Home prices dropped in November in most US cities

WASHINGTON (AP) ? U.S. home prices fell for a third straight month in nearly all cities tracked by a major index. The declines show that most homeowners are not reaping the benefits from some signs of an improving housing market.

The Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller home-price index shows prices dropped in November from October in 19 of the 20 cities tracked. The biggest declines were in Atlanta, Chicago and Detroit. Phoenix was the only city to show an increase.

Prices declined in 18 of the 20 cities in November compared to the same month in 2010. Only Washington and Detroit posted year-over-year increases.

The decline partly reflects the typical fall slowdown after the peak buying season. Still, prices have fallen 33 percent nationwide to 2003 levels.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-31-US-Home-Prices/id-978c23bc2e074f4c94bcc71ee5f90fba

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Job vacancy : Communications Director (SEIU Local 1000 ...

COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR

Are you bold? Creative? Ready to use your flair for advocacy to mobilize thousands with your digital and media imagery and wordplay? Can you dream up ideas that will motivate members and volunteers throughout California for the next election and whatever comes after?

SEIU Local 1000 is a great public sector union with 95,000 professionally and geographically diverse members. Our mission is to engage, mobilize and represent our members to effect social and economic change for all. The person selected to join us will share our values in promoting social change for
working people.

We?re searching for a Communications Director who lives and breathes media and design for our Sacramento, California office. Local 1000?s Communications Department is a cutting-edge operation that develops and sends dynamic messaging across every platform ? print, electronic and online.

You?ll lead a diverse, experienced team of five to engage members, capture admiration of the press and contain the next crisis. You?ll have an endless supply of passion for new ideas, savvy to ignore the silly, and deep experience in online marketing, communications and branding.

The person selected for this position will evaluate our current approaches and within ninety days produce a strategic plan that defines and shapes the Department?s mission for the next two years.

Duties:

? Develop and manage Local 1000?s communications plan.
? Design strategies in public relations, themes, messages and branding.
? Create and manage media strategy to generate heat for our priorities, engage our members and build support for our vision of service to California.
? Work closely with Officers and staff to build coalitions, map media relations and grow our networks.
? Expand our presence in online environments and digital landscapes.
? Produce messages using a variety of styles, including TV, newsletters, blogs, digital and new media formats.
? Coordinate daily production of member/outreach/communications bulletins, action alerts, event announcements, special appeals and electronic newsletters.
? Coordinate content, production and distribution of special projects such as reports, booth displays, DVDs, Power Points, brochures, backgrounders, etc.
? Coordinate media and public relations for events including conventions, town halls and executive board meetings.
? Design media strategy and act on it. Create relationships with print, electronic and on-line reporters and blog-writers. Provide reliable, timely information and connect them to Local 1000 spokespeople.

The Ideal Candidate Will Have the Following Qualifications:

? Experience in advocacy communications, marketing, website management, graphic design and media relations.
? Experience in designing and producing strategic communications for organizing and political campaigns and during collective bargaining is highly valued.
? Excellent writing, editing, design and interpersonal communication skills.
? Gifted with a ?rapid response, heat-seeking-missile mentality? to respond to events and attacks in a 24-hour, on-call environment unique to emergencies or special circumstances.
? Assertive, glib, bursting with headlines, taglines, slogans, quips and zingers.
? Familiarity with local and national media.
? Experience handling sensitive and confidential issues.
? Fundraising experience highly desired.
? Proficiency with both PC- and Mac-based software tools to complement your efforts.
? Experience with video, photo-editing and document-design programs.
? 3 to 5 years? experience supervising people and processes.
? Degree in media, communications, marketing, writing, or related area.

The Director attends frequent special events, some of which occur in the evenings or on weekends, and require overnight travel.

Who We Represent

SEIU Local 1000 represents 95,000 California state employees in nine different bargaining units. Represented employees include professionals, educators, nurses and administrative and support employees. Local 1000 has approximately 230 employees who work in six offices throughout the state.

How to Apply:

USE THE LINK BELOW to submit your information including a cover letter, resume and current salary. Under location select ?Any? and click ?Search.?

Cover letters should describe your qualifications, experience and career goals, as well as a brief description of why you want to work to realize Local 1000?s vision for building a strong union.

SEIU is committed to building a diverse workforce. We offer excellent benefits, including fully paid health benefits for employee and family, liberal paid time off and competitive salary. All applicants must be able to furnish proof of authorization to work in the United States.

http://seiu1000.org/careers.php

• Location: Sacramento
• Compensation: Excellent benefits and competitive salary.
• Principals only. Recruiters, please don?t contact this job poster.
• Please, no phone calls about this job!
• Please do not contact job poster about other services, products or commercial interests.

Source: http://www.jobcareerdb.com/2012/job-vacancy-communications-director-seiu-local-1000-sacramento.html

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Israeli settler seeks to beat Netanyahu in primary (AP)

JERUSALEM ? A hard-line Jewish settler who wants to pay Palestinians to leave the West Bank and Gaza is running against Israel's prime minister in Tuesday's ruling party primary election.

Moshe Feiglin has little chance of defeating Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but he could deliver an embarrassing blow to the country's leader in his fourth try for leadership of the Likud, none of which have had a realistic shot at success.

Experts say Feiglin could get a third of the vote in the closed party primary, reflecting the view of hard-liners that Netanyahu, despite his uncompromising worldview, is not hawkish enough.

"I am providing an alternative," said Feiglin, 49. "The world expects ... much more than creating a terrorist country right in the heart of the land of the Bible," referring to a Palestinian state in the West Bank.

Israeli nationalists believe the West Bank must remain under Israeli control for religious and security reasons. Though Netanyahu backed that view for years, his movement has edged toward compromise in recent years, and Netanyahu himself has accepted the concept of creating a Palestinian state.

Feiglin founded a nationalist movement that blocked highway intersections around the country in 1995 to protest partial peace accords between Israel and the Palestinians, and he opposes further peace talks.

Feiglin proposes annexing the West Bank, retaking Gaza ? Israel withdrew in 2005 ? and bolstering a Jewish majority by offering emigration incentive packages of $350,000 to each Arab family in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Such extreme positions have the backing of a small but noisy minority of Israelis.

Netanyahu called the snap leadership primary in his Likud Party a year ahead of schedule, raising the possibility of an early general election later this year.

Netanyahu is so popular that no Likud Cabinet ministers or lawmakers dared challenge him, leaving Feiglin as the only other candidate.

Feiglin has steadily gained support over the last three times he has run for Likud party leadership ? from winning 3.5 percent of the vote in his first campaign nine years ago, to scooping up nearly a quarter of the vote in 2007.

Analysts are divided about how the underdog would affect the ruling party.

Avraham Diskin, a Hebrew University political scientist, said the stronger Feiglin performs in the primaries, the more Netanyahu will strive to portray a moderate face to the party by endorsing less hawkish lawmakers around him, he said.

"It doesn't look like (Netanyahu) will give in to the extremists," Diskin said.

Analyst Yaron Ezrahi says if Feiglin wins more than 30 percent of the votes in the primaries, it could push the Likud party's base further right politically and weaken Netanyahu's claim that the ruling party represents the majority of the nation.

"It's very serious. It hurts the Likud's image," Ezrahi said. He called Feiglin's camp an "embarrassing minority" for Netanyahu.

Feiglin's expected gains in Tuesday's primaries come as religious nationalists are preparing for a showdown with the government over plans to evict the unauthorized Migron settlement, which the government says was built on unlawfully seized land from private Palestinian landowners in 2001.

Hard-line lawmakers are threatening to bolt Netanyahu's coalition if Migron is dismantled, and Feiglin's campaign could add more pressure to Netanyahu to find a solution that will satisfy the settlers.

"Netanyahu is fighting a war of survival. But there is no survival without a vision," said Feiglin. "He is losing credit."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mideast/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120130/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_netanyahu_nemesis

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Tiger Woods shoots 66 to share lead in Abu Dhabi (AP)

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates ? Tiger Woods put himself in position to win his second straight tournament Saturday, and this one would leave little doubt about which direction his game is going.

He finally won two months ago against an 18-man field in California.

On Saturday, against the strongest field golf has seen in at least three months, Woods shot a 6-under 66 for a share of the lead with Robert Rock going into the final round of the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship.

The topic suddenly shifts from the state of his swing and his health. Woods has a 55-8 record worldwide when he has at least a share of the lead going into the final round, and a win would be the first time since August 2009 that he has won consecutive starts.

More than being atop the leaderboard, it's how Woods got there.

"It's fun when I'm able to control the golf ball like I did," Woods said.

There wasn't a lot of fist-pumping from Woods, who traded drama for consistency, racking up six birdies in a bogey-free round. It was a memorable performance by the American, mostly for his ability to hit fairways, tame the par 5s and sink clutch putts ? including a 6-footer for birdie on the final hole.

"It just seemed like I didn't do a lot of things right but I didn't do a lot of things wrong today, it was just very consistent," Woods said. "You know, made a couple putts here and there. ... I stayed away from trouble and tried to keep the ball towards the fat side of some of these pins, and I think I did a pretty good job."

Woods finished at 11-under 205. Rock, at No. 117 in the world, birdied his final two holes to join Woods in the last group along with Peter Hanson, who had a 64 and was two shots behind.

Also two back at 9-under 207 were Rory McIlroy, who played with Woods for the third straight day and had a 68, keeping the No. 3 player very much in the picture.

Francesco Molinari (66) and Paul Lawrie (68) also were tied for third. George Coetzee (65), James Kingston (67), overnight leader Thorbjorn Olesen (71) and Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (69) were another shot back.

The two-month break did little to slow Woods' progress. This was the first time in 20 months ? dating to The Players Championship in 2010 ? that he broke par in the opening three rounds of any tournament. It was his lowest score since a 66 in the second round of the Masters last year, and his first time atop the leaderboard in a full-field event since he won the Australian Masters in November 2009.

Woods was two shots back after the second round, but started climbing up the leaderboard Saturday with an opening birdie, followed by another on No. 7. He stepped up his game on the back nine and grabbed a share of the lead after he just missed an eagle putt on 10 and settled for a birdie. He briefly took the outright lead with a birdie on 14.

The crowd of several hundred cheered every birdie, with some yelling "Tiger's back."

Woods refused to talk about his chances of winning, saying there were too many players within striking distance.

"There's a ton of guys with a chance to win," Woods said. "I can't go out there and shoot even par and expect to win. I've got to go out there and go get it."

Rock, who got his first European Tour win last year in Italy in a playoff with Sergio Garcia, admitted he was star-struck at the prospect of teeing off alongside Woods, calling him "the best guy I've ever seen play golf."

Rock was just one of several players who challenged Woods for the lead after overnight leader Olesen fell back.

Lawrie, the 1999 British Open champion, showed some of the form he displayed when he finished second at the Dubai World Championship in December. He strung together birdies on 10 and 11 to tie Woods for the lead, fell back with bogeys on 14 and 17 and then recovered to birdie the 18th.

Molinari and Hanson also bounced back from opening round 74s to move into contention. Molinari had five birdies on his back nine, while the 47th-ranked Swede had eight birdies in his round ? including three on the last five holes ? in a bogey-free round to finish with the lowest score of the day.

U.S. Open champion McIlroy also is still in the mix, a day after he had two double bogeys, including on the 9th when he was penalized for brushing away sand in front of his ball. He only had one bogey to go with five birdies Saturday, but the 22-year-old Northern Irishman was forced to scramble several times to save par, including on the 18th when an errant drive went into nearby rocks and almost into a pond.

"I definitely felt today was a lot better than yesterday," McIlroy said. "So hopefully I can just keep that going tomorrow and maybe get off to a fast start and put pressure on the guys in front of me."

Top-ranked Luke Donald (73) is 11 shots behind Woods, with No. 2-ranked Lee Westwood (68) seven off the lead.

Any victory would bolster Woods' claims that work with coach Sean Foley has successfully revamped his swing with a better trajectory on his shots. The process sputtered early on but his body is now "remembering these positions, because this is what I used to be when I was a kid."

"And that's one of the things that Sean showed me, some video stuff when I was much younger, back in my teenage years," Woods said. "He was like, 'It's amazing, we need to get back there. That's where you play some pretty good golf.' I said, 'Yeah, you're right. I did'."

___

Follow Michael Casey on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mcasey1

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120128/ap_on_sp_go_su/glf_abu_dhabi_championship

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Despair, crackdowns breed more violence in Tibet

BEIJING (AP) ? A young man posts his photo with a leaflet demanding freedom for Tibet and telling Chinese police, come and get me. Protesters rise up to defend him, and demonstrations break out in two other Tibetan areas of western China to support the same cause.

Each time, police respond with bullets.

The three clashes, all in the past week, killed several Tibetans and injured dozens. They mark an escalation of a protest movement that for months expressed itself mainly through scattered individual self-immolations.

It's the result of growing desperation among Tibetans and a harsh crackdown by security forces that scholars and pro-Tibet activists contend only breeds more rage and despair.

That leaves authorities with the stark choice of either cracking down even harder or meeting Tibetan demands for greater freedom and a return of their Buddhist spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama ? something Beijing has shown zero willingness to do.

"By not responding constructively when it was faced with peaceful one-person protests, the (Communist) party has created the conditions for violent, large-scale protests," said Robbie Barnett, head of modern Tibetan studies at New York's Columbia University.

This is the region's most violent period since 2008, when deadly rioting in Tibet's capital Lhasa spread to Tibetan areas in adjoining provinces. China responded by flooding the area with troops and closing Tibetan regions entirely to foreigners for about a year. Special permission is still required for non-Chinese visitors to Tibet, and the Himalayan region remains closed off entirely for the weeks surrounding the March 14 anniversary of the riots that left 22 people dead.

Video smuggled out by activists shows paramilitary troops equipped with assault rifles and armored cars making pre-dawn arrests. Huge convoys of heavily armored troops are seen driving along mountain roads and monks accused of sedition being frog-marched to waiting trucks.

For the past year, self-immolations have become a striking form of protest in the region. At least 16 monks, nuns and former clergy set themselves on fire after chanting for Tibetan freedom and the return of the Dalai Lama, who fled to India amid an abortive uprising against Chinese rule in 1959.

China, fiercely critical of the Dalai Lama, says Tibet has been under its rule for centuries, but many Tibetans say the region was functionally independent for most of that time.

In a change from the individual protests, several thousand Tibetans marched to government offices Monday in Ganzi prefecture in Sichuan province. Police opened fire into the crowd, killing up to three people, witnesses and activist groups said.

On Tuesday, security forces opened fire on a crowd of protesters in another area of Ganzi, killing two Tibetans and wounding several more, according to the group Free Tibet.

On Thursday in southwestern Sichuan province's Aba prefecture, a youth named Tarpa posted a leaflet saying that self-immolations wouldn't stop until Tibet is free, the London-based International Campaign for Tibet said. He wrote his name on the leaflet and included a photo of himself, saying that Chinese authorities could come and arrest him if they wished, group spokeswoman Kate Saunders said in an email.

Security forces did so about two hours later. Area residents blocked their way, shouting slogans and warning of bigger protests if Tarpa wasn't released, Saunders said. Police then fired into the crowd, killing a a 20-year-old friend of Tarpa's, a student named Urgen, and wounding several others.

The incident, as with most reported clashes in Tibetan areas, could not be independently verified and exact numbers of casualties were unclear because of the heavy security presence and lack of access. The topic is so sensitive that even government-backed scholars claim ignorance of it and refuse to comment.

The government, however, acknowledged Tuesday's unrest, saying that a "mob" charged a police station and injured 14 officers, forcing police to open fire on them. The official Xinhua News Agency said police killed one rioter and injured another.

"The Chinese government will, as always, fight all crimes and be resolute in maintaining social order," Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei said in comments on the incident.

The harsh response points to a deep anxiety about the self-immolations, said Youdon Aukatsang, a New Delhi-based member of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile.

"They're worried that there is an underground movement in Tibet that is coming to the surface," she said.

Tibetan desperation has been fed both by the harsh crackdown ? security agents reportedly outnumber monks in some monasteries ? along with a deep fear that the Dalai Lama, probably the most potent symbol of Tibet's separate identity, will never return.

The 76-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate handed his political powers to an elected assembly last year. That was intended to ensure the Tibetan cause would live on after him, but was met with considerable anxiety among many Tibetans who saw it as a sign he was giving up his role as leader of their struggle.

Dibyesh Anand, a Tibet expert at London's University of Westminster, said resistance to Chinese rule is likely to grow more fierce.

"Protests will get more radicalized since the Tibetans in the region see no concession, no offer of compromise, no flexibility coming from the government," he said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-28-AS-China-Tibet-Spiral-of-Violence/id-eff7f9cfff0b4d36b9d3bc3d2732bb0d

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Bucks keep Lakers' road woes going with 100-89 win

Los Angeles Lakers' Pau Gasol (16) and the Milwaukee Bucks' Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (12) fight for the rebound during the first half of an NBA basketball game on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jim Prisching)

Los Angeles Lakers' Pau Gasol (16) and the Milwaukee Bucks' Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (12) fight for the rebound during the first half of an NBA basketball game on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jim Prisching)

Los Angeles Lakers' Pau Gasol, left, and Matt Barnes (9) fight for the ball with the Milwaukee Bucks' Luc Richard Mbah a Moute (12) during the first half of an NBA basketball game on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jim Prisching)

Los Angeles Lakers' Pau Gasol (16) reacts to a foul against the Milwaukee Bucks during the first half of an NBA basketball game on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jim Prisching)

Los Angeles Lakers' Derek Fisher, left, dives for the loose ball as the Milwaukee Bucks' Luc Richard Mbah a Moute grabs it during the first half of an NBA basketball game on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jim Prisching)

Los Angeles Lakers' Kobe Bryant drives to the basket against the Milwaukee Bucks' Carlos Delfino during the first half of an NBA basketball game on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2012, in Milwaukee. (AP Photo/Jim Prisching)

MILWAUKEE (AP) ? (AP) ? Drew Gooden scored 23 points and the undermanned Milwaukee Bucks made sure the Lakers' road struggles continued, beating Los Angeles 100-89 on Saturday night.

Kobe Bryant scored 27 for the Lakers, who are 1-7 on the road this season.

Ersan Ilyasova and Mike Dunleavy added 15 points each for the Bucks, who managed to beat the Lakers without two of their best players.

Already scrambling to compensate for the long-term absence of injured center Andrew Bogut, the Bucks found themselves without guard/forward Stephen Jackson on Saturday because of an NBA suspension.

Bryant made six free throws to break Jerry West's franchise record for free throws made. Coming into Saturday's game, Bryant needed three makes to tie West's mark of 7,160.

Bryant also came closer to becoming the Lakers' career leader in field goals made. He was 10 of 21 from the floor Saturday, leaving him three short of the 13 field goals he needed to tie Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's franchise record of 9,935 field goals made.

Even without Bogut and Jackson, the Bucks were in control most of the way. Ilyasova hit a jumper at the horn to end the third quarter, and the Bucks took an 80-73 lead into the fourth.

The Bucks led 85-76 after an inside score from Ilyasova with just under eight minutes left, but Bryant scored five straight points to cut the lead to four.

But Luc Richard Mbah a Moute hit a jumper, then Gooden scored on a turnaround hook shot and hit a pair of free throws to run the lead back to 91-81.

Andrew Bynum scored inside, but Dunleavy hit a long jumper to give the Bucks a 93-83 lead with just over two minutes left.

After Bryant made a pair of free throws, Dunleavy drilled a 3-pointer to put the game away with 1:24 left.

The Bucks managed the beat the Lakers without Jackson, whose suspension was announced a few hours before the game.

The NBA suspended Jackson one game for verbal abuse of a game official and failure to leave the court in a timely manner at the end of the Bucks' 107-100 loss at Chicago on Friday night.

It's another rough moment for Jackson, who was benched by coach Scott Skiles in the Bucks' Jan. 20 game at the New York Knicks.

Bogut, meanwhile, fractured his left ankle in Wednesday's game at Houston and is expected to miss eight to 12 weeks ? a crushing blow for Milwaukee.

Without Bogut, the undersized Bucks faced a tough test from the Lakers' pair of 7-footers: Pau Gasol and Andrew Bynum.

But they held their ground on defense early on, taking a 51-43 lead at halftime. The Bucks forced the Lakers into 10 turnovers in the first half, and limited Gasol to six points on 3 for 10 shooting.

Gasol finished the game with 12 points and 15 rebounds, but was 6 for 18 from the floor.

Lakers rookie guard Andrew Goudelock scored 13 points despite being hospitalized for dehydration overnight. Goudelock was coming off his best performance of the year, having scored a career-high 14 points against the Clippers on Wednesday.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-29-Lakers-Bucks/id-48c1b33bad464c8998da79f03016f176

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America Movil to get control of Brazil's Net (Reuters)

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) ? Cell phone company America Movil, owned by Mexican tycoon Carlos Slim, said on Friday it had approval from Brazil's telecom watchdog Anatel to take control of cable television company Net Servicos de Comunicacao.

Under terms of the deal, America Movil's Brazilian unit Embratel Participacoes will buy Grupo Globo Participacoes shares currently held by Net.

Once the deal closes, Embratel and its affiliates will have control of Net, the Mexican company said in a statement. No financial terms or share stakes were disclosed.

(Reporting by Cyntia Barrera Diaz)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/tc_nm/us_americamovil_net

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Man gets car ban after 4 children found in trunk (AP)

LONDON ? A British court has banned a man from driving for a year after he was caught traveling with four children in the trunk of his car.

Britain's Press Association news agency said Thursday that police found a total of 11 people in Zoltan Lakatos' Audi A4 when they stopped him in the English city of Leicester last year.

One passenger was in the driver's seat, three adults and two children were squeezed into the back, and officers discovered four more children in the trunk.

The news agency says Lakatos was convicted of endangering his passengers and of driving without insurance earlier this week at Leicester Magistrates' Court. He also was fined 1,325 pounds (about $2,080).

The agency said the 38-year-old was not in court for the ruling.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/britain/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_re_eu/eu_britain_kids_in_the_trunk

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Netflix customers return in 4Q; stock soars 15 pct (AP)

SAN FRANCISCO ? Netflix has regained almost as many customers as it lost following an unpopular price increase, signaling that the video subscription service is healing from its self-inflected wounds.

Fourth-quarter figures released Wednesday show Netflix Inc. ended December with 24.4 million subscribers in the U.S., up from 23.8 million at the end of September. That gain of about 600,000 customers compares with the loss of 800,000 subscribers last summer after it raised its U.S. prices as much as 60 percent.

The uptick is a positive sign for Netflix after several months of upheaval battered its stock.

The fallout from the earlier customer defections contributed to a 14 percent decrease in Netflix's fourth-quarter earnings.

Netflix made $40.7 million, or 73 cents per share, in the final three months of last year. That compares with income of $47.1 million, or 87 cents per share, a year earlier.

Investors had been bracing for a bigger drop-off. The company's performance easily exceeded the average earnings estimate of 54 cents per share among analysts surveyed by FactSet.

Fourth-quarter revenue climbed 47 percent from the previous year to $876 million ? $19 million above analyst projections.

Netflix's stock soared $14.06, or nearly 15 percent, to $109.10 in extended trading. It had ended regular trading up $2.37, or 2.6 percent, at $95.04.

The stock still has a long way to go to return to its peak of nearly $305, which was reached in July, about the same time that Netflix announced the price increase that outraged customers.

"It's still too early to know how much success Netflix is going to have this year, but seeing those gains in customers makes investors feel safer," said Frost & Sullivan analyst Dan Rayburn.

Now that the backlash over the higher prices has eased, Netflix's biggest challenge may be fending off competitive challenges to its primary business of streaming video over high-speed Internet connections.

Amazon.com Inc. is rapidly expanding a streaming service it started last year while many analysts are expecting Verizon Communications to get into video streaming later this year, possibly in a partnership with Coinstar Inc.'s Redbox, whose kiosks already compete against Netflix in DVD rentals. Google Inc.'s YouTube also is supplementing the amateur video on its site with more content from movie and TV studios.

Netflix, which is based in Los Gatos, Calif., also must navigate an international expansion that will saddle the company with a loss this year.

The fourth-quarter results should help bolster confidence in Netflix CEO Reed Hastings, who was skewered in Internet forums and analyst notes for miscalculating how subscribers would react to higher prices.

A contrite Hastings had promised that Netflix would work to lure back customers, and it managed to do so better than he forecast.

Netflix expects its comeback to gather momentum in the current quarter.

The company forecast that it will add 1.7 million U.S. subscribers to its Internet video streaming service. That would be in line with how many streaming subscribers signed up in last year's first quarter.

Netflix ended 2011 with 21.7 million streaming subscribers in the U.S. and another 1.9 million in Canada and Latin America. This month, Netflix introduced streaming plans in the United Kingdom and Ireland, too.

Most of the streaming gains will be offset by cancellations of DVD-by-mail rental plans, which Netflix is gradually phasing out. Hastings believes discs are becoming increasingly antiquated as technology advances. Netflix predicted its DVD subscriptions will fall from 11.2 million in December to 9.7 million in March. The company lost 2.8 million DVD subscribers in the fourth quarter.

"We expect DVD subscribers to decline every quarter forever," Hastings told analysts during a Wednesday conference call.

About 8.4 million Netflix customers subscribe to both Internet streaming and DVD rentals.

While Netflix sees its emphasis on streaming as a smart long-term strategy, the DVD attrition will hurt the company's full-year performance because Netflix's recent price increases made delivering discs through the mail more profitable ? for now.

Netflix is paying higher fees for the streaming rights to exclusive programming, as well as video already available in other outlets and formats. At the end of December, its video licensing commitments totaled $3.9 billion.

Netflix expects to produce an annual loss this year, for the first time in a decade. The company gave the first inkling of how big the setback will be with its projection for a first-quarter loss of 16 cents to 49 cents per share.

Analysts on average expect a first-quarter loss of 29 cents per share.

Netflix projected first-quarter revenue of $842 million to $877 million, compared with a forecast for $849 million from analysts.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_hi_te/us_earns_netflix

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Planting push for jubilee woods

26 January 2012 Last updated at 23:17 ET By Mark Kinver Environment reporter, BBC News

Organisers of a project to create a series of new woods to commemorate the Queen's Diamond Jubilee hope to plant one million trees during February.

The Woodland Trust said next month marked the 60th anniversary of the Queen's accession to the throne.

Free tree-planting packs would be available for groups wanting to take part in the project, it added.

The centrepiece of the Trust's plans will be a Diamond Park - a 460-acre site containing 500,000 trees.

Continue reading the main story

?Start Quote

The more trees I see, the happier I am?

End Quote Dame Judi Dench

Dame Judi Dench, the Oscar-winning actress, has lent her support to the Jubilee Woods project.

"Whenever a friend or relative dies, I make a point of planting a tree in my garden," she explained.

"As soon as I heard about the Jubilee Woods project, I felt I wanted to be a part of it," Dame Judi added.

"I support the Woodland Trust because I think too many forests are being destroyed and we should do all we can to conserve what we have and to plant more.

"The more trees I see, the happier I am."

Digging deep

Georgina McLeod, head of the Trust's Jubilee Woods project, said there were a number of ways that people could take part and become "one in a million".

Georgina McLeod talks about the Woodland Trust's plan to create the flagship Diamond Wood

"From helping to create 60 new Diamond Woods, planting new woodland with communities, donating funds to help plant trees, to planting trees in school grounds or a single tree in your garden or pot, it's easy to plant trees for the jubilee and help us reach a million trees in a month," she said.

She added that more details were available on a website that had created for people interested in participating.

As well as creating the flagship 460-acre (186ha) Diamond Wood, located in the National Forest in Leicestershire, the project also aims to create a further 59 diamond woods around the UK - each covering more than 60 acres (24ha).

The Trust is also providing thousands of free tree-planting pack in an effort to encourage people to help it achieve its goal of planting six million trees during the jubilee year.

Community groups can apply for packs contain 105 or 420 native species, with each pack containing a "royal oak" sapling, grown from acorns collected on Royal estates.

School packs contain 60 hedge/copse species as well as a royal oak sapling. The kits will be made available in time for planting during the autumn.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/science-environment-16741078

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In GOP response, Daniels blames Obama for economy (AP)

WASHINGTON ? President Barack Obama has resorted to "extremism" with stifling, anti-growth policies and sought to divide Americans, not unite them, Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said in the formal Republican response to the president's State of the Union address.

Eight months after deciding against a bid for his party's presidential nomination, Daniels used his nationally televised speech Tuesday to lash out at Obama and cast the GOP as compassionate and eager to unchain the country's economic potential.

He took particular aim at Obama's efforts to raise taxes on the rich and castigate them for not contributing their fair share to the nation's burdens. Joined by Republicans on Capitol Hill and the presidential campaign trail, the GOP goal was to both blunt and shift the focus away from Obama's theme on Tuesday of fairness, which included protecting the middle class and making sure the rich pay an equitable share of taxes.

"No feature of the Obama presidency has been sadder than its constant effort to divide us, to curry favor with some Americans by castigating others," Daniels said, speaking from Indianapolis. "As in previous moments of national danger, we Americans are all in the same boat."

"This election is going to be a referendum on the president's economic policies," which have worsened the economy, said House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. "The politics of envy, the politics of dividing our country is not what America is all about."

Campaigning for president in Florida on Wednesday, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Obama "seemed to be setting up an entire year of divisiveness, an entire year of getting nothing done."

Also drawing frequent GOP attacks were Obama's proposed tax increases, which included making sure millionaire earners pay at least a 30 percent tax rate.

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., said Obama's proposals to boost taxes on the wealthy and give tax breaks for domestic U.S. manufacturers and others were "nothing more than the usual Washington game that has led to a tax code already littered with lobbyist loopholes."

Daniels is a rarity in the GOP these days ? a uniting and widely respected figure, contrasting with the divisiveness emanating from the contest for the presidential nomination being waged among former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and others.

President George W. Bush's first budget chief and a two-term Indiana governor, Daniels often rails against wasteful spending big budget deficits, though critics note he served during the abrupt shift from fleeting federal surpluses to massive deficits early in Bush's term.

"When President Obama claims that the state of our union is anything but grave, he must know in his heart that this is not true," Daniels said. He added that while Obama did not cause the country's economic and budget problems, "He was elected on a promise to fix them, and he cannot claim that the last three years have made things anything but worse."

The night's rhetoric come at the dawn of a presidential and congressional election year in which the defining issues are the faltering economy and weak job market and the parties' clashing prescriptions for restoring both. Obama and congressional Democrats have focused on the more populist pathway of financing federal initiatives by taxing millionaires, while Republicans preach the virtues of less regulation and smaller government.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called Obama's address "a campaign speech designed to please his liberal base," and warned that he should keep legislation advancing his priorities "free from poison pills like tax hikes on job creators."

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who heads large group of House conservatives, said Obama's speech was riddled with "the ridiculous idea that America isn't fair because successful people get to keep too much of the money they earn."

Republicans fired back at Obama's vision of "an economy built to last," saying it was their party that understood the best way to trigger economic growth was to get the government out of the way.

"The extremism that stifles the development of homegrown energy, or cancels a perfectly sane pipeline that would employ tens of thousands, or jacks up consumer utility bills for no improvement in either human health or world temperature, is a pro-poverty policy," Daniels said.

Obama has halted, for now, work on the proposed Keystone XL oil pipeline from western Canada to Texas' Gulf Coast. Republicans say the project would create thousands of jobs, a claim opponents say is overstated. The administration has also pursued policies aimed at reducing pollution and global warming.

To underscore Obama's decision on Keystone, Boehner invited three officials from companies he said would be hurt by the pipeline's rejection to watch the speech in the House chamber, along with a pro-pipeline legislator from Nebraska, through which the project would pass.

Obama was delivering his address during a rowdy battle for the GOP presidential nomination that has ended up providing ammunition for Obama's theme of fairness.

That fight has called attention to the wealth of one of the top contenders, Romney, and the low ? but legal ? effective federal income tax rate of around 15 percent that the multimillionaire has paid in the past two years. Romney, in Florida campaigning for that state's Jan. 31 primary, released his tax documents for the two-year period on Tuesday.

"The president's agenda sounds less like `built to last' and more like doomed to fail," Romney said in Tampa, Fla. "What he's proposing is more of the same: more taxes, more spending, and more regulation."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_state_of_union_gop_reaction

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Lohan sued by pedestrian allegedly struck by star (AP)

LOS ANGELES ? Lindsay Lohan's bad luck with cars continues after a woman who claims she was struck by the actress' sports car sued over her injuries Wednesday.

Nubia Del Carmen Preza claims she was struck by Lohan's Maserati while walking through a West Hollywood intersection in September 2010.

Preza's lawsuit states she has suffered "disabling and serious personal injuries, pain, suffering and anguish" and that she is seeking damages for all her medical expenses and lost time at work. A call to her attorney, Gregory Picco, seeking additional details was not immediately returned.

It is the second lawsuit filed against Lohan this month involving an automobile mishap. A paparazzo sued Lohan Jan. 10, claiming that he was struck in January 2010 by a vehicle in which Lohan was riding. Grigor Balyan claims he was trying to shoot pictures of the actress in Hollywowhen he was hit.

Preza's lawsuit states Lohan was driving when she was hit on the afternoon of Sept. 1, 2010, at an intersection just south of the Sunset Strip. At the time, Lohan lived near the intersection.

Lohan's spokesman Steve Honig said neither Lohan nor her attorneys had been served with the lawsuit and could not comment on it.

The model and actress remains on probation for a 2007 drunken driving case filed after she was arrested twice that year on suspicion of driving while impaired.

One of the incidents sparked two civil lawsuits after Lohan chased a vehicle she thought was carrying her former assistant on Pacific Coast Highway. One of the cases has settled. The other, filed by three men who were in the SUV Lohan was driving, may go to trial in March.

Lohan's attorney in that case, Ed McPherson, has said the men had plenty of chances to get out of the vehicle and called the case "absurd."

The "Mean Girls" star has received two positive probation reports since a judge ordered her to perform weekly morgue cleanup duties in November. the actress may be off supervised probation by the end of March.

___

Follow Anthony McCartney at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_en_ot/us_people_lindsay_lohan

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[OOC] Start Posting! :D

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Please post all "Players Wanted" threads in the Roleplayers Wanted forum!

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Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.

Hey guys, okay, I have almost finished all of the places, stuff like that, so by tomorrow we can start posting! Hope you enjoy the roleplay and have fun! Just make up your own characters or use one of the main characters, characters still available are Vice Anderson, Ace Anderson, and Mimi Sheslic. I may possibly introduce a new main character, Julia Potter, soon, but in the mean time, start posting!

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UN: Allegations of abuse by UN police in Haiti (AP)

UNITED NATIONS ? The U.N. is investigating two new allegations of U.N. police abuse and "sexual exploitation" of children in Haiti, spokesman Martin Nesirky said Monday.

One case involves U.N. police officers in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, Nesirky said. They have been removed from duty while under investigation, he added. The second case involves one or more members of a police unit in the northern city of Gonaives.

Nesirky did not release the nationalities of the police or provide any other details.

"The United Nations is outraged by these allegations and takes its responsibilities to deal with them extremely seriously," Nesirky said.

He said the organization's mission in Haiti alerted U.N. headquarters in New York last week about the allegations.

The new charges of abuse come just months after six Uruguayan troops with the U.N. peacekeeping force in the Caribbean country were accused of raping a young Haitian man. That case has been referred to the Uruguayan judicial system.

Nesirky said that while home countries investigate military members of peacekeeping missions, the U.N. investigates police officers.

Allegations of abuse have dogged U.N. peacekeeping missions since their inception over 50 years ago.

The issue was thrust into the spotlight after the United Nations found in early 2005 that peacekeepers in Congo had sex with Congolese women and girls, usually in exchange for food or small sums of money.

The U.N. peacekeeping department instituted a "zero tolerance" policy toward sexual abuse, a new code of conduct for its more than 110,000 peacekeepers deployed around the world, and new training for officers and all U.N. personnel.

Nonetheless, allegations of sexual abuse persist.

Among the key reasons that Ban Ki-moon won U.S. backing to become U.N. Secretary-General in January 2007 was his pledge to restore the U.N.'s reputation ? battered by corruption in purchasing and sexual abuses by peacekeepers ? through effective oversight.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_re_us/un_un_haiti

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Philbin named Dolphins new head coach (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? The Miami Dolphins named Joe Philbin as the team's new head coach on Friday.

A statement released by chairman of the board and managing general partner Stephen Ross and general manager Jeff Ireland confirmed Philbin as the franchise's 10th head coach.

"We are thrilled to have Joe Philbin join the Miami Dolphins as our head coach," Ross said. "Joe has all the attributes that we were looking for when we started this process.

"Joe was the right choice to bring the Dolphins back to the success we enjoyed in the past. I know I join our fans in welcoming him as the newest member of the Dolphin family."

Philbin has been the offensive coordinator of the Green Bay Packers since 2007 and originally joined the team as the assistant offensive line coach in 2003.

"I want to thank Steve Ross and Jeff Ireland for giving me the opportunity to become the head coach of one of the premier franchises in professional sports," said Philbin.

"I also want to thank the Green Bay Packers for all the support the organization has given me during my time there."

Philbin replaces interim head coach Todd Bowles, who took over from Tony Sparano with three games remaining in the season. Sparano had coached Miami since 2008.

"The Dolphins have a strong nucleus to build around, and together we will return the team to its winning tradition," added Philbin.

"I have seen how much the fans in South Florida care about the Dolphins, and that passion is one reason why I'm really excited to be here. I can't wait to get started."

(Reporting by Mike Mouat in Windsor, Ontario. Editing by Alastair Himmer)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120121/sp_nm/us_nfl_dolphins

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Android developer Stephen Erickson open-sources his BusyBox installer -- we're all free to learn from it

If you're an Android hacker or developer, you know about BusyBox.  For the lay-people among us, it's a utility that extends the limited commands provided by the Android toolkit in the shell -- copying and renaming files, reading and writing data, that sort of thing.  Here's a chance to learn a little more, as Stephen Erickson has open-sourced his BusyBox installer application.  A look at the source will show you not only how to download and install BusyBox, but how to add all sorts of shell commands and assets to your custom application.  You can then add these commands into custom menus in your ROM, or even write your own Android app with a little more study.  It's things like that make us all love open-source software.  Thanks, Stephen!

Source:Google Code pages; via +Stephen Erickson

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/DIMhuqaAfoo/story01.htm

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Stephen Hawking's cosmic curios explained

Sarah Lee / The Science Museum via Reuters

Physicist Stephen Hawking is seen in his office at the University of Cambridge in this photo taken for London's Science Museum in December. The picture is part of a series of photographic portraits commissioned by the Science Museum to celebrate Hawking's 70th birthday on Jan. 8. The pictures are part of an exhibit at the musem celebrating Hawking's life and achievements.

By Alan Boyle

The cosmic curios of the world's best-known physicist went on display today at a London science museum, chronicling the amazing 70 years of Stephen Hawking's life. Over the decades,?the quadriplegic genius has?popped up in so many pop-culture settings that some of those curios require a little explanation.

That's what we found when we?ran?a picture of the professor?in his Cambridge office as the first installment of a "Where in the Cosmos"?series on the Cosmic Log Facebook page. There's such a generous assortment of gewgaws that it's a wonder?Hawking gets anything done.

---

Stephen Hawking sets the tone for a Science Museum exhibit reviewing his life.

It turns out that the scene was arranged to show off Hawking's stuff for the exhibit at the Science Museum in London. Take the bronze statue on the desk, for example. I was particularly intrigued by the out-of-focus statue because it seemed to hold such a prominent place in the picture.

"I believe the statue is of the pope," Tracey Walters wrote. "But the picture is kinda fuzzy, so?who knows which one?" Others wondered if it was the?theologian Erasmus, or maybe King Midas.

Hawking's longtime executive assistant, Judith Croasdell, straightened out the mystery in an email.

"The statue is the Fonseca Prize which Professor Hawking received in Santiago de Compestela, in 2008," she wrote.?"It normally sits not on Stephen's desk but on the window shelf because it is heavy ? 2 kilograms worth of bronze. Obviously it was put on the desk for the photographers."

A?less weighty?curio is far easier to recognize: It's?a plastic action figure of Hawking as he appeared in an episode of "The Simpsons,"?the animated show that the physicist has called the best thing American television has to offer. The figurine is festooned with the helicopter top and the spring-loaded boxing glove that played their part in the "Simpsons" plot. In the distance, you can just make out a picture on the wall that shows Hawking encountering Maggie Simpson and other characters from the show. Watch this YouTube clip to learn more about Hawking's "Simpsons" connection.

Other items include a little toy computer with sticky notes, a space shuttle model, and a crystal globe. "The crystal globe is a present given by Discovery and shows a map of the world," Croasdell says.?"Carved on the globe are the words 'What is essential is invisible to the eye,' [from]?Saint-Exupery."

There's a?humidifier on his desk that?holds an assortment of seashells. The blackboard you see in the picture above is covered with equations scribbled by his students. Another blackboard in the room, not seen here, that has mathematical in-jokes written on it.

Sarah Lee / Science Museum via Reuters

Another picture commissioned by the Science Museum shows Stephen Hawking with a picture of Marilyn Monroe looming over him.

Another photo of Hawking's office, taken from a different perspective, gives prominent play to?his picture of Marilyn Monroe,?who is one of?the professor's favorite personages from the past. "If I had a time machine, I'd drop in on Marilyn Monroe in her prime," he once mused. The room's walls are covered with flyers as well as photos from Hawking's trips around the world.

To find out more about these items and others in Hawking's office, check out Roger Highfield's profile of the professor in The Telegraph.

The photos are just one little piece of the Science Museum's one-room exhibition: Museumgoers can also see?pictures of?Hawking before his struggle with motor neuron disease, as well as mementos that touch upon the highlights of his long career. The Science Museum's inventor in residence, Mark Champkins, created a "Black Hole Light" in Hawking's honor that?uses a swirl of?neon tubing to evoke the path photons would take as they fell into a black hole.

Here's a sampling of the sights:

AP

The Science Museum displays a selection of books and papers by British physicist Stephen Hawking. His best-known work, "A Brief History of Time," has been translated into more than 30 languages. The object at right that looks like a model of Saturn is actually the 2010 Cosmos Award, which Hawking received from the Planetary Society. Hawking's Fonseca Prize and Prince of Asturias Award are also on display.

Alastair Grant / AP

A diagram by British physicist Stephen Hawking, titled "Black Hole and Unpredictability," is one of the papers on display at the Science Museum.

Alastair Grant / AP

A marked script from a "Simpsons" episode that aired in 1999 highlights Stephen Hawking's lines, including this one: "Silence! I don't need anyone to talk for me except this voicebox." The Stephen Hawking action figure has a helicopter-style wheelchair and a boxing glove, just like the character on the show.

Update for 12:45 a.m. ET Jan. 21: When the Planetary Society's Charlene Anderson took a look at the pictures above, she saw a familiar sight ? the planet-shaped Cosmos Award that Hawking received from the society in 2010. Check out her posting to the Planetary Society's blog, in which she expresses her surprise and pleasure at seeing the society's award in such a place of honor.

Next on 'Where in the Cosmos': Today's picture puzzle focuses on a far-out subject that's been the subject of research recently. I haven't written anything about it yet, but next week I'll fill you in on why it's significant. One of our Cosmic Log friends has already figured out what the picture shows, and as a reward I'll be sending her a copy of John Gribbin's latest book, "Alone in the Universe." To join the conversation, check out the "Where in the Cosmos" posting on the Cosmic Log Facebook page.

More about Stephen Hawking's life and work:

---

The exhibit celebrating Stephen Hawking's 70th birthday runs through April 9 at the Science Museum in London.

Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.

Source: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/20/10201173-stephen-hawkings-curios-explained

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Billionaire donates for Washington Monument repairs

WASHINGTON?? A billionaire history buff has stepped forward to donate the $7.5 million matching gift that's needed to start repairing cracks near the top of the Washington Monument from last summer's East Coast earthquake.

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Businessman David Rubenstein told The Associated Press he was inspired to help fund the repairs to the 555-foot obelisk when it became clear how severely damaged it was by a 5.8-magnitude quake on Aug. 23. The monument received about 1 million visitors a year before the famous landmark was closed to the public after the quake.

The Park Service hopes to have a contractor begin work by the end of August. The repair work is expected to take a year to complete, likely keeping the monument closed for two years.

Largest gift
Congress allocated $7.5 million in December on the condition that private donations would match that amount. The National Park Service and nonprofit Trust for the National Mall are expected to announce Rubenstein's gift Thursday morning. It will be the largest gift to the nonprofit group, which aims to raise $350 million to restore the mall's grounds and facilities.

The combined $15 million in public and private funds is expected to cover the cost of repairing damage directly caused by the quake, said National Park Service spokeswoman Carol Johnson. Repairing water damage will cost more, as would a seismic study or reinforcements to strengthen the obelisk against future earthquakes, she said.

Rubenstein, a co-founder of The Carlyle Group, began building the private equity firm's business in Washington and said he wanted to restore a symbol of the nation and hasten repairs to reopen the landmark.

"This Washington Monument is probably one of the most recognizable buildings in the United States next to the Capitol and the Empire State Building," he said. "It could use a little repair work, and I wanted people to get to see it as soon as possible."

Experts have noted the monument needs more than just a little repair work, though it has been deemed structurally sound.

Extensive repairs needed
The August quake was centered some 40 miles west of Richmond, Va., and felt from Canada to Georgia. It damaged the Washington National Cathedral, where pieces of mortar rained down from its vaulted ceiling. At the Washington Monument, panicked visitors fled down flights of stairs on the day of the big shake, but there were no known deaths or serious injuries in the region.

The earthquake caused numerous cracks to form in the obelisk, which was the tallest man-made structure in the world when it was completed in 1884.

Surveillance video taken the day of the quake and later released by the park service showed the spire shaking violently. Daylight could be seen through some of the cracks, the largest of which was reported to be at least 4 feet long and about an inch wide.

A report in December recommended extensive repairs and reinforcements to preserve the spire. It said some marble panels were cracked all the way through near the top portion of the monument. Cracks near its peak also have left the monument vulnerable to water damage from rain, engineers noted.

Last fall, daredevil engineers on a "difficult access team" rappelled from the top to conduct a visual inspection of the exterior of the obelisk.

Officials said it's unclear whether the work will require scaffolding to be built around the monument, similar to what was erected during a restoration project from 1999 to 2001.

'A true patriot'
Caroline Cunningham, president of the Trust for the National Mall, called Rubenstein "a true patriot" and said his gift "demonstrates how much people care about this space." She said it should serve as an example for other philanthropists.

There has long been talk of sprucing up the mall at the heart of the nation's capital.

A design competition is under way to develop ways to improve the mall, including the Washington Monument grounds. Finalists will be chosen in May, and the group will seek funding for each project. The nonprofit group has targeted parts of the mall that are run down from over use and neglect as a focus for its restoration efforts.

Rubenstein has made large gifts in recent years to Washington's cultural institutions including the Smithsonian Institution, the National Archives, the Library of Congress and the Kennedy Center.

The monument, which he visited recently, was built with private $1 donations eventually totaling over $1 million, Rubenstein said. Construction began in 1848, but funds ran out during the Civil War when the monument was left as an embarrassing stump for years. It was finally completed in 1884 and was the world's tallest man-made structure until it was eclipsed by the Eiffel Tower. It remains the tallest structure in Washington.

Rubenstein owns a copy of the Magna Carta, among other historical documents, and reveres George Washington.

"I like to remind people about American history," Rubenstein said. "George Washington is an incredible figure. When he was the head of the Revolutionary War Army, he could have stayed on as really the head of the government when we won the Revolutionary War, but he put down his arms."

___

Trust for the National Mall: http://www.nationalmall.org

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46050494/ns/us_news-giving/

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