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Saturday, December 31, 2011
Super PACs Dominate Iowa Caucus, Helping Mitt Romney Run Ahead
WASHINGTON -- "This is politics," Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney declared Dec. 21, dismissing calls for him to condemn ads attacking former House Speaker Newt Gingrich that were run by an independent group supporting Romney's candidacy.
The ads were part of an unprecedented $3.3 million negative campaign of television spots and direct mail by Restore Our Future, an independent expenditure-only committee or super PAC, which blunted Gingrich's rise and may very well be the main ingredient in an Iowa victory for Romney next Tuesday.
Never before have the Iowa caucuses seen such a campaign by any group other than a candidate committee. And with days to go before Iowans cast their votes, the new political landscape is coming into sharper focus.
Fully aware of the bazooka he had in his back pocket, Romney on Friday jetted off to New Hampshire to campaign for the primary election there, casually planning a return to the Hawkeye State on Saturday afternoon. Calm and assured that his campaign would keep on going past Iowa, he put an op-ed in the State newspaper in South Carolina and spent the morning taking shots at President Barack Obama in a variety of interviews. Opponents were left grappling for third place in Tuesday night's vote.
Gingrich, the target of the pro-Romney super PAC's ammo, was left in a more fetal state. "I can't do modern politics," the former speaker said at one campaign stop. At another, he broke down in tears, as he described memories of his mother.
The 2012 Iowa caucus is, increasingly, not about the individuals running. Campaign finance observers have warned repeatedly that independent groups, enabled by the Supreme Court's January 2010 ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission to raise and spend unlimited sums, would alter the balance of campaigns, once run primarily by candidate committees and party organizations. So far, those warnings are looking prescient.
As evidenced in Iowa, campaigns now operate as political parties of one. Candidates with enough financing can lay their own groundwork for voter mobilization efforts and remain positive, while a supportive super PAC runs negative ads beating off opponents. Voter mobilization and opponent attacks were roles traditionally reserved for the party organizations in the general election, but thanks to Citizens United and the birth of super PACs, each individual candidate can now operate in this fashion.
The Iowa caucuses have always attracted independent groups looking to back their favored candidates. Most of the action in the past has occurred on the Democratic side with labor unions battling for their preferred nominee. In the 2008 election cycle, as reported to the FEC, independent groups, the most important of which were unions, combined to spend $3.4 million on independent expenditures across all primary states in the run-up to the Iowa caucuses. In the 2004 cycle, those groups reported only $1.5 million in spending to the FEC prior to the caucuses.
This time around, independent groups have come to dominate not just the Iowa contest but the entire Republican primary season. According to a Huffington Post analysis of independent expenditures so far this electoral season, super PACs have combined to spend $11 million in the Republican primaries, at least $5.8 million of that in Iowa alone.
Super PACs are a type of political committee that can raise unlimited sums from corporations, unions and individuals and spend unlimited sums on independent expenses. They were authorized by the FEC after the Citizens United decision allowed unlimited independent spending by corporations and unions in elections.
"With the super PACs now you have a different creature," said Colby College professor and campaign finance expert Anthony Corrado. "These are entities who are organized for a particular candidate. They have every incentive to spend all of their money now. These PACs are organized to help candidates get through Iowa, New Hampshire and all of the early states."
Leading the way among the candidate-specific super PACs is the pro-Romney Restore Our Future. Formed in January 2011 by three veterans of Romney's 2008 run for the presidency, the group raised $12.2 million through June 30 (the same amount raised by Rep. Ron Paul through Sept. 30) and remained dormant until the second week of December.
Beginning on Dec. 9, Restore Our Future let loose a negative advertising and direct mail campaign unlike anything in Iowa caucus history. In the weeks preceding the super PAC's barrage, Gingrich had vaulted into the top position in polls in Iowa and many other key primary states. By the time Restore Our Future had aired close to $3 million in attack ads, Gingrich had fallen into a four-way race for third place.
The negative ad coverage was total. According to data provided to The Huffington Post by Kantar Media's Campaign Media Analysis Group, 45 percent of the ads aired in Iowa in the month of December were negative ads targeting Newt Gingrich. A Dec. 29 NBC-Marist poll showed that 35 percent of Republicans in Iowa found Gingrich to be unelectable, a 19 point increase from the previous month.
Restore Our Future's efforts helped to solidify Romney's position atop the field while providing him an arm's length distance from the negativity. It also increased the disparity in spending among the candidates.
"The super PACs have had a great effect in reinforcing Romney's financial advantage," Corrado said. "Not only has he been outraising his opponents, but the super PAC has been raising more than the other super PACs."
That reinforcement can be seen in the ad buy numbers for the areas around Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Quad City. According to data compiled by IowaPolitics.com and posted by the West Des Moines Patch, Romney spent $411,739 on ads in those three metropolitan areas while Restore Our Future spent $1.1 million.
The Romney campaign has easily outpaced most rivals in the fundraising department by pulling in $32 million through Sept. 30. His campaign is expected to announce an additional $20 million coming in the final three months of 2011.
This has come amidst a more general dearth in campaign financing for the 2012 primary contestants. The candidates combined to raise only $88 million through Sept. 30, the end of the third quarter. That is half of the $176 million the GOP field had raised at the same point in the 2008 election cycle. Ron Paul, alone among the field, is outperforming his 2008 run by raising $4 million more than he had at the same point last time.
The drop in donations has accompanied a remarkable reduction in spending by the candidate campaigns in Iowa up through December, which has left the super PACs to dominate the conversation. As of Sept. 30, the campaigns had barely made any investment in winning Iowa.
"They didn't spend anywhere near the money that they spent in the last time," said David Swenson, an Iowa State University economics professor who has studied the economic impact of the Iowa caucuses. "My conclusion is it's got to be less than half of what we had last time."
Swenson explained that the limited money spent by the candidates in Iowa has predominantly gone to television ads and, save for the campaigns of Romney and Paul, stayed away from the traditional retail politics and grassroots organizing for which the Iowa caucuses are famous. "What they're doing is trading off door knocking at this stage, or up to this stage, for the massive advertising we've been inundated with," he said.
Television advertising is one of the few areas where the Republicans are spending on par with the 2008 race. In 2008, the Republican presidential hopefuls dropped approximately $9.5 million on TV ads. (The 2008 Democratic race in Iowa featured far more spending on television, in excess of $30 million.) The GOP's 2012 race is on pace to break that mark with super PACs and the campaigns of Gov. Rick Perry and Ron Paul leading the way.
While Perry and Paul are spending the most among the candidates on TV, others have gone without much air support. Rep. Michele Bachmann, once considered a potential winner of the caucuses, has not bought television spots from August to Jan. 1, 2012.
Rick Santorum has visited every county in Iowa, but couldn't afford ads until the tail end of the campaign. Santorum, who is riding a late surge in Iowa, has been aided by a pair of super PACs spending more than $600,000 on television and radio ads and phone banks to contact voters. One of those PACs appears to be working in concert with Iowa evangelicals; it features Bob Vander Plaats, the state's most prominent evangelical who recently endorsed Santorum, in both its TV and radio spots.
That connection could also lift the former Pennsylvania senator in an area he has been unable to properly finance -- his get-out-the-vote efforts. Evangelicals in Iowa have excellent voter mobilization operations that could help Santorum compete with the two well-financed mobilization operations ready to boost Romney and Paul on Jan. 3.
WATCH Restore Our Future's first anti-Gingrich ad:
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/31/super-pacs-iowa-caucus-mitt-romney_n_1176741.html
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Fifth-ranked North Carolina beats Elon 100-62
North Carolina's forward John Henson (31) battles for a rebound over Elon's guard Sebastian Koch (24)during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Chapel Hill, N.C., Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Jim R. Bounds)
North Carolina's forward John Henson (31) battles for a rebound over Elon's guard Sebastian Koch (24)during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Chapel Hill, N.C., Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Jim R. Bounds)
North Carolina's forward Tyler Zeller (44) is guarded by Elon's forward Lucas Troutman (31) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Chapel Hill, N.C., Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Jim R. Bounds)
North Carolina's forward Harrison Barnes (40) drives to the basket on Elon's guard Sebastian Koch (24) during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game in Chapel Hill, N.C., Thursday, Dec. 29, 2011. (AP Photo/Jim R. Bounds)
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) ? North Carolina headed into Christmas with one of its best performances of the season. The fifth-ranked Tar Heels didn't want to squander that progress by coming out of the holiday looking flat and unfocused.
Instead, they put together a dominating first-half run to blow out Elon early and extend their home winning streak.
Tyler Zeller had 19 points and 13 rebounds to help the Tar Heels beat the Phoenix 100-62 on Thursday night, tying a Smith Center record with their 25th straight win in the arena. It was North Carolina's first game after an eight-day layoff following a 19-point win against Texas.
"It's been a long break," point guard Kendall Marshall said. "We didn't want to take a step back. Coach (Roy Williams) always tells us that you're either going to progress or regress. You're not going to stay in the same place."
The Tar Heels (12-2) had coasted through several matchups in the current nine-game homestand, frequently looking disinterested in stretches against overmatched opponents in lopsided games. But the Tar Heels looked focused against the Longhorns in their last significant test before opening Atlantic Coast Conference play against Boston College next week, then blew Thursday's game open with a dominating 23-0 run midway through the first half in their return to the court.
Williams gave his players five days off for Christmas. The team returned to practice Tuesday night, starting a stretch of eight practices and three games before classes resume.
"So that means we're a basketball team right now," Williams said of the team's mentality during the semester break. "Let's focus on basketball."
His players heeded the message.
Leading 18-14, the Tar Heels ran off 23 straight points ? their biggest run since scoring 25 in a row against North Carolina State here almost four years ago. John Henson had two of his six first-half dunks in that run, while Marshall knocked down two 3-pointers during the spurt that gave North Carolina a 41-14 lead with 3:26 left in the half.
Elon (7-5) missed 14 straight shots during that 8-minute drought, sending North Carolina to its largest halftime lead (53-19) of the season. The Phoenix missed 31 of 39 shots in the opening half (21 percent), including 13 of 15 3-point tries that might have helped them hang around a bit longer.
"We wish that we would have answered the bell a little bit better," Elon coach Matt Matheny said. "We wish that when they were playing well that we would have been able to bounce back, fight back, not get knocked so far back on our heels in the first half. The game got away from us in the first half because of the way they played."
The rest of the game allowed the Tar Heels to pump up their stats and throw down a few dunks to thrill the crowd. Zeller had a career high with nine offensive boards and matched his career best for total boards. Barnes had battled a stomach bug in recent days, but had 18 points and finished with a career-high five assists.
Henson had 16 points and 11 rebounds ? all but two points came in the first half ? as the Tar Heels shot 47 percent and finished with a 64-35 rebounding advantage. Marshall finished with eight points and eight assists with one turnover.
North Carolina led by 50 points in the second half and scored 100 points for the third time this season. Twelve players scored for UNC while only four Tar Heels played even 20 minutes.
"We just executed what Coach wanted," said Dexter Strickland, who had 10 points. "Everybody knew their role and did their jobs."
While the 25 straight wins ties the record for the nearly 26-year-old campus arena, UNC's home winning streak is tied for third-longest in program history.
Sebastian Koch scored 17 points to lead for the Phoenix, who remained winless against ranked opponents since entering Division I competition a dozen years ago. Elon shot just 33 percent, including 7 for 28 from 3-point range.
Officials had to stop the game with 3:01 left when a Tar Heels cheerleader fell to the court while being held in the air by her partner during a timeout. She was helped to her feet and off the court with an apparent left-leg injury.
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Friday, December 30, 2011
Avastin disappoints against ovarian cancer (AP)
Avastin, the blockbuster drug that just lost approval for treating breast cancer, now looks disappointing against ovarian cancer, too. Two studies found it did not improve survival for most of these patients and kept their disease from worsening for only a few months, with more side effects.
The Genentech drug won approval in Europe last week for advanced ovarian cancer. But its maker has no immediate plans to seek the same approval in the United States. After talking with the Food and Drug Administration, "we do not believe the data will support approval" although no final decision has been made, said Charlotte Arnold, a spokeswoman for Genentech, part of the Swiss company Roche.
Results of the studies are in Thursday's New England Journal of Medicine.
In November, the FDA revoked Avastin's approval for breast cancer because it did not meaningfully extend life and can have serious side effects. Without approval, doctors can prescribe the drug but insurers may not pay. Treatment with it can cost $100,000 a year.
Avastin can still be sold for some colon, lung, kidney and brain cancers. The new research was aimed at adding ovarian cancer to the list.
One study, led by Dr. Robert Burger of Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia, involved nearly 1,900 women with advanced ovarian cancer given one of three treatment combinations. The time until the disease got worse was a median of 10 months in those given just chemotherapy; adding Avastin improved that by just one to four months for the other two groups.
Survival was similar among the groups, and side effects were higher among those on Avastin ? mostly high blood pressure but also some stomach and gut problems that needed treatment.
In the other study, led by researchers from England, more than 1,500 ovarian cancer patients were given chemo with or without Avastin. The drug kept cancer at bay just one to two months longer than chemo alone did, with more cases of high blood pressure. There was a trend toward improved survival for those on Avastin, but the difference was too small to say the drug was responsible.
Genentech helped pay for the studies and some of the researchers consult for the company.
Dr. Gary Lyman, a Duke University researcher who was on the FDA advisory panel that recommended revoking Avastin's approval for breast cancer, wrote in an email that he agreed with the company's decision not to seek approval for ovarian cancer.
"The situation is very similar" to the results in breast cancer, and approval is unlikely unless a biological marker or test can show which patients might benefit, he wrote.
About 220,000 new cases of ovarian cancer are diagnosed each year around the world, and it causes 140,000 deaths. In the United States, the National Cancer Institute estimates 22,000 new cases and 15,000 deaths each year.
___
Online:
Studies: http://www.nejm.org
___
Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP
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Afghanistan, China sign first oil contract (AP)
KABUL, Afghanistan ? Afghanistan's government signed a deal Wednesday with China's state-owned National Petroleum Corporation, allowing it to become the first foreign company to exploit the country's oil and natural gas reserves.
The contract, which covers the northeastern provinces of Sari Pul and Faryab, is the first of several such blocks to be put on the market in coming months, Afghan Minister of Mines Wahidullah Shahrani said during the signing ceremony.
Bidding information for blocks in neighboring Balkh province will be released at end of February, and for the western Herat province by next summer, he said.
The ministry listed the initial value of the project with CNPC as $700 million. But the total could be ten times greater if more reserves are found and developed, and if international oil prices remain at today's levels, Shahrani said.
The fuel pact allows the Chinese firm to research oil and natural gas blocks in Sari Pul and Faryab, an area known as the Amu Darya River Basin that was first explored by Soviet engineers in the 1960s. The Soviets estimated the reserves at about 87 million barrels, but both the Afghan and Chinese partners believe they will prove to be much larger.
CNPC will also build a refinery ? Afghanistan's first ? within the next three years, after the real size of the reserves is established with greater accuracy, said Lu Gong Xun, president of CNPC's international branch.
Shahrani said the deal calls for the Afghan government to receive 70 percent of the profits from the sale of the oil and natural gas. CNPC will also pay 15 percent in royalties, as well as corporate taxes and rent for the land used for its operations.
Afghanistan's army and police will set up special units to guard the project, Shahrani said.
The provinces of Sari Pul and Faryab are located hundreds of miles from the centers of fighting in the east and southeast and are considered relatively safe. As a result, the U.S.-led NATO force has already transferred or is turning over responsibility for security in large parts of the region to the Afghan army and police.
Surveys conducted by the Soviets have shown that Afghanistan sits on vast mineral wealth. Afghan and foreign companies already have shown interest, notably in its untapped copper, iron and oil deposits. But with poor infrastructure and security problems stemming from the 10-year war, most Western mining companies have shied away from firm commitments.
So far, companies from China ? with which Afghanistan shares a small stretch of border in its east ? have been in the forefront of investments in the nation.
Three years ago the China Metallurgical Construction Co. signed a contract to develop the Aynak copper mine in Logar province. Beijing's $3.5 billion stake in the mine is the largest foreign investment in Afghanistan so far.
___
Associated Press writer Rahim Faiez contributed to this report.
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Thursday, December 29, 2011
Rick Santorum: I would vote for Ron Paul if he becomes the GOP nominee (The Ticket)
Rick Santorum (Charlie Neibergall/AP)
DUBUQUE, Iowa--Rick Santorum disagrees with presidential contender Ron Paul on a lot of issues, but if it came down to a choice between the libertarian-leaning member of Congress and President Barack Obama, Santorum would still vote for Paul on Election Day."I'd vote for anybody over Barack Obama," Santorum said after a town hall here when asked specifically if he could vote for Paul. "But I'd have a lot of heartburn on the national security issues with Ron Paul."
Santorum has spent much of the campaign sparring with Paul, the candidate he said he considers the "least likely to win against Barack Obama." But unlike former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, who this week ruled out the possibility of voting for Paul, Santorum would not vote against a Republican nominee in November.
Paul is currently leading in the RealClearPolitics polling average for the Iowa caucuses, which will be held on Tuesday.
Santorum went on to say that a "vast majority of the people would disqualify" Paul as a serious contender if he receives the Republican nomination.
Other popular Yahoo! News stories:
Want more of our best political stories? Visit?The Ticket or connect with us?on Facebook and follow us?on Twitter.
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Wednesday, December 28, 2011
ReadNow Provides a Native Mac Desktop Interface for Instapaper and ReadItLater [Mac Downloads]
ReadNow is really great if you're not fond of reading through articles in the browser, or if you've become accustomed to reading on your tablet and would like a similarly pleasant experience on your computer. If you want to give ReadNow a try, it is available right now in the Mac App Store for $4.
ReadNow ($4) | Mac App Store
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Tesla confirms Model S pricing and options: $49,900 and up after tax credits
Tesla confirms Model S pricing and options: $49,900 and up after tax credits originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:42:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Tesla Motors | Email this | CommentsSource: http://www.engadget.com/2011/12/21/tesla-confirms-model-s-pricing-and-options-49-900-and-up-after/
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Sunday, December 18, 2011
Gabe Zichermann: Fixing the United States Postal Service
The United States Postal Service is in trouble. Severe financial problems are looming due to pension funding issues and structural changes in the economy that move us away from physical mail. While I'd love to see a political change to the former, the latter seems inexorable. It's not so much that we are moving less stuff through the "mail" (though the decline of first class postage is well-documented), quite the contrary: shipments of packages to people's homes are at an all-time high. The real structural problem at the USPS is that the margins on physical goods transportation are in precipitous decline.
Consider this simple example:
- A 1 oz. First Class Letter from NYC to San Francisco costs0.44
- A 5 lb. Fedex Ground Shipment costs12.47 (before discounts) -- or0.15/oz. -- with an actual time commitment, including tracking.
- A 5 lb. USPS Medium Priority Mail Box --10.50 plus extras (but weight can go up to 15 lbs easily) -- from0.04/oz.
There are clearly many factors that go into the cost of shipping a package or a letter. But the last time a first class letter was $.15/oz was in 1978 -- and that $0.15 in 1978 actually buys you nearly $0.45 worth of goods today. In fact, it has never been cheaper to move goods around the United States than it is today -- thanks to technology, innovation and infrastructure developed in the public and private sectors.
So the USPS has always been able to extract a heavy premium for its "mail service" throughout the history of the organization, whether through monopolistic or simple demand-supply practices. Now, this lucrative channel (both first class and bulk mail can be seen through a similar lens) is dying -- squeezed at the top by express delivery and email and at the bottom by email and courier services.
?The USPS is -- in other words -- the middle market company, trying to milk its cash cows while significant innovation disrupts the landscape. But while I don't normally get nostalgic about a service like the post office, I do think there are still a wide range of interesting things that the USPS can do to turn itself around. Here then are a few simple -- though by no means comprehensive -- ideas:
Go Digital, Make Money
If you've ever tried to use a digital mail service like Earth Class Mail (whom I adore), or you've had a postal box, you know how hard the post office makes it to divert your mail to another location (think: notarized forms in duplicate, etc). Why not buy Earth Class Mail itself or launch a USPS-branded mail scanning and forwarding service? After all, if less actual mail is ultimately delivered, it saves on headcount costs in the medium term, helps the environment and puts the organization into the "digital mail stream" of the future.
Raise the Price of Stamps to $1
Smaller countries like Norway, Israel, Japan and Denmark price domestic postage near $1 per letter, and even poor nations like Mexico charge more (in USD terms) to mail a letter than we do. Although it might cause some sticker shock and is likely to push some marginal mail to the Internet, first class mail pricing should reflect what it's become -- largely a luxury or administrative requirement rather than a necessary feature of daily life. If we start seeing it as the optional service it is, we can start pricing it accordingly.
Let Everyone Print Postage Easily
Right now, printing your own postage is convoluted, expensive and cumbersome, requiring a subscription service (at or above $20/month base) and/or specialized equipment. Worse yet, the alternative is to go into one of the nation's dwindling post offices yourself, line up and shop. But what if printing a stamp was as easy as buying an app on iTunes? Why not let everyone setup an account that generates a unique 2D barcode instead of requiring stamps? Record the number of scans made and bill folks at the end of the month. Heck, you can probably even do it through iTunes itself, and validate the mail by scanning each piece as it passes by. Regardless -- reducing the friction to use stamps is sure to raise their utilization.
Make Mail Fun
While you're at it, why not expand people's ability to make and use custom stamps? The USPS could use crowd games and gamification to encourage more consumer participation in stamp and philately design/production, and possibly even use the techniques to reduce junk mail and peer-to-peer postal delivery. They have long been innovators at the use of surveys to pick specific stamps, but there's so much more potential here.
On a different (but similar) tack: imagine earning status or benefits for helping to distribute the mail in your building or block, or by being the person who receives packages in your local area for your neighbors. It sounds crazy, but monetizing unused resources and engaging communities with game-like mechanics works for startups like AirBnB, RelayRides and GetAround -- and it can work for the post office too. In fact, this happens informally in many neighborhoods (including mine in Harlem) -- and I think that a gamified community layer could be extraordinarily powerful.
In short, the USPS has tremendous potential to innovate itself out of the hole it's in. Whether it's fixing the UI/UX problems of the post office (both online and off), or engaging communities and resetting pricing, there are myriad options at their disposal today. Why oversee the demise of postal delivery when you can reinvent the organization for the future? That's a question I think USPS executives -- and the 300 million plus customers they serve -- should clearly be asking.
?
Follow Gabe Zichermann on Twitter: www.twitter.com/gzicherm
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gabe-zichermann/fixing-the-united-states-_b_1156749.html
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Tickets to Broadway revival of 'Salesman,' starring Hoffman, on sale Saturday (Rochester Democrat and Chronicle)
Saturday, December 17, 2011
FedEx earns, drop in claims push stocks higher
FILE - In this Dec. 12, 2011 file photo, specialist John O'Hara, right, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Signs of a global economic slowdown and stresses in Europe's financial system kept investors cautious on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011, causing losses in Asian markets, limiting gains in Europe and keeping the euro near 11-month lows.(AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
FILE - In this Dec. 12, 2011 file photo, specialist John O'Hara, right, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. Signs of a global economic slowdown and stresses in Europe's financial system kept investors cautious on Thursday, Dec. 15, 2011, causing losses in Asian markets, limiting gains in Europe and keeping the euro near 11-month lows.(AP Photo/Richard Drew, File)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Strong earnings from FedEx and a sharp drop in claims for unemployment benefits sent stocks higher in early trading Thursday.
The Dow Jones industrial average jumped 88 points, or 0.7 percent, to 11,911 in the first half hour of trading. The Dow lost 360 points over the past three days as on worries that Europe's latest plan to keep its currency union intact would fail.
FedEx reported that its quarterly income nearly doubled on strong growth in online shopping during the holiday season. FedEx is seen as a bellwether for the economy. Its stock jumped 4.9 percent.
The number of people applying for unemployment benefits dropped last week to 366,000, the lowest level since May 2008. That's a sign that layoffs are easing, a first step toward bringing down the unemployment rate, which currently stands at 8.6 percent.
The gains were broad. All 10 industry groups in the S&P rose, led by health care and banks. Every stock in the Dow Jones industrial average rose except for AT&T Inc., which slipped 0.3 percent. Pfizer Inc. rose the most, 1.7 percent.
The Standard & Poor's 500 rose 8 points, or 0.7 percent, to 1,220. The Nasdaq rose 10, or 0.4 percent, 2,549.
In corporate news, Michael Kors Holdings Ltd. jumped 23 percent to $24.84 on its first day of trading. The initial public offering valued the fashion design company at $3.8 billion.
Novellus Systems Inc. jumped 21 percent. The semiconductor equipment maker said late Wednesday that it was being acquired by rival Lam Research Corp.
Rite Aid Corp. rose 7 percent. The drugstore chain announced that losses had narrowed in its third quarter.
European markets rose, a day after big declines, as an auction of Spanish government bonds drew strong demand from investors. Germany's DAX rose 1.7 percent; France's main stock index rose 1.2 percent.
The euro rose against the dollar, moving back above $1.30, a day after hitting an 11-month low. The yields on Spanish and Italian government fell, a sign that investors were less worried about the ability of those countries to pay back their debts.
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Herman Cain, if you wanted to be President you would have fought through the allegations. I call BS. Source: http://twitter.com/scarpetablog/statuses/147151561821392898
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Average 30-year loan rate ties record: 3.94 pct. (AP)
WASHINGTON ? The average rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage fell back down to 3.94 percent, the record low set earlier in the fall.
Low rates offer a historic opportunity for those who can afford to buy or refinance. Still, few people are able to take advantage of the record-low rates or have already done so.
The rate on the 30-year home loan fell from 3.99 percent the previous week, Freddie Mac said Thursday. The 3.94 percent average is the lowest on records dating to the 1950s.
The average on the 15-year fixed mortgage fell to 3.21 percent from 3.27 percent. That's also a record.
Rates have been below 5 percent for all but two weeks this year. Even so, this year could end up as the worst for home sales in 14 years.
Low mortgage rates have failed to energize sales. Sales of previously occupied homes are just slightly ahead of last year's dismal sales figures ? and those were the worst in 13 years. New-home sales appear headed for their worst year on records dating back half a century.
Mortgage applications have risen slightly in recent weeks but are up from extremely low levels, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.
High unemployment and scant wage gains have made it harder for many people to qualify for loans. Many Americans don't want to sink money into a home that could lose value over the next three to four years.
The average on the 30-year fixed loan has been below 5 percent for all but two weeks in the past year. And many homeowners who have the necessary credit and home equity to refinance already have.
To calculate average the rates, Freddie Mac surveys lenders across the country Monday through Wednesday of each week.
Some lenders have reported an increase in applications through the Obama administration's refinancing program. That program was broadened in October to allow up to 1 million more homeowners lower their mortgage payments. But the MBA said such government-assisted loans account for just a small portion of refinancings.
The average rates don't include extra fees, known as points, which most borrowers must pay to get the lowest rates. One point equals 1 percent of the loan amount.
The average fee for the 30-year loan rose to 0.8 from 0.7; the average on the 15-year fixed mortgage was unchanged at 0.8.
For the five-year adjustable loan, the average rate fell to 2.86 percent from 2.93 percent. The average on the one-year adjustable loan ticked up to 2.81 percent from 2.8 percent.
The average fee on the five-year loan rose from 0.5 to 0.6. And the fee on the one-year adjustable loan was unchanged at 0.6.
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Friday, December 16, 2011
APNewsBreak: 2.5M young adults gain coverage (AP)
WASHINGTON ? The number of young adults lacking medical coverage has shrunk by 2.5 million since the new health care overhaul law took effect, according to a new analysis the Obama administration is to release Wednesday.
That drop is 2 1/2 times as large as the drop indicated by previous government and private estimates from earlier this year, which showed about 1 million Americans ages 19-25 had gained coverage.
Administration officials said they now have more data. They say they're also slicing the numbers more precisely than the government usually does, trying to pinpoint the impact of a popular provision in an otherwise politically divisive law.
Under the health overhaul, children can remain on their parents' health insurance plans until they turn 26, and families have flocked to sign up young adults making the transition to work in a challenging economic environment. But the fate of President Barack Obama's signature domestic accomplishment remains uncertain, with the Supreme Court scheduled to hear a constitutional challenge next year, and Republican presidential candidates vowing to repeal it.
"The increase in coverage among 19- to 25-year-olds can be directly attributed to the Affordable Care Act's new dependent coverage provision," said a draft report from the Health and Human Services Department. "Initial gains from this policy have continued to grow as ... students graduate from high school and college." A copy of the report was obtained by The Associated Press.
HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is scheduled to release the findings Wednesday.
The health care law's main push to cover the uninsured doesn't come until 2014. But the young adults' provision took effect last fall. Most workplace health plans started carrying it out Jan. 1.
Using unpublished quarterly statistics from the government's ongoing National Health Interview Survey, analysts in Sebelius' policy office determined that nearly 36 percent of those age 19-25 were uninsured in the third calendar quarter of 2010, before the law's provision took effect.
That translates to more than 10.5 million people.
By the second calendar quarter of 2011, the proportion of uninsured young adults had dropped to a little over 27 percent, or about 8 million people.
The difference ? nearly 2.5 million getting coverage ? can only be the result of the health care law, administration officials said, because the number covered by public programs like Medicaid went down slightly.
Overall, nearly 30 million Americans are between the ages of 19 to 25. For those who are little older, ages 26-35, the uninsured rate went up during the same period.
"From September 2010 to June 2011, coverage rose only among those adults affect by the policy," said the HHS report.
The National Center for Health Statistics has documented a broadly similar trend in its official publications, only it's not nearly as dramatic.
Administration officials said those statistics do not focus on the change from calendar quarter to calendar quarter, as does the report by Sebelius' staff. Instead, they pool data over longer time periods. That has the effect of diluting the perceived impact of the law, administration officials said.
Traditionally, young adults were more likely to be uninsured than any other age group.
Some are making the switch from school to work. Others are holding down low-wage jobs that don't usually come with health care. And some ? termed the "invincibles" ? pass up job-based health insurance because they don't think they'll use it and would rather get extra money in their paychecks.
Other early coverage expansions in the health care law have not worked as well, including a special program for people with health problems who got turned away by private insurers. Many applicants found the premiums unaffordable.
Young adults are a less expensive group to cover than people who are middle-aged, and many companies have spread the extra premiums among their workers. Benefits consultant Delloite LLP has projected additional health plan costs in the range of 1 percent to 2 percent for covering young adults.
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PFT: Steelers' Harrison won't change how he plays
ReutersThe Dolphins have a problem.? Actually, they have plenty of problems, but the purpose of this article is to focus on one problem in particular.
Owner Stephen Ross doesn?t yet understand many of the nuances of owning an NFL team, and he apparently has no one in his inner circles who is willing or able to point out to him the nuances he has yet to grasp.
The problem rears its head most glaringly when Ross talks to the media.? On one hand, Ross feels justified after years of building a fortune in anonymity to enjoy the fame that comes from diverting some of that fortune to owning an NFL team.? On the other hand, everything he says will shape the manner in which he and the team are perceived by the paying (hopefully) customers.
Last year, the bungling of the courtship of Jim Harbaugh, following by the bungling of the explanation of the bungling of the courtship of Jim Harbaugh, darkened the cloud that still hovers over the franchise.? And now that the team has a chance to create some blue sky, the Dolphins could be bungling it again.
For starters, he blurted out the ?young Don Shula? remark on Monday when explaining the kind of coach for whom the team is searching.? Unless this means that Ross plans to secure a lock of Shula?s hair and commission a team of scientists to create a clone, Ross has instead created a template against which the next coach inevitably will be compared.
In fairness to Ross, it was an off-the-cuff, harmless remark.? In fairness to the franchise he owns, off-the-cuff remarks can operate as tattoos on a team, and those words could now take on a Dream Team-style aura for the Dolphins.? (Moreover, the use of the word ?young? in any hiring context also could cause his employment lawyers to lose 75 percent of the fancy lunches that only the one percent can enjoy.)
Already, the remark has invited skeptics to suggest an answer to the ?Young Don Shula? objective:? Jim Harbaugh.
The comment advances no legitimate interest, so why say it?? The far better approach is to find a coach, hire a coach, and then tell the media and the fans that he?s the coach the team wanted.? Period.
Largely lost in this discussion has been the potential impact of G.M. Jeff Ireland?s ongoing employment upon the coaching search.? For starters, it takes out of the mix any of the A-listers with the options and the leverage to command the power that Ireland will still possess.? There?s a chance that this is one of the nuances that Ross has yet to grasp, and that he could fire Ireland if firing Ireland ultimately is the impediment to hiring, say, Bill Cowher.? There?s also a chance that Ross deliberately has retained Ireland in order to aim for a lower ? and inherently cheaper ? cut of coaching candidates.
The fact that Ireland widely was perceived as betraying coach Tony Sparano by accompanying Ross on the Harbaugh-quest in January will make it even harder to lure coaches who have options.? Many coaches believe Ireland has shown that, in the symbiotic relationship between G.M. and coach, he can?t fully be trusted.? That will make the next coach far more leery about taking the job.
Unless, of course, the ultimate candidate has no other options and simply wants to be an NFL head coach.
Remember, this business is more about entertainment than sports.? People need to be motivated to buy tickets.? In order to be motivated to buy tickets, they need to be inspired by the leadership of the team.? And Ross has done little to inspire anything positive for the fans of the Miami Dolphins.? His best move would be to hire someone who would do the talking for the team, and to otherwise enjoy the non-spotlight trappings of owning an NFL team.
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Wednesday, December 7, 2011
Napster name will live on to irritate Lars Ulrich another day in UK, Germany
Napster name will live on to irritate Lars Ulrich another day in UK, Germany originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 05 Dec 2011 19:32:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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Monday, December 5, 2011
Monti warns of Greek-style risk to Italy (Reuters)
ROME (Reuters) ? Italy risked a Greek-style economic collapse which could threaten the future of the euro without the austerity package approved by the government, Prime Minister Mario Monti said on Monday, calling on European partners to do their part.
Monti's announcement of the plan on Sunday kicked off one of the most crucial weeks since the launch of the euro more than a decade ago, ending with a summit of European leaders in Brussels on Thursday and Friday to seek a wider set of crisis measures.
"If Italy were not capable of reversing the negative spiral of growth in debt and restoring confidence to international markets, there would be dramatic consequences, which could go as far as putting the survival of the common currency at risk," Monti told parliament.
"Italy is ready to do what it has to do but Europe must not fail to do its part," he said.
The package, dubbed a "Save Italy" decree by Monti, aims to raise more than 10 billion euros ($13.4 billion) from a property tax, impose a new levy on luxury items like yachts, raise value added tax, crack down on tax evasion and increase the pension age.
"Without this package, we think that Italy would have collapsed, that Italy would go into a situation similar to that of Greece," Monti told foreign journalists before heading to parliament to present the package to lawmakers.
He acknowledged the package would weigh on Italy's fragile economy which most analysts say is already in recession, but said without action the consequences would have been much worse.
The package, packed into an emergency decree that takes effect before formal parliamentary approval, is expected to gain the backing of most parties, with the exception of the regional pro-devolution Northern League party.
Italy, the euro zone's third-largest economy, has been at the centre of the crisis since mid-year, when its borrowing costs began to approach the levels that forced Ireland, Greece and Portugal to seek an international bailout.
Markets welcomed the measures, which analysts said should be enough to persuade the European Central Bank to continue to hold down borrowing costs by buying Italian bonds on the market.
Yields on 10-year Italian bonds dropped to just over 6 percent, around a full percentage point lower than last week, while the risk premium over benchmark German Bunds fell below 400 basis points, levels last seen in October.
International reaction was also positive, with Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, who met Monti in Rome on Monday morning, the European Commission and the head of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development all welcoming the package.
MEASURES IN EFFECT IMMEDIATELY
Monti, whose sober style contrasts markedly with his flamboyant predecessor Silvio Berlusconi, said Italy wanted to play a full part in Europe and said no country could act alone.
"There's no country so strong that could have an advantage in isolating itself or separating itself from weaker countries," he told foreign reporters.
He said his government's austerity measures would contribute to a solution involving the euro zone's bailout fund, the International Monetary Fund and the ECB and he backed French and German calls for tighter controls on national budgets.
"I feel that it would be perfectly understandable that the European Commission should have the same enforcement powers in the area of budgets that it has in the area of competition," he told reporters.
Monti, appointed at the head of a technocrat government last month, had been under growing pressure to come up with concrete measures to address fears about Italy's towering debt mountain.
He has held to Berlusconi's pledge of a balanced budget by 2013, despite growing signs that Italy is heading into a recession that will make it extremely difficult to make inroads into a public debt of 120 percent of gross domestic product.
Deputy Economy Minister Vittorio Grilli said the measures outlined on Sunday would allow the deficit goal to be met despite a forecast that GDP would contract by 0.4-0.5 percent in 2012.
The package is divided into 20 billion euros of budget tightening and an additional 10 billion euros that will be pumped back into the economy in the form of measures to help companies and boost growth.
Caught between the competing needs of slashing the deficit and safeguarding a fragile economy, Monti's government risks growing opposition after an initial honeymoon period granted by a public fed up with the scandals of the Berlusconi era.
Unions criticized the package and in an early sign of possible opposition to the Monti government, the moderate CISL and UIL unions announced a two hour strike against the austerity package on Monday, December 12.
(Additional reporting by Philip Pullella and Alberto Sisto, Writing by James Mackenzie; Editing by Barry Moody and Maria Golovnina)
Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111205/ts_nm/us_italy
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JVC GC-PX10
JVC is marketing its GC-PX10 ($899.95 list) as a hybrid camera?one designed to merge the functions of a camcorder with a digital still camera. In reality, it is more of a 1080p video camera that happens to take nice 12-megapixel stills. A dead giveaway is the inclusion of 32GB of internal flash memory, a feature that is almost never seen in digital cameras. The controls are laid out in a way that make more sense for video use, and can be a bit awkward to use for stills in anything but automatic mode. Its menu interface must be navigated via a touch-screen interface, which makes it very difficult to adjust settings with which photographers often fiddle.
Design and Features
The GC-PX10's design is rather unique among camcorders, as it is a departure from both handheld shoot-and-share and traditional palmcorder designs. It measures 2.7 by 5.2 by 4.8 inches and weighs 1 pound, 3.2 ounces. It dwarfs our very-compact Edtitors' Choice pocket camcorder, the Sony Bloggie Touch 8GB ($199.99, 4 stars), which is only 2.1 by 4.3 by 0.6 inches and weighs a mere 4.2 ounces?almost a full pound less than the JVC. Nor can you take it on extreme sporting adventures, as you can with the compact Kodak Playsport Zx5 ($179.95, 4 stars) and Contour+ ($499.99, 3 stars) helmet camera.
The camera that the GC-PX10 resembles most is the Sony NEX-5N ($699.99, 4.5 stars), which also has thin body, deep handgrip, and long lens. Unlike the NEX-5N, you won't able to change lenses. The JVC's fixed 10x Konica Minolta HD zoom lens is firmly, and permanently, attached. When shooting video the lens covers a 43-433mm f/2.8-4.5 (35mm equivalent) field of view, which is great for telephoto recording, but can be a bit limiting in when shooting in tight spaces. The field of view changes a bit when shooting stills, which are in 4:3 aspect ratio rather than 16:9. The camera covers a slightly wider 37-374mm range, which is still limiting when trying to snap group shots in average-sized rooms. The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ150 ($499.99, 3.5 stars) is a better option for wide-angle shooting, its lens covers a 25-600mm field of view and the camera is capable of capturing some very nice HD video footage.
The rear of the camera is dominated by a 3-inch, 230k-dot touch-screen LCD. It is hinged, but can only be tilted along one axis, in one direction. This makes it possible to tilt the screen so that you can use the camera at your waist or with the lens facing you, but you can't tilt it so that you can use the camera over your head. This is a bit limiting, as lifting the camera up to record footage can be quite helpful in crowded environments, such as concerts and sporting events. The LCD isn't as sharp as some, and is prone to glare in bright light. Its ability to tilt should help to alleviate that, but a dual-hinge system would be better for this purpose.
There are some physical controls on the camera, including a zoom rocker, video record button, and shutter release for stills. Additional controls on the left side of the lens include a mode dial, flash control, exposure adjustment toggle, and a control wheel. These will come in handy when shooting, but sadly will not allow you to navigate through menus. All menu adjustments are through touch only, which can slow down access to certain helpful settings, including focus assist, ISO adjustment, and white balance.
The GC-PX10 features an omnidrectional built-in stereo mic which captures clear audio from all directions. The sound of the lens zooming in and out is not audible on the audio track, but there is a cold shoe located on the top of the lens if you'd like to add a better microphone or other accessory, like a self-powered video light. ?Ports to plug in the mic and other cables are located under a flap on the left side of the lens. The camera sports a headphone jack, mini USB, and mini HDMI ports. There is no dedicated battery charger, instead you plug the camera into a wall outlet to charge and power it. If 32GB of built-in memory isn't enough to suit your needs, you can add storage via a standard memory card slot that supports SD, SDHC, and SDXC cards.
Performance, Video Quality, and Conclusions
The camera is a bit slow to start up, taking a full 4.7 seconds to turn on and take a photo. It does a bit better in terms of shutter lag, taking only 0.1 second between pressing the shutter and grabbing a shot. Its recycle time is also quite impressive. It can shoot a photo once every 0.3 second continuously, and also supports high-speed burst shooting. You can grab 100 shots in either 13.1 seconds or 3.3 seconds depending on the speed chosen, although there is a long recovery time?up to 28 seconds?after grabbing a large number of shots in a short amount of time. This puts it in the same class as the Panasonic FZ150, which is a bit speedier thanks to a 2-second startup, but matches the 0.1 second shutter lag. The FZ150 can shoot continuously with a 0.2 second delay between photos, and also supports capturing a burst of 12 images with a 0.1-second gap between each photo.
I used the Imatest software suite to measure the quality of the GC-PX10's photos in terms of sharpness and noise. The camera recorded 1,640 lines per picture height of sharpness, which is a bit shy of the 1,800-line mark that denotes a sharp image. It is in line with the results of the Panasonic FZ150, which grabbed 1,700 lines. In terms of image noise, the PX10 scored respectably, keeping noise under 1.5 percent through ISO 800. This will let you shoot in less-than-perfect light, especially when you have the lens at its widest focal length, a setting at which its lens is able to capture quite a bit of light thanks to its large f/2.8 aperture.
The strength of the camera is its video quality. It records 1080p60 footage at a 36 megabit per second sampling rate. The footage is crisp and detailed, and motion is smooth. Files are stored in MP4 format, which can be edited in popular applications. You'll be able to record up to 2 hours of footage onto the camera's internal memory at highest quality. You can increase that recording time by an hour by dropping the bitrate to 24 megabits per second, or to 5.6 hours by recording in 720p.
There's also a super-slow motion mode, which captures video at 300 frames per second and slows it down to 60 frames. For every five seconds of footage that you shoot, one second is recorded in the video. The resolution is limited to 640 by 380 in this mode, but the results can be quite stunning when shooting wildlife or sports.
If you're primarily interested in video, the GC-PX10 is not without faults, but overall it's a solid (albeit pricey) camcorder. Its 1080p footage looks great and is full of detail, and it records in the standard MP4 format for easy editing and sharing. It also captures nice stills, although experienced photographers will feel a bit hindered by the need to use its touch screen to change certain settings. If you're more interested in still photos, you may want to consider the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ150, which offers a wider zoom range and still captures very-good-quality HD video. If you're happy with a shorter zoom, consider the Sony NEX-5N, which records 1080p footage and ships with a lens that covers a 27-82mm field of view. It's $200 less, is a top performer, and offers more features including the versatility of interchangeable lenses.
More Digital Camcorder reviews:
??? JVC GC-PX10
??? 3M Camcorder Projector CP45
??? Samsung HMX-W200
??? Contour+
??? Sony Bloggie Duo HD (MHS-FS2)
?? more
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/r-Ae_t0Wx8w/0,2817,2396508,00.asp
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Sunday, December 4, 2011
Citi discussing plan to shuffle Asian managers: WSJ (Reuters)
(Reuters) ? Citigroup Inc (C.N) is discussing a plan to shuffle Asian managers to reassure Japanese regulators as they prepare to sanction the bank for alleged lapses in disclosure related to the sale of financial products, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the situation.
Peter Eliot, Citigroup's country officer and head of its institutional client group in Thailand, is being considered as a possible interim successor to Darren Buckley, the head of Citibank Japan, these people told the newspaper.
Buckley will be reassigned to another post in Asia, the location of which has yet to be decided, the paper said citing the same people.
Della Pietra, Citigroup's general counsel in the Asia Pacific region, may become the chief operating officer of Japan, a newly created position, according to the paper.
No decision had been made yet and plans could still change, the Wall Street Journal said citing the people.
Citigroup has hired the executive search firm Egon Zehnder to help it find a permanent head of its Japanese operations, people familiar with the matter told the paper.
Citigroup declined to comment on Sunday.
The news comes as Japan's Financial Services Agency prepares to issue sanctions against Citigroup. Japan's financial watchdog will likely order the local banking unit of Citigroup to suspend part of its operations for about two weeks as a penalty for allegedly failing to fully explain product risk to customers, the paper said citing a person familiar with the matter.
(Reporting by Dhanya Skariachan, editing by Maureen Bavdek)
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Saturday, December 3, 2011
Ultraconservative Islamists make gains in Egypt
Protesters chant slogans during a protest in Tahrir Square, in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Dec. 2, 2011. Islamists appear to have taken a strong majority of seats in the first round of Egypt's first parliamentary vote since Hosni Mubarak's ouster, a trend that if confirmed would give religious parties a popular mandate in the struggle to win control from the ruling military and ultimately reshape a key U.S. ally. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Protesters chant slogans during a protest in Tahrir Square, in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Dec. 2, 2011. Islamists appear to have taken a strong majority of seats in the first round of Egypt's first parliamentary vote since Hosni Mubarak's ouster, a trend that if confirmed would give religious parties a popular mandate in the struggle to win control from the ruling military and ultimately reshape a key U.S. ally. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
A wounded Egyptian protesters attends Friday prayers during a rally in Tahrir Square in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Dec. 2, 2011. Islamists appear to have taken a strong majority of seats in the first round of Egypt's first parliamentary vote since Hosni Mubarak's ouster, a trend that if confirmed would give religious parties a popular mandate in the struggle to win control from the ruling military and ultimately reshape a key U.S. ally. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
A woman covers her face with Egyptian flag as she attends a protest in Tahrir Square, in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Dec. 2, 2011. Islamists appear to have taken a strong majority of seats in the first round of Egypt's first parliamentary vote since Hosni Mubarak's ouster, a trend that if confirmed would give religious parties a popular mandate in the struggle to win control from the ruling military and ultimately reshape a key U.S. ally. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Protesters carry symbolic coffins honoring those killed in recent clashes with security forces during a rally in Tahrir Square, in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Dec. 2, 2011. Islamists appear to have taken a strong majority of seats in the first round of Egypt's first parliamentary vote since Hosni Mubarak's ouster, a trend that if confirmed would give religious parties a popular mandate in the struggle to win control from the ruling military and ultimately reshape a key U.S. ally. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)
An Egyptian stands in front of statue for Venezuelan statesman Simon Bolivar, leader of revolt of South American, as it wears an eye patch that symbolizes protesters wounded in clashes with security forces during the last weeks protests in Tahrir Square, in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, Dec. 2, 2011. Islamists appear to have taken a strong majority of seats in the first round of Egypt's first parliamentary vote since Hosni Mubarak's ouster, a trend that if confirmed would give religious parties a popular mandate in the struggle to win control from the ruling military and ultimately reshape a key U.S. ally. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
CAIRO (AP) ? Egypt's ultraconservative Islamist party said Friday it plans to push for a stricter religious code in Egypt after claiming surprisingly strong gains in this week's initial round of voting for parliament, the first elections since Hosni Mubarak's ouster.
Egypt's election commission announced only a trickle of results Friday and said 62 percent of eligible voters cast ballots in the highest turnout in Egypt's modern history. Abdel-Mooaez Ibrahim, the head of High Election Commission, jokingly described it as "the highest since the time of pharaohs."
Preliminary counts leaked by judges and individual political groups indicated that the Muslim Brotherhood's political arm took the largest share of votes. Following closely behind, was the ultraconservative Islamist Nour Party and a coalition of liberal parties called the Egyptian bloc, according to those unofficial counts.
That trend ? if confirmed and if extended over more rounds of voting ? would give the religious parties a popular mandate in the struggle to win control from the ruling military that took over from Mubarak and ultimately reshape a key U.S. ally.
The Islamist Nour Party expects to get 30 percent of the vote, party spokesman Yousseri Hamad told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.
A strong showing would put them in a position to influence policy, although it's unclear how much power the new parliament will have with the ruling generals still in overall control. For example, the military, which is not keen to see Egypt delivered to radical Islamists, maintains that it ? not the largest bloc in parliament ? will choose the prime minister and Cabinet once all parliamentary voting rounds are completed. It is also poised to closely oversee the drafting of a new constitution.
The Nour Party's purist pursuit of strict Shariah, or Islamic law, would also face tough opposition from a diverse array of youth activists in the streets, Egypt's Coptic Christian minority, as well as liberal and secular political parties pushing for more social and political freedoms ? perhaps forcing it to veer less toward the large role that religion plays in Saudi Arabia.
The Nour Party is the main political arm of the hard-line Salafi movement, which was inspired by the Saudi-style Wahhabi school of thought.
Salafists are newcomers on Egypt's political scene. They long shunned the concept of democracy, saying it allows man's law to override God's. But they formed parties and entered politics after Mubarak's ouster to position themselves to try to make sure Shariah law is an integral part of Egypt's new constitution.
The more moderate and pragmatic Muslim Brotherhood, on the other hand, has been around since 1928 and has for decades been the largest and best organized opposition movement in Egypt, despite being officially outlawed until Mubarak's ouster.
Seeking to broaden its political appeal, the Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party has described its election platform as civil but with an Islamic background, setting them up to be more rival than ally to the harder-line Islamists.
Hamad said his party is willing to cooperate with the Muslim Brotherhood as well as with secular and liberal forces "if it will serve the interest of the nation."
Still, Salafi groups speak confidently about their ambition to turn Egypt into a state where personal freedoms, including freedom of speech, women's dress and art are constrained by Islamic Shariah codes.
"In the land of Islam, I can't let people decide what is permissible or what is prohibited. It's God who gives the answers as to what is right and what is wrong," Hamad said. "If God tells me you can drink whatever you want except for alcohol, you don't leave the million things permitted and ask about the prohibited."
Their surprisingly strong showing worries many liberals and Coptic Christians, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's population.
"We want democracy and what they want is anything but democratic," said Amir Fouad, a Coptic Christian who trained as an engineer but drives a taxi because he can't find another job. "They want Egypt to be like Saudi Arabia, all Islamic."
Fouad, 40, said he worries the Salafists will force Christian women to wear Islamic veils.
"I feel like it will be very hard for me to live in Egypt if they rule," he said. "They will take Egypt backward."
Even some religious Egyptians see the Salafists as too extreme.
"I am religious and don't want laws that go against my beliefs, but there shouldn't be religious law," said Ahmed Abdel-Rahman, a geography teacher. "I don't want anyone imposing his religious views on me."
The voting for Egypt's lower house of parliament is staggered over three stages. This week's vote, held in nine provinces, will determine about 30 percent of the 498 seats in the People's Assembly. Two more rounds, ending in January, will cover Egypt's other 18 provinces. Three more rounds before March will elect the less powerful upper house.
The ballots are a confusing mix of party lists that will gain seats according to proportions of votes and individual candidates.
Results announced Friday by the election commission showed only three of the individual candidates winning from the first round, while the rest must enter runoffs.
No other official results were announced Friday.
Ibrahim, of the election commission, described difficult conditions during the vote and the count, saying judges who oversaw the process labored in a cramped, dimly lit room where "it was impossible for anyone to do his job."
Calling the news conference to a close, Ibrahim said, "I'm out of gas," and told reporters pressing for more information that they should get the results themselves from material distributed by the election commission.
Hamad said the Nour Party appeared to lead the polls in the Nile Delta province of Kafr el-Sheik, in the rural area of Fayoum, which is known for high rates of illiteracy and poverty, and in parts of their longtime stronghold of Alexandria.
Hamad also said the party faced its toughest challenge in Cairo because of the small presence of Salafi supporters there.
Islamist victory in Egypt ? long considered a linchpin of regional stability ? would be the clearest signal yet that parties and candidates connected to political Islam will emerge as the main beneficiaries of this year's Arab Spring uprisings.
Tunisia and Morocco have both elected Islamist majorities to parliament, and while Libya has yet to announce dates for its first elections, Islamist groups have emerged as a strong force there since rebels overthrew Moammar Gadhafi in August. They also play a strong opposition role in Yemen.
Egypt's new parliament, in theory, is tasked with selecting a 100-member panel to draft Egypt's new constitution. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which took control of the country after Mubarak's fall in February, has suggested that it will choose 80 of those members.
Meanwhile, new interim Prime Minister Kamal el-Ganzouri, who was recently appointed by the military, formed a temporary Cabinet of 32 ministers, including 10 from the previous government. El-Ganzouri also served as a prime minister under Mubarak in the mid-1990s.
Protesters had demanded a new premier in response to a security crackdown on demonstrations before the elections that killed more than 40 people.
Also Friday, more than 5,000 protesters demonstrated in Cairo's Tahrir Square to call for a speedier transition to civilian rule and trials for security officers accused of killing protesters.
Large crowds marched into the square carrying dozens of coffins wrapped in Egyptian flags to represent those killed in clashes with the police near the square in the week before the elections.
"People haven't given up on the square just because there were elections," said Ibrahim Hussein, who voted this week for the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party. "They all have the same demands and they haven't been met yet."
___
Associated Press writer Ben Hubbard contributed to this report.
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