Polar Proxy

NEW YORK (Reuters) –
Citadel Broadcasting Corp (CTDB.OB), the third-largest U.S. radio broadcaster, said on Sunday it filed for the bankruptcy protection, as the radio industry continues to be hard hit by depressed advertising revenue.

Citadel, whose network consists of 165 FM stations and 58 AM stations, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection under a prenegotiated deal with more than 60 percent of its senior lenders. The deal would convert its $2.1 billion secured credit facility into a new term loan of $762.5 million, meaning about $1.4 billion of debt would be extinguished, it said.

As part of the deal, senior lenders would receive a share of the new term loan and 90 percent of the new common stock in reorganized Citadel. The company filed for bankruptcy protection in Manhattan.

Farid Suleman, Citadel's chief executive officer, said the company's "business will continue as usual" and it would seek to emerge from restructuring as quickly as possible.

Citadel, also the owner of ABC Radio Networks, which it took on debt to buy from the Walt Disney Co (DIS.N) in 2006, has struggled along with the rest of the industry.

In the latest quarter, it reported a 14 percent drop in revenue to $183 million, and a quarterly loss of 8 cents per share versus a profit of 10 cents per share a year earlier.

Citadel said that to fund its restructuring it has reached an agreement with lenders to access about $36 million of cash on hand. It will also use all cash flow from operations, it said.

(Reporting by Paul Thomasch, editing by Matthew Lewis)

NEW YORK (Reuters) –
Santa came early for Wall Street this year by giving the S&P 500 a 22 percent gain for 2009, and with just eight trading days left in the year, stock investors are not expecting to find much more under the tree.

The Grinch showed up early, too, with a heavy winter snowstorm on the East Coast forcing some stores and malls to close on "Super Saturday" -- on the last holiday shopping weekend before Christmas.

Investors will be anxious to find out if consumers stepped up their online shopping to get all those stockings filled before Christmas morning, which falls on Friday this year.

With consumers in focus in the countdown to Christmas, this week's major U.S. economic indicators will include the Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment index, personal income and spending data, and the latest weekly jobless claims. On Thursday, the New York Stock Exchange trading floor will close early in observance of Christmas Eve.

Financial markets will be closed on Friday for Christmas Day.

Investors will also pay attention this week to a final reading on third-quarter gross domestic product. But with the market already factoring in an economic recovery, the GDP data could evoke a muted response. Existing home sales and new home sales also will be worth noting, due to the central role the housing sector's collapse played in last year's financial crisis.

Tensions between Iraq and Iran over a disputed oilfield will also be on the radar and could hurt stocks if the situation escalates.

Markets historically enjoy a short, sweet "Santa Claus rally" in December's final days and early January.

But with the S&P 500 (.SPX) climbing 63 percent from March's 12-year closing low, investors question what catalyst could drive the market significantly higher.

"I thought there might be one more push higher, but it now looks like investors are willing to let the market consolidate its gains this year, and are happy to lock in the profits that they've established," said Michael Sheldon, chief market strategist at RDM Financial in Westport, Connecticut.

The Standard & Poor's 500 Index has drifted in a range between 1,085 and 1,119 since the start of November as market players became more concerned with preserving 2009's gains rather than taking risky bets. The S&P 500 is up 22.1 percent for the year.

This month, the U.S. dollar's rebound has limited the stock market's gains as the inverse correlation between the greenback and equities deteriorated.

On the plus side, though, is the ritual of year-end window dressing, when fund managers sell underperformers and buy some gainers to spruce up portfolios, which could lift stocks that have done well this year.

Volatility may increase this week as fewer participants make it easier to push the market around. Indeed, the market has generally climbed on light volume this year, but most analysts expect stocks to grind sideways in the days ahead.

"You will probably see some modest window dressing going on, so in my opinion, you could see higher-quality stocks do a bit better," said Haag Sherman, co-founder and chief investment officer of Salient Partners, an investment firm in Houston. "But I don't think there's going to be any material movements between now and year-end."

RETAIL'S "ARCTIC WINTER"

Most importantly for the market's outlook, investors will assess the holiday shopping season after "Super Saturday" weekend. Retailers had hoped to see a surge of shoppers over the last weekend before Christmas. But that was before Mother Nature played her wild card with a huge East Coast snowstorm that made driving and even walking dangerous in many areas.

Even before the storm, experts doubted whether "Super Saturday" shopping would be enough to push holiday sales much above last year 's dismal tally.

Last year was the first time that holiday sales fell during this decade, according to the International Council of Shopping Centers, as shoppers fretted about the financial crisis and growing unemployment.

Spending has remained anemic this year. Consumers' reluctance to spend remains one of the biggest headwinds to the U.S. economic recovery.

"Last year was a train wreck. It was the arctic winter of retail," said Lawrence Creatura, equity market strategist and portfolio manager at Federated Clover Capital Advisors in Rochester, New York. "Surpassing that is not a high hurdle."

A snapshot of how retailers fared over the weekend will come from anecdotal evidence about how busy - or not -- stores were, as well as sales and traffic data from ShopperTrak, a private firm that monitors such statistics.

Further insight into consumers' purchasing power and their inclination to spend will come on Wednesday from a final reading of December consumer sentiment from the Reuters/University of Michigan data. Economists expect an index reading of 73.5, compared with a previous reading of 67.4, according to a Reuters poll.

The struggling job market's pulse will be taken on Thursday, with the release of initial claims for jobless benefits, expected to fall to 470,000 from 480,000 the week before. For details on economic indicators, see

Only a few major earnings reports are on tap, including results from Walgreen Co (WAG.N), ConAgra Foods Inc (CAG.N) and Micron Technology Inc (MU.N).

MODEST GROWTH IN GDP AND HOME SALES

The government's final look at third-quarter gross domestic product, due on Tuesday, is expected to show the U.S. economy grew at an annual rate of 2.8 percent in the stretch from July through September, in line with the previous reading.

Existing home sales for November also will be released on Tuesday; economists forecast sales will rise to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 6.25 million units from 6.10 million in October.

On Wednesday, new home sales for November are expected to edge up to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 440,000 units from 430,000 in October.

EYES ON IRAQ AND IRAN

A potential headwind for markets could be any increase in tensions between Iraq and Iran. On Friday, Iraq demanded that Iran immediately withdraw its soldiers from a disputed oilfield on the two countries' border, but Iran denied any incursion.

But on Sunday, officials from both countries said Iranian troops have withdrawn partly from a disputed oil area claimed by both Tehran and Baghdad, possibly defusing a border feud straining the two nations' delicate ties.

While the stock market showed no reaction on Friday, an escalation in hostility between Iraq and Iran could push investors out of stocks and into safe-haven assets such as the dollar or U.S. Treasury bonds.

"Any acceleration of aggression, or potential disruption in the supply of oil would have a more meaningful impact on investor sentiment," Creatura said.

U.S. crude oil futures settled on Friday at $73.36 a barrel, up 71 cents, or almost 1 percent, with Middle Eastern tensions supporting oil prices.

(Reporting by Leah Schnurr; Additional reporting by Ellis Mnyandu; Editing by Jan Paschal)

Most people regard watching television as a passive activity. You sit, you watch. Occasionally, you change the channel. But a new study reveals that even this passive diversion may lead to actively damaging effects, particularly when it comes to issues of race.
In a series of intricately designed experiments, psychologists at Tufts University demonstrate that subtle racial biases are often expressed by characters on popular television shows, and that viewers not only pick up these attitudes but allow them to shape their own outlooks on race. The most insidious part of this cultural traffic, the researchers found, is that the transmission of race bias appears to occur subconsciously, unbeknownst to the viewer. (Watch a video of the best television series of 2009.)
Led by Max Weisbuch, a postdoctoral student in the lab of Tufts psychology professor Nalini Ambady, researchers designed the multipart study to examine the communication of race bias on television to white college-age volunteers. Weisbuch and his team were intrigued by the fact that despite a significant reduction in overt expressions of racism in modern American society - the country has, after all, just elected its first black president - studies consistently find that many people still show biased or negative attitudes toward African-Americans, primarily through nonverbal means such as facial expressions, crossed arms and averted gazes. The psychologists wondered how such biases could persist in a society in which racism is socially unacceptable and indeed publicly denounced.
So the group decided to examine the medium of television, which connects the vast majority of Americans, and through which many people predominantly receive their social and cultural cues. The study looked at 11 popular prime-time TV shows, such as Heroes, Scrubs, House, CSI: Miami and Grey's Anatomy, whose casts include both white and black recurring characters of equal status.
In the first of a series of four studies, researchers showed participants TV clips in which a white character and black character interact - but the segments were stripped of sound and the black character was digitally deleted. The idea was to ensure that neither race nor dialogue would color viewers' analysis. The exercise was repeated with the white character deleted. Researchers then asked the viewers, white college students, to evaluate in each circumstance, whether the unseen character appeared to be treated positively or negatively by the seen character, and how well liked he or she appeared to be. In the end, across the majority of TV shows, viewers consistently said that the white characters had received more positive treatment and were better liked than their black counterparts. (See the top 10 TV series of 2009.)
What fascinated Weisbuch was that the viewers' judgment of the characters was based purely on nonverbal cues, from facial expressions to body language. In fact, when participants were given transcripts of the verbal content of the clips, they saw no difference in the way black or white target characters were treated by speaking characters. These expressions may have been scripted into the show by writers, or by productions editors or the director, but nevertheless, researchers say they demonstrate unfavorably biased attitudes toward black characters.
Next, researchers tried to figure out whether this nonverbal bias was being communicated to people watching the show. Researchers created two sets of short, silent clips, one pro-white and the other pro-black. In the pro-white set, white characters were treated positively and black characters were treated negatively; in the pro-black clips, the reverse was true. A separate group of students was asked to view either the pro-white or pro-black TV clips. Afterward, the students completed a questionnaire that was presented as a different study, but actually served as a measure of their racial bias. The results suggested that students who viewed the pro-white clips were much more likely to demonstrate racial bias than those watching the pro-black clips. "That suggests that exposure to the nonverbal behaviors affects bias," says Prof. Ambady.
The scientists went on to demonstrate that the viewers were unaware of the clips' effect. In another part of the study, students were asked to watch the same pro-white and pro-black clips, but this time they were also instructed to be on the look- out for evidence of subtle biased behavior. Afterward, viewers were asked to determine whether white characters or black characters were treated better.
Because each set of clips was created to favor one group or the other, there was only one right answer to the question. The students had a 50-50 chance of responding correctly - and that's exactly how well they did, no better than chance. In other words, the patterns of bias expressed in the characters' nonverbal behavior were not obvious to the viewers. "The effect [television has] on viewers might be something less than conscious," says Weisbuch.
The findings suggest that despite the progress that has been made in addressing racism in the America, we may still be perpetuating prejudice in subtle ways - and, if Weisbuch's findings are validated, in ways that we may not even realize. "Human beings are thinking, cognizant, conscious beings who can be strategic and intentional," says John Dovidio, a professor of psychology at Yale University who wrote an editorial accompanying Weisbuch's study, published Thursday in Science. "But we are also kind of emotional and we do a lot of things without full conscious awareness. What this research suggests is that although our minds are in the right places, and we may truly believe we are not prejudiced, our hearts aren't quite there yet."
Acknowledging the disconnect may be the first step in bridging the gap between our hearts and minds, says Ambady. Figuring out exactly where and how subtle biases creep into our culture would be a start. To do that, we may have to start watching television more actively, and astutely, instead of passively absorbing everything we see.
See the top 10 TV ads of 2009.
See the top 10 TV episodes of 2009.
View this article on Time.comRelated articles on Time.com:Study: TV May Perpetuate Race Bias Dead Tree Alert: The Third Bias Why Racial Profiling Persists in Medical Research Doctor's Orders TV for Babies: Does It Help or Hurt?

High Performance Driving School

A race is a competition of speed, against an objective criterion, usually a clock. The competitors in a race try to complete a given task in the shortest amount of time. Typically this involves traversing some distance, but it can be any other task involving speed.

The largest stock car racing governing body is NASCAR. NASCAR's premier series is the Sprint Cup Series, its most famous races being the Daytona 500 and the Brickyard 400. NASCAR also runs several feeder series. The Nationwide Series, and Craftsman Truck Series (a pickup truck racing series) conduct races across the entire continental United States. The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series conducts races across Canada and the NASCAR Corona Series conducts races across Mexico. NASCAR also governs several smaller regional series.

WASHINGTON – Three of every four Americans view climate change as a serious problem that will harm future generations if not addressed, according to an Associated Press-Stanford University poll.
The survey also said that about the same number of people say the Earth probably already is warming, slightly fewer than the percentage expressing that view when asked the same question a year ago.
The AP-Stanford poll of 1,005 adults contacted by telephone in November suggests that people's concerns about climate change have not changed significantly.
That's contrary to several other recent surveys. In October, according to a poll of 1,500 adults conducted by the Pew Research Center for People and the Press, 57 percent said there is solid evidence the world is getting warmer. That was a 20 percent decline from three years earlier.
The new survey findings could give a boost to supporters of legislation in Congress to reduce heat-trapping pollution, mainly carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels.
On Saturday, an international climate conference made some headway toward an agreement for nations to cut greenhouse gases, but the accord spelled out no specific or mandatory cuts.
President Barack Obama, a key broker in the agreement, called it a breakthrough that lays the groundwork for getting emission cuts and for action by Congress.
In the AP-Stanford poll, when participants were asked how serious a problem they thought global warming presented, 42 percent replied it was very serious and 31 percent said it was somewhat serious.
Nearly two-thirds, or 63 percent, said that if nothing is done to reduce the threat of global warming, future generations will be hurt a great deal or "a lot." An additional 13 percent said future generations would be moderately harmed.
Still, only 41 percent viewed global warming as extremely or very important to them, although respondents said they rated climate change as second only to the economy as the most serious problems facing the world if nothing is done to address it.
While a solid majority say they believe the Earth already is warming, those that do not appeared to be more convinced than ever about their skepticism.
Of the 22 percent of the respondents who said that warming "probably is not happening," about half said they also are extremely or very sure of that conclusion. Two years ago, only one-third of people felt that way when asked the same question.
But the broad concerns over climate change appeared not to translate into support for legislation before Congress that would cap greenhouse gases.
While three-quarters of respondents said they support action to combat climate change, just as many said they would oppose the "cap and trade" legislation to limit heat-trapping pollution if it raised their electricity bill by $25 a month. Almost six in 10 balked if it meant paying $10 extra a month for electricity.
The AP-Stanford University Poll was conducted November 17-29 by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Media. It involved landline and cell phone interviews with 1,005 adults nationwide, and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points.
___
On the Net:
AP-Stanford University poll results: http://www.ap-gfkpoll.com

DES MOINES, Iowa – A fierce storm left dangerous ice, heavy snow and vicious winds in its wake as it slogged eastward Wednesday, snarling traffic and closing hundreds of schools from the Upper Midwest through New England.
More than a foot of snow was expected in parts of Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa, where the National Weather Service warned of "extremely dangerous blizzard conditions" and near whiteout driving conditions. Wind gusts of up to 50 mph could build snow drifts between 8 and 15 feet tall. Parts of New England also girded themselves for bone-chilling wind gusts and snow accumulations of up to a foot.
The storm was blamed for at least 10 deaths, most in traffic accidents.
"It's horrible out there," said Todd Lane, an assistant manager of a Quik Trip convenience store in Des Moines, where several inches of new snow was reported overnight. Plow drivers came into the store all night seeking energy drinks and coffee to keep them alert.
Motorists got stuck on drift-blocked highways all over Iowa. State troopers were dispatched with National Guard soldiers in Humvees, but some drivers had to wait two hours or longer for rescue. Even the plows were being pulled off the roads because snow drifts were too high to navigate.
"They're not even plowing the streets anymore because the wind will just blow it back down and cover it," said Dan Hansen, a carrier for the U.S. Postal Service in Iowa City. He was bundled up in hand and feet warmers, snow boots and a parka to brave his route. "It'll get worse before it gets better."
In Wisconsin, as many as a dozen tractor-trailers were stuck on interstate ramps made impassible by heavy snow where I-39, I-90 and I-94 intersect near Madison, the State Patrol said. Holiday shoppers hoping to use the snow day to get ahead on their gift lists also were out of luck: The city's two largest malls were closed.
The storm felt like a rude surprise after an unseasonably warm and dry November in parts of the region. The massive system is the first major blast of winter weather for many parts of the Midwest.
"I've been dreading this day," said Kim Brust, shoveling the sidewalk in front of his Minneapolis home before sunrise Wednesday. "I was starting to enjoy the global warming."
Hundreds of flights were canceled or delayed at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, and only a few were scheduled at Des Moines International Airport.
Blizzard warnings also covered eastern Nebraska, where overnight snowfall reports of 12 inches were common, and parts of Kansas, Illinois and Minnesota. Snow also fell in western and central Michigan. Thousands of power outages were reported in Illinois, Missouri, Michigan and Wisconsin.
In the West, pounded by the storm's rain and snow earlier this week, bitter wind chills as low as 40 below swept across portions of southern Montana. The biting winds also were moving across Wyoming and South Dakota, according to the National Weather Service.
By the time the storm moves off the Maine coast Thursday night, it may have affected as much as two-thirds of the country, said Jim Lee, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Des Moines.
Maine and New Hampshire could see snow accumulations of 6 to 10 inches capped off by rain and sleet in the evening. In northern New York, as much as a foot of snow was expected to accumulate Wednesday and more than 3 feet was expected by the week's end near the Great Lakes.
"It's a monster of a storm," Lee said.
The storm drenched California with rain, blanketed the mountain West with snow and brought 100 mph winds to New Mexico earlier this week. More than 20 inches of snow fell over Flagstaff, Ariz. — more than four times the record of 5 inches set in 1956. Heavy rain also hit some parts of the South, and more than 4 inches reported in spots in New Orleans on Tuesday.
At least 10 deaths were blamed on the weather, including an Arizona hunter who was killed Monday night when a large pine tree snapped and crushed him as he slept in a tent. The driver of a sport utility vehicle that plunged 90 feet off an icy road into the Texas Panhandle's Palo Duro Canyon also died. Three fatal accidents were reported along slippery roads in Missouri, and a Minnesota driver who braked to avoid a stalled vehicle and wound up crashing down an embankment.
___

Associated Press Writers Dinesh Ramde in Milwaukee, Scott Bauer in Madison, Kevin McGill in New Orleans, Pat Condon in Minneapolis, Felicia Fonseca in Flagstaff, Ariz. and Nigel Duara in Iowa City, Iowa contributed to this report.

Exposing kids to nasty germs might actually toughen them up to diseases as grown-ups, mounting research suggests.

A new study suggests that higher levels of exposure to common
everyday bacteria and microbes may play a helpful role in the
development of the body's inflammatory systems, which plays a crucial
role in the immune system's fight against infection.

"Inflammatory networks may need the same type of microbial exposures
early in life that have been part of the human environment for all of
our evolutionary history to function optimally in adulthood," said
Thomas McDade, a professor of anthropology at Northwestern University
and lead author of the study.

The investigation focused on how various early childhood
environments affected levels of C-reactive protein (CRP), which rises in the
blood because of inflammation. C-reactive protein is also considered by
researchers to be a predictor of heart disease, independent of lipids,
cholesterol and blood pressure, though the association has been
disputed.

While earlier studies have been conducted in relatively affluent
settings such as the United States, the researchers were interested in
how C-reactive protein production differed in a country like the
Philippines, a population with a high level of infectious diseases in
early childhood, but low rates of obesity and cardiovascular
diseases when compared to Western countries.

The researchers used data collected from a study that began in the early 1980s and tracked 3,327
Filipino mothers in the third trimester of pregnancy. The mothers were interviewed about childcare behaviors, and their homes were assessed in terms of hygiene (whether domestic animals roamed freely) and socioeconomic resources. Researchers also followed up with the children from such pregnancies every four or five years until the kids reached their early 20s.

Blood tests showed that C-reactive protein was at least 80 percent
lower for study participants in the Philippines when they reached young
adulthood, relative to their American counterparts, even though the
Filipinos suffered from many more infectious diseases as infants and
toddlers. CRP concentrations for Americans in their early 20s were on
average around 1 to 1.5 milligram per liter, while Filipino
participants in their early 20s had average CRP concentrations of 0.2
milligrams per liter - five to seven times lower than average CRP
levels for Americans.

"Contrary to assumptions related to earlier studies, our research
suggests that ultra-clean, ultra-hygienic environments early in life
may contribute to higher levels of inflammation as an adult, which in
turn increases risks for a wide range of diseases," said McDade. "In
the U.S we have this idea that we need to protect infants and children
from microbes and pathogens at all possible costs. But we may be
depriving developing immune networks of important environmental input
needed to guide their function throughout childhood and into adulthood."

The study will be published online on Dec. 9 in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences.

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WASHINGTON -- Barack Obama says a lot of smart things. During his campaign last year, in his second debate with Sen. John McCain, in Nashville, he closed by saying:

"We can't expect that if we do the same things that we've been doing over the last eight years, that somehow we are going to have a different outcome."

Or this after he was elected: "I don't care whether you're driving a hybrid or an SUV. If you're headed for a cliff, you have to change direction. That's what the American people called for in November, and that's what we intend to deliver."

And this: "I don't oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war."

Any president takes office as a novice. The job is sui generis. More often than not, the rhetoric of campaigns becomes irrelevant. The situations that reach the Situation Room are infinitely more complicated than campaigning. The constituencies a president has to reach are multiples of the constituency a candidate has to rally to win the damned job.

One of the complications is that in the Situation Room or the Oval Office, everything happens at once: war, economic collapse, crises in health care. Historians, then, clean up the mess, separating, say, civil rights and war in Vietnam. The president, though, does not have the luxury of retrospect. The president of all the people may have to increase troop levels in the impossible landscape of Afghanistan at the same time he announces a date to begin withdrawing from that far place.

President Obama may have been too clever by half last Tuesday night at West Point. He hoped to placate Americans who believe we must not and cannot "lose" or who believe the situation in Afghanistan is a genuine threat to our national security by sending in more troops. He hoped to use the prospect of withdrawal to force the Afghan government, such as it is, to reform itself and persuade Pakistan and other governments that we are there to stay for a while. Finally, politically, he hoped to placate his core constituency, liberals who want out, and our allies who are ready to leave at any moment.

There is, of course, nothing new about any of this. President Nixon did the same thing when he inherited an impossible war from President Johnson in 1968. In painfully arguing that Afghanistan was different from Vietnam Tuesday night, Obama left out the real differences: Vietnam was more humid and the American people were invested in that war because we had a citizen army then, draftees. Sadly, even though we are using heroic volunteers this time, the outcome of both wars will almost certainly be about the same.

Obama, unlike Nixon, does not use words like victory and defeat, an indication that he already knows we cannot "win" in Afghanistan. Win? What? Defeat? Whom? The arguments that this fight is for our national security -- even "world security" -- because the Taliban are bad guys or that we cannot allow al-Qaida "safe havens" in Afghanistan or Pakistan is nonsense. Like it or not, terrorists can hide in a thousand places in the Middle East and Central Asia, in Indonesia, in Hamburg or the borough of Queens. That is the nature of the serpent.

Yes, terrorists are a very real threat to our national security, but eight years after Sept. 11, 2001, the problem is no longer in the Hindu Kush. The problem is "two guys in a garage."

I take that phrase from Ken Auletta, from his necessary new book "Googled." In the course of his media coverage for The New Yorker, Auletta recalls asking Bill Gates of Microsoft what was his greatest concern about the future of the company. He answered, "Two guys in a garage." And so it came to be. The two guys, totally unknown then, in a garage near Stanford University were Sergey Brin and Larry Page, developing the technology and company they would call Google.

Terrorists are not that smart, but we have learned that only a couple of guys can wreak havoc in our world. And Afghanistan is not in our world. The money (and blood) draining into the rocky ground there should be spent on intelligence and bribes to find the bad guys in their caves and garages.

SHANGHAI (Reuters) –
China remains a top investment destination for U.S. companies in 2010 amid the global economic slowdown as they expect to see continuous growth in sales and profit, an American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham) study showed.

More than 90 percent of respondents had an optimistic business outlook on China based on an AmCham survey of 369 American companies, up from 80.7 percent in a similar survey in 2008, AmCham said a research report, released on Wednesday.

The study also found that 64.5 percent of those surveyed had plans to increase their investment in China next year, up from 58.6 percent in 2009.

"American companies are finding that their performance in China is the bright spot in an otherwise difficult global picture," J. Norwell Coquillard, chairman of AmCham Shanghai, said in a statement.

China has been a major growth engine this year amid the global economic downturn thanks to the government's 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) stimulus package, which has effectively steered the economy back to a healthy growth path.

As such, many U.S. companies, hit badly at home, are increasingly turning to China for growth.

Fifty-nine percent of U.S. companies surveyed are producing goods and services for the China market this year, up sharply from 39 percent last year, the largest increase since 2006.

Those in China who primarily export to their home market dropped to 16 percent in 2009 from 21 percent in 2008, the survey showed.

However, China, on track to meet its economic growth target of 8 percent this year, is not immune to the global downturn.

The number of respondents who expected a year-on-year rise in revenue in 2009 dropped to 47 percent from 77 percent in 2008, while those expecting flat earnings or a fall in profit came to 36 percent, the steepest rise since 2002, it said.

($1=6.827 Yuan)

(Reporting by Fang Yan and Jacqueline Wong)

SYDNEY (Reuters Life!) –
Some Australians are up in arms over a new kangaroo and emu flavored chip, horrified that people are encouraged to eat the nation's coat of arms which depicts the iconic Australian animals.

Complaints to Australia's Advertising Standards Bureau said the "BBQ Coat of Arms" chips were degrading for native wildlife and sent the wrong message to Australian children, reported the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.

"It implies that it is perfectly OK to kill kangaroos and emus just for fun!" said one complaint.

But the company manufacturing the chips rejected the charge, saying the kangaroo and emu flavored chips celebrated Australia's heritage.

The Advertising Standards Bureau investigated the complaints against the new chips but decided not to take any action.

(Reporting by Amy Pyett; Editing by Michael Perry)

WASHINGTON – The couple that got into the White House state dinner for the visiting Indian prime minister without invitations denied Tuesday that they were gatecrashers.
Appearing on a nationally broadcast morning news show with his wife, Tareq Salahi said the furor surrounding his and his wife Michaele's attendance at the dinner a week ago has been a "most devastating" experience. White House spokesman Robert Gibbs described President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama as angered by the incident.
Salahi told NBC's "Today" show Tuesday there's more to their side of the story — an explanation that would exonerate them from allegations of misconduct. Gibbs insisted the Salahis had not been invited.
"This wasn't a misunderstanding," the spokesman said. "You don't show up at the White House as a misunderstanding."
Said Salahi: "We're greatly saddened by all the circumstances ... portraying my wife and I as party crashers. I can tell you we did not party-crash the White House."
The White House gate caper captivated a capital frequently as well known for its high-end social life and celebrity eruptions as the occasionally mundane day-to-day business of governance.
Interviewed on MSNBC, Gibbs said "it's safe to say he (Obama) was angry. Michelle was angry."
Gibbs noted that the Secret Service is investigating what went wrong and said the White House was also re-examining its procedures. He told the network, "I think the president really had the same reaction the Secret Service had, and that was great concern for how something like this happened."
Michaele Salahi described the couple as "shocked and devastated" when they saw accounts of the incident the following morning.
Asked if they had been mischaracterized, Tareq Salahi said, "No question ... It's been devastating what's happened to Michaele and I ... Our lives have really been destroyed."
"Everything we've worked for," Michaele Salahi told interviewer Matt Lauer.
"We were invited, not crashers, and there isn't anyone who would have the audacity or the poor behavior to do that," she said. "No one would do that, and certainly not us."
Tareq Salahi said that the couple has been "very candid" with the Secret Service and said "we have turned over documentation to them."
"We're going to definitely work with the Secret Service between Michaele and I to really shed light on this," Tareq Salahi said. He indicated the couple had e-mails that would reinforce their position that they did not go uninvited to the dinner.
The couple also said they had not discussed accepting money from any party or organization, including NBC, for telling their story.
NBC's parent company, NBC Universal, also owns the cable network Bravo. Michaele Salahi had hoped to land a part on an upcoming Bravo reality show, "The Real Housewives of D.C."
On Monday there were more twists in the unfolding mystery. It was revealed that they communicated with a senior Pentagon official about going to the event, but the official denied that she helped the couple get in.
Michele Jones, a special assistant to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, said in a written statement issued through the White House that she never said or implied she would get the Salahis into the event.

"I specifically stated that they did not have tickets and in fact that I did not have the authority to authorize attendance, admittance or access to any part of the evening's activities," Jones said. "Even though I informed them of this, they still decided to come."

Asked about this Tuesday, Gibbs declined to comment directly, except to note that the matter remains under investigation.

WTTG-TV, the Fox affiliate in Washington, reported on a similar incident a month before, in which the Salahis sneaked in through a back entrance to a Congressional Black Caucus Foundation Awards dinner at which Obama spoke. A guest complained that the couple didn't belong at his table.

"I double-checked my (guest) list and when they weren't on that list we escorted them out," a foundation representative, Lance Jones, said in an interview early Tuesday.

The Salahis insisted that they had, indeed, been invited to the Black Caucus dinner, saying they'd gotten the invitation from the Gardner Law Group.

The Salahis' lawyer, Paul Gardner, is the managing partner of the Baltimore law firm, which handles corporate and entertainment law. A message left early Tuesday at the law firm was not immediately returned.

Also on Monday, the chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee asked the couple, Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan and White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers to testify at a hearing Thursday on the incident.

Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., said he wants answers about the Secret Service's security deficiencies that allowed the Salahis to attend the White House dinner. A White House photo showed the Salahis in the receiving line in the Blue Room with Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in whose honor the dinner was held.

Some lawmakers have called for criminal charges to be brought against the couple, but the Secret Service has not yet decided whether to refer the case for criminal prosecution.

___

Associated Press writers Julie Pace and Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.

ROME (Reuters Life!) –
Rome's largest taxi cooperative is trying to improve the bad name of the city's cabbies, notorious among tourists to one of the world's best loved cities.

A ride from either of Rome's airports to the center of the Italian capital can cost twice what it should, with drivers often squabbling over the right to carry apparently inexperienced visitors and inventing excuses not to pick up locals.

That is set to end, according to Radiotaxi 3570, which has launched a system for tourists to pay on line before they leave home.

"We want to change the public's perceptions about Rome taxi drivers," said 3570's Chairman Loreno Bittarelli at a press presentation, adding that the same services would soon be available in other large Italian cities.

The on-line booking system will also allow tourists to order a cabbie who speaks English, French, Spanish or German. Another scheme will let customers order and pay via telephone text message.

Improving the image of taxi drivers is part of a broader attempt to spruce up services for visitors and end scams.

A colorful billboard campaign recently launched by the town council announces: "Rome loves tourists."

Under the slogan: "Be smart, don't try to be clever," the posters tell taxi drivers, hoteliers and shopkeepers that "more honesty and transparency help you and your city."

(Reporting by Gavin Jones; editing by Robin Pomeroy)

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran's announcement of plans to build 10 more uranium enrichment facilities is largely bluster after a strong rebuke from the U.N.'s nuclear agency, analysts said Monday. Nonetheless, the defiance is fueling calls among Western allies for new punitive sanctions to freeze Iran's nuclear program.
U.S. and European officials were swift to condemn the plans, warning that Iran risked sinking ever deeper into isolation. Iran responded that it felt forced to move forward with the plans after the International Atomic Energy Agency passed a resolution Friday demanding that it halt all enrichment activities.
Iran's bold announcement Sunday appears to be largely impossible to achieve as long as sanctions continue to throw up roadblocks and force Iran to turn to black markets and smuggling for nuclear equipment, said nuclear expert David Albright.
"They can't build those plants. There's no way," he said. "They have sanctions to overcome, they have technical problems. They have to buy things overseas ... and increasingly it's all illegal."
A more worrisome escalation in the standoff would be if Iran reduced its cooperation with the IAEA, as some Iranian officials have threatened to do if the West continues its pressure. The U.N. inspectors and monitoring are the world's only eyes on Tehran's program. The head of Iran's nuclear agency on Monday ruled out an even more drastic move, saying Tehran does not intend to withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
Enrichment is at the center of the standoff between Iran and the West because it can be used both to produce material needed for atomic weapons as well as fuel for nuclear power plants. Iran insists it only wants the latter.
New enrichment plants, on the scale of the one Iran already operates in the town of Natanz, would be extremely expensive, take years to build and would be difficult to stock with centrifuges and other necessary equipment while sanctions are in place, Albright said.
Further dimming the credibility of the plan, 10 new facilities on the scale of Natanz would put Iran in league with the production levels of any of Europe's major commercial enrichment suppliers, said Albright, president of the Washington-based Institute for Science and International Security.
"And also they don't have enough uranium. They would need a massive amount of uranium," he said.
A diplomat from one of the six world powers attempting to engage Iran on its nuclear program described the Iranian announcement as a "political move" with little immediate significance beyond demonstrating Tehran's defiance.
The diplomat, who follows the nuclear dossier the IAEA has gathered on Iran, noted that Tehran appears to have significant problems with its present enrichment program, to the point that it cannot even keep the centrifuges it has set up at Natanz running without breakdowns.
The diplomat demanded anonymity because he was not authorized to comment on the issue.
Still, the announcement is of major concern because it could signal an intention to put up numerous decoy sites to deceive the outside world, while building perhaps a few secret military enrichment sites on a small scale that could be put to use in weapons production if Tehran decides to do go down that path, Albright said.
Such concerns were heightened with the recent discovery that Iran had a second, previously unknown enrichment facility burrowed partway into a mountain near the holy city of Qom.
"I tend to think that this Qom site was probably meant to be a clandestine facility for breakout that they wanted built for nuclear weapons," said Albright. "And now that it's been exposed they may want to replace it."
Iran's announcement triggered calls for new penalties that Albright said could evolve into a "mini-cold war strategy" to further isolate and contain Iran while holding out a hand for negotiations.
The United States' ambassador to the U.N., Susan Rice, said Iran's plans would be "completely inappropriate" and would further isolate it from the world.
In Paris, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner called Iran's decision "a bit childish."

"Iran is playing an extremely dangerous game," Kouchner said on France's RTL radio Monday. "There's no coherence in all this, other than a gut reaction."

The French defense minister, Herve Morin, said the international community should "probably commit toward new economic sanctions against Iran."

Iran and the top powers at the U.N. are deadlocked over a U.N.-drafted proposal for Iran to send much of its enriched uranium abroad, which the West seeks because it would at least temporary leave Tehran unable to develop a nuclear bomb. So far Iran has balked at the offer. The unusually strong IAEA censure of Iran over enrichment was a sign of the West's growing impatience with its defiance.

Iranian Vice President Ali Akbar Salehi, who heads the nuclear program, told state radio that the decision to build the new uranium enrichment facilities was necessary to respond to the resolution.

"We had no intention of building many facilities like the Natanz site, but apparently the West doesn't want to understand Iran's peaceful message," Salehi said.

Salehi said Iran would not go so far as to withdraw from the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, under which Iran is subject to oversight by the U.N. nuclear agency.

"If we wanted to obtain nuclear weapons, we would have pulled out of NPT ... Iran doesn't want to withdraw from the treaty," the official IRNA news agency quoted him as saying Monday.

Iran's parliament speaker Ali Larijani insisted "a diplomatic opportunity" was still possible "under which Iran will continue its (nuclear) work under international surveillance."

But a day earlier, Larijani warned that Iran could reduce its cooperation with the IAEA if the West continues its pressure and doesn't compromise.

___

Keyser reported from Cairo. Associated Press Writers George Jahn in Vienna and Ingrid Rousseau in Paris contributed to this report.

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This should be the year that made clear the distinction between the publicity-hungry, irremediably ego-needy actual denizens of show business (like myself) and the way more grotesquely hungry and ego-needy residents of the show-business underworld known charitably as "reality TV." If the Heenes weren't warning enough, here came the Salahis -- both families obviously just this close to the line of offering to kill family members if only it would get them on a TV series. 

It was obvious something was adrift, or ajar, when the phrase "reality-TV star" began to be written and uttered with no trace of irony, even as more and more of these folks became involved this year in various serious crimes.  And it will probably be no later than Monday before some defender of the Salahis analogizes them to computer hackers, suggesting that they performed a public service by probing for, and finding, holes in the Secret Service's security perimeter.  Indeed they did, and their reward should be a two-season stint on a new reality show, The Real Housewives (and Househusbands) of Federal Prison.

And for the remaining rubes not aware that the "reality" of reality TV is to actual real life as "potted meat food product" is to grass-pastured beef, here's one of the wizards drawing back the curtain for just a moment ...

(Michael Hirschorn, a former executive vice president for original programming at the reality-centric VH1 channel) said prospective reality stars were becoming smarter
about “self-producing,” knowing they had to inject drama into the
shows.

“At this point,” he said, “there must be what, a
thousand reality personalities on TV at any one time? So they know they
have to stand out.”

Could they stand out in a South Dakota prairie in late January?  You know, just for our entertainment ...

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John R. Bohrer: RFK's Accidental Party-Crasher

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WASHINGTON – The couple who crashed the Obama administration's first state dinner communicated with a senior Pentagon official about going to the event, but the official denies that she helped the couple get in.
Michele Jones, a special assistant to Defense Secretary Robert Gates, said in a written statement issued through the White House on Monday evening that she never said or implied she would get Michaele and Tareq Salahi into the Nov. 24 White House dinner.
"I specifically stated that they did not have tickets and in fact that I did not have the authority to authorize attendance, admittance or access to any part of the evening's activities," Jones said. "Even though I informed them of this, they still decided to come."
This is the latest twist in the unfolding mystery of how the two reality show wannabes managed to get into the highly secured event and shake hands with President Barack Obama. Also on Monday, a House committee chairman asked the couple, Secret Service Director Mark Sullivan and White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers to testify at a hearing Thursday on the incident.
The White House issued Jones' statement after questions were raised about communications between the administration and the couple prior to the dinner.
A friend of the couple told The Washington Post that the Salahis interpreted their e-mail exchange with Jones as permission to attend the exclusive party.
Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said he wants answers about the Secret Service's security deficiencies that allowed the Salahis to attend the dinner. A White House photo showed the Salahis in the receiving line in the Blue Room with Obama and Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, in whose honor the dinner was held. Obama and Michaele Salahi are smiling as she grasps his right hand with both of hers and her husband looks on. Singh is to Obama's left.
"This is a time for answers," Thompson said in a statement Monday. "This is not the time for political games or scapegoating to distract our attention from the careful oversight we must apply to the Secret Service and its mission."
Some lawmakers have called for criminal charges to be brought against the couple, but the Secret Service has not yet decided whether to refer the case for criminal prosecution.
The Secret Service declined to comment on whether Sullivan would testify on Thursday.
On Friday, Sullivan issued a statement saying that his agency is "deeply concerned and embarrassed" by the circumstances.
Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said the couple was not on the approved list for the party, but they were allowed in. "This should not have occurred," Donovan said.
"The preliminary findings of our internal investigation have determined established protocols were not followed at an initial checkpoint, verifying that two individuals were on the guest list," Sullivan said Friday. "Although these individuals went through magnetometers and other levels of screening, they should have been prohibited from entering the event entirely. That failing is ours."
White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Monday the president shares the Secret Service director's concern about the incident.
"That's why there's an investigation," Gibbs said.
Gibbs said the president was not concerned about his safety and continues to have faith in the Secret Service.
The ranking Republican on the House Homeland Security committee, Rep. Peter King of New York, also said there needs to be an investigation into what happened. King said he wants to be sure the hearing does not give away Secret Service operations or methods that could tip someone off how to get into the White House. King said he's been to at least 40 invitation-only events at the White House — including two state dinners — and security has always been tight and thorough.
The Salahis have boasted about going to the state dinner on their Facebook page: "Honored to be at the White House for the state dinner in honor of India with President Obama and our First Lady!" they wrote.

Michaele Salahi is a reality TV hopeful trying to get on Bravo's "The Real Housewives of D.C."

The couple's publicist, Mahogany Jones, could not immediately be reached for comment about whether the Salahis would testify Thursday. But earlier Monday, Jones said allegations that the Salahis are shopping interviews and demanding money from television networks to tell their story are false.

Jones said the couple is not making any formal comments or arrangements to speak with the media. An appearance previously scheduled for Monday night on CNN's "Larry King Live" has been canceled.

A TV executive who spoke on condition of anonymity to publicly discuss bookings had told The Associated Press that the couple's representatives had urged networks to "get their bids in" for an interview.

___

Associated Press writers Julie Pace and Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.

IRVING, Texas – Two games into the season, the Dallas Cowboys defense had allowed nearly 900 yards and 54 points while creating plenty of concern. They were the only team in the league without a sack or a forced turnover.
Cowboys linebacker Bradie James was already talking about an "adverse situation" and what a shame it would be to "just fall apart."
Well, take a look at them now.
The NFC East-leading Cowboys (8-3) have become one of the NFL's top defenses, and their play will be important heading into the crucial December stretch that begins Sunday in New York against a Giants team that was one of the two that torched them in September.
"We're just a better defensive unit right now. We're all on one string playing together, everything's flowing together, everybody's buying into the system and everybody's just having fun," safety Gerald Sensabaugh said Monday, when Dallas returned to practice after it extended weekend after beating Oakland on Thanksgiving. "Guys are out there playing with a lot of passion and there's a lot of excitement out there."
Back in Week 2, the Giants spoiled the first game in new Cowboys Stadium, scoring on all three of their offensive possessions in the fourth quarter, piling up 427 yards and winning 33-31 after a field goal on the final play of the game.
Since then, Dallas has given up only 303 yards per game, with no team getting more than 337 and four held under 300. The Cowboys have allowed only 128 points since Week 2.
"The defense is great. They have been playing some outstanding football," quarterback Tony Romo said. "I expect that to continue. We're coming into a tough stretch of games and we are going to need to rely on them in different situations. I'm excited about them."
Only three teams have more than the 28 sacks the Cowboys have the past nine games. They have had at least three sacks in all but one of those games.
"Right now, we're just playing as a unit," nose tackle Jay Ratliff said. "We're playing together, we all understand each other, trust each other and we're all buying into the system."
There were changes in the starting lineup after the offseason departures of linebackers Greg Ellis and Zach Thomas, safety Roy Williams, cornerback Anthony Henry and defensive end Chris Canty. Plus, head coach Wade Phillips fully took on the additional role as defensive coordinator after firing Brian Stewart.
"We've just been more consistent, went back to basics," Phillips said, explaining the improvement since the early problems. "Just melding the defense together. No excuses, but we did have new guys. Those guys playing together, it's a little bit different. ... (we) found a niche to what we can play defensively and what we can't play, what our strengths and weaknesses are."
Dallas has won six of its last seven games, the lone loss being 17-7 at Green Bay. The Cowboys were 2-2 before that, including a 17-10 loss at then-undefeated Denver, which had a three-play, 73-yard game-winning drive for a TD with 1:01 left.
"The first few weeks of the season, we would play really good football for 3 1/2 quarters and it seemed like for a half a quarter, all hell would break loose. We're a lot more consistent in our play," linebacker Keith Brooking said. "We want to be the best. We're not there yet, we're not even close to being there yet. ... We can't take any steps back at this point. We've got to keep moving forward."
After the Giants, Dallas plays consecutive high-scoring division leaders, San Diego and then New Orleans. The Cowboys close the regular season against NFC East foes Washington and Philadelphia.
"Everything in the beginning is a filling-out process, and I think everybody now is totally understanding how our defense works, and we're just playing with so much confidence," defensive tackle Stephen Bowen said. "We all know we have the ability to stop somebody, just stifle a team whenever we want to."

go

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People always want to focus on using the iPhone to be productive. I'm certainly no exception, but for this article I'd like us all to embrace the fact that the iPhone is excellent at wasting time. In fact, the iPhone App Store provides more than 100,000 ways to spend your time, and I want to highlight just a few of the many apps that have absolutely no productive value. Got 5 minutes to spare and no desire to get anything done (or buy anything)? Well then I've got some apps for you...

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