a mismatch of sorts when Griffin reinjured the knee he sprained a month ago and limped noticeably from the first quarter on. He wasn't coming out, and coach Mike Shanahan wasn't taking him out, a pair of decisions that will be debated.
Football is a game of pain, and Griffin played on. But a running quarterback who can't run is not exactly a recipe for playoff success, and he struggled mightily.
When the night finally ended for him late in the fourth quarter, he lay crumpled on the turf at FedEx Field after fumbling and then collapsing with his leg twisted around him in a frightening moment for anyone watching. Among those who were watching was Wilson, who went to a knee and prayed for his fellow rookie.
"He's a tremendous football player," Wilson said. "I just prayed he was all right."
Just how bad the injury is won't be known until Griffin gets an MRI on Monday. He said after the 24-14 loss that he wasn't sure himself whether he had further injured it.
But the dreadlocked rookie star made it clear that standing on the sideline watching the game wasn't an option. He carried the Redskins into the playoffs, and they weren't going to play without him.
"I had to go out there and do what I could to help the team win," he said. "Period."
It was a disconcerting end to a spectacular season for Griffin, whose personality and promise got him sandwich shop commercials even before he started winning games for the Redskins. He and Luck started the year as the most talked about pair of quarterbacks coming into the NFL in years, and both lived up to their billing by carrying their teams into the playoffs.
Luck, though, couldn't overcome a Baltimore defense fired up by the pending retirement of Ray Lewis. Luck was pressured all day, and his receivers dropping six passes didn't help as Indianapolis was eliminated 24-9 by the Ravens.
And while Griffin looked as though he would pile up some points for the Redskins by opening the game with two touchdown drives, he felt the knee go while planting to pass on the second drive and was never the same. By halftime, his team was barely clinging to the lead, and he faced a talk with Shanahan about his immediate future.
On that, both agreed. He had gotten them this far, and deserved the chance to take them even further.
"He said, 'Trust me, I want to be in there. I deserve to be in there,'" Shanahan said. "I couldn't disagree with him."
Almost lost in the debate over whether Griffin should have stayed in was that Wilson still had some work to do to bring the Seahawks back. He did it on a fourth-quarter drive that Lynch capped off a 27-yard, broken-field run — with Wilson barreling ahead of him to block at the goal line.
That's hardly surprising because the quarterback that even Seattle didn't really seem to want when training camp opened — the Seahawks signed Matt Flynn to a lucrative offseason deal to be their No. 1 — always seems to flourish when it matters most. Wilson doesn't play with the proverbial chip on his shoulder because he felt slighted in the NFL draft, but the whole team plays that way because Seattle wasn't even in the postseason discussion when the year began.
"I don't know," Wilson said when asked if he had felt left out of the rookie quarterback discussion. "The goal is to win a lot of games and help my football team win games. That's all I know."
Something else Wilson should know is he's two wins away from being the first rookie quarterback in the Super Bowl. The Seahawks will have to do it on the road, but they're peaking at just the right time and are just slight underdogs in Atlanta next Sunday.
Who knows, soon there may be a lot of people ending their sentences with a "Go 'Hawks!" the way Wilson likes to end his. If it sounds a bit collegiate, just remember he is still a rookie quarterback.
Only now there's something different. He's the only one left.

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2012 sports year in review: records, achievements, and sundry feats and streaks from Brees and Bryant to Cain and Ko

In any given year, hundreds of sports records, both large and small, fall, barriers are broken, and other notable achievements provide texture to the countless games, matches, and tournaments. In 2012, for example, swimmer Michael Phelps became the most decorated Olympian ever, his four golds and two silvers in London giving him 22 medals overall, including 18 gold.In baseball, Detroit’s Miguel Cabrera won the first Triple Crown for hitting since 1967, when Boston’s Carl Yastrzemski led the American League in batting average, runs batted in, and home runs.In basketball, Jeremy Lin came set off a wave of “Linsanity” playing for the New York Knicks, while the long underachieving Los Angeles Clippers ended the year with a 17-game winning streak and only the third perfect month ever recorded in the NBA.In football, Drew Brees surpassed Johnny Unitas by completing a touchdown pass in 54 consecutive games and the University of Wisconsin’s Montee Ball set a college record with 82 career touchdowns.Women shone in numerous ways, including in sports where their presence was nonexistent. British flyweight boxer Nicola Adams took the very first gold medal in Olympic boxing, while Russian weightlifter Tatiana Kashrina hoisted 333 pounds on a single lift. Meanwhile the women’s gold-medal soccer match, in which the US beat Japan, attracted 80,203 spectators to London’s stored Wembley Stadium, the best attended women’s Olympic soccer match ever.Here are our 20 records and feats that caught our eye in 2012:

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SCENARIO-Major sports events in 2013

Jan 1 (Reuters) - Major sports events in 2013.
* Australian Open tennis, Melbourne Jan. 14-27
Rafa Nadal, one of four separate grand slam winners last year, will miss the opening tournament after illness disrupted his recovery from a chronic knee injury. The Spaniard has not played since he lost in the second round at Wimbledon last June.
Novak Djokovic, who defeated Nadal last year in the longest final in history, made a perfect start to his season by winning the World Tennis Championship exhibition in Abu Dhabi last weekend. Victoria Azarenka is the defending women's champion.
* African Cup of Nations Jan. 19-Feb. 10., South Africa
Didier Drogba leads an Ivory Coast team packed with talent and experience and determined to atone for the disappointments of this year's tournament where they did not concede a goal but still finished runners-up to Zambia.
Zambia, who defeated Ivory Coast 8-7 on penalties in the final, have kept faith with the squad who won them a first continental title.
* Champions League last 16, first leg fixtures Feb. 12-13 and 19-20. Return matches March 5-6 and 12-13. Final Wembley stadium May 25.
Real Madrid's Cristiano Ronaldo returns to Old Trafford, home of his former club Manchester United, in the pick of the last-16 ties which will also pit United manager Alex Ferguson against former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho.
Ferguson's team headed the Premier League standings at the close of 2012 but Mourinho, who has been frequently linked with the Old Trafford job when the 71-year-old Scot finally decides to retire, is under pressure.
Real are third in La Liga, 16 points behind Barcelona, and Mourinho's future at Madrid is uncertain if his side are knocked out of the Champions League.
British and Irish Lions tour of Australia, June 1-July 6.
The pride of the four home nations gather for their four-yearly expedition to the southern hemisphere, this time to Australia where the Wallabies host a three-test series.
Brian O'Driscoll, the great Irish centre and a veteran of three Lions tours, is a leading candidate to captain the tour party for the second time although he has yet to play this season after ankle surgery.
A Lions' tour is one of the last great romantic sporting ventures when the best players in England, Wales, Scotland and Ireland subsume national rivalries in a greater cause. Although they have too little time to prepare after the Six Nations and club seasons, they have the talent to beat the twice world champions.
* Ashes cricket series, Australia tour England for a five-test series followed by five in Australia starting at the end of the year. First test Trent Bridge, Nottingham, July 10-14.
Alastair Cook, captain of Ashes holders England, and his opposing number Michael Clarke will lead from the front after both men enjoyed wonderful years with the bat in 2012.
Cook scored a record five centuries in his first five tests as captain and was instrumental in turning a 1-0 deficit in India into a 2-1 series win. Clarke tallied an Australian record 1,545 runs in the calendar year at an average of 106.33.
England lost more tests than they won in 2012 but in home conditions at least their bowling, headed by James Anderson who bowled magnificently in unfriendly conditions in India, should have the edge. Australia have also lost two middle-order stalwarts in Ricky Ponting and Michael Hussey who retired during the current Australian season.
* World athletics championships, Moscow Aug. 10-18.
Usain Bolt, the only man to retain the Olympic 100 and 200 metres titles, has already set his goals for the 2013 season.
Bolt says he will concentrate on speed and on winning back the world 100 title he relinquished to Jamaican training partner Yohan Blake in Daegu in 2011 after false-starting in the final.
Another London Olympics double gold medallist, Britain's Mo Farah, plans to run both the 5,000 and 10,000 in Moscow before considering a possible move up to the marathon.

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UPDATE 1-Tennis-Sharapova pulls out of Brisbane International

* World No. 2 struggling with collarbone issue
* Heading straight for Melbourne ahead of Australian Open
BRISBANE, Jan 1 (Reuters) - Maria Sharapova withdrew from the Brisbane International on Tuesday due to inflammation around her collarbone and the world No. 2 is still unable to hit a serve just two weeks before the start of the Australian Open.
Sharapova, who spoke optimistically about the new season on Monday, was forced to withdraw from her second-round match against Australia's Jarmila Gajdosova in Brisbane, saying it was the "smart move" to make.
The French Open champion also pulled out of an exhibition match against Caroline Wozniacki at the end of December in Seoul because of a sore collarbone.
"That's why I had to pull out of the exhibition match I had in Korea," she said at a news conference on Tuesday.
"I had a bit of inflammation in my collarbone. My doctor in New York told me I couldn't really do much overhead training for about a week.
"So to be fair, I haven't really given myself a chance to pretty much hit any serves or anything over my head. Just been practicing groundstrokes.
"So I just kind of ran out of time here."
While the season's first grand slam is set to start on Jan. 14, Sharapova was not overly concerned about her preparations.
"I still have quite a bit of time to prepare for the Australian Open," she added. "I'm on the right track, been training really well, so I just don't want to jeopardise what I've gained in the off-season so far.
"I just have to make a smart move here."
'OUT OF TIME'
Sharapova said she expected to travel straight to Melbourne rather than make a late entry into the Sydney International next week.
"I have my own fair share of experience, and know that it's much more important to be healthy to go into a big tournament like the Australian Open than to go into something big with a lot of matches and feel like you're not prepared health-wise," she said.
"You never know with these things. I mean, there are so many parts of the body where I'm sure if every one of us did an examination we would find a lot things wrong with us.
"But when it started getting a little too painful, I had to do a few tests. The doctor said, 'You always want to train but it's the off-season. He said I just had to calm it down for like five days.
"When I started back here I was feeling much better, but just like I said, couldn't do much overhead stuff and ran out of time."
Brisbane tournament director Cameron Pearson said Sharapova had made every effort to play.
"We feel for Maria because we saw first-hand how badly she wanted to play for the people of Brisbane," he said.
"She has been fantastic since she got here and worked hard in the gym, on court and in the medical room to do everything she could to get herself right.

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GOP governors walk balance beam on health law

ATLANTA (AP) — Florida Gov. Rick Scott, who made a fortune as a health care executive, long opposed President Barack Obama's remake of the health insurance market. After the Democratic president won re-election, the Republican governor softened his tone. He said he wanted to "have a conversation" with the administration about implementing the 2010 law. With a federal deadline approaching, he also said while Florida won't set up the exchange for individuals to buy private insurance policies, the feds can do it.
In New Jersey, Gov. Chris Christie held his cards before saying he won't set up his own exchange, but he's avoided absolute language and says he could change his mind. He's also leaving his options open to accept federal money to expand Medicaid insurance for people who aren't covered. The caveat, Christie says, is whether Health Secretary Kathleen Sebelius can "answer my questions" about its operations and expense.
Both Republican governors face re-election in states that Obama won twice, Christie in 2013 and Scott in 2014. And both will encounter well-financed Democrats.
Their apparent struggles on the issue, along with other postures by their GOP colleagues elsewhere, suggest political uncertainty for Republicans as the Affordable Care Act starts to go into effect two years after clearing Congress without a single Republican vote. The risks also are acute for governors in Democratic-leaning or swing-voting states or who know their records will be parsed should they seek the presidency in 2016 or beyond.
"It's a tough call for many Republican governors who want to do the best thing for their state but don't want to be seen as advancing an overhaul that many Republicans continue to detest," said Whit Ayers, a consultant in Virginia whose clients include Gov. Bill Haslam of Tennessee, a Republican who didn't announce his rejection of a state exchange until days before Sebelius's Dec. 14 deadline.
Indeed, cracks keep growing in the near-unanimous Republican rejection of Obama's health care law that characterized the GOP's political messaging for the last two years. Five GOP-led states — Idaho, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah — are pressing ahead with state insurance exchanges. Ongoing monitoring by The Associated Press shows that another five Republican-led states are pursuing or seriously a partnership with Washington to help run the new markets.
Democrats, meanwhile, hope to use the law and Republican inflexibility to their advantage, betting that more Americans will embrace the law once it expands coverage. The calculus for voters, Democrats assume, will become more about the policy and less about a polarizing president.
"It shouldn't be complicated at all," said John Anzalone, an Obama pollster who assists Democrats in federal races across the country. Anzalone said Republicans could use their own states-rights argument to justify running exchanges. Instead, he said, "They are blinded by Obama-hatred rather than seeing what's good for their citizens."
Governors can set up their own exchanges, partner with Sebelius' agency or let the federal government do it. The exchanges are set to open Jan. 1, 2014, allowing individuals and businesses to shop online for individual policies from private insurers. Low- and middle-income individuals will get federal premium subsidies calculated on a sliding income scale. Eighteen states plus Washington, DC, most led by Democrats, have committed to opening their own exchanges.
The law also calls for raising the income threshold for Medicaid eligibility to cover people making up to 138 percent of the federal poverty line, or about $15,400 a year for an individual. That could add more than 10 million people, most of them childless adults, to the joint state-federal insurance program for low-income and disabled Americans. Together, the exchanges and the Medicaid expansion are expected to reduce the number of uninsured by about 30 million people within the next decade.
A Supreme Court ruling last summer made the Medicaid expansion voluntary, rather than mandatory for states. At least eight governors, all of them Republicans, have already said they have no plans to expand Medicaid.
The complexity is obvious.
National exit polls from last month's election showed that 49 percent of voters wanted some or all of Obama's signature legislative achievement rolled back. Among self-identified independents, that number was 58 percent. Among Republicans, it spiked to 81 percent. When asked about the role of government, half of respondents said the notion that government is doing too much fits their views more closely than the idea that government should do more.
Before the election, a national AP-GfK poll suggested that 63 percent of respondents preferred their states to run insurance exchanges, almost double the 32 percent who wanted the federal government to take that role. And the same electorate that tilts toward repealing some or all of the new law clearly re-elected its champion.
That's not the most important consideration for governors who face re-election in Republican states. Georgia's Nathan Deal and Alabama's Robert Bentley, who also face 2014 campaigns, initially set up advisory commissions to consider how to carry out the health care law, but they've since jumped ship. But, unlike others, Deal and Bentley aren't eyeing national office.
Three Republicans who are viewed as potential national candidates — Rick Perry of Texas, Nikki Haley of South Carolina and Bobby Jindal of Louisiana — were full-throated opponents. Jindal, the only one of the three who is term-limited, is the incoming chairman of the Republican Governors Association. In that role, he has co-signed more conciliatory letters to Sebelius asking questions to flesh out how the designs might work.
Republican governors also are feeling quiet pressure from hospitals and other providers.
Deal, the Georgia governor, offers the typical argument for saying no: "We can't afford it." But the law envisions the new Medicaid coverage more or less as a replacement of an existing financing situation that pays hospitals to treat the uninsured. The law contemplates cuts in that program, which already requires state seed money. The idea was that expanding Medicaid coverage would reduce "uncompensated care" costs.
"Some of those cuts were made with the expectation that Medicaid would be expanded and that hospitals would be paid for portions of business that we are not being paid for now," said Don Dalton of the North Carolina Hospital Association.
Dalton's Governor-elect, Republican Pat McCrory, said as a candidate that he opposed Medicaid expansion. Dalton said his industry is leaning on McCrory and legislative leaders, though he commended "their deliberate approach." Similar efforts are underway in South Carolina, Georgia, Missouri and elsewhere.
For Democrats, Anzalone said the framing will be simpler: "You don't want to take a 9-to-1 match? That's a pretty easy investment. These governors who aren't expanding Medicaid, they're basically giving taxpayer money to the states that do."

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Judge allows ban on funds to Planned Parenthood

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — A Texas judge has ruled that the state may cut off funding to Planned Parenthood's family planning programs for poor women.
The attorney general's spokeswoman, Lauren Bean, said Judge Gary Harger has ruled that Texas may exclude otherwise qualified doctors and clinics from receiving state funding just because they advocate for abortion rights. The state has long banned the use of state funds for abortion.
At issue Monday was whether Planned Parenthood and other abortion-rights groups could continue to provide preventive health care to poor women as part of the Women's Health Program. The program provides check-ups and birth control to 110,000 poor women and 48,000 of them go to Planned Parenthood clinics.
Planned Parenthood asked for a restraining order against enforcing the ban on them, arguing it violates state law.

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Column: Gun debate revives enduring American fight

On the eve of a new year, a libertarian strain pulses through America — a get-government-out-of-my-personal-life sensibility that cuts across ideologies and is driven by a younger generation's cultural attitudes.
We've seen it in gay-marriage legalization and marijuana decriminalization. And in the fact that, four decades after Roe v. Wade allowed abortion, there's little appetite among most for overturning it. Perhaps we've also seen this play out with guns, with a more limited role for government in regulating firearms.
But today, a mourning nation must square that shift toward fewer gun restrictions with a series of fatal mass shootings in the past few years, the latest claiming 20 elementary school students among the dead. And the pendulum may swing just as quickly back toward curbs on gun rights: A country that's become more tolerant on other cultural issues may end up bucking the trend on this subject.
Here's why: It can't be boiled down to "my body, my decisions."
The gun issue doesn't fit neatly into the libertarian lane in which the United States has been driving when it comes to gay marriage, abortion and marijuana — the belief that people have the right to make their own decisions about how they live their lives, as long as they respect the rights of others to do the same. And that's because while it may be your right to own a gun, you can use it to harm others, thereby taking away their right to live their lives as they want.
This is not a new tension in America, a republic founded by men with libertarian leanings that has always struggled to strike the right balance between rights for one and safety for all.
The first settlers fled the big hand of Mother England, seeking a smaller government to protect basic freedoms — and founding a nation built on the "inalienable" rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. The Declaration of Independence acknowledged the stress in America's foundation, saying the new country's government would secure those rights, but people would have the authority to alter or abolish it if it were to become "destructive of these ends."
In modern times, libertarianism, which draws from both liberal and conservative influences, has reared its head often in American history — most recently in today's tea party, which is uncompromising in pursuing a smaller government role in fiscal matters.
These days, 16 to 18 percent of adults in various surveys identify themselves as libertarians. But many more have libertarian views on individual issues even as they call themselves Republicans, Democrats or independents. It also can be a generational thing, with a Pew Research Center poll in December 2011 finding that 50 percent of Americans under age 30 had positive reaction to the label compared with only 25 percent of senior citizens.
The debate now under way underscores how different guns are from other social issues — how this topic is not just about you, but about us.
There is a thicket of considerations. The fact that many people view gun ownership as a foundational right. Mental health. Urban vs. rural matters. Sports. Crime. Violence in video games and movies. Parental responsibility. "We know," President Barack Obama said, "this is a complex issue that stirs deeply held passions and political divides."
The multiple factors at play — and the loss of young innocents — could explain why, despite the nation's recent libertarianism on cultural matters, the Newtown, Conn., killings quickly spurred calls from across the political spectrum for at least a discussion of whether new limits should be placed on guns. This suggested a possible expansion of government in this realm.
"This awful massacre of our youngest children has changed us, and everything should be on the table," said Democratic West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, a lifetime member of the National Rifle Association. And Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, the senior Republican on the committee that would take up any legislation, said: "You've got to take all these things into consideration."
The NRA, the nation's largest gun-rights lobby, has promised opposition to more regulations, just as it helped ensure the federal assault weapons ban wasn't renewed in 2004 and state gun laws were loosened by legislatures.
Advocates for gay marriage, marijuana legalization and abortion rights also all have made significant recent strides. Each has pushed legislation in states with friendly political environments while also taking advantage of the country's changing mindset.
Consider that in the last election:
—Washington, Maryland and Maine became the first states ever to approve same-sex marriage by popular vote. Now nine states and the District of Columbia recognize gay unions.
—Washington state and Colorado voted to legalize recreational marijuana use, and Obama's administration signaled it wouldn't pursue those users, even though the drug is illegal under federal law.
—Several Republicans who took rigid stands against abortion rights lost. Among them: GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney.
Then, only six weeks after the election, came Sandy Hook. And gun control jumped to the front of the national conversation.
In the days and weeks before, lawmakers in the GOP-led states of Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina and Pennsylvania considered proposals to loosen restrictions on employees keeping guns in their vehicles on work property, and Ohio's legislature passed a law allowing guns to be left in parked vehicles underneath the Statehouse.
A federal appeals court in Illinois struck down a ban on carrying concealed weapons, while Florida's GOP-led administration announced that 1 million people would soon have valid permits to carry them. Michigan's legislature also approved laws easing restrictions, though its Republican governor, Rick Snyder, later vetoed a measure allowing certain gun owners to carry concealed weapons in public places.
Public opinion polling has illustrated the trend since 2000, with more Americans now generally favoring the right to own guns over increased limitations on ownership. But there is also widespread support in surveys for reinstating the federal assault weapons ban and for limiting high-capacity magazines.
It is, for sure, a contradictory series of messages — unsurprising for an issue that asks such an intricate question: In a world of weaponry unimaginable to the people who came up with the Second Amendment, how do you strike the right balance between the individual's right to bear arms and the government's role in protecting the public?
With the latest eruption of the gun debate, we've returned to the enduring fight over libertarian principles that we've kept going for more than 200 years — the core tension between what's right for one of us and what's right for all of us.
Whatever happens with gun control in the aftermath of Newtown, the debate reveals what this generation faces as it tries to shape the nation it inherits: the enduring struggle to understand that delicate constitutional space that exists between my right to swing my arm around freely and your right not to be hit in the face.

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Texas judge OKs ban on Planned Parenthood funding

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Texas can cut off funding to Planned Parenthood's family planning programs for poor women, a state judge ruled Monday, requiring thousands to find new state-approved doctors for their annual exams, cancer screenings and birth control.
Judge Gary Harger said that Texas may exclude otherwise qualified doctors and clinics from receiving state funding if they advocate for abortion rights.
Texas has long banned the use of state funds for abortion, but had continued to reimburse Planned Parenthood clinics for providing basic health care to poor women through the state's Women's Health Program. The program provides preventive care to 110,000 poor women a year, and Planned Parenthood clinics were treating 48,000 of them.
Planned Parenthood's lawsuit to stop the rule will still go forward, but the judge decided Monday that the ban may go into effect for now. In seeking a temporary restraining order, Planned Parenthood wanted its patients to be able to see their current doctors until a final decision was made.
"We are pleased the court rejected Planned Parenthood's latest attempt to skirt state law," attorney general spokeswoman Lauren Bean said. "The Texas Attorney General's office will continue to defend the Texas Legislature's decision to prohibit abortion providers and their affiliates from receiving taxpayer dollars through the Women's Health Program."
Ken Lambrecht, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, said he brought the lawsuit on behalf of poor women who depend on its clinics.
"It is shocking that once again Texas officials are letting politics jeopardize health care access for women," Lambrecht said. "Our doors remain open today and always to Texas women in need. We only wish Texas politicians shared this commitment to Texas women, their health, and their well-being."
Planned Parenthood has brought three lawsuits over Texas' so-called "affiliate rule," claiming it violates the constitutional rights of doctors and patients while also contradicting existing state law.
Republican lawmakers who passed the affiliate rule last year have argued that Texas is an anti-abortion state, and therefore should cut off funds to groups that support abortion rights. Gov. Rick Perry, who vehemently opposes abortion, has pledged to do everything legally possible to shut down Planned Parenthood in Texas and welcomed the court's ruling.
"Today's ruling finally clears the way for thousands of low-income Texas women to access much-needed care, while at the same time respecting the values and laws of our state," Perry said. "I applaud all those who stand ready to help these women live healthy lives without sending taxpayer money to abortion providers and their affiliates."
The Texas Health and Human Services Commission has spent the last nine months preparing to implement the affiliate rule. But federal officials warned it violated the Social Security Act and cut off federal funds for the Women's Health Program, prompting the commission to start a new program using only state money.
State officials have also scrambled to sign up new doctors and clinics to replace Planned Parenthood. Women who previously went to Planned Parenthood clinics will now have to use the agency's web site to find a new state-approved doctor. HHSC officials acknowledged Monday they are unsure whether the new doctors can pick up Planned Parenthood's caseload in all parts of the state.
Any capacity issues will become clear in the next few weeks as women try to make appointments with new clinics and doctors, with problems anticipated in South Texas and other impoverished areas. Texas already suffers from a shortage of primary care physicians willing to take on new patients who rely on state-funded health care.
Linda Edwards Gockel, a spokesman for the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, said Monday that the new state program will launch as planned on Tuesday.
"We have more than 3,500 doctors, clinics and other providers in the program and will be able to continue to provide women with family planning services while fully complying with state law," she said. "We welcome Planned Parenthood's help in referring patients to providers in the new program."
Democratic lawmakers continued to question whether women will have to wait longer for appointments and services.
"I vehemently disagree with the state's efforts to blacklist a qualified provider and, thereby, interfere with a woman's right to choose her own provider," said state Rep. Donna Howard, D-Austin. "I will be submitting a letter to the Texas Health and Human Services Commission, requesting a list of approved providers to gauge the outreach of the new program, and ensure that all qualified women throughout the state have access to its services."
Another hearing is scheduled with a different judge for Jan. 11, where Planned Parenthood will again ask for an injunction to receive state funding.

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Monti says 2nd term could vindicate his policies

MILAN (AP) — Premier Mario Monti says a second term would demonstrate to Italians that he is not a wicked taxman.
Monti told RAI public television Thursday that he believes his technical government "did good things for Italy."
Monti, a trained economist, is heading a caretaker government in the run-up to February elections, where he is harnessing a coalition of centrist parties.
His 13-month technical government passed tax increases and spending cuts to shield Italy from the sovereign debt crisis. Monti said it also took measures to help families and the economically lagging south.
Three-time former Premier Silvio Berlusconi has harshly criticized Monti's decision to enter the race, saying Monti lacks credibility.
Monti shot back that this "is the judgment of a person who has demonstrated a certain volatility in judgment.

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Start the New Year With a Clear Mind and Body by Eliminating Clutter From the Home

And Make Some Extra Money Selling Those Unwanted Things on eBid.net

Miami, FL (PRWEB) December 31, 2012
The positive physical and psychological effects of clearing clutter from your life have been well-documented. Benefits include creating a focused mind, finding extra time in the day to exercise, reducing accidents - and earning some extra cash selling unnecessary clutter online. One of the best options for selling goods is the online worldwide marketplace eBid (http://www.ebid.net) because with its zero listing fees and only 0% - 3% final value fees, sellers earn the best profits out of any other online auction site. And with over 5.3 million live auction listings, New Years' cleaners will be able to tap into a huge audience of potential buyers for their stuff.
Mark Wilkinson, co-founder of eBid said, "Multiple studies and articles have shown that eliminating clutter is one of the healthiest things a person can do for their lives. And likewise, independent measurements have shown that eBid is one of the best values on the Net for generating a little profit from some of those extra nicknacks just laying around. Of course, after the holidays it's an even better time to keep your house cleared, keep those unneeded gifts in the box and sell them on eBid."
eBid represents a $5.7 billion marketplace spanning 23 territories, covering more than 100 countries and five continents. Competitive features like zero insertion fees, low final cost fees, a "Make An Offer" button and "Multiple Item Checkout" as well as a generous affiliate program and wide territorial coverage have all combined to propel eBid into this top bracket. Transactions on eBid may be completed using multiple, secure payment systems, either PPPay.com, Google Wallet, PayPal, or Skrill (Moneybookers).
With eBid's affiliate program, participants who add banners/links to their website, emails or Facebook pages can earn up to $104.99 for a single referral. Affiliates are rewarded for not only sign-ups to the basic eBid "BUYER" account status but also when the referral makes a free upgrade to "SELLER" status and, most impressive of all, affiliates are rewarded with 50% of any upgrade fees when their referrals upgraded to "SELLER+" status. eBid's "SELLER+" status is a great advantage for higher volume merchants. A one-time fee of $49.49 gives the seller a lifetime of zero listing fees and zero final value fees. Merchants may also opt for a short-term subscription upgrade to zero fees ($1.99 for 7 Days / $6.99 for 30 Days / $16.99 for 90 Days). http://us.ebid.net/help_affiliate.php
About eBid.net

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ListedBy’s Stephan Piscano Perspective Featured In REI Voice Magazine’s 2013 Market Predictions

Feature projects outlook from ten prominent U.S. city, state and national real estate industry leaders and city executives.

Napa, CA (PRWEB) December 31, 2012
ListedBy (http://www.ListedBy.com), the first free online real estate marketplace and social network with live bidding public real estate auctions and ‘Best Offer’ functionality today announced that its CEO and Founder Stephan Piscano’s outlook for the real estate industry has been featured by REI Voice Magazine (http://www.reivoice.com) as part of its 2013 Market Predictions feature.
“2013 could be your last opportunity to realize huge returns on investment properties,” wrote Piscano, for REI Voice 2013 Market Predictions. “We started telling all of our partners, clients and investors at the end of 2011, that 2012 would be the last opportunity to see deals like we had been seeing for the last 3 years, and I personally told all those close to me that we would look back at 2012 and ask, how much did we capitalize on it?”
Opinions and forward outlook from ten high profile experts in real estate make up this year’s predictions. The article covers perspectives at the city, state and national levels, and features thoughts from prominent insurance, asset management and real estate investment senior managers as well as REALTOR® council, county assessment and city economic development executives.
Continued Piscano: “I believe that interest rates remaining low, combined with lack of inventory, combined with the potential for rapid inflation will cause the market to continue to rise in 2013 and beyond. There will still be exceptional investment opportunities. It will be several years before the market is fully recovered but this year could be your last opportunity for a while to capitalize on the unreal 23% ROI (Return On Investment) type of investment properties for a while. Investors will start seeing more types of real estate investments take place such as owner-carry-financing, due to the millions of Americans who have damaged credit but still may have solid income or in some cases even be multimillionaires who are tired of buying everything cash and want leverage.”
ListedBy also published The 2013 Real Estate Market, a forward looking opinion on the market based on two possible economic scenarios for the coming year. The article can be viewed at http://blog.listedby.com.
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About ListedBy
ListedBy is the first free online real estate marketplace and social network with live bidding auction and ‘Best Offer’ functionality. Buyers, sellers, real estate professionals and service providers join ListedBy to network and to list, research, buy and sell real estate assets in a collaborative, transparent environment. ListedBy is headquartered in Napa, and is privately funded. For ongoing news, please visit http://www.listedby.com/about.
ListedBy, LB Social and the ListedBy logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of ListedBy, LLC and / or its affiliates in the U.S. and other countries. Third party trademarks and brands mentioned are the property of their respective owners.

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Congressional Dairy Fix Would Still Raise Milk Prices

Dairy Manufacturers and Consumer Groups Oppose New Program
WASHINGTON, Dec. 31, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) stated today that the legislation proposed by Congressional Agriculture Committee leaders would still cause a problem in the marketplace because it includes a controversial new program designed to limit the milk supply. That proposal, championed by Representative Collin Peterson (D-MN) yet resisted by consumer groups, food manufacturers and many dairy farmers, is known as the Dairy Security Act (DSA) and would require the government to intervene in milk markets to manipulate the supply of milk in order to keep milk prices artificially high.
"It is ironic that the threat of higher dairy prices for consumers, caused by the possible implementation of the 1949 Act, is being used to force Congress to pass a new program that will result in higher prices," said Jerry Slominski, IDFA senior vice-president for legislative and economic affairs.
The new program is included in a bill that would extend most existing farm programs for one year; it was placed on the House calendar by House Committee on Agriculture Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK). That bill completely rewrites U.S. dairy policies, including the new program to control milk production, yet leaves all other agriculture programs unchanged. By insisting on its inclusion in the "fiscal cliff" legislation, its supporters are making it more difficult to pass that important legislation, should leaders come to an agreement on its details.
"The Dairy Security Act is a problem, not a solution," Slominski said. "IDFA supports an extension of existing dairy policies in the current farm bill to give Congress time to complete action on a new five-year farm bill and to allow for consideration of the alternative to the Dairy Security Act offered by Representatives Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and David Scott (D-GA). We believe that alternative will pass if it is brought to the full House of Representatives for an up or down vote.
"A clean extension of the 2008 Farm Bill will avoid having the 1949 Act become relevant law and allow payments to dairy farmers when milk prices fall. The 1949 Act represents agriculture policies from the past and unless Congress passes a clean extension of the Farm Bill, Secretary Vilsack would be placed in the unenviable position of proposing rules to implement such policies. Although he will be able to delay any increase on consumer dairy prices for weeks if not months, Congress should still take action to avoid that situation," Slominski concluded.
Read IDFA's letter to Secretary Vilsack here.
Read the letter from consumer groups to Secretary Vilsack here.
The International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), headquartered in Washington, D.C., represents the nation's dairy manufacturing and marketing industries and their suppliers, with a membership of 550 companies representing a $110-billion a year industry. IDFA is composed of three constituent organizations: the Milk Industry Foundation (MIF), the National Cheese Institute (NCI) and the International Ice Cream Association (IICA). IDFA's 220 dairy processing members run more than 600 plant operations, and range from large multi-national organizations to single-plant companies. Together they represent more than 85% of the milk, cultured products, cheese and frozen desserts produced and marketed in the United States. IDFA can be found online at www.idfa.org.

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Astrology Secrets Revealed: New Online Website PsychicTarot.us Reveals Astrology Advice for $5

Astrology has been a cornerstone of every known civilization, and PsychicTarot.us has announced the release of their new online marketplace for readers and clients. The new system allows readers to list their readings and sell to a global market.

Santa Barbara, CA (PRWEB) December 31, 2012
To further enhance the options for site users, the metaphysical market place PsychicTarot.us has added Astrology readings marketplace and astrological advice to their online offerings. Site users will be able to have a detailed and professional astrological reading that can tell them about their future, their love interests, or the best time to transact a business deal.
The new astrology readings section is available now, and professional readers are encouraged to create offers to share their services. People who would like to get their own reading can browse providers and choose the most interesting for their needs.
"Astrology history is long and rich with a devoted following, so we wanted to make this service available to our users as quickly as possible. There are so many talented astrologers out there, we are sure that this is going to be one of our most popular categories. Plus, with our marketplace, the astrologers will have a broader reach and the users will be able to get affordable astrology advice," PsychicTarot.us representative Katia Shayk said in a statement.
While many people immediately associate astrology with horoscopes, this is just one branch of the astrological science. From the Great Pyramids in Egypt to the ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru, there has been a deep respect for the movements of the stars and planets, along with a belief that they influenced every aspect of each person's life and the planet's fate.
Astrology has been used to describe many different things, among them:

Human personality traits
Prediction of future events
The identification of auspicious events or times
The existence of extraterrestrial beings
Ms. Shayk continued; "We know that, along with tarot card reading, star readings are one of the most popular of the metaphysical sciences. The rich, famous and powerful have been known to use astrology to help guide their daily lives and actions. There is no reason to believe that everyone can't benefit from accurate astrological advice, it can be insightful, and quite a bit of fun."
One of the most powerful astrological signs is the eclipse, either lunar or solar. A reading of the eclipse legends brought to light in this Examiner article sound eerily similar to events occurring around the world today. Should events come to pass as suggested by the article, it would certainly lead additional credence to the power of astrological predictions to explain the events occurring in the world as well as predicting what may come.
About PsychicTarot.us:

An online marketplace for all things metaphysical, providers can list their services for sale and share their talents with the globe. Buyers can browse the new age skills being offered, meet providers and get readings and other services of their choice.

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The Top Four Trending Marketing Tactics for 2013

San Diego based Ad Agency Explains What companies Need to Know to be Noticed in Our Fast Paced and Cut-Throat Marketing Battlefield Released by Santora Media Group Inc.

San Diego, California (PRWEB) December 31, 2012
If a company is serious about business, they are likely to want to crush their competition. In the past, companies could simply put an ad in a newspaper and hire a mediocre inbound sales representative and be reasonably successful. In the 2013 and beyond marketplace it is a bit more complicated. With trade shows to attend and Facebook accounts to update, it is imperative to have a solid plan for what is coming into popularity rather than what has worked in the past. The following are a few of the most important areas of marketing to focus on as we move deeper in to the twenty first century.
The Brand: So many companies have the notion that their logo design and overall marketing aesthetic is not going to make or break their ability to capture current and new audiences. The reality is that in our current marketplace people truly care about the image of the brands they buy from. Notions of quality or durability are often taking a backseat to “what’s new and cool.” Often if a brand doesn’t convey a sense of overwhelming popularity and mass appeal it is perceived as simply just another brand.
Cross marketing: A company can make a huge impact with half the budget if they partner up with a compatible company. Postcards, business cards, and brochures are great printing avenues to take advantage of the opportunity to introduce two brands in a way that makes sense. If a company is heading off to a trade show, they should tap into their business’s network and see if there is another company that will co-brand the collateral printed for the show. Many brands can collaborate that compliment each other and ultimately increase sales for each company, we at Santora Media Group call this the “Peanut Butter and Jelly Theory.”
Redeveloping the company image: What was hip and trendy last year will slowly but surely turn into what is hip and trendy next year. A brand must reflect certain visual trends to be clumped into the category of visually relevant and appealing to the customers that are apt to spend big bucks to utilize the “in” company or buy the “in” products. If a company has a product or service that is timeless and really doesn't change, they shouldn't feel that this phenomenon doesn't apply to them, it does! Usually all they need to do is put their product in a new light. redesign their business cards. market in a new way that is uncommon for their industry, like a building wrap or hand out custom promotional products that will keep your brand close to the consumer.
Show them you care: As everyone has undoubtedly noticed, companies have embraced sustainability, and all things eco. It behooves every company to embrace this in 2013. Whether you are on board or not with the movement, many consumers are. Santora Media Group offers eco printing, banners made from low impact materials and of course graphic design that is the most eco friendly.

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