Monte Paschi probe to widen as Italian election nears

ROME (Reuters) - A plan by Italy's central bank to use bonds to bail out the troubled Monte Paschi bank can go ahead, a court ruled on Saturday, as a scandal surrounding the world's oldest lender looked likely to widen three weeks before a national election.

Magistrates in three cities investigating the Tuscan bank were poised to issue new summonses for more witnesses to give information next week following testimony by a raft of bankers in the past few days, leading newspapers said.

The bank is under investigation over an opaque series of derivatives and structured finance contracts between 2007 and 2009 that have left it facing losses of 720 million euros and dependant on the state lifeline.

Former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, leading the centre-right's election charge, has tried to cash in on the bank's woes to attack both his centre-left rivals and outgoing prime minister Mario Monti, whose Treasury approved the Monte Paschi bailout.

A Rome administrative tribunal turned down a request by Italy's leading consumer group, Codacons, for the immediate suspension of the plan by the Bank of Italy to use 3.9 billion euros ($5.34 billion) in bonds to shore up the bank.

The court set a new hearing for February 20.

Tuscany is a traditionally leftist area and Monte Paschi has for decades had close ties to leftist parties such as the Democratic Party, the largest in the center-left opposition coalition.

"We are convinced that the Italian left has much to say about (Monte Paschi) and instead is not saying anything," Angelino Alfano, the center-right's candidate for prime minister, said on Saturday.

"People want clarity and want to know if there is a link between decisions by the Italian left and their disastrous effects on a such a large bank."

BANK SCANDAL A POLITICAL FOOTBALL

Opinion polls suggest the bank scandal has so far had only a slight effect on voting intentions for the February 24-25 election, which the center-left is still expected to win, although its lead is narrowing.

Monte Paschi is accused of having overpaid in a 9 billion euro ($12 billion) purchase of rival Antonveneta in 2007, stretching its finances to the limits, and of having made risky derivatives trades in 2006-2009 aimed at massaging its accounts.

Prosecutors are investigating whether bribes were paid at the time the bank bought Antonveneta. They also suspect fraud was involved in the derivatives deals, which could cost the bank 720 million euros.

The scandal has spread from the rolling hills of Tuscany to the skyscraper that houses the European Central Bank (ECB) in Frankfurt.

ECB head Mario Draghi was Bank of Italy governor at the time of Monte Paschi's risky operations and has been accused of lax oversight on his watch.

Despite being deeply concerned by Monte Paschi as long ago as 2009 and having specific and growing doubts about its operations and accounts, the Bank of Italy revealed that it did not summon the bank's management until late 2011 and applied no sanctions until after the executives stepped down last year.

Mario Borghezio, an outspoken member of the European parliament for the Northern League, said he had submitted a question to the European Commission on whether Draghi was now fit to become the supervisor for the entire euro zone.

After the court hearing on Saturday, Codacons called on the central bank's governor to resign and for an administrator to be appointed to run Monte Paschi.

Codacons has accused Bank of Italy supervisors of failing in their oversight when Monte Paschi undertook the complicated derivatives operations.

It had asked the court to block the central bank's plans to issue so-called Monti bonds to cover the losses run up by Monte Paschi. It is also suing the central bank for 3.9 billion euro ($5.34 billion), the same amount of bonds it wants blocked.

In a statement, the Bank of Italy said it would release the court documents concerning the bond issue ahead of the February 20 hearing and rejected Codacons' accusations as "unfounded and presumptuous". ($1 = 0.7301 euros)

(Additional reporting by Antonella Cinelli, Paolo Biondi and Gavin Jones; writing by Philip Pullella, editing by William Hardy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/italy-group-wants-central-banks-head-over-mps-123526137--finance.html

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WordPress Backup, Data Recovery and Its Significance | Design ...

No one needs an introduction to WordPress! With powerful features and more than millions of users, everyone knows WordPress is a best platform for blogging and developing online sales. The technology advancement in the recent times not only points out we have more numbers of users worldwide but also greater online threats. No matter what it is, protecting your computer from various threats is a must. Unnoticed online threats could easily bring down the performance of your system below par and as a result you would lose precious customers. Threats like computer breakdowns, malware, virus attacks may force your system lose data which in turn leads to dramatic decline in sales due to slow performance of your system.

Why data backup?

One may wonder what exactly is the need for data backup! For instance, you have some confidential or business-related files in the system and it gets crashed immediately due to some vicious attacks. How will you retrieve the data lost? Without the data you won?t be able to take your business further, in fact, you may have to confront a hefty loss in the near future. Losing sensitive data in the system equals losing your customers, which in turn profit. To sum up, data backup can never be overlooked and has to be accounted for. It is always better to keep a copy of your data in the system to stay safe whenever the system crashes down due to various reasons. It is for this reason WordPress comes up with plenty of extensions to pull people out of troubles due to data loss debacle.

Plugins for data backup

On deciding to backup your data against threats, it is better to educate you with a few WordPress plugins specifically designed for this purpose. Remember, there are plenty of backup widgets of different styles and features, and finding the right one mayn?t be that difficult. But, pick the best one that suits your business needs to protect all your business information. Applying the perfect extension is more important for a threat-free safe website rather than ending up with a plugin that never fits in to your requirement. The widget should be extremely easy to set up with impressive features. And more importantly, it should be capable of copying the entire data in another location with ease. It is highly recommended that check the functionality of the plugin beforehand buying it. In fact most online stores that sell the plugin have the demo feature which can be utilized while purchasing a perfect plugin.

Data recovery

While copying the data and storing it in another location is important, restoring the data after sometime is more significant too. Data recovery is the crucial part and it is where the efficiency of the plugin will be highly exposed. Though there are a lot of extensions in the online market, not all have the ability to restore data effectively. This may be due to various reasons like outdated product, not updated or upgraded for quite a while. So, when you buy a product make sure whether it is the recent model as well as check whether it can be upgraded or updated in the upcoming years. Manual data backups are no longer encouraged as there are still possibilities of being attacked by vulnerable even after copying to another location. So, go for a best widget capable of backing up data as well as restoring it dynamically.

List of plugins for data backup:

Here, I have mentioned some of the popular and widely used plugins for backing up data. The best WP plugins include:

UpdraftPlus Backup:Backup and restore your content and database can be automatically backed up to Amazon S3, Dropbox, Google Drive, FTP or email, on separate schedules.

Simple Backup:Simple Backup Plugin for WordPress create and download backups of your WordPress website. Plugin can also optionally perform many common optimizations to wordpress and MySQL Database before backup.Requires linux style server with tar, gzip, bzip or zip for backup file creation.

WP Backitup Lite:WP Backitup Lite creates a backup zip of your site?s content and configuration in just a single click, right from your WordPress dashboard. There is no need to FTP into your site and no knowledge of MySQL or PHPMyAdmin is required.

WP DB-Manager: Simple yet effective online database management plugin capable of copying as well as restoring data effectively. It copies the data automatically and stores it in another location.

BackWPup: It is an excellent choice as it not only backs up data effectively but also allows to export XML files, and saves them in the zip, tar formats easily.

WordPress Backup to Dropbox:Keep your valuable WordPress website, its media and database backed up to Dropbox in minutes with this sleek, easy to use plugin.

WordPress EZ Backup: Allows you to create the complete backup archives of the entire WP site. It is simple to set and install at the same time quite easy to use.

PressBackup:Easily backup your WordPress site and use our cloud storage service for free! or choose to save backups on DropBox, Amazon S3, or a server folder.

Online Backup for WordPress:Online Backup for WordPress allows you to easily backup your WordPress site with encryption to email, download or free 100 MB secure online storage.

XCloner ? Backup and Restore:XCloner is a full backup and restore plugin for WordPress, it will backup and restore both files and database.

All the plugins mentioned above are of high quality and implementing them in your websites would completely minimize impact of attacks on your data. Never take the data backup issue for granted, as it has the ability to ruin the entire performance of website in no time. Most of the websites that perform slowly will have definite problems. In order to safeguard your website and to retrieve data whenever you want, it is suggested to make use of different useful and interesting WP plugins available online. In fact, numerous companies cater various types of WP plugins for data backup and restoration. Compare the quality, pricing, and services firsthand before ending up with one.

I hope everyone enjoyed this article. So, if you are an online entrepreneur never hesitate to install the high-quality WP plugins to make sure your site is completely free from all kinds of threats.

Source: http://designbeep.com/2013/02/01/wordpress-backup-data-recovery-and-its-significance/

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This Must Be the Secret Door to Superman's Fortress of Solitude

Here's the secret door to Superman's Fortress of Solitude. Or its toilet pipe. Or just an awesome photo of an ice column in a tunnel carved in the rock, near Lake Tahoe. In any case, a beautiful image. [Full Frame Collective—Thanks Attila Nagy!] More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/6Lyi1lq6qt4/this-must-be-the-secret-door-to-supermans-fortress-of-solitude

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Facebook stock avoids steep drop as Street rethinks results

REUTERS - Shares of Facebook Inc recovered from an 8 percent slide on Thursday, finishing the regular session down less than 1 percent, as Wall Street's initial alarm over mobile revenue results and spending plans subsided.

Facebook said on Wednesday that fourth-quarter mobile advertising revenue doubled from the third quarter, but the results failed to live up to some investors' high expectations. Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg's comments about boosting spending in the coming year signaled that profit margins will be under pressure, adding to concerns.

"The initial fast money said earnings are going down, numbers are coming down, the stock is going to get hit," said Macquarie Research analyst Ben Schachter.

"But the more people thought about it throughout the day, the momentum changed and longer-term investors won out, saying these are investments we think they should be making," he said.

Facebook has long established itself as one of the most popular websites with more than a billion users, but investors have worried that until the company's mobile advertising strategy takes off, revenue growth will remain shaky.

Three brokerages downgraded the stock, but most analysts said investor expectations were too high and Facebook's mobile advertising business was a good long-term bet.

Pivotal Research Group analyst Brian Wieser upgraded Facebook to a "buy" rating on Thursday, calling Wall Street's reaction to the results "downright dazed."

The stock market incorrectly interpreted Facebook's "mobile revenue figures as a negative when in fact they are part of a story that we can see as qualitatively more favorable," Wieser said.

Shares of the company finished regular trading on Thursday down 0.8 percent at $30.98 on the Nasdaq. Earlier in the session, the stock fell as low as $28.74. Facebook stock has lost more than a quarter of its value since its botched debut in May.

The company reported a better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit on Wednesday and said mobile advertising revenue doubled to $306 million, suggesting it was making inroads into handheld devices such as smartphones and tablets.

Investors were looking for at least $350 million in mobile advertising revenue, Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster said in a note to clients.

"While the trajectory of mobile growth may not be as steep as some investors were hoping, the theme of mobile as the future of Facebook remains intact," Munster said.

BMO Capital Markets analyst Daniel Salmon, however, said Facebook's 2013 stock performance would not be dictated by its ability to generate mobile ad dollars. He downgraded the stock on Thursday to "market perform" from "outperform."

Salmon said new catalysts were necessary to drive Facebook's stock price up.

(Reporting by Neha Alawadhi and Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore and Alexei Oreskovic in San Francisco; editing by Saumyadeb Chakrabarty and Matthew Lewis)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/facebook-stock-avoids-steep-drop-street-rethinks-results-231148433--finance.html

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The Spectacular St Lucia Jazz Festival

Every year, people travel to the Caribbean to experience the beautiful beaches, eclectic culture, and luxury hotels. St Lucia, however, also has an exciting annual event that draws audiences and performers from all over the world: the Jazz Festival! The festival has been going strong for over 20 years, which is remarkable when you consider that most festivals tail off and die after their sixth or seventh year. Also incredible when considering that the festival is sustained on the tiny island it is definitely something that the locals can be proud of. If you're travelling to the Caribbean this spring, you should really consider stopping off to enjoy this special annual event.

History of the festival

In 1992, in an attempt to extend the tourist season past the springtime and into May (previously a quiet month for the island's tourism) the first Jazz Festival was launched. The first few years were small, with few performers and attendees but, as the years went on, coverage of the festival increased due to BET J TV network, and other media outlets. Now it is a well-established jazz festival with an international audience, and the island has become famous for something beyond its beautiful beaches and luxury hotels. St Lucia's jazz festival has grown into its reputation, and has become famous for the quality of its musical performers it is now even on top of a list by E! Entertainment magazine's Top 5 Festivals in the World. 2011 saw the festival celebrate its 20th anniversary!

The festival in 2013

This year the 22nd Annual Saint Lucia Jazz Festival will take place from the 30th of April to the 12th of May 2013. This year's line up has yet to be announced, but the previous years' festivals have seen performers such as Toni Braxton, Ziggy Marley, the Gipsy Kings, The Derek Yarde Project, Steel Pulse, and a performance by the Saint Lucia School of Music. The festival performances are usually held in urban public places, amongst the city's attractions and luxury hotels. St Lucia's springtime weather is the perfect accompaniment to these outdoor concerts.

How to get there and where to stay

There are non-stop services from New York's JFK; Charlotte, NC; Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Airport; and Philadelphia. Air Canada offers flights from Toronto Pearson International Airport. Condor has a flight that flies non-stop from Frankfurt, Germany to Hewanorra International Airport at Vieux Fort (UVF). But perhaps most conveniently is the British Airways non-stop service between London Gatwick Airport and Hewanorra International Airport. Travelling between the regional islands are the airlines LIAT (which offers many flights and travel connections to nearby islands and international destinations), Air Caraibes (connecting Martinique and the island), and WinAir (which flies regionally but also to the northern Antilles).

Once you arrive there are many accommodation options to choose from whether you want an out of town resort to take advantage of the beaches or a centre luxury hotel. St Lucia's tourist economy is growing along with the choices for accommodation.

About the Author:
Ross Stevenson is the General Manager of Cap Maison. With a reputation as the foremost luxury hotel on St Lucia, they provide a wide selection of services for those looking for luxury hotels, St Lucia as well as honeymoon options for couples who want to enjoy a blissful Caribbean experience.

Source: http://www.articlesnatch.com/Article/The-Spectacular-St-Lucia-Jazz-Festival/4411341

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Americans largely support women in military combat, poll finds

Published: Wednesday, January 30, 2013 at 11:39 AM.

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The U.S. public solidly backs the decision to allow women to serve in combat units, but is unsure whether the change is major or minor, according to a poll released Tuesday.

According to the survey from the PewResearchCenter for the People & the Press and The Washington Post, 66 percent said they support allowing women in the military to serve in ground units that engage in close combat, compared with 26 percent who said they oppose the changed policy announced last week by Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta. The breakdown is about the same from a Washington Post/ABC poll two years ago.

But the public split evenly at 47 percent between those who thought the policy was a major or minor change, according to the survey.

The poll was conducted among 1,005 adults between Thursday and Sunday ? after Panetta announced the new policy. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

Panetta said on Jan. 23 that the military would end the ban, a move that had been expected in part because of the growing number of women who have already served in combat situations in Iraq and Afghanistan. The new policy opens up thousands of front-line positions for women and likely increases their opportunities for advancement.

Opponents say allowing women to have a greater combat role could hurt military effectiveness. But 49 percent of those surveyed rejected that idea, saying the change would not make much of a difference in military effectiveness.

Of those who said it would have an impact on effectiveness, 29 percent said it would improve it while 15 percent said it would decrease it.

The was no real difference between men?s and women?s responses, but there was a difference by age. Older Americans were less supportive of the change than younger ones. Among those 65 and older, 52 percent said they support the change while 36 percent said they were opposed. Of those younger than 50, 72 percent said they supported allowing women to serve in combat roles.

The policy change was supported across the political spectrum, though it varied by political party. About 76 percent of Democrats and 65 percent of independents said they support allowing women to serve in combat units. A smaller majority of Republicans ? 55 percent ? said they favored the change.

Source: http://www.jdnews.com/news/military/americans-largely-support-women-in-military-combat-poll-finds-1.86719

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IBM Sends Watson to NY College to Boost Its Skills

TROY, N.Y. (AP) -- Watson, the supercomputer famous for beating the world's best human "Jeopardy!" champions, is going to college.

IBM is announcing Wednesday that it will provide a Watson system to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, the first time the computer is being sent to a university. Just like the flesh-and-blood students who will work on it, Watson is leaving home to sharpen its skills. Course work will include English and math.

"It's a big step for us," said Michael Henesey, IBM's vice president of business development. "We consider it absolutely strategic technology for IBM in the future. And we want to evolve it, of course, thoughtfully, but also in collaboration with the best and brightest in academia."

Watson is a cognitive system that can process massive amounts of data, including natural language. To beat "Jeopardy!" champions in 2011, it was fed the contents of encyclopedias, dictionaries, books, news dispatches and movie scripts. For its medical work, it takes in medical textbooks and journals. After it takes in data, Watson can provide information like a "Jeopardy!" answer, a medical diagnosis or an estimate of financial risk.

IBM, which provided a grant to RPI to operate Watson for three years, sees it as a way to help it boost the computer's cognitive capabilities.

Artificial intelligence researchers at RPI want to do things like improve Watson's mathematical ability and help it quickly figure out the meaning of new or made-up words. They want to improve its ability to handle the torrent of images, videos and emails on the Web, the sort of unstructured information that is overwhelmingly fueling the data boom.

For Selmer Bringsjord, who heads RPI's department of cognitive science, getting a crack at Watson is like a car aficionado being tossed the keys to a souped-up Lamborghini. Bringsjord said he and his graduate students could potentially focus on providing Watson with a deeper understanding of the structure of sentences and how dialogues unfold.

"If I can make a tiny, tiny contribution in that direction, given how historic the system is, I'd be very happy and I think my graduate students would be as well," Bringsjord said.

The original Watson remains at IBM's Research Headquarters in Westchester County, about 100 miles south of the school. RPI has hardware fully dedicated to running the system's software at its supercomputing center in the Rensselaer Tech Park near the school. RPI's version of Watson has 15 terabytes of memory, enough to store a massive library. It will allow 20 users to access the system at once.

IBM has worked collaboratively with other outside institutions on Watson, such as Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, New York-based Citigroup Inc. and the Cleveland Clinic. But this is the first time hardware fully dedicated to running the Watson software is being installed at a college.

Officials with IBM and RPI say Watson's college tenure also will prepare RPI students for jobs in cognitive science and "big data," a field where demand is quickly outpacing supply. John Kolb, RPI's chief information officer, said he would like the next generation of the school's technology graduates "to help IBM take Watson to the next level."

Source: http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_WATSON_TO_COLLEGE?SITE=NDBIS&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2013-01-30-03-04-36

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