Australia pray for bad boy Tomic to come good

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Wayward talent. Flawed genius. Wasted potential.

Few athletes have inspired so many backhanded compliments as Australia’s Bernard Tomic, who has alienated the country’s entire tennis establishment while keeping his fans in the palm of his hand.

The lanky 20-year-old has packed a lot into a year, going from the toast of the nation with a fourth-round run at his home grand slam in 2012, to a pantomime villain booted out of the Davis Cup team for a perceived lack of commitment.

In the space of a week, the pendulum of public opinion has swung back in Tomic’s favor at Melbourne Park.

The Australian number one will head into Saturday’s third-round clash against Roger Federer willed on by 15,000 of his compatriots at Rod Laver Arena.

The 43rd-ranked Tomic brings a lone ATP title on his resume, won at the Sydney International in the leadup, versus Federer’s 17 grand slam titles.

He has not let the gulf in achievement quell his bluster, however, declaring himself full of the belief to win.

The Federer clash will be a re-match of their fourth-round encounter at Melbourne Park last year, when a marginally more humble Tomic was spanked in straight sets.

Tomic’s performance against Federer after another year’s development will be under the microscope, according to Mats Wilander, who says the player’s unorthodox style – and his willingness to trust – are his greatest assets.

“When you’re trying to play like everyone else, running around and hitting forehands as often as possible…then you can see there’s a limit to it,” he told Reuters.

“But with Bernard he gets into a zone and he doesn’t see Djokovic the other side, he sees the opportunities.

“We don’t know how good he can be. No one should ever think that they could put a limit on someone who plays that unorthodox with so much feel,” added Wilander.

PLAYBOY IMAGE

“For me there’s really only physically that he can be stopped. Mentally and feel-wise he’s as good as the best players in the world.”

Wilander’s analysis jars with the enduring image of Tomic on Australian television, a sports car driving playboy in Queensland’s Gold Coast getting into trouble for thumbing his nose at traffic police.

Tomic, who is still coached by his father and cosseted by his team, has been accused of being lazy by Davis Cup captain Pat Rafter, who expressed concerns he would never fulfill his potential.

The criticisms appeared justified as the player appeared to stop trying in a series of matches last year, earning the nickname “Tomic the Tank Engine”.

Other Australian tennis identities have queued up to lay the boot in, with his former coach declaring him a ‘lost soul’ and former U.S. Open champion Sam Stosur suggesting he needed to “knuckle down” in his career.

Tomic’s success leading into his match against Federer has seen olive branches offered by Rafter, however, with Australia desperate for an heir to ageing former world number one Lleyton Hewitt.

But only hard work and time will tell if Tomic can make it, Swede Wilander said.

“Physically, I have no idea whether he can do two, three or four hours against Novak. That remains to be seen,” he added.

“To have the physical stuff that it takes, that they have, you’re talking about 1,000 hours of work and two hours in the gym every day for the next two years.

“You have to be willing to go to the gym and do pushups and thousands of hours and it hurts every second.

“Somebody needs to get that message across (to him) very clearly. This is what it takes. Why would you be in the game if you don’t want to be your best? And with his talent, that could probably mean being number one in the world.

“But he needs somebody to explain it to him.”

(Editing by John Mehaffey)

Australia / Antarctica News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Australia pray for bad boy Tomic to come good
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/australia-pray-for-bad-boy-tomic-to-come-good/
Link To Post : Australia pray for bad boy Tomic to come good
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Exclusive: Japan’s Sharp cuts iPad screen output

TOKYO/SEOUL (Reuters) – Sharp Corp has nearly halted production of 9.7-inch screens for Apple Inc’s iPad, two sources said, possibly as demand shifts to its smaller iPad mini.

Sharp’s iPad screen production line at its Kameyama plant in central Japan has fallen to the minimal level to keep the line running this month after a gradual slowdown began at the end of 2012 as Apple manages its inventory, the industry sources with knowledge of Sharp’s production plans told Reuters.

Sharp has stopped shipping iPad panels, the people with knowledge of the near total production shutdown said. The exact level of remaining screen output at Sharp was not immediately clear but it was extremely limited, they said.

Company spokeswoman Miyuki Nakayama said: “We don’t disclose production levels.”

Apple officials, contacted late in the evening after normal business hours in California, did not have an immediate comment.

The sources didn’t say exactly why production had nearly halted. Among the possibilities are a seasonal drop in demand, a switch to another supplier, a shift in the balance of sales to the mini iPad, or an update in the design of the product.

Macquarie Research has estimated that iPad shipments will tumble nearly 40 percent in the current quarter to about 8 million from about 13 million in the fourth quarter, although Apple’s total tablet shipments will show a much smaller decrease due to strong iPad mini sales.

APPLE SHARES

Any indication that iPad sales are struggling could add to concern that the appeal of Apple products is waning after earlier media reports said it is slashing orders for iPhone 5 screens and other components from its Asian suppliers.

Those reports helped knock Apple’s shares temporarily below $ 500 this week, the first time its stock had been below the threshold mark in almost one year.

Apple, the reports said, has asked state-managed Japan Display, Sharp and LG Display to halve supplies of iPhone panels from an initial plan for about 65 million screens in January-March. Apple is losing ground to Samsung, as well as emerging rivals including China’s Huawei Technologies Co Ltd and ZTE Corp.

NO BIG CHANGE AT OTHER MAKERS

In addition to Sharp, Apple also buys iPad screens from LG Display Co Ltd, its biggest supplier, and Samsung Display, a flat-panel unit of Samsung Electronics.

Both LG Display and Samsung Display declined to comment.

A source at Samsung Display, however, said there had not been any significant change in its panel business with Apple, which has been steadily reducing panel purchases from the South Korean firm.

A person who is familiar with the situation at LG Display said iPad screen production in the current quarter had fallen from the previous quarter ending in December, mainly due to weak seasonal demand that is typical after the busy year-end holiday sales period.

Sterne Agee analyst Shaw Wu said some of the product cutbacks at Sharp are probably seasonal.

“The March quarter is almost always weaker than the December quarter,” he said, adding that Apple also consolidates suppliers of certain components during quarters with weaker demand. “The Korean manufacturers are more efficient and typically have lower costs.”

Apple’s iPad sales may have also suffered amid a weak Christmas shopping period that hurt other consumer gadget makers as well.

CROWD OF RIVAL PRODUCTS

Apple also faces stiffening competition in tablets from a growing crowd of rival products from makers including Samsung with its Galaxy and Microsoft Corp’s Surface. A consumer shift to smaller 7-inch screen devices, which Apple responded to late last year by launching its iPad mini for $ 329, are adding pressure.

BNP Paribas expects the iPad mini will eat into sales of the full-sized iPad, with the mini rise to 60 percent of total iPad shipments in the January-March quarter.

Looking to cut into Apple’s market share in the smaller segment are Amazon.com Inc with its Kindle and Google Inc with its Nexus 7.

CEO Tim Cook, who is credited with building Apple’s Asian supply chain, has overseen several gadget launches, including the iPhone 5, the latest iPad models and the iPad mini during his first year, is under pressure to deliver the kind of product innovations that wowed consumers during Steve Jobs’ tenure to keep his company’s profit growth stellar.

Sharp, which also supplies screens for the iPhone, has been working with its main banks on a restructuring plan after posting a $ 5.6 billion loss for the past fiscal year. To secure emergency financing from lenders including Mizuho Financial Group and Mitsubishi Financial Group it had mortgaged its domestic factories and offices including the one building screens for Apple.

In December, Qualcomm Inc agreed to invest as much as $ 120 million in Sharp and the two companies said they would work to develop new power-saving screens.

(Additional reporting by Poornima Gupta in San Francisco; Writing by Tim Kelly; Editing by Ken Wills and Richard Chang)

Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Exclusive: Japan’s Sharp cuts iPad screen output
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/exclusive-japans-sharp-cuts-ipad-screen-output/
Link To Post : Exclusive: Japan’s Sharp cuts iPad screen output
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Schilling to sell bloody sock worn in Red Sox 2004 World Series

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts (Reuters) – Former Boston Red Sox pitcher Curt Schilling, owner of a bankrupt video game company, plans to auction off a blood-stained sock he wore in the historic 2004 World Series championship.

The sock, worn by Schilling in Game Two of the first World Series won by the Red Sox in 86 years, is expected to fetch more than $ 100,000 when it hits the auction block next month, Chris Ivy, director of sports at Heritage Auctions in Dallas, said on Thursday.

Schilling took the mound after having an unorthodox surgical procedure done on his injured right ankle, enabling him to pitch in Game Two of the team’s four-game sweep of the St. Louis Cardinals.

The sock had been on display at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, since 2004, Ivy said.

Online bidding for the sock will open at $ 25,000 on February 4, followed by a live auction in New York on February 23, he said.

Last year, the state of Rhode Island sued Schilling and the former head of a state economic development agency over a $ 75 million loan guarantee the agency made to 38 Studios, a failed video game company owned by the retired baseball player.

The quasi-public agency made the loan in 2010 to lure Schilling, who promised to bring 450 jobs to the economically depressed state from neighboring Massachusetts. The deal was brokered by former Rhode Island governor Donald Carcieri.

38 Studios filed for bankruptcy in June, leaving Rhode Island taxpayers responsible for repaying roughly $ 100 million, including interest, to private investors who had bought bonds the state issued on behalf of the company.

The lawsuit charges some of the defendants committed larceny and permitted the video game company to rely on financial assumptions that were based on “known false assumptions.”

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and David Gregorio)

Celebrity News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Schilling to sell bloody sock worn in Red Sox 2004 World Series
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/schilling-to-sell-bloody-sock-worn-in-red-sox-2004-world-series/
Link To Post : Schilling to sell bloody sock worn in Red Sox 2004 World Series
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Event organizers brace for flu

This weekend will be big for movie buffs, football fans and Barack Obama. But as Americans flock to the Sundance Film Festival, the NFL playoffs and the Presidential Inauguration, the weekend could also be big for the flu.

About 35,000 Americans have been sickened by an early and nasty wave of influenza, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. And while the outbreak appears to be abating, flu activity is still widespread.

“Our biggest concern is people coming in asymptomatic but carrying the virus,” said Rob Allen, chief executive officer of Park City Hospital in Park City, Utah, the home of Sundance.

CLICK HERE to see 10 Sundance movies worth watching.

Utah is one of 33 states reporting high levels of influenza activity. And Park City, home to roughly 40,000 people, will more than double its population this weekend as actors, director, producers and fans fill its hotels, restaurants and theaters.

“We have 50,000 people coming in, potentially bringing with them flu from their areas,” said Allen, who partnered with local businesses to distribute hand sanitizer as visitors arrive. “If they practice good hand hygiene, hopefully they won’t spread it so we can keep it isolated.”

The flu virus spreads through microscopic respiratory droplets that travel six feet in a cough or a sneeze and survive on skin and other surfaces.

“And influenza can be spread by someone who’s not yet sick,” said Dr. William Schaffner, chair of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, Tenn. “They’ll become sick tomorrow, but today they’re emitting the virus as they exhale.”

The best protection against the flu, according to the CDC, is the flu shot. This year’s vaccine guards against three widespread strains of the virus and is 62 percent effective.

“We recognize that the vaccine is not 100 percent effective, but it’s the foundation on which all other protection is built,” said Schaffer.

CLICK HERE to see four flu shot myths busted.

Frequent hand washing and the use of hand sanitizer can also guard against the virus. The Georgia Dome – home of the Atlanta Falcons and Sunday’s National Football Conference championship football game – has hand sanitizer pumps at every entry gate.

“That’s standard policy for us,” said Jason Kirksey, a spokesman for the 70,000-seat stadium. “With any event we have here, the safety and security of our fans is our number one priority, and that includes protection from any kind of airborne disease.”

But football fans should still fight the urge to high-five and hug, according to Schaffner.

“School children are now taught that during an influenza outbreak, handshakes are out,” he said, describing how flu-fearing students are bumping elbows in lieu of high-fives. “But at exciting and emotional events, it’s hard to resist. So get vaccinated and try not to hug someone who’s coughing or sneezing.”

Sunday’s Presidential Inauguration is expected to draw 800,000 people to Washington, D.C., where the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will man medical stations along the National Mall.

“Our advice for the inauguration is the same advice for a day-to-day basis,” said HHS spokeswoman Elleen Kane. “Make sure you get the flu shot; if you cough or sneeze, do it into your elbow; wash your hands frequently and keep them away from your nose and mouth; and if you feel sick, stay home.”

“It’s pretty hard to protect yourself from the flu when you are in a crowd,” said ABC News’ chief health and medical editor Dr. Richard Besser. “Sure, you can use hand sanitizer to clean your hands. But when the person next to you lets go with a big sneeze or a cough, you are sunk.”

And it’s not just the crowded events, according to Schaffner. “It’s the travel to and from the events,” he said, describing how packed airplanes and busy airports can teem with germs. “There’s only so much you can do when you’re in 13C and someone’s sneezing in 13B. It’s an unlucky row.”

So while the weekend will be big, it’s not worth risking the health of those around you, according to Besser.

“If you have a fever or you are just getting over the flu, stay home,” he said. “I know it’s hard to do when it’s an event you’ve really been waiting for, but it’s the right thing to do.”

Also Read
Diseases/Conditions News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Event organizers brace for flu
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/event-organizers-brace-for-flu/
Link To Post : Event organizers brace for flu
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

The Creator of American’s Old Design Really Dislikes New One

This week, American Airlines (AAMRQ) revealed a bold new look for its fleet, retiring a design that hadn’t changed since 1967. (Among others, Twitter didn’t like it.) We caught up with designer Massimo Vignelli, the creator of the airline’s outgoing logo, to ask his opinion.

What do you think of the redesign?

It has no sense of permanence. The American flag is great. I’m designing a logo now for a German company, and I’m using black, red, gold, and yellow. Why? Because national colors have a tremendous equity. They’re much more memorable. It rings the bell of identification. But the American flag has 13 stripes, right? Not 11. Did American add only 11 stripes [to the flag on the tail] because they are in Chapter 11? I don’t think two more stripes would have been a disaster. And there are only two colors shown instead of all three. So is it a different flag?

What about the new logo?

Now they have something other than Helvetica that’s not as good or as powerful. Then they did a funny thing: Some may see an eagle [next to it], some may see something else. And they don’t even say it’s the eagle—they say it could be the eagle.

When we originally designed the logo, I designed without the eagle. They wanted an eagle. I said, “If you want an eagle, it has to have every feather.” You don’t stylize and make a cartoon out of an eagle. Somebody else did the eagle, by the way.

You didn’t design American’s original eagle between the “AA”?

I refused to do it. We started without it, and the pilots threatened to go on strike because they wanted the eagle on American Airlines. There’s always been the eagle. But I wanted the eagle to be real. As a matter of fact, the post office eagle, I think, is terrific. If you do an eagle, do an eagle with the dignity of an eagle. Don’t make Mickey Mouse out of an eagle. That was my theory at the time. The office of Henry Dreyfuss did the eagle. They were hired to do the interior of the planes. They were the office that originally gave us the assignment of the corporate identity. Dreyfuss was the consultant to American Airlines. The eagle was OK. It wasn’t great. I’m not sorry to see the eagle go.

What were you trying to achieve with the original design?

Legibility, which is a very important element of an airplane. So we used Helvetica, which was brand new at the time. And we wanted to make one word of American Airlines, half red and half blue. What could be more American than that? And there were no other logos then that were two colors of the same word. We took the space away, made one word, and split it again by color. It looked great. The typeface was great. We proceeded by logic, not emotion. Not trends and fashions.

What was your reaction when you heard that American was getting a new design?

There was no need to change. It’s been around for 45 years. Every other airline has changed its logo many times, and every time was worse than the previous one. Fifty years ago there were very few logos in general. Somebody started to do logos and people started thinking that logos were important, and now there is a plethora and so many don’t make sense. You see the pages of the sponsors of a concert or an exhibition, and at the bottom there are 50 different logos. It’s ridiculous. A word is so much better.

American Airlines filed for bankruptcy and it’s undergoing a larger rebranding. Couldn’t you make the argument that it’s right to want a new image and identity? That the old look may be somewhat damaged?

This is the typical mistake that company presidents make: “I’ll change the logo, and the company will look new.” What you have to have is a president who knows how to run the company, and in that process knows how to evaluate the brand identity. Otherwise it becomes a wolf camouflaged by sheep. It’s still the same company that’s not going to be successful. They’re not going to solve their problems, they’re just going to increase their costs. As you know, one of the great things about American Airlines was that the planes were unpainted. The paint adds so much weight that that brings an incredible amount of fuel consumption. For some reason they decided to paint the plane. The fact is, weight is weight.

Design is much more profound. Styling is very much emotional. Good design isn’t—it’s good forever. It’s part of our environment and culture. There’s no need to change it. The logo doesn’t need change. The whole world knows it, and there’s a tremendous equity. It’s incredibly important on brand recognition. I will not be here to make a bet, but this [new logo] won’t last another 25 years.

Businessweek.com — Top News

Title Post: The Creator of American’s Old Design Really Dislikes New One
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/the-creator-of-americans-old-design-really-dislikes-new-one/
Link To Post : The Creator of American’s Old Design Really Dislikes New One
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Judge slams banks defrauded by fake tycoon

LONDON (Reuters) – A British judge sentenced a fake property tycoon to seven years in jail on Thursday for defrauding two banks out of over 700 million pounds ($ 1.1 billion), but said the banks deserved some blame for poor risk controls.

“The two banks, Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Scotland, have undoubtedly acted carelessly and imprudently by failing to make full enquiries before advancing the money,” said judge Andrew Goymer as he sentenced Achilleas Kallakis, 44.

Kallakis was convicted by a jury at London’s Southwark Crown Court on Wednesday of two counts of conspiracy to defraud, in one of Britain‘s biggest-ever property scams.

Co-defendant Alexander Williams, 44, was convicted of the same counts for his role in producing forged documents to back up Kallakis’s applications for loans. Judge Goymer sentenced him to five years in jail.

“Both defendants took full advantage of the prevailing banking culture in which corners were cut and checks on applications were superficial and cursory,” the judge said.

The case stems from a series of loans worth a total of 740 million pounds secured by the fraudsters from Allied Irish Banks Plc between 2003 and 2008.

Lax paperwork and weak background checks were hallmarks of Irish banking before the country’s property bubble burst in 2008. Banks competed with each other to attract real-estate developers and often relied on personal guarantees to lend them individual loans running to hundreds of millions of euros.

The property binge precipitated Ireland’s financial crisis and eventual EU-IMF bailout.

The conviction of Kallakis and Williams is a success for Britain’s cash-strapped Serious Fraud Office (SFO), which was widely criticised last year for a botched investigation into the dealings of property barons Vincent and Robert Tchenguiz.

In another SFO victory on Thursday that had echoes of the Kallakis case, the director of a sub-prime loan company was sentenced in his absence to 7-1/2 years in jail for defrauding creditors including Barclays Plc to the tune of 100 million pounds.

The SFO said in a statement that Waheed Luqman, who fled Britain in 2011 after he was charged and is believed to be in Pakistan, was a director of Lexi Holdings, a property finance company that went into administration in 2006 with debts of over 100 million pounds.

He conspired with other members of his family to defraud creditors of the company, including Barclays which was its main lender, between 2000 and 2006, the SFO said.

“The Lexi accounts were doctored to create a false picture of the company’s profitability and creditworthiness. Money was drained out of the company to family members in Pakistan,” the SFO said.

“DEAL AT ALL COSTS”

A spokesman for Bank of Scotland, now part of Lloyds Banking Group Plc described the crime as “a sophisticated fraud committed by determined individuals” and said the bank had uncovered the fraud itself and had assisted the SFO.

At Allied Irish, a spokeswoman declined to comment on the judge’s remarks.

During a four-month trial, the jury heard that Kallakis had used the funds he obtained to build up a portfolio of 16 properties and to pay for his fleet of chauffeur-driven Bentleys, a private plane and helicopter and luxury yacht moored in Monaco.

The second count was related to a separate loan worth 29 million euros obtained between 2007 and 2008 from Bank of Scotland to convert a ferry into a super-yacht.

The loan was approved but only 5.7 million euros had been paid out when suspicions were raised.

The judge said the defendants had gambled and lost on the London property market, hoping that the fake guarantees they offered the banks would never be called in because the market “would go on expanding towards infinity”.

“While I do not equate the position of the banks with that of a householder or car owner who forgets to secure his house or car and becomes the victim of burglary or theft, they do bear some responsibility for what happened,” said Goymer.

The judge noted that Bank of Scotland had been warned by its lawyers about the risks of accepting a particular letter of assurance from a Swiss lawyer backing up Kallakis’s application for a loan.

“It almost beggars belief that senior management chose to disregard that warning in its rush to complete the deal at all costs,” he said.

(Additional reporting by Carmel Crimmins and Padraic Halpin in Dublin; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

Europe News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Judge slams banks defrauded by fake tycoon
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/judge-slams-banks-defrauded-by-fake-tycoon/
Link To Post : Judge slams banks defrauded by fake tycoon
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Video game puts players in shoes of Syrian rebels

BEIRUT (AP) — A new video game based on Syria‘s civil war challenges players to make the hard choices facing the country’s rebels. Is it better to negotiate peace with the regime of President Bashar Assad, for example, or dispatch jihadist fighters to kill pro-government thugs?

The British designer of “Endgame: Syria” says he hopes the game will inform people who might otherwise remain ignorant about the conflict.

Views differ, however, on the appropriateness of using a video game to discuss a complex crisis that has killed more than 60,000 people since March 2011. Computer giant Apple has refused to distribute the game and some consider the mere idea insulting. Others love it, and one fan from inside Syria has suggested changes to make the game better mirror the actual war.

The dispute comes amid wider arguments about violent video games since last month’s shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, that left 20 children and six adults dead. This week, the National Rifle Association revised the recommended age for a new shooting game after criticisms by liberal groups.

Tomas Rawlings, who designed the Syria game, said he got the idea while watching TV pundits debate the possible consequences of directly arming Syria’s rebels, which Western nations have declined to do. He said he thought a game could explore such questions by allowing players to make choices and see their consequences.

“For those who don’t want to read a newspaper but still care about the world, this is a way for them to find out about things,” said Rawlings, the design and production director of U.K.-based Auroch Digital.

In the simple game, which took about two weeks to build, the player assumes the role of the rebels seeking to topple Assad’s regime. The play alternates between political and military stages. In each stage, the player sees cards representing regime actions and must choose the rebel response.

The choices seek to mirror the real conflict. The regime may get declarations of support from Russia, China or Iran to boost its popularity while the rebels receive support from the United States, Turkey or Saudi Arabia – reflecting the foreign powers backing the two sides.

In battle, the regime may deploy conventional military forces like infantry, tanks and artillery as well as pro-government thugs known as shabiha. The rebels’ choices include sympathetic Palestinian or Kurdish militias, assassins or jihadist fighters known as muhajideen.

Some of the rebels’ strongest attacks also kill civilians, reducing rebel popularity and seeking to reflect the war’s complexity.

All along, the player is given basic information about the conflict, learning that Islamists once persecuted by the regime now consider the fight a holy war and that the shabiha are accused of massacring civilians.

The game ends when one side loses its support or the sides agree to a peace deal. The player is then told what follows. The longer the fighting lasts, the worse the aftermath, as chaos, sectarian conflict and Islamic militancy spread.

The lasting impression is that no matter which side wins, Syria loses.

Rawlings said that’s the game’s point.

“You can win the battle militarily but still lose the peace because the cost of winning militarily has fractured the country so much that the war keeps going,” he said. “You can also end the war so that there is less of that.”

The game was released on the company’s website and as a free download from Google for Android devices on December 12. Rawlings submitted the game to Apple to distribute via its App Store but the company rejected it.

Apple declined to comment, but Rawlings’s rejection referred to a company guideline for mobile apps: ” ‘Enemies’ within the context of a game cannot solely target a specific race, culture, a real government or corporation, or any other real entity.”

Rawlings is modifying the game, though he worries it will weaken it.

“It will still be the same overall experience, but it will reduce the value of the game to inform people,” he said.

News of the game was greeted with a mix of interest and outrage online. Some complained that players can’t take the regime side, while others found it wrong to make a game about a brutal war.

“Rawlings has mistakenly understood the Syrian war as a nonchalant ‘experience’ that people can play while waiting for the train to work,” said Samar Aburahma, a university student of Palestinian descent in San Francisco who refused to try the game. “It is beyond insulting to Syrians, especially given the fact that war is ongoing.”

Others find it a valuable, if limited, approach to the conflict.

Andrea Stanton, a religious studies professor at the University of Denver who studies Syria, said she responded emotionally to the game.

“It isn’t really a fun game to play,” she said, noting that she was angry when she lost and felt dread when the frequency of deadly regime airstrikes went up as the game progressed – as it has in the real conflict.

“This a very sobering game in that you sense how quickly the military stakes escalate and how little the political phase has to do with actual Syrians,” she said.

She is organizing a campus activity for students to play and discuss the game.

“I think it is very valuable for teaching and getting people to experience a sense of the limited options the rebels face,” she said.

It is unclear how many people have played the game. Google says it has been downloaded as many as 5,000 times from its site, and Rawlings says more have played online. He guesses more than 10,000 people have tried it.

Few in Syria are likely to have played it, since fighting has made the Internet and even electricity rare in some parts of the country.

One 18-year-old Syrian gamer liked the game so much, however, that he sent Rawlings a list of suggestions for improvement.

Reached via Skype, he said the jihadist fighters should be called Jabhat al-Nusra, after an extremist rebel group that the U.S. has designated as a terrorist organization.

He also pointed out that few rebel groups have tanks, as they do in the game, and suggested new rebel tactics.

“Car bombs are used lots in Syria, so that would make the game more realistic,” he said.

He said he hoped the game would help people understand the situation.

“I wish there were a 3D strategy game about Syria so you could feel the destruction on the ground,” he said.

The player, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals, said his feelings playing the game often mirror his feelings about the war. He wants peace but can’t imagine the rebels accepting a negotiated solution given how many people have died.

“Right this second, I want the war in Syria to stop, but when you see what is happening on the ground there is no way to make peace,” he said. “When I play the game like a rebel, I have to reject the peace.”

___

Associated Press writer Michael Liedtke contributed reporting.

Online: http://gamethenews.net/index.php/endgame-syria/

Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Video game puts players in shoes of Syrian rebels
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/video-game-puts-players-in-shoes-of-syrian-rebels/
Link To Post : Video game puts players in shoes of Syrian rebels
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Minaj, Carey fail to boost “American Idol” audience

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The audience for “American Idol” slumped 19 percent to 17.9 million viewers, its lowest season opener, despite the debut of judges Mariah Carey, Nicki Minaj and Keith Urban, according to early ratings data released on Thursday.

The two-hour premiere of the show’s 12th season on Fox television also lost 19 percent of the 18-49 age group most coveted by advertisers, Nielsen figures showed. Total viewers dropped to 17.9 million from 21.9 million in 2012.

Despite the drop, “American Idol” was still the most watched show by a huge margin on U.S. television Wednesday night, beating all shows combined in the 18-49 demographic on the three other biggest TV networks.

Fox executives also noted that “Idol” beat the 2012 September premiere of NBC singing show rival “The Voice” by some 46 percent in total viewers.

“American Idol,” long a ratings juggernaut for Fox, lost its eight-year crown as the most watched show on U.S. television last year to “Sunday Night Football.”

Singers Carey, Minaj and country artist Keith Urban joined the show as judges after Jennifer Lopez and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler left last year.

Fox is a unit of News Corp

(Reporting By Jill Serjeant, editing by Stacey Joyce)

TV News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Minaj, Carey fail to boost “American Idol” audience
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/minaj-carey-fail-to-boost-american-idol-audience/
Link To Post : Minaj, Carey fail to boost “American Idol” audience
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

U.S. faces drug shortages in treating multidrug-resistant TB

ATLANTA (Reuters) – More than 80 percent of health departments in the United States that treat tuberculosis resistant to standard treatment have trouble obtaining the drugs they need to cure the disease, according to a national survey released on Thursday.

Difficulties obtaining the drugs could be attributed to nationwide shortages, shipping delays and a complicated process for procuring new drugs that are still being tested, according to a National Tuberculosis Controllers Association survey of health departments.

The final results of the 2010 survey were released on Thursday and cited by the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which said possible solutions could include obtaining drugs from foreign manufacturers, stockpiling them, and creating an expedited approval process for new drugs.

“These shortages interfere with our ability to successfully treat TB,” Kenneth Castro, director of the CDC’s division of Tuberculosis Elimination, said in an interview on Thursday.

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis accounts for about 1.5 percent of all cases in the United States, Castro said.

The survey found that the shortages and other problems that hindered access to the second-line drugs could promote development of drug resistance, the CDC said.

In the survey of 26 health departments that treated tuberculosis patients who were resistant to conventional drugs, 81 percent reported having trouble during the previous five years finding or paying for medicine that would be effective.

Tuberculosis is caused by airborne bacteria. Most cases can be cured with a six-month combination of four drugs, but patients resistant to the standard drugs face up to 24 months of taking five to six drugs that are “less effective, more toxic, and more costly than first-line drugs,” the CDC said.

The United States had about 10,528 cases of tuberculosis in 2011 and there were 529 deaths from tuberculosis in 2009, according to the latest full year CDC statistics available.

More than half of the health departments surveyed said difficulty finding adequate drugs for the multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, delayed treatment of their patients, the CDC said.

However, the CDC cautioned that because only 54 percent of the 61 health jurisdictions asked responded to the survey, the results might not accurately represent the national tuberculosis drug-shortage problem in general.

Of the 33 health departments that responded, 26 had multidrug-resistant cases of tuberculosis in the five years covered and 21 of those had difficulty obtaining the second-line drugs needed to treat the cases.

(Reporting by David Beasley; Editing by David Bailey)

Medications/Drugs News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: U.S. faces drug shortages in treating multidrug-resistant TB
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/u-s-faces-drug-shortages-in-treating-multidrug-resistant-tb/
Link To Post : U.S. faces drug shortages in treating multidrug-resistant TB
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Citigroup profit hit by more than $2 billion in charges

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Citigroup Inc posted $ 2.32 billion of charges for layoffs and lawsuits in its first financial report under new Chief Executive Michael Corbat, who said the bank needs to do better for shareholders.

Earnings rose from a year earlier as trading revenue rebounded, but the result was well below Wall Street expectations and Citi shares were down 3.6 percent in Thursday afternoon trade.

“We are not satisfied with these bottom-line earnings,” Corbat told a conference call with analysts, the first time he has addressed them publicly since becoming CEO.

Asked what he would consider a mark of success for Citigroup‘s turnaround, he said, “We’ve got to get to a point where we stop destroying our shareholders’ capital.”

Corbat’s remarks left some disappointed.

“It was a stay-tuned type of message,” said Tom Lewandowski, an analyst at brokerage Edward Jones who recommends Citi stock. “I expected to hear more than we got,” particularly in the way of goals for company performance.

Corbat, who took the reins in mid-October after predecessor Vikram Pandit was ousted, said in an earlier statement that Citi’s various businesses were combating competitive and regulatory problems, as well as issues dating to the financial crisis that continue to plague the bank and its peers.

Citi shares rose in Corbat’s first three months as CEO, outpacing peers, as some investors welcomed Pandit’s departure and anticipated changes in the bank’s structure. But analysts said estimates of future earnings are likely to be revised based on what the bank reported on Thursday.

The quarter “falls way short of expectations” on two issues – higher-than-expected legal costs and no significant release of reserves for bad loans, Nomura analyst Glenn Schorr said in a note to clients.

Gary Townsend, president of hedge fund Hill-Townsend Capital LLC, said Citi may have used some discretion in the accounting judgments behind the results.

“It may be that the new CEO is holding back,” he said. “There’s no reason that the quarter when Pandit left and (Corbat) came in should be great. The board obviously felt in firing Pandit and hiring Corbat that changes needed to be taken, and the fourth-quarter earnings report reflects a great deal of that.”

PROFIT MISSES

There was relatively little in the way of 2013 outlook from the bank, though Chief Financial Officer John Gerspach did tell analysts that Citi expects interest margins to be steady in 2013 relative to 2012. Bank investors have had a close eye on margins lately due to fears that falling interest rates could crimp the profitability of lending.

Fourth-quarter net income was $ 1.2 billion, or 38 cents a share, compared with $ 956 million, or 31 cents a share, in the same quarter of 2011.

Revenue from fixed income markets increased 58 percent, driving Citi’s Securities and Banking segment back to profitability. Company-wide revenue, adjusted for certain items, increased 8 percent, while operating expenses were unchanged.

Results were reduced by new legal costs of $ 1.29 billion, or 27 cents a share, and a previously announced corporate restructuring charge of $ 1.03 billion, or 21 cents a share.

Gerspach said $ 500 million of the new legal costs came from what he called a variety of issues in the ongoing U.S. consumer banking business. He later said he expects legal costs to remain “somewhat elevated.”

Expenses recorded for changes in the value of some of the bank’s debt and obligations of derivatives counterparties were 10 cents a share, compared with 1 cent a year earlier.

Excluding the many one-time items, Citi said it earned 69 cents per share. On that basis, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S on average expected 96 cents per share.

The operating earnings were 15 cents below the lowest of the 22 estimates that comprised the consensus forecast. It is the third year in a row that the bank’s fourth-quarter results have missed Wall Street forecasts by at least 20 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.

Citi shares were down $ 1.53 to $ 40.95 in Thursday afternoon trading following the results. Through Wednesday’s close, the shares had risen 16 percent in the three months since Corbat became CEO, against a 6 percent rise for the KBW banks index.

(Reporting by David Henry and Lauren Tara LaCapra in New York; Writing by Ben Berkowitz; Editing by John Wallace and Tim Dobbyn)

Business News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Citigroup profit hit by more than $2 billion in charges
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/citigroup-profit-hit-by-more-than-2-billion-in-charges/
Link To Post : Citigroup profit hit by more than $2 billion in charges
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..