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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/tUpH-cUNJNY/story01.htm
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Saturday, December 31, 2011
Poll: Are you going to pay Verizon?s new $2 convenience tax?
If you listened to Girls Gone Gadgets last night, you heard Ashley, Kim, and me debate Verizon’s new $2 convenience tax — where and when it’s actually applied and...
Letter airs harassment claims against HP's ex-CEO (AP)
SAN FRANCISCO ? Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Mark Hurd's efforts to impress an HP event hostess included showing her his checking-account balance holding over $1 million, according to a letter detailing the sexual harassment allegations that led to his ouster.
The letter was obtained late Thursday by The Associated Press after the Delaware Supreme Court ruled that Hurd's lawyers, who had attempted to keep it confidential, didn't show that disclosing it would violate California privacy rights. The ruling said information that is only "mildly embarrassing" is not protected from public disclosure.
The letter, it added, does not contain trade secrets about the Palo Alto-based technology company or non-public financial information. Some sentences concerning Hurd's family were ordered redacted.
Celebrity attorney Gloria Allred sent the letter last year on behalf of Jodie Fisher, who was hired as a contract employee to help with HP networking events and who later accused Hurd of sexual harassment.
Although an HP investigation did not find any evidence to support the harassment claim, it uncovered inaccurate expense reports for his outings with Fisher. Hurd was ultimately forced out in August 2010. He now works as co-president at rival Oracle Corp.
Allred alleged in the letter that, while Fisher was ostensibly hired an HP event hostess in late 2007, she was really brought on to accompany Hurd to HP events held out of town. Throughout 2008 and 2009, Hurd made it clear he expected to have a sexual relationship with Fisher, using his "status and authority as CEO of HP," Allred alleged.
Allred claimed that Hurd made several sexual advances toward Fisher, which Fisher rejected. In 2008, while walking with Fisher in Madrid, Hurd stopped at an ATM and showed her his checking-account balance "to impress her," according to the letter.
After Fisher rejected him a final time in October 2009, she was not hired for any future HP events, Allred alleged.
Aldred also alleged that in March 2008, Hurd told Fisher that HP was likely to purchase technology services vendor EDS. HP announced the $13 billion acquisition in May of that year.
HP shareholder Ernesto Espinoza had sued to have the letter unsealed. Hurd's attorney, Amy Wintersheimer, said his lawyers had requested that the letter be kept confidential because "it is filled with inaccuracies."
"The truth is, there never was any sexual harassment, which HP's investigation confirmed, and there never was any sexual relationship, which Ms. Fisher has confirmed," Wintersheimer said in a statement.
Both Allred and Hewlett-Packard Co. had no comment on the letter's contents.
___
Ortutay reported from New York.
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Friday, December 30, 2011
No trial delay for accused Ponzi schemer Stanford (Reuters)
(Reuters) ? Allen Stanford, accused of running a $7.2 billion Ponzi scheme, on Wednesday lost his bid for a three-month delay in his criminal fraud trial, clearing the way for jury selection to begin on January 23.
District Judge David Hittner said the public interest in a speedy trial was "particularly acute," citing the allegations that Stanford deceived thousands of investors into buying certificates of deposit from his Antiguan bank, resulting in billions of dollars of losses.
The Houston-based judge also noted that Stanford has been in pre-trial detention for 2-1/2 years since his arrest.
"This case needs to be tried," Hittner wrote.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York)
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Google?s design mess: Android?s Ice Cream Sandwich adds to the problem
That lock screen looks promising, doesn?t it. That?s how Google?s newest version of Android looks. It is a major release of Android, and one of its major features was to supposedly make its design ?lovable?. As Android?s design chief Matias Duarte himself said: people sort of respected Android, but no one loved it. Its latest release, called Ice Cream Sandwich (ICE) was supposed to change that.
There is a an interesting discussion going on in the mobile world these days. It is a discussion of design and style. Apple?s iOS changed the industry with the highly attractive and friendly iPhone user interface. Now that other operating systems are catching up with iOS, the word ?design? is becoming central to the discussion.
Apple?s competitors are trying to describe iOS?s design as gimmicky and ?fake?. You now: Apple uses leather, paper and wood textures here and there. It incorporates highly stylized icons. You even see a torn note paper on the iPad?s note taking app.
Then you have Microsoft and its relatively new Windows Phone. Even if you are a Microsoft hater you have to admit that they did an amazing job with Windows Phone 7. What they are adopting is what they call an ?authentic digital? design style. No realistic looking icons. No leather. No torn paper. Just pure, modern typography and lots of empty space. It really appeals to the modern designer in me.
But Android?s design people claim they don?t want to be neither this nor that. They make fun of Apple?s cute icons and they claim that WIndow?s approach is too starkly modern.
Matias Durate went as far as saying ?I give you the web? when he revealed Android?s ICE to the editor of a major tech blog. What he meant by that is: I give you the diversity of the web. It?s all about the diversity of content.
Interesting. Ha?
Google even designed a special modern font for ICE: called Roboto.
I was eagerly awaiting ICE?s update on my Nexus S precisely because I wanted to really experience that new, improved Android design philosophy.
But I have to say I was pretty disappointed.
The first signs of trouble appeared when I watched a promotional video about ICE. That video clearly shows that someone at Google/Android is totally in love with Tron! (droid on light bikes!). And lo and behold, ICE?s interface is full of Tron-ish references, complete with that electric blue/wireframe/glassy appearance.
To me, attacking iOS as gimmicky because of all the wood and leather, then adopting Sci-Fi gimmicks in your own phone interface seems a bit ridiculous.
To be fair, I feel that ICE is somewhat better designed. There is also a novelly factor in all this Tron-like stuff and it is obvious that some sort of design revolution has gone on in AndroindLand. My goodness, they even changed the key color from green to blue. Icons where changed. A lot was thrown out and new stuff was brought in.
But a revolution doesn?t always mean an improvement.
I think the icon situation in ICE is a total design mess. Android really looks a lot like Windows (for desktop computers). Too colorful. Too many shapes. Too many styles. Including a number of icons that adopt an illustrative 3D style (like the new Camera icon, see below).
One of the most annoying looking icons is the new ?People? icon, with its simplistic round face. It makes an appearance all over ICE?s interface.
Even the shortcut bar at the bottom of the screen (which by default contains the phone, people, messaging and browser icons, as well as the apps icon in the middle) is a mess. I can count three design approaches there if I want to be kind.
This reveals a deeper issue at Google. Google has always been the no-design company. It?s interface where designed by techies/engineers. I even heard that they did not employ designers unless they knew how to write code!
Now, as the company operates in a web and a mobile world where design and branding plays an ever increasing role, Google is trying to catch up.
Their recent Google iPad app looks very promising, design-wise. The Google icons used in that app show off the new ?matt? and subtly stylized icon design approach first used on the Chrome icon. There is a nice consistency across different icons.
But at the same time, I can now count 3 different icon design for Gmail alone across different Google properties.
Same goes for their News icon. And so on.
I?ve been living with ICE for a week now. I don?t think Android has become much easier to use. Yes, there is more attention to visual design, but I am not a big fan of the Tron look. And I just feel the whole thing is still inconsistent visually and even functionally. I feel that every time I go back to my iPad. And I felt it when I was carrying a Nokia N9 which runs Nokia?s (now-pretty-much-doomed) MeeGo. Now here is an OS that could tech both Apple and Google some design and user interface lessons.
I leave you with some screen shots and comments..
ICE?s dial pad. Looks quite neat. But the novelty wears off fast.
Android doesn?t have a specific icon shape. So you end up have all kind of shapes, styles and colors. To me, it looks messy.
See the glassy 3D Tron effect when you try to ?pull? at the last home screen. You get a tilting animation, which looks kind of cool, but ultimately is very useless.
In the setting screen we suddenly get this 2D look and angular buttons
Just look at those Music and Camera icons. Then compare to the slightly stylized People icon with the simplistic face and then the other face on the almost flat Messaging icon.
Doesn?t this icon mix look like something straight out of the 1990?s?
This is the Gmail icon in Android..
And the Gmail ice on the Google iPad app.
??
Why can?t Android look like this? The icons on the Google iPad app.
Even more icons on Google?s web offering.
And yet another design language on Google+
And now look at the elegance of MeeGo Harmattan!
And for reference.. Windows Phone 7?s ?digital modernity?..
And Apple?s iOS.. You can call it to cute. But it works damn well and people seem to love it.
If you read this far you are a true design geek. Congratulations!
??
Source: http://qwaider.com/140336.aspx
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Thursday, December 29, 2011
Did Cheetah from 1930s Tarzan flicks die? (AP)
PALM HARBOR, Fla. ? A Florida animal sanctuary says Cheetah, the chimpanzee sidekick in the Tarzan movies of the early 1930s, has died at 80. But other accounts call that claim into question.
Debbie Cobb, outreach director at the Suncoast Primate Sanctuary in Palm Harbor, said Wednesday that her grandparents acquired Cheetah around 1960 from "Tarzan" star Johnny Weissmuller and that the chimp appeared in Tarzan films between 1932 and 1934. During that period, Weissmuller made "Tarzan the Ape Man" and "Tarzan and His Mate."
But Cobb offered no documentation, saying it was destroyed in a 1995 fire.
Also, some Hollywood accounts indicate a chimpanzee by the name of Jiggs or Mr. Jiggs played Cheetah alongside Weissmuller early on and died in 1938.
In addition, an 80-year-old chimpanzee would be extraordinarily old, perhaps the oldest ever known. According to many experts and Save the Chimps, another Florida sanctuary, chimpanzees in captivity generally live to between 40 and 60, though Lion Country Safari in Loxahatchee, Fla., says it has one that is around 73.
A similar claim about another chimpanzee that supposedly played second banana to Weissmuller was debunked in 2008 in a Washington Post story.
Writer R.D. Rosen discovered that the primate, which lived in Palm Springs, Calif., was born around 1960, meaning it wasn't oldest enough to have been in the Tarzan movies of Hollywood's Golden Age that starred Olympic swimming star Weissmuller as the vine-swinging, loincloth-wearing Ape Man and Maureen O'Sullivan as Jane.
While a number of chimpanzees played the sidekick role in the Tarzan movies of the 1930s and `40s, Rosen said in an email Wednesday that this latest purported Cheetah looks like a "business-boosting impostor as well."
"I'm afraid any chimp who actually shared a soundstage with Weissmuller and O'Sullivan is long gone," Rosen said.
Cobb said Cheetah died Dec. 24 of kidney failure and was cremated.
"Unfortunately, there was a fire in `95 in which a lot of that documentation burned up," Cobb said. "I'm 51 and I've known him for 51 years. My first remembrance of him coming here was when I was actually 5, and I've known him since then, and he was a full-grown chimp then."
Film historian and Turner Classic Movies host Robert Osbourne said the Cheetah character "was one of the things people loved about the Tarzan movies because he made people laugh. He was always a regular fun part of the movies."
In his time, the Cheetah character was as popular as Rin Tin Tin or Asta, the dog from the "Thin Man" movies, Osbourne said.
"He was a major star," he said.
At the animal sanctuary, Cheetah was outgoing, loved finger painting and liked to see people laugh, Cobb said. But he could also be ill-tempered. Cobb said that when the chimp didn't like what was going on, he would fling feces and other objects.
___
Associated Press writers Ben Nuckols in Washington and Jennifer Kay in Miami contributed to this report.
___
Follow Tamara Lush on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tamaralush
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Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Video: Sister ?surprised? TV producer won?t fight extradition
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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/45795302#45795302
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Sunday, December 18, 2011
Egypt's military clashes with protesters in Cairo (AP)
CAIRO ? Egyptian soldiers clashed with hundreds of rock-throwing protesters in central Cairo for a second consecutive day on Saturday, hurling stones from rooftops and firing water from hoses in a crackdown that has left at least eight people dead.
The violence has brought to the fore the simmering tensions between security officers and activists demanding an end to military rule, and threatened to spark a new cycle of fighting after deadly clashes between youth revolutionaries and security forces in November that lasted for days and left more than 40 dead.
Early Saturday, hundreds of protesters hurled stones at security forces who have sealed off the streets around the country's parliament building with barbed wire and large concrete blocks. Soldiers on rooftops pelted the crowds below with stones, prompting many of the protesters to pick up helmets, satellite dishes or sheets of metal to try to protect themselves.
Stones, dirt and shattered glass covered the streets between the two sides, while flames came out of the windows of a two-story building set ablaze near parliament, sending thick plumes of black smoke into the sky.
Witnesses said soldiers wielding wooden sticks and dressed in riot gear chased protesters through the streets, forcing them to retreat to nearby Tahrir Square, which served as the epicenter of the uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak in February.
Later, soldiers stormed into Tahrir to disperse the protesters, and set fire to their tents. A huge cloud of black smoke hung over downtown Cairo as the tents burned.
There were reports of live gunfire from the rooftops, and the MENA state news agency said at least eight people have been killed and around 300 people injured in the two days of clashes.
Egypt's prime minister acknowledged that people had died from gunshot wounds, but denied the military and the police fired at protesters instead said "a group came from the back and fired at protesters" and said that his government is for "the salvation of the revolution."
The violence first began late Thursday after soldiers stormed an antimilitary protest camp outside the Cabinet building near Tahrir Square, expelling demonstrators demanding an end to military rule and an immediate transfer of power to a civilian authority. Witnesses said troops snatched a protester, taking him into the parliament building and beating him.
The soldiers later moved in, burning protesters' tents. Video footage and pictures showed military police in uniform dragging female protesters from hair, beating men and occupying rooftops of the Cabinet building.
The military took over after longtime President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in a popular revolt in February. Rights groups and activists charge that the military is carrying on the practices of the old regime, including arresting and beating dissidents.
Funerals were expected Saturday for those killed a day earlier. Among the dead was Sheik Emad Effat, a cleric from Al-Azhar, Egypt's most eminent religious institution. Effat had taken a pro-revolutionary position, criticizing the military and issuing a religious decree forbidding voting for former members of the regime in elections. He was shot in the chest after joining the protesters outside the Cabinet.
Many Egyptians have grown increasingly wary of the military and frustrated with its handling of the country's transition period, and activists accuse the ruling generals of trying to hang on to power.
El-Ganzouri, a Mubarak-era politician who was named prime minister few days after violent protests broke out last month, blamed demonstrators for fueling the latest clashes by demolishing a wall of the Cabinet building, setting fire to the building and smashing surveillance cameras.
He said that the military forces guarding the building from inside have not been taken part in the clashes. He added that protesters are not "the pure revolutionaries" he knew, saying "a 12-year old boy can't be a revolutionary."
"I feel very sad and in so much pain," he told reporters in a press conference aired on Egyptian state TV. "I stress here that the armed forces didn't engage with protesters and didn't leave the building."
Mustafa Ali, a protester who was wounded by pellet shot in clashes last month, on Saturday accused the ruling generals of instigating the violence to "find a justification to remain in power and divide up people into factions."
In a statement read on state TV Friday night, the ruling military said its forces did not intend to break up the protest and said officers showed self-restraint, denying the used any gunfire. It said the clashes began when a military officer was attacked while on duty and protesters tried to break into the parliament compound.
The young activists who led the protests against Mubarak have not translated that success into results at the polls, where Islamist parties won a clear majority of seats in the first round of voting last month over the more liberal parties that emerged from the uprising. Results from this week's second round are expected in the coming days, with the rest of the country set to vote next month.
Images of troops protecting polling centers and soldiers carrying the elderly to the polls have served to boost the military's image as guardians of the country. The military remains the ultimate authority on all matters of state in absence of a president.
The second round of voting took place Wednesday and Thursday in nine of the country's 27 provinces. It covered vast rural areas where the religious stand of Islamist parties has strong support.
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BP settles with maker of failed blowout preventer (AP)
NEW ORLEANS ? Cameron International, the maker of the Deepwater Horizon blowout preventer that failed to stop last year's massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, has agreed to pay $250 million to BP under a legal settlement, BP said Friday.
BP said it was "in their mutual best interests, and the agreement is not an admission of liability by either party." The companies are dropping all claims against one another, they said.
The settlement comes in advance of a federal trial over the catastrophic Gulf oil spill. The non-jury trial is slated to begin in February and determine fault in the April 20, 2010, explosion and subsequent oil spill off the Louisiana coast of more than 200 million gallons of oil.
The settlement with Cameron does not end the legal fighting over the blowout of the Macondo well, which was owned by London-based BP and two partners, MOEX and Anadarko. BP has already settled claims with those two companies and a third company, Weatherford, the maker of a part used in the well.
"Today's settlement allows BP and Cameron to put our legal issues behind us and move forward to improve safety in the drilling industry," said Bob Dudley, BP group chief executive.
"Unfortunately, other companies persist in refusing to accept responsibility for their roles in the accident and for contributing to restoration efforts," Dudley said in a swipe at Halliburton Corp. and Transocean Ltd. Halliburton supplied critical cement to seal the well and Transocean was the company drilling the well.
Probes of the Deepwater Horizon explosion by the federal government and independent scientists and engineers have found all three companies were at fault for a series of decisions and actions that led to the Macondo well blowout, the nation's largest offshore oil spill.
BP is engaged in an intense legal fight with Halliburton Corp. and Transocean. Earlier this month, BP went so far as to accuse Halliburton employees of covering up damaging evidence about a cement mixture Halliburton used in drilling the well.
BP said it would use the $250 million from Cameron to pay for the cost of cleaning up from the spill and paying individual damages claims by people, businesses and government entities hurt by the spill. BP said it has spent about $7.5 billion so far of those claims. But the British company faces billions of dollars in additional damages and fines.
Under the agreement, BP said Houston-based Cameron is no longer responsible for any additional cleanup costs related to the spill. But BP said the agreement does not cover civil, criminal and administrative fines and other penalties that might arise out of the court proceedings.
Jack Moore, the chairman and CEO Cameron, said the agreement with BP "removes uncertainty facing Cameron" as litigation intensifies over the Deepwater Horizon explosion.
"This eliminates all significant exposure to historical and future claims related to this incident," Moore said.
Moore said Cameron does not expect to have to pay much for possible court fines and penalties. "We do not consider these items to represent a significant risk to Cameron," he said.
Cameron said its insurers were expected to fund at least $170 million of the $250 million payment the company agreed to make to BP.
BP and Cameron also pledged to "improve safety in the drilling industry" and do more to improve blowout preventers.
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Saturday, December 17, 2011
Perry links himself to military, cites record
Republican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, center, walks with Pat Christensen, left, as he made a campaign stop at Bayliss Park Hall, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011, in Council Bluffs, Iowa. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Republican presidential candidate, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, center, walks with Pat Christensen, left, as he made a campaign stop at Bayliss Park Hall, Wednesday, Dec. 14, 2011, in Council Bluffs, Iowa. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa (AP) ? Every now and then, Rick Perry seems to stop campaigning for president. That's when he talks about the men and women who have served in uniform ? including himself.
"We've got a lot of heroes: young men and women that we've watched from afar, sometimes up close and personal," the Texas governor said slowly during an otherwise fiery campaign speech to launch a thousand-mile bus tour here Wednesday. "Sometimes, it was your friends and family."
Perry's campaign is looking for a second wind with mere weeks to go until Iowa starts the Republican nominating process with its Jan. 3 caucuses. He is lagging in the polls and is working hard to recapture the fervor of his August entry into the race.
A refocused campaign speech plays up the uniform. Heading into Thursday's debate in Sioux City, look for Perry to highlight his four years flying C-130s in the Air Force.
On Wednesday, Perry reminded Iowans of his military record.
"Growing up in Paint Creek, Texas, I learned some values ? just like those of you that grew up in small towns in Iowa ? hard work, faith, family were really important," he said. "Serving your community, serving your state, serving your country. I'll never be able to give back to this country what it has given to me. Part of my attempt to do that was serving in the United States Air Force."
The crowd interrupted with applause.
"My purpose in life has never been to be the president of the United States," Perry said. "My purpose in life has been to serve my country."
From the beginning, Perry hoped military issues would help him. During a September speech at Liberty University, the nation's largest evangelical school, he encouraged students to honor fallen military members by living a moral life.
"A great many of those who perished were approximately your age. Young men and women whose entire future was in front of them. They sacrificed their dreams to preserve yours," Perry said. "Because of what they gave, I simply ask you to make the most of the freedom that they sacrificed."
During the first days of his campaign, he all but cried when talking about a Navy SEAL killed in Afghanistan "so a guy like me can stand up on a soapbox at the Iowa State Fair and talk freely about freedom and liberty and America and that we are an exceptional country and we're going to stay an exceptional country."
Perry's campaign is looking to tap into the pool of veterans ? reliable, older voters who helped Sen. John McCain win the nomination in 2008 ? and families of military members.
Rep. Ron Paul of Texas is the only other military veteran seeking the presidential nomination. Paul was a flight surgeon in the Air Force and Air Force National Guard in the 1960s; Perry served in the 1970s.
If the GOP nominates anyone but Perry or Paul, it will be the first presidential campaign in 68 years to feature two candidates with no military record. President Barack Obama did not serve in uniform ? a fact Perry once sought to exploit.
"The president had the opportunity to serve his country I'm sure, at some time, and he made the decision that that wasn't what he wanted to do," Perry told a Cedar Rapids crowd back in August.
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Goldman resumes coverage on U.S. Internet sector (Reuters)
(Reuters) ? Goldman Sachs resumed coverage on the U.S. Internet sector, saying it presented an attractive investment idea as revenue growth at some Web-based companies would likely outpace consensus expectations.
The brokerage expects the rapid adoption of online retail and the shift of advertising dollars to the online market, will drive growth in the sector.
"Investment spending for many companies will exceed consensus, though we believe above-forecast revenue growth will more than offset those costs," the brokerage said in a note.
"We expect to see margins flat, as companies invest in development and acquisitions to stay ahead of the changing competitive landscape."
The brokerage said online commerce and auction site eBay Inc, which is on its "conviction buy" list, was among the companies that offered the best risk/reward proposition.
Online travel agency Priceline.com Inc, daily-deal company Groupon Inc, and Ancestry.com Inc, which operates a website that allows people to trace their family roots by scouring online records, were also among Goldman's Internet picks.
(Reporting by Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore; Editing by Esha Dey)
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Friday, December 16, 2011
FOR KIDS: One big animal family
A new study takes a close look at you and your dog?s ancient relative
Web edition : Wednesday, December 14th, 2011
In your family, it?s easy to figure out whom you?re related to. Siblings share parents, cousins share grandparents and great-grandparents and so on. Go back far enough in time and you?ll discover that you share ancestors with every person on Earth. Continue back even further, and you?ll find an even broader connection: All animals trace to a common ancestor, which means that you, your dog and your fish are related.
In a?new study, scientists report genetic clues indicating that the most recent common ancestor of all animals came along about 800 million years ago.
Visit the new?Science News for Kids?
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Source: http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/336840/title/FOR_KIDS_One_big_animal_family
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Ousted shah's son wants Iran leader tried in court (AP)
PARIS ? The exiled son of the toppled shah of Iran said Thursday he plans to ask the United Nations to bring Iran's supreme leader before the International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity.
Reza Pahlavi is among exiles working for regime change in Iran. He said at a Paris news conference that Ayatollah Ali Khamenei must be held responsible for the executions, jailing and torture of political dissidents.
Pahlavi said he will submit a complaint about Khamenei to the five permanent U.N. Security Council members along with a report of the cleric's alleged crimes that will be constantly updated.
Pahlavi's father, the late Mohammed Reza Pahlavi, was ousted in the 1979 Islamic Revolution that installed a clerical hierarchy. The ultimate leader of the government running the country now is Khamenei.
Iran has not ratified the Rome statute that established the International Criminal Court, the world's permanent war crimes tribunal, known as the ICC. It is therefore not subject to the court's jurisdiction ? unless the Security Council decides to step in and refer Iran to the court as it did in the case of Libya.
ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo, asked about Pahlavi's announcement, said "citizens around the world are learning to request the court's intervention."
"In this sense, I think it's great to show people who are looking for justice. Now they know how to do it. We are providing a new institution to the world, to make the world better," Ocampo told a news conference in New York.
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Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Rotating night shift work linked to increased risk of Type 2 diabetes in women, study finds
ScienceDaily (Dec. 7, 2011) ? Women who work a rotating (irregular) schedule that includes three or more night shifts per month, in addition to day and evening working hours in that month, may have an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes when compared with women who only worked days or evenings, according to a new study led by researchers at Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). In addition, the researchers found that extended years of rotating night shift work was associated with weight gain, which may contribute to the increased risk of type 2 diabetes.
Previous studies have focused on the association between shift work and risk of cancer and cardiovascular disease. The HSPH study is the largest study so far to look at the link between shift work and type 2 diabetes and the first large study to follow women. The findings were published online Dec. 6, 2011 in the open access journal PLoS Medicine.
"Long-term rotating night shift work is an important risk factor for the development of type 2 diabetes and this risk increases with the numbers of years working rotating shifts," said An Pan, research fellow in HSPH's Department of Nutrition and the study's lead author.
The researchers, led by Pan and senior author Frank Hu, professor of nutrition and epidemiology, analyzed data on more than 69,269 U.S. women, ages 42 to 67, in the Nurses' Health Study I, tracked from 1988 to 2008, and 107,915 women, ages 25 to 42, in the Nurses' Health Study II, tracked from 1989 to 2007. About 60% of the nurses performed more than one year of rotating night shift work at baseline; about 11% in Nurses' Health Study I had more than 10 years of rotating night shift work at baseline, and about 4% in Nurses' Health Study II worked more than 10 years of rotating night shifts at baseline, and this proportion increased during the follow-up.
The researchers found that the longer women worked rotating night shifts, the greater their risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Those women who worked rotating night shifts for three to nine years faced a 20% increased risk; women who worked nights for 10 to 19 years had a 40% rise in risk; and women who worked night shifts for over 20 years were 58% more at risk. In addition, women who worked rotating night shifts gained more weight and were more likely to become obese during the follow-up.
After taking into account body weight in the analyses, the increased risk of type 2 diabetes for women who worked rotating night shifts was reduced but remained statistically significant. For example, women who worked rotating night shifts for more than 20 years had 24% increased risk. These findings indicate that the relationship between night shift work and type 2 diabetes is partly explained by increased weight.
While the findings need to be confirmed in men and in some ethnic groups (96% of the participants were white Caucasians) and further studies are needed to identify underlying mechanisms for the association, the results are of potential public health significance due to the large number of workers who work rotating night shifts.
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 15 million Americans work full time on evening shifts, night shifts, rotating shifts, or other irregular schedules. Shift work has been shown to disrupt sleeping patterns and other body rhythms, and has been associated with obesity and metabolic syndrome, conditions associated with type 2 diabetes.
"This study raises the awareness of increased obesity and diabetes risk among night shift workers and underscores the importance of improving diet and lifestyle for primary prevention of type 2 diabetes in this high risk group," said Hu. Studies also are needed to evaluate type 2 diabetes risk in other shift work schedules, such as evening shifts or permanent night shifts.
Support for this study was provided by the National Institutes of Health and career development awards from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Harvard School of Public Health.
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Journal Reference:
- An Pan, Eva S. Schernhammer, Qi Sun, Frank B. Hu. Rotating Night Shift Work and Risk of Type 2 Diabetes: Two Prospective Cohort Studies in Women. PLoS Medicine, 2011; 8 (12): e1001141 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.1001141
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/vuK9vhZ4CW0/111207000833.htm
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Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Sandusky's dinner with alleged victims raises new legal questions
A lawyer for one of the alleged victims of Jerry Sandusky, the former Penn State football coach who now faces 40 counts of child sex abuse, says Sandusky's long New York Times interview raises new questions about whether he may have attempted to influence witnesses just before he got indicted. NBC's Michael Isikoff reports.
By Lisa RiordanSeville and Hannah RappleyeNBC News
While under investigation by a criminal grand jury for allegedly sexually abusing young boys, Jerry Sandusky said he spoke to and even dined with men now identified as his victims. The 67-year-old former Penn State assistant coach accused of sexually abusing young boys for more than a decade holds up these encounters as proof of his innocence, but a lawyer for at least one of the victims believes they could be criminal.
?One of the questions that raised in my mind, ?Was this an effort on his part to tamper with witnesses??? said Howard Janet, a Baltimore attorney representing the man known in the grand jury report of Sandusky as Victim 6. ?Was it intended as a way to influence the public or the prospective jury pool??
In early November, Sandusky was charged with 40 counts of sexually abusing boys over a period of about 14 years. But the community knew of the investigation months earlier.
The story went public on March 31, when the Patriot News newspaper broke the story that a grand jury had been convened to look into allegations that Sandusky abused a 15-year-old Clinton County, Pa., boy, now known as Victim 1.?
The following day, Sandusky?s lawyer, Joe Amendola, issued a statement saying that his client was prepared to fight.
?Should the allegations, as set forth in today?s newspaper article eventually lead to the institution of criminal charges against Jerry, Jerry fully intends to establish his innocence and put these false allegations to rest forever,??he said.
Interviews with lawyers and the grand jury report show that in the months that followed, Sandusky made several attempts to contact boys who had participated in the charity he founded -- the Second Mile ??and who later testified before the grand jury, prompting Janet to question whether Sandusky tried to sway the outcome of the investigation.
Witness tampering in the state of Pennsylvania is defined as any act with the intent to intimidate a witness or victim to ?refrain from reporting a crime, withhold or give false or misleading information, or to ignore or evade requests for information or a summons.?
Under state penal codes, witness tampering is considered equal to the most serious offense a defendant is charged with. Among the charges against Sandusky are multiple first-degree felonies, which carry maximum sentences of up to 20 years in prison.?
Sandusky has not been charged with tampering or intimidation of witnesses.
A 'reunion' dinner
In July, Sandusky called Victim 6 and asked him to dinner. Sandusky framed it as a ?reunion? of former Second Mile children, Janet said. Police asked the alleged victim to wear a wire, Janet said, but he eventually decided not to because he was nervous. ?
Victim 6 testified before the grand jury that Sandusky showered with him on the Penn State campus. Sandusky was investigated in 1998 after the boy?s mother reported the incident to the police. Sandusky at the time admitted that he had showered with the boy ? as well as another youth whose name surfaced in the subsequent investigation -- and was advised by a Penn State University detective not to do it again. The district attorney closed the case.
On the night of the July dinner, Victim 6 said he met Sandusky at his home then continued on, along with Sandusky?s wife, to a local restaurant. Janet said his client was ?surprised? to find no other former Second Mile children he knew among those at the restaurant, but he finished the dinner and reported back to the police.
In an interview with NBC, Janet said it was ?inconceivable? that Sandusky did not know he was under investigation at the time. ?It was public knowledge and it was widely reported,? he said.
According to Amendola,?Sandusky?s lawyer, Victim 2?was also at the dinner. Victim 2 is the boy who?Penn?State?assistant coach Mike McQueary testified to seeing being raped by?Sandusky?in the showers in?Penn?State?s?Lasch?Football?Building?in 2002. Victim 2, however, has not been identified by prosecutors and did not testify at the grand jury.?
Amendola told reporters in November that a man he believes is Victim 2 had appeared in his office weeks before to say he had no sexual contact with?Sandusky.?
Amendola said that both Victims 2 and 6 maintained a relationship with the Sanduskys in recent years, including visiting their home and attending other dinners. The July dinner, he said, was friendly. ?Neither of them had any knowledge 2 or 6 had been or were going to be questioned? by the grand jury, and there was no mention of the investigation, Amendola wrote in a statement to NBC.
?Jerry and Dottie have maintained positive contact with 2 and 6 as well as many other kids they helped who have grown into adulthood over the years,? he said. ?They are both deeply saddened and perplexed by the allegations.?
Sandusky and his wife also reached out to at least one other alleged victim prior to his testifying, according to the grand jury report. Victim 7, a former Second Mile participant who Sandusky allegedly met around 1994, told the grand jury?that weeks before his testimony, Sandusky, his wife, and an unidentified friend left several messages on his voicemail. It had been nearly two years since he last spoke or had contact with Sandusky. Victim 7 said he did not return their calls.
Sandusky confirmed to the The New York Times that he had contacted at least one of his accusers but did so believing he would serve as a character witness. He said he did not know the prosecution had listed the individual as a victim.??
An unorthodox defense strategy
Sandusky?s defense has so far been unorthodox. He spoke live to NBC?s Bob Costas following his arrest and last week gave an extended interview to the New York Times.
Asked by Costas if he was sexually attracted to young boys, Sandusky said,?"Sexually attracted, no -- ?I enjoy young people, I love to be around them."
The New York Times?revisited?the comment last week in an?extended, four-hour interview in which reporter Jo Becker asked Sandusky about his answer to Costa's question.?
"If I say, no, I'm not attracted to boys, that's not the truth because I'm attracted to young people, boys, girls," Sandusky said.?
Amendola, sitting nearby, jumped in.?"Yeah, but not sexually, you're attracted because you enjoy spending time..." he said.?
"Right, I enjoy, that's what I was tryin' to say, answer that," Sandusky clarified.?"I enjoy spending time with young people. I enjoy spending time with people."
More news and feature stories from msnbc.com:
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Jenn Kennedy: Matthias Hollwich's BOOM: A Stunning Concept for an LGBT-Specific Retirement Community (PHOTOS) (Huffington post)
Monday, December 5, 2011
Police arrest protesters in Washington, Portland (Reuters)
PORTLAND, Ore (Reuters) ? Police cracked down on anti-Wall Street protesters on the East and West Coasts over the weekend, arresting demonstrators in Portland, Oregon and in Washington, D.C., authorities said on Sunday.
Portland police arrested 19 people who were trying to occupy a downtown park, including one man charged with criminal mischief and trespassing for climbing onto the roof of City Hall, police said.
Some 300 people had attempted to gather in Shemanski Park, beginning late on Saturday night, and then marched through the city's streets, police said.
Protesters who have been demanding economic justice for average Americans who they say suffer while the government bails out Wall Street firms have been getting arrested in recent weeks as officials try to disassemble their encampments.
In several cities, officials have cited dangerous health and safety conditions and the cost of added policing and other security measures in a time of tight budgets.
An unidentified male was reported dead at the Occupy Denton camp at the University of North Texas campus, according to a post on the university's Facebook page. It was unclear when and how the person died, and campus police were investigating, it said.
The Portland demonstrators said on Sunday they will lobby the city for a location to pitch their tents.
Several people held a vigil outside Portland City Hall, asking that a ban on camping in parks be lifted. They said they plan to stay until the city's rule is changed.
"This will be an ongoing nonviolent effort to maintain focus and attention to the issues of inequality that 99 percent of America face as the result of corporate greed and corruption," they said on their website.
Protester Kip Silverman said the demonstrators' civil rights were being "trampled on" by the city.
"We have a certain expectation for how government and the people should work together in Portland, and it is not happening right now," he said.
In Washington on Sunday, several people were arrested as police tried to take down a two-story-high wooden structure that had been erected in a downtown park where Occupy DC protesters have been camped for weeks.
"It's been determined that this (structure) is unsafe and illegal," said Lieutenant Robert Glover of the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department.
Several protesters climbed on top of the structure in McPherson Square and chanted: "Give us water, give us food, document what is happening," while a crowd of about 200 people looked on.
Glover said police were not forcing the protesters out of the park. "We are not looking to push this thing further," he said.
There was no immediate word on the number of arrests.
More than 300 arrests were made in Los Angeles last week as police cleared an Occupy encampment.
The movement began in a downtown park in New York City, but protesters were cleared from that site two weeks ago.
Oklahoma City protesters got a temporary restraining order from a judge last week to avoid being forcibly ousted.
In Seattle, however, a judge on Friday rejected a bid by activists to block their eviction from a community college, clearing the way for the city to remove them as early as the next few days.
(Additional reporting by Paul Simao in Washington and Mary Slosson in Los Angeles, Writing by Ellen Wulfhorst, Editing by David Bailey)
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Ex-UN climate chief to AP: talks are rudderless
People rally to highlight climate change as the COP17 climate change conference takes place in Durban, South Africa, Saturday, Dec 3, 2011. The top U.N. climate official said Saturday she is confident that industrial countries will renew pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions after their current commitments expire next year. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)
People rally to highlight climate change as the COP17 climate change conference takes place in Durban, South Africa, Saturday, Dec 3, 2011. The top U.N. climate official said Saturday she is confident that industrial countries will renew pledges to cut greenhouse gas emissions after their current commitments expire next year. (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)
People shout as they take part in a rally as the climate conference takes place in Durban, South Africa, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. Outside the conference hall, several thousand activists, South African village women, and trade union members paraded through this port city for a march billed as a "global day of protest." (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)
A woman holds a placard during a rally as the climate conference takes place in Durban, South Africa, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. Outside the conference hall, several thousand activists, South African village women, and trade union members paraded through this port city for a march billed as a "global day of protest." (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)
South Africa's foreign minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane smiles prior to speaking at a rally as the climate conference takes place in Durban, South Africa, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. Outside the conference hall, several thousand activists, South African village women, and trade union members paraded through this port city for a march billed as a "global day of protest." (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)
South African police provide security as people take part in a rally as the climate conference takes place in Durban, South Africa, Saturday, Dec. 3, 2011. Outside the conference hall, several thousand activists, South African village women, and trade union members paraded through this port city for a march billed as a "global day of protest." (AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam)
DURBAN, South Africa (AP) ? Yvo de Boer said he left his job as the U.N.'s top climate official in frustration 18 months ago, believing the process of negotiating a meaningful climate agreement was failing. His opinion hasn't changed.
"I still have the same view of the process that led me to leave the process," he told The Associated Press Sunday. "I'm still deeply concerned about where it's going, or rather where it's not going, about the lack of progress."
For three years until 2010, the Dutch civil servant was the leading voice on global warming on the world stage. He appeared constantly in public to advocate green policies, traveled endlessly for private meetings with top leaders and labored with negotiators seeking ways to finesse snags in drafting agreements.
In the end he felt he "wasn't really able to contribute as I should be to the process," he said.
Today he can take a long view on his years as a Dutch negotiator in the 1990s and later as a senior U.N. official with access to the highest levels of government, business and civil society. He is able to voice criticisms he was reluctant to air when he was actively shepherding climate diplomacy.
Negotiators live "in a separate universe," and the ongoing talks are "like a log that's drifted away," he said. Then, drawing another metaphor from his rich reservoir, he called the annual 194-nation conferences "a bit of a mouse wheel."
De Boer spoke to the AP on the sidelines of the latest round of talks in this South African port city, which he is attending as a consultant for the international accounting firm KPMG.
Elsewhere in Durban Sunday, the South African host of the talks called for divine help at a climate change church service organized by the South African Council of Churches.
"We needed to pray for (an) acceptable, balanced outcome, that has a sense of urgency," said Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, who as South Africa's foreign minister is president of the Durban round of negotiations. Priests laid their hands on her head in blessing during the service.
De Boer said world leaders have failed to become deeply engaged in efforts to reach an international accord to control greenhouse gas emissions causing global warming. In recent years, their inattention has been compounded by their preoccupation with the economic and Eurozone crises.
Negotiators have been at the job so long ? since the 1992 climate convention ? that they have lost touch with the real world, he said. But it wasn't their fault.
"I completely understand that it is very difficult for a negotiator to move if you haven't been given a political sense of direction and the political space to move," he said, chatting on a hilltop terrace overlooking the Indian Ocean.
Rather than act in their own national interests, many leaders look to see what others are willing ? or unwilling ? to concede.
"You've got a bunch of international leaders sitting 85 stories up on the edge of a building saying to each other, you jump first and I'll follow. And there is understandably a reluctance to be the first one to jump," he said.
The 2009 Copenhagen summit was a breaking point. Expectations soared that the conference would produce an accord setting firm rules for bringing down global carbon emissions. When delegates fell short, hopes remained high that President Barack Obama, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, most of Europe's heads of government and more than 100 other top leaders would save the day at the last minute.
De Boer said he spent the last 24 hours of the summit in "a very small and very smelly room" with about 20 prime ministers and presidents, but the time was not ripe for the hoped-for international treaty.
Obama still hoped to push domestic legislation through the Senate, and any prior commitment to a U.N. treaty would have killed his chances. The bill died anyway. China and India, too, were not ready in Copenhagen to accept internationally binding limits on their emissions.
Many Americans, he said, have still not bought into the "green story," he said. In the meantime, the U.S. is losing a competitive edge against China, which is investing heavily to shift the course of its economy ? from which it will benefit regardless of the global warming issue, he said.
Despite their failures, De Boer said he thought most leaders sincerely want a deal on climate change.
"I do not see the negotiating process being able to rise to that challenge, being capable of delivering on that," he said. "I believe the sincerity on the part of world leaders is there, but it's almost as though they do not have control of the process that's suppose to take them there."
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Sunday, December 4, 2011
As EU tightens the screws, Iran looks toward China (VIDEO) (The Christian Science Monitor)
Washington ? The Iranian government narrowly escaped a European ban on its oil exports today, as France failed to garner enough support for the unprecedented measure. But there is still a latent fear in Tehran that the sharpening decline in European relations ? accelerated by this week's attack on the British Embassy in Iran ? will lead to a disadvantageous rise in Russian and Chinese influence over Iran's economy.
While the European Union failed to agree to an oil ban today, they did impose sanctions on 180 individuals and companies affiliated with the Iranian regime, putting the Islamic Republic in an increasingly tight spot.
RELATED: Iran sanctions 101
?The government as a whole and the business community are worried about the deterioration of relations with Europe,? says a Tehran-based analyst. ?Iran's relationships with the Russians and Chinese will become lopsided because they'll expect preferential treatment from Tehran in order to continue the relationship. As a consequence, it will give the Russians and the Chinese a lot of leverage over the Iranians, which will translate into economic concessions ? and that is problematic.?
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Oil official: We may turn to China After months of Europe ? prodded in part by Washington ? gradually increasing the pressure on Iran, tensions have dramatically escalated in recent days. On Tuesday, hard-line Iranian protesters upset about Britain's latest sanctions against Iran's central bank attacked the British Embassy in Tehran. In response, Britain shut the embassy and expelled Iranian diplomats from its soil.
If other European countries choose to downgrade diplomatic ties, or decide to tighten financial sanctions against Iran's central bank, the impact on Iran's economy and currency would be significant. Already, France, Germany, and the Netherlands have pulled their ambassadors out of Iran for ?consultations.?
Oil officials in Tehran say they will look to refineries in Asia if heightened financial sanctions or political pressure from the US reduce purchases of Iranian oil by European customers. Iran, which provided 5.8 percent of EU oil imports in 2010, is the EU's fifth supplier of oil after Russia, Norway, Libya, and Saudi Arabia.
?We will have to ask other countries, especially China, to [purchase] more oil, though they will try and push us to give more of a discount,? says a senior National Iranian Oil Company official.
Why Iran has discounted its oil sales In fact, Iran has already been offering discounts to foreign customers of Iranian oil for more than a year in order to offset the rise in transaction fees and lengthy bureaucracy resulting from US financial sanctions and international sanctions.
"Somebody will buy their oil, and Iran would earn less revenue,? confirms Hossein Askari, an economist at George Washington University who has advised Persian Gulf governments on energy policy. ?Iran would be forced to barter.?
Indeed, Tehran's ?bartering? with global trading partners, through which foreign refineries pay for Iranian oil using their own local currencies and keep the cash in locally held banks outside of Iran, has risen in line with heightened implementation of US Treasury sanctions on Iran's banking sector. In China alone, Iran has for the past year been forced to keep most of its cash from oil sales in Chinese banks, instead using the funds to finance imports of Chinese goods back into the Islamic Republic.
By the end of 2011, Iran will have an estimated $5 billion of cash trapped in South Korea, according to Reuters.
?Our country and our government are ready to pay as much as is necessary because they want to show the world that they can be successful,? the Iranian oil official says. "Though, it won't be easy."
Iran on the brink of 'serious inflation' The Islamic Republic has become increasingly isolated internationally since last month, after Washington claimed to have discovered a plot by several members of Iran's Quds Force to assassinate Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the US on American soil.
In November, the US imposed a new round of sanctions, primarily on Iran's petrochemical sector, and the United Kingdom announced unprecedented sanctions against Iran's central bank, cutting off all financial dealings between British and Iranian banks. US Congressmen have also threatened to sanction Iran's central bank, which acts as a clearinghouse for nearly all oil and gas transactions with foreign countries.
After Tuesday's attack on the British Embassy in Tehran, Iran's Central Bank temporarily closed the local currency exchange market for fear of any blowback that could result from citizens rushing to buy foreign currency as a haven against Iran's currency, the rial, in the wake of Iran's worsening political relations with Europe.
"Iran is teetering on the border of serious inflation," says the Tehran-based analyst. "Anything that can push inflation up, including any major changes in the exchange rate, is worrisome.?
Conservative factions jockey ahead of March vote The storming of the British embassy highlights an ever-deepening rift between Iran's conservative political factions, with infighting becoming increasingly combative in the run-up to Iran's March 2012 parliamentary elections.
Ahmadinejad's administration is expected to face strong competition from conservatives ? including former political allies ? vying for parliamentary seats. As the elections approach, key political players are likely to capitalize on the nationalistic sentiments that sparked the anti-British protests, in an effort to gain favor from conservative voters.
It is still unclear which faction within Iran's political elite may have orchestrated the protests and subsequent attacks on the British embassy compounds. Iran's foreign ministry was quick to criticize and express regret for the attack on the British embassy, calling it ?unacceptable,? while many traditional conservatives, including speaker of parliament Ali Larijani, lauded the protesters' storming of the British embassy, calling the act a ?normal? reaction to years of anti-Iranian British policies.
At the same time, the state IRNA-news agency, whose chief is a close ally of Ahmadinejad, provided ample media coverage of the attacks, while state Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting, which is controlled by the office of Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, downplayed them.
RELATED: Iran sanctions 101
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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20111201/wl_csm/431140
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Saturday, December 3, 2011
Unemployment rate drops to lowest since 2009 (AP)
WASHINGTON ? The unemployment rate, which has refused to budge from the 9 percent neighborhood for two and a half frustrating years, fell sharply in November, driven in part by small businesses that finally see reason to hope and hire.
Economists say there is a long way to go, but they liked what they saw.
The rate fell to 8.6 percent, the lowest since March 2009, two months after President Barack Obama took office. Unemployment passed 9 percent that spring and had stayed there or higher for all but two months since then.
The country added 120,000 jobs in November, the Labor Department said Friday. Private employers added 140,000 jobs, while governments cut 20,000.
The economy has generated 100,000 or more jobs five months in a row ? the first time that has happened since April 2006, well before the Great Recession.
"Something good is stirring in the U.S. economy," Ian Shepherdson, an economist at High Frequency Economics, said in a note to clients.
The stock market rallied at the opening bell, after the report came out, but finished flat for the day. It was still up 787 points for the week. The only bigger point gain in a week was in October 2008, when stocks lurched higher and lower during the financial crisis.
The report showed that September and October were stronger months for the job market than first estimated. For four months in a row, the government has revised job growth figures higher for previous months.
September was revised up by 52,000 jobs, for a gain of 210,000. October was revised up by 20,000, for a gain of 100,000.
Unemployment peaked at 10.1 percent in October 2009, four months after the Great Recession ended. It dipped to 8.9 percent last February and 8.8 percent last March but otherwise was at or above 9 percent.
The rate fell not just because people found jobs. About 300,000 people simply gave up looking for work, and were no longer counted as unemployed. People routinely enter and leave the work force, though 300,000 is more than usual.
Obama, who faces a re-election vote in less than a year and a presidential campaign that will turn on the economy, seized on the decline to argue for expanding a cut in the tax that workers pay toward Social Security.
The tax cut affects 160 million Americans. It lowers a worker's Social Security tax by up to $2,136 a year. Someone earning $50,000 a year saves $1,000 with the tax cut. It will expire Dec. 31 unless Congress acts.
Republicans and Democrats have supported an extension but differ on how to pay for it. The Senate on Thursday defeated plans from both parties. Republicans had proposed paying for the cut by freezing the pay of federal workers through 2015. Democrats wanted to raise taxes on people making $1 million or more a year.
"Now is not the time to slam the brakes on the recovery. Right now it's time to step on the gas," Obama said Friday.
Inside the unemployment report, one of the most closely watched indicators of the economy's health, were signs of improvement for small businesses, which employ 500 or fewer people and account for half the jobs in the private sector.
The government uses a survey of mostly large companies and government agencies to determine how many jobs were added or lost each month. It uses a separate survey of households to determine the unemployment rate.
The household survey picks up hiring by companies of all sizes, including small businesses and companies just getting off the ground. It also includes farm workers and the self-employed, who aren't included in the survey of companies.
The household survey has shown an average of 321,000 jobs created per month since July, compared with an average of 13,000 the first seven months of the year.
When the economy is either improving or slipping into recession, many economists say, the household survey does the better job of picking up the shift because it detects small business hiring.
"We might finally be seeing new business creation expand again, which is critical to the sustainability of the recovery," said Diane Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial, a financial services company.
The National Federation of Independent Business, a small business group, said Friday that its own survey of small companies in November found that more of them are planning to add workers than at any time since September 2008, when the financial crisis struck.
LogicBoost, a Washington, D.C., software consulting firm with 19 employees, has hired a sales worker and a marketing worker in the past three months and planned to post an opening for a software engineer Friday.
"Business is going gangbusters," CEO Jonathan Cogley said. "It would be great if the economy were stronger. I think we'd be growing even faster."
Outside Detroit, Grace Dersa opened the Frank Street Bakery this week with her husband. They took the $60,000 gamble after seeing signs that the local economy is improving. They, too, plan to add a worker soon.
"When we go to a restaurant here, there's a 30-minute to two-hour wait. Homes are selling in this area," Dersa said. "People are spending."
Indeed, Americans dropped a record $52.4 billion over the Thanksgiving weekend, according to the National Retail Federation, a trade group. A separate report from MasterCard found spending was up almost 9 percent from last year.
The unemployment report was the latest encouraging indicator for the economy. Other reports this week have shown that factories are producing more, construction is growing, and people are buying more cars.
The accelerating debt crisis in Europe has loomed over the economy for months. An economic collapse there would hammer sales of American exports. And if the crisis caused banks to stop lending money, the world economy would suffer.
But there are signs that Europe is moving toward a solution. Earlier this week, six central banks around the world made it easier for commercial banks overseas to borrow American dollars to do business. The coordinated action calmed financial markets and bought time for politicians to work something out.
The leaders of Germany and France appear to be pushing for stronger rules to make sure European governments are responsible with their budgets, the first step in a strategy to save the euro currency from collapse.
European leaders meet next Friday for a crucial summit on the matter.
In the United States, about 13.3 million people are counted as unemployed.
More than half the jobs added last month were by retailers, restaurants and bars. But professional and business services rose by 33,000, and those tend to be higher-paying jobs, such as engineers and accountants. The category also includes temporary jobs, which increased.
The household survey found that the number of unemployed fell by nearly 600,000 last month. About half found jobs, while the other half stopped looking for work. The decline of 600,000 is the biggest since January.
The so-called underemployment rate fell to 15.6 percent from 16.2 percent. That includes three groups: people who are unemployed and looking for work, people who are unemployed and have stopped looking, and people who are working part-time but would rather be working full-time.
But even with the recent gains, the economy isn't close to replacing the jobs lost in the recession. Employers began shedding workers in February 2008 and cut nearly 8.7 million jobs over the next 25 months. The economy has regained about 2.5 million.
And many people aren't getting raises. Average hourly pay slipped 2 cents last month to $23.18. In the past year, wages have risen 1.8 percent, but inflation has risen twice as fast, eroding buying power.
Obama may face voters next fall with the highest unemployment of a sitting president seeking election since World War II. Gerald Ford faced 7.8 percent unemployment when he lost to Jimmy Carter in 1976. Ronald Reagan faced 7.2 percent unemployment in 1984 and trounced Walter Mondale. Unemployment was 7.8 percent when Obama took office in January 2009.
The economy grew at a 2 percent annual rate in July, August and September. Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics, estimates growth will speed up to 2.5 percent in the last three months of the year, but slow to 1.5 percent in 2012. Ashworth's estimate assumes a recession in Europe, but not a nightmarish collapse of the euro.
___
AP Economics Writer Paul Wiseman contributed to this report.
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