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Labels: WorldTokyo's Nikkei 225 hits 21-month high
Labels: Technology
TOKYO: Tokyo's benchmark Nikkei 225 index on Thursday closed at its highest level since the quake-tsunami disaster in March last year, a day after Japan's new conservative government took power.
The Nikkei added 0.91 percent, or 92.62 points, to 10,322.98 by the close, finishing above 10,254.43, its level on March 11, 2011 when a massive temblor hit Japan, sparking a tsunami and subsequent nuclear crisis.
The broader Topix index of all first-section shares was up 0.75 percent, or 6.38 points, at 854.09.
"Some say the market is now overbought, but the trend is your friend, and few are willing to risk going short at the moment," said an equity trading director at a foreign brokerage.
"Japan is now right in the middle of the radar for foreign portfolio managers."
In forex trade, the US dollar rose to its highest level in more than two years against the yen as Shinzo Abe was sworn in as prime minister.
Abe -- whose Liberal Democratic Party won a landslide election victory this month -- has repeatedly said he would pressure the Bank of Japan for more easing measures, comments that have helped bring down the value of the yen.
- AFP/al
Decluttering before the New Year
Labels: LifestyleTime off work during the holidays is a perfect time to tidy up your home and work spaces to start the New Year right.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Do your New Year's resolutions include a push to clean up? Here are some tips to start
- Being organized is about being in control, says professional organizer Susan Fleischman
- Cleaning clutter can eliminate the need to buy what you simply can't find
(CNN) -- Whatever other resolutions we make leading up to the New Year -- to call Mom more often, lay off the late-night snacks -- getting ourselves organized is likely near the top of the list. And that often means clearing out the clutter that keeps us from functioning efficiently, whether we're at work or at home.
Many employees -- whether they go to actual offices or do their jobs from home -- find the last week of the calendar year is ideal for sorting through e-mails, clearing their desks, and reorganizing their work spaces. Sorting through stuff is rarely fun, but those who tackle it now will find themselves a step ahead when their now-vacationing colleagues and clients come staggering back after the holidays.
According to the National Association of Professional Organizers, which sponsors the annual "Get Organized Month" each January to help folks take control of their time, tasks and possessions, 83% of members polled say that "paper organization" ranks highest on their individual and corporate clients' to-do lists. For people taking time off between Christmas and New Year's, this week offers a chance to get things in order before 2013 arrives.
Devoting time to both physically and mentally clearing out the "old" and embracing the "new" is about more than just getting rid of stuff. Being organized is really about being in control, says Susan Fleischman, a Chicago-based professional organizer, home stager and founder of clutterfree.
"As joyous as the holidays can be, the period between Thanksgiving and New Year's is probably one of the most stressful of the year for people," she says. That's why spending the week after Christmas decluttering "really helps you recover and detox from the hustle and bustle of the holidays.
"It's very symbolic -- we're ramping up to the ultimate do-over. We all get to turn the calendar page and make a fresh start."
For those at work, says Fleischman, "the phone stops ringing, there are fewer meetings. Real work probably comes to a screeching halt. There are far fewer reasons to keep letting getting organized fall to the bottom of the to-do list." And these days, when employees often feel compelled to work harder and longer, being organized can be a real competitive advantage.
NAPO Industry Member Director Mary Dykstra says that on average, Americans waste time amounting to between six and 12 weeks a year searching for things in their offices and homes. "Just imagine if you could get out from under that clutter and spend that time helping your company build their business and ultimately, your career," says Fleischman, who was a public relations and marketing executive before launching her professional organizing business.
"Every minute counts when it comes to impressing the boss, your colleagues and clients. At work, we strive to project that we're knowledgeable, in control and experts. We're constantly accessing, sharing, reacting to information. Being able to put your hands on the information or generate some information means the better you'll be able to rise to the top and have clarity of thought and creativity and maximize productivity."
But what about moving from work to the home front? Cynthia Ewer, the Washington state-based editor of OrganizedHome.com and the author of "The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Organized Fast-Track," suggests we use this in-between-holidays week to step back and reflect on our habits and how well they're working for us at home.
It's important to remember, says Ewer, that "there are different personality types. "Organized" is what works for you. There are filers -- people who love folders. They want the serenity of knowing where things are. Pilers like to keep their eyes on their stuff. Deniers have bags of paperwork shoved into closets. Instead of using a "What-does-it-look-like?" yardstick, it's a "How-will-it-work?" question. Know yourself, and come up with solutions that reflect who you are, she says.
After all, she says, " 'It's here somewhere' is the most frustrating phrase in the English language."
Cutting clutter also can boost the bottom line. "How many times do you go to the store and buy the things you couldn't find?" asks Fleischman. But cleaning up and cleaning out also can generate money, says Ewer.
"It can be a real fun process to turn your clutter into cash."
Nab tax deductions by donating cleared-out items to nonprofit organizations. Declutterers can send usable books, DVDs, video games and music to third-party merchants in exchange for gift cards through the Amazon Trade-In Program. Even computer manufacturers like Apple offer gift cards to customers who send in an old iPhone, iPad or computer for reuse or recycling, if those devices still have monetary value.
"Leading an orderly life is about saving time, saving money, reducing stress," says Fleischman, who also blogs about organizing tips and clutter makeovers. "And that's energy you can spend on leisure pursuits, which is very important to emotional well-being."
Some tips for cutting through the workplace and home clutter this holiday week:
• Stockpile your supplies. Fleischman advises making sure you've got the right trash bins, shredders, file folders and markers at your fingertips before you start sorting and tossing.
• Take it a zone at a time. Your office, home and car didn't become a mess overnight, so declutter in increments. Fleischman suggests starting with desktops, then floors, then moving on to file cabinets and bookcases.
• Go from horizontal to vertical piles. If you're purging papers, clear those piles from your desk and the floor by placing newly sorted files in a cabinet or an upright vertical file. This way, your eyes can quickly scan and identify what you need at a glance.
• Free up the fridge. "Get the ghosts of Christmas past out of there -- all those little cans of this and that, the beef sticks from the gift basket no one can bear to throw out," says Ewer. Besides, this clean-up also will save you some calories.
• Be realistic. If you really write out bills at the kitchen table and not in the home office, says Ewer, get yourself a wheeled cart you can roll where the work gets done. If your kids' toys actually live in the family room -- not in the bedroom toy box -- create a storage solution there.
"Look at your patterns of living and organize yourself accordingly."
Former President Bush in ICU
Labels: HealthUpdated 6:40 p.m. ET
A "stubborn" fever that kept former President George H.W. Bush in a hospital over Christmas has gotten worse, and doctors have put him on a liquids-only diet, his spokesman said Wednesday, describing Bush's condition as guarded to CBS News.
Jim McGrath, Bush's spokesman in Houston, had said earlier in the day that the fever had gone away, but he later corrected himself.
"It's an elevated fever, so it's actually gone up in the last day or two," McGrath told The Associated Press. "It's a stubborn fever that won't go away."
"Following a series of setbacks including a persistent fever, President Bush was admitted to the intensive care unit at Methodist Hospital on Sunday where he remains in guarded condition," McGrath said in an emailed statement. "Doctors at Methodist continue to be cautiously optimistic about the current course of treatment. The President is alert and conversing with medical staff, and is surrounded by family."
Doctors at Methodist Hospital in Houston have run tests and are treating the fever with Tylenol, but they still haven't nailed down a cause, McGrath said. Doctors also have put Bush on a liquid diet, though McGrath could not say why.
The bronchitis-like cough that initially brought Bush to the hospital on Nov. 23 has improved, McGrath said. The 88-year-old is now coughing about once a day, he said.
Bush was visited on Christmas by his wife, Barbara, his son, Neil, and Neil's wife, Maria, and a grandson, McGrath said. Bush's daughter, Dorothy, will arrive Wednesday in Houston from Bethesda, Md. The 41st president has also been visited twice by his sons, George W. Bush, the 43rd president, and Jeb Bush, former governor of Florida.
Bush and his wife live in Houston during the winter and spend their summers at a home in Kennebunkport, Maine.
The former president was a naval aviator in World War II - at one point the youngest in the Navy - and was shot down over the Pacific. He achieved notoriety in retirement for skydiving on at least three of his birthdays since leaving the White House in 1992.
Okla. Senator Could Prevent Gun Control Changes
Labels: Business
If there's one person most likely to keep new gun-control measures from passing Congress swiftly, it's Sen. Tom Coburn.
Conservatives revere the Oklahoma Republican for his fiscal hawkishness and regular reports on government waste. But he's also a staunch gun-rights advocate, and he's shown a willingness to obstruct even popular legislation, something in the Senate that a single member can easily accomplish.
That mixture could make Coburn the biggest threat to quick passage of new gun-control laws in the aftermath of the Newtown, Conn., shooting that has prompted even pro-gun NRA-member lawmakers like Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., to endorse a new look at how access to the most powerful weapons can be limited.
Coburn's office did not respond to multiple requests to discuss the current push for gun legislation. But given his record, it's hard to imagine Coburn agreeing to a major, new proposal without some fuss.
The last time Congress considered a major gun law -- one with broad support -- Coburn held it up, proving that the details of gun control are sticky when a conservative senator raises unpopular objections, especially a senator who's joked that it's too bad he can't carry a gun on the Senate floor.
After the Virginia Tech massacre in 2007, Congress heard similar pleadings for new gun limits, some of them similarly to those being heard now. When it came to light that Seung-Hui Cho, the mentally disturbed 23-year-old who opened fire on campus, passed a background check despite mental-health records indicating he was a suicide threat, a push began to include such records in determining whether a person should be able to buy a gun.
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., a longtime gun-control advocate whose husband was killed in a mass shooting on the Long Island Rail Road in 1996, introduced a widely supported bill to do just that. The NRA backed her National Instant Check System Improvement Amendments Act of 2007.
But Coburn didn't. The senator blocked action on the bill, citing concerns over patient privacy, limited gun access for veterans, and the cost of updating the background-check system,
In blocking that bill, Coburn pointed to a government study noting that 140,000 veterans had been referred to the background-check registry since 1998 without their knowledge.
"I am certainly understanding of the fact that some veterans could be debilitated to the point that such cataloguing is necessary, but we should ensure this process does not entangle the vast majority of our combat veterans who simply seek to readjust to normal life at the conclusion of their tours. I am troubled by the prospect of veterans refusing necessary treatment and the benefits they are entitled to. As I'm sure you would agree we cannot allow any stigma to be associated with mental healthcare or treatment of Traumatic Brain Injury," Coburn wrote to acting Veterans Secretary Gordon Mansfield.
Coburn succeeded in changing the legislation, negotiating a set of tweaks that shaved $100 million over five years, made it easier for prohibited gun owners to restore their gun rights by petitioning the government, and notifying veterans that if they abdicated control of their finances they would be added to the gun database. The bill passed and President Bush signed it in January 2008.
New Scientist 2012 holiday quiz
Labels: WorldContinue reading page
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THIS was the year we held our breath in almost unbearable anticipation while we waited to see whether physicists at the Large Hadron Collider would finally get a clear view of the Higgs boson, so tantalisingly hinted at last December. Going a bit blue, we held on through March when one of the LHC's detectors seemed to lose sight of the thing, before exhaling in a puff of almost-resolution in July, when researchers announced that the data added up to a fairly confident pretty-much-actual-discovery of the particle.
Early indications were that it might be a weird and wonderful variety of the Higgs, prompting a collective gasp of excitement. That was followed by a synchronised sigh of mild disappointment when later data implied that it was probably the most boring possible version after all, and not a strange entity pointing the way to new dimensions and the true nature of dark matter. Prepare yourself for another puff or two as the big story moves on next year.
This respirational rollercoaster might be running a bit too slowly to supply enough oxygen to the brain of a New Scientist reader, so we have taken care to provide more frequent oohs and aahs using less momentous revelations. See how many of the following unfundamental discoveries you can distinguish from the truth-free mimics that crowd parasitically around them.
1. Which of these anatomical incongruities of the animal kingdom did we describe on 14 July?
- a) A fish, found in a canal in Vietnam, that wears its genitals under its mouth
- b) A frog, found in a puddle in Peru, that has no spleen
- c) A lizard, found in a cave in Indonesia, that has four left feet
- d) A cat, found in a tree in northern England, that has eight extra teeth
2. "A sprout by any other name would taste as foul." So wrote William Shakespeare in his diary on 25 December 1598, setting off the centuries of slightly unjust ridicule experienced by this routinely over-cooked vegetable. But which forbiddingly named veg did we report on 7 July as having more health-giving power than the sprout, its active ingredient being trialled as a treatment for prostate cancer?
- a) Poison celery
- b) Murder beans
- c) Inconvenience potatoes
- d) Death carrots
3. Scientists often like to say they are opening a new window on things. Usually that is a metaphor, but on 10 November we reported on a more literal innovation in the fenestral realm. It was:
- a) A perspex peephole set in the nest of the fearsome Japanese giant hornet, to reveal its domestic habits
- b) A glass porthole implanted in the abdomen of a mouse, to reveal the process of tumour metastasis
- c) A crystal portal in the inner vessel of an experimental thorium reactor, to reveal its nuclear fires to the naked eye
- d) A small window high on the wall of a basement office in the Princeton physics department, to reveal a small patch of sky to postgraduate students who have not been outside for seven years
4. On 10 March we described a new material for violin strings, said to produce a brilliant and complex sound richer than that of catgut. What makes up these super strings?
- a) Mousegut
- b) Spider silk
- c) Braided carbon nanotubes
- d) An alloy of yttrium and ytterbium
5. While the peril of climate change looms inexorably larger, in this festive-for-some season we might take a minute to look on the bright side. On 17 March we reported on one benefit of global warming, which might make life better for some people for a while. It was:
- a) Receding Arctic sea ice will make it easier to lay undersea cables to boost internet speeds
- b) Increasing temperatures mean that Greenlanders can soon start making their own wine
- c) Rising sea levels could allow a string of new beach resorts to open in the impoverished country of Chad
- d) More acidic seawater will add a pleasant tang to the salt water taffy sweets made in Atlantic City
6. In Alaska's Glacier Bay national park, the brown bear in the photo (above, right) is doing something never before witnessed among bearkind, as we revealed on 10 March. Is it:
- a) Making a phonecall?
- b) Gnawing at a piece of whalebone to dislodge a rotten tooth?
- c) Scratching itself with a barnacle-covered stone tool?
- d) Cracking oysters on its jaw?
7. Men have much in common with fruit flies, as we revealed on 24 March. When the sexual advances of a male fruit fly are rejected, he may respond by:
- a) Whining
- b) Hitting the booze
- c) Jumping off a tall building
- d) Hovering around the choosy female long after all hope is lost
8. While great Higgsian things were happening at the LHC, scientists puzzled over a newly urgent question: what should we call the boson? Peter Higgs wasn't the only physicist to predict its existence, and some have suggested that the particle's name should also include those other theorists or perhaps reflect some other aspect of the particle. Which of the following is a real suggestion that we reported on 24 March?
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All 27 killed in Kazakh military plane crash
Labels: Technology
ALMATY, Kazakhstan: All 27 people on board a Kazakh military jet that crashed while carrying the Central Asian state's top border guard officials have died, the state security service said Wednesday.
"All 27 occupants of the aircraft, including seven crew members, have perished," the National Security Service (KNB) said in a statement.
The victims included the acting head of the Kazakh federal border service Turganbek Stambekov and his wife, the statement said.
The 22-year-old plane crashed late Tuesday about 20 kilometres (12 miles) from Shymkent airport where it had been due to land after a flight from the capital Astana.
Kazakhstan's KTK television said the jet fell from a height of 800 metres (2,600 feet). Witnesses also reported hearing a loud explosion at the time of the crash.
Footage of the crash site aired on Kazakh state television on Wednesday showed only fragments of the An-72 military transport plane remaining on the ground.
But the KNB security service stressed that the plane had recently undergone all the necessary checks and repairs.
"In 2012, it underwent restoration work at the Antonov repair plant in Ukraine," its statement said.
Khabar state television also cited local residents as saying that a heavy winter storm had descended on the region at the time of the accident.
It said the plane caught fire after the crash.
Kazakh official sealed off the site of the disaster on Wednesday as they launched an investigation into one of the most serious air accidents in the country's post-Soviet history.
The KNB statement said the senior security team, which also included the heads of the regional border guard services, had been flying to an end-of-year security meeting in Shymkent.
The border guard service of Kazakhstan -- a vast resource-rich nation nestled between China and Russia -- experienced a number of setbacks during the past year.
Its acting head Stambekov was appointed to his post in June after his predecessor was fired following a May incident in which 14 border guards were shot dead in a remote outpost in the south of the country.
The sole border guard to survive the shooting confessed during a subsequent trial that he killed his colleagues, but retracted his confession after being handed a life sentence, saying unidentified people in civilian clothes were responsible.
Aviation disasters remain a scourge across the former Soviet Union due to ageing hardware that often has not been replaced since the fall of the Soviet regime, as well as human error.
In November, eight people were killed in Kazakhstan when a Russian-made Mi-8 helicopter crashed while on a pipeline surveillance mission.
- AFP/ck
Obama cuts Hawaii trip short to address "fiscal cliff"
Labels: HealthKAILUA, Hawaii President Barack Obama is cutting short his traditional Christmas holiday in Hawaii to return to Washington as lawmakers consider how to prevent the economy from going over the so-called fiscal cliff, the White House said Tuesday.
Obama will fly back to the nation's capital Wednesday night, just five days after arriving in Hawaii, White House officials said. In the past, the president's end-of-the-year holiday in his native state has stretched into the new year.
Congress is expected to return to Washington on Thursday. Automatic budget cuts and tax increases are set to begin in January. So far, the president and congressional Republicans have been unable to reach agreement on any alternatives.
Seven days 'til the "fiscal cliff"
The Obamas in Hawaii
CBS News correspondent Nancy Cordes reported earlier Tuesday that the president will likely put pressure on Congress to pass a Democratic plan being drafted by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
"There still have been no conversations between Democrats and Republicans Tuesday on how to avert the fiscal cliff," Cordes reported from Hawaii. "That's a sure sign that Reid is working on crafting legislation on his own, which he'd essentially dare Republicans in the House and Senate to pass just before the deadline."
Cordes notes that Reid's bill would likely extend the Bush-era tax cuts for households making less than $250,000 a year. It may also include enough short-term spending cuts to temporarily offset, for about six to eight months, the across-the-board spending cuts set to go into effect on January 1, 2013.
Lawmakers have expressed little but pessimism for the prospect of an agreement coming before Jan. 1. On Sunday, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said she expects any action in the waning days of the year to be "a patch because in four days we can't solve everything."
The Obamas were spending the holiday at a rented home near Honolulu. On Christmas Day, the president and first lady Michelle Obama visited with Marines to express thanks for their service.
"One of my favorite things is always coming to base on Christmas Day just to meet you and say thank you," the president said. He called being commander in chief his greatest honor as president.
Obama took photos with individual service members and their families.
Winter Storms Spawn Tornadoes Across South
Labels: Business
A nasty Christmastime storm system spawned blizzard conditions in some states and at least 15 reported tornadoes in the South, damaging homes, taking out power lines and dangerously snarling holiday travel.
Severe weather swept across the United States during the Christmas holiday, bringing tornadoes and intense thunderstorms to the Gulf Coast, while dumping heavy snow and freezing rain on the Southern Plains.
At least 15 tornadoes were reported today from Texas to Alabama, putting this storm system potentially on track to be one of the largest Christmas day tornado outbreaks on record.
One large tornado was reported in Mobile, Ala., where there are about 19,000 customers without power and 23,429 statewide, according to Alabama Power. Kerry Burns, a Mobile resident originally from Boston, said the storm "sounded like a freight train."
Some buildings in the area, including some churches and a local high school, were reportedly damaged. Ray Uballe, another Mobile resident, said his dad was shaken up.
"He was in his apartment," Uballe said. "He said it sounded like an airplane and then the door flung open and then there was just debris flying."
Douglas Mark Nix, president of the Infirmary Health System, said one of their Mobile hospitals lost power and sustained damage. There were no early reports of injuries to staff or patients.
"We are operating now on generator power," he said. "We do not have substantial damage but we do have a number of windows out and we have some ceiling tiles down, throughout the facility at the main hospital.
"We can run for at least two weeks but I saw power crews out all over the city so I fully expect power to be restored within the next day or so," Nix added.
Melinda Martinez/The Daily Town Talk/AP Photo
Winter Weather Causes Holiday Travel Problems Watch Video
At least eight states were issued blizzard warnings today, as the storms made highways dangerously slick heading into one of the busiest travel days of the year.
Oklahoma got about 7 inches of snow all over the state making for treacherous road conditions. ABC News affiliate KOCO-TV in Oklahoma City said the weather was being blamed for a 21-vehicle wreck on Interstate 40, but no one was seriously injured.
Ice accumulation in Arkansas bent trees and power lines, leaving at least 50,000 customers across the state without power. About 10 inches of snow fell on Fayetteville, Ark.
The storms, which first wreaked havoc on the West Coast before moving east, are being blamed for at least one death in Texas.
Investigators in the Houston area told ABC state KTRK-TV in Houston that a young man was trying to move a downed tree that was blocking the roadway when another one snapped and fell on top of him. He was later pronounced dead at a hopsital.
The last time a number of tornadoes hit the Gulf Coast area around Christmas Day was in 2009, when 22 tornadoes struck on Christmas Eve morning, National Weather Service spokesman Chris Vaccaro told ABC News over email.
The deadliest Christmastime tornado outbreak on record was Dec. 24 to 26, 1982, when 29 tornadoes in Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, Tennessee and Mississippi killed three people and injured 32.
The last killer tornado around Christmas, Vaccaro said, was a Christmas Eve EF4 in Tennessee in 1988, which killed one person and injured seven. EF4 tornadoes can produce winds up to 200 mph.
No official word yet on the strength of the string of tornadoes reported today.
While some were preparing for a Christmas feast, others were hunkered down.
More than 180 flights nationwide were canceled by midday, according to the flight tracker FlightAware.com. More than half were canceled by American Airlines and its regional affiliate, American Eagle.
The storm system is expected to continue east into Georgia and the Carolinas Wednesday and could potentially spawn more tornadoes, according to the National Weather Service.
ABC News' Matt Gutman, Max Golembo and ABC News Radio contributed to this report.
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