Saturday, March 30, 2013

New 2013 EzPaycheck Payroll Software From Halfpricesoft.com ...

Payroll software EzPaycheck automates small business accounting. Responding to customers? request, the new 2013 edition can now customize paycheck with company logo and is available for test drive at http://www.halfpricesoft.com

Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) March 29, 2013

Payroll software developer Halfpricesoft.com (http://halfpricesoft.com) has launched a new edition of small business payroll software ezPaycheck 2013 with company logo feature. Many users use ezPaycheck to handle payroll taxes and print paychecks. They also asked for a simple way to customize paychecks with company logo, product image or company web link.

?EzPaycheck saves users? time and money on tax calculation, check printing and tax reporting. Some users also asked for the new feature to customize check layout with logo,? explained Dr. Ge, the found of halfpricesoft.com, ?We added the new logo feature to our ezPaycheck software. Users can now promote their company and products with checks, too.?

EzPaycheck payroll software is ideal for small businesses, nonprofits and accountants that need easy-to-use payroll tax solution to calculate payroll taxes, print paychecks and fill tax forms. Designed with simplicity in mind, the latest version also includes updated graphic interface and form level help buttons. EzPaycheck developers believe small business payroll tax software should be easy to use from day one. Even users with no accounting or computer experience can begin using ezPaycheck immediately after installation.

EzPaycheck 2013 is priced at just $89 per installation so any size business can automate their payroll process and take advantage of the many time-saving and money-saving features of the software. Additionally, new customers can test drive ezPaycheck 2013 free for 30 days at http://www.halfpricesoft.com/payroll_software_download.asp, sample all the included features, and see for themselves how easy ezPaycheck is to use.

EzPaycheck payroll and check printing software highlights:

  • Prints payroll checks on blank computer checks or preprinted checks.
  • Automatically calculates Federal Withholding Tax, Social Security, Medicare Tax and Employer Unemployment Taxes.

-Includes built-in tax tables for all 50 states and the District of Columbia.

  • Creates and maintains payrolls for multiple companies, and does it simultaneously.
  • Supports Daily, Weekly, Biweekly, Semi-monthly and Monthly payroll periods. Features Report Functions, Print Functions, and Pay Stub Functions.
  • Print Tax Forms 940, 941, W-2 and W-3.

Small business owners who are seeking productivity-booting solution are welcome to start the 30-day no obligation test drive of ezPaycheck payroll software at: http://halfpricesoft.com/payroll-software/Payroll-software.html

About Halfpricesoft.com

Halfpricesoft.com is a leading provider of small business software, including payroll software, employee attendance tracking software, check printing software, W2, software, 1099 software, and ezACH Deposit software. Today Software from halfpricesoft.com is trusted by thousands of users and help small business owners simplify their payroll processing and business management.

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/prwebpayroll-software/payroll-tax-solution/prweb10574675.htm

Source: http://paymentsmarket.com/news/new-2013-ezpaycheck-payroll-software-halfpricesoftcom-now-prints-company-logo-paychecks

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Friday, March 29, 2013

Judge: Jolie didn't plagiarize 'Blood and Honey'

(AP) ? A federal judge says actress Angelina Jolie didn't steal the story for her movie "In the Land of Blood and Honey" from a Croatian author.

City News Service reports Friday's tentative ruling in Los Angeles will throw out the suit accusing Jolie of copyright infringement.

In 2011, author James Braddock sued Jolie and the film company that made the film, saying it was partly based on his book "The Soul Shattering."

U.S. District Judge Dolly M. Gee wrote in a tentative ruling that the plots, characters and themes in the two works were not "substantially" similar, though both centered on war romances.

Jolie wrote, directed and co-produced the film.

Braddock has been ordered to tell the court why his complaint should not be dismissed with prejudice.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/4e67281c3f754d0696fbfdee0f3f1469/Article_2013-03-29-US-People-Jolie/id-cfd15534f0dd431782cae2ee557a682a

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Bosnia: Man sentenced to 45 years for war crimes

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) ? A court in Bosnia on Friday convicted a Montenegrin man of multiple counts of murder, torture, rape and looting during Bosnia's 1992-95 war, and sentenced him to 45 years in prison ? the highest sentence ever issued in the country.

Judge Zoran Bozic said that Veselin Vlahovic, killed 31 people, raped a number of Bosniak and Croat women and tortured and robbed non-Serb residents of a Sarajevo suburb while fighting for the Bosnian Serbs. Among other crimes, the judge described how Vlahovic cut the throats of two brothers in front of their mother, then killed her and raped the men's wives.

"We are happy with the maximum sentence," said Boris Grubisic, the spokesman for the Prosecutor's office.

He said that during the trial some of the 112 witnesses described the rape of heavily pregnant women and mothers being raped in front of their children. Grubisic said that Vlahovic committed the crimes over several months. Although he received the maximum sentence, the prosecution still plans to appeal because he was acquitted on six counts.

Vlahovic's layer Radivoje Lazarevic said he also will appeal the sentence because he believes that some of the 60 counts on which Vlahovic was convicted were not proven.

Vlahovic, 43, showed no reaction when the judge pronounced the verdict.

In 1992, when Bosnian Serb forces laid siege to Sarajevo, they mistreated non-Serb residents of the areas that they controlled. Vlahovic was the commander of a paramilitary unit that went from house to house looking for Muslims and Catholics, then looted their homes, tortured and often killed entire families.

Edina Kamenica, a Muslim woman who lived in one of the Serb-held neighborhoods, followed the trial carefully. She said Vlahovic ? known as "the monster from Grbavica" ? came to her door.

"He asked if there were any Turks inside and if I had answered 'yes' I would have be alive," she said.

During the war Serbs often referred to Muslim Bosnians as Turks because of their hatred of the Turkish-Ottoman empire that ruled over the Balkan peninsula for 500 years.

Bakira Hasecic, the head of an association of victims of wartime rape, said the sentence was the best satisfaction that so far came from Bosnia's war crimes court, but added that Vlahovic was such a monster that even the maximum sentence was not enough for him.

Vlahovic fled to neighboring Serbia and Montenegro after the war. He was jailed in Montenegro for armed robbery but escaped from prison. Spanish police then found him in 2010 living in the town of Altea. He was extradited to Bosnia the same year although he is also wanted in Spain for robbery and assault with a firearm.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/bosnia-man-sentenced-45-years-war-crimes-111616575.html

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Friday, March 15, 2013

Leave a comment - MicroD Corporate Website

MicroD?s CEO & President, Manoj Nigam is featured as the cover story in the recent issue of Silicon India Magazine.


Article reprinted from?Silicon India Magazine
http://www.siliconindia.com/magazine_articles/The_Change_Agent_of__eCommerce_-SVZI694754088.html
March 2013 Issue
By?Vignesh Anantharaj

Silicon India Cover Story

Manoj Nigam, CEO & President of MicroD Inc.

Steven Gomez just landed his dream job in a software firm in lower Manhattan. After finding a new apartment, he decides to browse the Ethan Allen online furniture showroom for creative additions to his new home. After customizing everything from the colour and texture of the fabric to the wood finish, Steven places the order and gets a new sofa delivered within the next few days. Steven?s example highlights just how quickly and completely the furniture shopping process has shifted online in recent years.

With a staggering 85 percent of furniture buyers researching online before making a purchasing decision, having a customer friendly and interactive website is essential in gaining a competitive advantage. Home furnishing is now the second largest expenditure after acquiring a home. Generation Y consumers are quickly replacing baby boomers as the major demographic of furniture buyers. With this change, it becomes essential for furniture retailers and manufacturers to have a strong online presence.

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, MicroD Inc. has been transforming the online presence of leading furnishing companies such as Ethan Allen, Bassett, La-Z-Boy and Drexel clients for 20 years by providing website designs, furniture visualizations and a host of integrated back end processes. In short, these solutions increase sales and provide online visibility for furniture firms and make the online shopping a pleasurable experience for the end customer.

Led by CEO & President, Manoj Nigam, MicroD provides best of breed solutions for website design, web-based sales, marketing and eCommerce. Today, their customer base includes an exhaustive list of over 500 companies spanning retailers, manufacturers and suppliers in the furniture industry in both the U.S. and Europe.

Meeting Customer Needs to Drive Growth
MicroD started operations in 1993 by developing the first computer-based interactive catalogues for the furniture and home furnishings industry. Exim Technologies, a B2B EDI transactions management provider founded by Nigam, started serving the same client base in 1999. MicroD and Exim Technologies partnered for two years before realizing the common synergies and ultimately joining forces in 2003. Together, the companies now provide a strong platform for building unique web solutions coupled with excellent customer service.

Over the past three years, MicroD has steadily achieved a 30 to 40 percent organizational and revenue growth; a significant accomplishment given that customers pay only a monthly subscription fee for website and product catalogue maintenance.

According to a 2012 Furniture Today report, the U.S. home furnishing industry (including accessories such as lighting and rugs) generates revenues of about $120 billion per year. Approximately seven percent of this amount, or $8.4 billion, is spent on advertising with the majority of the budgets invested in television commercials, radio promotions and direct mail ads. By some estimates, as much as 30 percent of the overall advertising budget may be spent for online advertising.

?We see the $2.5 billion online marketing spend in the home furnishings industry as a significant market opportunity for continued growth,? says Nigam. ?Ultimately, all the ads have to end up on websites. With the strategic and financial importance of websites today, our products have become more than just a technology.?

Having started operations with four employees and less than 1,000 square feet of office space, MicroD today has nearly 70 employees located in its Charlotte headquarters and Hickory, North Carolina satellite office where it manages customer support, sales, product development and digital catalogues creation services. The company fields a global staff of about 100 with additional offices in India and the Czech Republic. Through its 20 year history, MicroD has maintained its focus exclusively on the home furnishings industry.

Advancing Software to Create Greater Value
With the advent of new technologies in the early 2000s, Nigam noticed a prominent opportunity in the form of Electronic Data Interchange. EDI is the structured transmission of data between organizations by electronic means, which is used to transfer electronic documents or business data from one trading partner to another trading partner without human intervention. Combining EDI and electronic catalogue creation has proven to be a game-changing achievement for MicroD. This business strategy generated many positive responses from MicroD clients. According to Nigam, ?Combining best-in-class fabric, texture and product visualizations with the business process management tools has enabled us to significantly increase our value to the industry and our clients.?

The most obvious benefit from the newly incorporated technologies came when MicroD launched its state-of-the-art online showroom solution ePiphany in 2009. ?We do not build websites as a web designer would,? explains Nigam. ?What we do, is create proactive websites for traffic generation. That?s what brings clients to the store. And since 2009, we have been active in selling and running close to 500 websites and through our EDI services we have been transacting over 100,000 transactions a day. We are in the unique position of having the backbone of EDI, and the front end solutions for the eCommerce to get the job done.?

One of a Kind Product Portfolio
As the internet gained mainstream popularity in the late 90s, MicroD was the first to bring furniture presentation online with its ePreVue solution. In 2000, MicroD again led the way with internet-based visualization or ?draping? of upholstery fabrics on standard frames. These breakthroughs have forever changed the visual merchandising and custom product configuration capabilities in the industry.

ePreVue gives consumers the ultimate tool for product browsing and visualization. This consumer-focused search technology allows shoppers to filter by individual product features and personalize their furniture buying experience. The streamlined search and robust product catalogues so effectively engage consumers that they stay on MicroD client sites 2-3 times longer than the industry standard.

ePreVue achieves this deep customer interaction by empowering consumers to create custom furniture combinations, share furniture selections, save to favourites, create a room plan and contact the nearest store for more information. This not only increases customer interest and education, it also helps the retailer book greater custom order business.

The powerful furniture visualization tools found in ePreVue can also be used as an in-store closing tool for sales associates and designers. Sales professionals can help a client visualize fabric on frame, build a room plan to ensure fit, and view other coordinating items the client may also wish to include with their purchase.

Leveraging the company?s deep industry experience and Nigam?s technical expertise, ePiphany extends the online presentation capabilities into a web platform with complete business intelligence. This helps unify retailers, brands, and consumers in a way that has redefined the furniture buying and selling process. It also provides advanced search engine optimization tools that get a store ?found? and ranked at top of relevant website searches. The built-in analytics tools provides ePiphany clients with valuable consumer buying and trend information, such as most viewed items, frames, and fabrics on a real-time basis. Powerful room planning, product customization, and merchandising tools also help clients accelerate sales and convert more shoppers to buyers.

These and other important capabilities in ePiphany more fully enable furniture retailers and manufacturers to leverage the increasingly important role of the internet in today?s furniture shopping experience to drive shopper traffic and increase sales.

Walter E. Smithe Transforms Online Presence
The impact of just how dramatically the MicroD solutions can improve an established furniture showroom website can be seen at Walter E. Smithe Furniture Company, a family owned furniture manufacturing business started in 1945. Today, owners Walter E. Smithe III, Mark Smithe, and Tim Smithe continue a successful tradition with industry leading product advancements that have allowed them to open 11 store locations and launch a new, cutting-edge website at www.smithe.com.

To stand out in a competitive furniture market, Smithe engaged MicroD in 2012 to create a sophisticated, well-designed and consumer-oriented online presentation that more effectively showcases their products and services and inspires consumer confidence to purchase from the site.

The new site displays over 80 manufacturer catalogues; many with capabilities to configure frame and fabric combinations for custom furniture designs. The website now contains over 46,000 pages indexed by the major search engines and boasts of an average of nearly 75,000 unique monthly visits from consumers and an additional 20,000 visits from mobile devices. Prior to partnering with MicroD, the Walter E. Smithe website had less than 3,000 indexed pages and averaged only 20,000 total monthly visits.

Other notable features on the custom website include an online Designer Chat, allowing customers to interact in real-time with a professional designer; and a Designer Matchmaker tool, which asks customers a variety of style questions and desired project scope in order to select the best professional designer for their service needs.

To maximize consumer accessibility, the entire website has been optimized for a variety of smart phones and tablet devices. Walter E. Smithe III comments, ?We are proud of the new website and feel that the modern, cutting-edge aesthetic, strong functionality, and user-friendly interface that the MicroD team has created, accurately represents the Walter E. Smithe brand. Additionally, seeing the drastic increase in monthly web traffic and page indexes is astonishing. This online growth has positively translated into an increase of in-store traffic and sales.?

The Walter E. Smithe Company is just one of many organizations who have realized the value of ePiphany?s online photorealistic visualizations and a robust backend process as a tool to increase sales. With eCommerce spending expected to hit $327 billion by the end of 2016, it is apparent that the clear road ahead for furniture retail and manufacturing is online. MicroD is clearly paving the way for the eCommerce revolution in this industry.

The Man Behind MicroD
The growth of MicroD as a provider of comprehensive, integrated online solutions to over 500 websites and clients can be attributed to Manoj Nigam. An entrepreneur at heart, in his initial days he was involved in cars and robotics. Nigam holds a BS degree in engineering from Birla Institute of Technology and Science in Pilani, India, a Master of Science Degree in Automation and Robotics and an MBA from Clemson University in Clemson, South Carolina (USA). During his Master?s degree work, his team built a biped robot which could serve in hazardous situations. Eventually his passion for robotics, technology, and the desire to simplify complex problems led him to develop the electronic data interchange platform of Exim Technologies.

Nigam is a technology expert with over 20 years of management experience. He has held many senior level positions including CIO, Vice President, and co-owner at Advanced Automation Inc, a 250 employee custom industrial automation products company in Greenville, SC. A man of exceptional product management skills, he was also instrumental in helping Home Point, a ?dot-com? company that received $72 million in funding for designing a blueprint for B2B commerce in the furniture industry.

Today Nigam is the CEO and President of MicroD Inc. The company adds value to the home furnishings industry by providing its clients with a single-source solution for a variety of online and in-store technology solutions.

According to Nigam, the core values of customer satisfaction, talented employees, hard work and innovation are responsible for the growth and continued success of the company.

Source: http://www.microdinc.com/blog/?p=313

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Cyber threats against US 'ramping up': Obama

WASHINGTON ? Cyber security threats against the United States are growing, President Barack Obama said before meeting corporate leaders on Wednesday to discuss rising concerns about hacking attacks emanating from China.

"What is absolutely true is that we have seen a steady ramping up of cyber security threats," Obama said in an interview with ABC, noting that some threats were "state sponsored."

"We've made it very clear to China and some other state actors that, you know, we expect them to follow international norms and abide by international rules," Obama said.

After efforts to improve cyber defenses failed in Congress last year, the White House has tried to elevate the issue. Obama signed an executive order last month to encourage voluntary security standards and information sharing.

But Obama also wants Congress to try again on legislation. "There are ways that we can harden our critical infrastructure, our financial sector," Obama said in the ABC interview. "They need to get this done."

Obama took the unusual step of meeting with corporate chief executives in the White House Situation Room, the secure site in the West Wing basement where the president meets with national security advisers during crises.

The meeting included Honeywell International's David Cote, AT&T's Randall Stephenson, and Northrop Grumman's Wes Bush, spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.

The meeting comes the day after U.S. intelligence leaders said for the first time that cyber attacks and cyber espionage have supplanted terrorism as the top security threat facing the United States.

Carney said the meeting with CEOs was part of an effort to build consensus on the need for legislation.

"He wants to hear from out in the field what they're ... experiencing, what their concerns are, what their challenges are, what they hope to see in terms of action in Washington," Carney said.

Industry executives planned to raise a number of concerns during their meeting with Obama, including protection from legal damages if government data networks are breached, privacy issues, and how to share information about cyber attacks.

This week, U.S. authorities said they were investigating reports that Obama's own family had been hit by hacking.

The president said in the ABC interview that he did not know whether reports were true that hackers had posted financial and personal information online about his wife, Michelle, along with other high-profile Americans.

"It would not shock me if some information ... among people who presumably have pretty good safeguards against it, still gets out," he said.

(Additional reporting by Andrea Shalal-Esa, Roberta Rampton and Alina Selyukh; Editing by Christopher Wilson and Stacey Joyce)

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/technology/technolog/cyber-threats-against-us-ramping-obama-1C8855074

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New approaches for controlling pesticide exposure in children

Mar. 13, 2013 ? New research on household pesticide contamination emphasizes the need for less reliance on pesticides and more emphasis on neatness, blocking cracks where insects can enter and other so-called "integrated pest management" (IPM) measures, scientists have concluded.

Their study appears in the ACS' journal Environmental Science & Technology.

Chensheng Lu and colleagues cite previous studies showing that urban, low-income, multifamily, public housing dwellings are prone to severe pest infestation problems. Families in Boston public housing developments, for instance, rank pest infestation, pesticide use and pest allergies second only to crime as matters of concern. In an effort to encourage use of IPM, which reduces reliance on traditional pesticides, Lu's team studied exposure to 19 pesticides among children in 20 families in Boston's public housing.

They found pesticides in all of the homes, along with indications -- such as sighting of live pests or pest debris -- that traditional pesticides were not effective. "The results from the current study, as well as other recent studies, conducted in low-income public housing, child care centers and randomly selected homes in the U.S. should accentuate the need for alternative pest management programs," the report states. IPM focuses on eliminating the cause of pest infestations by minimizing access to food, water, hiding places, and sealing cracks and other openings in walls to prevent entry of pests.

The authors acknowledge funding from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by American Chemical Society.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. Chensheng Lu, Gary Adamkiewicz, Kathleen R. Attfield, Michaela Kapp, John D Spengler, Lin Tao, Shao Hua Xie. Household Pesticide Contamination from Indoor Pest Control Applications in Urban Low-Income Public Housing Dwellings: A Community-Based Participatory Research. Environmental Science & Technology, 2013; 47 (4): 2018 DOI: 10.1021/es303912n

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/top_news/top_health/~3/oq4Ja-n-uH0/130313112430.htm

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More change at Google as Maps-Commerce chief gets new role

(Reuters) - The head of Google's Inc's mapping and commerce division is stepping down from the role, the latest change to the company's senior management team, which saw Android boss Andy Rubin hand over the reins on Wednesday.

Google will split its Maps/Geo and Commerce group into two separate units. Senior Vice President Jeff Huber, who has led the group since 2011, is moving to Google X, the company's experimental projects group known for developing self-driving cars and the Google Glass wearable computer.

Huber, who worked on some of Google's "most complicated issues like ads, apps, payments and geo," is now "eager to work in a more startup-like environment," the company said in a statement on Thursday.

Google executive Alan Eustace will take over the Maps/Geo group, while Susan Wojcicki will lead Google's Commerce group.

On Wednesday Google announced that Sundar Pichai would take over its fast-growing Android mobile software business, replacing Rubin, who is moving to a new, yet-to-be-defined role at the company.

(Reporting by Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/more-change-google-head-maps-commerce-gets-role-161858841--sector.html

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Sunday, March 10, 2013

In a rising economy, politicians look for credit

FILE - In this March 8, 2013 file photo, specialist Donald Civitanova, right, works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. When it comes to the economy, presidents usually get the rap for downturns and reap benefits from upturns. But the main factors affecting the current recovery and the record activity in the stock market may have less to do with high-profile fiscal policy fights in Washington than they do in the decisions of the Federal Reserve Bank, which has pumped trillions of dollars into the economy, kept interests rates at near zero and pushed investors away from low-yield bonds to stocks. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

FILE - In this March 8, 2013 file photo, specialist Donald Civitanova, right, works at his post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. When it comes to the economy, presidents usually get the rap for downturns and reap benefits from upturns. But the main factors affecting the current recovery and the record activity in the stock market may have less to do with high-profile fiscal policy fights in Washington than they do in the decisions of the Federal Reserve Bank, which has pumped trillions of dollars into the economy, kept interests rates at near zero and pushed investors away from low-yield bonds to stocks. (AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Increased hiring, lower unemployment, stock market on the rise. Who gets the credit?

It's a hotly debated point in Washington, where political scorekeeping amounts to who gets blame and who gets praise.

Following Friday's strong jobs report ? 236,000 new jobs and unemployment dropping to a four-year low of 7.7 percent ? partisans hurriedly staked out turf.

"Woot woot!" tweeted former White House economic adviser Austan Goolsbee. "With 12 million still unemployed?" countered Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell's spokesman, Don Stewart.

When it comes to the economy, presidents usually get the rap for downturns and reap benefits from upturns. But the main factors affecting the current recovery and the record activity in the stock market may have less to do with high-profile fiscal policy fights in Washington than they do in the decisions of the Federal Reserve Bank, which has pumped trillions of dollars into the economy, kept interests rates at near zero and pushed investors away from low-yield bonds to stocks.

"From a policy standpoint, this is being driven primarily by the Fed," said Mark Vitner, an economist at Wells Fargo.

Yet to some, Washington deserves little recognition.

"Economies recover," said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, a former director of the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and now head of the American Action Forum, a conservative public policy institute. He acknowledged the Fed's monetary policies halted the initial free fall by the financial industry, but he said the economy has had to catch up to the Fed's low interest rates.

"It took a long time for the housing market for them to matter and for the auto market for them to matter," Holtz-Eakin said. "So I don't think that's a policy victory."

If Democrats are eager to give President Barack Obama acclaim for spurring the recovery with an infusion of spending in 2009, there are just as many Republicans who will claim his health care law and his regulatory regimes slowed it.

If there is common ground among economists, it is that the next step in fiscal policy should be focused on reining in long-term spending on entitlements programs, particularly Medicare, instead of continuing debates over short-term spending. But such a grand bargain has been elusive, caught in a fight over Obama's desire for more tax revenue and Republican opposition to more tax increases.

Obama and some Republicans are trying to move the process with phone calls and a dinner here and a luncheon there. Next week, the president plans to address Democrats and Republicans in the House and Senate in separate meetings.

Who gets credit does have political consequences. A strong economy would create more space for Obama to pursue other aspects of his second-term agenda. But it's an important question for the long term, too, because if the recovery is indeed accelerating it could validate the policies that the Obama administration and the Fed put in place.

Hiring has been boosted by high corporate profits and by strength in the housing, auto, manufacturing and construction sectors. Corporate profits are up. Still, it might be too soon to declare victory. While the recovery may be getting traction, the U.S. economy is not yet strong.

Economic growth is forecast to be a modest 2 percent this year. Unemployment, even as it drops, remains high nearly four years after the end of the Great Recession, with roughly 12 million people out of work.

Last year's early months also showed strong job gains only to see them fade by June.

March could prove to be a more telling indicator as the economy responds to a third month of higher Social Security taxes and as across-the-board spending cuts that kicked in March 1 begin to work their way through government programs. Economists say anticipation of the cuts already caused a downturn in the fourth quarter of last year as the defense industry slowed spending. The Congressional Budget Office and some private forecasters say the coming cuts could reduce economic growth by about half a percentage point and cost about 700,000 jobs by the end of 2014.

"My view is that aggressive monetary and fiscal policy response to the recovery has been a net positive," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics.

But referring to the automatic cuts, he said, "Fiscal policies have turned from a very powerful tailwind to a pretty significant head wind." And, he added, "the economy is going to be tested again in the next few months."

Obama has been distancing himself from the potential consequences of the automatic cuts, even though he signed the legislation that put them in place. Initially, they were designed to be so onerous that it would force all sides to work out a long-term deficit-reduction and debt-stabilization package. But that agreement never materialized.

If the recovery has been slow, White House officials argue, it is because Republicans have been unwilling to yield to Obama's demands for deficit reduction that combines tax increases and cuts in spending.

Vitner, the Wells Fargo economist, argues that if anyone deserves credit for the recovery, it is the American public and American businesses "for being able to tune out all the noise that's coming from Washington."

"It's remarkable," he said, "that in the face of so much political uncertainty we've been able to see the growth that we have."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-09-US-Economy-Who-Gets-Credit/id-96d22d6ec81d4d9d95b52dedcd0e8d0a

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Hagel optimistic on Afghan commando agreement

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks to members of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Airborne Division during his visit to Jalalabad Airfield in eastern Afghanistan, Saturday, March 9, 2013. It is Hagel's first official trip since being sworn-in as President Barack Obama's defense secretary. (AP Photo/Jason Reed, Pool)

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks to members of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Airborne Division during his visit to Jalalabad Airfield in eastern Afghanistan, Saturday, March 9, 2013. It is Hagel's first official trip since being sworn-in as President Barack Obama's defense secretary. (AP Photo/Jason Reed, Pool)

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel speaks to members of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division at Jalalabad Airfield in eastern Afghanistan, Saturday, March 9, 2013. It is Hagel's first official trip since being sworn-in as President Barack Obama's defense secretary. (AP Photo/Jason Reed, Pool)

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel poses for a picture with a member of the U.S. Army 101st Airborne Division during his visit to Jalalabad Airfield in eastern Afghanistan, Saturday, March 9, 2013. It is Hagel's first official trip since being sworn-in as President Barack Obama's defense secretary. (AP Photo/Jason Reed, Pool)

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel participates in the awarding of a Purple Heart to Sgt. Jeremyah Williams of the 426 Brigade Support Battalion, at Jalalabad Airfield in eastern Afghanistan, Saturday, March 9, 2013. It is Hagel's first official trip since being sworn-in as President Barack Obama's defense secretary. (AP Photo/Jason Reed, Pool)

(AP) ? U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said he believes U.S. officials will be able to work things out with Afghan leaders who have ordered special operations forces out of Wardak province, even though the deadline for their removal is Monday.

Hagel's comments came on his first trip to Afghanistan as defense secretary. His first morning in Kabul was marked with a suicide bombing outside the Afghan Defense Ministry that a Taliban spokesman said was a message to the visiting Pentagon chief. At least 19 people were killed in the bombing, and Hagel said he could hear the explosion from the safe location where he was at a meeting a distance away from the site.

"We're in a war zone, I've been in war. So, shouldn't be surprised when a bomb goes off or there's an explosion," Hagel said.

Hagel is expected to meet with Afghan President Hamid Karzai, who ordered the U.S. forces to leave the province just outside Kabul because of allegations that Afghans working with the commandos were involved in abusive behavior and torture.

"I feel confident that we'll be able to work this out," Hagel told reporters during a stop at Jalalabad Airfield, where he met with commanders and spoke to troops.

A senior defense official said that while it's not yet clear what will come out of Hagel's meeting with Karzai, the U.S. believes the door is not closed to resolving the issues.

A coalition official who works with special operations forces said Saturday that while the commandos are ready to pull out, their operations are continuing at this point, and there is some hope that an 11th hour negotiation can be reached that will allow them to stay. The official said the Afghan forces in Wardak are not yet ready to operate without the continued assistance and training from the U.S. Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the matter.

According to Brigadier Adam Findlay, NATO's deputy chief of staff of operations and a member of the Australian military, an option would be to replace the special operators with conventional military forces. Findlay said NATO officials have made provisional plans to withdraw the commandos if Karzai sticks to his edict after meetings this weekend with Hagel and the top U.S. military commander in Afghanistan, Gen. Joseph Dunford.

"What we've got to try to do is go to a middle ground that meets the president's frustration," but also keeps insurgents from using Wardak as a staging ground to launch attacks on the capital, Findlay told The Associated Press Saturday.

The order for the U.S. forces to leave comes despite worries that Wardak could be more vulnerable to the Taliban and insurgents. The official who works with commando forces said the U.S. does not want to create an opening for insurgents to more easily make their way to Kabul.

U.S. officials also insist they have seen no evidence that American forces were involved in the abuse of Afghan civilians.

"Each of those accusations has been answered, and we're not involved," said NATO's Findlay. "There are obviously atrocities occurring there, but it's not linked to us, and the kind of atrocities we are seeing, fingers cut off, other mutilations to bodies, is just not the way we work."

On Saturday Hagel flew to Bagram Air Field, about an hour outside the capitol, where he met with Maj. Gen. William Mayville, the U.S. commander of forces in the east. He also met with the commander of special operations forces in Afghanistan, Maj. Gen. Raymond Thomas.

There are about 10,000 U.S. and coalition special operations forces in the country training Afghan local police and commando units as well as battling insurgents.

Hagel ? who received two Purple Hearts after being wounded twice in Vietnam ? later handed out his first combat awards as Pentagon chief. He pinned Purple Hearts onto Sgt. Jeremyah Williams and PFC Harry Hikes, two 101st Airborne Division soldiers who were involved in a car bomb attack about 100 feet from their post at a base entry point. After the brief ceremony at Jalalabad Air Base, Williams said it was "an honor and a privilege" to receive his Purple Heart from Hagel.

Speaking to about 200 troops at the Jalalabad base, Hagel made it clear that he knows what they and their families are going through. He fielded several questions from soldiers worried about how the ongoing budget battle in Washington will affect their retirement and other benefits. He told them he is committed to insuring that their pay and benefits are not hurt, even though the $53 billion in cuts over the remainder of this fiscal year will "make our jobs more difficult."

Hagel's trip comes at a turning point in the conflict, as U.S. and NATO allies set their timetable for the withdrawal of combat troops and pressure mounts on the U.S.-led effort to train the Afghan forces. And he must manage the transition as the U.S. ramps up what will be a difficult and expensive extraction of equipment from the country even as Congress slashes billions of dollars from the defense budget.

He has said he wants to use the trip to better understand what's going on in Afghanistan and to get an assessment on the progress of the Afghan forces as they prepare to take over the security of their own country.

____

AP Intelligence Writer Kimberly Dozier contributed to this report from Kabul.

___

Follow Lolita C. Baldor on Twitter: http://twitter.com/lbaldor .

Follow Kimberly Dozier on Twitter: http://twitter.com/KimberlyDozier

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-09-AS-Hagel-Afghanistan/id-3a366255ac0f42efbe110e589728b238

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Saturday, March 9, 2013

Job growth beats expectations, rate at 7.7%

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. employers stepped up hiring in February, adding a greater-than-expected 236,000 workers to their payrolls and helping to push the jobless rate to a four year-low in a bright signal on the economy's health.

The data from the Labor Department on Friday showed the economy gaining traction despite the blow from higher taxes and deep government spending cuts.

"This was a strong number and one of those rare cases where we were firing on all cylinders," said Jacob Oubina, a senior U.S. economist at RBC Capital Markets in New York.

The jobless rate fell to 7.7 percent, the lowest since December 2008, from 7.9 percent in January. The decline reflected both gains in employment and people leaving the labor force.

The upbeat report, which showed broad-based job gains, was another sign of the economy's fundamental health, and it added fuel to a rally in U.S. stock markets that had already propelled the Dow Jones industrial average to record highs.

At the same time, the dollar strengthened and the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note rose sharply.

Economists had expected a gain of just 160,000 jobs. Nonetheless, the data was not so strong as to deter the Federal Reserve in its efforts to foster even faster economic growth by buying bonds, a policy known as quantitative easing.

"We're in a sweet spot of sorts with the data showing a more robust recovery, which supports stocks and the dollar, yet not quite strong enough to declare an end to quantitative easing," said Omer Esiner, chief market analyst at Commonwealth Foreign Exchange in Washington.

Although December and January's employment data was revised to show 15,000 fewer jobs added than previously reported, details of the report were solid, with construction adding the most jobs since March 2007 and increased hours for all workers.

Job gains in February were well above the 195,000 monthly average for the three months through January.

FED STILL IN PLAY

Despite the pick up in hiring, the pace of gains is still below the roughly 250,000 jobs per month that economists say is needed on a sustained basis to significantly reduce unemployment.

With fiscal policy tightening, Fed officials are likely to remain leery of withdrawing their support for the economy too soon. A 2 percent payroll tax cut ended and tax rates went up for wealthy Americans on January 1. In addition, $85 billion in federal budget cuts that could slice as much as 0.6 percentage point from growth this year started on March 1.

The central bank is buying $85 billion in bonds per month and has said it would keep up asset purchases until it sees a substantial improvement in the labor market outlook.

Since the 2007-09 recession ended, the economy has struggled to grow above a 2 percent annual pace. In the fourth quarter, output barely expanded.

In February, the construction employment increased by 48,000 jobs after rising by 25,000 in January.

A decisive turnaround in the housing market and rebuilding on the East Coast after the destruction by Superstorm Sandy in late October is boosting jobs at construction sites.

Manufacturers stepped up hiring in February, although the pace was still well below early last year because of lackluster domestic demand and cooling growth overseas. Factory jobs increased 14,000 last month after rising 12,000 in January.

Retail employment increased 23,700 jobs, rising for an eighth straight month, and defying a recent slowdown in sales.

Healthcare and social assistance saw another month of solid job gains. The same was the case for leisure and hospitality.

Government continued to shed jobs, with payrolls dropping 10,000 last month after falling 21,000 in January.

The sustained steady job gains are lending some stability to wages. Average hourly earnings rose four cents last month. That was the fourth straight month of gains in hourly earnings.

They increased 2.1 percent in the 12 months through February after a similar advance in January.

The length of the average workweek increased to 34.5 hours from 34.4 hours in January.

(Reporting By Lucia Mutikani; Editing by Neil Stempleman and Tim Ahmann)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/steady-job-gains-seen-bolstering-economy-050326902--business.html

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A funeral, and a swearing in, for Venezuela

A screen showing a video image of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez plays in front of the site where Chavez's funeral ceremony will take place as people gather outside the military academy in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, March 8, 2013. Friday's funeral promises to be a final turn on the world stage for Chavez after 14 years in power, though in some ways the former paratrooper is not going anywhere: Venezuela announced Thursday that it would embalm his body and put it on permanent display. Chavez died on March 5 after a nearly two-year bout with cancer. He was 58. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

A screen showing a video image of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez plays in front of the site where Chavez's funeral ceremony will take place as people gather outside the military academy in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, March 8, 2013. Friday's funeral promises to be a final turn on the world stage for Chavez after 14 years in power, though in some ways the former paratrooper is not going anywhere: Venezuela announced Thursday that it would embalm his body and put it on permanent display. Chavez died on March 5 after a nearly two-year bout with cancer. He was 58. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

People gather outside the military academy where the funeral ceremony for Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez will take place in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, March 8, 2013. Friday's funeral promises to be a final turn on the world stage for Chavez after 14 years in power, though in some ways the former paratrooper is not going anywhere: Venezuela announced Thursday that it would embalm his body and put it on permanent display. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

In this photo released by Miraflores Press Office, Cuba's President Raul Castro salutes as he stands next to the coffin containing the remains of Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez during his wake at a military academy where his body will lie in state until his funeral in in state in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, March 7, 2013. Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela's acting president, said Chavez's remains will be put on permanent display at the Museum of the Revolution, close to the presidential palace where Chavez ruled for 14 years. A state funeral for Chavez attended by some 33 heads of government is scheduled to begin Friday morning. At right is Chavez's daughter Rosa Virginia Chavez and left is Vice-President Nicolas Maduro.(AP Photo/Miraflores Press Office)

A supporter of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez wears a sticker with an image of him as she waits in line outside the military academy to see the body of Chavez lying in state in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, March 7, 2013. While Venezuela remains deeply divided over the country's future, the multitudes who reached the president's coffin were united in grief and admiration for a man many considered a father figure. Chavez died on March 5 after a nearly two-year bout with cancer. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Military police carry a woman who fainted while waiting in line to see the body of Venezuela's late President Hugo Chavez lying in state at the military academy in Caracas, Thursday, March 7, 2013. While Venezuela remains deeply divided over the country's future, the multitudes weeping and crossing themselves as they reached the president's coffin early Thursday were united in grief and admiration for a man many considered a father figure. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

(AP) ? With leaders from five continents on hand, Venezuela prepared for a day of distinctly different ceremonies ? first the formal state funeral of Hugo Chavez, then the controversial swearing-in of his anointed interim successor, who the opposition charges has no constitutional right to the job.

Friday's funeral at the military academy where Chavez has been lying in state promises to be a final turn on the world stage for the former paratrooper after 14 tumultuous years at Venezuela's helm, though in some ways he is not going anywhere: Venezuela announced Thursday that it would embalm Chavez's body and put it on permanent display.

Presidents and other dignitaries began arriving by mid-morning for the ceremony, and were still streaming in after the funeral's scheduled 11 a.m. start, with no clear sign when the event might begin.

The Venezuelan government says more than 30 heads of state are expected to attend, from Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Cuba's Raul Castro, to the leaders of Mexico, Chile and Brazil.

U.S. Rep. Gregory Meeks, a New York Democrat, and former Rep. William Delahunt, a Democrat from Massachusetts, represented the United States, which Chavez often portrayed as a great global evil even as he sent the country billions of dollars in oil each year. Other American VIPs were also expected to be in attendance.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson tweeted that he would be there, and Hollywood star Sean Penn has also said he would attend.

"It is a great pain for us because we have lost a friend," Ahmadinejad said upon his arrival at the airport overnight. "I feel like I have lost myself, but I am sure that he still lives. Chavez will never die. His spirit and soul live on in each of our hearts."

Outside the academy, the line to see Chavez's body stretched 1 ? miles (2 kilometers). Progress for those already waiting since the early hours was halted for the funeral, with some expressing impatience.

Government officials handed out water, and street vendors sold paper replicas of the presidential sash, which many people in the line slipped over their shoulder.

Elsewhere, the normally traffic-choked streets of Caracas were empty, with schools and many businesses shuttered. The government also prohibited alcohol sales. Many Venezuelans, particularly Chavez supporters, said they were caught up in the pomp and circumstance of the past few days, and flattered to be the subject of world's attention.

"This is historic ...I have never seen anything like it," said Edila Ojeda, a 57-year-old janitor. "He was a world leader recognized internationally. I am speechless. It is impressive."

Others said they were put off by what they saw as excess, particularly the plan to put Chavez's body on permanent display.

"He was a president, and I would say not a good one. Not a hero," said Gloria Ocampos, a retired office manager. "He should be buried, just like any other president. They are treating him like he was the father of the country ... It's crazy."

The government has given almost no details about the funeral, and has told the national and international media there will be no access, a measure of the strict control with which Chavez and his top lieutenants have controlled the country for years. On Thursday, Foreign Minister Elias Jaua appealed to local media not to publish critical political analyses "which could be a provocation for a pained people."

Following the funeral, National Assembly Speaker Diosdado Cabello was to swear in Vice President Nicolas Maduro as interim president, as Chavez desired, despite complaints by the opposition that Cabello is the rightful holder of that post under the constitution.

Cabello announced that the swearing-in will be held at the same military academy complex where Chavez's body is lying in state. Normally, presidents in Venezuela are sworn in at the National Assembly.

The constitution says elections must be held within 30 days of Chavez's March 5 death, though the government has not set a date. Maduro has announced he will be the candidate of Chavez's ruling socialist party against likely opposition candidate Henrique Capriles, and many expect him to ride the wave of emotion following Chavez's death to victory.

Friday's funeral promises a climax to three days of ceremony that have followed Chavez's death, and Venezuelan media were filled with commentary about the outsized place the late leader held on the world stage. Jaua said countries from Cuba to China to Iran had declared days of national mourning for Chavez, highly unusual for the leader of another country.

For many Chavez supporters, and the political insiders he left behind, the task ahead will be continuing the president's political movement beyond his death.

Maduro announced Thursday that the late president's body will be embalmed and forever displayed inside a glass tomb at a military museum not far from the presidential palace from which he ruled. Analysts said the perpetual display was meant to keep Chavez's power structure alive, long after his death at age 58.

"Nicolas Maduro and his government are building an aura that makes it very difficult, I would say, that in the future, the opposition tries to promote an alternative to the government," said Oscar Valles, a political analyst at the Metropolitan University in Caracas.

Heart-broken supporters were clearly in favor of the effort.

"We must think about the future and how we are going to guarantee the continuity of the revolution," said Rolando Tarazon, a street vendor who was waiting with his wife to see Chavez's body lying in state at the military academy late Thursday.

Chavez was particularly beloved by the poor, whose lot he championed. But critics say he left his successors a monumental task, with inflation of more than 20 percent a year, and public debt quadrupling to more than $100 billion. Crime is endemic and Chavez's chaotic management style has been blamed for a breakdown in infrastructure, particularly in the key oil industry.

Yet for some lined up to see Chavez's body early Friday, the road ahead meant continuing the late leader's legacy.

"Chavez, we swear to you, we'll vote for Maduro!" they chanted.

___

Associated Press writers Fabiola Sanchez, Frank Bajak and Paul Haven contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-03-08-Venezuela-Chavez/id-cba99a6503df46e0bac4d5f96d00cc54

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Friday, March 8, 2013

James O'Keefe Settles on $100,000 Payment to Smeared ACORN Employee (Little green footballs)

Share With Friends: Share on FacebookTweet ThisPost to Google-BuzzSend on GmailPost to Linked-InSubscribe to This Feed | Rss To Twitter | Politics - Top Stories News, News Feeds and News via Feedzilla.

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List of new Tunisia cabinet | Morocco World News

TUNIS, March 8, 2013 (AFP)

Premier-designate Ali Larayedh unveiled on?Friday a new government for Tunisia, with independents given key posts in a?clear concession by his Islamist Ennahda party.

The following is the line-up of the new cabinet, which must still be?ratified by parliament.

Prime Minister: Ali Larayedh (Ennahda)

Government Minister for Political Affairs: Noureddine Bhiri (Ennahda)

Government Minister for Economic Affairs: Ridha Saidi (Ennahda)

Governance and Anti-Corruption Affairs Minister: Abderrahmane Ladgham?(Ettakatol)

Interior Minister: Lotfi Ben Jeddou (independent)

Foreign Minister: Othmane Jarandi (independent)

Defence Minister: Rachid Sabagh (independent)

Justice Minister: Nadhir Ben Ammou (independent)

Finance Minister: Ilyes Fakhfakh (Ettakatol)

Tourism Minister: Jamel Ghamra (independent)

Labour Minister: Naoufel Jammeli (independent)

Industry Minister: Mehdi Jomaa (independent)

Commerce Minister: Abdelwaheb Maatar (Congress for the Republic)

Transport Minister: Abdelkarim Harouni (Ennahda)

Communications and Technology Minister: Mongi Marzouk (independent)

Environment Minister: Mohamed Salmene (independent)

International Cooperation and Development Minister: Lamine Doghri?(independent)

State Property Minister: Slim Ben Hmidane (Congress for the Republic)

Agriculture Minister: Mohamed Ben Salem (Ennahda)

Social Affairs Minister: Khalil Zaouia (Ettakatol)

Health Minister: Abdelatif Mekki (Ennahda)

Youth and Sports Minister: Tarek Dhiab (independent)

Culture Minister: Mehdi Mabrouk (independent)

Family and Women Affairs Minister: Sihem Badi (Congress for the Republic)

Higher Education Minister: Moncef Ben Salem (Ennahda)

Education Minister: Salem Labyadh (independent)

Religious Affairs Minister: Nourredine El Khadmi (independent)

Human Rights Minister: Samir Dilou (Ennahda)

In addition there are 10 ministers of state.

Source: http://www.moroccoworldnews.com/2013/03/81491/list-of-new-tunisia-cabinet/

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Thursday, March 7, 2013

Football: CU Buffs' Paul Richardson raring to go

Paul Richardson missed all of last season with a knee injury. ( CLIFF GRASSMICK )

The best wide receiver on the Colorado football team this spring might be the guy coaching the position. Troy Walters has made quite an impression on the young men he now leads since being hired away from North Carolina State in January.

Junior Paul Richardson said Walters keeps threatening to bring the Biletnikoff Award he won as a wideout at Stanford in 1999 to the Dal Ward Center to show off. Richardson joked that Walters hasn't followed through on the threat because the award is too heavy for Walters to carry.

They already seem to have a good relationship, which should aid Richardson in his journey to reclaim his starring role in the CU offense a year after a torn knee ligament ended his 2012 season in spring drills.

"Everything he coaches us to do, he can do it as well," Richardson said. "He shows us things. He still has it. He hasn't lost a step. I respect him as a coach. I feel when you respect your position coach a lot, it makes you compete better as an athlete."

Richardson returns to the field for the start of spring practices Thursday feeling nearly 100 percent recovered from his injury. He estimates he is 99 percent of the way back. Why 99 percent? He believes he will only get that final one percent back when he is on the field making plays against Colorado State in the 2013 season opener.

He insists he doesn't feel any pressure returning to a team that missed him badly last season.

"I'm looking forward to all the expectations. I really don't feel any pressure, ever. I live for big moments. I live to play up to expectations and I live to show everybody that it's not hype. I'm looking forward to it. I'm ready to have fun. I'm all smiles right now."

Richardson has never been one to go easy on himself and he's not about to start now just because he hasn't been involved in full contact football for nearly a year. He has set his hurdles high for 2013. He wants to see what kind of statistics he can produce in a full season on the field after playing two partial seasons in 2010 and 2011.

He didn't become a primary option in the CU offense and begin earning regular playing time in 2010 until nearly halfway through that season and he suffered a knee injury in 2011 that led coaches to use him as a decoy for half the year. He's eager to play in the new pistol offense, which he expects will give him plenty of opportunities to have the ball in his hands in space.

He showed what can happen when that occurs in a 2011 game against Cal when he caught 11 passes for 284 yards and two touchdowns.

"We always worry about: Is the defense going to try to double or triple cover me, safety over the top, press with the corner and drag out the linebacker, but I think I've been fortunate to have seen pretty much every coverage that can be thrown at me," he said. "I can't take all that attention without one of my other receivers being successful. So if I'm drawing that much attention and my other receivers are being successful, as a group we're winning. I'm not selfish at all. As long as we're being productive as a receiving corps, I'm all for it."

Richardson and other CU receivers have plenty of reason to be excited. The offense coach Mike MacIntyre and offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren will be installing produced 4,325 passing yards and 35 touchdown passes last season at San Jose State.

Safe to say that by the end of next fall, Richardson hopes to be considered the best receiver on the team instead of his position coach. He also wouldn't mind having a Biletnikoff Award of his own. Southern Cal receiver Marqise Lee won the award last season with 112 catches and 14 touchdown receptions.

If Richardson came close to those numbers, he would likely set CU records for receptions, receiving yards and touchdown catches in a single season. But all of that is getting way ahead of the game. Richardson said his first concern above all is helping his team win more games.

Call him crazy, but he says with confidence that the Buffs could be one of the great turnaround stories in college football next fall. He wholeheartedly believes his team is capable of going from 1-11 to a bowl game.

"I just feel like we're a strong group," he said. "We've had a lot of injuries and coaching situations, losing players, being able to get younger players more experience, offensively not being able to do what we wanted to do in the past because we didn't have the personnel to do it due to injuries and guys not being mature enough to handle those roles yet.

"That's why I have so much confidence in our group now. We're going to have guys with experience. We're going to have guys back from injury and I expect nothing less than .500. ... I think us going into fall healthy, we're going to turn heads. People are going to have to respect CU football again."

Of course a big part of Richardson's personal and team goals becoming reality requires better decision making and production from the quarterback position. Six players begin spring ball vying for the right to throw passes to Richardson and fellow wide receivers such as Nelson Spruce, Tyler McCulloch, Gerald Thomas, Jeffrey Thomas and Keenan Canty.

If Richardson views any of the six quarterbacks as a favorite to lock down the job, he isn't saying who that is. He says he believes at least one man in the group will emerge by the end of spring and he will be eager to develop chemistry with the top quarterbacks on the depth chart throughout the summer.

"I believe that we'll have a quarterback soon. I don't think it's going to take much time throughout the spring to see who is going to be the quarterback and then that is going to create more competition."

Richardson's focus this spring will be on learning the system as best he can, developing his skills, some of which are likely to be rusty, and providing leadership. It's not necessarily his goal to become a team captain. He said he can still be a leader regardless, but he would be honored wear the C on his uniform if he is asked.

"I feel like the things that I've done speak for themselves and I just feel like my work ethic, my passion and what I bring to practice, what I bring to workouts and what I bring to games that's definitely captain worthy," he said. "You do have those guys that can yell a lot. You have those guys that can walk around and look mean and you've got guys who can do things here and there, but that doesn't make them a captain.

"If you're teammates can't feed off your energy, if your teammates can't count on you in crunch time, if your teammates don't feel like the way you play sets the bar or sets an example, they're not going to respect you as a captain. I feel like I've earned my team's respect as a captain, but even if I don't become captain, I'll still play hard, I'll still practice hard and I'm still going to compete all day long."

Follow Kyle on Twitter: @KyleRingo

CU spring football practice schedule

Today -- 3:45-6:15 p.m.

Friday -- 3:45-6:15 p.m.

March 12 -- 3:45-6:15 p.m.

March 14 -- 3:45-6:15 p.m.

March 15 -- Scrimmage, 4 p.m.

March 19 -- 3:45-6:15 p.m.

March 21 -- 3:45-6:15 p.m.

March 22 -- Scrimmage, 4 p.m.

April 2 -- 3:45-6:15 p.m.

April 4 -- 3:45-6:15 p.m.

April 5 -- Scrimmage, 4 p.m.

April 9 -- 3:45-6:15 p.m.

April 11 -- 3:45-6:15 p.m.

April 13 -- Spring game, Folsom Field, 10:30 a.m., Pac-12 Network, KOA (850 AM)

April 16 -- Practice 3:30-5 p.m.

All practices are open to the public.

Source: http://www.buffzone.com/ci_22733017/football-cu-buffs-paul-richardson-raring-go?source=rss_viewed

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BRICs still lag in annual cloud computing scorecard

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Brazil, Russia, India and China still lag far behind developed countries in policies considered critical for the future of cloud computing, but each made some progress over the past year, a U.S. industry group said on Thursday.

The Business Software Alliance, which represents U.S. industry heavyweights such as Microsoft Corp, said the BRIC nations all came in at the bottom half of 24 countries surveyed in its second annual cloud computing report.

Brazil moved from final position to 22nd with a tally of 44.1 out of a possible 100 points.

China, India and Russia each also rose two slots with scores of 51.5, 53.1 and 59.1, respectively.

Cloud computing refers to providing software, storage, computing power and other services to customers from remote data centers over the Web.

Demand for cloud-based software is rising rapidly because the approach allows companies to start using new programs faster and at lower cost than traditional products that are installed at a customer's own data center.

"The cloud is really the hot sector of IT right now," and U.S. companies have a big interest in countries harmonizing policies instead of chopping the cloud into pieces, said Robert Holleyman, president of the Business Software Alliance.

At the same time, the aggregation of massive amounts of data in large data centers "creates new and highly tempting targets" for cyber attacks, making it vital that both law enforcement officials and cloud providers have adequate tools to fight the intrusions, the BSA report said.

"Australia, France, Germany, and Japan score extremely highly in the cybercrime section. Canada, China, (South) Korea, Russia, and Vietnam score poorly. The country that shows the most improvement is Brazil, which finally passed cybercrime laws after a long campaign," the report said.

The 24 countries included in the survey represent 80 percent of the global information and communications technology industry. They were assessed in seven areas, including data privacy, security, free trade, intellectual property protection, infrastructure and support for industry-led standards to promote smooth data flows.

China got a small boost in this year's rating for introducing new data privacy laws, while Russia got credit for reforms made as a result of its entry into the World Trade Organization. India's improved score reflects changes to its copyright laws to bring them in line with international standards, the report said.

Japan came in first again with 84.1 points. It was followed closely by other developed countries, including Australia, the United States, Germany, Singapore, France, Britain and South Korea, which all scored in the upper 70s.

Singapore jumped to fifth place, from tenth last year, after it passed a new data privacy law praised by BSA for its "light touch" and balanced approach.

"They are really taking on digital trade as another way of putting a stake in the ground and to say they are going to be global hub of business," Holleyman said.

The United States finished second in the survey, up from third in the inaugural report, while Germany, France and Britain each slipped a notch and Italy fell four spots.

Holleyman said the European Union was working on data protection regulations that could potentially make it harder to move data across its borders.

"If that happens I think you can continue to see further sliding by the major European countries," Holleyman said.

Talks on a U.S.-EU free trade agreement are expected to start by June, he said.

Cross-border data flows are already a focus in talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a proposed regional free trade agreement between the United States and ten other countries in the Asia-Pacific slated for conclusion this year.

One of the TPP countries, Vietnam, finished last in this year's cloud computing scorecard, with a tally of 40.1 points.

Vietnam, Indonesia, China and India have pursued policies that threaten to divide the cloud, either by trying "to wall themselves off or by imposing local requirements that are antithetical to the very underpinning of cloud computing," Holleyman said.

(Editing by Bernadette Baum)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/brics-still-lag-annual-cloud-computing-scorecard-051450838.html

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