Saturday, February 18, 2012

Bird flu still a menace in Asia and beyond


Thought bird flu was gone? Recent human deaths in Asia and Egypt are a reminder that the deadly H5N1 virus is still alive and dangerous. Vietnam is also grappling with a new strain that has outsmarted vaccines long used to help protect its poultry flocks.
Ten people have died in Cambodia, Indonesia, Egypt, China and Vietnam since December during the prime-time flu season when the virus typically flares in poultry. In Vietnam, authorities can no longer rely on the latest poultry vaccine in the north and central regions where new virus strains have been detected.

Europe is in dire need of lazy spendthrifts

Germany's economic success over the past decade is largely due to exporting more than it imports. Who will it sell to now?
A factory in Germany


Greece's economic crisis is a gift from heaven for the German government. The country is the ideal conservative dystopia of an irresponsible government financing a supposedly overblown welfare state by ever increasing debt, where workers enter retirement in their mid-50s, the dead continue receiving pension payments and public employees earn bonuses for arriving punctually at work. Never mind that, exceptions aside, public expenditure as a proportion of GDP is lower in Greece than Germany and the average Greek works longer hours and retires only half a year earlier than the average German. That did not stop those stories from being widely reported by the German media. It strengthened the moral tale of the hard-working Germans being abused by lazy southerners. The tale is convenient because it diverts attention from Germany's responsibility for the eurozone's current economic woes.
The tale goes like this: while Greeks wasted their time on the beach drinking Ouzo, Germans implemented painful economic reforms. Indeed, in the 2000s Germany deregulated its labour markets, reduced real wages to increase competitiveness, shrunk the public sector, cut pension entitlements and implemented a debt break into the constitution. After almost a decade of dismal economic growth and heavy belt-tightening, Germany has negotiated the 2008 global economic crisis successfullyalmost without employment losses, has since grown strongly and now registers the lowest unemployment rate since 1991. If southerners would have just followed the German model, the whole crisis could have been avoided.
Actually, Germany's good performance in the 2008 global economic crisis and after is hardly due to belt-tightening but to the adoption of a large fiscal expansion package in the crisis and generous government subsidies for companies to safeguard employment. That such a pragmatic strategy could also help today's eurozone crisis countries has not even been considered by the government. Having supposedly had good experiences with austerity itself, Germans believe the same bitter medicine could lead even lazy Greeks to economic success – if only wholeheartedly applied.
But can it? Last week the Greek parliament passed its fifth austerity package in just two years. Greek austerity is especially harsh. Although Greece is in its fourth year of a severe recession with real output down by 12% since 2007, the fiscal deficit as a proportion of GDP has been reduced by seven percentage points, a historically almost-unique achievement. But those policies were self-defeating. The debt-to-GDP ratio has exploded, government bond yields have stayed sky-high and both measures of business and consumer confidence are in freefall. The unemployment rate now stands at 21%. Young people are especially hard hit: unemployment among those aged younger than 25, already high before the crisis, stood at 40% in 2011. Consequently, company bankruptcies, suicide rates and crime have risen.
Heavily influenced by the German finance ministry, the solution of the troika (the EU Commission, the IMF and the ECB) to austerity's failure is even more austerity. Together with the EU Commission and the ECB, German finance minister Wolfgang Schäuble still strongly believes in the confidence-creating power of fiscal austerity, although they have been proved wrong. Those beliefs underlay all of the troika's growth forecasts upon which the goals for deficit reduction were based. Since there was no upswing in confidence, growth fell precipitously and the government systematically missed the agreed goals.
All this was predictable – and actually predicted. In a 2003 study that analysed 133 IMF austerity programmes, the IMF's independent evaluation office found exactly the same scheme of self-defeating austerity caused by the underestimation of its disastrous effects on economic growth.
Unimpressed by those facts, German policy-makers have begun blaming Greek ineptitude for the failure to consolidate the budget. This is why they have proposed a budget viceroy for Greece and an extra account for Greek tax incomes dedicated to service the public debt, far away from the government's reach. Because Germans believe their belt-tightening in the 2000s was such a success, its failure in other countries has to be due to those governments' moral flaws.
However, both the tale of the successful German reforms and their prescription to the rest of the eurozone are based on a fallacy: the fallacy that every country can export more than it imports. A closer look at Germany's economic experience for most of its eurozone membership reveals that only trade surpluses were keeping Germany from economic collapse. Half of Germany's dismal economic growth of just 1.7% on average between 1999 and 2007 – the second lowest in the eurozone – was driven by trade surpluses. Those are, by definition, the deficits of someone else.
Far from being a growth engine, the reforms of the 2000s depressed German internal demand and thus imports, much the same as they do in Greece nowadays. They also depressed German loan demand and squeezed bank profits. At the time, the southern economies were the perfect solution for Germany's self-inflicted economic problems. German banks could expand their business by lending them the money to purchase the goods that Germans could no longer afford themselves. Manufacturers and banks were happy. Germany's beggar-thy-neighbour policies only worked because others pursued the exact opposite policies.
This is why the eurozone-wide adoption of austerity cannot work. Greek demand for German goods is small, but Spanish, Italian, French, Portuguese and Irish imports amounts to a large share of German exports. Germany's flawed policies for the eurozone are bound to backfire. Europe is in dire need of new lazy spendthrifts. Unfortunately, today nobody is willing to play that part.
Source guardian

Phil Mickelson holds halfway lead in California's Northern Trust Open


NORTHERN TRUST OPEN - SECOND ROUND LEADERBOARD

  • -6: Phil Mickelson (USA)
  •  
  • -5: Pat Perez (USA)
  •  
  • -4: Jimmy Walker (USA), Matt Kuchar (USA), Carl Pettersson (Swe), Jarrod Lyle (Aus), Jonathan Byrd (USA)
  •  
  • -3: Marc Leishman (Aus), Spencer Levin (USA), Bubba Watson (USA)
  •  
  • Selected others: -2 Justin Rose (Eng), Retief Goosen (SA); -1 Ernie Els; Evs Luke Donald (Eng); +2 Padraig Harrington (Ire); +3 Sergio Garcia (Spa).
Phil Mickelson
Phil Mickelson continued his excellent recent form to retain his lead at the Northern Trust Open after thesecond round in California. 
The American left-hander, who won this month's Pebble Beach Pro-Am,shot 70 to reach the halfway mark at six under, the leader by one shot.
Mickelson's second round featured two birdies, an eagle and three bogies.
He holds a one-stroke lead over Pat Perez, who carded a 65 to finish at five under.
Mickelson said: "I probably didn't play the greatest today, but I was able to kind of salvage a good round and had a good break on eight where I holed out from the fairway; that was a nice little bonus.
"With 36 holes to go, I'm right in the thick of it.
"I've got to go out and shoot some low scores, because they're out there. But I gave myself an opportunity.''
Australian Jarrod Lyle also shot a 65 to leave him in a group of five golfers two strokes out in third, along with America's Jimmy Walker (66),Matt Kuchar (69) and Jonathan Byrd (70), and Sweden's Carl Pettersson (70).
Perez, 36, and Walker, 23, both managed six birdies in their rounds.
England's Justin Rose is now two under after shooting another 70 andLuke Donald is level par after carding 72.
The tournament is Donald's first on the US PGA Tour in 2012, and the world's top-ranked golfer is struggling to find his form. Donald missed the cut at the event last year.
Source BBC

Obama raises funds in San Francisco


SAN FRANCISCO -- A lucrative trip to raise campaign cash in California this week brought President Barack Obama to the Bay Area, where he shared his message with crowds of supporters and made an unscripted appearance at a San Francisco restaurant.
"I'm here not just because I need your help, San Francisco. I'm here because this country needs your help," the president exhorted the crowd during a Thursday night speech at the packed Nob Hill Masonic Center, citing the support he had in 2008. "The campaign was not about me -- the campaign was about you."
Speaking to a crowd of 2,500, Obama said it is important to believe in free markets and entrepreneurship and to ensure that anyone who works hard should have the chance to get ahead, so everyone should do their fair share and play by the same set of rules.
"Taking care of each other is not a Democratic or Republican ideal but rather an American ideal," he said, "Our politics may be divided ... but most Americans understand we're greater together. We rise or fall as one nation, that's what people understand. ... That's what this election is all about."
The president's stop in San Francisco followed several fundraising events in Los Angeles. After landing at San Francisco International Airport about 12:30 p.m., Obama mingled with San Francisco Mayor Ed Lee and other top state officials and greeted well-wishers, including a 44-year-old cancer patient from Cayucos.
He then made a surpriseappearance at a dim sum restaurant in San Francisco's Chinatown before meeting with about 20 supporters at a swank hotel and dining with 70 more at novelist Robert Mailer Anderson's Pacific Heights home. Ticket cost to the events: $35,800 per person. There, Al Green performed a rendition of "Let's Stay Together" -- the song with which Obama recently made headlines by singing a few bars at a New York City campaign event. This time, Obama refrained from singing.
At the Nob Hill event, Obama spoke about his administration's rescue of the U.S. auto industry, and the 200,000 jobs created recently. He also talked about cutting out middle men from the student loan process to increase young Americans' access to higher education and addressed health care reform legislation.
Citing his repeal of the military's "don't ask, don't tell" policy, Obama said "to serve the country you love, you shouldn't have to hide who you love," receiving a huge ovation. He also noted that no Americans are fighting in Iraq anymore and "bin Laden isn't around anymore."
At least two protesters were removed after standing up and yelling about ongoing fighting in Afghanistan and oil drilling. "I love it, that's what San Francisco is all about," the president said. "People are not afraid to share their ideas here."
Obama acknowledged that he has made some mistakes, but "real change is hard, and it takes time, it takes more than a single term, it takes more than a single president."
Entry to the Nob Hill Masonic Center event cost as little as $100 or as much as $7,500 for a photo with the president. Attendees were serenaded first by former Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell, who performed an acoustic set including the Soundgarden hit "Black Hole Sun," the rock standard "What's So Funny About Peace, Love and Understanding?" and John Lennon's "Imagine." Cornell also sang "I Will Always Love You," the song made famous by recently deceased diva Whitney Houston.
San Francisco 49er Vernon Davis told the crowd Obama is a great leader who saved the auto industry and knows what it means to give 100 percent every day to fight for victory.
Outside the event, about 100 to 150 protesters stood carrying signs and chanting in opposition to Obama's stances on marijuana, war, oil drilling and other issues.

Source mercurynews

Jennifer Hudson: NAACP Image Awards 2012


Jennifer Hudson: NAACP Image Awards 2012
Jennifer Hudson poses backstage at the 2012 NAACP Image Awards with fiance David Otunga and their son,David Jr., on Friday (February 17) at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.
The 30-year-old singer picked up the Outstanding Album Award and also hit the stage with Ne-Yo to perform “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”
Jennifer recently took to her Twitter page and called her Whitney Houstontribute at the Grammys “the greatest honor of my life.”
FYI: Jennifer is wearing a Maria Lucia Hohan gown with Giuseppe Zanottishoes and Amrapali and Sutra jewelry.





Source Just Jared

Obama Raised $11.8 Million for Campaign in January

    President Obama raised about $11.8 million for his re-election campaign during January, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission on Friday, amid signs that overall fund-raising by Mr. Obama and Democratic committees and “super PACs” has fallen behind that of their Republican counterparts

Mr. Obama remains the presidential race’s top fund-raiser: His total haul for the campaign so far is $151.4 million, slightly ahead of the pace he set in January 2008, during a hotly contested Democratic primary. He also raised $17.3 million in January for theDemocratic National Committee.
But Mr. Obama’s January total was less than a third of the $36.8 million he raised during the same month four years ago. (He also spent a third as much this time around as in January 2008.) Over all, Mr. Obama, the leading Democratic super PACs, and the party’s three federal campaign committees raised at least $366.1 million in 2011, compared with the roughly $409 million raised by the Republican presidential candidates, the top Republican super PACs and the Republican Party’s campaign committees.
In a sign of the White House’s concern about Republican fund-raising, Mr. Obama reversed himself this month and instructed administration and campaign officials to aid in fund-raising for Priorities USA Action, a super PAC founded by two former aides. This week, Mr. Obama began a three-day fund-raising swing on the West Coast that was expected to yield more than $8 million, with events in Los Angeles and San Francisco, among other cities. Several other big fund-raisers are scheduled for early next month in New York.
The release of President Obama’s numbers are the starting gun for fund-raising in 2012, as the candidates for president begin filing monthly reports of their finances with the Federal Election Commission, along with those super PACs that have opted for monthly filing schedules in the election year. Formal filings are due by midnight on Monday.
Mr. Obama’s fund-raising for this re-election cycle has surpassed that of President George W. Bush, one of the Republican Party’s most prolific fund-raisers. At the same point in 2004 — as an incumbent facing re-election — Mr. Bush had taken in about $145.6 million for his campaign. With no primary to fight, Mr. Obama ended January with close to $76 million in cash on hand, far more than any of his Republican rivals are likely to report.
Mr. Obama has also exploited one of the perks of an incumbent president: the ability to raise checks for his party’s main campaign committee in amounts of up to $30,800 per donor per year, far more than the $5,000 his campaign can accept from each donor for the cycle.
The Democratic National Committee raised $117 million in 2011, ahead of the $105 million raised by the Republican National Committee, according to a study released on Friday by the Campaign Finance Institute, a nonpartisan research organization. The D.N.C.’s haul was more than the Republican National Committee raised in 2005 and 2003, when Mr. Bush was president.
More than a third of the D.N.C.’s donors in 2011 gave the committee more than $30,000, suggesting that Mr. Obama helped significantly buoy its fund-raising.
The Republican National Committee raised almost half of its money from donors giving $200 or less, compared with 27 percent for the Democratic National Committee, according to the study. That finding suggests that while Mr. Obama continues to raise significant amounts for his campaign from Democratic grass-roots donors, Republican grass-roots donors are turning to the Republican National Committee while the party’s presidential candidates duke it out in the primary.

Wednesday, February 15, 2012

New Load Shedding Schedule(From Feb 13) Nepal

  • Effective from February 13, 2012.
  • Load-shedding will take place on the given time inside the Kathmandu Valley and 5 minutes after the given time outside the Valley.
  • Depending upon the condition, load-shedding could increase/decrease by one hour.
  • The load-shedding will be two more hours in the areas of the feeders where 40 to 50 per cent of electricity leakage is recorded.
  • The load-shedding will be three more hours in the areas of the feeders where more than 50 per cent of electricity leakage is recorded.

Group/Day
SundayMondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturday
Group 1
03:00-09:00
13:00-18:00
11:00-17:00
21:00-01:00
10:00-15:00
19:00-24:00
09:00-13:00
17:00-24:00
05:00-13:00
18:00-23:00
04:00-11:00
15:00-21:00
04:00-10:00
14:00-19:00
Group 2
04:00-10:00
14:00-19:00
03:00-09:00
13:00-18:00
11:00-17:00
21:00-01:00
10:00-15:00
19:00-24:00
09:00-13:00
17:00-24:00
05:00-13:00
18:00-23:00
04:00-11:00
15:00-21:00
Group 3
04:00-11:00
15:00-21:00
04:00-10:00
14:00-19:00
03:00-09:00
13:00-18:00
11:00-17:00
21:00-01:00
10:00-15:00
19:00-24:00
09:00-13:00
17:00-24:00
05:00-13:00
18:00-23:00
Group 4
05:00-13:00
18:00-23:00
04:00-11:00
15:00-21:00
04:00-10:00
14:00-19:00
03:00-09:00
13:00-18:00
11:00-17:00
21:00-01:00
10:00-15:00
19:00-24:00
09:00-13:00
17:00-24:00
Group 5
09:00-13:00
17:00-24:00
05:00-13:00
18:00-23:00
04:00-11:00
15:00-21:00
04:00-10:00
14:00-19:00
03:00-09:00
13:00-18:00
11:00-17:00
21:00-01:00
10:00-15:00
19:00-24:00
Group 6
10:00-15:00
19:00-24:00
09:00-13:00
17:00-24:00
05:00-13:00
18:00-23:00
04:00-11:00
15:00-21:00
04:00-10:00
14:00-19:00
03:00-09:00
13:00-18:00
11:00-17:00
21:00-01:00
Group 7
11:00-17:00
21:00-01:00
10:00-15:00
19:00-24:00
09:00-13:00
17:00-24:00
05:00-13:00
18:00-23:00
04:00-11:00
15:00-21:00
04:00-10:00
14:00-19:00
03:00-09:00
13:00-18:00

  1. For Lamahi and areas west of it, and for Duhabi and Anarmani Sub-stations, Nepal Electricity Authority will publish the load-shedding schedule at local level.
  2. There are separate load-shedding schedules of industrial feeders where electricity are supplied from Nepal Grid:
  • 19:00 to 07:00 every day in industries where electricity is supplied from 66KV Hetauda Birgunj.
  • 18:00 to 06:00 every day in industrial feeders of 11 KV.
  • 06:00 to 18:00 every day in industrial feeders of 33KV.
  • 20:00 to 08:00 every day in Hetauda Cement, Udayapur Cement, Everest Paper Mill and Bhrikuti Paper Mill.
  • 19:00 to 07:00 every day in Maruti Cement.
  • 19:00 to 05:00 every day in all industrial areas of Nepal Government.
      RELATED INFORMATION

      Feeders inside Kathmandu Valley

      Substations
      Consumers Group 1
      Consumers Group 2
      Consumers Group 3
      Consumers Group 4
      Consumers Group 5
      Consumers Group 6
      Consumers Group 7
      Patan/Patan 66 KV
      Mangal Bazaar
      Pharping
      Patan
      Ring Road
      Sainbu
      Radio Nepal, Pulchowk
      Jawalakhel, Chapagoan
      Bhaktapur
      ByasiKatunje, NalinchowkNagarkot, Brick
      Teku
      Tripurshwor, TahachalKalimatiThankotPulchowkBhimsenstanKirtipur
      Baneshwar
      Baneshwor, Koteshwor, BagmatiImadol, GothatarGodavari-1, Conference HallNew Airport, DhobikholaOld AirportLubhuSankhamul
      Purano Chabahil
      JorpatiNaxal, AirportDhobikhola, DanchhiBattisputali, TangalPashupati
      Naya Chabahil
      SankhuOm HospitalSundarijalKapan
      Lainchaur
      Keshav MahalGairidharaLazimpatKings WayThamelSamakhushi
      Balaju
      Naya BazaarNagarjun, SwoyambhuBishnumati, Maharajgunj-1Dharmastali
      Syuchatar
      TahachalThankotKalimatiKalankiRopewayBalambhu, Swoyambhu
      Banepa
      DhulikhelSangaNala, KhawaAspatal, Khopasi, Panauti
      Thapathali
      ThapataliSanepa, Teku, Patan
      K 2
      KamaladiAsanMahaboudhhaDurbarmargBagbazaar
      Maharajgunj
      BudanilkanthaBansbariBaluwatar, US EmbassyGongbu, DhapasiGolfutar
      Thimi
      BalkumariThimiSallaghari
      Sundhara
      KhicapokhariTripureshworNew RoadBhotebahal
      K 3
      Bhrikuti MandapKalikastanAnamnagarPutalisadak
      Panchkhal
      Piple, PalachowkMelamchiPanchkhal

      Feeders outside Kathmandu Valley

      Substations
      Consumers Group 1
      Consumers Group 2
      Consumers Group 3
      Consumers Group 4
      Consumers Group 5
      Consumers Group 6
      Consumers Group 7
      Hetauda
      Uniliver, HID
      Bhainse
      Chaughadha
      Parwanipur
      Dabur, Krishi
      Himal Iron, Simara
      Birgunj, Gramin
      Nitinpur
      Parwanipur
      Chandranigahapur
      Harsha 33 KV
      Nijgadh 33 KV
      Chandranigahapur Dakshin
      Dhalkebar
      Malangawa, Janakpur-2 33 KV
      Janakpur-1, 33 KV
      Cosmos Cement, Sindhuli, Mahendranagar 33 KV
      Lalgadh
      Godar
      Majuliya
      CT-1
      CT-2
      Janakpur Cigarette Factory
      Ring
      Mahendranagar
      Pidari

      -
      Lahan
      Bisanpur 33 KV
      Rupani 33 KV, Bastipur
      Lahan, Jahadi
      Thadi
      Jaljale 33 KV
      Diktel
      Gaighat
    Source myrepublica