Wal-Mart Suspends Seafood Supplier Over Work Conditions

The New York Times:

Wal-Mart Stores has suspended one of its seafood suppliers in the South as an advocacy group for foreign workers pressed the retailer to improve working conditions there and at a dozen other suppliers cited for hundreds of federal labor violations.

Read the whole story at The New York Times

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/06/30/wal-mart-suspends-seafood_n_1639433.html

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UCSF Helen Cancer Center installs Accuray TomoTherapy system

MDBR Staff Writer
Published 28 June 2012

University of California, San Francisco's (UCSF) Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center has installed Accuray's TomoTherapy system to provide treatment options for cancer patients.

The TomoTherapy system, designed for integrated, daily, 3D image-guided, intensity modulated radiation therapy (IG-IMRT), utilizes computed tomography (CT) imaging to identify the exact position of the tumor.

The system also enables clinicians to customize treatment for each patient, minimize radiation exposure to healthy tissue and critical structures and reduce side effects.

UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center radiation oncology chair Mack Roach said at UCSF, the center offers the advanced cancer treatment options available in order to provide accurate and individualized care for each patient.

"Having a dedicated system built from the ground up to deliver IMRT treatments is a valuable addition to our suite of cancer care technologies," Roach added.

In addition to TomoTherapy System, the center has installed Accuray's CyberKnife Robotic Radiosurgery System, full brachytherapy program, a proton beam system and other stereotactic body radiation therapy and radiosurgery systems.

Source: http://diagnosticimaging.medicaldevices-business-review.com/news/ucsf-helen-cancer-center-installs-accuray-tomotherapy-system-280612

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Landslides, floods kill 106 in southern Bangladesh

A Bangladeshi woman, left, whose relative died in a landslide is consoled by another on the outskirts of Chittagong, Bangladesh, Wednesday, June 27, 2012. Rescuers said landslides caused by heavy monsoon rains have killed at least 30 people in southern Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Anrup Titu)

A Bangladeshi woman, left, whose relative died in a landslide is consoled by another on the outskirts of Chittagong, Bangladesh, Wednesday, June 27, 2012. Rescuers said landslides caused by heavy monsoon rains have killed at least 30 people in southern Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Anrup Titu)

Bangladeshi rescuers search for survivors and bodies following landslides on the outskirts of Chittagong, Bangladesh, Wednesday, June 27, 2012. Rescuers said the slides caused by heavy monsoon rains have killed at least 30 people in southern Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Anrup Titu)

Bangladeshi rescuers search for survivors and bodies following landslides on the outskirts of Chittagong, Bangladesh, Wednesday, June 27, 2012. Rescuers said the slides caused by heavy monsoon rains have killed at least 30 people in southern Bangladesh. (AP Photo/Anrup Titu)

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) ? Searchers pulled out 15 bodies buried under mud, rocks and debris on Thursday, raising this week's death toll to 106 from landslides and floods caused by heavy monsoon rains in southern Bangladesh.

Officials said the landslides occurred mainly in remote villages with poor roads, making rescue work more difficult.

At least 41 died in Cox's Bazar, 41 in neighboring Bandarban and another 24 in Chittagong, mostly in a series of landslides, the Disaster Management Ministry said. It said soldiers joined the search for the missing in all three areas and found 15 more bodies buried in debris Thursday.

About 500 houses were washed away. Officials said more people may be missing, but they didn't know how many.

Three days of torrential rain in the region of small hills and forests dislodged huge chunks of earth, which buried flimsy huts where families were sleeping late Tuesday and early Wednesday. Many of the dead were women and children, officials said.

In Bandarban, 11-year-old Rafiqul Islam was the only member of his family to survive because he was away when mud buried his hut. His parents and three siblings died.

"I could survive because I was visiting a relative," the boy told The Associated Press. "The rain had kept me from returning home."

Monsoon floods are common in Bangladesh, a delta nation of 160 million people. Many homeless people live at the foot of the hills or close to them, despite warnings from authorities.

Volunteers using loudspeakers warned people about the danger of landslides during the rains, said Jaynul Bari, a government administrator in Cox's Bazar. The floods inundated dozens of villages and were disrupting communications in the region.

Flood waters covered many roads and washed away a railway bridge, snapping road and rail links between Dhaka and the three districts. An airport in Chittagong was closed after floodwaters swamped its runway, but reopened Wednesday after the rains stopped, officials said.

The government said relief workers were distributing rice and water to hundreds of displaced people.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-06-28-Bangladesh-Landslides/id-651716d68f3743b6a1dace4a9ca89ccb

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Updated Finding The Safe Heartburn Home Remedies | How Can ...

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Top Texas lawyers say banks fear Dodd-Frank's unknown

Texas community banks already pay a lot to comply with regulations.

They add staff members, pay fees, hire outside advisers and more ? but rules born out of Dodd-Frank have yet to be fully written, and Texas lawyers say banks are dreading the unknown.

That?s because regulations crafted for financial giants have slowly trickled down through the years to community banks with assets below $10 billion ? remember the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002? That easily became law of the land in several industries.

?If you?re talking about what keeps bankers up at night, (Dodd-Frank is) probably near the top of the list ? of what aspects of Dodd-Frank are going to trickle down and become part of their daily lives,? said William Leudke, a partner at the Houston office of law firm Bracewell & Giuliani LLP? ? Bracewell & Giuliani LLP Latest from The Business Journals Chambers unveils Texas' top lawyers and firmsBracewell lawyer appointed to Harris County appeals court Rudy Giuliani: China should inspire U.S. energy policy Follow this company . ?The local banks, their beef is they didn?t cause (the financial crisis) but they get painted with the same fat brush as the big boys.?

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and its vast powers ? of unknown scope ? is the most intimidating aspect of the new law, lawyers say. Not because the CFPB has jurisdiction over smaller banks ?? it doesn?t, but other federal agencies may take their lead from the CFPB, lawyers say.

Want to learn more? Check out the story in our Chambers and Partners special issue here. The top banking law firms in Texas, as rated by the Chambers and Partners research organization, are featured in the slideshow above and to the right. To search the entire Chambers and Partners list of top law firms in Texas, use the fields below.

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Scientists marvel over Serbian mammoth mine

Marko Djurica / Reuters

People look at the skeleton of a mammoth at an open-pit coal mine in Kostolac 62 miles southeast of Belgrade on June 27.

By Alan Boyle

What started out as a coal mine near the Serbian town of Kostolac, southeast of Belgrade, has turned into a gold mine for mammoth bones. Archaeologists say they've found the remains of at least five of the ancient beasts, scattered across 20 acres of sandy terrain.

"There are millions of mammoth fragments in the world, but they are rarely so accessible for exploration," Miomir Korac of Serbia's Archaeological Institute told The Associated Press. "A mammoth field can offer incredible information and shed light on what life looked like in these areas during the ice age."

---

Experts have been finding mammoth remains at the open-pit mining site for years. In 2009, a well-preserved, 16-foot-long mammoth skeleton?was discovered about 89 feet (27 meters) beneath the surface. That specimen, nicknamed Vika, was a furless southern mammoth that lived about a million years ago. Another mammoth skeleton, thought to be 500,000 years old and nicknamed Kika, was found at a factory site in northern Serbia in 1996 and is now on display at a museum in Kikinda. ?

The more recently discovered bones, excavated last month at a depth of about 66 feet (20 meters), appear to be from woolly mammoths that lived tens of thousands of years ago.

"This discovery is interesting because, unusually, there are many bones in one place," Sanja Alaburic, an expert from Serbia's Museum of Natural History, told AP. He speculated that the bones were carried to the site by flooding.

Korac said that colleagues in France and Germany have been contacted for consultation. Unearthing all the bones will require at least six months of work, he said.

Marko Djurica / Reuters

Archaeologists work to find mammoth bones at an open-pit coal mine in Kostolac, 62 miles southeast of Belgrade on June 27.

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THE PROS & CONS OF ROTH IRA CONVERSIONS. What are the ...

The Bush-era tax cuts could sunset in 2013, and that possibility has prompted some traditional IRA owners to think about Roth conversions. If tax rates go up, going Roth may be smart. The key word in that last sentence is ?may,? as going Roth may not be for everyone.

Why go Roth? There is an assumption behind every Roth IRA conversion ? a belief that income tax rates will be higher in future years than they are today. If you think that will happen ? and many people do ? then you may be compelled to go Roth. After all, once you are age 59? and have owned a Roth IRA for five years (i.e., once five full years have passed since the conversion), withdrawals from the IRA are tax-free.¹

Additionally, you never have to make mandatory withdrawals from a Roth IRA, and you can contribute to a Roth IRA as long as you live, unless you make too much money to do so ? in 2012, the contribution limits are $125,000 for single filers and $183,000 for joint filers and qualifying widow(er)s, with phase-outs respectively kicking in at $110,000 and $173,000. (These numbers represent modified adjusted gross income.)^2,3

While you may make too much to contribute to a Roth IRA, that doesn?t stop you from being able to convert a traditional IRA to a Roth. Imagine never having to draw down your IRA each year. Imagine having a reservoir of tax-free income for retirement (provided you follow IRS rules). Imagine the possibility of those assets passing tax-free to your heirs. Sounds great, right? It certainly does ? but the question is, can you handle the taxes that would result from a Roth conversion??????

Why not go Roth? Two reasons: the tax hit could be substantial, and time may not be on your side.?

A Roth IRA conversion is a taxable event. When you add the taxable income from the conversion into your total for a given year, you could find yourself in a higher tax bracket. Some of these conversions even lead to the IRA owner?s Social Security benefits and Medicare being taxed.⁴

If you are nearing retirement age, going Roth may not be worth it. If you convert a sizable traditional IRA to a Roth when you are in your fifties or sixties, it could take a decade (or longer) for the IRA to recapture the dollars lost to taxes on the conversion. Model scenarios considering ?what ifs? should be mapped out.

In many respects, the earlier in life you convert a regular IRA to a Roth, the better. Your income should rise as you get older; you will likely finish your career in a higher tax bracket than you were in when you were first employed. Those conditions relate to a key argument for going Roth: it is better to pay taxes on IRA contributions today than on IRA withdrawals tomorrow.

However, since many retirees have lower income levels than their end salaries, they may retire to a lower tax rate. That is a key argument against Roth conversion.

If you aren?t sure which argument to believe, it may be reassuring to know that you can go Roth without converting your whole IRA.

You could do a partial conversion. In fact, you could make multiple partial Roth conversions through the years. Is your traditional IRA sizable? This could be a good idea if you are in one of the lower tax brackets and like to itemize deductions.

You could even undo the conversion. It is possible to ?recharacterize? (that is, reverse) Roth IRA conversions. If a newly minted Roth IRA loses value due to poor market performance, you may want to do it. The IRS gives you until October 15 of the year following the initial conversion to ?reconvert?? the Roth back into a traditional IRA and avoid the related tax liability.⁴??

You could ?have it both ways?. As no one can fully predict the future of American taxation, some people contribute to both Roth and traditional IRAs ? figuring that they can be at least ?half right? regardless of whether taxes increase or decrease.

If you do go Roth, your heirs might receive a tax-free inheritance. Lastly, Roth IRAs can prove to be very useful estate planning tools. (You may have heard of the ?stretch IRA? strategy, which can theoretically keep IRA assets growing for generations.) If the rules are followed, Roth IRA heirs can end up with a tax-free inheritance, paid out either annually or as a lump sum. In contrast, distributions of inherited assets from a traditional IRA or 401(k) are routinely taxed.⁵

Kevin M. Nast is a Financial Planner with Transamerica Financial Advisors, Inc. in Northville, MI 48167. He may be reached at?www.Map2Finance.com or 248.347.1888.

This material was prepared by MarketingLibrary.Net Inc., and does not necessarily represent the views of the presenting party, nor their affiliates. Marketing Library.Net Inc. is not affiliated with any broker or brokerage firm that may be providing this information to you. All information is believed to be from reliable sources; however we make no representation as to its completeness or accuracy. Please note ? investing involves risk, and past performance is no guarantee of future results. The publisher is not engaged in rendering legal, accounting or other professional services. If assistance is needed, the reader is advised to engage the services of a competent professional. This information should not be construed as investment, tax or legal advice and may not be relied on for the purpose of avoiding any Federal tax penalty. This is not a solicitation or a recommendation to purchase or sell any investment or insurance product or service, and should not be relied upon as such. All indices are unmanaged and are not illustrative of any particular investment.

Investment Advisor Representative with and Securities and Investment Advisory Services offered through Transamerica Financial Advisors, Inc. (TFA) member FINRA, SIPC and a Registered Investment Advisor. Non-Security products and services are not offered through TFA.

LD043989-06/12

Citations.

1 ? www.smartmoney.com [3/5/12]

2 ? www.irs.gov [1/5/12]

3 ? www.irs.gov [4/17/12]

4 ? www.boston.com [5/20/12]

5 ? www.kiplinger.com [4/5/12]

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How to Build A Business Using Freelancers ~ Blogs Daddy

Starting your own business might seem like a daunting task but this is certainly not impossible! You can always start your own online business by using freelancers who will help build the services that you want to provide. However, it can be tough to figure out what it is that you want to do or how you will actually market your business.

If you are looking to really become an online entrepreneur, then you should really consider using the help of professions from freelancers.com who are capable of getting the work done. Here are a few things to consider when choosing the best services from freelancers out there.?

Know Your Budget

when you are trying to find the best internet marketing services UK has to offer, you need to know how much you are willing to spend. Depending upon services offered, freelancers will have different price demands and hence you cannot just hope that you can pay them a certain amount and then be happy. This can lead to a lot of problems and so you should establish your budget right away. The nice thing about working with freelancers is that they can be flexible and you can certainly just negotiate.?

Know What You Need

Create a list of people that you would need to create your business. Whether it is designers, writers, or editors, it is important that you know what you need and how much you want to spend on them. Freelancers are all over the internet and so you should know that you have an endless list of people to choose from. When you know what you need, you will be able to make the process run smoother.?

Choose Wisely?

Choosing freelancers can be really tough, so you need to choose wisely. Look at the freelancer's past work and see if you are happy with their work. Not too many people will "standout" but when someone does, make sure that you talk to them right away.?

Once you are able to create your team, it is important that you learn how to keep in touch with them. Don't just tell them what to do and then hope that everything will run smoothly. You are the boss and your company's success will solely depend on how well you perform as a boss. If you want to truly succeed in your business, then you should think about finding the best freelancers for your business.

Freelancing Leader

Freelancer.com, the one and only leader in freelancing field, has grown into the largest outsourcing marketplace in the world with nearly 3.9 million (and counting) registered freelancers, across the world.

Freelancer.com, with more than 1.6 million posted projects and staggering $130 million USD of occurred transaction so far, is thus unarguably the ?eBay for services?

"Freelancer.com is?the wonderful platform that will help you build your online business using?skilled freelancers from all over the globe, at any time, while?spending only a fraction of the money that you would pay?locally."

This can be made very simple when you build your business by considering Freelancer advice.

About Author :- Kate Ford is Tech writer from the SEO Agency UK. Catch her @thetechlegend on Twitter

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Google sells small tablet, challenges Kindle Fire

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? Google will sell a small tablet computer bearing its brand in a challenge to Amazon's Kindle Fire.

The Nexus 7 is designed specifically for Google Play, the online store that sells movies, music, books, apps and other content ? the things Amazon.com Inc. also sells for its tablet computer.

Both tablets have screens that measure 7 inches diagonally, smaller than the nearly 10 inches on Apple Inc.'s popular iPad. The Nexus 7 will also be light ? at about 0.75 pound, compared with the Kindle Fire's 0.9 pound. The iPad weighs 1.44 pounds.

The Nexus 7 will ship in mid-July starting at $199 ? the same price as the Kindle Fire. By contrast, iPads start at $499. Customers can start ordering it through Google on Wednesday, initially in the U.S., Canada and Australia.

Andrew Rassweiler, an analyst with IHS iSuppli, said he suspects Google will be subsidizing the tablet to sell it starting at $199.

The Nexus 7 has more features than the Kindle, including a front-facing camera. The Kindle is believed to be roughly break even at that price. Samsung Electronics Co. sells a tablet similar to Google's for $250.

The Nexus 7 will run the next version of Google Inc.'s Android operating system, called Jelly Bean.

Google also announced a home entertainment device called Nexus Q. It sends content from your personal collection or YouTube to your existing TV and speaker systems. You control it through a separate Android phone or tablet.

The Nexus Q, which Google is calling the world's first "social streaming device," will available in July in the U.S. initially and sell for $299.

Google made the announcements during a keynote to open its annual conference in San Francisco for computer programmers.

Google also demonstrated its futuristic, Internet-connected glasses by having parachutists jump out of a blimp hovering about 7,000 feet above San Francisco. The audience got live video feeds from their glasses as they descended to land on the roof of the Moscone Center, the location of the conference.

Google is making prototypes of the device, known as Project Glass, available to test. They can only be purchased ? for $1,500 ? at the conference this week, for delivery early next year. Google is also giving all 6,000 attendees a Nexus 7, Nexus Q and Google Nexus phone for free.

At the event, Google provided an update on its Google Plus social network, which the company considers crucial to challenging Facebook Inc. for users and advertising. Google said the year-old social network now has 250 million, far smaller than Facebook's more than 900 million but larger than what Facebook had at the one-year mark.

Google said more people use Google Plus from mobile devices than traditional computers. On Wednesday, it introduced a Google Plus app for Android tablets and said one for the iPad is coming "very soon."

Google's expansion into the tablet market with the Nexus 7 brings another imposing entrant into what is already a battle of tech heavyweights. Last week, Microsoft Corp. announced its own tablet, Surface. Expected to go on sale this fall, Surface will run on a revamped version of Windows and compete directly with the iPad.

Although the tablet carries the Google brand, the machine will be made by AsusTek Computer Inc. Google also recently expanded into the device-making business with its $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility, but the company has stressed that it intends to continue to rely on Asus and other manufacturers that have embraced Android.

There are already other Android-powered tablets on the market, but none have proven nearly as popular as the iPad or Kindle Fire. That has raised worries at Google as more people rely on tablets to surf the Internet.

If Apple and Amazon establish themselves as the dominant tablet makers, they could set up their operating systems in ways that de-emphasize Google's Internet search engine and other services. Apple develops its own system, while Amazon modifies Android for use in Kindles.

Apple already has announced that the next version of the iPad operating system will abandon Google's digital maps as the built-in navigation system. That shift could cause neighborhood merchants to spend less money advertising on Google.

Earlier Wednesday, Google unveiled a new search tool to help you get the right information at the right time on your mobile device. Called Google Now, the tool will be part of Jelly Bean, which will be available in mid-July. Some devices, including the Galaxy Nexus, will get the upgrade automatically over the air.

With Google Now, if you say "traffic," for example, it will look at your usual commute to work and show you alternative routes if there's a lot of traffic. It will tell you the scores of your favorite sports teams automatically, and it will keep you up to date on flight statuses if you are flying somewhere. You'll have to activate Google Now to start using it.

Google Inc. said the Google Now feature will get smarter as you use it more.

The feature bears resemblance to the Siri virtual assistant on Apple's iPhone.

Jelly Bean will also come with the ability to share photos by tapping two phones together, using an emerging wireless technology called near-field communications.

Google said there are a million new Android devices activated daily, up from 400,000 a year ago. Google says there's particularly fast growth in emerging markets such as Brazil and India. Android is now the chief rival to the mobile software running Apple's iPhone and iPad.

___

AP Technology Writer Peter Svensson in New York contributed to this story.

(This version CORRECTS Corrects aircraft to blimp, not plane, minor edits. With AP Photos.)

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Dave Bemis Real Estate ? Tips For Buying A Home Without Loosing ...

Make sure you stay connected with other investors like yourself. Other investors may not be interested in certain available properties, while you might be. This is a good way to find a hidden gem that other investors have not already purchased.

Always do some research about the neighborhood before buying property. You will never be truly happy with your home if the neighborhood is not what you desire. Be aware of what you are buying, including the surrounding homes, businesses and people.

Consider the long term picture when you are shopping for a new home. If you plan on living in the home you purchase, then you might want to view the nearby schools even if you do not have kids. You might want them someday, and it?s better to be safe than sorry.

When you are purchasing a house, be sure to hire individuals that work directly for you. It can be tempting to use the appraisers and house inspectors that the seller has chosen. It is hard to pay out money when it could be free. Nevertheless, you are safer in the long run if you find people you know you can trust to protect your interests. It could save you a ton of money later in life by knowing that you are getting an unfettered understanding of your potential investment.

Now you have seen why buying real estate is a popular investment. Various methods of doing this exist. You can also research and purchase appropriately using the wealth of information. Utilize the tips in this article, and you will quickly find yourself becoming capable of making smart real estate buying decisions.

We?re thrilled you stop by to read our very own web blog. Make sure you come again early as we regularly post to this blog. Here?s one more Utah real estate link to visit!

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Sergey Brin demos Project Glass onstage at Google I/O (video)

It's hard to ignore Google's X Lab-born Project Glass. News of the slim-lined, scifi goggles' existence first surfaced this past February and it wasn't long after that Mountain View's own elite began to flaunt the heads-up display in public. While little of the device's true purpose and functionality is known, we have been privy to certain features over the past few months, like photo sharing to Google+ and even its ability to overlay Maps. Though product lead Steve Lee shrugged off rumors of a late 2012 launch, it does appear the company's itching to spill a few more (jelly) beans at today's I/O conference.

To do that, Sergey Brin rushed onstage at Google I/O wearing the glass units to give us a brief live action demo courtesy of a skydive over San Francisco. Video of the jump, performed by four divers in a blimp, was streamed live through Google Hangouts to attendees at the Moscone Center. In keeping with the extreme vibe of this demonstration, the showcase was handed off to bikers on the rooftop, also outfitted with the lenses, who jumped from building to building via ramp and then eventually cycled into the arena and right up to Sergey, himself. As a finishing touch, Brin also snapped a shot of the team using his own headset. All told, it's a pretty incredible way to once again officially tease this forward-looking tech.

Check out our full coverage of Google I/O 2012's opening keynote at our event hub!

Gallery: Project Glass Demo

Continue reading Sergey Brin demos Project Glass onstage at Google I/O (video)

Sergey Brin demos Project Glass onstage at Google I/O (video) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jun 2012 14:05:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hover For A Rec: Google Updates +1 Button To Show Related Content On Your Website

Well it looks like Google just can't wait for the start of its Developer Conference tomorrow to begin sharing news. It's been a while since we've seen any development of the company's now ubiquitous "+1" button, but beginning soon, your +1s are going to get a whole lot more useful (and creepy?). Tonight, Google announced via the Google+ Developers Blog that it is rolling out a new feature in "platform review" -- from now on, when users hover over a +1 button on your website, they will see recommendations for other related content on your site.

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Romney would get tough on China: Portman

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Abu Dhabi fund sees potential despite uncertainty

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) ? The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority believes the world economy offers opportunities for it and other patient investors, despite an uncertain outlook, the government-run fund's managing director said in a report released Monday.

ADIA's 2011 annual review shed little new light on the operations of the world's largest sovereign wealth fund. But the comments from Managing Director Hamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan suggest the tight-lipped fund remains guardedly optimistic about a recovery in economic growth.

"Despite facing undoubted short-term risks, the global economy offers many exciting and important opportunities. Economic growth each year is advancing millions of people out of poverty and into more active participation in the global economy," he said.

The managing director, a member of the emirate's ruling family, suggested that investors such as ADIA can help fuel economic advances by pumping cash into stocks, bonds, hedge funds and other investments.

"As a long-term investor, we see ourselves ... as providers of this necessary capital, with the advantage of patience and the ability to ride out dips in the economic cycle," he said.

ADIA has generated an average return on its investments of 6.9 percent annually over the past 20 years and 8.1 percent annually over the last 30 years, according to the 2011 report. That compared with annualized returns of 7.6 percent and 8.1 percent over similar periods through the end of 2010.

ADIA did not provide financial data for 2011 alone, making it difficult to deduct how its investments fared over the past year.

The fund, the biggest of several Abu Dhabi uses to manage its oil wealth, is chaired by the emirate's hereditary ruler, Sheik Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.

Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates, OPEC's third-largest oil exporter. It controls nearly all of the federation's oil reserves.

ADIA and other sovereign wealth funds agreed on a voluntary set of principles in 2008 calling for greater openness by the pools of government-held wealth. The move was aimed at countering concerns, particularly in Western countries, about the funds' growing size and perceptions that their investments could be politically motivated.

This is the third year that ADIA has released an annual report.

ADIA has repeatedly said it does not want to play an active management role in companies it buys into, investing solely on economic terms.

While big-ticket purchases such as its $7.5 billion investment in Citigroup Inc. in 2007 make occasional headlines, many of ADIA's investments are more mundane.

About 80 percent of its assets are handled by outside fund managers, and some 60 percent track established indexes such as the S&P 500, according to its report. It aims to keep 35 to 50 percent of its holdings in North America, and another 25 to 35 percent in Europe.

The fund does not release the size of its assets.

The U.S.-based Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute ranks ADIA as the largest such fund, with assets under management of $627 billion. That puts it ahead of government funds in Norway, China and Saudi Arabia.

Other estimates of its holdings have ranged from less than $400 billion to $875 billion and beyond.

Associated Press

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W.H. on upcoming health care ruling: We?re ready for anything

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Cyanide-Producing GM Grass Linked To Texas Cattle Deaths

Peristaltic writes "Scientists at the U.S. Department of Agriculture are trying to determine if an unexpected mutation in a popular GM grass, Tifton 85, is responsible for the sudden deaths of a small herd of cattle in Elgin, Texas three weeks ago. The grass has been used for grazing since 1992 without incident, however after a severe drought last year in Texas, the grass started producing cyanide in sufficient quantities to kill a small herd of cattle in Elgin, Texas. Testing has found the cyanide-producing grass in nearby fields as well." Update: 06/23 22:59 GMT by T : Reader Jon Cousins writes with a correction that means the headline above is inaccurate for including "GM." Tifton 85, he writes, is "absolutely not genetically modified. It's a conventionally bred hybrid."

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Russian immigrants have pushed Israel to the right

Saturday 23rd June, 2012

Russian immigrants have pushed Israel to the right ??

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?????Saturday 23rd June, 2012??Source: The National ??

ARIEL, WEST BANK // Daniel Natanyilov does not mince his words when it comes to Russia's president, Vladimir Putin. "He's a very powerful man, a strong leader," the 30-year-old resident of Ariel, a vast Israeli settlement, said with a clenched fist. Fleeing authoritarianism and anti-Semitism, Mr Natanyilov was one of more than a million immigrants from the former Soviet Union who moved to Israel at the end of the Cold War when the Kremlin lifte...

Breaking News Saturday 23rd June, 2012

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Powerpoint Presentation On International Business | Best Green ...

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Record hits on mag's 'Can't Have It All' story

This magazine cover image released by The Atlantic magazine shows cover from the July/August 2012 issue featuring an article by former State Department official Anne-Marie Slaughter. The piece by Anne-Marie Slaughter describes her struggles balancing a high-powered career with raising her two sons. Online clicks were "approaching 450,000 uniques," magazine spokeswoman Natalie Raabe said Friday, citing data from Omniture. The piece also had more than 75,000 Facebook recommendations, not counting the links posted on individual facebook pages, where friends engaged in debate about work-life balance. (AP Photo/The Atlantic)

This magazine cover image released by The Atlantic magazine shows cover from the July/August 2012 issue featuring an article by former State Department official Anne-Marie Slaughter. The piece by Anne-Marie Slaughter describes her struggles balancing a high-powered career with raising her two sons. Online clicks were "approaching 450,000 uniques," magazine spokeswoman Natalie Raabe said Friday, citing data from Omniture. The piece also had more than 75,000 Facebook recommendations, not counting the links posted on individual facebook pages, where friends engaged in debate about work-life balance. (AP Photo/The Atlantic)

This undated image released by Princeton University shows former State Department official Anne-Marie Slaughter. In an article for The Atlantic magazine, Slaughter describes her struggles balancing a high-powered career with raising her two sons. Online clicks were "approaching 450,000 uniques," magazine spokeswoman Natalie Raabe said Friday, citing data from Omniture. The piece also had more than 75,000 Facebook recommendations, not counting the links posted on individual facebook pages, where friends engaged in debate about work-life balance. (AP Photo/The Atlantic)

This undated image released by Princeton University shows former State Department official Anne-Marie Slaughter. In an article for The Atlantic magazine, Slaughter describes her struggles balancing a high-powered career with raising her two sons. Online clicks were "approaching 450,000 uniques," magazine spokeswoman Natalie Raabe said Friday, citing data from Omniture. The piece also had more than 75,000 Facebook recommendations, not counting the links posted on individual facebook pages, where friends engaged in debate about work-life balance. (AP Photo/Princeton University)

NEW YORK (AP) ? A first-person lament by a former State Department official on "Why Women Still Can't Have It All" has attracted more visitors to The Atlantic website in a 24-hour period than any magazine story the site has ever published.

The piece by Anne-Marie Slaughter described her struggles balancing a high-powered career with raising her two sons.

Clicks were "approaching 450,000 uniques," magazine spokeswoman Natalie Raabe said Friday, citing data from Omniture.

The piece, which first appeared on TheAtlantic.com website Wednesday at 9 p.m., also had more than 75,000 Facebook recommendations, not counting links on private Facebook pages where individuals engaged in heartfelt debate about work-life balance.

"I knew this was going to resonate," said Slaughter in a phone interview, but "I did not expect it to go viral quite this fast."

Slaughter, 53, served as the first female director of policy planning at the U.S. State Department in Washington D.C. from January 2009 to February 2011. She commuted home to Princeton, N.J., on weekends while her husband, Andrew Moravcsik, a professor at Princeton, served as primary caregiver for their two boys.

In the article, she recalls a glamorous reception she attended with the Obamas and other VIPs where she couldn't stop thinking about her 14-year-old son, "who had started eighth grade three weeks earlier and was already resuming what had become his pattern of skipping homework, disrupting classes, failing math, and tuning out any adult who tried to reach him."

Eventually Slaughter left the State Department to resume her career as an academic at Princeton because, she wrote, "of my desire to be with my family and my conclusion that juggling high-level government work with the needs of two teenage boys was not possible." (Her son, she says, is now doing fine.)

While the challenges of being a working mother are not exactly news, Atlantic editor-in-chief James Bennet said the magazine was certain Slaughter's story would generate a strong response. "Every family experiences this struggle and every generation has to grapple with it anew," he said. "We're a long way from solving this and I think Anne-Marie has contributed a lot to a new way to think about the problem and how to address it.

Slaughter spoke Friday by phone about the story.

AP: Describe the response to the story.

SLAUGHTER: I've just been bowled over by the powerful things women have been writing me and men too. The majority are younger women but not all. They start out by saying, 'Your article made me cry.' Then they write about what they're juggling, how they're feeling, that they've been blaming themselves for the difficulties they're having. Many of the stories make ME cry. There are women's voices and men's voices that do need to be heard. If writing this article gets those stories out there, that's the greatest reward.

AP: You note that older successful women like Hillary Clinton and Ruth Bader Ginsburg had their children first and then built careers, while many women of your generation worked on careers first, then had kids, but struggled to make it work and often had to choose one over the other. Have we been lying to young women that they can do both?

SLAUGHTER: I've said for ages that 'Yes, you can have it all, you just have to work at it.' I didn't realize how much of that depended on my being able to control my own time. I don't think it was a lie, but I think the women coming up are facing new circumstances where there are all these opportunities, opportunities men have always had, where they can try to get tenure, or try to be a partner at a firm. They're also seeing so many women in my generation who had children late and many of us had all sorts of fertility problems. They say, 'I don't want that but I want to have children. How on earth am I going to get established in my career?' So this is new for our whole society.

I think it's right that we've gotten to a place where women who are at the top or close to the top are willing to be more honest. Every generation defines itself at least in part against the one that came before. We've got a whole new generation of very accomplished young women saying, 'We want different role models but we can't find them.'

AP: In the article you say you are writing for your demographic, "highly educated well-off women who are privileged enough to have choices in the first place." How does your message relate to women who struggle with more basic issues like poverty, lack of child care, being single moms?

SLAUGHTER: I am acutely aware of the millions of women who have no choice about working and being with their children. Part of what I'm arguing is that we need to change our social policies more fundamentally with good day care, schools that end the same time work ends, and really providing for a more integrated work and school life, not to mention health care and other things. We need many more changes to allow mothers and parents to be able to spend more time with their children and have a better work-life balance. As a society, that's also about investing in our children by allowing parents to do that. Another part of what I'm arguing is that we don't have enough women politicians. We still don't have a woman president, we don't have enough women at the top of corporations. If you're going to have wider social change, part of that does come from who's in the leadership.

AP: Where do husbands, fathers and life partners figure in?

SLAUGHTER: Having a life partner who is committed to being an equal caregiver is a necessary but not sufficient condition. Without my husband I never could have gone to Washington. My husband's a hero; he was willing to take the kids during the week. That's essential. I think there are many more men than ever before saying they want to be with their kids and spend more time with them. But even with a wonderful husband, I found ? and it was the hardest thing to admit to myself ? it was still very important to my sons for me to be there. Even if you marry the man of your dreams, it doesn't solve everything.

AP: Any final advice for women who want careers and kids?

SLAUGHTER: This won't work for every profession, but having control of your own time is important. If you control your own schedule and your kid gets an ear infection, you can deal with it. If you don't deal with it, an entire week's worth of meetings and work can tumble like dominoes. Of course if you're a surgeon you can't say, 'Sorry, hold that appendix!' but for many professions, we can do it, especially with the technology we have.

____

Online:

http://www.theatlantic.com/

Associated Press

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Religion writer Stephen Mansfield on Romney and the "Mormon moment' (Los Angeles Times)

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Moody's sees big banks' risks of 'outsized losses'

FILE - In this May 11, 2012 file photo, people stand in the lobby of JPMorgan Chase headquarters in New York. Moody's Investors Service on Thursday, June 21, 2012 lowered the credit ratings of 15 the world's largest banks late Thursday, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs, saying their long-term prospects for profitability and growth are shrinking. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

FILE - In this May 11, 2012 file photo, people stand in the lobby of JPMorgan Chase headquarters in New York. Moody's Investors Service on Thursday, June 21, 2012 lowered the credit ratings of 15 the world's largest banks late Thursday, including JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs, saying their long-term prospects for profitability and growth are shrinking. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Moody's Investors Service has lowered the credit ratings on some of the world's biggest banks, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, reflecting concern over their exposure to the violent swings in global financial markets.

The downgrades late Thursday ultimately are a measure of Moody's view on the ability of the banks to repay their debts. The ratings agency also cut its ratings on Barclays, Deutsche Bank and HSBC, some of the largest banks in Europe, a region fighting to contain a government debt crisis.

The banks "have significant exposure to the volatility and risk of outsized losses inherent to capital markets activities," Moody's global banking managing director Greg Bauer said in a statement outlining the rationale for the downgrades.

The behemoth banks are all major players in the global stock and bond markets, which have become extremely volatile. Critics such as former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker argue that the stability of the financial system is threatened when banks' profits rely on proprietary trading desks that make high-risk bets on derivatives and other opaque financial instruments. Rich profits can be made from such trades but the losses can also be huge.

JPMorgan said last month it suffered a $2 billion trading loss related to a hedging strategy.

Analysts said the lure of larger profits from riskier, highly leveraged trading may prove too tempting compared with traditional banking such as loans for housing or small businesses, which require high volume and a network of branches to boost returns.

"The trade-offs for Western banks, purely from a profitability perspective, may favor the prop desk and trading and hedging," said Anand Pathmakanthan, who analyzes Singapore-based banks for Nomura Equity Research.

"The banks here in Asia are much more fundamentally sound and much easier to understand than say, Citigroup or JPMorgan, which events have shown, nobody really knows what's going on there."

Bauer, of Moody's, said that some of the banks, including JPMorgan and HSBC, do have reliable buffers in more stable businesses that could act as "shock absorbers" during a crisis. Moody's had said in February that it was considering downgrading the ratings of major banks in the U.S. and in Europe.

A downgrade usually means banks will have to pay more for its debt. Investors demand higher interest for riskier debt, which is what the downgrades represent. However, with interest rates already at rock-bottom levels, the lower ratings may not significantly affect the cost of funding for the banks.

The stock market has also factored in any negative impact from the ratings downgrades, according to Bert Ely, a banking consultant in the Washington, D.C. area. "They've been telegraphing this thing for months," he said.

In a sign that investors were taking the news in stride, stocks of major U.S. banks rose in afterhours trading. Moody's made its announcement after regular stock trading had closed.

Morgan Stanley rose the most, 3.2 percent, gaining 45 cents to $14.41. JPMorgan Chase & Co. rose 38 cents to $35.89 and Bank of America Corp. rose 6 cents to $7.88.

Citigroup Inc. said it "strongly disagrees" with Moody's assessment. Citi said it doesn't believe the downgrade will impact its funding costs because the ratings actions have already been expected by the market and its business partners have included them in their analyses.

Morgan Stanley also disagreed with Moody's, saying it did not think the ratings agency had fully considered the actions the bank has taken to shore up its finances.

The downgrades come at a time of great uncertainty in the global economy. Europe's currency union is under threat, the U.S. economy is slowing and the red-hot economies of India, Brazil and China are cooling.

On Thursday the Dow Jones industrial average plunged 251 points, its second-worst loss of the year, as new reports indicating slower manufacturing in the U.S. and China made investors fearful that the global economy could be heading for another slump.

Moody's has been on a downgrading spree lately. In June, it downgraded Spain by three notches, after downgrading 16 Spanish lenders in May. It also cut the ratings on seven German and three Austrian lenders in this month.

In its latest report, Moody's didn't treat all large banks alike. It sorted the banks it was downgrading into three categories, with JPMorgan, HSBC Holdings PLC, and Royal Bank of Canada in the top one.

Moody's said those banks have stable businesses that can offset market losses. JPMorgan, for example, has a large base of consumer deposits and major lending, credit card and asset management businesses.

These banks have also managed to contain their exposure to risky European government debt, Moody's said. While all three were downgraded, their debt had the highest ratings among the 15 banks affected.

The second group included Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Deutsche Bank AG and Credit Suisse Group AG. Moody's said those banks rely heavily on their markets businesses to satisfy their shareholders, although some of them have managed their risk effectively.

In its last group were the weakest banks ? Bank of America, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley, and Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC. Moody's said these banks have either had "problems in risk management or have a history of high volatility," and some of them have implemented business strategy changes.

"These transformations are ongoing and their success has yet to be tested," Moody's said.

___

AP Business Writers Alex Kennedy and Christina Rexrode contributed to this story.

Associated Press

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