Afghanistan clears oil deal with China?s CNPC

By Agence France-Presse
Monday, December 26, 2011

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KABUL ? Afghanistan has agreed to sign a deal with China National Petroleum Corporation (CNPC) for oil exploration and extraction, the president?s office said in a statement Monday.

The state-owned Chinese oil giant will develop three oil fields, along with Afghan company Watan Group, located in the Amu river zone in Sar-e Pol and Faryab provinces in northern Afghanistan, the statement said.

?This is the first big contract for exploration and extraction of oil in Afghanistan,? the statement said.

?There are 87 million barrels of oil in the area.?

Six oil deposits have been discovered in Afghanistan, including in Herat, in the west, Helmand in the south and Paktia in the southeast.

Afghanistan?s natural resources could theoretically generate billions of dollars in tax revenue. But exploitation of these resources faces massive hurdles due to ongoing instability, woeful infrastructure and endemic corruption.

Chinese companies have been pushing into oil-rich areas as the energy-hungry Asian giant seeks to secure resources needed to fuel the world?s second largest economy.

Agence France-Presse

AFP journalists cover wars, conflicts, politics, science, health, the environment, technology, fashion, entertainment, the offbeat, sports and a whole lot more in text, photographs, video, graphics and online.

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheRawStory/~3/5Fnv5AV3w5g/

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Opposite sides of the stadium: Family football rivalries

Husbands and wives can find themselves on opposite sides of the collegiate football divide.

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

  • Collegiate bowl season can divide couples because of their school loyalties
  • One couple will sit on opposite sides of the stadium for the Chick-fil-A Bowl
  • Football conference rivalries also cause family members to clash

(CNN) -- On New Year's Eve, husband and wife Tripp and Jessica Johnson will be wearing orange and blue and cheering their team in the Chick-fil-A Bowl -- from opposite sides of the stadium.

The games features the Auburn University Tigers facing off against the University of Virginia Cavaliers, and both schools happen to share an orange and blue color scheme. Jessica went to Auburn, and Tripp is a UVA alum.

The two first met in neutral territory, New York, when they both found themselves at a place known as the "Auburn Bar" to watch a game. Jessica went by choice, but Tripp was tagging along with a friend.

Usually, this difference doesn't turn Jessica and Tripp from couple to rivals. The two football teams have played one another only two previous -- in 1997 and 1998. But for two passionate football fans that are true to their schools, the bowl is turning theirs into a house divided.

With bowl season in full swing, there will definitely be friends and families divided by the Rose, Orange, Sugar and Fiesta bowls and ultimately the BCS National Championship Game. No rivalry is worth starting a long-standing feud in the family, but it's fun to get into the spirit of collegiate loyalties.

Because of the holidays and his dad's 60th birthday, Tripp's family is coming to town for the game. All of Tripp's siblings also went to UVA, so they bought tickets for the whole family. Jessica responded in kind by buying tickets so she can sit with her family on the Auburn side of the stadium.

"Neither of us are very good losers," she said. "And that can make people pretty miserable."

No need for tensions and loyalties to clash on the father-in-law's birthday.

If Virginia wins, her husband will bring it up "forever." "If Auburn wins, I'll be a little mean that night, but Auburn really should beat them," she said. "If they don't, I'll be embarrassed."

Get the latest college football news with Sports Illustrated

Betsy Glenday and her husband, Nigel, have also had some "jabbing back and forth." As it happens, Betsy and Jessica are friends, and both of them happened to marry men who went to the University of Virginia.

But the biggest difference is Betsy's husband loves Auburn, and the two always watch Auburn games together. They may not be able to watch the bowl game, however, because the couple will be vacationing in Paris.

When they found out the two schools would play one another in the bowl, they had already booked their trip.

Betsy said there was no way they would change their tickets for a bowl game. But if they did, the couple would wear orange and blue, sit together, and her husband would probably bring a "back-up Auburn hat," just in case.

While Betsy doesn't have to worry about a football rivalry in her marriage, she is familiar with a house divided by an even deeper challenge: Auburn and the University of Alabama. Betsy's family enjoys the excitement of a good, long-standing rivalry, but never lets it go too far.

Growing up in Alabama, her family watched all of the 'Bama games. But when Betsy was accepted to Auburn, things began to change. Her brothers followed suit, and soon Betsy, her father and her siblings were on the orange and blue side of the divide, while her mother and grandfather swore by the Crimson Tide.

In the Southeastern Conference, rivalries divide houses and run deep in family blood. Auburn and Alabama play each other every year in the Iron Bowl -- the week of Thanksgiving.

So each year, Betsy's mother goes the Alabama alumni bar to watch the game, while Betsy, her brothers and father go to the Auburn alumni bar. During halftime, whoever is losing has to visit the other bar and "eat it" for a little while.

"It may be Thanksgiving, but I'm going to talk back to my mom!" Betsy said, laughing.

Family will still be family, tensions will ease after the Iron Bowl, and the jokes and jabbing will be swapped in good fun.

Because Virginia and Auburn have conflicting game times during the regular season, Jessica and Tripp managed to find a bar near their home in San Francisco that would broadcast both. As Jessica watched Auburn lose to the University of Georgia this year, Tripp was enjoying a game of UVA vs. Duke University.

He invited her to come watch his game because Virginia was faring well.

Despite Auburn's possible defeat, Jessica let him know that she "didn't care about his stupid game."

If bowl season, or a good old-fashioned conference rivalry, is attempting to divide your house, Jessica has some tips for how "not to kill each other."

"Just have fun with it, and maybe go to separate places to watch the game if possible. But I'll tell you this, I wouldn't watch any games with him if he went to Alabama."

Source: http://www.cnn.com/2011/12/28/living/couples-house-divided-football/index.html?eref=rss_us

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White House Seeks $1.2T Hike in Debt Limit

John Boehner, meanwhile, asks Obama to intercede

(NEWSER) - The White House launched a PR campaign to try to save the floundering payroll tax cut extension last night, asking supporters to chime in with what $40 meant to them?since that?s how much the average family stands to lose per paycheck if the extension doesn?t pass, CNN reports. Whitehouse.gov was inundated with more than 10,000 responses, and #40dollars soon topped Twitter?s trending chart, David Plouffe boasted in an email. Many respondents spoke of gas money, grocery bills, and health care costs. More?

Source: http://www.newser.com/story/136272/white-house-seeks-12t-hike-in-debt-limit.html

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Tainted milk causes Chinese outrage

From Haolan Hong, CNN

December 27, 2011 -- Updated 0651 GMT (1451 HKT)

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

  • The Chinese dairy company 'sincerely' apologizes to customers for the problems
  • The products, containing high levels of a potentially carcinogenic substance, have been destroyed
  • The company says the products did not go on sale and remained in storage
  • Chinese microblog users urge others to boycott the company's products

Beijing (CNN) -- Criticism of lax food safety standards at Chinese companies abounded on microblogging sites in China on Tuesday following the latest scare involving dairy products in the country.

Tests found that cartons of milk made by Mengniu Dairy Co., the largest Chinese dairy company, had excessive levels of aflatoxin M1, a substance that can cause liver cancer.

The tests were carried out by the Chinese Administration of Quality Supervision in an inspection of nationwide milk products on Saturday.

The toxin came from contaminated feed consumed by the cows that produced the milk, China's official news agency, Xinhua, reported.

The milk cartons did not make it to market but remained in storage during the inspection, according to a statement from the company on Sunday. Mengniu said that it had destroyed all the toxic milk as it sought to reassure consumers on its commitment to product safety.

Mengniu "once again would like to sincerely apologize to all consumers," said the statement. "We should earnestly learn from this lesson and comply with state and company quality and inspection standards with precision and care, making sure our product quality from every sector is approved in the future."

Users commenting on Chinese social media sites offered scathing opinions about the management of Chinese companies following Mengniu's admission of problems.

"Businesses in China are destroyed by Chinese businessmen themselves," said one user on Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter. "Don't ever blame us on buying foreign goods."

"If I have a baby one day, I will also buy safer milk powder produced overseas," the user wrote Tuesday.

"Let us boycott Mengniu altogether, show the shameless businessmen our strength." said a posting by another user.

Food safety scandals have blighted the dairy industry in China since 2008, when melamine-tainted milk killed at least six babies and caused kidney stones and urinary tract problems in hundreds of thousands of children.

Twenty-one people were tried and sentenced for their roles in the scandal, and two of them were executed.

In April, the police in Southwestern China seized more than 26 tons of melamine-tainted milk intended for use in ice cream, according to local officials.

Journalist Xiaoyu Luo contributed to this report.

Source: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/27/world/asia/china-tainted-milk/index.html?eref=edition

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Celebrity memoir quiz

Hooray for childhoods! Without them, we'd have so much less to complain about as adults. And by adults, I'm referring to the only important folks in our world today: You, me, and celebrities. As you and I work on our multi-volume memoirs ? you are writing one, yes? ? perhaps we can learn a thing from the early lives of the stars. Luckily, several Hollywood types looked back upon their awkward younger days in books published in 2011.

Can you match these memories and memoirs?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/6vzx-0J6GZw/Celebrity-memoir-quiz

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Tip: How to use XBL Beacons on Windows Phone

Click to enlarge the step-by-step guide

The Xbox Live service received a ton of new features with the arrival of the Fall 2011 Dashboard update a few weeks ago, but many were exclusive to the Xbox 360. Fortunately Microsoft hasn't forgotten about us Windows Phone users with the mobile version of the Xbox Live website adding support for Beacons. Users of the Xbox 360 will be familiar with this feature, but for those unacquainted Beacons is a way to tell friends you want to play a game online with someone.

How does it work on Windows Phone? It's pretty easy and it's all done through Internet Explorer 9. Read the instructions below while referring to the visual guide above:

Step 0:?Visit http://live.xbox.com/ and sign in with the Windows Live ID associated with your Xbox account. [Not pictured]

Step 1:?Tap on your gamerpic in the top-right corner of the screen (next to the Xbox logo) and two options will appear below it. Tap on "My Profile".

Step 2:?Scroll all the way down until you see a section called Beacons. If you have no beacons set, tap on 'Set a beacon now'.

  • Step 2a:?If you already have some beacons set, tap on any of the games listed under 'My Recent Activity'. Then skip to Step 4.

Step 3:?You will be on a page called 'My Recent Activity' which lists all of your recently-played games. Tap on the game you want to set the Beacon for. In this example we'll use Angry Birds.

Step 4:?You will now be on the?game?page. Tap on 'Set Beacon'. (It will be to the right of the game icon and underneath the gamerscore and achievements count.)

Step 5:?The 'Set Beacon' page will automatically bring up the keyboard, and you will see a default message in the text box. You can delete this message and add your own custom one up to 40 characters in length.

That's it! This should work well with turn-by-turn Windows Phone games and of course you can manage Beacons for your Xbox 360 games too since it's all under one Xbox Live account.?Enjoy this new tip and happy multiplayer gaming!

    Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/windowsphonedaily/DnwK/~3/bPZoWPzkRA4/tip-how-to-use-xbl-beacons-on-windows.html

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NEWS: Microsoft bowing out of CES in 2013

Microsoft has announced that the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show in January will be the last one that it will give a keynote for. The company won't even have a booth on the show floor, either. The reason is simple: bad timing.

According to Frank X. Shaw in his entry in the Microsoft blog, "We?ll continue to participate in CES as a great place to connect with partners and customers across the PC, phone and entertainment industries, but we won?t have a keynote or booth after this year because our product news milestones generally don?t align with the show?s January timing."

Steve Ballmer giving Microsoft's keynote at CES 2011.


Bill Gates was Microsoft's keynote speaker for CES from the mid 1990's through to 2007. Steve Ballmer took over for Gates when the Microsoft founder stepped down from everyday operations.

CES '12 will be held in Las Vegas, NV and will run from the 10th January through to the 13th. Microsoft will give its final keynote speech on the 9th.

Source: http://www.strategyinformer.com/news/15945/microsoft-bowing-out-of-ces-in-2013

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Football League: your thoughts

Yeovil Town v Charlton Athletic

Charlton's Danny Green celebrates at the final whistle after his goal in injury time game his side a 3-2 victory at Yeovil. Photograph: PA

? All today's results and scorers in our score centre.

? Southampton's form in December has been stodgier than a Christmas pudding but the Championship leaders won for the first time in four games against Crystal Palace thanks to two headers from Guly do Prado. Despite their recent blip the manager, Nigel Adkins, is not in a hurry to make additions during the transfer window. "The squad of players has led the Championship for more than three months now, having played some really exceptional football," he said after the Palace win. "The transfer window does open up on 1 January. There will be mass speculation and we will probably get linked with loads and loads of players. Our endeavour will be to enhance the squad we have got but we have an exceptionally good team spirit, which has been demonstrated again today. We have a close-knit group that all want to be successful together."

? Ahead of the 5.30pm kick-off at St Andrew's, Middlesbrough moved above West Ham into second with victory in their dust-up against in-form Hull. Barry Robson's sixth league goal of the season, which came with just three minutes of normal time to play, was the difference between the sides, the result ending Hull's four-match winning streak. After starting the season so well, with six wins in their first nine games, Derby have been enduring a slump that mirrors last season, in which they ended up 19th. However, the Rams won for only the second time in their last nine, 1-0 against Leeds, to move them within four points of the defeated visitors. Leeds began the day in sixth, but Reading clambered above them on the (Christmas) tree with a 2-0 win over Brighton, their fifth victory in six matches, as did Blackpool, who are up to seventh after Matt Phillips's hat-trick fired them to victory at Barnsley.

? Down among the Bob Cratchits at the foot of the table, there was a morsel of cheer for Coventry, who recorded their first win in 12 games against fellow strugglers Bristol City. That moves the bottom club to within five points of 21st-placed City, who stay out of the drop zone only because of defeats to Nottingham Forest and Doncaster. Millwall, in 20th, inched away from the teams below them thanks to Dany N'Guessan's late winner against Portsmouth, while Ipswich and, notably, Watford claimed points against higher-placed opposition.

? In the third tier, Sheffield Wednesday lost ground on the leaders, Charlton, after Claude Gnakpa and Emmanuele Smith both scored in injury time to secure Walsall a 2-1 win. There was also an added-time winner at Huish Park, as Charlton, who trailed twice, pulled off a 3-2 victory over Yeovil that puts them eight points clear at the top. There was also some seasonal "madcappery" up the A12, where Colchester had a cracker go off in their faces. The visitors, Stevenage, served up a 6-1 hammering that takes them into the play-off places ? it looks like the odds on Graham Westley securing an unprecedented third successive promotion will be coming in.

? MK Dons are League One's form side, having won five out of six going into their trip to Leyton Orient ? though they did suffer a surprise home defeat to Preston North End last time out. They got back on track with a 3-0 win that moved them up to third, at least until Sheffield United play tomorrow. Preston, meanwhile, continued their positive start to life APB (after Phil Brown), though they needed a stoppage-time equaliser from Jamie Douglas to rescue a 3-3 draw against Carlisle United. At the other end of the table, Wycombe gave the Grecians the slip thanks to Marcello Trotta's treble, a 3-1 win enough to take them out of the relegation places at the expense of Scunthorpe.

? The crunch Boxing Day fixture as far as League Two was concerned took place at Whaddon Road, where third-placed Cheltenham hosted Shrewsbury, a place below. A win for the Robins would have opened up a five-point gap between themselves and fourth in the race for automatic promotion ... but, in the event, caution won out and the Shrews left with a point. That was less surprising than Gillingham's victory at the leaders, Crawley, whose 15-match unbeaten run came to an end ? though they are still three points clear. There was also drama, of a different variety, at Aldershot, who were trailing Southend by a goal to nil when the floodlights went out, never to return. The game was abandoned at half-time, meaning Southend slip below Cheltenham to third despite remaining on 42 points from 21 games.

? The Pilgrims who made the short trip to Bristol Rovers witnessed a miracle on Filton Avenue, as Plymouth recovered from 2-0 down at half-time to win 3-2 at the Memorial Stadium thanks to Ashley Hemmings's goal in the third minute of stoppage time. For an hour or so, Plymouth were eyeing up 22nd place, in the event that Northampton lost at home to Burton Albion (which they duly did) ... only for Dagenham & Redbridge's 3-0 win over Barnet, with two goals from their 20-year-old Colombian Cristian Monta?o, in the 1pm kick-off to catapult the Essex side off the bottom of the table and out of the relegation zone, on goal difference. Plymouth remain 24th but, with Hereford losing at home to Port Vale and the emphatic end to Barnet's decent run, they can legitimately dream of an escape from the bottom two for the first time since August.

Check out the latest league tables and have your say on all the action from the Football League below

Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2011/dec/26/football-league-your-thoughts

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Pollster: Gingrich Could Be Big GOP Winner From Payroll Tax Impasse

(Newsmax) - While some GOP leaders could face a political bruising from this weeks payroll tax debacle, one top political analyst believes that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich can turn the issue into a political plus.

He could say I took action. I didnt kick something down the road for two months and leave it up in the air, insists InsiderAdvantage head and pollster Matt Towery, who also holds the distinction of being Gingrichs first debate coach.

gingrich, towery, payroll, taxGingrichs decision to allow the federal government to shut down in 1995 rather than accept a compromise to keep it open eventually led to a balanced-budget agreement in 1996.

According to Towery, the former speaker could argue that the short-term pain at the time was necessary to achieve the largest drop in federal discretionary spending in more than 25 years.

Gingrich blasted the two-month deal that was approved by the House on Friday by a voice vote, calling it a complete failure in leadership by President Barack Obama and Congress.

In an exclusive interview with Newsmax on Thursday, Gingrich said that House Republicans should have conducted a media blitz to make their case to the American people as to why a two-month solution was simply unworkable.

A two-month tax break is a nightmare, he said. Businesses normally report on a quarterly basis. Businesses normally make out their compensation forms on a 12-month basis. To now be told, the first two months are going to look like this, we dont know what the next 10 months would look like is an administrative nightmare. In addition, youre a family; what are you planning on? Do you trust the Congress?

Gingrich said that Congress is setting itself up to have a new crisis every two months. This is the worst functioning government Ive seen in my lifetime in terms of its utter inability to do things, he insisted. And I have to say as somebody who served in the House, the spectacle of the Senate passing a two-month tax break and then arrogantly leaving town, I find infuriatingly unacceptable.

Republican strategist and political commentator Bradley A. Blakeman says that he is not necessarily convinced that voters have a sufficiently long enough memory to remember the government shutdown in the 1990s for Gingrich to benefit in the 2012 elections.

His past will certainly be a factor, but his present will determine whether hes selectable or electable, said Blakeman, who served as a member of President George W. Bushs senior staff.

One of the most respected pollsters in the United States, Towery also acknowledges that he has no confidence in the polls coming out of Iowa as of today and he anticipates a big change in positioning by Jan. 3.

I think that Ron Paul is going to melt like a snow cone in July, declared Towery, adding that Romney is likely to experience a strong turnout based on the strength of his political machine.

I think that Newt Gingrich is going to rise again in the polls, Towery also predicted. I think you are going to see Rick Perry come on strong and Santorum come on strong.

While the overall winner in Iowa is far from a certainty, Towery says that there is little doubt that voters will be fed up with negative advertising when the caucuses finally arrive.

The key will be who in the world has a final message that is halfway compelling and how can they use that message to turn people out to vote for them as a legitimate nominee of the party, he explained.

Source: http://www.newsmax.com/Headline/Towery-Gingrich-Winner-PayrollTax/2011/12/23/id/422050

Source: http://www.teaparty.org/article.php?id=2005

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