In naming female CEO, IBM passes gender milestone

FILE - In this Feb. 16, 2006 file photo, IBM Senior Vice President Virginia Rometty speaks in New York. IBM on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011 announced that Rometty will succeed outgoing CEO Samuel Palmisano, who is retiring after reaching traditional retirement age of 60, effective Jan. 1, 2012. (AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 16, 2006 file photo, IBM Senior Vice President Virginia Rometty speaks in New York. IBM on Tuesday, Oct. 25, 2011 announced that Rometty will succeed outgoing CEO Samuel Palmisano, who is retiring after reaching traditional retirement age of 60, effective Jan. 1, 2012. (AP Photo/Dima Gavrysh, File)

FILE - In this Feb. 11, 2011 file photo, Samuel J. Palmisano, President CEO of IBM Corporation reacts while being introduced prior to delivering a lecture on "Ideas that shaped a century" part of the IBM Centennial Lecture Series, in Singapore. Palmisano is retiring as IBM CEO after reaching traditional retirement age of 60. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, file)

(AP) ? IBM Corp. has passed a milestone, naming the first female CEO in the company's 100-year history.

The selection of Virginia "Ginni" Rometty, announced Tuesday, is also a statement about the growing influence of women in the top tiers of the technology world.

Two of the biggest technology companies will have female leaders when Rometty's appointment takes effect Jan. 1. Last month, Hewlett-Packard Co. named Meg Whitman, former eBay Inc. chief and candidate for California governor, as its CEO.

Their appointments are "setting a fabulous example" in the promotion of female executives, said Jean Bozman, an analyst with IDC who has followed IBM and HP closely for years.

"It does create an environment in which more of these high-ranking women executives can see that's within reach," Bozman said. "The more that happens, the more normal that will be. I think this might be a great sign that we've turned a corner. Certainly the Baby Boomers have wanted this for a long time."

Rometty, IBM's sales and marketing chief, is taking over from Sam Palmisano, who this year turned 60, the age at which IBM CEOs have traditionally stepped down.

Rometty, 54, will be among more than a dozen female CEOs in the Fortune 500. Another prominent female CEO of a technology company is Ursula Burns of Xerox Corp., who has held that title since 2009.

HP, of course, had another female CEO, Carly Fiorina, but her tenure ended in acrimony when she was forced out in 2005 over disappointing financials and the fallout from her hard-fought battle to buy Compaq Computer.

HP and IBM are bitter rivals that have followed somewhat inverted paths for years.

When IBM was near collapse two decades ago with the eroding dominance of its mainframes, HP thrived with the advent of personal computing and Silicon Valley's dot-com boom. Now the tables are turned ? IBM is thriving while HP is hurting.

Two of technology's most powerful women will square off from sharply different positions.

Rometty will inherit a company in a sweet spot.

IBM, which is based in Armonk, N.Y., has proven resilient in the downturn because of hard decisions it made in the 1990s to focus on the high-margin areas of software and technology services, moving away from computer hardware. Rometty played a leading role in the transformation.

She was instrumental in the formation of IBM's business services division, including overseeing IBM's $3.5 billion purchase of PricewaterhouseCoopers' consulting business in 2002, which is a key element of a strategy that has made IBM a heavily copied company. Rometty joined IBM in 1981 as an engineer.

She is "more than a superb operational executive," Palmisano, who is keeping his job as chairman, said in a statement.

IBM's stock has more than doubled since the depth of the recession in 2008. Meanwhile, HP stock has fallen by about 50 percent.

A series of scandals has led to turmoil at the top of HP, with former CEO Mark Hurd resigning under pressure last year over ethical violations, and his successor, Leo Apotheker, being fired after less than a year on the job after fumbling an important restructuring.

One of Whitman's first moves was to accelerate a decision about whether HP will sell, spin off or keep its personal computer business, the largest in the world by sales. Investors seem undecided about what course they want HP to take. Some analysts worry that Apotheker did irreparable harm to the brand by announcing it was for sale before a buyer had been found, making it potentially hard to sell and hard to keep.

Analysts have generally said that both women are right for their roles ? HP needs Whitman's star power to woo Wall Street while IBM needs a steady operator with broad experience like Rometty to continue IBM's predictable, steady growth.

IBM dates to June 16, 1911, when three companies that made scales, punch-clocks for work and other machines merged to form the Computing Tabulating Recording Co. The modern-day name followed in 1924.

It had a boys' club image but shed it long ago. Rometty's status as a front-runner for the CEO job was a poorly kept secret. Industry insiders have whispered about it for years, and Tuesday's announcement was only a mild surprise because of its timing.

IBM CEOs have traditionally stepped down at 60 years old, but Palmisano had tamped down talk of his retirement, insisting that he wanted to stay on as chief. In rare public comments, he said last year that he was "not going anywhere" and that there's no formal policy at IBM dictating when a CEO should retire.

Bobby Cameron, an analyst with Forrester Research who has worked with IBM in various roles over the years, said that in meetings with Rometty is "engaging" and inquisitive. Her interest in emerging technologies, not just the established sales leaders, is an important characteristic. Cameron thinks she's an ideal choice to continue Palmisano's work.

"I think she's smart. She asks questions; she doesn't just come in with an agenda, and she's interested in the leading edge, not just what's driving volume ? all those things are important for a CEO to have," Cameron said.

Palmisano has the same characteristics, Cameron said.

"I think it will be more of the same, and I think that's a good thing," he said.

Nevertheless, investors' reaction was muted. IBM shares fell $1.16, or 0.6 percent, to $179.20 in extended trading Tuesday, after the announcement.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-10-26-IBM-CEO/id-c873115464d748d991b704d170677b4d

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NATO likely to end Libya mission now Gaddafi dead (Reuters)

TRIPOLI (Reuters) ? NATO is to formally decide on Wednesday whether to end its mission over Libya now that Muammar Gaddafi is dead and buried and the country's new leaders have declared the nation "liberated".

The likely decision to end the alliance's patrols over the skies of Libya at the end of the month marks another milestone in what the National Transitional Council (NTC) has pledged will be a road toward democracy and free and fair elections in 2013.

But the deaths of Gaddafi and his son Mo'tassim after both were captured wounded but alive on Thursday and the grisly public display of their decomposing bodies in a Misrata meat locker have made the NTC's Western backers uneasy about Libya's prospects for stable government and respect for the rule of law.

Gaddafi and Mo'tassim were buried in a secret desert location on Tuesday to prevent their graves becoming a shrine for any remaining followers in the oil-rich North African state.

Under pressure from Western allies, the NTC promised on Monday to investigate how Gaddafi and his son were killed. Mobile phone footage shows both alive after their capture. The former leader was seen being mocked, beaten and abused before he died, in what NTC officials say was crossfire.

The treatment of others who supported Gaddafi and fought alongside him was now an issue, said U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeffrey Feltman.

"This is a test. The NTC has repeatedly said that they will distinguish themselves from the Gaddafi regime in terms of the respect of human rights and the rule of law," he told a news conference in Morocco.

"Now is the time for them to begin actions that will help them reinforce these words."

RIVALRIES

Emerging from 42 years of often brutal one-man rule, many Libyans are savoring the end of eight months of bitter civil war won with NATO's backing and are unconcerned about how Gaddafi met his end and how his body was treated afterwards.

"Throw him in a hole, in the sea, in garbage. No matter. He is lower than a donkey or a dog and only foreigners say they care about how we killed him. And they are lying," said engineer Ali Azzarog, 47.

Hatred of Gaddafi unified his disparate opponents, who will likely now tussle for power during a planned transition to democracy in a nation riven with regional and tribal rivalries.

With economic problems at home, NATO countries are expected to endorse an end to their U.N.-mandated mission in Libya when their ambassadors meet in Brussels on Wednesday after a preliminary decision last week to end it on October 31.

"We said that we would consult closely with the United Nations and the NTC and that process of consultations is ongoing," NATO spokeswoman Oana Lungescu said.

Libyan interim Oil and Finance Minister Ali Tarhouni said he wanted NATO to maintain its mission for another month, but hoped for a swift end to United Nations sanctions to free up funds for the interim government to pay salaries and help reconstruction.

SAIF ON THE RUN

NATO spokeswoman Lungescu declined to say whether NATO might extend the mission.

"I don't know whether there is a formal request. All these things remain to be sorted out. But in the end this is a political decision," she said.

NATO's Deputy Assistant Secretary General for Political Affairs and Security Policy, James Appathurai, said he expected the alliance to confirm its decision to end the mission.

"I don't expect that there will be a change to that decision, because it is quite clear that the pro-Gaddafi elements no longer have the command and control or other capabilities to pose an organized threat to civilians. That is now finished, and as a result our operation will end," he said.

Western military powers have already begun winding down the Libyan mission, and diplomats have said the majority of NATO equipment, including fighter jets, has already been withdrawn.

A NATO statement on Tuesday said operations in the interim would involve intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions, although NATO would retain the capability to conduct air strikes if they were needed.

The one remaining element from the old order is Gaddafi's sons, the enigmatic Saif al-Islam, who remains on the run. Once viewed as a moderate reformer, he vowed to help his father crush his enemies once the revolt began.

An NTC official said Saif al-Islam was in the southern desert near Niger and Algeria and was set to flee Libya using a false passport.

(Reporting by Taha Zargoun in Sirte, Barry Malone and Jessica Donati in Tripoli, Rania El Gamal and Tim Gaynor in Misrata, Christian Lowe, Jon Hemming and Andrew Hammond in Tunis, Hamid Ould Ahmed in Algiers, Samia Nakhoul in Dubai, Abdoulaye Massalaatchi in Niamey, Matt Falloon in London, Souhail Karam in Rabat; Writing by Jon Hemming; Editing by David Stamp and Ralph Gowling)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111025/wl_nm/us_libya

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Extreme melting on greenland ice sheet, team reports; Glacial melt cycle could become self-amplifying

ScienceDaily (Oct. 25, 2011) ? The Greenland ice sheet can experience extreme melting even when temperatures don't hit record highs, according to a new analysis by Dr. Marco Tedesco, assistant professor in the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at The City College of New York. His findings suggest that glaciers could undergo a self-amplifying cycle of melting and warming that would be difficult to halt.

"We are finding that even if you don't have record-breaking highs, as long as warm temperatures persist you can get record-breaking melting because of positive feedback mechanisms," said Professor Tedesco, who directs CCNY's Cryospheric Processes Laboratory and also serves on CUNY Graduate Center doctoral faculty.

Professor Tedesco and his team collected data for the analysis this past summer during a four-week expedition to the Jakobshavn Isbr? glacier in western Greenland. Their arrival preceded the onset of the melt season.

Combining data gathered on the ground with microwave satellite recordings and the output from a model of the ice sheet, he and graduate student Patrick Alexander found a near-record loss of snow and ice this year. The extensive melting continued even without last year's record highs.

The team recorded data on air temperatures, wind speed, exposed ice and its movement, the emergence of streams and lakes of melt water on the surface, and the water's eventual draining away beneath the glacier. This lost melt water can accelerate the ice sheet's slide toward the sea where it calves new icebergs. Eventually, melt water reaches the ocean, contributing to the rising sea levels associated with long-term climate change.

The model showed that melting between June and August was well above the average for 1979 to 2010. In fact, melting in 2011 was the third most extensive since 1979, lagging behind only 2010 and 2007. The "mass balance," or amount of snow gained minus the snow and ice that melted away, ended up tying last year's record values.

Temperatures and an albedo feedback mechanism accounted for the record losses, Professor Tedesco explained. "Albedo" describes the amount of solar energy absorbed by the surface (e.g. snow, slush, or patches of exposed ice). A white blanket of snow reflects much of the sun's energy and thus has a high albedo. Bare ice -- being darker and absorbing more light and energy -- has a lower albedo.

But absorbing more energy from the sun also means that darker patches warm up faster, just like the blacktop of a road in the summer. The more they warm, the faster they melt.

And a year that follows one with record high temperatures can have more dark ice just below the surface, ready to warm and melt as soon as temperatures begin to rise. This also explains why more ice sheet melting can occur even though temperatures did not break records.

Professor Tedesco likens the melting process to a speeding steam locomotive. Higher temperatures act like coal shoveled into the boiler, increasing the pace of melting. In this scenario, "lower albedo is a downhill slope," he says. The darker surfaces collect more heat. In this situation, even without more coal shoveled into the boiler, as a train heads downhill, it gains speed. In other words, melting accelerates.

Only new falling snow puts the brakes on the process, covering the darker ice in a reflective blanket, Professor Tedesco says. The model showed that this year's snowfall couldn't compensate for melting in previous years. "The process never slowed down as much as it had in the past," he explained. "The brakes engaged only every now and again."

The team's observations indicate that the process was not limited to the glacier they visited; it is a large-scale effect. "It's a sign that not only do albedo and other variables play a role in acceleration of melting, but that this acceleration is happening in many places all over Greenland," he cautioned. "We are currently trying to understand if this is a trend or will become one. This will help us to improve models projecting future melting scenarios and predict how they might evolve."

Additional expedition team members included Christine Foreman of Montana State University, and Ian Willis and Alison Banwell of the Scott Polar Research Institute, Cambridge, UK.

Professor Tedesco and his team provide their preliminary results on the Cryospheric Processes Laboratory webpage (http://greenland2011.cryocity.org/). They will will be presenting further results at the American Geophysical Union Society (AGU) meeting in San Francisco on December 5 at 9 a.m. and December 6 at 11:35 a.m.

The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and the NASA Cryosphere Program. The World Wildlife Fund is acknowledged for supporting fieldwork activities.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/3h-5pu4BYFo/111025163128.htm

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Review: The birth of Gonzo in 'The Rum Diary' (AP)

If Batman and the X-Men get prequels, why not Hunter S. Thompson?

He was certainly a superhero of a kind, just one whose powers mainly consisted of consuming copious amounts of alcohol while still, somehow, churning out wildly colorful, raging dispatches from the road.

"The Rum Diary" is based on Thompson's heavily autobiographical novel by the same name, which he wrote as a 22-year-old in the early 1960s after a stint as a newspaper reporter in San Juan, Puerto Rico. It wasn't published until 1998. Since then, Thompson's friend Johnny Depp (who also played Thompson in 1998's "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas") has been trying to adapt "The Rum Diary" to the screen.

"The Rum Diary" ? which is dedicated to Thompson, who died in 2005 ? is essentially a portrait of the Duke as a young journalist. The stand-in for Thompson, the young novelist-reporter Paul Kemp (Depp), is trying to find his way and his writing voice: It's the birth of Gonzo.

Criminally exaggerated resume in hand, Kemp has gone to Puerto Rico to try his hand as a reporter. He lands a job at the San Juan Star, whose editor-in-chief, Lotterman (the excellent Richard Jenkins), is at his wit's end running a failing, diminishing daily. As he interviews a hung-over Kemp, he quizzes him on what kind of drinker he is, to which Kemp deadpans that he's at "the upper-end of social."

Kemp is befriended by staff photographer Sala (Michael Rispoli, in a deservedly big part for him), a burly, genial newsman who is nevertheless not once seen with a camera in hand. Kemp moves into Sala's dilapidated dump of an apartment, which he shares with crime reporter Moberg (Giovanni Ribisi), a horse-voiced, over-drugged oddity who listens to Hitler broadcasts and sets some kind of record for caustic reporter-editor relations.

Kemp catches the attention of American businessman Sanderson (Aaron Eckhart), a smooth manipulator who is trying to push through an enormous development of a nearby, pristine island that's pushing locals out in favor of American investors. Sanderson recruits Kemp to spin the development favorably in the Star.

This picture of American corruption of Puerto Rico is one of the more compelling aspects of "The Rum Diary." A combative atmosphere between poor locals and rich Americans hangs in the air, as do the Navy bombing tests on Vieques. Depp is again in the Caribbean among pirates.

Sanderson's slick, wealthy appeal is tempting to Kemp, who isn't finding the constricting Star to be an especially noble pursuit, either. Even more alluring is Sanderson's beautiful fianc?e Chenault, played by Amber Heard. Kemp immediately falls for her ("Oh God, why did she have to happen?" he mutters after meeting her) and it's no wonder: Heard is a stunning presence.

This builds slowly for Kemp into a moral crisis and, finally, an artistic tipping-point. "I don't know how to write like me," he says, but by the end of the film, it's clear that Kemp/Thompson has found his legs. The guiding principle is a furious distrust of authority (we glimpse him cursing Nixon), and a key ingredient is hallucinogens (we also get an early encounter with LSD).

You might expect a tribute such as this to be sycophantic, but director Bruce Robinson (famous for the brilliant cult film "Withnail & I") keeps a realistic tone. Robinson, who also wrote the screenplay adaptation, doesn't present the cartoonish Thompson we've come to expect. It's a refreshing, grounded view of the writer.

Depp, at this point, would seem to not be aging. This more low-key performance as a Thompson alter-ego feels truer than the manic derangement of "Fear and Loathing," but the role is also lacking yearning and real energy.

Thompson went on to find his voice, but "The Rum Diary," entertaining and well-intended, comes just shy of discovering its own.

"The Rum Diary," a FilmDistrict release, is rated R for language, brief drug use and sexuality. Running time: 120 minutes. Two and a half stars out of four.

___

Motion Picture Association of America rating definitions:

G ? General audiences. All ages admitted.

PG ? Parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

PG-13 ? Special parental guidance strongly suggested for children under 13. Some material may be inappropriate for young children.

R ? Restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

NC-17 ? No one under 17 admitted.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/movies/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111025/ap_en_mo/us_film_review_the_rum_diary

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Mysterious children's book gets new stories from a star-studded cast of authors

Chris Van Allsburg's "The Chronicles of Harris Burdick" now has accompanying stories by Stephen King, Sherman Alexie, and others.

Everyone who?s read Chris Van Allsburg?s ?The Chronicles of Harris Burdick? has made up stories in his or her head to go along with the strange pictures and single-line captions that accompany them.

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And now, famous authors are sharing the stories they?ve created: writers such as Stephen King, Sherman Alexie, Lois Lowry, Gregory Maguire, Kate DiCamillo, and many others have written stories to accompany the pictures in Allsburg?s book. Illustrations include a nun floating in a chair in mid-air with a caption reading ?The fifth one ended up in France?; a harp near a river with a caption of ?So it?s true, he thought, it?s really true"; and an open window in a room decorated with bird-covered wallpaper that has a caption reading ?It all began when someone left the window open.?

?The Chronicles of Harris Burdick? was first published in 1984, with a mysterious introduction by Van Allsburg that says a man named Harris Burdick dropped off these illustrations, the titles of the pages, and their captions at the home of Peter Wenders, a publisher of children?s books. Burdick, according to Van Allsburg (who created the book?s fictional premise), promised to return the next day with the text to accompany the illustrations ? but never came back.

Van Allsburg told Publishers Weekly that he?s received stories to accompany the illustrations from thousands of children.

?I had hoped that people would look at the pictures and appreciate their strangeness, and that a small part of the audience might feel compelled to solve their mysteries," he says. "But a very large part of the audience responded that way, and that?s gratifying.?

The new version of the book, which will be released Oct. 25, includes a story by Van Allsburg as well as the stories by other authors, who were each given the opportunity to choose an illustration to write about. (Van Allsburg wrote about the illustration that was left over.)

The new ?Chronicles? also includes an introduction by Lemony Snicket, the author of "A Series of Unfortunate Events," who posits the all-in-fun theory that the authors who wrote these stories for the book were actually given the stories by Burdick and are just pretending to have written them.

?It was always my hope that the rest of Mr. Burdick?s work would surface,? Snicket writes in his introduction. ?This book, then, is suspicious.?

Snicket says he questioned each author about his theory and found that their reactions only confirmed this idea.

?Jon Scieszka told me that he would be happy to answer my questions, and to please come in and have some ice cream, and then after a long pause he fled through the window and left me alone and it turned out to be sherbet,? Snicket writes.

The authors? stories range in length and include a story by Alexie about two cruel twins; Gregory Maguire?s story of a child lost in Venice; and a story about a man who sees the characters he?s created for children?s books, written by Jules Feiffer. Each story includes the strange caption that first accompanied the picture somewhere in the text.

DiCamillo told Publisher?s Weekly she found it odd at first to write from an illustration rather than the other way around.

?Writing about an existing piece of art felt like taking a bath with my socks on,? DiCamillo said. ?Something seemed just a little bit off.?

Author Louis Sachar told Publisher?s Weekly he was immediately drawn to the illustration he chose, of a boy standing with a man who is swinging a lantern back and forth and a ship coming through mist in front of them.

?I guess it was the mystery of it that appealed to me? and also the tender relationship between the boy and the man,? he said.

He hopes those who read the new version of ?The Chronicles of Harris Burdick? will ?take it as further inspiration to write their own stories,? Sachar said.

Molly Driscoll is a Monitor contributor.

Join the Monitor's book discussion on Facebook and Twitter.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/sW1SFmlHZTk/Mysterious-children-s-book-gets-new-stories-from-a-star-studded-cast-of-authors

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U.S. throws lifeline to underwater homeowners (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? U.S. homeowners who owe more than their properties are worth got new help on Monday with the government's expansion of a refinancing program in a step that could help up to 1 million borrowers.

The regulator of mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac eased the terms of a program that helps so-called underwater borrowers who have made payments on time but have been unable to refinance.

"These are important steps that will help more homeowners refinance at lower rates, save consumers money and help get folks spending again," President Barack Obama told a crowd in Las Vegas, a city hard hit by the foreclosure crisis.

The overhaul, which would only help a fraction of the nation's 11 million underwater borrowers, is the latest government effort to breathe life into the crippled housing market.

Officials have been frustrated that numerous attempts to bolster the sector and help borrowers have had little success.

The Federal Housing Finance Agency said it was scrapping a cap that prohibited borrowers whose mortgages exceeded 125 percent of their property's value from refinancing loans backed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac under the government's Home Affordable Refinance Program (HARP).

It also took steps to coax homeowners into shorter-term loans and encourage more banks to participate in the program.

The Obama administration sees lowering mortgage payments as a way to free up cash for other spending that could help support the economy's tepid recovery.

The FHFA said it wanted to focus on loans made between 2004-2008, when borrowers typically locked into rates above 5 percent. Currently, 30-year fixed mortgage rates are hovering just over 4 percent.

"Such modifications are no panacea, but they would move us in the right direction for housing-related stimulus for the economy," said Janaki Rao, vice president for mortgage research at Morgan Stanley in New York.

The White House expects homeowners refinancing under the program to save as much as $2,500 per household each year.

Investors in mortgage-backed securities, who had anticipated a revamping of the program, were surprised at the scope of the changes, and prices for housing debt issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac dropped sharply.

ADMINISTRATION PUSH

With political gridlock blocking legislation addressing the housing crisis, the administration had urged the FHFA to widen HARP to more borrowers. The regulator had moved cautiously, wary of piling too much risk on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

"This is an appropriate balancing of risk that's being borne by Fannie and Freddie, and hence the American taxpayer," FHFA's acting director, Edward DeMarco, said in a conference call with reporters. "This will make HARP more available."

The government seized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two largest sources of U.S. mortgage financing, in September 2008 as losses on loans they backed spiraled. The two firms have so far received $141 billion in taxpayer bailouts.

After meeting with DeMarco earlier this month, one lawmaker said the expanded program could help as many as 600,000 to 1 million borrowers.

DeMarco and Obama administration officials said there was no way to forecast exactly how many borrowers could benefit, although the FHFA said it could double the number helped by the end of 2013. Previously, the program was due to expire in June.

The White House has been criticized for over-selling earlier efforts to help housing. When HARP was unveiled in March 2009, it predicted it would help 5 million borrowers, but so far fewer than 895,000 have refinanced through the program.

Housing Secretary Shaun Donovan said the overhaul was "only one piece of a broader strategy to help the housing market." He said the next step would be to find a way to rent, sell or dispose of foreclosed homes that are weighing on already depressed prices.

With housing impeding a broader economic recovery, some Federal Reserve officials have said the central bank should consider buying mortgage debt to drive down borrowing costs.

CHANGING INCENTIVES

To encourage banks to participate in the revamped program, FHFA moved to protect lenders from having to buy back loans if underwriting problems are later found. "Of all the barriers, this may be the most significant," said Gene Sperling, director of the White House National Economic Council.

In addition, banks will only have to verify that borrowers have made their last six mortgage payments and, in most cases, they will not need to conduct an appraisal.

FHFA said Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will also eliminate certain fees for borrowers who refinance into shorter-duration loans, in a bid to spur homeowners to pay down the amount they owe more quickly.

Morgan Stanley's Rao said while the changes were helpful, they were unlikely to lead to a big refinancing "wave."

Many economists have argued bolder steps are needed given the weight housing is placing on the recovery.

Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, in a Reuters column, said what is needed are write-downs on loan principal and mass sales of foreclosed homes to investors for rentals.

"With constructive approaches by independent regulators, far better policies could be in place six months from now," he wrote. "There is nothing else on the feasible political horizon that can make as a large a difference in driving American economic recovery."

(Additional reporting by Richard Leong and Leah Schnurr in New York; Editing by Tim Ahmann and Leslie Adler)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personalfinance/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111024/pl_nm/us_usa_housing

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Cool Infographics - Blog - Carbonite Small Business Disasters

Infographics as advertisments have a lot of potential.? In this one about Small Business Disasters, Carbonite.com has shared the results of research they performed with small businesses.

What would your small business do if your computers were stolen or destroyed? Would your important data still exist? In April, Carbonite surveyed small businesses with between two and 20 employees to study their disaster recovery and data backup methods. We found that almost half of small businesses have already lost irreplaceable data.

The design does suffer a little from the large-font-syndrome that tries to make the numbers really large instead of visualizing them, but there are a number of good, simple visualizations included in the infographic.

The design also seems like something is missing at the top.? No title, company logo or anything to indicated what this infographic is about.? That?s espeically important because infographics can be heavily shared and have a life of their own on the Internet, separate from any text or explanation that the origianl company posts along with it.

I will say that I LOVE Carbonite as a customer!

Source: http://www.coolinfographics.com/blog/2011/10/24/carbonite-small-business-disasters.html

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Dutch PM under fire over euro zone bailout (Reuters)

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) ? Dutch opposition parties took aim at Prime Minister Mark Rutte on Saturday, demanding the minority coalition government secure a definitive and sustainable solution to Europe's debt crisis or risk a loss of parliamentary support.

The minority coalition government of Liberals and Christian Democrats needs the support of the pro-European opposition for any measures to solve the debt crisis because its main ally, the eurosceptic Freedom Party, is firmly opposed to bailouts.

"The package that comes from the summit must be sufficiently robust to actually lead us out of the crisis and we will ultimately judge the results from the summit on that basis," said Job Cohen, leader of the largest opposition party PvdA.

Euro zone leaders will meet on Sunday and Wednesday in a bid to resolve the debt crisis.

Under pressure from the PvdA, Democrat D66 and Greens party, the two government parties agreed to back motions calling on Rutte to push for sustainable reform in Europe instead of more austerity measures and a division of retail and investment banks to stop them "gambling" with consumer savings.

"This minority cabinet cannot simply take our support for granted," Greens leader Jolande Sap warned.

Rutte earlier told parliament that negotiations in Brussels were already difficult and he was not in favor of complicating the talks now with the opposition parties' proposals.

Euro zone countries are working on a plan that involves leveraging the euro zone bailout fund, recapitalising European banks and putting together a second financing package for Greece that entails deeper losses for private investors.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel said she expected a breakthrough in efforts this week.

A succession of opinion polls in the Netherlands has shown that public backing for euro zone bailouts is wearing thin, however, with a Maurice de Hond poll indicating on Friday that 72 percent of Dutch voters believe that European leaders no longer know what to do.

BAILOUT FUND

Rutte said the Netherlands would support the International Monetary Fund (IMF) taking on a greater financial role in the euro zone bailout, but refused to be drawn on other options being discussed in Brussels, sparking irritation from parliamentarians.

"The Netherlands is in favor of a bigger role for the IMF, both in expertise ... but also financially," Rutte said.

"The discussion within the IMF and G20 on giving the IMF greater financial power is very welcome."

He said that Brazil, Russia, India and China had reacted positively to an IMF agreement to evaluate the idea of giving the IMF greater financial power and the Netherlands was urging Europe to take a positive stance on that.

The fiscally conservative Netherlands has consistently said that euro zone members must stick to the budget rules and has proposed that tough sanctions be imposed on budget sinners.

Roland Plasterk, Labour's finance spokesman, said Europe's leaders had made an "enormous mess" of things and the European Central Bank should gain a greater role in the bailout fund.

Under questioning from Plasterk, the prime minister said the government had become more amenable to the idea of a tax on financial transactions, having earlier opposed the measure.

Rutte said he had recently discussed the idea with Germany's Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the proposal would be discussed at the G20.

"The cabinet is in favor of this tax, but we are not in favor if it is introduced by just a number of countries because the effect could be enormous," Rutte said.

Rutte said the tax could have "great consequences" on the competitiveness of Dutch banks if only a couple of countries implemented it.

(Reporting By Aaron Gray-Block)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111022/bs_nm/us_dutch_eurozone

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Pope names 3 new saints, man disrupts Mass (AP)

VATICAN CITY ? Pope Benedict XVI named three new saints for the Catholic Church during Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Square that was disrupted by a man who climbed out onto the upper colonnade and burned a bible.

Vatican gendarmes, a bishop and the pope's own bodyguard talked the man back from the edge of the colonnade after he shouted, "Pope, where is Christ?" in English and threw the burned bible to the crowd below.

Benedict and the thousands in the square appeared unfazed by the incident and carried on with the Mass.

The disruption came toward the end of the two-hour service Sunday to canonize three 19th-century founders of religious orders: Italian bishop and missionary Monsignor Guido Maria Conforti, Spanish nun Sister Bonifacia Rodriguez de Castro and an Italian priest who worked with the poor, the Rev. Luigi Guanella.

On hand in the crowd was William Glisson Jr., from the Philadelphia area in the U.S., whose cure from a 2002 head injury was declared the miracle needed to canonize Guanella.

Glisson, then 21, had gone into a coma after falling while in-line skating without a helmet; he had two brain surgeries but his doctors didn't give him much hope, according to Guanella's biography. A friend of the family who worked at a Guanella center for the handicapped gave Glisson and his mother two of Guanella's relics, and the family prayed fervently to the Italian priest.

After nine days, Glisson came out of the coma and today works in the family construction supply business.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111023/ap_on_re_eu/eu_vatican_saints

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