Markets shrug off S&P downgrades, focus on Greece

LONDON (AP) ? European markets responded calmly to Standard & Poor's decision to cut the credit ratings of a number of euro countries as France managed to tap bond market investors Monday despite the loss of its cherished triple-A rating.

The downgrades, which were based on concerns over Europe's ability to handle its two-year debt crisis and the lack of economic growth, had been anticipated for weeks so the market impact was muted, especially since the U.S. is on holiday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Europe is set to remain the focus of attention all week as a number of bond auctions are due and Greece tries to clinch a debt deal with its private creditors. Last October, Greece's partners in the eurozone sanctioned a deal whereby Greece's creditors agree to take a cut in the value of their Greek bond holdings to help lighten the country's debt burden.

The deal with private investors, known as the Private Sector Involvement, or PSI, aims to reduce Greece's debt by euro100 billion ($126.5 billion) by swapping private creditors' bonds for new ones with a lower value. It is a key part of a euro130 billion international bailout, the second one for Greece.

It is expected that talks on the PSI will resume this coming week after being abandoned last Friday.

On Tuesday, representatives of Greece's creditors ? the European Union, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund ? will visit Greece for yet another round of inspections of its efforts at fiscal and structural reform and negotiations for the next tranche of money, the seventh, from the first bailout.

Without a deal with its private creditors, Greece has been told it won't get the seventh tranche. Without that, Greece would be unable to pay a big bond redemption in March and face the prospect of defaulting on its debts, potentially triggering more mayhem in financial markets.

Gary Jenkins, a director of Swordfish Research, reckons the Greek debt restructuring poses more risks to the markets in the short-term than S&P's decision to strip France of its cherished triple A credit rating or to downgrade eight other euro countries, including Italy.

"The progress or otherwise of these negotiations will probably dictate how the market trades over the next few weeks," said Jenkins.

Greece's Prime Minister Lucas Papademos insisted in an interview with CNBC that a deal will be hammered out.

"Some further reflection is necessary on how to put all the elements together," he said. "So as you know, there is a little pause in these discussions. But I'm confident that they will continue and we will reach an agreement that is mutually acceptable in time."

While investors awaited developments, markets were trading modestly higher especially after France easily sold short-term debt to investors in the first auction since Standard & Poor's stripped the country of its top tier rating.

Meanwhile, there was further good news in the bond markets as yield on France's ten-year bonds was falling back toward the 3 percent mark, which is well within what is considered manageable.

In stock markets, France's CAC-40 closed 0.9 percent higher at 3,225 while Germany's DAX rose 1.3 percent to 6,220.01. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares ended 0.4 percent higher at 5,657.44.

The euro was also steady, up 0.2 percent at $1.2675. On Friday, it had fallen to a 17-month dollar low of $1.2623 as speculation swirled in the markets of S&P's downgrades.

Earlier in Asia, markets responded more negatively to the S&P downgrades, which were confirmed after U.S. and European markets had closed on Friday. Asian markets had already closed by the time speculation of the downgrades emerged.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index slid 1.4 percent to close at 8,378.36 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 1 percent at 19,021.20. South Korea's Kospi dropped 0.9 percent to 1,859.25.

In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite Index lost 1.7 percent to 2,206.19, while the smaller Shenzhen Composite Index dropped 3.3 percent to 818.17. Almost 70 companies plunged the daily limit of 10 percent.

In the oil markets, traders are fretting over simmering tensions in the Middle East and Nigeria ? benchmark oil rose $1 to $99.70 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

____

Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-16-World-Markets/id-0ec737f404974282aed0828ab351ddac

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Automakers driven by good design

Geoff Robins / AFP - Getty Images

H.W. Park, second from right, Hyundai's managing director and chief executive, and Hyundai Motor America CEO John Krafcik, right, are seen as the Hyundai Elantra wins the 2012 North American Car of the Year award.

By Paul A. Eisenstein, msnbc.com contributor

Hyundai pulled off a coup earlier this week, besting such tough competitors as the 2012 Ford Focus and Volkswagen?s newly updated Passat to win the North American Car of the Year award.

While there were plenty of reasons behind the win by the new Hyundai Elantra, including a 40 mpg highway fuel economy rating, the car?s design ?played a big part,? suggested John Krafcik, CEO of Hyundai Motor America. Krafcik?s sentiments were confirmed by various members of the 50-juror panel that judges the award (a panel that, in the interest of full disclosure, includes this reporter).

In today?s hotly competitive automotive market, fuel economy has leapt to the top of the charts when it comes to factors that influence buyer decisions. But good design is also high on the chart and, according to research groups like J.D. Power and Associates, it may actually be more significant than it has been in years.

Good design is being credited with helping carmakers as diverse as Ford, Audi and Hyundai gain ground in an industry that?s just recovering from one of its worst recessions in decades.

?It?s the difference between a short-order cook and a great chef,? said Freeman Thomas, the head of advanced design for Ford.

Ford learned the hard way the role that design can play. Founder Henry Ford stubbornly kept the original Model T unchanged until well into the 1920s, two decades after it was launched, famously declaring customers could get the Tin Lizzie ?in any color they want, as long as it?s black.?

Alfred P. Sloan, the determined new chairman of fast-growing General Motors saw an opportunity and offered an array of colors. He also hired Harley Earl, a coachbuilder by trade, to become GM -- and the industry?s -- first director of design, heading up what was originally known as GM?s ?Art and Color Section.?

Earl introduced the idea of using sculpted clay models to develop and refine automotive designs and, in 1939, his renamed ?Styling Division? rolled out the first true concept car, the Buick Y-Job, which was intended to both tease the public with a variety of advanced ideas -- such as a motorized convertible roof -- but also test the reaction of potential buyers to the Y-Job?s advanced styling.

That strategy continues today. A variety of concept cars, trucks and crossovers are now on display at the 2012 Detroit Auto Show, including a prototype of the reborn Acura NSX, which will return to production in 2014, as well as a thinly-disguised version of the next-generation Honda Accord Coupe that?s due to roll into showrooms later this year.

The Accord targets the huge midsize passenger car segment, which generated more than 2 million unit sales last year. In decades past, buyers in the segment were ?happy with plain vanilla? designs, according to Joe Phillippi, director of AutoTrends Consulting. ?Not any longer.?

Toyota, long the gold standard of the midsize segment, took sharp criticism this year for its redesign of the 2012 Camry.?Dealers who saw the sedan 18 months ahead of launch were so critical that the automaker struggled to tweak the styling before launch, though analysts and auto critics say it still lags behind cars from competitors such as Ford.

The U.S. carmaker recently introduced an all-new version of its Fusion sedan, which will go up against the Camry when it comes to market later this year. The Fusion has already won a significant endorsement of its own, honored as the Eyes on Design Production Car design award at the Detroit auto show by a panel of two dozen automotive stylists.

Design alone is a key reason why Rebecca Lindland, research chief for IHS Automotive, expects Camry sales to be flat in 2012 -- despite the carmaker only now ramping up production after last year?s quake-and-tsunami-related shortages. On the other hand, she is betting that design ?could help the Fusion become the best-seller? in the midsize segment.

Coming up with a winning design isn?t always easy. Stylists have to work around the basic ?architecture,? or platform of a vehicle, which may severely restrict where they can place a windshield, or ?A pillar? -- the first pillar in the passenger compartment, which usually surrounds the windscreen.

Stan Honda / AFP - Getty Images

Upscale sedans, electric vehicles and old-school muscle cars make their debuts at the 2012 North American International Auto show.

And aerodynamics have become an essential element in the development of new products, with even the slightest detail able to have a measurable impact on what is known as the co-efficient of drag -- which ultimately translates into fuel economy. Wind tunnel testing has become a critical test for every new car design.

So, today, any good designer ?has aerodynamic solutions in mind? the moment he or she begins work on a new project, according to veteran GM designer John Cafaro. The good news is that, by using digital design tools, he, his colleagues and competitors can find a surprising number of ways to free up their designs while still delivering good aerodynamics.

The battle for design leadership may be most apparent on the flood of an auto show, but some of the nastiest skirmishes are taking place behind the scenes. Manufacturers are, with increasing regularity, raiding each other?s studios for talent.?

Kia, which has been building a reputation for strikingly simple bends of sheet metal, kick-started its styling program several years ago by hiring away Audi?s Peter Schreyer, recently named Man of the Year by Automobile Magazine.?

Then, just a few weeks ago, Kia?s sibling Hyundai brand nabbed BMW?s Chris Chapman, who will now have to take the Korean carmaker beyond the breakthrough look it introduced with the Elantra and earlier Sonata sedan.

As designers are all too well aware, you?re only as good as your latest design. And the leader today could be a laggard tomorrow.

Related stories:

Vehicles that give the best bang for the bucks

New Dodge Viper to debut at N.Y. show

Source: http://bottomline.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/13/10148987-automakers-once-again-driven-by-good-design

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SPIN METER: Obama's pose: Above the political fray

President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign event Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

President Barack Obama speaks during a campaign event Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

President Barack Obama speaks at a campaign event at the University of Illinois at Chicago Forum, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012, Chicago. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari)

President Barack Obama greets a small crowd after arriving at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2012. (AP Photo/Paul Beaty)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? To hear the White House tell it, President Barack Obama has scant interest in politics as Republicans battle each other for the right to challenge him. But in reality, Obama is increasingly involved in his re-election, staying in regular contact with his campaign staff, raising money and evaluating Republican debate performances.

Throughout the White House, Obama's aides are knee-deep in the re-election business. There are daily conference calls between top aides in the White House and campaign staff at the Chicago re-election headquarters and close consultation on message and travel.

His pose of indifference allows Obama to try to position himself above the sometimes-ugly fray of the campaign, leaving the political back-and-forth to others as he focuses instead on the loftier work of governing. But as with any incumbent president seeking re-election, political concerns weigh heavily as the election approaches. It's just smarter politics, for now, to pretend otherwise.

"Presidents like to act like they're not paying attention to every little detail of every little thing, when I suspect they all do," said Ari Fleischer, press secretary under President George W. Bush. "The job requires you to act like you're above all the less important stuff of the world ? especially if the less important stuff is the guy who wants to take your job."

White House press secretary Jay Carney said the president spends only about 5 percent of his time on the campaign, and there will be plenty of opportunity to get more involved once the election is closer. "Because he does not need to now, he is not engaging particularly aggressively in his re-election campaign. It's only January," Carney said this week.

But the president's schedule and sometimes even his own words paint another picture: of a White House increasingly driven by politics.

On Wednesday, a day after GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney solidified his front-runner status with a win in the New Hampshire primary, Obama hosted a White House event on job creation ? a way of countering Republicans' attacks on the president's economic stewardship. Similar White House counter-programming was on display last week, a day after the Iowa caucuses, when Obama announced he was going around congressional Republicans to appoint a new consumer protection chief.

And take travel, a good barometer of priorities because it requires that most precious commodity: the president's time. Of a half-dozen domestic day trips Obama made in November, December and so far in January, five were to politically important states both parties will be contesting this fall ? North Carolina, Ohio, New Hampshire and, twice, Pennsylvania.

Obama also visited his hometown of Chicago Wednesday, but in reliably Democratic Illinois he didn't bother with any official presidential events; he just dropped by his campaign headquarters and hit a few fundraisers before coming back to Washington.

Carney downplays politics as the motivation behind Obama's travel. "Every president ought to be able to travel everywhere in the country. It's part of his responsibility," the presidential spokesman said ahead of one Pennsylvania trip.

But Chris Lehane, an aide in Bill Clinton's White House, said the president's travel schedule reflects campaign imperatives.

"The White House scheduling office is going to know that there are certain targeted states, and in those states targeted markets, and in those markets targeted districts you're going to want to spend time in," Lehane said.

The president is also turning to his wife, the popular first lady, to make his case. Michelle Obama touted her husband's accomplishments at events in Virginia on Wednesday, telling a crowd in Richmond, "We are blessed to have him."

The message Obama delivers while at home or on the road is discussed among campaign staff and White House officials on daily conference calls involving White House communications director Dan Pfeiffer, senior adviser David Plouffe and campaign officials in Chicago, according to a senior administration official. Campaign manager Jim Messina and senior adviser David Axelrod also travel from Chicago to meet with Obama at the White House fairly regularly, the official said, speaking anonymously to discuss private deliberations.

Federal law broadly bars federal officials from using government resources on campaign work, aiming to separate campaign functions such as fundraising from the official government apparatus. But the president and his senior staff are largely exempt and permitted to conduct political functions from within the White House and use government phones and computers to do so as long as the cost to taxpayers is minimal. So there's nothing stopping Pfeiffer and Plouffe from consulting regularly with their counterparts in Chicago.

Former Obama press secretary Robert Gibbs, who still speaks with the White House and the campaign, said Obama spends little time paying attention to the Republicans vying for his job, partly because there's no need for him to. "The message that you're hearing in Iowa or New Hampshire is a carbon copy of what you're hearing on Capitol Hill," Gibbs said, so Obama can get his fill of GOP rhetoric listening to House Republicans.

It's a linkage Obama's begun making himself, telling supporters at a Chicago fundraiser Wednesday that the Republicans running against him are no different from the unpopular GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill. That comes after Obama's spent months honing attacks against the congressional GOP while campaigning for his economic agenda ? attacks he's now starting to turn against his potential presidential opponents as well, in an example of how the business of governing can be hard to distinguish from the business of politics.

Obama's also made clear that he is paying attention to the Republicans, at least sometimes, taking swipes at the rhetoric coming from the GOP candidates at their debates. At a fundraiser Monday, he told his audience that the consequences of the coming election are profound, adding, "Don't take my word for it, watch some of these debates that have been going on up in New Hampshire." As usual, Obama avoided mentioning his opponents by name.

"You never want your opponent to think you're paying attention to them, right?" said Karen Finney, who worked in the Clinton White House. "It's a little bit like when you like somebody, but you don't want them to know that you like them. So you ignore them."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-12-US-Obama-Ignoring-Politics/id-48be4f25b0a948f9b485413912bf51b1

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Swallow a pill and let your doc tour your insides

Public release date: 10-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Tom Langford
tlangford@partners.org
617-534-1605
Brigham and Women's Hospital

Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital successfully test tiny precision-controlled device that patients swallow like a pill

Boston, MA Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) have successfully tested a controllable endoscopic capsule, inspired by science fiction, that has the ability to "swim" through the body and could provide clinicians with unprecedented control when photographing the inside of the human body.

The capsule is designed to be swallowed like a pill and can be equipped with a camera. Once inside the patient's digestive track, a doctor can "steer" the capsule through the body using an MRI machine, photograph specific areas of interest, and view those pictures wirelessly.

With current endoscopic capsule technology, the capsule tumbles randomly through the digestive track and clinicians have no control over what areas of the body are being photographed. The ability to steer a capsule, aim a camera, and take pictures of specific areas of concern is a major leap forward with the potential for broad medical implications.

"Our goal is to develop this capsule so that it could be used to deliver images in real time, and allow clinicians to make a diagnosis during a single procedure with little discomfort or risk to the patient," said Noby Hata, a researcher in the Department of Radiology at BWH and leader of the development team for the endoscopic capsule. "Ideally, in the future we would be able to utilize this technology deliver drugs or other treatments, such as laser surgery, directly to tumors or injuries within the digestive track."

BWH researchers Hata and his colleague, Peter Jakab, have successfully tested a prototype of their capsule in an MRI machine and proved that the capsule can be manipulated to "swim" through a tank of water. The next step in their research is to successfully test the capsule inside a human body. There is no reason to believe the capsule would move differently in a human than it does in a tank of water.

###

Renderings of a prototype of the capsule and video of the capsule being tested are available for your use. Please email to receive the renderings and/or video.

Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is a 793-bed nonprofit teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School and a founding member of Partners HealthCare, an integrated health care delivery network. BWH is the home of the Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center, the most advanced center of its kind. BWH is committed to excellence in patient care with expertise in virtually every specialty of medicine and surgery. The BWH medical preeminence dates back to 1832, and today that rich history in clinical care is coupled with its national leadership in quality improvement and patient safety initiatives and its dedication to educating and training the next generation of health care professionals. Through investigation and discovery conducted at its Biomedical Research Institute (BRI), www.brighamandwomens.org/research, BWH is an international leader in basic, clinical and translational research on human diseases, involving more than 900 physician-investigators and renowned biomedical scientists and faculty supported by more than $537 M in funding. BWH is also home to major landmark epidemiologic population studies, including the Nurses' and Physicians' Health Studies and the Women's Health Initiative. For more information about BWH, please visit www.brighamandwomens.org

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 10-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Tom Langford
tlangford@partners.org
617-534-1605
Brigham and Women's Hospital

Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital successfully test tiny precision-controlled device that patients swallow like a pill

Boston, MA Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) have successfully tested a controllable endoscopic capsule, inspired by science fiction, that has the ability to "swim" through the body and could provide clinicians with unprecedented control when photographing the inside of the human body.

The capsule is designed to be swallowed like a pill and can be equipped with a camera. Once inside the patient's digestive track, a doctor can "steer" the capsule through the body using an MRI machine, photograph specific areas of interest, and view those pictures wirelessly.

With current endoscopic capsule technology, the capsule tumbles randomly through the digestive track and clinicians have no control over what areas of the body are being photographed. The ability to steer a capsule, aim a camera, and take pictures of specific areas of concern is a major leap forward with the potential for broad medical implications.

"Our goal is to develop this capsule so that it could be used to deliver images in real time, and allow clinicians to make a diagnosis during a single procedure with little discomfort or risk to the patient," said Noby Hata, a researcher in the Department of Radiology at BWH and leader of the development team for the endoscopic capsule. "Ideally, in the future we would be able to utilize this technology deliver drugs or other treatments, such as laser surgery, directly to tumors or injuries within the digestive track."

BWH researchers Hata and his colleague, Peter Jakab, have successfully tested a prototype of their capsule in an MRI machine and proved that the capsule can be manipulated to "swim" through a tank of water. The next step in their research is to successfully test the capsule inside a human body. There is no reason to believe the capsule would move differently in a human than it does in a tank of water.

###

Renderings of a prototype of the capsule and video of the capsule being tested are available for your use. Please email to receive the renderings and/or video.

Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH) is a 793-bed nonprofit teaching affiliate of Harvard Medical School and a founding member of Partners HealthCare, an integrated health care delivery network. BWH is the home of the Carl J. and Ruth Shapiro Cardiovascular Center, the most advanced center of its kind. BWH is committed to excellence in patient care with expertise in virtually every specialty of medicine and surgery. The BWH medical preeminence dates back to 1832, and today that rich history in clinical care is coupled with its national leadership in quality improvement and patient safety initiatives and its dedication to educating and training the next generation of health care professionals. Through investigation and discovery conducted at its Biomedical Research Institute (BRI), www.brighamandwomens.org/research, BWH is an international leader in basic, clinical and translational research on human diseases, involving more than 900 physician-investigators and renowned biomedical scientists and faculty supported by more than $537 M in funding. BWH is also home to major landmark epidemiologic population studies, including the Nurses' and Physicians' Health Studies and the Women's Health Initiative. For more information about BWH, please visit www.brighamandwomens.org

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/bawh-sap011012.php

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FAA Rules May Interrupt Endangered Crane Migration

Operation Migration uses ultralight planes to guide whooping cranes in migration from Wisconsin to their winter home in Florida. But a Federal Aviation Administration investigation has grounded a flock of whooping cranes and an ultralight guiding plane.

Source: http://www.npr.org/2012/01/09/144914748/faa-rules-may-interrupt-endangered-crane-migration?ft=1&f=1007

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Michelle Obama is the First Lady of Twitter (Yahoo! News)

The President's wife joins Twitter, already has more followers than you

1600 Pennsylvania Avenue now has matching his and her Twitter accounts. This morning, Michelle Obama became the first acting First Lady on the microblogging service, tweeting as @MichelleObama. While her husband, U.S. President Barack Obama, didn't tweet in his own words until last June, his better half got right to it.

Hi, everyone, and thanks for the warm welcome. Look forward to staying in touch with you here. -mo

? Michelle Obama (@MichelleObama) January 12, 2012

Her first tweet, one of four made by the account as of this writing. Like her husband's feed, this one is managed by Obama 2012 campaign staff, with tweets from the First Lady carrying the signature "-mo."

It's not every day we get to welcome the First Lady of the United States to Twitter?happy to have you, @MichelleObama!

? Barack Obama (@BarackObama) January 12, 2012

Barack Obama's staff welcomed his wife to Twitter via his account.

Within six hours of her account's first tweet, @MichelleObama has managed to attract more than 130,000 followers. (She still has a long way to go to match her husband's current 11.8 million followers.) Her account is following five others, including @BarackObama, his re-election campaign's manager Jim Messina, the White House, Michelle Obama's youth obesity campaign Let's Move, and Joining Forces, a White House program to assist military families.

(Source)

This article was written by Randy Nelson and originally appeared on Tecca

More from Tecca:

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/techblog/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_technews/20120112/tc_yblog_technews/michelle-obama-is-the-first-lady-of-twitter

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The 12 Best, Quirkiest CES Gadgets We?ve Seen So Far

Photos: Jim Merithew/Wired.com

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/GearFactor/~3/JvTOOa1GmL4/

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