tiaexposed.com

The Humble Bundle, a charity offering pay-what-you-want video games, has made a pretty big splash in the indie PC games scene over the past few years. Now it?s making its way to Android.

Right now, Humble Bundle is offering four big-time Android games for one price, which is whatever you want to pay. Included in the bundle are three PC games that have found their way to mobile in the last year: Osmos HD, Anomaly: Warzone Earth, EDGE and World of Goo. This is the first time the PC-centric charity force has offered mobile games. Bought separately, all four games would run players a total of $15.46 from the Android Market.

The Humble Bundle is a pretty popular force among PC gamers. Each Humble Bundle is set up with the same formula: Developers offer a set of games in the bundle, and players are able to name their own price for the entire download, just about as low or as high as they want. But each bundle also has an incentive to encourage users to beat the average paid price. This is usually another game, an original soundtrack for one of the offerings, or something similar.

And Humble Bundle buyers are able to divide up how the money they pay is used, allocating a fraction to developers, a fraction to Humble Bundle administration, and a fraction to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit working to protect digital rights, as well as Child?s Play, a charity organization that helps provides video game systems for sick children in hospitals.

The Humble Bundle has already sold over 9,500 bundles as of this article going to press with two weeks more availability remaining. The price is a pretty awesome deal, too, because The Humble Bundle for Android isn?t just limited to Android games. Humble Bundle is also providing Windows and Mac versions of all four games ? meaning you get a smartphone or tablet version, as well as the larger versions to play on your computer. All the games are free of digital rights management, which means they can be downloaded as many times as players like.

All the games offered in The Humble Bundle for Android are worth snagging and are ranked among some of the best available for Android and Apple?s iOS platform last year. It?s worth paying better than the average price, as well. Not only are you helping a charity and getting World of Goo for your trouble, but Humble Bundle has a track record of tossing in additional goodies during the two weeks a bundle is available. It?s pretty likely that if you?re willing to pony up for games and a good cause (and still get them for way less than their usual asking price), you?ll be rewarded in the future.

Get more information at humblebundle.com.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/appolicious_rss/rss_appolicious_tc/http___www_androidapps_com_articles10920_android_gaming_gets_its_own_humble_bundle_with_big_savings_on_games/44367797/SIG=13lmant93/*http%3A//www.androidapps.com/games/articles/10920-android-gaming-gets-its-own-humble-bundle-with-big-savings-on-games

alex trebek lightsquared jane lynch matt ryan matt ryan real housewives of new york mildred pierce

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin meets with election monitors in Moscow, Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012. Putin said Wednesday that he could face a runoff in the March presidential vote, his first acknowledgement that he may fail to muster enough support for an outright victory. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Yana Lapikova)

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin meets with election monitors in Moscow, Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012. Putin said Wednesday that he could face a runoff in the March presidential vote, his first acknowledgement that he may fail to muster enough support for an outright victory. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Yana Lapikova)

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin meets with election monitors in Moscow, Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012. Putin said Wednesday that he could face a runoff in the March presidential vote, his first acknowledgement that he may fail to muster enough support for an outright victory. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Yana Lapikova, Pool)

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin speaks at a meeting with election monitors in Moscow, Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012. Putin said Wednesday that he could face a runoff in the March presidential vote, his first acknowledgement that he may fail to muster enough support for an outright victory. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Yana Lapikova, Pool)

A giant anti-Prime Minister and presidential candidate Vladimir Putin billboard set up by the opposition Solidarity movement on a building, which faces the Kremlin, is seen in downtown Moscow on Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2012. The Kremlin, right, and St Bazil’s Cathedral, left, are at foreground. The poster reads: ‘Putin Go Away’.(AP Photo/Sergey Ponomarev)

MOSCOW (AP) ? Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said Wednesday he could face a runoff in the March presidential vote, his first acknowledgement that he may fail to muster enough support for an outright victory.

Putin’s statement signaled he might be willing to accept tarnishing his father-of-the nation image if he fails to win more than 50 percent in the first round on March 4, rather than risk igniting more public outrage through blatant vote rigging.

Evidence of fraud in favor of Putin’s party in a December parliamentary election triggered the biggest protests since the Soviet collapse two decades ago.

Putin said at a meeting with election monitors that “there is nothing horrible” about a runoff and he’s ready for one, according to Russian news reports.

But he also warned of the dangers of a second round, saying it would lead to a “certain destabilization of the political situation.” The need for stability in Russia has been the mantra of Putin’s campaign.

Putin won his previous two presidential terms in 2000 and 2004 in the first round. After moving into the prime minister’s job due to term limits, he has remained the No. 1 leader, but has seen his support dwindle amid growing public frustration with his rigid controls over the political scene, rampant corruption and rising social inequality.

Opinion polls show support for Putin between 40 and 50 percent. If he fails to get a majority of the vote, he will face a runoff on March 25, most likely against Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov.

Putin announced his bid to reclaim the presidency in September and said he would then name Dmitry Medvedev, his protege and successor as president, his prime minister.

The job swap was seen as a show of cynical disrespect for democracy, fueling public anger that spilled into the open during the December protests.

Another mass rally is planned for this weekend. In a sign of the increasingly bold defiance of Putin’s rule, opposition activists hoisted a giant “Putin Go Away” billboard to the top of a building across the river from the Kremlin on Wednesday. It took authorities more than an hour to remove it.

Putin initially played down the rallies and derided the participants as U.S. puppets working to undermine Russia. He later took a more conciliatory stance, in an apparent effort to split the opposition.

He promised Wednesday to give government jobs to some of his political opponents if he is elected.

Putin also instructed vote monitors to ensure strict observance of election rules. He previously has ordered web cameras installed in all polling stations in an effort to fend off opposition claims of vote rigging.

He warned local authorities that they would only damage his interests if they tried to manipulate the vote in his favor.

Putin also sought to reach out to young voters, saying that any attempt to impose restrictions on the Internet would make no sense and even promising to consider joining a social network. He said he hasn’t had time for that and didn’t want his aides making posts for him, but he promised to think about it.

The Moscow protests have been organized largely through social networks, which have been filled with criticism of Putin.

Unlike the iPad-toting, tweeting Medvedev, Putin has shown little visible interest in modern communications technologies and said a few years ago that he doesn’t even need a cell phone.

Putin’s four rivals have avoided criticizing him directly. Billionaire businessman Mikhail Prokhorov, the only new face in the race, said Wednesday that Putin is “the only man who can somehow control the current inefficient system,” but added that he could do better.

Opinion polls put Prokhorov, the 46-year-old owner of the New Jersey Nets basketball team, at the bottom of the list of contenders with support of around 4 percent, but he voiced hope that he could make it into the second round.

“Putin has been at the helm for 12 years and has done a lot of work, but it’s time to stop,” Prokhorov told a news conference.

_____

Mansur Mirovalev contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-02-01-EU-Russia-Election/id-10588130b6a44c00ab1e0db4046dd5b1

nyc marathon nyc marathon coriolis effect coriolis effect giants patriots yolo steelers vs ravens

NASA unveiled its first online space trivia game today (Jan. 30), a Facebook app that allows multiple players to compete for cosmic bragging rights.

The free game, called “Space Race Blastoff,” is a mix of Space Camp and “Jeopardy!” that pits players against one another in a quiz on NASA and space exploration history. Players with enough correct answers can earn award badges emblazoned with NASA astronauts, spaceships or astronomical objects, NASA game designers said.

“‘Space Race Blastoff’ opens NASA’s history and research to a wide new audience of people accustomed to using social media,” said David Weaver, NASA’s associate administrator for communications at the agency’s Washington headquarters, in a statement. “Space experts and novices will learn new things about how exploration continues to impact our world.”

The new game was developed by members of NASA’s Internet Services Group in the agency’s communications office. It is the agency’s latest foray into digital and social media. The space agency already routinely uses Twitter to announce space news and discoveries, and recently launched a space-themed Internet radio show. ?

In addition to facing off against other competitors in a battle of space wits, players can use the points they earn to complete sets of award badges or earn some premium awards, according to a game description. And if playing with others isn’t your style, there’s a solo option too, NASA officials said.

To play, competitors choose an avatar from a range of options that include scientist, astronaut (with multiple spacesuit options), alien and robot.

You can find the game here: http://apps.facebook.com/spacerace

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/space/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/space/20120130/sc_space/nasalaunchesspacetriviagameintofacebookfrontier

snow day snow day neti pot iron chef bath and body works coupons jeff probst jeff probst

TEHRAN (Reuters) ? Iran sent conflicting signals in a dispute with the West over its nuclear ambitions, vowing to stop oil exports soon to “some” countries but postponing a parliamentary debate on a proposed halt to crude sales to the European Union.

The Islamic Republic declared itself optimistic about a visit by U.N. nuclear experts that began Sunday but also warned the inspectors to be “professional” or see Tehran reducing cooperation with the world body on atomic matters.

Lawmakers have raised the possibility of turning the tables on the EU which will implement its own embargo on Iranian oil by July as it tightens sanctions on Tehran over the nuclear program.

But India, the world’s fourth-largest oil consumer, said it would not take steps to cut petroleum imports from Iran despite U.S. and European sanctions against Tehran.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection delegation will try to advance efforts to resolve a row about the nuclear work which Iran says is purely civilian but the West suspects is aimed at seeking a nuclear weapon.

Tension with the West rose this month when Washington and the EU imposed the toughest sanctions yet in a drive to force Tehran to provide more information on its nuclear program. The measures take direct aim at the ability of OPEC’s second biggest Oil exporter to sell its crude.

In a remark suggesting Iran would fight sanctions with sanctions, Iran’s oil minister said the Islamic state would soon stop exporting crude to “some” countries.

Rostam Qasemi did not identify the countries but was speaking less than a week after the EU’s 27 member states agreed to stop importing crude from Iran from July 1.

“Soon we will cut exporting oil to some countries,” the state news agency IRNA quoted Qasemi as saying.

India, a major customer for Iranian crude, made clear it would not join the wider international efforts to put pressure on Tehran by cutting oil purchases.

“It is not possible for India to take any decision to reduce the imports from Iran drastically, because among the countries which can provide the requirement of the emerging economies, Iran is an important country amongst them,” Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee told reporters on a visit to the Unites States.

The United States wants buyers in Asia, Iran’s biggest oil market, to cut imports to put further pressure on Tehran.

DISCUSSION POSTPONED

Iranian lawmakers had been due to debate a bill Sunday that could have cut off oil supplies to the EU in days, in a move calculated to hit ailing European economies before the EU-wide ban on took effect.

But Iranian MPs postponed discussing the measure.

“No such draft bill has yet been drawn up and nothing has been submitted to the parliament. What exists is a notion by the deputies which is being seriously pursued to bring it to a conclusive end,” Emad Hosseini, spokesman for parliament’s Energy Committee, told Mehr news agency.

Iranian officials say sanctions have had no impact on the country. “Iranian oil has its own market, even if we cut our exports to Europe,” Oil Minister Qasemi said.

Another lawmaker said the bill would oblige the government to cut Iran’s oil supplies to the EU for five to 15 years, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

By turning the sanctions back on the EU, lawmakers hope to deny the bloc a six-month window it had planned to give those of its members most dependent on Iranian oil – including some of the most economically fragile in southern Europe – to adapt.

NUCLEAR WATCHDOG

Before departing from Vienna, IAEA Deputy Director General Herman Nackaerts said he hoped Iran would tackle the watchdog’s concerns “regarding the possible military dimensions of Iran’s nuclear program.”

Mehr quoted Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi as saying during a trip to Ethiopia: “We are very optimistic about the outcome of the IAEA delegation’s visit to Iran … Their questions will be answered during this visit.”

“We have nothing to hide and Iran has no clandestine (nuclear) activities.”

Striking a sterner tone, Iran’s parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, warned the IAEA team to carry out a “logical, professional and technical” job or suffer the consequences.

“This visit is a test for the IAEA. The route for further cooperation will be open if the team carries out its duties professionally,” said Larijani, state media reported.

“Otherwise, if the IAEA turns into a tool (for major powers to pressure Iran), then Iran will have no choice but to consider a new framework in its ties with the agency.”

Iran’s parliament has approved bills in the past to oblige the government to review its level of cooperation with the IAEA. However, Iran’s top officials have always underlined the importance of preserving ties with the watchdog body.

The head of the state-run National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said late Saturday that the export embargo would hit European refiners, such as Italy’s Eni, that are owed oil from Iran as part of long-standing buy-back contracts under which they take payment for past oilfield projects in crude.

The EU accounted for 25 percent of Iranian crude oil sales in the third quarter of 2011. However, analysts say the global oil market will not be overly disrupted if parliament votes for the bill that would turn off the oil tap for Europe.

Potentially more disruptive to the world oil market and global security is the risk of Iran’s standoff with the West escalating into military conflict.

Iran has repeatedly said it could close the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane if sanctions succeed in preventing it from exporting crude, a move Washington said it would not tolerate.

(Additional reporting by Hashem Kalantari, Robin Pomeroy and Hossein Jaseb in Tehran, Svetlana Kovalyova in Milan and Fredrik Dahl in Vienna; Writing by Parisa Hafezi and Robin Pomeroy; Editing by William Maclean and David Stamp)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120129/wl_nm/us_iran

the cabin in the woods trace adkins the darkest hour the darkest hour

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? James Marsh won the documentary prize Saturday at the Directors Guild of America Awards for “Project Nim,” his chronicle of the triumphs and trials of a chimpanzee that was raised like a human child.

It was the latest major Hollywood prize for Marsh, who earned the documentary Academy Award for 2008′s “Man on Wire.” Among those Marsh beat out for the guild award was Martin Scorsese, who had been up for the documentary honor for “George Harrison: Living in the Material World” and also was nominated for the evening’s highest honor, for feature-film directing.

The film favorites were guild awards regular Scorsese for his Paris adventure “Hugo” and first-time nominee Michel Hazanavicius for his silent movie “The Artist.”

Also in the running were Woody Allen for his romantic fantasy “Midnight in Paris”; David Fincher for his thriller “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”; and Alexander Payne for his family drama “The Descendants.”

At the start of the ceremony, Guild President Taylor Hackford led the crowd in a toast to one of his predecessors, Gil Cates, the veteran producer of the Academy Awards broadcast who died last year.

Robert B. Weide won the comedy directing award for an episode of “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”

Other early television winners at the guild ceremony were:

? Reality programming: Neil P. DeGroot, “The Biggest Loser.”

? Musical variety: Glenn Weiss, “The 65th Annual Tony Awards.”

? Daytime serials: William Ludel, “General Hospital.”

? Children’s programs: Amy Schatz, “A Child’s Garden of Poetry.”

? Commercials: Noam Murro.

The Directors Guild Awards are one of Hollywood’s most accurate forecasts for who will win at the industry’s top honors, the Oscars, which will be handed out Feb. 26. Only six times in the 63-year history of the guild awards has the winner failed to take home the Oscar for best director, and more often than not, the film winning the best director Oscar is voted best picture.

Fincher had been the favorite going into the Directors Guild ceremony last year for “The Social Network,” but Tom Hooper came away the winner for “The King’s Speech.” Hooper went on to win the Oscar, too, and his film also earned best picture.

This time, Fincher’s the odd man out at the Directors Guild show. The other four guild nominees made the best-director cut at Tuesday’s Oscar nominations, but Fincher missed out. The fifth Oscar slot went to Terrence Malick for the family chronicle “The Tree of Life.”

French filmmaker Hazanavicius, whose credits include the spy spoofs “OSS 117: Cairo, Nest of Spies” and “OSS 117: Lost in Rio,” had been a virtual unknown in Hollywood until “The Artist,” his black-and-white throwback to early cinema that has been a favorite at earlier film honors.

“The Artist” won the Golden Globe for best musical or comedy and is considered a best-picture front-runner for the Oscars.

But Scorsese won the Globe for directing over Hazanavicius.

Unlike Hazanavicius, the other nominees all have competed for Directors Guild honors before. Scorsese earned his ninth and 10th guild nominations this season for “Hugo” and his George Harrison documentary.

Scorsese is a past feature-film winner for 2006′s “The Departed,” as well as a TV drama winner a year ago for an episode of “Boardwalk Empire.” The family film “Hugo” was a departure for Scorsese, known for dark crime tales, and the movie also was his first shot in 3-D.

Allen has been nominated five times and won for 1977′s “Annie Hall.” He had not been nominated since his 1989 “Crimes and Misdemeanors” but has been on a critical and commercial resurgence for “Midnight in Paris,” his biggest hit in decades.

This was the third nomination for Fincher. Payne was nominated one time previously, for 2004′s “Sideways.”

___

Online:

http://www.dga.org

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_project_nim_wins_directors_guild_doc_award055600612/44342832/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/project-nim-wins-directors-guild-doc-award-055600612.html

bowls brooke mueller herman cain harry potter and the half blood prince city of ember city of ember virgin diaries

Rick Bowmer / AP

A member of the Multnomah County Sheriff Search and Rescue team searches along the Clackamas River for 6-year-old Vinesa Snegur on Monday.

By msnbc.com staff and news services

ESTACADA, Ore. — An Oregon man raced along the rain-swollen Clackamas River but couldn’t keep up with his 6-year-old daughter who had fallen into the stream and was swept downriver, authorities said.

Rescue workers searched without success Monday for Vinesa Snegur, who fell Sunday into the river,?running fast and cold from a recent winter storm.

“It was just a second of inattention,” sheriff’s Sgt. James Rhodes said of the little girl’s fall, explaining that her father turned away, “then splash, and she fell in. He ran and tried to keep up with her, but he was unable to.”

Rhodes said the girl and her parents, Igor and Marina Snegur, are from southeast Portland and drove Sunday to play in the snow. They parked near Austin Hot Springs in the Mount Hood National Forest where a road is close to the stream.

The spot is about 60 miles southeast of Portland. There’s no cell service, and the family couldn’t call for help until they got to a phone at a ranger station an hour later, Rhodes said.

The water temperature Monday was just above freezing, and the river is carrying a heavy load of trees and roots, imperiling rescue workers, he said.

About 50 ground searchers and divers suspended their search at nightfall Monday. A helicopter with thermal imaging equipment also was used to scan the river.

Purple jacket, pink hat
Steve Duin, who joined the search and wrote about it in a column for The Oregonian, said that by noon Monday about 50 people had joined the search, including divers in the water and relatives of the child, who was wearing a purple jacket, pink hat and white pants when she fell.

“Flares have been set out on the road into Austin Hot Springs, the smoke drifting over the divers and the bridge. The black ice is long gone as I slide down the hill, but I slow each time the river comes into view, searching for a blink of purple or pink somewhere,” he wrote.

The Oregonian reported that Vinesa’s parents were still on the mountain “surrounded by family and trauma specialists” late on Monday.

A series of storms stretching from coast to coast brought snow and ice to the Pacific Northwest, grounded planes in Chicago and 2012′s first snow to the Northeast. NBC’s Bill Karins and the Weather Channel’s Mike Seidel report.

At Vinesa’s Mill Park Elementary School, about 140 students visited a special 21-person crisis counseling team Monday, The Oregonian reported. Barbara Kienle, students services director, said half a dozen employees, including some of Vinesa’s teachers, also talked to counselors.

“She has many friends,” Principal Rolando Florez told the newspaper. “There were lots of sad kids in her class today.”

Like many streams in western Oregon, the Clackamas River is swollen by heavy rain that fell late last week as a winter storm moved into the region. The storm caused flooding in many communities in the Willamette Valley.

A mother and her 1-year-old son died after a creek swept away their car from an Albany, Ore., parking lot. A father and his son were able to escape.

Most streams have receded, but more rain is been forecast this week in western Oregon, raising the possibility of more floods.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/24/10222696-a-second-of-inattention-icy-river-sweeps-girl-6-away-from-father

st. nicholas

Elizabeth Smart is engaged, People reports.

The 24-year-old, who was kidnapped in 2002 and held captive for eight months before being found, got engaged last weekend and will wed sometime in the summer, her rep said.

Elizabeth Smart to be a contributor for ABC News

Smart is keeping the name of her fianc? under wraps for privacy, but according to the Salt Lake Tribune, online registries at Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn list a July 1 wedding for an Elizabeth Smart and Matthew Gilmour in Utah.

“She’s going to be very public in her child advocacy work, but has decided she wants to keep her personal life private,” her rep said.

Besides her advocacy work, Smart also contributes to ABC News on missing persons cases.

Related Articles on TVGuide.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_elizabeth_smart_gets_engaged152900052/44254848/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/elizabeth-smart-gets-engaged-152900052.html

the closer

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) ? A truck loaded with rubble from Haiti’s earthquake two years ago killed at least 26 people and injured 57 others after its driver lost control of the vehicle in a hilly area of the impoverished Caribbean nation’s capital, authorities said on Tuesday.

The accident came less than a week after the second anniversary of the quake that killed roughly 300,000 people and leveled much of the capital Port-au-Prince.

“Between 26 and 30 people have been killed and 57 injured. We are looking for the driver,” said Highway Police chief Will Dimanche after the accident in the Delmas district of the city late on Monday.

“Witnesses say he (the driver) jumped from the truck after hitting the first obstacle but we’ll find him anyway,” said Dimanche.

The truck sped down a divided two-lane roadway and plowed past parked cars, motorcycles and mopeds. There were no immediate reports about the cause of the accident but speculation centered on brake failure in the rubble-laden vehicle.

Just over half of the piles of concrete, steel and other debris littering Port-au-Prince and its surrounding areas has been cleared since the earthquake that devastated the city on January 12, 2010.

(Reporting by Joseph Guyler Delva; Editing by Tom Brown and Will Dunham)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/latam/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120117/wl_nm/us_haiti_accident

brock lesnar vs alistair overeem times square new years eve how to tie a bow tie chick fil a chick fil a

BANGKOK (Reuters) ? Thai police discovered bomb-making materials after the detention of a Lebanese man suspected of planning an attack, but the prime minister insisted on Monday that everything was under control.

Authorities beefed up security in parts of the capital, its two main airports and other areas popular with tourists after the United States and Israel warned on Friday of a possible terrorist attack.

The statements have irked Thailand, which is concerned about damage to its thriving tourism industry and has so far appeared to play down the warnings.

Police detained a Lebanese man reportedly carrying a Swedish passport. Officials said he had links with Hezbollah, a Shi’ite Islamist group in Lebanon backed by Syria and Iran that is on the U.S. blacklist of foreign terrorist organizations.

National police chief Priewpan Damapong told reporters the suspect, named as Atris Hussein, had given police an address where bomb-making material was being kept.

Officers discovered large amount of substances that could be used to make explosives in a building in Samut Sakhon, southwest of Bangkok, including 4,380 kg of urea and 10 gallons of liquid ammonium nitrate.

Priewpan said the suspect had maintained that his group had not planned an attack in Thailand but intended to transport the substances to a third country, which he would not name.

UNDER CONTROL

Asked about the discovery, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra told reporters: “I have been informed. I would like to ask people not to panic. We are currently in control of the situation.”

Thai officials have seemed irritated by travel advisories issued by the U.S. and Israeli governments, followed by several more since Friday. Foreign Minister Surapong Towijakchaikul said diplomats from countries that had issued warnings would meet with him for an explanation on Monday.

Tourism is a big money-earner for Thailand and ministers are keen not to deter travelers, especially after the hit to tourism from severe flooding in 2011 and political unrest in 2010.

Yingluck also instructed the defense ministry to consult U.S. embassy officials to discuss its terror warning and seek a retraction.

A defense envoy met the embassy’s military advisory group, Edward A. Swanda, on Monday during which it asked for better coordination on the release of information, spokesman Thanathip Sawangsaeng told reporters.

However, an embassy spokesman later said the terror warning to its citizens was valid and the United States had no plan to rescind it.

Defence Minister Yuthasak Sasiprapha told reporters in the northern city of Chiang Mai on Sunday that Thailand was not the target, although officials have also said that areas of Bangkok frequented by Westerners and Israelis could be hit.

Yuthasak said that a second suspect had managed to leave the country.

(Reporting by Aukkapon Niyomyat; Additional reporting by Sinsiri Tiwutanond; Writing by Alan Rabould; Editing by Martin Petty and Ed Lane)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/terrorism/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120116/wl_nm/us_thailand_security

ama awards 2011

When Ulysses Turner left the White House on Friday, he was eager to explore new investment in Hampton Roads.

The CEO of Atlantic Apartment Rentals and Development Co., which builds multifamily housing primarily in Norfolk, spent the day with 27 other Hampton Roads business leaders who met with the Obama administration to discuss ways to help small businesses grow. The visit convinced Turner that the economy would head in a positive direction this year.

“I came away feeling that the president’s policies are very pro-small business,” he said. “It was a very inspirational day.”

Gary McCollum, senior vice president and general manager of Cox Communications Inc.’s operations in Virginia, agreed that the meetings showed the administration’s belief in small business “as a key driver in this economy.”

During a series of afternoon workshops, McCollum said, he heard encouraging ideas about the use of technology to improve productivity and about opportunities for small- and medium-size defense contractors. Despite reductions in defense spending, administration officials assured the local companies that money is available and that the process to get it would become more efficient, McCollum said.

Among those who attended the White House meetings were Mike Petters, president and CEO of Huntington Ingalls Industries in Newport News; Gilbert Bland, president and CEO of Tymark Enterprises Inc., the Norfolk-based owner of several Burger King franchises; and Tom Walker, president of Chesapeake technology development firm Web Teks. The meetings were set up by Business Forward, which organizes businesses to inform government decision-making on economic issues.

Some in the group attended President Barack Obama’s news conference earlier in the day, when he suggested shrinking the number of federal agencies that deal with business.

The simplification of government regulations arose as a common theme, Turner and McCollum said. So did the need to nurture an educated workforce, from kindergarten through college, McCollum said.

“So we’re producing the talent that can not only get a job but can create a job.”?

Carolyn Shapiro, (757) 446-2270, carolyn.shapiro@pilotonline.com