How Job Seekers Are Using Mobile [INFOGRAPHIC] (Mashable)

The jobless rate is hovering above 9%, and job seekers have to be more savvy than ever to land a job. In fact, 77% of job-seekers are using mobile apps in their search. Why mobile? For one thing, people almost always have their phones on them, which means they can get job leads on the fly and respond faster than on their not-as-portable laptops. Not surprisingly, Android, which is dominating the smartphone market, is the most-used OS for these on-the-go job seekers. Check out the infographic below to see how people are using mobile apps and devices, and take a look at other career information in our weekly Job Search Series.

[More from Mashable: Apple vs. Samsung: The Patent Wars, Explained [INFOGRAPHIC]]

[More from Mashable: 8 Enormous Things That Are Smaller Than Apple, Inc. [INFOGRAPHIC]]

Infographic courtesy of Beyond.

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Every week we post a list of social media and web job opportunities. While we publish a huge range of job listings, we've selected some of the top social media job opportunities from the past two weeks to get you started. Happy hunting! This story originally published on Mashable here.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/mashable/20111127/tc_mashable/how_job_seekers_are_using_mobile_infographic

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Five-Star Fridays (Theagitator)

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NASA launches super-size rover to Mars: 'Go, Go!'

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover lifts off from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011. The rocket will deliver a science laboratory to Mars to study potential habitable environments on the planet. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover lifts off from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011. The rocket will deliver a science laboratory to Mars to study potential habitable environments on the planet. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) and Curiosity rover lifts off from Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Cape Canaveral, Fla., Saturday, Nov. 26, 2011. The rocket will deliver a science laboratory to Mars to study potential habitable environments on the planet. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

Backdropped by the Atlantic Ocean, the 197-foot-tall United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket rolls toward the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida Friday Nov. 25, 2011. Atop the rocket is NASA's Mars Science Laboratory rover nicknamed Curiosity enclosed in its payload fairing. Liftoff is planned during a launch window which extends from 10:02 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. EST on Saturday Nov. 26. Curiosity, has 10 science instruments designed to search for signs of life, including methane, and will help determine if the gas is from a biological or geological source. (AP Photo/NASA

In this 2011 artist's rendering provided by NASA/JPL-Caltech, the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover examines a rock on Mars with a set of tools at the end of its arm, which extends about 2 meters (7 feet). The mobile robot is designed to investigate Mars' past or present ability to sustain microbial life. (AP Photo/NASA/JPL-Caltech)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) ? A rover of "monster truck" proportions zoomed toward Mars on an 8?-month, 354 million-mile journey Saturday, the biggest, best equipped robot ever sent to explore another planet.

NASA's six-wheeled, one-armed wonder, Curiosity, will reach Mars next summer and use its jackhammer drill, rock-zapping laser machine and other devices to search for evidence that Earth's next-door neighbor might once have been home to the teeniest forms of life.

More than 13,000 invited guests jammed the Kennedy Space Center on Saturday morning to witness NASA's first launch to Mars in four years, and the first flight of a Martian rover in eight years.

Mars fever gripped the crowd.

NASA astrobiologist Pan Conrad, whose carbon compound-seeking instrument is on the rover, wore a bright blue, short-sleeve blouse emblazoned with rockets, planets and the words, "Next stop Mars!" She jumped, cheered and snapped pictures as the Atlas V rocket blasted off. So did Los Alamos National Laboratory's Roger Wiens, a planetary scientist in charge of Curiosity's laser blaster, called ChemCam.

Surrounded by 50 U.S. and French members of his team, Wiens shouted "Go, Go, Go!" as the rocket soared into a cloudy sky. "It was beautiful," he later observed, just as NASA declared the launch a full success.

A few miles away at the space center's visitor complex, Lego teamed up with NASA for a toy spacecraft-building event for children this Thanksgiving holiday weekend. The irresistible lure: 800,000 Lego bricks.

The 1-ton Curiosity ? 10 feet long, 9 feet wide and 7 feet tall at its mast ? is a mobile, nuclear-powered laboratory holding 10 science instruments that will sample Martian soil and rocks, and with unprecedented skill, analyze them right on the spot.

It's as big as a car. But NASA's Mars exploration program director calls it "the monster truck of Mars."

"It's an enormous mission. It's equivalent of three missions, frankly, and quite an undertaking," said the ecstatic program director, Doug McCuistion. "Science fiction is now science fact. We're flying to Mars. We'll get it on the ground and see what we find."

The primary goal of the $2.5 billion mission is to see whether cold, dry, barren Mars might have been hospitable for microbial life once upon a time ? or might even still be conducive to life now. No actual life detectors are on board; rather, the instruments will hunt for organic compounds.

Curiosity's 7-foot arm has a jackhammer on the end to drill into the Martian red rock, and the 7-foot mast on the rover is topped with high-definition and laser cameras.

With Mars the ultimate goal for astronauts, NASA will use Curiosity to measure radiation at the red planet. The rover also has a weather station on board that will provide temperature, wind and humidity readings; a computer software app with daily weather updates is planned.

No previous Martian rover has been so sophisticated.

The world has launched more than three dozen missions to the ever-alluring Mars, which is more like Earth than the other solar-system planets. Yet fewer than half those quests have succeeded.

Just two weeks ago, a Russian spacecraft ended up stuck in orbit around Earth, rather than en route to the Martian moon Phobos.

"Mars really is the Bermuda Triangle of the solar system," said NASA's Colleen Hartman, assistant associate administrator for science. "It's the death planet, and the United States of America is the only nation in the world that has ever landed and driven robotic explorers on the surface of Mars, and now we're set to do it again."

Curiosity's arrival next August will be particularly hair-raising.

In a spacecraft first, the rover will be lowered onto the Martian surface via a jet pack and tether system similar to the sky cranes used to lower heavy equipment into remote areas on Earth.

Curiosity is too heavy to use air bags like its much smaller predecessors, Spirit and Opportunity, did in 2004. Besides, this new way should provide for a more accurate landing.

Astronauts will need to make similarly precise landings on Mars one day.

Curiosity will spend a minimum of two years roaming around Gale Crater, chosen from among more than 50 potential landing sites because it's so rich in minerals. Scientists said if there is any place on Mars that might have been ripe for life, it may well be there.

The rover should go farther and work harder than any previous Mars explorer because of its power source: 10.6 pounds of radioactive plutonium. The nuclear generator was encased in several protective layers in case of a launch accident.

NASA expects to put at least 12 miles on the odometer, once the rover sets down on the Martian surface.

McCuistion anticipates being blown away by the never-before-seen vistas. "Those first images are going to just be stunning, I believe. It will be like sitting in the bottom of the Grand Canyon," he said at a post-launch news conference.

This is the third astronomical mission to be launched from Cape Canaveral by NASA since the retirement of the venerable space shuttle fleet this summer. The Juno probe is en route to Jupiter, and twin spacecraft named Grail will arrive at Earth's moon on New Year's Eve and Day.

Unlike Juno and Grail, Curiosity suffered development programs and came in two years late and nearly $1 billion over budget. Scientists involved in the project noted Saturday that the money is being spent on Earth, not Mars, and the mission is costing every American about the price of a movie.

"I'll leave you to judge for yourself whether or not that's a movie you'd like to see," said California Institute of Technology's John Grotzinger, the project scientist. "I know that's one I would."

___

Online:

NASA: http://marsprogram.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/

Lego: http://legospace.com/

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-11-26-SCI--Mars%20Rover/id-8b9e31d4803347469b395779a3378f37

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Black Friday draws crowds, but spending in doubt (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Retailers were hoping for more shoppers like Shawn Elzia as the annual Black Friday bargain stampede marked the unofficial start of what is widely expected to be a middling holiday shopping season.

The Brooklyn, New York teacher, one of hundreds of thousands of shoppers jostling for deals around the country, said he ended up spending about 25 percent more than he planned, even while worrying about the state of the economy.

"I did not expect such deals," the 33-year old said as he left a Macy's store in Jersey City, New Jersey clutching bags full of clothing for himself and his family.

"It's slashed down to the bones," he said. "There were some great discounts if you showed up early."

Deals are always part of the picture on the Friday after Thanksgiving. This year was notable for an earlier opening for some retailers and possibly for the one shopper using pepper spray to make sure she could get a popular video game system.

The early start by stores brought out younger shoppers such as Alina Ybarra, who spent the wee hours of the morning with her friends as they all looked for items for themselves.

"It's really chaotic," Ybarra, 17, said of her first Black Friday outing as she finished her shopping in Santa Monica, California. She said that she liked the deals at stores such as Gap Inc's Old Navy and Urban Outfitters.

"It seems like a lot of teenagers were the primary shoppers, maybe because of the hour, but I think net-net it's not really going to result in an incremental positive for retailers," Ed Yruma, senior equity analyst at KeyBanc Capital Markets, said after checking out crowds at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota. He said shoppers were not carrying a lot of shopping bags.

Leon Clare, 24, and Shawn Sykes, 27, both U.S. Navy Corpsmen, drove about 125 miles from 29 Palms Marine Base to Santa Monica so they each could spend close to $175 on a pair of Air Jordan Retro 3 shoes in "Black Cement," popular new sneakers from Nike Inc.

"This is for me," said Clare, who plans to spend more on holiday gifts later on in the season.

"I'm leaving for Afghanistan in March. I'm getting something for everyone, just in case I don't come back."

WORRIED... AGAIN

More than 120 stores at the Mall of America opened at midnight. The crowd at that point was about 15,000 people. Mall operators estimated that it was the largest crowd ever at the mall, which is big enough to hold seven Yankee Stadiums.

While eager shoppers emerged from stores around the country lugging big-screen TVs and bags full of video games and toys, it was far from certain that people will pull out their wallets for much more than the best deals this year. Shoppers with limited budgets started using layaway at chains such as Walmart as early as October.

Retail shares fell more than the overall market on Friday.

"Americans are still worried about jobs, still worried about the economy," said Mike Thielmann, group executive vice president at J.C. Penney, who noted that shoppers were buying gifts and for themselves, and said jewelry was selling well.

In Houston, Rico Salvosa, 60, bought two cameras at Best Buy and said he had saved about $170.

"It's worse than before because business is slow," Salvosa, who wholesales stone countertops, said as he left the store with his daughters. "I don't have a lot of savings for holiday shopping. I told them, 'I cannot buy everything that you'd like.'"

Competition among the retailers was fierce as it was among shoppers, as some stores opened hours earlier than before.

Outside Macy's flagship store in New York, some Occupy Wall Street activists chanted "boycott Macy's" and "stop supporting big corporations" even as about 9,000 people lined up to shop when the store opened at midnight.

Opening early appeared to work, judging from the long lines at stores such as Macy's, Toys R Us, Best Buy, Walmart and Target.

"It was crazy around midnight and one in the morning," said a Target employee at the chain's East Harlem, New York store, where the crowd thinned out later on Friday morning.

Even after a Toys R Us in New Jersey had been open for nearly an hour, at 9:50 p.m. EST on Thursday night, there was still a line of about 300 people waiting to get inside.

The 24 hours that started at 9 p.m. Thursday will be the biggest in retail history, with sales estimated at $27 billion, according to Craig Johnson, president of Customer Growth Partners, one of the few experts predicting a strong season.

The term "Black Friday" commonly refers to the day after Thanksgiving, the traditional start of the busy holiday shopping season when retailers do brisk business. (See related story: Spirited 'Black Friday' has dark roots.

While it is the busiest day of the year in terms of store traffic, it does not always mean that sales will soar for the season.

Despite brisk sales right after Thanksgiving in 2008 and 2009, total holiday season sales fell as the recession gripped the country.

The National Retail Federation, an industry trade group, expects 152 million people to hit stores this weekend, up 10.1 percent from last year. Yet it expects sales for the full November-December holiday season to rise just 2.8 percent, well below the pace of last year when sales rose 5.2 percent.

Luxury chains such as Saks Inc and those catering to lower-income shoppers, such as dollar stores, are expected to do well this shopping season.

"For our products that are $25,000 and up, growth is phenomenal," said Mark Vadon, founder of online jewelry retailer Blue Nile. "Price points under $100 are also doing really well. For the mass part of the market, consumers are strapped and being a lot more wary."

Overall, retail executives and analysts expect a more competitive shopping season than in 2010. Unemployment remains at 9 percent, European debt woes are weighing on the stock market, and consumer confidence remains spotty.

Online sales on Thursday and Friday surpassed last year, and more shoppers used their mobile devices to buy, according to IBM data. The amount U.S. shoppers spent via eBay Mobile more than doubled on Thanksgiving, while eBay's PayPal Mobile unit saw a five-fold increase in global mobile payment volume versus last Thanksgiving.

The online push put pressure on some companies. Walmart.com saw some very high traffic, so some customers may have experienced delays as they tried to check out, it said.

Even Apple Inc gets into the Christmas spirit on Black Friday, the only day that it usually offers discounts. This year it offered its typical $101 discount on its $900-plus Mac laptops and $41 or more off its $499-plus iPads.

(Reporting by Dhanya Skariachan, Liana B. Baker and Phil Wahba in New York, Mihir Dalal in Jersey City, New Jersey, Jessica Wohl in Chicago, Diane Bartz in Hyattsville, Maryland, Lisa Baertlein and Edwin Chan in Los Angeles, Alistair Barr in San Francisco and Bruce Nichols in Houston. Editing by Jon Loades-Carter, Phil Berlowitz and Robert MacMillan)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111125/bs_nm/us_usa_retail_thanksgiving

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Top Marine spends Thanksgiving in Afghanistan (AP)

COMBAT OUTPOST HANSON, Afghanistan ? A turkey trot it was not.

The U.S. Marines' top general, James Amos, sprinted up and down the Helmand River Valley in southern Afghanistan on Thursday, visiting frontline Marines at nine remote outposts to share Thanksgiving and applaud their gains against the Taliban in a region where al-Qaida hatched the 9/11 plot a decade ago.

Traveling mostly in an MV-22 Osprey, the hybrid that flies like an airplane and takes off and lands like a helicopter, Amos began shortly after daylight and finished 14 hours later ? and, improbably, managed to confront just one turkey dinner.

At one point the 65-year-old Amos referred to his unusual daytrip as the "Bataan death march," a reference to the gruesome forced march of American POWs in the Philippines during World War II.

Amos shook hands with hundreds of Marines, all veterans of tough fighting in Helmand Province, which has been a focal point of the U.S.-led strategy to counter the Taliban and other insurgent groups. The Marines have vastly improved security in Helmand over the past year, but with President Barack Obama having ordered 33,000 U.S. troops to withdraw from Afghanistan by next September, the prospects for sustaining those gains are uncertain, and the subject of debate at home.

At each stop Amos struck similar themes in pep talks to his Marines: they are coming close to winning, and when the Marine Corps leaves Afghanistan it will shift its focus to the Pacific, where he said "a whole lot of opportunities" will await a Corps no longer bogged down by land wars in the greater Middle East. He also said Thanksgiving is a time for Marines to reflect on "the unique fraternal bond" among men and women at war.

Marine Sgt. Maj. Michael Barrett, the top enlisted Marine, who accompanied Amos, said that for most troops Thanksgiving was just another day at war ? until they finished their work.

"Then they'll have a meal of a lifetime," he said.

The feast was finally set for Amos when he arrived after dark at Camp Dwyer, the southern-most stop on his trip. He helped heap plates with roast turkey, baked ham and prime rib ? with all the traditional fixings ? and then sat amongst the troops to finish it off.

Amos said "Happy Thanksgiving" at each Marine outpost, but the troops did not seem in a festive mood ? at least in the presence of their commandant. The business of war does not take a holiday. When he asked the Marines what was on their minds, they asked about the future of the Corps, the latest of Washington's stalled budget debate, the possibility of seeing some of their retirement benefits go away, and internal Marine issues.

Some conveyed a sense of confidence that Afghanistan would soon be behind them.

At Combat Outpost Hanson, one member of the 3rd battalion, 6th Marine Regiment asked, "Who do you want us to fight next, sir?" Amos said he did not know, but he reassured the Marine that there would be no shortage of security crises in the years ahead.

At Combat Outpost Alcatraz, in Sangin district where fierce fights against the Taliban have waned only recently, the top overall commander of the war, Marine Gen. John Allen, joined Amos for a pep talk to several dozen Marines.

Allen said Marines will "go home under the victory pennant," but he stressed that the struggle to degrade Taliban influence and build up Afghan security forces ? in Helmand and throughout Afghanistan ? is far from over.

"As big as this is, and as hard as it has been, we are going to be successful here," Allen said. "We're going to win this. We're going to liberate these people, we're going to set this country up to be a free country in one of the toughest regions in the world."

There are now about 97,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan. All are scheduled to leave by the end of 2014.

Amos clearly relished the chance to see so many combat Marines, but his trip was no joy ride. His itinerary was a closely-held secret, and the aircraft on which he flew was heavily armed.

As a CH-53 helicopter lifted off from a barren field across a dirt highway in the northern Helmand village of Puzeh, with Amos and part of his entourage aboard, a bearded special operations Marine quipped, "Cross your fingers." And then, as the chopper rose above a billowing wall of powdery dust, the Marine added, only half jokingly, "Whew! Getting the commandant shot down at your (outpost) would not be a good thing."

___

Robert Burns can be reached on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/robertburnsAP

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111125/ap_on_re_as/as_thanksgiving_marines_at_war

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Larry Page-Run Google Shutters 7 More Projects (NewsFactor)

Google is continuing its streamlining efforts, shuttering projects that haven't panned out the way the search-engine giant hoped and folding others into other products as special features. Google's goal is to drive a simpler user experience.

In the latest round of closures, Google is getting rid of seven projects, some better known than others. Urs H?lzle, senior vice president of operations and Google Fellow, laid out the plans for each property, including Google Bookmarks Lists; Google Friend Connect; Google Gears; Google Search Timeline; Google Wave; Knol; and Renewable Energy Cheaper than Coal.

"It's good for Google to shutter projects and products that have very limited or no adoption. It helps with focus," said Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence. "My question, however, is what will happen to Google's vaunted 20 percent time initiative out of which many of these projects came."

Will 20 Percent Live?

A "20 percent project" is a Google philosophy that allows employees to spend one day a week working on something not in the regular job description. News reports have suggested that Google's 20 percent project will continue.

Google's jobs page for engineers notes, "We offer our engineers "20-percent time" so that they're free to work on what they're really passionate about. Google Suggest, AdSense for Content, and Orkut are among the many products of this perk."

But there have been a lot of changes at Google since co-founder Larry Page took over the CEO reins from Eric Schmidt. By his own words, Page has focused much of his energy on increasing Google's velocity and execution since he took over in April. That has meant investing in acquisitions, including $12.5 billion for Motorola, as well as dropping more than 25 projects.

Page killed Google Buzz, for example, but then again it was the project that got the search-engine giant in hot water with the Federal Trade Commission, and Google+ quickly took its place and became more popular than Buzz ever was.

Wave Goodbye

In the latest round of cuts, Google loses Bookmarks Lists, an experimental feature for sharing bookmarks and collaborating with friends. Google will also shed Friend Connect, which allows webmasters to add social features to their sites by embedding a few snippets of code.

Google Gears is going away in March. Gears is a browser extension for creating offline Web applications and stopped supporting new browsers. And Google is moving the Search Timeline graph of historical results for a query.

As of Jan. 31, Wave will become read-only; users will not be able to create new ones. On April 30 Google will turn it off completely. Knol, a project Google launched in 2007 to help improve Web content by enabling experts to collaborate on in-depth articles, is moving.

"In order to continue this work, we've been working with Solvitor and Crowd Favorite to create Annotum, an open-source scholarly authoring and publishing platform based on WordPress," H?lzle said. "Knol will work as usual until April 30, 2012, and you can download your Knols to a file and/or migrate them to WordPress.com."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20111123/tc_nf/81100

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Bob Edgar: "Super" Committee Produces Super Vreakdown in Leadership

No one who has watched official Washington's march toward complete dysfunction can be surprised by Monday's announcement that the Congressional "Super Committee" is shutting down without agreeing on a plan to begin putting the nation's finances in order.

The 12-member panel was doomed from the start, stocked with too few members skilled at the art of compromise and too many whose idea of a give-and-take negotiation is "you give and I take." And its focus on long-term deficit reduction, rather than on immediate steps to revive a still moribund economy, was grossly misplaced.

Perhaps worst of all, neither Democrats nor Republicans on the panel appear to have had support from party leaders to strike a deal.

Senior Republicans in Congress and their party's would-be presidents on the campaign trail were particularly intransigent, refusing to entertain serious discussion of a meaningful tax increase on the wealthiest Americans. The long-term deficit reduction they claim to favor cannot be achieved without more tax revenue, a lot more tax revenue; Democrats on the committee appeared willing to accept some cuts in the social safety net but it's unreasonable to ask them to do so without a guarantee of more revenue.

For his part, President Obama showed an encouraging willingness at the outset of the committee's deliberations to work on a balanced program of tax hikes and long-term budget cuts but of late has distanced himself from the process. Perhaps his leadership could not have made a difference, but it would have been nice to see him try to assert it.

The committee's breakdown means that the Congress most likely will spend 2012 tying itself in knots over how to undo the "automatic" deficit reduction measures supposedly triggered by its failure. Defense hawks in both parties already are hard at work to spare the Pentagon from the budget ax, Republicans are trying to figure out how to preserve the Bush tax cuts for their wealthy patrons and Democrats are focused on protecting Social Security and Medicare, even if it means more debt.

What a sad spectacle. We've now had three successive "wave" elections, in which voters disturbed at the inability or unwillingness of those in power to act in the public interest rather than the interest of their big campaign contributors, have voted to replace one party with the other. Each party has ridden its waves but neither has captured and acted on the voters' larger message, their desire for a fundamental change in the way Washington works.

?

Follow Bob Edgar on Twitter: www.twitter.com/BobEdgarCC

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rev-bob-edgar/super-committee-produces-_b_1106442.html

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Obama in NH: I'm tax -cutter, GOP should go along

President Barack Obama shakes hands after an address where he remarked on the American Jobs Act, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011, at Central High School in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

President Barack Obama shakes hands after an address where he remarked on the American Jobs Act, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011, at Central High School in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)

Audience members listen as President Barack Obama speaks about jobs, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011, at Manchester High School Central in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

President Barack Obama speaks about jobs, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011, at Manchester High School Central in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

A protester, wearing glasses, smiles as he hands President Barack Obama a note as the president greeted audience members after speaking about jobs, Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2011, at Manchester High School Central in Manchester, N.H. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) ? President Barack Obama dashed into politically important New Hampshire Tuesday, seeking to steal the spotlight from Republican presidential candidates and challenging GOP lawmakers back in Washington to stand by their anti-tax pledges on one big measure.

He was greeted with a blunt message from Republican contender Mitt Romney, who bought campaign ads telling Obama, "Your policies have failed."

In his first trip to New Hampshire in nearly two years, the president was confronted by a state that has shifted sharply to the right since his victory here in the 2008 election. The state's crucial independent voters sided solidly with Republicans in the 2010 midterms, and recent polls suggest Obama would lose to Romney by 10 percentage points here if the election were held today.

Seeking to boost his appeal with independents in this low-tax state, Obama urged Congress to extend a Social Security payroll tax cut due to expire next month. In effect, he dared Republicans ? many of whom have signed anti-tax pledges ? to vote against an extension, a move the White House says would lead to a $1,000 tax hike on a family making $50,000 a year.

If lawmakers vote "no, your taxes go up. Yes, you get a tax cut," Obama told the crowd. "Which way do you think Congress should vote?"

"Don't be a Grinch. Don't vote to raise taxes on working Americans during the holidays," he said during his speech at a Manchester high school.

Democrats had hoped to tuck the payroll tax extension, as well as a renewal of jobless benefits, into an agreement from the congressional deficit-reduction supercommittee. But with that option off the table following the committee's collapse Monday, the White House plans to make a full-court press for a separate measure to extend the tax cuts before they expire at the end of the year ? and set up Republicans as scapegoats if that doesn't happen.

Much of Obama's stop in Manchester was about trying to gain a foothold for his economic message in New Hampshire to balance the anti-Obama rhetoric from the Republican candidates swarming the state ahead of the Jan. 10 presidential primary. Obama's trip came on the same day that the GOP contenders were gathering in Washington for a foreign policy debate sure to focus on what they see as the president's failings.

Obama came face to face with the frustration of some New Hampshire voters, who are fed up with a local economy that is struggling to grow and increasingly unhappy with the president's leadership.

A group of protesters outside Manchester Central High School carried signs that read "Obama Isn't Working." And the president's speech was interrupted by a handful of people venting the frustrations of the Occupy Wall Street movement that has spread across to a number of cities.

Even some Obama supporters have sensed a shift in the state.

Naomi Preble, 62, backed Obama in the 2008 election, and the independent voter plans to vote for him again. But she said young people in New Hampshire have soured on the president.

"I think they're worried," Preble. "They don't see the strong leader they thought they elected."

Romney used Obama's trip as an opportunity to air his first 2012 television ads in the Granite State, and they were sharply critical of Obama's economic record. He also ran ads in New Hampshire newspapers that said to Obama, "I will be blunt. Your policies have failed."

Obama never mentioned his GOP challengers by name during his two-and-a-half-hour stop in New Hampshire, making only a veiled reference to their constant presence in this swing state.

"The next time you hear one of these folks from the other side coming and talking about raising your taxes, you just remind them that ever since I've gotten into office, I've lowered your taxes, haven't raised them," he said.

While the White House insisted the president's stop was not about politics, the trip had a campaign feel, from the packed high school gymnasium where Obama spoke to the local restaurant where he dropped by to have lunch with a New Hampshire family.

Obama's campaign believes he can re-ignite voters' passion as they see more of him. His surrogates, including Vice President Joe Biden, will also be making frequent trips to New Hampshire.

The key for the campaign will be bringing New Hampshire independent voters back to the Democratic Party before next November's election.

Independents helped Republicans sweep the state's congressional elections and win veto-proof majorities in both chambers of the state Legislature. It was a dramatic shift for a state many believed had been shifting to the left over the past decade.

Billy Shaheen, a longtime Democratic operative in New Hampshire and the husband of Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, said Republicans' huge gains in the state in 2010 served as a wake-up call.

"After the 2010 election, New Hampshire got a taste of what the tea party can do, and it's not happy," he said. "We let our guard down in 2010."

The White House sees a year-end debate over extending payroll tax cuts, as well as renewing jobless benefits, as an opportunity to draw a distinction for voters between the president's priorities and those of Republicans. Economists have warned that letting both programs expire could be harmful to an economy still struggling to recover from recession.

The Republican field is not unanimous on whether to extend the payroll tax cut. Romney has said he's not for raising taxes "anywhere," and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says that given the economic conditions "it's very hard to say no." In Congress, Rep. Michelle Bachmann voted against the payroll tax cut, but Rep. Ron Paul supported it. Businessman Herman Cain and Texas Gov. Rick Perry oppose extending the cut.

Last year's cut in the 6.2 percent payroll tax, which raises money for Social Security, was accomplished with borrowed money. This time around, administration officials say the president may not insist on the cuts being paid for immediately.

The 2 percentage-point cut in the 6.2 percent payroll tax gave 121 million families a tax reduction averaging $934 last year at a total cost of about $120 billion, according to the Tax Policy Center.

Obama also wants to cut the payroll tax by another percentage point for workers and cut the employer share of the tax in half as well for most companies.

___

Associated Press writers Steve Peoples and Holly Ramer contributed to this report. AP writer Cal Woodward contributed from Washington.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2011-11-22-Obama/id-0edec586c70d4384b5b3c71ace40b65f

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Oil price up on Mideast strife, Europe debt plan (AP)

NEW YORK ? Oil prices rose Tuesday on concerns that Middle East strife could disrupt supplies and on hopes that Europe's debt crisis wouldn't lead to worldwide financial gridlock.

West Texas Intermediate crude, the benchmark used to price oil in much of the U.S., rose $1.09 to end at $98.01 a barrel in New York. Brent crude, which is used to price oil produced in many foreign countries, rose $1.99 to finish at $108.65 a barrel in London.

Oil prices rose on worries that new international sanctions on Iran would reduce the flow of oil from the world's fourth biggest oil producer. Also large, violent protests in Egypt stirred fears that upheaval in the region could spread and disrupt supplies. Egypt is not a major oil producer, but it does control important energy supply lines and wields considerable influence in the region.

The worst fears about Europe's debt crisis ? that it could lead to a lending crisis and financial gridlock around the world ? were allayed somewhat Tuesday by the announcement of an International Monetary Fund plan designed to help prevent the debt crisis in Europe from spreading. The IMF plan would provide quick cash on flexible terms to countries facing sudden financial stress.

Concerns remain that Europe's debt crisis is pushing the region toward recession, which would slow industrial activity in Europe and in countries around the world that export to Europe.

In the U.S., the Commerce Department said the economy grew more slowly over the summer than the government had earlier estimated. That picture of a sluggish economy helped drive the stock market mostly lower Tuesday.

When the global economy slows, demand for crude oil and refined products like diesel and gasoline falls because fewer goods are produced and shipped, and people travel less. Even with Tuesday's gain, oil is down 5 percent since last Wednesday, when it spiked to $102.59 per barrel.

"The market is concerned on the one hand about the rate of economic growth," said Andrew Lipow, an independent oil analyst based in Houston. "On the other hand issues in the Middle East are continuing."

There was some encouraging economic news in the U.S., however, that helped push oil higher Tuesday. The government reported that inventories of goods fell over the summer. That raised hopes that the economy could grow faster than expected in the current quarter, if factories crank up to restock shelves.

And mild weather forecast for much of the U.S. over the Thanksgiving weekend is expected to motivate drivers to hit the road to visit families and shop. The price of gasoline futures rose nearly 3 percent, to finish at $2.5618 a gallon in New York, a gain of 7.28 cents.

At the pump, retail gasoline fell almost a penny to a national average of $3.34 per gallon on Tuesday, according to AAA, Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. In coming days the higher price of wholesale gasoline could push up pump prices.

Gasoline demand has been falling in the U.S. for the past several months. It began to drop sharply as prices rose above $4 per gallon in many states last winter and spring. Current pump prices, while still high, are 16 percent below the peak national average of $3.98 per gallon reached on May 5.

In other energy trading in New York on Tuesday, natural gas rose 2 cents to finish at $3.4150 per 1,000 cubic feet, and heating oil rose 4 cents to end the day at $3.0346 a gallon.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111122/ap_on_bi_ge/us_oil_prices

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How Russia's Martian moon probe got stuck orbiting Earth

Launched Tuesday, Russia's Phobos-Grunt spacecraft was meant to explore the Martian moon Phobos. But, in what could mark the fourth Mars probe failure in a row, Phobos-Grunt now threatens to become another piece of space junk uselessly orbiting Earth.?

A robotic Russian spacecraft that launched on a mission to the Mars moon Phobos Tuesday (Nov. 8) is apparently stuck in Earth orbit, but hope for the probe is not lost yet, according to news reports.

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The?Phobos-Grunt spacecraft launched?at 3:16 p.m. EST (2016 GMT) Tuesday and was supposed to be on its way to Phobos by now. The probe separated from its Zenit rocket properly, but its own thrusters then failed to fire in order to send the spacecraft streaking toward Mars, Russian officials said.

"It has been a tough night for us because we could not detect the spacecraft [after the separation]," Russian space agency chief Vladimir Popovkin said, Russian news agency?RIA Novosti reported. "Now we know its coordinates and we found out that the [probe's] engine failed to start."

Popovkin added that engineers aren't yet sure why Phobos-Grunt's engine didn't ignite, according to RIA Novosti. It's possible the onboard computers didn't send the proper command, he said.

Whatever the cause, the malfunction dealt a serious blow to the?$163 million Phobos-Grunt mission, which aims to grab bits of Phobos' surface and send them back to Earth by 2014. But there may still be hope for the spacecraft, Russia's first attempt at an interplanetary mission since 1996.

"We will attempt to reboot the program," RIA Novosti reported Popovkin as saying. "The spacecraft is currently on a support orbit, the fuel tanks have not been jettisoned, and the fuel has not been spent."

Engineers have about three days to figure out and fix the problem, Popovkin added. After that time, Phobos-Grunt's batteries will run out, and the spacecraft will likely turn into just another piece of space debris. [Photos: Russia's Phobos-Grunt Mission to Mars Moon]

Phobos-Grunt is also carrying China's first Mars probe, a small spacecraft called Yinghuo 1, that is supposed to separate from Phobos-Grunt and enter orbit around Mars.

If Phobos-Grunt cannot be salvaged, it would mark the fourth straight Mars failure for Russia.

The nation's Phobos 1 and Phobos 2 spacecraft, which launched in July 1988, suffered critical failures before their missions were complete. And the Mars 96 probe crashed into the Pacific Ocean shortly after liftoff in November 1996.

Russia is not alone in suffering setbacks with Mars missions. Historically, about half of all missions aimed at the Red Planet have failed, according to NASA records.

NASA also currently plans to launch a new U.S. mission to Mars this month. The $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory mission will send a car-size rover called Curiosity to explore the huge Gale crater on Mars.

Several spacecraft are actively studying Mars today. They include orbiting spacecraft operated by NASA and the European Space Agency, as well as NASA's Opportunity rover on the planet's surface.

You can follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter:?@michaeldwall. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter?@Spacedotcom?and on?Facebook.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/VR-u-WRCoK4/How-Russia-s-Martian-moon-probe-got-stuck-orbiting-Earth

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Investing Tips For Beginners

? November 21, 2011Posted in: Reviews

Investing can be confusing, especially for the beginner. Getting some basic tips can help a beginning investor to make informed choices that fit their needs. Each person has a different goal when investing and that plays a big impact on how you invest. The following list explains some things beginners should know before investing.

1. Understand that there are no set rules for investing. There are no guarantees and no perfect way to invest.

2. Make informed choices. Before investing in any way you should completely understand how your investment will work and all of the details of the transaction.

3. Make a simple plan to determine your goals and needs. This will help you to determine what investments to make and how much money to invest.

These three tips are great for general investing, but many people are looking to invest in the fast paced world of the stock market. The above tips are a good beginning, but the following tips will further help those interested in investing in stocks.

1. Look at the value of the stock instead of the price. Low cost stocks may be low for a reason. Look at the whole picture. See why the price is low and if there is a possibility it may rise.

2. Check the companies return on net worth. This is the profit after taxes divided by the net worth. It is important to see a trend of growing return on net worth.

3. Spread out your risk. You should not put all your money in high risk stocks. Try some lower risks and some higher risks. This is the best way to protect your money.

4. Understand the basics of stock prices. Prices move up or down depending on future projections.

These four tips can help a beginning investor start investing in the stock market.

No matter what type of investment you are looking into, knowledge will be the key to success. These short tip lists are just the beginning to understanding investing and how to maximize your return. Keep learning and trying.

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Source: http://www.emmiemagazine.com/investing-tips-beginners.html

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UFC 139 domination: Faber fabulous in earning another shot against Cruz

SAN JOSE, Calif. - Urijah Faber was tired of hearing he didn't deserve an immediate rematch against Dominick Cruz for his UFC bantamweight title, so he took matters into his own hands and laid some lumber on Brian Bowles.

Faber crushed Bowles with an uppercut in the second. The Georgia native was stunned and eventually found himself on his back after Faber nailed him with a knee in close quarters. Faber went into overdrive on the ground. Bowles couldn't fend him off. Faber eventually got control of Bowles' head and locked him on a mean guillotine choke to get the submission victory at 1:27 of the second round at UFC 139 in the HP Pavilion.

[Related: Dan Henderson tops 'Shogun' in epic all-time battle]

Just seconds after the fight was finished, Faber (26-5, 2-1 UFC) immediately turned his attention to his nemesis Cruz.

"Dominick, you can run but you can't hide. Throw some gel in that widow's peak and let's do some work. Let's battle," Faber said.

Faber and Cruz brawled for five hard rounds at UFC 132. Cruz won via unanimous decision, but Faber believes the judges blew it. Before Saturday's fight, he admitted he needs to play to the judges more to get a win against Cruz, who is a whirling dervish that wins over MMA judges with his high-volume style.

Tonight, Faber showed some stones trading shots with the heavy-handed Bowles throughout the first. Bowles' lone path to victory was probably landing a big right hand. Faber's movement, fakes and speed threw Bowles off. He wasn't aggressive.

In the second, Faber took advantage of a very flat-footed Bowles. The 5-foot-6 Faber covered roughly five feet of space in a split second and landed the huge uppercut.

"I feel really good man. I feel great. I came out looking for the win and get a big finish like that. I think Brian Bowles is a warrior. I like that guy a lot. I had a general game plan going out there but I had to be ready. I'm sad for him but I'm really stoked for me right now," Faber said.

Bowles simply couldn't recover from the bomb landed by Faber.

"It was a tough fight, there isn't really much I can say about it. I went out there and I just really never got in my groove. Took a big punch, got rocked. He gave me a couple pounds on the ground and I didn't recover. I was rattled when he got the choke and I just never got back," Bowles said.

Other popular stories on Yahoo! Sports:
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Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/UFC-139-domination-Faber-fabulous-in-earning-an?urn=mma-wp9730

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Buyers at sale target hats worn by Queen of Soul

A former hat of Aretha Franklin's is shown for sale with other belongings in Livonia, Mich., Friday, Nov. 18, 2011. Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin says she's curious about exactly what former belongings of hers might be sold this weekend in suburban Detroit. Franklin said in a statement that she has no connection to Saturday's planned sale, which is offering clothing, shoes and household items. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

A former hat of Aretha Franklin's is shown for sale with other belongings in Livonia, Mich., Friday, Nov. 18, 2011. Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin says she's curious about exactly what former belongings of hers might be sold this weekend in suburban Detroit. Franklin said in a statement that she has no connection to Saturday's planned sale, which is offering clothing, shoes and household items. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)

LIVONIA, Mich. (AP) ? A beige cashmere hat with fur and matching collar and cuffs worn by Aretha Franklin sold for $400 during a sale of dozens of items once owned by the Queen of Soul.

Hats were big draws at a sales event attended Saturday by several hundred people in Livonia, according to sales distributor Jill Pendergast.

"A lot of people found a lot of items," Pendergast said. "Somebody wanted T-shirts that had been stained up. Some people just came for blue jeans. Some people were looking for just shoes.

"They just kept coming in and going out," she said.

One of Franklin's gowns sold for $550.

Pendergast would not say who currently owned the items or how much was raised by the sale which ran from 9 a.m. to about 5 p.m. in a store west of Detroit.

Franklin has said she has no connection to the sale. The Grammy Award-winning artist said the items were left many years ago in a storage locker because she no longer wanted them.

Franklin's choice in headwear has been a hot topic in recent years.

A gray, felt hat with a Swarovski rhinestone-bordered bow she wore while singing "My Country 'Tis of Thee" at President Barack Obama's 2009 inauguration drew widespread attention and prompted hundreds of calls to the Detroit millinery shop where the hat was made.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-11-19-US-People-Aretha-Franklin/id-a44fcaf039764e20acc5308ad78e7d48

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Oregon airport to put ads on control tower

MEDFORD, Ore.?? Officials in Medford, Ore., have given the OK to place giant corporate logos on the control tower at the city's airport.

The City Council voted Thursday night to amend the city code and allow 25-by-25-foot signs on all four sides of the 100-foot-tall landmark.

The tower's ad space is expected to fetch $3,000 a month. Councilor Al Densmore says he would love to keep public buildings clear of advertising, but the money will help reduce landing fees, making the airport more attractive to new airlines.

The city's planning commission voted against the proposal last month, prompting the airport's director to go straight to the council.

Allen Adamson, managing director of the global branding firm Landor, says the idea is "a no-brainer" and he expects many airports to follow Medford's lead.

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

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45358426/ns/travel-news/

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Should I Use My Club or My Pepper Spray?

It depends on the environment and the demeanor of the crowd. Police are trained to follow what?s called the ?use-of-force continuum.? As a first step, officers are supposed to use verbal commands and then empty-handed physical contact (e.g., pushing) as primary means of getting unruly people in line. If that doesn?t work, they move through various degrees of less-lethal force, and then to their firearms as a last resort, depending on how the suspect responds. But the details of the ?less-lethal? part of the continuum are ambiguous. Beanbag rounds, Tasers, pepper spray, tear gas, and billy clubs are all considered intermediate steps, but different police departments disagree over the order in which they should be considered. Many departments have varying opinions, for example, about whether one should use a Taser before pepper spray or vice-versa.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=52ab815cb4b60c2ea57acab0cb10d327

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Heavy D Was An 'Icon,' Red Cafe Says

'He was just a big dude with swag, and then you seen Biggie follow suit and you see Rick Ross follow suit,' he tells MTV News.
By Rob Markman

Heavy D
Photo: Prince Williams/ FilmMagic

Red Café may have only met Heavy D a few months before his death, but the Overweight Lover remained an inspiration to the Bad Boy rapper.

"I gotta tip my hat, raise my glass to Heavy D for paving the way for me to be able to do this," Red told MTV News during MTV2's Sucker Free Awards in Miami last week. "Heavy D was instrumental on me being a part of hip-hop. The Overweight Lover brought the swag to the game, so for me, it was a great loss for me."

The fallen rapper was close friends with Bad Boy founder Diddy; their relationship dates back to their days at Uptown Records, where Puff interned back in the early 1990s. "I got a chance to meet Heavy D at Puff's house a few months ago, and he knew who I was," Red Café shared. "Heavy D knew who I was. He was like, 'Yo, dog I've been hearin' about you, I've been watching your movement,' and, you know, that was so inspiring for me, 'cause I grew up on Heavy D."

Through his music, Heavy D embraced his physical stature. Songs like "The Overweight Lover," "Mr. Big Stuff" and his 1991 dance hit "Now That We Found Love" helped brand the rapper as not only a hitmaker, but a sex symbol as well. It was a blueprint that many rappers after him followed.

"He was just a big dude with swag, and then you seen Biggie follow suit and you see Rick Ross follow suit, so Heavy D is instrumental in the game and very important," Red said. "He's an icon, and I salute him. Rest in peace. He's in a better place, and you know we love you. Your music will live forever, believe that."

There was a public viewing for the fallen rapper Thursday at Grace Baptist Church in Mount Vernon, New York, and a private funeral service for family and close friends is set for Friday (November 18). BET is planning a special tribute to Heavy D during November 27's Soul Train Awards. Rappers Big Daddy Kane, Doug E. Fresh, Curtis Blow, Naughty by Nature, Whodini and Stetsasonic's Daddy-O are all said to be taking part.

How has Heavy D inspired you? Tell us in the comments.

Related Photos

• Heavy D: Life, Music And Friends

Related Artists

• Heavy D & The Boyz
• Red Cafe

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1674618/heavy-d-icon-red-cafe.jhtml

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Gametel Bluetooth accessory delivers console-feel gaming for ...

Gametel of Sweden has a spanking new accessory that targets Android-powered smartphones, and this particular add on will allow them to enjoy games over a D-pad compared to using virtual buttons on the phone?s touchscreen display. I know games like Muffin Knight would certainly benefit from this, as I tend to miss the button when I play it on my HTC Sensation, but for other less demanding titles like Let?s Golf, not having physical buttons is no issue at all. Imagine with this Bluetooth accessory, you will more or less be able to transform your HTC, LG or Samsung smartphone into an Xperia Play ? sort of, anyways. While it needs not be connected physically to your phone to work because of Bluetooth, it will still feature a clamp that is capable of gripping around any Android phone ? as long as the display is no larger than 4.2?, that is. It will retail for around ?50 thereabouts, and it has been proven to be compatible with more than 50 games in the Android Market at press time.

Source: http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/11/gametel-bluetooth-accessory/

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Home Depot's 3Q net rises on storm boost (AP)

NEW YORK ? Home Depot Inc.'s third-quarter net income rose 12 percent as consumers spent a bit more on home-improvement projects and repaired their homes after Hurricane Irene

The No. 1 U.S. home-improvement retailer's results announced Tuesday beat expectations and the company raised its 2011 earnings outlook and its dividend.

Home-goods sellers are facing cautious consumer spending and a prolonged weak housing market. They've had to adjust to fewer consumers making large-scale home renovations by cutting costs and improving services such as online shopping and customer service.

Atlanta-based Home Depot's smaller rival Lowe's Cos. reported Monday its third-quarter net income fell 44 percent on restructuring costs as it closes stores. Lowe's CEO Robert Niblock said Monday he didn't expect any significant rebound in the housing market until 2013.

Home Depot CEO Frank Blake echoed that sentiment.

"In the U.S., we still do not see, and do not expect to see in the near term, any meaningful tailwind from the housing market," Blake said in a call with analysts. "In this type of environment, it is critical that we effectively invest in our business and keep focused on customer service."

Some examples of Home Depot's investments are a new "buy online, pick up in store" program, a new scheduling system for staffers and a new return-to-vendor process.

Home Depot said consumers are spending slightly more on their homes. Storm-related repairs helped results after Hurricane Irene swept up the East Coast in August. But spending was up in all regions. Blake said the Western division, which was not affected by the hurricane, was the strongest region.

The number of customers making purchases rose 1 percent, the third sequential quarterly increase. The average ticket rose 3 percent to $53.03. Products related to smaller maintenance and repair categories like pipes and fittings, hand tools and appliance parts sold well.

The number of customers buying items worth $50 or less was flat for the quarter, while customers spending over $900 rose 3.6 percent, helped by sales of roofing and generators.

Net income in the quarter ending Oct. 30 rose 12 percent to $934 million, or 60 cents per share, from $834 million, or 51 cents per share, last year.

Revenue rose 4 percent to $17.33 billion from $16.6 billion last year.

Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of 59 cents per share on revenue of $17.11 billion.

Revenue in stores open at least a year rose 4.2 percent globally and 3.8 percent in the U.S. The measure is considered a key gauge of a retailer's fiscal health because it excludes stores that open or close during the year.

The measure shows "Home Depot continues to capture share in a challenging macro-environment," said S&P Capital IQ analyst Michael Souers.

The company now expects net income of $2.38 per share for the year, from August guidance of $2.34 per share. It reiterated it expects revenue to rise 2.5 percent, implying revenue of $69.7 billion. Analysts expect earnings of $2.36 per share on revenue of $69.66 billion.

For the holidays, Home Depot has expanded its LED Christmas light selection to 70 different options and is offering new Martha Stewart holiday decor. Gift centers will showcase hand tools, power tools and tool storage items.

Home Depot also raised its dividend to by 4 cents to 29 cents. The dividend is payable on Dec. 15 to shareholders of record as of Dec. 1.

Shares slipped 18 cents to close at $38.07 Tuesday after rising as high as $38.74 in earlier trading. The company's shares are up 35 percent from their low for the past year of $28.13 set in early August. Their 52-week high was $39.38 reached in late February.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111115/ap_on_bi_ge/us_earns_home_depot

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Turkey's quake homeless endure unusual cold (AP)

ANKARA, Turkey ? Thousands of people left homeless after two earthquakes in eastern Turkey that killed 644 people and toppled some 2,000 building are suffering through unusually cold November weather.

The Anatolia agency cited weather officials as saying Monday that temperatures dipped as low as -15C (5 degrees Fahrenheit) overnight in the worst-hit town of Ercis in Van province.

The HaberTurk newspaper reports that a 7-year-old handicapped girl, Deniz Olgun, died of pneumonia in Ercis on Sunday. It says the girl was hospitalized earlier after becoming sick in a makeshift tent. It says her father, Enver Olgun, claimed that he could not obtain a proper tent from authorities.

Several countries, including the United States and Israel, have sent in tents and prefabricated homes.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111114/ap_on_re_eu/eu_turkey_quake

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Hawaii's Hometown Hero (TIME)

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Russia Still Trying to Contact Stranded Mars Moon Probe (SPACE.com)

Russian engineers are still trying to communicate with a wayward Mars moon probe, and they have until early December to fix the spacecraft and send it on its way, according to news reports.

Russia's unmanned Phobos-Grunt spacecraft launched Nov. 8 on a mission to the Martian moon Phobos. The probe reached Earth orbit as planned, but its thrusters never fired to propel it toward the Red Planet. While all attempts to contact Phobos-Grunt since then have failed, the mission team hasn't given up hope, according to Russian news service Ria Novosti.

"We estimate that the Phobos-Grunt will fly until January, and to make it perform its mission we still have time until the beginning of December," said Vladimir Popovkin, head of Russia's Federal Space Agency (known as Roscosmos), according to Ria Novosti.

Changing the signal

Phobos-Grunt is currently zipping around Earth at an altitude of about 124 miles (200 kilometers). First contact with the probe was originally planned to be made at a much higher altitude, so engineers have scaled back the strength of the signal sent to the spacecraft, according to Ria Novosti.?

Phobos-Grunt weighs about 14.5 tons, and much of that weight is highly toxic hydrazine fuel. Some analysts have expressed concern that this fuel ? as well as pieces of the probe itself ? could pose a danger to people on the ground if Phobos-Grunt ends up crashing to Earth in a month or two.

But Popovkin downplayed those worries.

"There are 7.5 metric tons of fuel in the aluminum tanks on board. We have no doubts that they will explode [and destroy the probe] upon re-entry," Ria Novosti quoted Popovkin as saying. "It is highly unlikely that its parts would reach Earth."

Another Russian Mars failure?

The $163 million Phobos-Grunt mission aimed to land a probe on Phobos, scoop up some dirt and rock samples and send them back to Earth by 2014 ("grunt" means "soil" in Russian). The spacecraft is also carrying China's first Mars orbiter, a small satellite called Yinghuo 1, which was supposed to be deployed after Phobos-Grunt reached Mars in a year or so. [Photos: Russia's Mars Moon Mission]

Phobos-Grunt is Russia's first attempt at a planetary mission since 1996, when the Mars 96 spacecraft crashed into the Pacific Ocean. If Phobos-Grunt cannot be saved, it would continue Russia's long string of Mars failures. The nation has launched 18 other spacecraft toward the Red Planet since 1960, and not one of them achieved full mission success.

If Phobos-Grunt falls back to Earth, it would also mark the third such uncontrolled spacecraft re-entry in the last few months.

In October, a dead German satellite known as ROSAT fell over the Bay of Bengal after orbiting Earth for 21 years. And in late September, a defunct NASA Earth-observing spacecraft called UARS burned up over the southern Pacific Ocean. No one was hurt in either case.

You can follow SPACE.com senior writer Mike Wall on Twitter: @michaeldwall. Follow SPACE.com for the latest in space science and exploration news on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/science/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/space/20111114/sc_space/russiastilltryingtocontactstrandedmarsmoonprobe

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Michele Bachmann and Ron Paul Accuse CBS of Bias (Little green footballs)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/161584231?client_source=feed&format=rss

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