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Monday, 14 November 2011
Kindle Fire Adds Hulu Plus and ESPN to Its App Bounty [Amazon]
Sunday, 13 November 2011
AP source: Papelbon, Phillies agree at $50 million (AP)
PHILADELPHIA ? Jonathan Papelbon can do his Irish Jig on Broad Street.
A person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press that the Philadelphia Phillies and Papelbon have agreed to a $50 million, four-year contract that's the largest ever for a reliever. The person spoke on condition of anonymity Friday because the deal had not yet been announced and is subject to Papelbon passing a physical.
Papelbon, who turns 30 on Nov. 23, had 219 saves over seven seasons with the Boston Red Sox, including 31 this year, when he made $12 million. He will replace Ryan Madson, who also is a free agent.
B.J. Ryan's $47 million, five-year contract with Toronto signed before the 2006 season had been the largest for a reliever.
Madson's agent, Scott Boras, and Phillies general manager Ruben Amaro Jr. were close to a $44 million, four-year deal on Monday. But Amaro told Boras the following day that team president Dave Montgomery wouldn't approve the deal. That offer included a vesting option that would have taken the contract to $57 million over five years.
The Phillies have long been opposed to giving pitchers contracts beyond three years. They made an exception last year when they signed left-hander Cliff Lee to a $120 million, five-year deal.
The right-handed Papelbon, a four-time All-Star, helped the Red Sox to the 2007 World Series title. He donned a kilt and danced his trademark Irish jig at the championship celebration.
Papelbon can do whatever he likes if he can help the Phillies secure another World Series title. The five-time NL East champions are seeking their second Series victory since 2008. They lost in the World Series to the New York Yankees in 2009, were eliminated in the NLCS in 2010 and got knocked out in the NL division series this year.
Madson was outstanding in his first year as the team's closer, converting 32 of 34 chances. He was Brad Lidge's setup man for the previous three years, and spent his first nine seasons in Philadelphia. Madson was 47-30 with a 3.59 ERA and 52 saves in 491 career games, including 18 starts.
Papelbon, a starter in the minor leagues, has converted 88.3 percent of his save opportunities to go with a 23-19 record and a 2.33 ERA in 396 career appearances. He had a career-high 41 saves in 2008.
Signing a closer and re-signing former NL MVP Jimmy Rollins were Philadelphia's top two offseason priorities. Rollins, a three-time All-Star shortstop, wants to return to the Phillies and the team wants to bring him back at the right price.
Papelbon is a Type A free agent, meaning the Phillies will have to forfeit their first draft pick in next year's amateur draft to Boston.
Papelbon's agreement was first reported by CSNPhilly.com.
__
AP Sports Writer Ronald Blum in New York contributed to this report.
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Australia poised to fight big tobacco in courts (AP)
CANBERRA, Australia ? The Australian government said Thursday it is ready to fight big tobacco companies in court to enact the world's toughest laws on cigarette promotion ? rules that would ban logos and other advertising on cigarette packs.
The Senate passed in an amended form legislation on Thursday that would prohibit tobacco companies from displaying their distinctive colors, brand designs and logos on cigarette packs in a bid to make smoking less attractive to the young. The legislation is expected to become law with the House of Representatives accepting the amendment later this month.
Cigarettes would be sold in drab, olive green packs, with brand names dwarfed by health warnings and graphic images of smoking's consequences.
The government said that the laws will come into force in December 2012.
Tobacco giants argue that the move illegally diminishes the value of their trademarks. They have threatened a court battle for billions of dollars in compensation.
Health Minister Nicola Roxon said her government was "determined to take away the last method of advertising" cigarettes in Australia.
"We're not going to be bullied into not taking this action just because tobacco companies say they might fight us in the courts," she told reporters. "We're ready for that if they do take legal action."
British American Tobacco Australia Ltd., the Australian market leader, on Thursday warned it will soon challenge the law in the Australian High Court, and claimed the government was on "shaky legal ground."
"No other country in the world has implemented plain packaging and there are many good reasons for that," spokesman Scott McIntyre said in a statement.
Australia is a relatively small tobacco market, where the rate of smokers is 17 percent and falling, compared with around 20 percent of American adults. But tobacco companies fear that if Australia's law stands, countries with more lucrative and growing markets could adopt the same strategy.
The warnings and often gruesome, full-color images of the consequences of smoking, such as mouth cancer and gangrenous toes, would cover 75 percent of the packs' front. Graphic health warnings currently cover only 30 percent.
Offenders would face fines of up to 1.1 million Australian dollars ($1.2 million) for a company and AU$220,000 for an individual. Australia already bans advertising at the point of sale.
Hong Kong-based Philip Morris Asia Limited, which owns the Australian affiliate Philip Morris Limited, filed a notice of claim against the government in an Australian court in June arguing that the legislation violates a bilateral investment treaty between Australia and Hong Kong.
Philip Morris says the treaty protects companies' property, including intellectual property such as trademarks. It says plain packaging severely diminishes the value of the company's trademark.
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Saturday, 12 November 2011
Italy's debt crisis: Why everyone is panicking (The Week)
New York ? Fears that Italy will not be able to pay its creditors raises fears of another global economic meltdown
World financial markets erupted in turmoil this week, as fears mounted that Italy could default on its massive government debt. The crisis has already cost Italy's controversial prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, his job. But why is it scaring people across Europe, and even here in the U.S.? Here, a brief guide:
Is Italy really in such bad shape?
In a word, yes. The country has financed years of lavish social benefits by borrowing and borrowing, piling up $2.6 trillion in sovereign debt. That's 130 percent of the country's gross domestic product of $2 trillion ? way beyond what economists say any country can manage for long. As investors lose faith that Italy's leaders will ever get their finances in order, Italy is having to offer a higher and higher interest rate on its bonds just to borrow enough money to get by. On Wednesday, that rate spiked above 7 percent, the tipping point at which economists say a country's debt becomes unsustainable. Shortly after Greece, Portugal, and the Irish Republic hit that level, they had to be bailed out.
Why don't European leaders just rescue Italy, too?
It's too big to bail out. It's basically "Greece on steroids," says Kevin Drum at Mother Jones. Italy's economy is the eighth largest in the world, more than six times larger than Greece's. And Italy owes its creditors more than Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain combined owe. It would take nearly $1 trillion to rescue Italy, Capital Economics' John Higgins tells Forbes, but the European Financial Stability Facility ? the EU's bailout fund ? has as little as $340 billion left in it.
Can Italian leaders clean up their own act?
Maybe, but it might be too late. Berlusconi's final act was putting together an austerity plan that would slash the country's budget deficit from 3.6 percent of GDP to 2 percent, which is quite low. Take out the interest on its debt, and Italy already runs a surplus. But Italy has let its total debt grow so large that it will have to borrow 300 billion euros ? "a massive 19 percent of GDP" ? in private capital markets just to pay off bonds that mature in 2012. "No one wants to lend to a country when that country would use the loan to pay the interest on previous loans," says Robert Peston at BBC News, "That's throwing good money after bad."
What happens if Italy defaults?
Many people fear that Italy's collapse could send borrowing costs spiralling higher across Europe, spreading the crisis to other big economies, such as France. To pay off its debts, Italy might even abandon the euro and pay its creditors with a new domestic currency, at a one-to-one exchange. "The currency would then 'float' (i.e., sink)," says The Economist, and the magnitude of its drop in value would determine how much Italy's default would cost the banks and other investors that lent it euros. The losses could cripple Europe's financial system and spark runs on banks in Italy, then in other debt-burdened countries. Businesses would go under. The chaos could "send shockwaves around the world," says Michael Schuman at TIME, "that would rival, even possibly exceed, the ones we saw extend from Wall Street in 2008."
Sources: CNBC, BBC News, Mother Jones, MarketWatch,?Forbes, The Economist, TIME
View this article on TheWeek.com
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Friday, 11 November 2011
Church can be liable for abuse by priests, rules judge
THE Catholic Church and senior bishops can be held legally responsible for sexual abuse by priests, the High Court in Britain has ruled in a landmark judgment.
Mr Justice MacDuff gave a decision in favour of a 47-year-old woman who claims that she was sexually assaulted as a child by the late Fr Wilfred Baldwin, a priest of the Portsmouth diocese, at a Hampshire children's home run by an order of nuns.
Giving his decision on a preliminary issue in her damages action, he ruled that the church "may be vicariously liable''.
The Portsmouth Roman Catholic Diocesan Trust was given leave to appeal.
Lord Faulks, for the trust, said that the Catholic Church "takes sexual abuse extremely seriously and it is entirely concerned to eradicate it".
During the hearing of the issue in July, the judge was told by Elizabeth-Anne Gumbel, representing the woman at the centre of the abuse claim, that the issue was whether the church "can ever be vicariously liable in any situation for any tort at all".
Lawyers for the alleged victim said it was the first time a court had been asked to rule on whether the "relationship between a Catholic priest and his bishop is akin to an employment relationship".
Ms Gumbel told the judge the preliminary issue was "essentially whether Fr Baldwin should be treated as having been in the position of an employee" of the trustees of the Portsmouth Roman Catholic Diocesan Trust.
She said: "The preliminary issue is intended to determine an issue of wide general importance in respect of claims against the Catholic Church.
"That is whether any priest carrying out his work as a Roman Catholic priest is in a position akin to an employee for the purposes of imposing vicarious liability on the relevant diocesan trustees or bishop of the Roman Catholic diocese."
If the answer was "yes", then the next issue would be whether the priest was carrying out the actions complained of in circumstances which were "closely connected" with his role and/or work as a priest.
If the answer was "no", there would be "no circumstances where the Roman Catholic Church was liable for the actions of one of its priests."
In his written ruling, Mr Justice MacDuff made clear that it had been agreed for the purposes of the litigation that the trustees of the Portsmouth Roman Catholic Diocesan Trust "stood in the place of the Bishop of Portsmouth at the material time".
He said: "The issue is whether the diocesan bishop should be held vicariously liable for the torts of the priest of his diocese."
The claimant, who is seeking damages for personal injury, alleges that she was sexually abused and raped by Fr Baldwin, who died in 2006, when she was resident at the Firs Children's Home in Waterlooville, Hampshire, between May 1970 and May 1972.
Mr Justice MacDuff said the issue "turns upon the relationship between Fr Baldwin and the defendant (the trust)".
He said: "The defendant contends that Fr Baldwin was not its employee, nor was the relationship 'akin to employment' and that vicarious liability cannot attach to the relationship which exists between them."
Contract
In the preliminary issue, he only had to decide "whether the nature of the relationship (between Fr Baldwin and the defendants) is one to which vicarious liability may -- I emphasise may -- attach".
The differences from a contract of employment were that there was "no real element of control or supervision, no wages, no formal contract and so on".
He added: "But are those differences such that the defendants should not be made responsible for the tortious acts of the priest acting within the course of his ministry?
"There are, it seems to me, crucial features which should be recognised. Fr Baldwin was appointed by and on behalf of the defendants.
"He was so appointed in order to do their work; to undertake the ministry on behalf of the defendants for the benefit of the church."
The judge added: "It was they who appointed him to the position of trust which (if the allegations be proved) he so abused." (? Daily Telegraph, London)
Irish Independent
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Thursday, 27 October 2011
World stocks mixed ahead of Europe plan (AP)
TOKYO ? World stock markets were mixed Tuesday as investors waited for European leaders to unveil a plan to tackle the continent's ongoing debt crisis.
European leaders have said they made progress at a weekend summit and plan to unveil comprehensive plans for containing the crisis by Wednesday.
Among measures, the 17-nation eurozone is set to shore up its bailout fund, and German lawmakers said the plan could boost the fund's lending capacity to more than euro1 trillion ($1.39 trillion).
European stocks rose modestly in early trading. Britain's FTSE 100 was less than 0.1 percent higher at 5,550.49. Germany's DAX fell 0.4 percent higher at 6,033.09. France's CAC-40 slipped 0.5 percent to 3,204.59. Wall Street headed for a lower opening, with Dow Jones Industrial Futures up less than 0.1 percent to 11,819 and S&P 500 futures sliding less than 0.1 percent to 1,246.30.
Asian shares ended mostly higher after a skittish day of trading. Japan's Nikkei 225 index closed 0.9 percent lower at 8,762.31, with exporters struggling in the face of a strong yen. The dollar hovered near the 76-yen line, just above a new record low of 75.78 yen hit before the weekend.
Finance Minister Jun Azumi said Japan would take measures to slow the yen's acceleration if necessary, firing a shot at speculators who may be adding to the volatility.
The yen's sharp climb "does not reflect the real economy, and we have to believe that this is a speculative move," Azumi told reporters, according to Kyodo News agency. "If this goes further, then we will take decisive action."
His comments did little to stem selling in export-reliant sectors like high-tech and autos, which are now also struggling with lost production to the flooding in Thailand. Toyota Motor Corp. fell 1.7 percent, and Canon Inc. was down 1.8 percent.
Credit Suisse describes the eurozone as "inching forward" and that "there are as many questions as answers." But for any plan to be effective in the long term, it says, leaders must spur growth in Europe.
"At a minimum, we believe the crisis in the periphery will not end until there are current account surpluses... or clearly cheap currencies," the Credit Suisse report said. "We believe that the (European Central Bank) has to expand its balance sheet to weaken the euro and thereby create growth."
Elsewhere, South Korea's Kospi lost 0.5 percent to 1,888.65, while Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose 1.1 percent to 18,968.20. Benchmarks in mainland China, India, Taiwan, Singapore, and New Zealand also advanced.
Thailand's SET index was 2.8 percent higher at 941.93, even though the country is being battered by its worst flood in decades. Ratings agency Moody's says it does not expect the floods ? the worst to hit Thailand in decades ? to affect its creditworthiness.
"The government will have ample fiscal space to absorb flood-related costs without prompting a permanent deterioration in its debt ratios," Moody's said in a report.
Overnight in New York, the Dow Jones industrial average finished with a gain of 104.83 points, or 0.9 percent, at 11,913.62.
The broader Standard & Poor's 500 index rose to 1,254.19, marking the highest close for the S&P 500 since Aug. 3, just as Washington was resolving a showdown over raising the country's borrowing limit.
In currencies, the dollar rose slightly to 76.12 yen from 76.07 yen late Monday in New York. The euro stood at $1.3909 from $1.3951.
Benchmark crude for December delivery was up $1.62 cents at $92.84 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose $3.87, or 4.4 percent, to settle at $91.27 in New York on Monday.
Brent crude was down 2 cents at $111.43 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange in London.
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Monday, 24 October 2011
Iraqis fret about security after U.S. withdrawal
BAGHDAD?? Iraqis fretted about the ability of their armed forces to protect them from violence after U.S. President Barack Obama said on Friday all U.S. troops would withdraw by the end of the year.
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Washington and Baghdad failed to agree on the issue of immunity for U.S. forces after months of talks over whether American soldiers would stay on as trainers more than eight years after the U.S.-led invasion that toppled Saddam Hussein.
Obama's announcement prompted worries among Iraqis over the stability of their country and a possible slide back into sectarian violence.
"Our forces are still not capable of facing our security challenges. I'm afraid this withdrawal will allow al-Qaida and the militias to return," said Baghdad shoe shop owner Ziyad Jabari.
Live vote: Was Iraq war worth the human, financial costs?A stubborn Sunni insurgency tied to al-Qaida and Shi'ite militia still carry out lethal attacks in Iraq, where bombings and killings happen daily even though violence has dropped from the height of sectarian fighting in 2006-2007.
At least 70 people were killed last week as a series of attacks rocked the capital Baghdad.
In September, 42 Iraqi police and 33 soldiers were killed, according to government figures.
Iraqi security forces have been the prime target of attacks this year as insurgents seek to undermine security in the country ahead of the scheduled U.S. withdrawal by year-end.
"As an Iraqi citizen, I say to Mr. Obama, you will leave Iraq without accomplishing your mission," said Munaf Hameed, a 47-year-old account manager at a private bank.
"No security, an unstable political regime, sectarian tensions and weak security forces, that's what America will leave behind," he said.
Political stability
Some Iraqi leaders say in private they would like a U.S. troop presence as a guarantee to ward off sectarian troubles and keep the peace between Iraqi Arabs and Kurds in a dispute over who controls oil-rich areas in the north.
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Iraqi and U.S. forces have said Iraq needs trainers beyond 2011 to develop its military capabilities, particularly its air and naval defenses.
Republicans criticize Obama over Iraq withdrawalThe country's power-sharing coalition made up of Sunni, Shi'ite and Kurdish blocs is also caught in a political stalemate many Iraqis fear could worsen without a U.S. buffer.
"I think the fighting between the political blocs will increase because the U.S. presence was a safety valve for security and political issues," said Muntadhir Abdel Wahab, 44, a Baghdad merchant.
But some Iraqis applauded the decision by Obama and Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and said the withdrawal of U.S. troops would help stabilize the country's fragile political situation and quell sectarian tensions.
Obama keeps campaign promise with IraqMany Iraqis still have memories of abuses committed by U.S. troops and contractors during the more violent years of Iraq's conflict. That made securing immunity tricky for Maliki.
Iraqi lawmakers backing anti-American Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, whose political bloc is a key part of Maliki's coalition government, said they would disrupt the power-sharing government if he agreed to keep U.S. forces.
"Iraq's people will realize the necessity of living together in one country despite differences in religion, sect and nationality," said engineer Mahdi Salim, who was visiting family in Kirkuk. "America tried to drag us into civil war."
Copyright 2011 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44994341/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/
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