Asia Markets: Asia stocks drop, with Japan exporters weak

By Michael Kitchen, MarketWatch

LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) ? Asia stocks started Friday trading on a lower note, with Japanese exporters suffering from currency headwinds.

In early moves, Japan?s Nikkei Stock Average /quotes/zigman/5986735 JP:NIK -1.41% ? lost 0.8%, Hong Kong?s Hang Seng Index /quotes/zigman/2622475 HK:HSI -1.54% ?lost 0.6%, Australia?s S&P/ASX 200 /quotes/zigman/1653884 AU:XJO -0.83% ?fell 0.6%, South Korea?s Kospi /quotes/zigman/1652118 KR:0100 -1.54% ?dropped 1.3%, and the Shanghai Composite /quotes/zigman/1859015 CN:000001 -0.57% ?traded flat.

An increase in borrowing costs for the French and Italian governments helped send the euro lower overnight, with its cross rate against the Japanese yen falling below the ?99 level overnight.

This weighed on many Japanese exporters with large exposure to Europe. Sony Corp. /quotes/zigman/197500 JP:6758 -2.33% /quotes/zigman/197524/quotes/nls/sne SNE -2.85% ?lost 1.8%, NEC Corp. /quotes/zigman/195976 JP:6701 -1.85% /quotes/zigman/195985 NIPNF +5.21% ?fell 1.9%, Nissan Motor Co. /quotes/zigman/196473 JP:7201 -2.32% /quotes/zigman/202910 NSANY -1.38% ?retreated 1.7%, and Mazda Motor Corp. /quotes/zigman/195040 JP:7261 -2.19% /quotes/zigman/195045 MZDAF +2.41% ?gave up 1.5%.

The losses came despite a somewhat brighter finish for Wall Street on Thursday, where the Dow industrials /quotes/zigman/627449 DJIA -0.02% ?finished almost flat, but the Nasdaq /quotes/zigman/123127 COMP +0.81% ?and S&P 500 /quotes/zigman/3870025 SPX +0.29% ?both made gains. See report on U.S. stock moves.

China's property slowdown spreads to other sectors

China's intervention in the property market may be going too far, as the home furnishing sector is now feeling the pinch.

Attention among both U.S. and Asian investors was on the key U.S. employment report, due out later Friday. See U.S. jobs report preview.

Energy stocks also moved lower in Tokyo on Friday, after benchmark New York Mercantile Exchange crude oil lost ground overnight after data should supplies at higher-than-expected levels.

Inpex Corp. /quotes/zigman/396971 JP:1605 -1.42% /quotes/zigman/396975 IPXHF +10.03% ?moved 0.8% lower, Japan Petroleum Exploration Co. /quotes/zigman/334930 JP:1662 -1.63% /quotes/zigman/334935 JPTXF +2.00% dropped 1.3%, and JX Holdings Inc. /quotes/zigman/575591 JP:5020 -2.54% /quotes/zigman/5625645 JXHGF -10.40% ?was off 1.5%.

However, Chinese energy firms saw strong gains for their shares, after the government raised the threshold for its oil-income windfall tax to $55 a barrel from $40 a barrel previously.

In Hong Kong, Cnooc Ltd. /quotes/zigman/29647 HK:883 +3.01% /quotes/zigman/274848/quotes/nls/ceo CEO +6.91% ?rose 3.1%, PetroChina Co. /quotes/zigman/21986 HK:857 +2.50% /quotes/zigman/257868/quotes/nls/ptr PTR +5.86% /quotes/zigman/1876553 CN:601857 +1.22% added 4.1%, and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp., or Sinopec, /quotes/zigman/22837 HK:386 +1.73% /quotes/zigman/269314/quotes/nls/snp SNP +5.10% ? /quotes/zigman/287863 CN:600028 -0.27% ?was up 2.8%.

In Shanghai, PetroChina improved by 2.1%and Sinopec gained 0.4%.

But strength in the energy stocks couldn?t outpace losses for banks amid the European concerns.

HSBC Holdings PLC /quotes/zigman/13834 HK:5 -2.39% ? /quotes/zigman/207333/quotes/nls/hbc HBC -1.15% ?fell 1.7% in early trade, while Bank of China Ltd. /quotes/zigman/35803 HK:3988 -1.71% /quotes/zigman/529024 BACHY +0.11% /quotes/zigman/1873420 CN:601988 +1.72% dropped 0.7%, and Bank of Communications Co. /quotes/zigman/34374 HK:3328 -2.20% /quotes/zigman/34373 BKFCF 0.00% /quotes/zigman/1875309 CN:601328 +0.88% ?gave up 0.9%.

Australia?s weak spot was also in the financial space, with the National Australia Bank Ltd. /quotes/zigman/181126 AU:NAB -1.39% /quotes/zigman/181125 NAUBF +1.02% falling 1.3%, and Macquarie Group Ltd. /quotes/zigman/482521 AU:MQG -1.22% /quotes/zigman/482522 MCQEF +0.79% ?losing 1.1%, amid the European concerns.

Among other movers, Olympus Corp. /quotes/zigman/196968 JP:7733 +2.72% /quotes/zigman/196973 OCPNF +4.00% lost 2% after former chief executive officer Michael Woodford reportedly ended efforts to wrest the company?s control due to a lack of support from institutions holding the shares. See report on former Olympus CEO?s decision.

Samsung Electronics Co. /quotes/zigman/189555 SSNGY 0.00% /quotes/zigman/189457 KR:A005930 -1.80% ?failed to get a bump from a fourth-quarter outlook, tipping a 73% rise in operating profit. The shares lost 1.1%, with Dow Jones Newswires reporting net selling by foreign investors on the Seoul bourse. See report on Samsung Electronics? earnings outlook.

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Michael Kitchen is Asia editor for MarketWatch and is based in Los Angeles.

Source: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story.asp?guid=%7B107DAA60-37FC-11E1-91DA-002128040CF6%7D&siteid=rss&rss=1

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Enable the Android market on a kobo vox

This is a collaboratively edited question and answer site for enthusiasts and power users of the Android operating system. It's 100% free, no registration required.

Got a question about the site itself? meta is the place to talk about things like what questions are appropriate, what tags we should use, etc.

about ????faq ? ? meta ?

Source: http://android.stackexchange.com/questions/17869/enable-the-android-market-on-a-kobo-vox

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Gov't expands count of rape victims by adding men (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The government is expanding its definition of rape, including men for the first time when counting the number of victims, the Obama administration announced Friday.

The expansion, which supporters say is long overdue, is important because policymakers and lawmakers use crime statistics to allocate resources for prevention and victim assistance.

In a press briefing, senior White House adviser Valerie Jarrett called the change a "very, very important step" because it counts men and because it includes rapes of women other than by physical force.

Since 1929, the FBI has defined rape as the carnal knowledge of a female, forcibly and against her will. The revised definition covers any gender of victim or attacker and includes instances in which the victim is incapable of giving consent due to the influence of drugs or alcohol or because of age. Physical resistance is not required.

The new definition will not change federal or state laws and will not alter charges or prosecutions.

"Rape is a devastating crime, and we can't solve it unless we know the full extent of it," Vice President Joe Biden said in a statement.

Biden, author of the Violence Against Women Act when he was in the Senate, said the new definition is a victory for women and men "whose suffering has gone unaccounted for over 80 years."

According to government data, one in five women and one in 71 men are rape victims.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120106/ap_on_go_ot/us_counting_rapes

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Nearly 700 rockets, mortars hit Israel in 2011

January 5, 2012

JERUSALEM?(JTA) -- Some 680 rockets, mortars and long-range missiles were fired at southern Israel in 2011, according to the Israeli military.

On Thursday, the Israel Defense Forces spokesman released the figures compiled by the Home Front Command.

Eighty long-range Grad missiles, which also have a more lethal payload, were fired at Israel in 2011 compared to two the previous year. Five rockets fell on or next to buildings. Nearly one-third of the rockets fell during 15 days.

In addition to the siren early warning system, the Home Front Command is working to implement warning systems using mobile phones, the Internet and television, according to the IDF.?
?

Click to login and write a letter to the editor or sign up for the Daily Briefing.

This article was made possible by the support of readers like you. Donate to JTA now.

Source: http://www.jta.org/news/article/2012/01/05/3091043/nearly-700-rockets-mortars-hit-israel-in-2011

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Occupy Protesters Arrested Outside Bachmann HQ (ABC News)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/181492508?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Silicon Superego

Image: Illustration by Thomas Fuchs

The most buzzed-about new feature in the latest iPhone is Siri, the virtual minion. You can give her an amazing range of spoken commands, without any training or special syntax, and marvel as she does your bidding.

You can say, ?Call my assistant? or ?Wake me up at eight? or ?Make an appointment with Dr. Woodward for Friday at 2 p.m.? You can say, ?How do I get to the airport from here?? or ?Play Taylor Swift? or ?When I get to the office, remind me to file the Smithers report.? You can ask her how many fluid ounces there are in a liter or the distance to Mars or when George Washington was born.

In each case, Siri briefly contacts Apple?s servers and then responds in a calm female voice, simultaneously displaying the information you requested.

It didn?t take long, though, for Internet wiseacres to start asking her questions with less concrete answers?and marveling at her witty, sometimes snarky replies.

You: ?Siri, I love you.? Siri: ?That?s sweet, David. Now can we get back to work??

You: ?What?s the meaning of life?? Siri: ?I can?t answer that now, but give me some time to write a very long play in which nothing happens.?

You: ?Open the pod bay doors, Siri.? Siri: ?I?m sorry, David, I?m afraid I can?t do that. [Pause] Are you happy now??

Siri is a breakthrough in voice control, sure, but she?s also a breakthrough in computerized personality. The question is: Do we want our gadgets to have personality?

Programmers and designers have always struggled with that question. The creators of every operating system have had to come up with a consistent syntax for communicating with people. Over the years various companies have flitted uncertainly from one philosophy to another.

Until Siri came along, Apple?s software has always avoided personal pronouns such as ?I? and ?you.? The result: some awkward passive-voice snarls like ?The document could not be opened because it could not be found.?

Microsoft?s dialog-box English not only favors the passive voice, but it?s usually aimed at programmers, not humans: ?SL_E_CHREF_BINDING_0UT_0F_T0LERANCE: The activation server determined that the specified product key has exceeded its activation count.? Ah, of course!

Citibank?s automated-teller machines lie at the opposite end of the Emily Post spectrum. They take the ?I?/?you? personal approach to an extreme. ?Hello. How may I help you?? says the welcome screen. When you sign off, you get, ?Thank you. It?s always a pleasure to serve you.? These machines even try to take the blame for your own dumb mistakes: ?I?m sorry, I don?t recognize that password.?

Now, deep down?actually, not that far down?we all know that our computers are not really engaging us; every utterance they make was written by a programmer somewhere. So why do the software companies even bother? If everyone knows it?s just a trick, should we even care how personable our machines are?

Yes, we should.

The designers? intention, no doubt, was to make their machines more user-friendly by simulating casual conversation with fellow humans. But there?s a side effect of that intention: in trying to program machines that speak like people, the programmers are forced to think like people.

In Citibank?s case, writing messages in that second-person conversational style forced the engineers to put themselves in the mind-set of real humans. You can?t write an ?I? statement for your ATM without also considering the logic, the terminology and the clarity of those messages. Someone writing in that frame of? mind would never come up with ?The activation server determined that the specified product key has exceeded its activation count.?

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=45e74fc659750d8132846466a15a1fd2

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Famous Cancer Survivor's Miracle Cure Challenged

Dr Gawler, 61, Australia's most famous cancer survivor and founder of the Gawler Foundation, had advanced tuberculosis rather than the secondary bone cancer he was told he had in the late 1970s, says the online report in the Royal Australian College of Physicians' monthly Internal Medicine Journal.

Eminent oncologists Associate Professor Ian Haines of Cabrini Hospital in Melbourne and Professor Ray Lowenthal of Tasmania's Royal Hobart Hospital wrote the report.

Dr Gawler's books on curing cancer without conventional medicine are bestsellers.

His foundation's residential programs have treated more than 15,000 sufferers, many of whom swear by his methods involving strict diets, "mind-training" and meditation. Another 75,000 have attended Gawler Foundation lectures and workshops.

But Dr Gawler, OAM, said it was "ridiculous" to claim his secondary cancer never happened.

"I would question the authors' motivations given my prominence in this field," the Sydney Morning Herald quoted him as saying.

"The nub of the argument is whether inadequate testing was done on me," he added.

Professor Lowenthal has been a long-time critic of Dr Gawler's methods but Associate Professor Haines said he was a "courageous fellow who I know, respect and admire ... But I don't want patients thinking this man cured himself of advanced cancer".

Associate Professor Haines said alternative or "complementary" therapies were fine in conjunction with conventional medicine but should not be the only treatment.

The Internal Medicine Journal report says all Dr Gawler's symptoms between 1975 and 1978 can be scientifically explained by "advanced ... disseminated ... mycobacterial infection" such as TB.

The report states Dr Gawler's disease was "wrongly labelled".

Source-ANI

Source: http://feeds.medindia.com/~r/allhealthnews/~3/Anl3O6P0How/Famous-Cancer-Survivors-Miracle-Cure-Challenged-95534-1.htm

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