Delegation slams Treasury report on Chinese currency

Published on Thursday, Dec 29, 2011 at 12:12 am | Last updated on Thursday, Dec 29, 2011 at 12:12 am

Members of the state's congressional delegation are blasting the U.S. Department of the Treasury's decision not to tag China as a currency manipulator.

An anticipated Treasury foreign exchange report released this week acknowledged that the Chinese yuan was undervalued, but the Obama administration stopped short of accusing labeling China a currency manipulator. The issue has been taken up by some congressional lawmakers who believe the currency's low market value is doubling as a trade subsidy for Chinese exporters while costing American jobs.

The value of the yuan has been a concern for labor and manufacturing groups such as the Alliance for American Manufacturing. The organization also represents the interests of Maine paper companies.

On Tuesday, AAM Director Scott Paul slammed the Treasury report.

"I'm disappointed that President Obama has now formally refused to cite China six times for its currency manipulation, a practice which has contributed to the loss of hundreds of thousands of American manufacturing jobs," Paul said in a statement.

The issue of the yuan's value has been a concern for U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine, who believes China is robbing the U.S. of its factories and manufacturing jobs.

"The Treasury Department outlines in the report all of the reasons China should be identified as undervaluing their currency, but they refuse to state the obvious," Michaud said in a statement.

Despite some saber-rattling between Obama and the Chinese government, the administration has refused to take the hard line advocated by members of Congress.

It recently maintained that it's in China's interest to increase the value of the yuan.

The Treasury report, however, said that while China has made progress, the yuan has encountered "persistent and substantial undervaluation."

Michaud, earlier this year co-sponsored a House bill that would force the administration to label China a currency manipulator and assess penalties. U.S. Sens. Olympia Snowe, R-Maine, and Susan Collins, co-sponsored a companion bill that was ratified by the Senate in October.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has so far declined to bring the bill to the floor for consideration.

Snowe, in a written statement, said the report "failed to state plainly what American workers already know:" that currency manipulation put U.S.-made products at a competitive disadvantage.

Snowe said House leadership should pass, H.R. 639, which would direct the Commerce Department to investigate allegations that the undervalued yuan provides an illegal subsidy to foreign producers.

Snowe said China's currency hurt Maine manufacturing.?

"These are the types of jobs that should be thriving in a global economy ? but they cannot if our government is unwilling to enforce our existing trade policies and hold our foreign competitors to account," Snowe said.

Collins, in a statement, said it was "inexplicable" that the president "failed to defend American workers."

It's unclear if GOP leadership will take up the House bill next year. The legislation has broad bipartisan support and 230 co-sponsors, including U.S. Rep. Chellie Pingree, D-Maine.

The Treasury's decision follows the precedent of the Bush administration, which was also confronted with the issue. The U.S. has not tagged a country as a currency manipulator since China was issued that status in 1994.

According to several news reports published earlier this year, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has argued that the semi-annual foreign exchange report isn't as useful a negotiating tool as direct diplomacy with the Chinese.

Michaud said the administration's "diplomatic song and dance" was shuttering American companies.

Nonetheless, Obama has attempted to pressure China to speed up its valuation of the yuan before a summit with Chinese officials earlier this year.

Chinese President Hu Jintao has thus far declined to change his country's currency policy, saying that doing so won't solve the U.S. trade deficit or its other economic problems.

smistler@sunjournal.com

Source: http://www.sunjournal.com/news/state/2011/12/29/delegation-slams-treasury-report-chinese-currency/1133670

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Alibaba hires U.S. lobbying firm as it eyes Yahoo (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Alibaba Group has hired a Washington lobbying firm in a sign that the Chinese e-commerce company would be willing to make a bid for all of Yahoo Inc in the event that talks to unwind their Asian partnership fail.

Japan's Softbank Corp, which owns a 30 percent stake in Alibaba and is a partner in Yahoo Japan, is also listed as an Alibaba affiliate in the disclosure by the lobbying firm, Duberstein Group Inc.

Alibaba Group's founder, Jack Ma, said in September he was keen to buy all of Yahoo if the opportunity presented itself.

Hiring a Washington lobbying firm could help Alibaba address any U.S. political opposition to a complete takeover of Yahoo by a company from a country that controls and censors the Internet.

Chinese companies, such as telecoms giant Huawei Technologies Co, have run into opposition when they have tried to buy U.S. assets over the years.

"The national security concern is sometimes just an excuse for commercial concerns for any country, but certainly for the United States," said Mark Natkin, managing director of Beijing-based consultancy Marbridge Consulting. "I don't think there should be a big concern (for Alibaba buying Yahoo). Users may share or keep as much data as they like.

"If they subscribe to Yahoo and (they know) Yahoo is owned by a Chinese company, they are going to have to make the decision themselves," Natkin added.

Alibaba, Softbank and Yahoo have been looking to unwind their complex web of relationships. Alibaba retained Duberstein in the fall when it was discussing a proposal with private equity firms to carve up Yahoo, a source familiar with the situation said.

While they would jointly make a bid for the whole company, the idea was for the buyout firms to take over Yahoo's U.S. operations and for Alibaba and Softbank to get the Asian assets.

But a buyout of Yahoo has now been put on the backburner as the U.S. Internet company is considering a proposal to address just the Asian assets that Alibaba and Softbank want. That plan, valued at roughly $17 billion, would reduce Yahoo's 40 percent stake in Alibaba and get Yahoo out of Yahoo Japan, sources told Reuters last week.

Yahoo is exploring proposals to revamp its business in the face of competition from Internet heavyweights such as Google Inc and Facebook.

Investors have long said Yahoo's investment in Alibaba, along with its 35 percent slice of Yahoo Japan, are far and away the U.S. company's most prized assets. Yahoo has a market value of around $20 billion.

Earlier in December, Thomson Reuters publication Basis Point reported that a handful of lenders are considering committing to a $4 billion loan for Alibaba that will help it buy back part of the 40 percent stake that Yahoo owns in the company.

LOBBYING FIRM

The filing marks the first time Alibaba has registered to lobby the U.S. government, according to a search of congressional records.

The Duberstein Group is headed by Kenneth Duberstein, a former White House chief of staff under U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Its other clients include BP America Inc, Goldman Sachs & Co and Pfizer Inc.

The lobbying registration lists the law firm Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen & Katz, which specializes in mergers and acquisitions, as an intermediary between Alibaba and the company's lobbying team.

The registration was received by a U.S. Senate office on Dec 23 and then posted online, but the lobbying work likely began earlier.

Under U.S. law, a lobbying firm is required to file a public disclosure within 45 days of crossing certain thresholds such as making contact with a public official. The filing for Alibaba says it is effective as of December 1.

Messages left with the Duberstein Group and Wachtell were not immediately returned on Wednesday.

(Reporting by David Ingram in Washington and Paritosh Bansal in New York, and Melanie Lee in Shanghai; Editing by Richard Chang, Steve Orlofsky and Matt Driskill)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111229/bs_nm/us_yahoo_alibaba

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In 2012, Obama to press ahead without Congress (The Arizona Republic)

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Beyonce Knowles? birthing suite is being prepared in New York?

The ‘Best Thing I Never Had’ singer – who is expecting her first baby with husband Jay-Z – is thought to be at the nine month mark of her pregnancy and staff at St Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital in the city, the same where Alicia Keys had her baby, are being prepared for her to give [...]

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Running a country? There's an app for that, almost (AP)

LONDON ? Britain's government says experts are considering developing a bespoke iPad app that would deliver key data straight to Prime Minister David Cameron's tablet computer.

Officials said Wednesday that the idea is being discussed, though Cameron's Downing Street office declined to comment on the details.

The Times of London newspaper reported the app could include statistics and information from government departments, real time news and Twitter updates.

Cameron has previously discussed his affection for his iPad, but acknowledged he needed "a little bit of help from someone in IT" to set up the gadget.

The British chief has frequently championed the country's technology sector and hailed the so-called Silicon Roundabout cluster of digital companies in east London.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111228/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_governing_by_ipad

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Preventive care: It's free, except when it's not (AP)

CHICAGO ? Bill Dunphy thought his colonoscopy would be free.

His insurance company told him it would be covered 100 percent, with no copayment from him and no charge against his deductible. The nation's 1-year-old health law requires most insurance plans to cover all costs for preventive care including colon cancer screening. So Dunphy had the procedure in April.

Then the bill arrived: $1,100.

Dunphy, a 61-year-old Phoenix small business owner, angrily paid it out of his own pocket because of what some prevention advocates call a loophole. His doctor removed two noncancerous polyps during the colonoscopy. So while Dunphy was sedated, his preventive screening turned into a diagnostic procedure. That allowed his insurance company to bill him.

Like many Americans, Dunphy has a high-deductible insurance plan. He hadn't spent his deductible yet. So, on top of his $400 monthly premium, he had to pay the bill.

"That's bait and switch," Dunphy said. "If it isn't fraud, it's immoral."

President Barack Obama's health overhaul encourages prevention by requiring most insurance plans to pay for preventive care. On the plus side, more than 22 million Medicare patients and many more Americans with private insurance have received one or more free covered preventive services this year. From cancer screenings to flu shots, many services no longer cost patients money.

But there are confusing exceptions. As Dunphy found out, colonoscopies can go from free to pricey while the patient is under anesthesia.

Breast cancer screenings can cause confusion too. In Florida, Tampa Bay-area small business owner Dawn Thomas, 50, went for a screening mammogram. But she was told by hospital staff that her mammogram would be a diagnostic test ? not preventive screening ? because a previous mammogram had found something suspicious. (It turned out to be nothing.)

Knowing that would cost her $700, and knowing her doctor had ordered a screening mammogram, Thomas stood her ground.

"Either I get a screening today or I'm putting my clothes back on and I'm leaving," she remembers telling the hospital staff. It worked. Her mammogram was counted as preventive and she got it for free.

"A lot of women ... are getting labeled with that diagnostic code and having to pay year after year for that," Thomas said. "It's a loophole so insurance companies don't have to pay for it."

For parents with several children, costs can pile up with unexpected copays for kids needing shots. Even when copays are inexpensive, they can blemish a patient-doctor relationship. Robin Brassner of Jersey City, N.J., expected her doctor visit to be free. All she wanted was a flu shot. But the doctor charged her a $20 copay.

"He said no one really comes in for just a flu shot. They inevitably mention another ailment, so he charges," Brassner said. As a new patient, she didn't want to start the relationship by complaining, but she left feeling irritated. "Next time, I'll be a little more assertive about it," she said.

How confused are doctors?

"Extremely," said Cheryl Gregg Fahrenholz, an Ohio consultant who works with physicians. It's common for doctors to deal with 200 different insurance plans. And some older plans are exempt.

Should insurance now pay for aspirin? Aspirin to prevent heart disease and stroke is one of the covered services for older patients. But it's unclear whether insurers are supposed to pay only for doctors to tell older patients about aspirin ? or whether they're supposed to pay for the aspirin itself, said Dr. Jason Spangler, chief medical officer for the nonpartisan Partnership for Prevention.

Stop-smoking interventions are also supposed to be free. "But what does that mean?" Spangler asked. "Does it mean counseling? Nicotine replacement therapy? What about drugs (that can help smokers quit) like Wellbutrin or Chantix? That hasn't been clearly laid out."

But the greatest source of confusion is colonoscopies, a test for the nation's second leading cancer killer. Doctors use a thin, flexible tube to scan the colon and they can remove precancerous growths called polyps at the same time. The test gets credit for lowering colorectal cancer rates. It's one of several colon cancer screening methods highly recommended for adults ages 50 to 75.

But when a doctor screens and treats at the same time, the patient could get a surprise bill.

"It erodes a trust relationship the patients may have had with their doctors," said Dr. Joel Brill of the American Gastroenterological Association. "We get blamed. And it's not our fault,"

Cindy Holtzman, an insurance agent in Marietta, Ga., is telling clients to check with their insurance plans before a colonoscopy so they know what to expect.

"You could wake up with a $2,000 bill because they find that little bitty polyp," Holtzman said.

Doctors and prevention advocates are asking Congress to revise the law to waive patient costs ? including Medicare copays, which can run up to $230 ? for a screening colonoscopy where polyps are removed. The American Gastroenterological Association and the American Cancer Society are pushing Congress fix the problem because of the confusion it's causing for patients and doctors.

At least one state is taking action. After complaints piled up in Oregon, insurance regulators now are working with doctors and insurers to make sure patients aren't getting surprise charges when polyps are removed.

Florida's consumer services office also reports complaints about colonoscopies and other preventive care. California insurance broker Bonnie Milani said she's lost count of the complaints she's had about bills clients have received for preventive services.

"`Confusion' is not the word I'd apply to the medical offices producing the bills," Milani said. "The word that comes to mind for me ain't nearly so nice."

When it's working as intended, the new health law encourages more patients to get preventive care. Dr. Yul Ejnes, a Rhode Island physician, said he's personally told patients with high deductible plans about the benefit. They weren't planning to schedule a colonoscopy until they heard it would be free, Ejnes said.

If too many patients get surprise bills, however, that advantage could be lost, said Stephen Finan of the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network. He said it will take federal or state legislation to fix the colonoscopy loophole.

Dunphy, the Phoenix businessman, recalled how he felt when he got his colonoscopy bill, like something "underhanded" was going on.

"It's the intent of the law is to cover this stuff," Dunphy said. "It really made me angry."

___

AP Medical Writer Carla K. Johnson can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/CarlaKJohnson

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111228/ap_on_he_me/us_med_preventive_care_confusion

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PFT: T.O tweets he wants back with 49ers

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Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez has taken a lot of criticism from fans and the media. But he says he has no doubt that within the locker room, he has unconditional support.

Asked at his press conference today if he is confident that everyone in the locker room supports him, Sanchez answered, ?Absolutely, no question.?

Sanchez offered a similar answer when asked if he thinks he has improved during his three-year NFL career.

?No question, absolutely,? Sanchez said. ?Whether it?s defensive recognition or clock management and stuff like that, understanding the offense and the system, I?m light years ahead, so it?s been a great run so far and we?re not done yet. Hopefully, we?ll get a win and see what happens.?

But watching Sanchez, it?s hard to see how he has really improved in terms of his defensive recognition and clock management. He still makes too many mental mistakes, and he wastes timeouts too often to claim he has improved at clock management.

Ball security is also a huge problem for Sanchez, who fumbled 10 times in his rookie year, nine times last year and has fumbled 10 times this year. Those ball security problems were largely overlooked in his first two seasons because the Jets recovered seven of his 10 fumbles his rookie year and eight of his nine fumbles his second year. But this year the Jets have only recovered two of Sanchez?s 10 fumbles, and the problem of a quarterback who puts the ball on the ground too much has become more apparent.

Ultimately, Sanchez probably got too much credit when the Jets got to back-to-back AFC Championship Games in his first two years, and now he?s probably getting too much blame for the Jets likely missing the playoffs.

?We went to the AFC Championship two years in a row, so there is only one more step to make really, win that game and then go win the Super Bowl,? Sanchez said. ?With those expectations, that?s fine. When things don?t go right, people are going to immediately question me.?

No one said playing quarterback for the New York Jets would be easy.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/12/28/t-o-stumps-for-san-fran-return/related/

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Trade Stuff You Don't Want for Things You Do at Swap.com [Saving Money]

You know the old saying that one man's trash is another man's treasure. At Swap.com, a marketplace for trading just about everything, you can take your unwanted "trash" (like bad holiday presents) and turn it into "treasure."

The free service simply facilitates old-fashioned bartering: You add items you have to swap, then browse for stuff available, and work out the details with another swapper (you make an offer and can complete a swap by shipping items or meeting up locally). Because Swap.com claims to be the biggest community of swappers in the world, there's a good chance you'll find something you want. You can even trade Groupons and gift cards.

Swap.com works on the honor system, but swappers are given ratings so you can decide whether or not to trade with certain people.

If you have something you can't find a good use for, check out Swap.com to see if someone else can?and save yourself some money on stuff you actually want.

Swap.com

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/ShOhul7fvUQ/trade-stuff-you-dont-want-for-things-you-do-at-swapcom

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Oil hovers below $100 after US supplies soar (AP)

SINGAPORE ? Oil prices hovered below $100 a barrel Thursday in Asia after a report showed U.S. crude supplies jumped last week, a sign demand could be weakening.

Benchmark crude for February delivery rose 19 cents to $99.55 a barrel at midday Singapore time in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract fell $1.98 to settle at $99.36 in New York on Wednesday.

In London, Brent crude was down 2 cents at $107.54 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

The American Petroleum Institute said late Wednesday that crude inventories rose 9.6 million barrels last week while analysts surveyed by Platts, the energy information arm of McGraw-Hill Cos., had predicted a drop of 2.3 barrels.

Inventories of gasoline added 1.9 barrels last week while distillates grew 600,000 barrels, the API said.

The Energy Department's Energy Information Administration reports its weekly supply data later Thursday.

Investors are also closely watching developments in the Persian Gulf. On Tuesday, Iran's vice president said his country will close the Strait of Hormuz, and cut off crude exports, if Western nations impose sanctions on Iran's oil shipments.

On Wednesday, the U.S. Navy warned that any disruption of traffic in the strait, though which about a sixth of global production passes, would not be tolerated. A Saudi oil ministry official said his country and other Gulf producers are ready to provide more oil if Iran tries to block the strait.

"(Closing the Strait of Hormuz) would instantly draw all consuming nations into opposition with Tehran," energy consultant Cameron Hanover said in a report. "The U.S. and its Arab allies would be compelled to open it by military force."

"Under any scenario, that would be a game-changer."

In other Nymex trading, heating oil rose 0.4 cents to $2.91 per gallon and gasoline futures slid 0.1 cent at $2.64 per gallon. Natural gas futures were up 1.1 cents to $3.13 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/energy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111229/ap_on_re_as/oil_prices

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Theresa Ann Lucero, Rio Rancho, New Mexico

Lucero - Theresa Ann Lucero, 54, a resident of Rio Rancho, passed away surrounded by friends and family Monday, December 26, 2011. Theresa was a loving and caring person, who always gave more than she received. She was a talented and creative baker, and her beautiful crafts created a warm and inviting home; her doors were always open. Theresa had an adventurous spirit, and loved riding her Harley Davidson so much she made her fiance' sell his Triumph in order to buy a Harley of his own. She also loved her hard rock, blues, and classic rock music, especially Led Zeppelin. She is survived by daughter, Rochelle Lucero; sons, Ronny J. Lucero Jr. and Ryan J. Lucero; Fiance', Michael L. Lueras; mother, Rose T. Madrid.; grandchildren, Damian, Alicia, Nicholas, and Serenity; siblings, Dolly Tapia, Polly Ferber and husband Richard, Jim Tapia and wife Annette, and Fran Grindel and husband Billy. Services will be held on Friday, December 30, 2011, 10:00 am at French - Westside, 9300 Golf Course Rd NW. Cremation to follow services. Friends may visit French, Westside, Thursday, December 29, 2011, 5:00 pm until 7:00 pm.

Source: http://krqe.tributes.com/show/Theresa-Ann-Lucero-93015275

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China Petrochemical Corp. Completes Purchase of Daylight Energy

December 25, 2011, 8:58 PM EST

By Benjamin Haas

Dec. 24 (Bloomberg) -- China Petrochemical Corp., the nation?s biggest oil refiner, completed the purchase of Canada?s Daylight Energy Ltd. for about C$2.2 billion ($2.16 billion), the company said in an e-mailed statement yesterday.

Sinopec, as the Chinese company is known, said it paid C$10.08 a share in cash for Calgary-based Daylight.

Cong Peixin, a spokesman for the China Petrochemical unit that carried out the transaction, declined to elaborate on the statement. Daylight confirmed the completed sale in a statement released yesterday.

The purchase gives the Beijing-based company access to more than 300,000 acres of land in areas rich with oil and natural gas, after falling crude prices made valuations attractive.

Sinopec Group, China National Petroleum Corp. and Cnooc Ltd. are seeking to gain technology through partnerships in order to develop China?s shale-gas reserves, estimated to be larger than those in the U.S.

China, the world?s biggest energy consumer, has partnered with Exxon Mobil Corp., Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Chevron Corp. to explore possible shale wells.

Chinese companies have announced $18.3 billion worth of bids this year for overseas oil and gas exploration and production companies, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Cnooc bought Canada?s Opti Canada Inc. in November for $34 million in cash, agreeing to take on $2.4 billion in debt.

Daylight?s proven and probable reserves rose 46 percent to the equivalent of 174 million barrels of oil at the end of 2010, the company said March 1. The company?s production was 35 million barrels in the third quarter, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

--Editors: Charles Siler, Joshua Fellman

To contact the reporters on this story: Helen Yuan in Shanghai at hyuan@bloomberg.net; Benjamin Haas in New York at bhaas7@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Joshua Fellman at jfellman@bloomberg.net

Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5663014202

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Video: Tips for post-Christmas gift returns

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despardes: Microsoft Corp Wins a Ruling against Motorola Mobility Android phones http://t.co/uo9OLuPj

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Microsoft Corp Wins a Ruling against Motorola Mobility Android phones goo.gl/fb/bHyzN Il y a environ 5 heures via Google

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TechTechMan: What. The. F*CK "Company Sues Former Employee for Value of 17,000 Twitter Followers [VIDEO] http://t.co/hWwoeSEk" via @mashable

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What. The. F*CK "Company Sues Former Employee for Value of 17,000 Twitter Followers [VIDEO] on.mash.to/vnVxUT" via @mashable Il y a environ 1 heure via Mobile Web

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How to Take Great Holiday Photos with Your iPhone [Photography]

Holidays are the perfect time to capture magic moments with friends and family and take the time get creative with your photography. Here are some simple tips to get the best photos from your iPhone.

Shoot Outdoor Lights Before It Gets Too Dark

The best time to capture outdoor festive lights with an iPhone is during "blue hour" just before it goes completely dark. Catching the lights while you have enough ambient light will help you avoid getting blurry photos. You can help by using both hands to steady your iPhone while using the stabilizer mode. If you plan on doing a lot of night photography consider investing in a little tripod, the Glif or the Gymbl Pro make great options. Avoid leaning your iPhone on walls or ledges unless you have a protective case, one gust of air or curious cat paw can send your beloved iPhone tumbling onto the hard, unforgiving concrete floor.

Capture the Sentimental Details

It's the small sentimental things that make your holiday special. Take shots of your favourite ornament, candles, table placings, and bows on gifts. To get great macro shots, position your iPhone at least 2? away from your subject and tap the screen to focus. Use a second finger to get the proper exposure. Make sure you don't get too close or the iPhone won't focus! Also, you may want to add a bit of external light. For the above shot, I held a small twinkle light in front of the ornament to get more light on Santa and the reindeer.

Use Your Headphones as a Remote to Snap Shots in Low Light

One of the challenges with taking great holiday shots in low light is camera shake. If you are shooting ornaments in a dimly lit room use a tripod and your headphones as a cable release.

Change Your Perspective by Shooting From a Low Angle

The beauty of shooting with an iPhone is that you can easily move it around and even position it on the floor to get really interesting shots. Changing the angle that you shoot from changes the size of your subject and also plays on the the light and shade and patterns on objects. Get low and make presents look huge as your kids tear open gifts. Play with perspective by shooting from underneath the tree or below a plate of cookies.

Use Focus Settings to Capture Amazing Bokeh Lights

One way to get "wow" holiday shots from your iPhone is to position an object in the foreground of a lit tree or some twinkle lights. The lights in the background will become small out of focus light circles called "bokeh". The trick is to position the object at least 5-10ft away from the lights. Tap to focus on the object and make sure the lights in the background are out of focus, then adjust the exposure by tapping with your second finger. If you aren't getting any bokeh, you need to move the object further away from the background lights.

Compose and Fill the Frame for Great Holiday Portraits

Photographs of your friends and family are the most precious holiday memories. It's easy to forget to compose shots with an iPhone, so turn on the grid mode and fill the frame with your subject by getting close and cropping out any background distractions. Since my friends and family are shy, Squatchi agreed to pose for me amid a fervent present wrapping session.

Focus on One Point of Interest

Holiday photos can often get cluttered with people, colours, and lights that all distract from what you are shooting. You can use the Depth of Field FX in Camera+ to blur out the distractions and bring your subject to the forefront. Tap on your photo in the Lightbox and hit FX. You'll find Depth of Field in the Special FXs.

Use Photo Flash Light to Capture Beautiful Food Photos

In between eating plates of cookies, brightly wrapped chocolates, and delicious buffets of yum, snap some photos of your holiday treats. iPhone food photography can turn ugly pretty quickly if you don't light things properly, so if you are in a dimly lit room or restaurant, instantly add light by using photo flashlight (a continuos light source). Just tap on the flash icon in the shooting screen and choose the photo flashlight icon. Tap on your subject to get focus. Tap again with a second finger to get a second exposure point to get the perfect exposure.

Tell the Story with Captions

Make sure you capture the "story" of your holidays from decorating cookies to putting up decorations to loved ones arriving at holiday gatherings. Tell the story of these moments by adding fun captions. First, add a border and then tap the captions button.

Head Outdoors for Winter Nature Shots

You can capture some of the most spectacular sunsets during winter. Photograph barren frozen landscapes with stark silhouetted trees, or snow covered winter berries. It's hard to get good photos if your hands are cold! Get some touch-screen compatible gloves so you can use your iPhone outside in cold temperatures. When your hards aren't freezing you can spend the time to compose and focus on taking great shots.

Magic memories only happen once. Good thing you always have your iPhone in your pocket!

Lisa Bettany is a photographer and co-creator of the #1 top selling iPhone photo app, Camera+ (our favorite iPhone camera app). In her spare time, Lisa enjoys watching zombie flicks, drinking a good cuppa tea, and capturing the world with her iPhone.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/fBQJ0kY0qQ0/how-to-take-great-holiday-photos-with-your-iphone

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Apple's Newstand Boosts Subscription Sales for Popular Science

This entry needs translation. To help us and submit a translation please click here

Apple's new Newsstand for iOS may be helping magazines boost their subscription sales, according to an AllThingsD report.

The site posts a chart that shows actual sales numbers for Popular Science.

The chart comes to us courtesy of Mag+, Bonnier's tablet-publishing software business. And as Mag+ CEO Staffan Ekholm points out, the really promising indicator for Pop Sci isn't the one-week sales leap of 13 percent - it's that the the magazine's growth picked up after that week, with more velocity.

Popular Science added 3,677 subscriptions the week Newsstand first launched. The week before it added only 389. The average following Newstand's launch is approximately 1394 new subscriptions per week.

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Ford reimagines Santa's sleigh with Evos design, EcoBoost power

Ford helps Santa Claus "go green" ? slashing his carbon footprint ? with concept sleigh design
Retiring reindeer and opting for Ford's sleigh powered by new 1.0-litre EcoBoost engine, would save Santa 191,843 tonnes of CO2 and ?110 million on fuel costs

Lapland, Finland, 23 December 2011 ? Leading car company Ford is offering to make it a greener Christmas with a concept sleigh that would dramatically downsize Santa's carbon footprint.

Santa's new ride, packed with cutting-edge Ford technology, would allow Rudolph and friends to enjoy a well-deserved retirement while Santa makes his annual deliveries with style in an environmentally friendly new sleigh.

"They may look cute, but Santa's team of nine reindeer1 create a staggering 214,670 tons of CO2 equivalent emissions each year, so something had to be done to help him re-discover his greener roots2," said Ford car designer Paul Wraith.

The benefits of switching to the concept sleigh go beyond the environmental. Travelling such huge distances ? some 200,237,360 km ? means Santa currently spends in excess of ?122 million on carrots to fuel his reindeer each year. The impressive fuel efficiency of the 1 litre EcoBoost would reduce Santa's fuel costs by 90% to just ?12 million.

Whilst Santa himself was unavailable for comment, Mrs Claus explained: "I am not looking forward to telling Donner and Blitzen the news, but the polar bears in the North Pole will certainly welcome the Ford EcoBoost-powered sleigh."

Mrs Claus continues: "l would of course back anything that means my husband can get home that bit quicker. Getting presents in a shorter amount of time to all the good children each year may even give him time to reconsider a few names on the naughty list. But I can't promise."

Innovative engineering means the new EcoBoost engine delivers performance to rival a traditional 1.6-litre engine but with significantly improved fuel efficiency and lower CO2 emissions of just 114g/km CO2.

The 1.0-litre EcoBoost cylinder block also fits onto a single sheet of A4 paper, but still delivers up to 125PS and 170Nm peak torque (with 200Nm overboost), giving it the highest power density of any Ford production engine to date.

"Our tongue may be firmly in cheek as we launch this sleigh design, but our heart is in the right place," Wraith said. "At Ford, we're dreaming of a Green Christmas. We're already thinking of the concept sleigh mark II. With electric vehicle battery technology developing all the time, we are keen to get to work on a zero-carbon version of our sleigh."

The redesigned sleigh also incorporates other cutting edge Ford technologies. Highlights include:

Active park assist: Clever technology that first checks if a parking space is big enough, then automatically steers your car/sleigh in. Useful for Santa in making those tight reverse rooftop landings.
Door edge protector: A simple, but ingenious addition to Ford doors, helping thwart dents, dings and scratches even in the tightest parking spot. Vital to help Santa stop scratching the door of his sleigh on all those annoying chimneys.
SYNC: A sophisticated in-car, voice-activated technology system, that can be easily personalised. This will help Santa keep in touch with the elves back at base, stay en route with GPS navigation and enable him to listen to and change, his favourite Christmas music.
EcoMode: In-car software that provides useful advice for drivers on achieving better fuel economy tailored to their individual driving styles. A specially modified version of the software will include an electronic Christmas tree image. The better Santa's green driving performance, the more of the trees branch symbols will light-up.
Active City Stop & Blind Spot Information System: Two driver assistance technologies, the first assists drivers in slow moving traffic by detecting if the car in front unexpectedly stops and braking automatically in response, whilst the second helps detect vehicles in blind spots during normal driving. Both will be useful to Santa, as he tries to avoid planes in our increasingly crowded skies.
MyKey: Enabling car owners to encourage their teenagers (or elves) to drive safer and more fuel efficiently, with increased safety-belt usage, through a range of driver specific configurable features.
1 litre EcoBoost engine: As outlined, helping ensure the engine powering Santa's sleigh is green, lean, mean and compact.

# # #

Editor's note:

1. Santa's nine reindeer are: Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and of course Rudolph.

2. Before the now infamous red snowsuit ? created by Thomas Nast and popularised by Coca Cola ? Santa Claus was more often associated with a green snowsuit.

About Ford Motor Company

Ford Motor Company, a global automotive industry leader based in Dearborn, Mich., manufactures or distributes automobiles across six continents. With about 166,000 employees and about 70 plants worldwide, the company's automotive brands include Ford and Lincoln. The company provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. For more information regarding Ford's products, please visit www.fordmotorcompany.com.

Ford of Europe is responsible for producing, selling and servicing Ford brand vehicles in 51 individual markets and employs approximately 66,000 employees. In addition to Ford Motor Credit Company, Ford of Europe operations include Ford Customer Service Division and 22 manufacturing facilities, including joint ventures. The first Ford cars were shipped to Europe in 1903 ? the same year Ford Motor Company was founded. European production started in 1911.

Calculations & assumptions

Reindeer emissions: The approximate size of Earth is 150,000,000 km2 and Santa will have to visit an estimated 267,300,000 houses. In order to successfully deliver a toy to every child, Santa and his team of reindeers will need to travel 200,237,360 km on Christmas Eve. A single reindeer travels on average 3,000 miles (4,827 km) per year and emits 25 kg of methane (CH4).

Using a conversion factor of 0.005kgs CH4/km, results in an estimate a total 9,335 tonnes CH4 per reindeer team. This figure is equivalent to 214,670 tonnes of CO2. Figures developed by sharing assumptions developed by environmental group Green500.

1 litre EcoBoost emissions: The above compares to total CO2 emissions for the 1 litre EcoBoost (125PS version at 114g/km CO2) of 22,827 tonnes. Opting for the less powerful, but more fuel efficient 99bhp version (109g/km CO2), would save Santa an additional 1,000 tonnes of CO2, but admittedly means his deliveries are likely to take him longer to complete.

Cost of food for reindeer: Average reindeer travel 4,827km a year, divided by 365 (days of year) equals 13.2km travelled per day. Divide 200,237,360km travelled on Christmas Eve by 13.2 equals 15,169,497 days to travel that distance. Multiplied by 12lbs (the average amount of food a reindeer eats a day) = 182,033,964 lbs of food. This multiplied by 0.67 pounds (average ? for lb of carrots) equals ?121,962,756 to fuel the reindeer.

Cost of petrol for EcoBoost emissions: 110PS EcoBoost engine travelling 200,237,360km on Christmas Eve, divided by 100 (km) and then multiply by 5.0 (litres) equals 10,011,868 litres of fuel at ?1.218 per litre, equals ?12,194,455.

If you have any further enquiries or require publication-quality, downloadable photographs on Ford Motor Company products or services, visit our dedicated media website www.media.ford.com or contact our press officers.

Source: http://ca.autoblog.com/2011/12/24/ford-reimagines-santas-sleigh-with-evos-design-ecoboost-power/

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Mentally ill flood ER as states cut services (Reuters)

CHICAGO/NEW YORK (Reuters) ? On a recent shift at a Chicago emergency department, Dr. William Sullivan treated a newly homeless patient who was threatening to kill himself.

"He had been homeless for about two weeks. He hadn't showered or eaten a lot. He asked if we had a meal tray," said Sullivan, a physician at the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago and a past president of the Illinois College of Emergency Physicians.

Sullivan said the man kept repeating that he wanted to kill himself. "It seemed almost as if he was interested in being admitted."

Across the country, doctors like Sullivan are facing a spike in psychiatric emergencies - attempted suicide, severe depression, psychosis - as states slash mental health services and the country's worst economic crisis since the Great Depression takes its toll.

This trend is taxing emergency rooms already overburdened by uninsured patients who wait until ailments become acute before seeking treatment.

"These are people without a previous psychiatric history who are coming in and telling us they've lost their jobs, they've lost sometimes their homes, they can't provide for their families, and they are becoming severely depressed," said Dr. Felicia Smith, director of the acute psychiatric service at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Increased demand in mental health services

http://link.reuters.com/sud75s

State mental health budget cuts

http://link.reuters.com/tud75s

Visits to the hospital's psychiatric emergency department have climbed 20 percent in the past three years.

"We've seen actually more very serious suicide attempts in that population than we had in the past as well," she said.

Compounding the problem are patients with chronic mental illness who have been hurt by a squeeze on mental health services and find themselves with nowhere to go.

On top of that, doctors are seeing some cases where the patient's most critical need is a warm bed.

"The more I see these patients, the more I realize that if it's sleeting and raining outside, the emergency room is the only place they have," said Dr. R. Corey Waller, director of the Spectrum Health Medical Group Center for Integrative Medicine in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Government agencies such as the National Institutes of Mental Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration could not provide fresh data on use of psychiatric services in recent years.

But doctors from more than a dozen hospitals nationwide, mental health advocacy groups and state-funded agencies told Reuters they are all seeing a marked increase in psychiatric emergencies.

A WORSENING PROBLEM

The National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors (NASMHPD), an organization of state mental health directors, estimates that in the last three years states have cut $3.4 billion in mental health services, while an additional 400,000 people sought help at public mental health facilities.

In that same time frame, demand for community-based services climbed 56 percent, and demand for emergency room, state hospital and emergency psychiatric care climbed 18 percent, the organization said.

"This wasn't one round of cuts," says Ted Lutterman, director of research analysis at NASMHPD Research Institute. "It was three or four for many states, and multiple cuts during the year."

If the economy doesn't improve, next year could be worse because many community mental health agencies are cutting programs and using up reserve funds, says Linda Rosenberg, president of the National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare.

"It's been horrible," she said. "Those that need it the most - the unemployed, those with tremendous family stress - have no insurance."

In the emergency room, this increased demand has meant doctors and social workers are spending hours and sometimes days trying to arrange care for psychiatric patients languishing in the emergency department, taking up beds that could be used for traditional types of trauma.

More than 70 percent of emergency department administrators said they have kept patients waiting in the emergency department for 24 hours, according to a 2010 survey of 600 hospital emergency department administrators by the Schumacher Group, which manages emergency departments across the country.

Ten percent said they had "boarded" patients for a week or more.

And many hospitals are not prepared for the increased caseload of psychiatric patients, says Randall Hagar, director of government affairs for the California Psychiatric Association.

California cut $587 million in state-funded mental health services in the past two years, the most of any state, according to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, a patient advocacy group.

"They don't have secure holding rooms. They don't have quiet spaces. They don't have a lot of things you need to help calm down a person in an acute psychiatric crisis," Hagar said.

"Often you have a patient strapped to a gurney in a hallway outside of the emergency department where social workers are desperately trying to find an inpatient bed," he said.

FROM CITIES TO SMALL TOWNS

In North Carolina, the state has cut its inpatient psychiatric capacity by half since 2005, says Dr. Bret Nicks, an emergency physician at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem and a spokesman for the American College of Emergency Physicians.

Nicks points to a report from the Institute of Medicine released in 2006 that found U.S. emergency departments were already overtaxed and overcrowded.

"Now you are adding in patients who are unsafe to leave but yet have nowhere to go," he said. "I consider patients with acute psychiatric needs as really the forgotten patient population in the U.S. right now."

Dr. Stephen Anderson is an emergency department doctor at Auburn Regional Medical Center, a mid-size suburban hospital outside of Seattle.

"When the economy is hurt they are some of the first to drop off the healthcare rolls," he said of local residents in the largely blue-collar community.

Anderson, who heads the Washington Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians, said the state has lost a third of its inpatient psychiatric beds in the past decade.

Lately he is seeing a marked escalation in patients with psychiatric problems turning up in the emergency department. In early December, a third of its beds were occupied with people in a psychiatric crisis who were not safe to return to the community.

The problem extends out to small towns.

Sullivan splits his time between the big emergency department at the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago and St. Margaret's Hospital, a tiny facility in Spring Valley, Illinois, about 100 miles southwest of the city.

On a recent shift, a young woman with schizophrenia arrived at the hospital. She had just lost her job and apartment and was living with relatives. She could not afford the medications that were keeping her illness in check.

The woman asked Sullivan to switch her prescriptions to drugs that could be found on the $4 discount list at Wal-Mart and other discount stores.

"I didn't feel comfortable doing that," Sullivan said, noting that emergency physicians are being asked to deliver specialized care that should be handled by a psychiatrist.

He found a healthcare facility about 25 miles away with a psychiatrist who could help, but even that presented a problem for the woman, who had no way of getting to the appointment.

"It's almost akin to having a cardiac patient come in and say, 'I need someone to adjust my defibrillator.' In the emergency department, we can do a lot, but there are some things we have to leave with the specialists," he said.

(Editing by Michele Gershberg and Eric Beech)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/diseases/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111224/hl_nm/us_usa_health_psychiatric

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Thu, Dec 22, 2011

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Video: College student owns $88 million mansion

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Automotive Survival Guide NMA | Get your own automotive style

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Quora Expands Beyond Q&A, Launches ?Boards? ? A Way To Personally Curate Information

Quora is taking a step beyond Q&A this morning with its latest product launch, boards. Users can now set up their own personal-themed bookmarking boards, sort of like a Pinterest for text-based information. Writes Quora CEO ?Adam D'Angelo in a blog post, "As Quora has grown, we've learned that people want to read the most interesting content regardless of whether it happens to be in question and answer format or not." D'Angelo tells me that this shift fits in better with Quora's new goal, "to connect you with everything you want to know about." Its old goal was described as "a continuously improving collection of questions and answers."

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/k-gRWf_TuMk/

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Senate OKs payroll tax cut; House GOP irked

WASHINGTON?? The Senate voted Saturday to temporarily avert a Jan. 1 payroll tax increase and benefit cutoff for the long-time unemployed, forcing a reluctant President Barack Obama to make an election-year choice between unions and environmentalists over whether to build an oil pipeline through the heart of the country.

The action set up a House vote Monday on the legislation, and some Republicans there were balking.

With the still-reeling economy serving as a backdrop, the Senate's 89-10 vote belied a tortuous battle between Democrats and Republicans that produced the compromise two-month extension of the expiring tax breaks and jobless benefits and forestalled cuts in doctors' Medicare reimbursements.

It also capped a year of divided government marked by raucous partisan fights that tumbled to the brink of a first-ever U.S. default and three federal shutdowns, only to see eleventh-hour deals emerge. It also put the two sides on track to revisit the payroll tax cut early next year as the fights for control of the White House and Congress heat up.

However, House GOP leaders held a conference call Saturday with rank-and-file lawmakers in which participants said strong anger was expressed about the Senate bill, including its lack of House-approved cuts in last year's health care overhaul law and its failure to erase the reductions in doctors' payments for more than two months.

"You can't have an economic recovery with this," said Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., said of the bill "If the Senate is incapable of doing that, we don't have to accept it."

A House GOP aide said afterward, "Members are overwhelmingly disappointed in the Senate's decision to just 'kick the can down the road' for two months. No announcement was made regarding the schedule or plans."

By 67-32, senators gave final congressional approval to a separate $1 trillion bill financing the Pentagon and scores of other federal agencies through next September. That measure avoided a shuttering of government offices that otherwise would have occurred this weekend when temporary financing expired.

The tax legislation delivers tax cuts and jobless benefits that some Republicans opposed. It also represents a rebuff of Obama's original demands for a yearlong payroll tax reduction for 160 million workers that was to be even deeper than this year's cut, extended to employers and paid for by boosting taxes on the highest-earning Americans.

The measure's $33 billion price tag will be paid for instead by raising fees that government-backed Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will charge to back new mortgages or refinancings, beginning next year. When fully phased in, those increases could cost a person with a $200,000 mortgage about $17 a month.

Video: Battle lines drawn with tax extension (on this page)

1. Other political news of note

   1. Romney snags key newspaper endorsement in Iowa

      Updated 106 minutes ago 12/18/2011 1:38:55 AM +00:00 Despite not spending much time or resources in the first-in-the-nation caucus state, Mitt Romney wins the endorsement of Iowa?s largest newspaper.

   2. Bachmann in Iowa: 'I don't hate Muslims'
   3. GOP candidates for Congress bullish on Gingrich
   4. Senate negotiators reach deal on payroll tax
   5. NYT: Health care law will let states tailor benefits

Despite the changes, Obama praised the Senate for passing the bill and prodded the Republican-run House to give it final approval in a vote, which has been expected early next week. He exhorted lawmakers to extend the tax cuts and jobless aid for the entire year, saying it would be "inexcusable" not to.

"It should be a formality, and hopefully it's done with as little drama as possible when they get back in January" from their holiday recess, he said.

The Senate adjourned for the year after its votes Saturday.

While Obama and Democrats used the fight to portray themselves as defenders of beleaguered middle- and lower-income people, Republicans used it to cast themselves as champions of job creation.

Headlining that was a provision they inserted forcing Obama to make a decision within two months on whether to allow construction of the proposed 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline, which is to deliver up to 700,000 barrels of oil daily from tar sands in Alberta, Canada, to refineries in Texas. The language requires him to issue the needed permit unless he declares the pipeline would not serve the national interest.

Unions have clamored for the thousands of jobs the project could create. Environmentalists have decried the huge amounts of energy it would take to extract the oil. Obama originally announced he was delaying a decision until 2013, which would have allowed him to avoid choosing between two Democratic constituencies before Election Day next November.

When the House inserted the language into its version of the payroll tax bill this month, Obama said he would "reject" the legislation if it retained the Keystone provision. He abandoned that stance this past week as GOP leaders said they would insist on keeping the Keystone language and the final deal jelled.

Video: Obama: Payroll tax cut is 'lifeline' for millions of people (on this page)

"The only thing standing between thousands of American workers and the good jobs this project will provide is a presidential decision," said Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.

An administration official said Friday that Obama would almost surely refuse to grant the permit, a stance echoed Saturday by congressional Democrats.

"We feel we're giving them the sleeves off a vest," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y.

Democrats said when Congress revisits the issue of renewing the tax cuts and jobless benefits early next year, they would win the political battle because they would be viewed as protecting peoples' household budgets.

Republicans, though, said they would once again focus the fight on jobs, with some predicting they would try adding provisions to repeal pollution curbs and other government regulations that they say make it harder for companies to hire people.

"There are lots of issues Republicans are interested in as job creators that will still be alive in March," said Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.

The tax bill would renew this year's 4.2 percent payroll tax through February, preventing the rate from bouncing back to its normal 6.2 percent on New Year's Day. Obama pushed that cut through Congress a year ago as a way to help spark the economy by leaving more money in people's pockets.

A $50,000-a-year wage earner would save about $170 during next year's first two months under the bill the Senate approved Saturday.

Obama had proposed reducing the payroll tax employees pay to 3.1 percent next year. The levy is the chief source of revenue for Social Security.

For two more months, the tax measure would also continue current jobless benefits that provide a maximum 99 weeks of coverage for people who have been out of work the longest. Without any extension, the White House said, 2.5 million people would have lost coverage by the end of February.

The bill also prevents a 27 percent cut in Medicare reimbursements for doctors that might have induced some to stop treating the program's elderly beneficiaries.

The spending legislation carries out budget cuts across government that Republicans won earlier this year and includes GOP provisions blocking energy efficiency and coal dust requirements. Democrats fought off Republican language that would have blocked limits on greenhouse gases and hazardous emissions from utility plants and other sources.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45707185/ns/politics/

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