Obama pushes colleges to keep tuition under control (Reuters)

ANN ARBOR, Michigan (Reuters) ? President Barack Obama, appearing before thousands of cheering students at the University of Michigan, touted his plan on Friday to reward colleges that keep their tuition under control with more federal aid as he makes school affordability a top election-year priority.

Obama, seeking to reform federal aid for students to pay spiraling college costs, unveiled fresh details of a proposal to make higher education affordable for more families that he first announced on Tuesday in his State of the Union address.

His plan is aimed at helping students pay for a higher education, which is seen as crucial for employment as the country is grappling with an 8.5 percent jobless rate. It also specifically targets the issue of income and access, a central focus of the November 6 presidential race that has zeroed in on the nation's widening wealth gap.

Obama's plan would have his administration redistribute campus-based aid, which is handled directly by schools, based on schools' performance: colleges that keep tuition costs in check and get students to graduate would get more money than other schools that do not.

"We're putting colleges on notice: you can't assume that you'll just jack up tuition every single year. If you can't stop tuition from going up, then the funding you get from taxpayers each year will go down," the Democratic president said at the speech that had all the trappings of a campaign event with striped bunting and a crowd-filled stage.

Obama couched his remarks in the broad populist themes of his re-election campaign - of sticking up for the middle class, rewarding companies for bringing jobs back home, and ensuring that the rich pay higher taxes.

"We should push colleges to do better. We should hold them accountable if they don't," he told a crowd of about 4,000 people.

Low-interest federal Perkins loans for poor students will also be expanded to $10 billion a year, the White House said in a statement. Another $1 billion grant will go to states that reform their higher education systems, it added.

Obama also called for a "college scorecard" that would give prospective students and families a uniform, easy-to-read look at information such as tuition and graduation rates across all universities -- just as labels on food packages offer a standard look at essential facts.

Other proposed changes would require congressional action, something many analysts and others see as unlikely in an election year.

Obama wants lawmakers to increase the number of work-study jobs over the next five years. He also has called on Congress to block an increase in interest rates on federal student loans set to take effect July 1, doubling from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent for about 7.4 million students with Stafford loans, low-interest loans directly from the Department of Education.

(Writing By Susan Heavey; additional reporting by Alister Bull in Washington; Editing by Will Dunham and Vicki Allen)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120127/pl_nm/us_obama_education

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Nokia plans board of directors refresh, chairman to step down

Following on from today's mixed bag of Nokia financials, the Espoo-based company will see some changes on its directorial board, after its Annual General Meeting in a few months. As forecast last year, non-executive chairman Jorma Ollila joined Nokia in 1985 and has been on the board through Nokia's explosive growth into the world's biggest handset manufacturer -- and its more recent troubles. He will leave the board alongside more recent members Bengt Holmström and Per Karlsson, while existing board memeber Risto Siilasmaa is currently pegged to take the helm once the new board of directors is formed. New candidates earmarked for the board include Bruce Brown, of Procter and Gamble, Mårten Mickos, CEO of Eucalyptus Systems and independent corporate advisor Elizabeth Nelson. The whole Nokia nitty-gritty awaits at the source below.

Continue reading Nokia plans board of directors refresh, chairman to step down

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/26/nokia-plans-board-of-directors-refresh-chairman-to-step-down/

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Amanda Holden Gives Birth To Baby Girl After Delivery Scare

Stocks slightly lower on Greek talks worries (AP)

NEW YORK ? Stocks fell in the United States and Europe on Tuesday as investors worried that a deal to cut Greece's national debt and hold off a possible financial crisis might fall through.

The Dow Jones industrial average was down 49 points at 12,660 just after 2 p.m. EST. It has risen or fallen less than 100 points in 13 straight trading sessions, the longest stretch of calm since March and April of last year.

Treasury prices rose Tuesday from their lowest levels this year on uncertainty about whether Greece will reach a deal with its creditors. That drew money back into safer investments.

In Europe, Greece's stock market index fell 5.5 percent. Stocks fell less than 1 percent in Germany, France and Spain.

A deal between the Greek government and the banks that hold Greek national bonds is considered crucial to the stability of the European financial system. Investors fear that if Greece can't pay its debt, it could trigger a panic.

"There's a lot of apprehension about the unknowns," said Brian Gendreau, market strategist for El Segundo, Calif.-based Cetera Financial Group. "It's not what people think they know about Europe. It's what they worry they don't know."

Greece is trying to get its creditors to swap Greek government bonds for new ones that have half the face value. But agreeing on a new interest rate has been a stumbling block. Greece faces an important bond repayment deadline in March.

In other trading, the Standard & Poor's 500 index was down 4 points at 1,312. The Nasdaq composite was down a point at 2,783.

There was little encouraging news in the latest round of U.S. corporate earnings reports.

Kimberly-Clark Corp., which makes Kleenex tissues, Huggies diapers and a number of other household goods, said rising costs pushed its net income down 19 percent in the fourth quarter. The stock fell 1.5 percent.

Chemical maker DuPont Co. said its fourth-quarter net income dipped as lower sales and higher costs overshadowed higher prices. The results still beat analysts' expectations and the stock was flat.

Coal producer Peabody Energy Corp. fell 4 percent after its forecast for the first quarter fell well short of expectations. The stock fell 4 percent.

Leading the pack of companies trading higher after reporting earnings, bag and accessories maker Coach Inc. gained 6.7 percent after quarterly net income rose almost 15 percent because of stronger holiday sales.

Among other stocks making large moves:

? Zions Bancorporation fell 8 percent, the most of any stock in the S&P 500, after the Salt Lake City bank reported income that fell far short of Wall Street's expectations. At least one analyst downgraded the stock.

? Hard disk drive maker Western Digital Corp. led gainers in the S&P after reporting that its results handily beat Wall Street's expectations. The stock jumped 6.4 percent.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_bi_st_ma_re/us_wall_street

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Giffords' husband rules out 2012 run for seat (AP)

LINCOLN, Neb. ? The husband of Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords says he has ruled out running for her seat in 2012.

Retired NASA astronaut Mark Kelly reiterated to an audience at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln on Monday night that he won't seek the seat. He said, "I think Gabby's staff made it very clear to the Arizona newspapers when they said he will not be a candidate for Congress in 2012."

But Kelly left open a window to seek public office later, after focusing on his wife's recovery. He said her recovery is his goal now.

Giffords was shot in the head and wounded just over a year ago in an assassination attempt in Tucson, Ariz. She announced Sunday that she was resigning from Congress to focus on her recovery.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_el_se/us_giffords_mark_kelly

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Nokia quickly tops Windows Phone sales, but is it ready to battle Android and iOS? (Digital Trends)

Nokia Lumia 900 announcement with Stephen Elop CES 2012

Nokia is seeing some good initial success from its transition to exclusively supporting Windows Phone for its high-end handsets. Initial sales of the Lumia 800 and Lumia 710, Nokia?s first two Windows Phones, are likely hovering around 1.3 million units, according to Bloomberg. This is, of course, unverified data, but for two handsets that only launched in November, that?s not bad. Add in the fact that Windows Phone is not a well known or sought-after OS yet and the fact that Nokia only just launched its first device in the US a week or two ago, and the numbers are all the more impressive.

?There weren?t a lot of the hero handsets out there ? HTC were struggling, RIM didn?t have a show-me device,?Sony Ericsson?and Motorola weren?t really stepping into the mix, so there was probably enough space for Nokia to be able to point to fourth- quarter numbers they were happy with,? said?Lee Simpson, a London-based analyst at Jefferies International.

Lending credence to the 1.3 million sales estimate, WMPowerUser has made a chart showing that in just two months Nokia has risen to commanding a 45 percent market share of all ?second generation? Windows Phones, beating out HTC with a 40 percent share and Samsung with a 12 percent share.?

This is an odd comparison, as it leaves out any ?first generation? Windows Phone devices (phones that came out between Nov. 2010 and Oct. 2011) that may have still been selling. Second generation devices include the Nokia Lumia 800, Nokia Lumia 710, HTC Radar, HTC Titan, Samsung Focus Flash, Samsung ?Focus S, and a few models by ZTE, Fujitsu Toshiba, and Acer that haven?t made it to the United States yet.?

From the looks of it, HTC continues to play a big role in the Windows Phone ecosystem, but Nokia has really begun pushing on Samsung?s sales. The world?s second largest phone maker dropped from 28 percent to 12 percent in new Windows Phone handset sales (second generation). Samsung?s higher-end Focus S doesn?t seem to have taken off and the company lacked a high-end device outside of the US. HTC has done well with its Radar, however. The Radar has seen better success than almost any Windows Phone here in the US. The device was the third best selling handset on T-Mobile in both November and December, according to numbers by Canaccord, an analyst and forecasting company (via BGR).

Still, if these percentages are accurate and Nokia?s 45 percent market share of newer WP7 devices equates to 4 percent of total Windows Phone sales to date, it?s not hard to extrapolate a guess on how many Windows Phones have been sold. If 1.3 million units equals 4 percent of sales, then multiplying it by 25 would get us to 100 percent, or 32.5 million devices sold since Nov. 2010. This number doesn?t seem nearly as horrible as Microsoft?s diminishing 2-3 percent marketshare would seemingly imply, but three days ago Google announced that there are 250 million Android devices in use. Apple, for its part, sells 20-30 million iPhones every quarter (three months). In fact, on Christmas day alone, Flurry analytics reported that 6.8 Android and iOS (iPhone, iPad) devices were activated. It?s clear that Microsoft has a lot of catching up to do, even with Nokia by its side.

Nokia Lumia 900 - CES 2012

At the Consumer Electronics Show earlier in January, we got a peak at Nokia?s Lumia 900 (our impressions), a 4.3-inch Windows Phone built for the US market. Though it didn?t blow us away with a new interface, Nokia seems to be the only major Windows Phone maker that is actively working to create unique Windows Phone experiences, including unique apps like free turn-by-turn navigation and music streaming. The Lumia 900 even has 4G LTE support, something that Windows Phone has needed for several months now. Most of all, Nokia is the only manufacturer that seems willing to spend money to advertise and market its Windows Phone devices. HTC and Samsung have been supporting the platform, but their devices have felt second-rate compared to their efforts on Android.?

Nokia CEO Stephen Elop, has repeatedly stated that Nokia?s Lumia devices are the ?first real Windows Phones,? a jab at HTC and Samsung, who mostly support Android.

?There?s a lot hedging going on in the industry, that?s for sure. And this is why I say rather boldly these are the first real Windows Phones,? said Elop in a recent interview. ?Our best innovation, our best industrial design, our best cameras, our best software, whatever it is, is being focused on the Windows Phone platform. Unambiguously. We?re not doing a little bit of everything. This is what we?re doing.?

Elop has been brutally honest about Nokia?s near nonexistent presence in the US market and has been extremely bold about reorganizing Nokia around Windows Phone, and phasing out Symbian, the smartphone OS that helped the company become the top phone maker in the world with more than 400 million devices sold per year (Samsung recently surpassed 300 million, becoming the #2 player). As Android and the iPhone took over the market, however, Symbian and other older operating systems like BlackBerry have fallen out of favor with consumers.?

Since it?s first Windows Phone launches in November, Nokia hasn?t wasted any time rebuilding its empire. The Lumia 710 is already available on T-Mobile and the Lumia 900 will launch on AT&T in the next month or two. New handsets are expected to be announced at the Mobile World Congress trade show at the end of February.?

At CES, Elop compared the fight ahead to trench warfare, colorfully comparing the first Lumia handsets as a ?beachhead,? or secure?initial?positions that?has?been?gained?and?can?beused?for?further?advancement, in the war ahead. His enemies: Android and iOS. If Nokia really has sold 1.3 million Windows Phones on its first go round, his metaphor may be apt. If the smartphone market is a warzone, Nokia may actually be moving into a good position. It won?t outsell Android anytime soon, but the tide may be turning for the struggling Finnish manufacturer.?

This article was originally posted on Digital Trends

More from Digital Trends

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Nokia Lumia 800 and 710 unveiled with Windows Phone 7.5, turn-by-turn, free music ? Everything you need to know

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/personaltech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/digitaltrends/20120124/tc_digitaltrends/nokiaquicklytopswindowsphonesalesbutisitreadytobattleandroidandios

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Poorest smokers face toughest odds for kicking the habit

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Quitting smoking is never easy. However, when you're poor and uneducated, kicking the habit for good is doubly hard, according to a new study by a tobacco dependence researcher at The City College of New York (CCNY).

Christine Sheffer, associate medical professor at CCNY's Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, tracked smokers from different socioeconomic backgrounds after they had completed a statewide smoking cessation program in Arkansas.

Whether rich or poor, participants managed to quit at about the same rate upon completing a program of cognitive behavioral therapy, either with or without nicotine patches. But as time went on, a disparity between the groups appeared and widened.

Those with the fewest social and financial resources had the hardest time staving off cravings over the long run. "The poorer they are, the worse it gets," said Professor Sheffer, who directed the program and was an assistant professor with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences at the time.

She found that smokers on the lowest rungs of the socioeconomic ladder were 55 percent more likely than those at the upper end to start smoking again three months after treatment. By six months post-quitting, the probability of their going back to cigarettes jumped to two-and-a-half times that of the more affluent smokers. The research will be published in the March 2012 issue of the American Journal of Public Health and will appear ahead-of-print online under the journal's "First Look" section.

In their study, Professor Sheffer and her colleagues noted that overall, Americans with household incomes of $15,000 or less smoke at nearly three times the rate of those with incomes of $50,000 or greater. The consequences are bleak. "Smoking is still the greatest cause of preventable death and disease in the United States today," noted Professor Sheffer. "And it's a growing problem in developing countries."

Harder to Stay Away

Professor Sheffer suggested reasons it may be harder for some to give up tobacco forever.

Smoking relieves stress for those fighting nicotine addiction, so it is life's difficulties that often make them reach for the cigarette pack again. Unfortunately, those on the lower end of the socioeconomic scale suffer more hardships than those at the top ? in the form of financial difficulties, discrimination, and job insecurity, to name a few. And for those smokers who started as teenagers, they may have never learned other ways to manage stress, said Professor Sheffer.

For people with lower socioeconomic status (SES), it can be tougher to avoid temptation as well. "Lower SES groups, with lower paying jobs, aren't as protected by smoke-free laws," said Sheffer, so individuals who have quit can find themselves back at work and surrounded by smokers. Also fewer of them have no-smoking policies in their homes.

These factors are rarely addressed in standard treatment programs. "The evidence-based treatments that are around have been developed for middle-class patients," Professor Sheffer pointed out. "So (in therapy) we talk about middle-class problems."

Further research would help determine how the standard six sessions of therapy might be altered or augmented to help. "Our next plan is to take the results of this and other studies and apply what we learned to revise the approach, in order to better meet the needs of poor folks," she said. "Maybe there is a better arrangement, like giving 'booster sessions'. Not everybody can predict in six weeks all the stresses they will have later on down the road."

"Some people say [quitting] is the most difficult thing in their life to do," said Sheffer. "If we better prepare people with more limited resources to manage the types of stress they have in their lives, we'd get better results. "

###

City College of New York: http://www2.ccny.cuny.edu

Thanks to City College of New York for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/116914/Poorest_smokers_face_toughest_odds_for_kicking_the_habit

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Miley Cyrus Goes Braless, Shows Off New Short Haircut (omg!)

Miley Cyrus Goes Braless, Shows Off New Short Haircut

Miley Cyrus may have left her bra at home, but there was a good reason for it -- she was preoccupied with her brand-new haircut!

On Friday, the underwear-less star, who sported a white T-shirt underneath an unbuttoned flannel and denim cut-off shorts, met up with some friends at the Los Angeles eatery Wokcano, while debuting her freshly cropped off hair.

PHOTOS: Miley's most provocative outfits

"Just got a hurrrr cut," the 19-year-old tweeted that day.

"I didn't do anything to crazy. But I did take 5 inches off!" she later added, responding to a fan via Twitter.

PHOTOS: Miley's wild life so far

Cyrus was last spotted with her longer locks when she stepped out with her boyfriend Liam Hemsworth at the 2012 People's Choice Awards, where she wowed in a David Koma dress, Neil Lane jewelry, Jimmu Choo heels and a Marchesa clutch.

PHOTOS: Liam, Jennifer Lawrence and other stars in Hunger Games sneak peek

Hemsworth, who turned 22 on January 13, is the proud owner of a new puppy, a gift from Cyrus herself.

"Meet Ziggy," the former Disney starlet wrote beneath an adorable snapshot of her man's pet, which she shared via Twitter January 12.

Tell Us: Do you like Miley's hair long or short?

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_miley_cyrus_goes_braless_shows_off_short_haircut222456514/44257675/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/miley-cyrus-goes-braless-shows-off-short-haircut-222456514.html

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