Headlines:
http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_11750/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=ZIPz2z8F
Get news on the go with the Mobile News Network. Visit http://www.apnews.com to learn how to get it for your phone.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
This article was sent to you from bombastic4000@yahoo.com, who uses Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/internetNews/idUSTRE6B63JF20101207
Backpackers trek the globe with tech toys
Tue, Dec 07 10:42 AM EST
By Natalie Armstrong
GOREME, Turkey, Dec 7 (Reuters) - Backpackers are traveling the world with high-tech toys and are often searching as much for free Wi-Fi as for historical sites.
And they are in touch with family and friends thanks to Facebook, Twitter, Skype and instant messaging.
"It's for family and friends who first of all want to know that I'm safe, or know what I'm doing, where I'm going and what I'm seeing," said Dave Arnold, who set off for a year after taking a buyout from a Canadian telecoms company.
"In the past, you'd get a postcard or a letter in the mail every month if you were traveling around the world for a year. It definitely gives family peace of mind," the 35-year-old from Toronto added.
Arnold, who is carrying about $9,000 worth of technology, including a netbook, an unlocked Android mobile phone, an iPod touch, two USB drives and a SLR camera with three lenses, said the gear helps him update his blog, Twitter and Facebook, and to call home and book hostels using apps on his iPod.
Since he began traveling in July, he's used free Wi-Fi in hostels, on buses and in McDonald's and Starbucks. In Amman, Jordan, four of five travelers in his hostel lounge were on their own personal netbooks.
"Within the last three years, the landscape of backpacking has changed dramatically just from the evolution of technology," said Arnold, whose iPod contains 100 downloaded guide books, 10 books and his entire music collection.
"There are Lonely Planet guides that you can download and pay for as opposed to lugging around a book for every country that you've been to. As I travel, I can download them as I go," said Arnold, who has 20 DVD movies for buses and flights.
Many backpackers are not leaving home without gadgets to book accommodation, do banking and to meet up with other travelers they've met in different cities and countries.
"Pretty much every hostel has free Wi-Fi," said Zac Grimes, 21, of Melbourne, Australia. "There's only one computer per hostel because most people have smart phones or laptops."
For Michael Slaven, a 27-year-old Australian engineer working in London, traveling with gadgets is convenient, efficient and stress-free, and it doesn't remind him of work.
"I prefer using my computer. It's set up the way I like it," said Slaven. "I don't have to deal with international keyboards and I don't have to queue for hostel computers."
On his iPod touch he can download e-mails containing directions for accommodation.
"I've never had trouble finding Wi-Fi or power," Slaven said, adding he's not worried about losing the valuables because he is extremely careful.
For many travelers, apps have replaced guidebooks.
Sul-hee Kim, a 25-year-old chemical engineer from Seoul, bought an iPhone 4G just before her trip to Turkey. She used GoogleMaps and apps to find free Wi-Fi, book hostels, check the weather in Istanbul and video chat back home.
"I can contact my boyfriend for free. I can send my travel pictures and my feelings. All is free," she said.
Her friend Sumin Kim, a 29-year-old illustrator from Ilsan, South Korea, teases her for being too plugged in.
Sumin Kim said she doesn't like technology imposing on her traveling experience.
"I want to forget my work and my people in Korea."
Bringing a computer on a six-month break away from his work as an engineer was the last thing on Jason Helgren's mind.
"Then I realized I was going to have to occasionally do banking while I was away and I wasn't comfortable using a public computer for that," said Helgren, 31, of St. Paul, Minnesota, who is traveling with his wife.
With his own laptop he saves money and time.
"We have a blog, a lot of the work to maintain that blog can be accomplished offline," Helgren said. "Organizing pictures would be almost impossible, especially when you literally take thousands of pictures a month."
(Editing by Patricia Reaney)
This article was sent to you from bombastic4000@yahoo.com, who uses Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE6B61PX20101207
WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange arrested in Britain
Tue, Dec 07 05:46 AM EST
LONDON (Reuters) - WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange has been arrested by British police on a European warrant issued by Sweden over allegations of sex crimes including rape, London's Metropolitan Police said Tuesday.
Swedish prosecutors issued the arrest order for the 39-year-old Australian who is wanted in Sweden on suspicion of committing sexual crimes, which he denies.
Police said Assange, at the center of a row over the release of secret U.S. diplomatic cables, had been arrested at about 9.30 a.m. (0930 GMT) Tuesday by appointment at a London police station under a European Arrest Warrant.
"He is accused by the Swedish authorities of one count of unlawful coercion, two counts of sexual molestation and one count of rape, all alleged to have been committed in August 2010," London police said in a statement.
He is due to appear before City of Westminster Magistrates Court in London later Tuesday.
(Reporting by Michael Holden; editing by Keith Weir)
Headlines:
http://m.apnews.com/ap/db_8559/contentdetail.htm?contentguid=6qEaVSwN
Get news on the go with the Mobile News Network. Visit http://www.apnews.com to learn how to get it for your phone.
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
This article was sent to you from bombastic4000@yahoo.com, who uses Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/InvestmentOutlookDec10/idUSTRE6B52NK20101206
Taylor says U.S. headed for recession
Mon, Dec 06 14:32 PM EST
By Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss
NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. economy is headed for a new recession, said John Taylor, chairman and chief investment officer of FX Concepts, which should likely benefit the dollar and weigh on commodity prices.
"It's a new recession. We're already growing, but the numbers show that the U.S. government is still the primary creator of this growth," Taylor said on Monday at the Reuters Investment Outlook Summit.
Taylor runs the world's largest currency hedge fund with assets under management of around $8.5 billion.
"I would argue that by the middle of next year, we will be in a recession and our fiscal hands will be tied," he said.
Taylor has maintained in previous interviews that the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing program, designed as a way to help jump-start the economy, won't necessarily prevent a recession.
Banks in a recession tend to demand the repayment of loans, and if the debt is denominated in the U.S. currency -- and in most cases they are -- then investors are squeezed as they scramble to find dollars to repay the debt. That should be dollar-positive, Taylor said.
This was what happened in late 2008 when panic in the markets -- precipitated by the collapse of U.S. investment bank Lehman Brothers -- drove the safe-haven dollar higher against most major currencies.
"It's kind of perverse. When the U.S. economy is doing badly, the dollar goes up and when the economy is doing well, the dollar goes down."
Taylor's remarks dovetailed with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's comments on Sunday on the CBS program "60 Minutes". Bernanke said the Fed could end up buying more than the $600 billion in U.S. government bonds it has committed if the economy fails to respond or unemployment stays high.
The U.S. economy grew at a modest 2.5 percent annual rate in the third quarter. Stronger growth is needed to create large numbers of new jobs and make a dent in unemployment, currently at 9.8 percent.
EURO COULD FALL APART
For now, all eyes are on the euro zone, which is facing a debt crisis. Theoretically, at some point the euro could fall apart, Taylor said,
"What Europe has done is not enough. They have to have eurobonds," said Taylor. "You can't lend money to Ireland or Greece. You're just piling on more debt to them, and it's getting harder and harder to repay."
Taylor said Portugal could be the next country to seek a bailout after Ireland, with Spain after that. This will push the euro to parity versus the dollar by next year, he forecast. In early New York trading, the euro was down 1 percent at $1.3277.
In October, he told Reuters in an interview that the euro would most likely peak between $1.43-$1.45 in November and was most negative on the euro versus the dollar at a time when almost everybody was selling the greenback because of the quantitative easing factor.
On November 4, the euro hit a high of $1.4283 on electronic trading platform EBS and was downhill from there.
Taylor recommended selling the euro against the Swiss franc, a currency whose economy has fared better than most European countries.
The FX Concepts chief was also bearish on commodities, predicting that this asset class will slow down next year as the U.S. economy goes into recession. That should be negative for commodity-linked currencies such as the Australian and Canadian dollars.
He said the Australian dollar, which has been the best performing currency so far among currencies from the Group of 10 rich nations, with gains of about 10 percent on the year, could slide 15-20 percent.
FX Concepts employs several investing strategies. Its global currency program, which invests in both developed and major emerging market currencies, dipped 4.26 percent in November, but its annual return for 2010 is estimated at 12.03 percent.
(Reporting by Gertrude Chavez-Dreyfuss; Editing by Andrew Hay)
This article was sent to you from bombastic4000@yahoo.com, who uses Reuters Mobile Site to get news and information on the go. To access Reuters on your mobile phone, go to:
http://mobile.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE6B31Z020101207
Obama announces tax deal with Republicans
Mon, Dec 06 22:01 PM EST
By Matt Spetalnick and Patricia Zengerle
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama on Monday unveiled a compromise deal to extend all Bush-era tax cuts for two years, giving ground to emboldened Republicans who won big in last month's congressional elections.
After meeting Democratic leaders at the White House, Obama announced a "framework" agreement with Republicans that would renew tax cuts not just for the middle class -- as he and fellow Democrats had sought -- but also for wealthier Americans, as Republicans wanted.
The tentative plan is expected to draw resistance from some liberal Democrats, who have expressed disappointment that the president was bending to Republican demands while not gaining enough in return. Obama might need Republican help to pass the package if enough of his fellow Democrats revolt.
The tentative tax-cut deal, which is expected to extend breaks on dividends and capital gains as well, also calls for a 2 percent employee payroll tax cut and a 13-month extension of unemployment benefits, which could placate some Democrats.
But Obama acceded to Republican demands on the federal estate tax, by agreeing to a maximum 35 percent tax with a $5 million individual exemption level, which he admitted was more generous than he felt was "wise or warranted."
"We cannot play politics at a time when the American people are looking for us to solve problems," Obama told reporters. "I am confident ultimately that Congress is going to do the right thing."
Obama said he had made some concessions because of the urgent need to reach a deal before Congress adjourns this month to avoid allowing the middle class to face higher taxes when all of the Bush-era cuts expire on December 31.
"I have no doubt that everyone will find something in this compromise that they don't like," Obama said. " In fact, there are things in here that I don't like -- namely the extension of the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and the wealthiest estates. But these tax cuts will expire in two years."
Extending all the tax cuts for two years would cost $501 billion, according to the congressional budget office, at a time when Obama is under pressure to cut the $1.3 trillion budget deficit. The CBO said renewing the rates will boost the economy in the short term but be harmful in the long term.
"FISCALLY IRRESPONSIBLE"
Obama's concessions reflected a new political reality. Republicans gained the upper hand in the tax fight after scoring big gains in the November 2 congressional elections, which were seen as a verdict on Obama's handling of a stumbling economy and persistently high unemployment.
Obama's tax proposal was still likely to meet some resistance from Democrats in Congress but analysts believe it faces a good chance of ultimately being approved before the end of the legislative session.
Most Democrats have made clear they prefer to extend the lower tax rates for individual income up to $200,000 only, while Republicans have pushed for also keeping tax cuts for people who earn far higher incomes.
Representative Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat, called Obama's proposal "fiscally irresponsible" and "grossly unfair."
"We support extending tax cuts in full to 98 percent of American taxpayers, as the president initially proposed. He should not back down. Nor should we," Welch said in a letter to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Defending Obama's approach, administration officials stressed that the extension would be nearing expiration again when he is seeking re-election in 2012. They believe he will then be in a stronger position to make the case to voters for blocking further tax cuts for richer Americans.
Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, said Reid would discuss Obama's plan with the Democratic caucus on Tuesday.
Republicans reacted positively. A spokesman for House Republican leader John Boehner, who will take over as speaker in January, called Obama's announcement "encouraging." Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, welcomed what he called the president's "openness to preventing tax hikes."
Some liberal supporters have accused Obama of being too willing to compromise in the tax battle. New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote that Obama should simply let taxes rise for all Americans rather than agreeing to allowing tax cuts to continue for the wealthy.
Obama insisted that unemployment insurance be extended for those out of work as part of any tax deal. Unemployment payments, which had already been extended by Congress for to up to 99 weeks from a traditional 26 weeks, expire this month for two million Americans whose benefits have now run out.
The deal outlined by Obama includes a two-year extension of a package of tax breaks for individuals and business.
There was no immediate word on whether "Build America Bonds" -- taxable debt included in last year's stimulus plan and due to expire at the end of December -- would be included in a final tax-cut deal. An administration official said the details were still being worked out.
(Additional reporting by Kim Dixon and Steve Holland. Editing by Alistair Bell and Christopher Wilson)
Sent from TIME Mobile. To get the free TIME Mobile application on your own BlackBerry device today, visit http://app.time.com
http://bit.ly/dqUsgq
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
Sent from TIME Mobile. To get the free TIME Mobile application on your own BlackBerry device today, visit http://app.time.com
http://bit.ly/gxrnDt
Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T
