Mediator gets NHL, union back together

NEW YORK (AP) ? A federal mediator has finally been able to get the NHL and the players' association back together Saturday for their first face-to-face meeting since talks broke down two days earlier.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman and deputy commissioner Bill Daly went to union headquarters for what a players' association spokesman called a "small group meeting" with the sides and mediator Scot Beckenbaugh.

Beckenbaugh had already held separate meetings with the union and league Saturday before bringing them together.

Beckenbaugh spent more than 12 hours Friday walking back and forth between the Manhattan headquarters of each side ? beginning at 10 a.m. EST and wrapping things up shortly before 11 p.m.

While Beckenbaugh never got the league and the union in the same room then, enough was accomplished to convince the sides to keep going.

"I'm looking forward to continuing the process," Daly wrote to The Associated Press in an email late Friday night.

Beckenbaugh began Saturday by holding a meeting with the union and then walked over to talk to NHL officials. He then made the trek back to the players' association for the group meeting shortly before 1 p.m.

With the hockey season hanging in the balance, Saturday could prove to be a pivotal day on all fronts. The sides have less than a week to reach a new collective bargaining agreement to save what would likely be a 48-game hockey season.

Beckenbaugh also took part in talks during the 2004-05 lockout, which forced the cancellation of the whole season.

The players' association will conclude a two-day vote among its members at 6 p.m. Saturday that will determine whether the union's executive board will again have the authority to declare a disclaimer of interest.

If the vote passes, as expected, the disclaimer can be issued, and the union would dissolve and become a trade association. That could send this fight to the courts and put the season in jeopardy. The disclaimer would allow players to file individual antitrust suits against the NHL.

Earlier this week, a self-imposed deadline expired on the first authorization that union members gave the board. The initial threat seemed to work in getting the NHL back to the bargaining table, but talks broke down Wednesday night after the deadline passed without action taken by the union.

Now the players want to regain the leverage the potential disclaimer gives them.

Bettman set a Jan. 11 deadline for a deal so the season can begin eight days later. A 48-game season is the minimum Bettman said the league would play.

All games through Jan. 14, along with the All-Star game, have been canceled, claiming more than 50 percent of the original schedule.

Trust has become a major impediment in the talks that appear to have been rescued to some extent by Beckenbaugh.

On Thursday morning, the sides solved a problem that arose regarding the reporting by clubs of hockey-related revenue, and how both sides sign off on the figures at the end of the fiscal year. The union felt the language had been changed without proper notification. That dispute was ended in about an hour, but clearly discord was present in the talks.

Another small meeting, the second of the day without union head Donald Fehr, addressed the pension plan. That one lasted just under two hours and marked the last time the sides met this week.

The players' association held a late Thursday afternoon conference call to initiate its second vote on the disclaimer of interest.

A sense of progress might be why the union didn't declare the disclaimer Wednesday, but any optimism created after the deadline passed has taken several hits since.

The NHLPA filed a motion in federal court in New York seeking to dismiss the league's suit to have the lockout declared legal. The NHL sued the union in mid-December, figuring the players were about to submit their own complaint against the league.

But the union argued that the NHL is using this suit "to force the players to remain in a union. Not only is it virtually unheard of for an employer to insist on the unionization of its employees, it is also directly contradicted by the rights guaranteed to employees under ... the National Labor Relations Act."

The court scheduled a status conference for the sides on Monday.

The sides have traded four proposals in the past week ? two by each side ? but none has gained enough traction. Getting an agreement on a pension plan would likely go a long way toward a deal that would put hockey back on the ice.

Fehr believed a plan for a players-funded pension was established before talks blew up in early December. That apparently wasn't the case, or the NHL changed its offer regarding the pension in exchange for agreeing to other things the union wanted.

The salary-cap number for the second year of the deal ? the 2013-14 season ? hasn't been agreed to, and is another major point of contention. The league is pushing for a $60 million cap, while the union wants it to be $65 million with a floor of $44 million.

In return for the higher cap, players would be willing to forgo a cap on escrow.

Other issues still needing resolution include the maximum length of player contracts, the yearly variance in salary of those individual deals, and how long the CBA should be in effect.

Both sides seem content on it lasting for 10 years, but they have different opinions on whether an opt-out should be allowed to be exercised after seven years or eight.

Last season, the NHL posted record revenues of $3.3 billion. The sides seem likely to agree on a 50-50 split of the pot in any new deal.

The NHL is the only North American professional sports league to cancel a season because of a labor dispute, losing the 2004-05 campaign to a lockout. A 48-game season was played in 1995 after a lockout stretched into January.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/mediator-gets-nhl-union-back-together-180908618--nhl.html

southern miss rod blagojevich rod blagojevich uconn ncaa march madness mario williams vcu

Parents: No word on US journalist missing in Syria

ROCHESTER, N.H. (AP) ? From their New Hampshire home, the parents of a foreign journalist who has been missing in Syria since he was kidnapped more than a month ago appealed to his captors for compassion and any information about their son's health and welfare.

Thirty-nine-year-old James Foley was kidnapped in northwest Syria by unknown gunmen on Nov. 22, his parents said Thursday. He was in the country contributing videos to Agence France-Press, which has vowed to help secure his release.

Foley's parents, John and Diane Foley, decided to hold a news conference at their home to make a public plea to his captors because the Foleys haven't received any information about their son in six weeks.

"We just don't know anything," Diane Foley said. "We don't know who has him."

They have kept the Christmas holiday lights on in the windows of their Rochester home as a vigil for their son's safe return.

"I appeal to the people who have Jim to let us know where he is and to help us secure his release," John Foley said. "We just pray that he's released."

Twenty-eight journalists were killed in Syria in 2012, prompting the Committee to Protect Journalists to name Syria the most dangerous country in the world to work in last year.

The Foleys would not discuss any detail about efforts through the U.S. government or otherwise to secure their son's release. Not long ago, they lived through the same anguish and fear over their son's safety.

In 2011, Foley was held by government forces in Libya while covering that country's civil war. Another journalist ? South African photographer Anton Hammerl ? was shot during their capture and left to die in the desert. Foley and another journalist were released after six weeks.

"I'll regret that day for the rest of my life," James Foley told The Associated Press in 2011. "I'll regret what happened to Anton."

Foley has worked in a number of conflict zones in the Middle East, including Syria, Libya and Iraq. He and another journalist were working in the northern province of Idlib in Syria when they were kidnapped in November near the village of Taftanaz. Agence France-Press Chairman Emmanuel Hoog has said the agency is doing all it can to secure Foley's release.

"He's passionate about giving life to stories of people in conflict areas," Foley's father said Thursday.

Asked if Foley had any reservations about going to Syria, Diane Foley replied softly: "Not enough."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/parents-no-word-us-journalist-missing-syria-204506500.html

Ryan Lanza Sandy Hook justin bieber kanye west cbs Univision josh hamilton

Best evidence yet that dinosaurs used feathers the way peacocks do, for courtship

Jan. 4, 2013 ? A University of Alberta researcher's examination of fossilized dinosaur tail bones has led to a breakthrough finding: some feathered dinosaurs used tail plumage to attract mates, much like modern-day peacocks and turkeys.

U of A Paleontology researcher Scott Persons followed a chain of fossil evidence that started with a peculiar fusing together of vertebrae at the tip of the tail of four different species of dinosaurs, some separated in time and evolution by 45 million years.

Persons says the final vertebrae in the tails of a group of dinosaurs called oviraptors were fused together forming a ridged, blade-like structure. "The structure is called a pygostyle" says Persons. "Among modern animals only birds have them."

Researchers say fossils of Similicaudiptery, an early oviraptor, reveals feathers radiating from the fused bones at the tail tip. Similicaudiptery was not known to be a flying dinosaur and Persons contends its tail feathers evolved as a means of waving its feathered tail fans.

No direct fossil evidence of feathers has been found with the fossils of the oviraptors that followed Similicaudiptery, but Persons says there is still strong evidence they had a feathered tail.

Persons reasons that because the later oviraptor had the same tail structure as the feathered Similicaudipteryx, the tails of later oviraptors' still served the same purpose, waving feathered tail fans.

Persons says the hypothesis of oviraptor tail waving is supported by both the bone and muscle structure of the tail.

Individual vertebrae at the base of an oviraptor's tail were short and numerous, indicating great flexibility. Based on dissections of modern reptile and bird tails, Persons reconstruction of the dinosaur's tail muscles revealed oviraptors had what it took to really shake their tail feathers.

Large muscles extended far down the tail and had a sufficient number of broad connection points to the vertebrae to propel oviraptor's tail feathers vigorously from side to side and up and down.

Oviraptors were two-legged dinosaurs that had already gone through major diversifications from the iconic, meat eating dinosaur family. Oviraptors were plant eaters that roamed parts of China, Mongolia, and Alberta during the Cretaceous period, the final age of the dinosaur.

"By this time a variety of dinosaurs used feathers for flight and insulation from the cold, "said Persons. "This shows that by the Late Cretaceous dinosaurs were doing everything with feathers that modern birds do now," said Persons.

In addition to feathered-tail waving, oviraptors also had prominent bone crests on their head, which Persons says the dinosaur also may have used in mating displays.

"Between the crested head and feathered-tail shaking, oviraptors had a propensity for visual exhibitionism," said Persons.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Alberta, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. W. Scott Persons, IV, Philip J. Currie, and Mark A. Norell. Oviraptorosaur tail forms and functions. Acta Palaeontologica Polonica, 2013; DOI: 10.4202/app.2012.0093

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/x2ByDaagx0A/130104083114.htm

sopa and pipa piracy sopa marg helgenberger censorship wikipedia sopa and pipa bills

Drowsy Driving: Report Shows 1 In 24 Admit Nodding Off While Behind The Wheel

NEW YORK ? This could give you nightmares: 1 in 24 U.S. adults say they recently fell asleep while driving.

And health officials think the number is probably higher. That's because some people don't realize it when they nod off for a second or two behind the wheel.

In a government study released Thursday, a little over 4 percent of U.S. adults said they fell asleep while driving at least once in the previous month. Some earlier studies reached a similar conclusion, but the survey by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was far larger.

The study found drowsy driving was more common in men and in people ages 25 to 34.

The results are from a survey of 147,000 adults in 2009 and 2010.

___

Online:

CDC report: http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr

Also on HuffPost:

"; var coords = [-5, -72]; // display fb-bubble FloatingPrompt.embed(this, html, undefined, 'top', {fp_intersects:1, timeout_remove:2000,ignore_arrow: true, width:236, add_xy:coords, class_name: 'clear-overlay'}); });

Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/03/drowsy-driving-statistics-rate-_n_2403323.html

beverly hilton hotel whitney houston found dead i will always love you whitney houston 2012 grammy awards powerball results pebble beach golf beverly hilton

BG/SBLC Financial Instruments For Lease - AgricultureInformation ...

We have a direct genuine provider for BG/ SBLC specifically for lease, at leasing price of 6+2 of face value, Issuance by HSBC London/Hong Kong or any other AA rated Bank in Europe, Middle East or USA.

All inquires to Mr. Lawrence Hayton should include the following minimum information so I can quickly address your needs:

Complete contact information:
What exactly do you need?
How long do you need it for?
Are you a principal borrower or a broker?

---

Last edited by moderator A; 21 Hours Ago at 08:37 AM. Reason: only premium members are allowed to post contact info. please click My Account to upgrade

Source: http://www.agricultureinformation.com/forums/finance-agriculture-ventures/104311-bg-sblc-financial-instruments-lease.html

oakland shooting mega millions winning numbers autism speaks ubaldo jimenez ncaa final country music awards autism awareness

Smarter automakers, confident consumers driving car sales back up (+video)

Despite being near collapse four years ago, the US automotive industry is seeing annual sales that are climbing steadily back up toward pre-recession levels.

By Mark Guarino,?Staff writer / January 3, 2013

In this December photo, Honda Civic and Honda CRVs are seen outside of a Honda car dealership in Des Plaines, Ill. The US automotive industry is creeping back up, the combined sales of light trucks and vehicles in 2012 reached 14.5 million units, a 13 percent increase from the previous year.

Nam Y. Huh/AP

Enlarge

Even though it neared collapse four short years ago, the US automotive industry is creeping back up toward year-end unit sales it enjoyed before the recession hit in 2008.

Skip to next paragraph

' + google_ads[0].line2 + '
' + google_ads[0].line3 + '

'; } else if (google_ads.length > 1) { ad_unit += ''; } } document.getElementById("ad_unit").innerHTML += ad_unit; google_adnum += google_ads.length; return; } var google_adnum = 0; google_ad_client = "pub-6743622525202572"; google_ad_output = 'js'; google_max_num_ads = '1'; google_feedback = "on"; google_ad_type = "text"; google_adtest = "on"; google_image_size = '230x105'; google_skip = '0'; // -->

Subscribe Today to the Monitor

Click Here for your FREE 30 DAYS of
The Christian Science Monitor
Weekly Digital Edition

The combined sales of light trucks and vehicles in 2012 reached 14.5 million units, a 13 percent increase from the previous year. In 2007, one year before the economic crisis, automakers reported selling 16.5 million vehicles, but by 2009, sales plunged to 10.3 million sold.

While the annual growth in sales has been modest at times, unit sales are expected to once again break the 16 million barrier by 2015, says automotive analysis firm R.L. Polk & Co. of Southfield, Mich.

?The industry right-sized itself,? says Lonnie Miller, vice president of marketing and industry analysis at Polk. ?Now you?re seeing the car companies operate in an environment where consumers are feeling better about buying, automakers are not putting unnecessary product into production or giving away incentives to drive sales artificially.

?That,? he says, ?will ultimately help profitability and drive true competition. The ones really hurting in the recession got very aggressive about fixing what needed to be done.?

Several economic factors are driving sales upward: easier credit availability, lowering interest rates for financing and leasing, and a stabilizing housing market that, while not directly related to automotive sales, ?is making people feel better in general about their economic situation,? says Jessica Caldwell, a senior analyst at Edmunds.com, an automotive analysis firm in Santa Monica, Ca.

Consumers are holding onto their cars longer than they ever have in the past, choosing to repair or maintain their vehicles rather than spend more to purchase new. However, the breaking point to ditch the old vehicles and head to the showroom seems to have arrived: The average age of vehicles on US roads is now 11.2 years, says Polk. While some of those older vehicles may remain on the driveway ? the average US household owns 2 vehicles ? others may be ditched for refreshed vehicles that offer better safety features and improved fuel economy.

Of the three US automakers, the Chrysler Group saw the greatest boost in year-to-year sales gains, with sales soaring 21 percent in 2012, compared with Ford Motor Co. and General Motors, which enjoyed 4.7 percent and 3.7 percent sales gains, respectively.

Chrysler said Wednesday its year-end sales of 1.7 million vehicles represented its best year since 2007. In a statement, the company reported that its continued sales records are the result of sales increases in its Jeep brand, which increased 13 percent last year over the year before, and Dodge, which had the largest sales volume of any Chrysler Group brand.

Ford sold 2.2 million units and GM 2.6 million in 2012. In a teleconference with reporters Thursday, Ford US Sales Analyst Erich Merkle said the company was enjoying a 29 percent sales boost from its small car segment, such as the Focus, Fiesta, and C-Max, which is higher than the industry average. While the company?s truck division remains strong ? the company?s F-Series of pickup trucks remain the best-selling brand in its segment ? Focus sales increased 40 percent and are responsible for a third of sales growth, more than any other Ford model.

Japanese automakers Honda, Nissan, and Toyota also demonstrated they were in full recovery from the 2011 tsunami and earthquake that depleted inventories and subsequently hurt sales. Toyota unit sales increased 27 percent, while Honda trailed at 24 percent and Nissan at 10 percent.

Ms. Caldwell noted that Toyota represented the greatest percentage increase in year-to-year unit sales for any automaker and predicted that Prius, its best-selling hybrid brand, ?should only get more popular as the hybrid and electric market steadily gains more steam.?

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/n2cyP8rNwh8/Smarter-automakers-confident-consumers-driving-car-sales-back-up-video

accuweather Finding Nemo 2 Provigil denver post dez bryant Kitty Wells Marissa Mayer

Scarlett Johansson: Marriage "Has No Relevance to Me Right Now ...

Been there, done that.

Scarlett Johansson has seen what married life has to offer, and though she says she enjoyed it at the time, she's not rushing to walk down the aisle again anytime soon -- if ever.

PHOTOS: Scarlett's romantic history

"I never think about marriage," the Hitchcock actress, 28, tells Elle UK of tying the knot. "Is that weird? The only time I ever think about it is when people ask me, 'Would I get married again?' It's really not important to me. It has no relevance to me right now."

That hasn't always been the case, of course. Johansson was famously, if briefly, married to Safe House actor Ryan Reynolds from 2008 to 2010. And though the couple separated after just two years together, she says the experience was what she wanted it to be at that point in her life.

PHOTOS: Scarlett and Ryan, the way they were

"I got married when I was young and it was incredibly romantic and I liked being married, actually," she explains of her relationship with Reynolds, who recently wed his Green Lantern costar Blake Lively in a secret ceremony in South Carolina. "But it is different. It's hard to put into words."

Johansson, who dated Sean Penn and ad exec Nate Naylor after splitting from Reynolds in 2010, has most recently been stepping out with French journalist Romain Dauriac. And it sounds like they're happily committed, ring or no ring.

PHOTOS: Shocking celeb splits

"I'm not having kids any time soon. I'm in a nice relationship, I'm working a lot and, like I said, [marriage is] not important to me," she tells Elle, later adding, "To me, being in a functioning relationship doesn't mean you have to be married."

The more important thing, she says, is to find someone who challenges you and makes you better. "I look for a partner who is creative," she explains, noting that relationships with fellow actors can be "monotonous." "I like people that have a colorful way of looking at things, that are inspiring and like art, music and film."

Source: http://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/scarlett-johansson-marriage-has-no-relevance-to-me-right-now--201321

Olympic Schedule Kyla Ross Ryan Lochte Montenegro Olympic Games Dana Vollmer phillies