MMA posters from Japan: Fedor fight card competes with UFC Japan

In 2011, is proper anymore to ask which card you're more excited to see?

Is it only hardcore UFC haters who'll say DREAM's 2011 card is better than UFC 144?

Above are the competing posters. Below is DREAM's attempt at getting people fired up for its card headlined by the Fedor Emelianenko fight against Satoshi Ishii.

Personally, I'm stoked to see the fight. What does Fedor have left and is Ishii ready to compete against the top level of MMA just six fights into his MMA career?

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/blog/cagewriter/post/MMA-posters-from-Japan-Fedor-fight-card-compete?urn=mma-wp10820

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Microsoft Exec Discusses Enterprise Benefits of HP Cloud Partnership (NewsFactor)

The cloud. Communications. Collaboration. It's all merging together in the 21st century business world, and it's driving new partnerships between technology behemoths competing against smaller upstarts in a space that analysts predict will grow exponentially in the years ahead.

In the latest cloud partnership, Hewlett-Packard and Microsoft are getting cozier. Microsoft announced a four-year initiative with HP Enterprise Services to deliver Microsoft's communications and collaboration applications over private, public and hybrid cloud services last week, and the details continue to unfold.

Both companies see the opportunity to collaborate in the cloud. According to Gartner, worldwide revenue from cloud services will total about $89 billion this year, up from $74 billion last year. And Gartner predicts cloud computing will generate nearly $129 billion by 2013. Microsoft and HP are finding ways to work together to serve what they see as unmet needs from which both companies can profit.

Minimizing Risks

"CIOs, CFOs and CCOs are looking for ways to minimize the risks involved with moving their messaging, collaboration and workplace services to the cloud," said Mark Hill, vice president of the Enterprise Partner Group at Microsoft.

"They want choice and flexibility to deploy public or private solutions -- or a hybrid, regardless of geography. Large organizations, particularly those in regulated industries like financial services and public sector, have demanding requirements for functionality and service levels."

Under the agreement, HP and Microsoft will work to solve the IT challenges Hill outlined. That means offering private and public cloud solutions designed to help them rapidly scale new users, shift IT resources from maintenance to innovation, and change IT from a capital to operating expense.

Flexible Fruit

"With these new services, HP and Microsoft offer a flexible range of cost-efficient, cloud-based productivity solutions running on the latest technology to meet client needs across the globe," Hill said.

"The alliance will benefit enterprises and governments by providing efficiencies and flexibility with public and private cloud solutions, delivering Microsoft's messaging and collaboration applications via HP's global private and public cloud footprint."

In the private cloud, HP Enterprise Cloud Services will deliver Microsoft Exchange Server 2010, Microsoft SharePoint Server 2010 and Microsoft Lync Server 2010 productivity applications as a service from HP data centers around the world. Microsoft will deliver Microsoft Office 365 through the public cloud. And HP will resell Microsoft Office 365 with HP Enterprise Cloud Services for hybrid clouds.

Reallocating IT Pros

Hill outlined what he sees as key customer benefits, including maximum flexibility to choose a cloud computing solution that meets an organization's specialized messaging and collaboration needs and rapid scaling of new servers. The solutions also let clients reallocate IT professionals from IT maintenance to innovation and help them shift costs from an upfront capital expense to an ongoing operating expense.

"Enterprises can expect all the benefits of cloud computing, such as cost efficiencies, offloading non-core IT activities -- maintenance to innovation -- and centralized deployment and management," Hill said. "The solutions maintain software currency without you doing the work yourself, while always running the latest software and configurations without upgrade hassles."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/enterprise/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nf/20111213/bs_nf/81348

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Report: More indies in swing states (Politico)

In eight key swing states, the number of registered independents registered has gone up since the last election while Democrats and Republicans have both dipped, according to a new study that said the finding has major implications for the 2012 presidential race.

The number of independents in the up-for-grabs states has climbed by 3.4 percent, or 254,310 voters, since 2008, the report from Third Way reveals. At the same time, Democratic registration decreased by 5.4 percent, or a whopping 825,708 voters, while Republican registration saw a drop of 3.1 percent, or 378,835 voters.

Continue Reading

First reported by POLITICO Playbook, the numbers, compiled from data in eight key swing states for which voter registration information is available ? Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina and Pennsylvania ? reveal that in seven of those states, independents? share of the electorate increased relative to both Democrats and Republicans.

The states that saw the biggest increase in registered independent voters were North Carolina, 125,094; Florida, 99,841; and Colorado, 92,539. Pennsylvania lost the biggest number of Democrats, 339,139, and also saw the biggest decrease in its registered Republicans, 215,725.

?Based on the combination of this general trend and the rise in both registration and self-identi?cation of independents since 2008, the most likely scenario for 2012 is that independents will make up a bigger portion of the electorate next year than in any election since1976,? the study said.

As the report also points out, President Barack Obama won 52 percent of independent voters in 2008, winning the group by double-digit margins in all but four battleground states.

?Independents will be the deciders in 2012, and President Obama will need them to an even greater degree than he did in 2008,? the study said.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories1211_69967_html/43831909/SIG=11me6ug9h/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/69967.html

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NYC recommends AIDS drugs for any person with HIV

NEW YORK (AP) ? Health officials in the nation's largest city are recommending that any residents living with HIV be offered AIDS drugs as soon as the virus is diagnosed, an aggressive move that has been shown to prolong life and stem the spread of the disease.

Standard practice has been to have patients put off the expensive pill regimen ? which can cost up to $15,000 a year in the United States ? until the immune system weakens.

But New York City Health Commissioner Thomas Farley said recent studies have shown that the benefits of early treatment, combined with education and testing, appear to be a promising strategy for countering the epidemic.

"I'm more optimistic now than I've ever been about this epidemic that we can drive our new rates down to zero or close to it ? eventually. I don't know how soon. But I'm very optimistic of the direction that it's going to take the epidemic to," Farley said Wednesday.

More than 110,000 people in New York City are infected with HIV, more than in any other U.S. city and about 75 percent of all cases in the state. San Francisco, which had more than 18,000 people living with HIV, is believed to be the only other major city to have made a similar recommendation, in 2010.

City health officials said the new recommendation could initially help about 3,000 people get on medications. About 66,000 New Yorkers living with HIV that the Health Department tracks are being effectively treated with AIDS drugs, they said. But they said it was difficult to estimate how many people would eventually need the medications.

Some doctors agree with the Department of Health that it is time to update the guidelines for initiating AIDS drug treatment.

"The New York City health department is a little bit ahead of the curve. In my opinion, the rest of the country will follow, and I think it will be pretty quick," said Dr. Michael Saag of the University of Alabama at Birmingham and past chairman of the HIV Medicine Association.

The standard measure of the CD4 count ? a way to measure the strength of the immune system ? is an outdated trigger for therapy, a relic from research on early antiretroviral drugs, Saag said.

"It's an anachronism. It's old school. It's yesterday," Saag said. "I agree completely with the New York City health department."

Dr. Joel Gallant of Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and vice chair of the HIV Medicine Association also agrees with the New York recommendation for offering early treatment. He recommends early treatment for his own patients.

"Nobody I know who is an HIV expert feels that it's a bad idea to treat HIV at high CD4 counts from a medical or scientific standpoint," Gallant said. "If there are objections, they'd usually be based on cost or feasibility."

Saag said the cost questions are very important because brand-name drugs can retail for $1,200 to $1,600 per month.

"For sure, they're very expensive drugs and we should be careful about that," he said, though he added that the medications are going generic so costs should come down.

City health officials said they anticipated that the cost for expanding the use of AIDS drugs would be covered by private insurance or by the AIDS Drug Assistance Program, a $270 million program for the uninsured or underinsured that is partially funded through federal dollars. The health officials said they expect the benefits over the long term would far outweigh the initial costs because there would be fewer hospitalizations and new HIV cases.

"There will be some increasing costs over the short term," Farley said. "But over the long term, it's absolutely the right thing for the epidemic."

HIV experts are split about whether early therapy should be recommended or optional. Besides the high costs, the pills have side effects from nausea to liver damage. Patients unwilling to take them religiously for life could develop drug resistance.

A panel that recently updated U.S. guidelines was divided evenly, with half favoring starting therapy early for everyone and half regarding an early start as elective.

But there's growing evidence that untreated HIV can lead to cancers and heart disease. What's more, antiretroviral drugs are safer, have fewer side effects and work better than they did in the past. New research also indicates that people live better, healthier lives and their sex partners are less likely to get infected.

The new research cited by the city's Health Department in making its recommendations includes a nine-nation study whose preliminary results were announced earlier this year and showed that earlier treatment meant patients were 96 percent less likely to spread the virus to their uninfected partners.

Dr. Moupali Das, the director of research at the San Francisco Department of Health HIV Prevention Section, said its surveillance data indicated that physicians were treating their HIV patients early even before the city recommended doing so. She said the average amount of time from diagnosis to having no virus in the blood went from 32 months in 2004 to eight months in 2008.

"That reflects that the newer medications are more potent and efficacious, and the doctors were likely initiating them earlier," she said.

She said they are currently analyzing what has happened since the recommendations went into effect. But, anecdotally, she said that there has been a change among patients seeking treatment. "It's changed the dialogue and empowered our patient population," she said.

Public health experts predict the guidelines for starting AIDS drugs treatment will shift toward a clear recommendation for early treatment.

But New York City's health commissioner said officials there could not wait to respond.

"What we're doing here is we're making a really clear and unequivocal statement that we think this is good for the health of the patient, good for the health of the entire population, good for the response to the epidemic," Farley said.

___

AP Medical Writer Carla K. Johnson in Chicago contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2011-12-01-US-AIDS-Prevention/id-c6a0b7af4e44415f820589a0dbc1ca15

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Recall news (Providence Journal)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/170592582?client_source=feed&format=rss

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No. 8 Oregon beats UCLA 49-31 for Pac-12 title

BC-FBC--T25-Pac-12 Championship, 3rd Ld-Writethru,951No. 8 Oregon beats UCLA 49-31 for Pac-12 titleAP Photo ORGW101, ORGW103, ORDR108, ORDR107, ORDR103, ORDR102, ORDR101, ORDR104, ORDR106, ORDR109Eds: No. 8 Oregon 49, UCLA 31. New approach. With AP Photos.By ANNE. PETERSONAP Sports Writer

EUGENE, Ore. (AP) ? As LaMichael James danced to celebrate Oregon's third straight conference championship, fans surrounding him shouted "One More Year!"

The junior running back ran for 219 yards and three touchdowns in the eighth-ranked Ducks' 49-31 victory over UCLA in the inaugural Pac-12 championship game Friday night. With the win, the Ducks earn a trip to the Rose Bowl.

There has been speculation that James, who set a league record with three straight 1,500-yard seasons, will bolt to the NFL next season.

But for right now, James was savoring the moment.

"Just being with my teammates, I cherish that," he said. "I don't think about 'one more year.' I just think about today."

While James partied, UCLA coach Rick Neuheisel paused before Bruins fans at Autzen Stadium and tipped his hat. The former UCLA quarterback was fired this week after four seasons at his alma mater.

The Bruins (6-7) played with passion for their outgoing coach and kept it closer than many thought they would, but it was not enough to overcome the Ducks (11-2), who head to a BCS bowl for the third straight season.

"They can take my job," Neuheisel said, gesturing to the locker room as he left the field, "but they can't take those boys away from me."

Neuheisel was fired following last weekend's 50-0 loss to No. 9 Southern California, It was one in a wave of coaching moves in the conference. Around the time he was fired, Arizona State let go of Dennis Erickson. Washington State parted ways with Paul Wulff, then quickly hired former Texas Tech coach Mike Leach a day later.

The Bruins were granted permission this week from the NCAA to accept a bowl invitation despite their losing record.

"We made it a game, at least for a time. I was thrilled that we got that kind of effort, given the events of the last week," Neuheisel said. "I just am excited for these guys. They get one more game. They'll find out where here soon."

Oregon will play the winner of the first Big Ten championship game Saturday between No. 11 Michigan State and No. 15 Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl on Jan. 2. The bowl pairings will be formally announced on Sunday.

The Ducks clenched roses in their teeth Friday night as fireworks exploded above and confetti rained down. James danced with fellow running back Kenjon Barner.

With his three TDs, James moved into a tie with USC's LenDale White (2003-05) for second on the league's career rushing TD list with 52.

James ran 30 yards for a touchdown on Oregon's first drive of the game. He went into the game as the nation's top running back with an average of 142.7 yards per game.

UCLA tied it when linebacker Patrick Larimore intercepted Thomas and ran 35 yards for a touchdown. Neuheisel pumped his fist in celebration.

Thomas scored on a 10-yard keeper and then found true freshman tight end Colt Lyerla alone in the end zone with a 7-yard scoring pass to make it 21-7.

UCLA narrowed it with quarterback Kevin Prince's flea-flicker to Nelson Rosario for a 37-yard touchdown.

Oregon was stung early in the game when dynamic true freshman De'Anthony Thomas fumbled after a hit by Tevin McDonald. Shaken up on the play, the versatile running back who earlier this week was named the Pac-12's co-freshman of the year on offense did not return.

James added a 3-yard touchdown run to make it 28-14 before Darron Thomas connected with Daryle Hawkins for a 25-yard TD reception.

UCLA's Tyler Gonzalez kicked a 44-yard field goal to make it 37-17 at halftime.

Prince scored on a 1-yard run early in the third quarter to pull UCLA closer to the Ducks, but James answered with a 5-yard TD dash to make it 42-24.

A Heisman Trophy finalist last season as a sophomore, James fell out of the running for the most part this season because he missed two games with a dislocated right elbow.

Offensive lineman Carson York said he certainly hoped this wasn't James' final season with the Ducks.

"It's been an absolute honor to block for that guy for the last three years," York said. "I am firmly against this being his last game at Autzen Stadium."

David Paulson caught a 22-yard touchdown pass midway through the third, which put Darron Thomas in front of Danny O'Neil (1991-94) for most passing TDs at Oregon.

Rosario pulled down a one-handed, 19-yard touchdown pass from Prince with less than two minutes to play. Rosario finished with six catches for 98 yards.

Prince completed 13 of 26 passes for 164 yards and two touchdowns.

The addition of Colorado and Utah to the Pac-12 paved the way for a league championship game this season. In previous years, the team with the best conference record claimed the title.

While No. 9 USC (10-2, 7-2) finished atop the Pac-12 South, the Trojans are ineligible to play in the postseason because of NCAA sanctions, which put UCLA in the title game.

Because of Neuheisel's dismissal, offensive coordinator Mike Johnson will take over if UCLA is selected to play in a bowl game.

The Bruins have reached just one bowl in the past three seasons. Athletic director Dan Guerrero said he wants to reward the Bruins' 18 seniors by going to a bowl even while the program is in upheaval.

Oregon went to the 2010 Rose Bowl in its first season under Kelly, losing to Ohio State. Last season the Ducks went to the BCS championship, where they fell to Auburn.

Oregon had appeared to be in the running for another shot at the national championship game before losing 38-35 to USC at Autzen Stadium on Nov. 19.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2011-12-03-T25-Pac-12%20Championship/id-81eee7ca2d61497ca7df9fbc107a6e27

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India in bind, may delay coming of foreign retail (AP)

MUMBAI, India ? Stock prices of Indian retailers plunged Monday after a key coalition ally and opposition politicians said the government had put on hold its decision to throw open the country's huge retail sector to foreign investors, in a potentially damaging setback for India's beleaguered ruling party.

The government has not officially announced a change in its policy on foreign direct investment, but a reversal would be an embarrassment for the ruling Congress party, which has been scrambling to reassert its leadership and kick-start investment in the deteriorating economy.

The government's failure to clarify its position wreaked havoc with shares of Indian retailers, which earlier had risen on hopes they would enter joint ventures with foreign retailers. Jittery investors drove shares in Pantaloon Retail down 12.9 percent and Treat closed down 3.3 percent.

The furor over whether to allow chains such as Wal-Mart to open supermarkets in major cities has deadlocked Parliament, with many politicians slamming the decision as a job killer for India's small retail shops. Proponents say it would bring needed investment into India's infrastructure that would result in higher incomes for farmers through less waste of their produce and cutting out the middleman. Greater competition and efficiency would benefit consumers by keeping retail prices down.

An about-face on such an important decision would raise serious questions about the ability of India's ruling party to effectively govern. Analysts say sustained opposition may force the government to water down the policy or delay its implementation, even if it manages to avoid a full reversal.

Trinomial Congress party chief Magmata Banners said Saturday that Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had assured her the changes would not go through over the dissent of her party, which is allied with the government.

"He informed me that the Cabinet decision ... will be suspended until and unless a consensus is evolved. If this is so, the issue is settled," she said in a message posted to her party's website.

The Press Trust of India reported Monday that the Mukherjee also told two opposition leaders that the decision would be put on hold.

The ruling Congress party would neither confirm nor deny those claims.

"I will make a statement on the floor of the House," Mukherjee told reporters Monday. The earliest that could happen is Wednesday, when Parliament reconvenes.

Business leaders slammed the Congress party for potentially bungling a crucial policy change that has been a decade in the making, and bemoaned the weak leadership of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in the face of a parliamentary revolt.

"It makes the position of Manmohan Singh even more weak. Clearly the man carries no authority," said Arvind Singhal, founder of Technopak Advisors, a New Delhi-based consulting company.

He said India's lack of leadership was eroding much-needed investment, from domestic businesses as well as foreign. "The impact on investors will be very negative in terms of confidence," he said. "We need FDI, but India needs significantly more investment from within."

The change in foreign investment rules for retail does not require parliamentary approval, and many questioned the government's wisdom in announcing the controversial plan while Parliament was in session, in the buildup to crucial state elections.

"It was bad planning," said agriculture analyst P.M. Sinha, a former PepsiCo executive in South Asia. "They could have waited a few weeks and nothing would have happened."

He said he believes the government will prevail and the changes will ultimately go through.

"The middlemen have a pretty strong lobby, but it is just a matter of time now before they're pushed aside," Sinha said.

Dismay over the government's inability to implement long-promised reforms that could spur economic growth has intensified as India's economy slows. The economy grew just 6.9 percent in the September quarter, the slowest in more than two years.

India's flagging growth is seen by many as a crisis of governance.

"A slowing economy seems to pale in comparison to the larger crisis at hand ? that of a Parliament that is completely unable to function in the way these sacred institutions were set up to be," HDFC Chairman Deepak Parekh and former Unilever chief Ashok Ganguly said in a joint statement Sunday.

"Opposing investment in modern retail for the sake of it is only defending vested interests to the detriment of the vast majority," they said. "The farmers, the consumers and the common people must raise their voices against this false drama of apprehension against investment and modernizing trade in agriculture and consumer goods."

Foreign direct investment flows into India fell to $23 billion in the fiscal year ended March from $38 billion the prior year, and remain lower than flows to Brazil, Russia and China, according to Moody's.

___

Associated Press writer Katy Daigle in New Delhi contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111205/ap_on_bi_ge/as_india_retail

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