Grand Rapids, MI -- (SBWIRE) -- 08/02/2012 -- Citing the value of contractors to the local economy, Compass Insurance Agency breaks down some of the insurance needs for contractors, subcontractors, and independent contractors in a new article.
The article talks about liability insurance, workers compensation, commercial auto, and disability insurance in an attempt to motivate local contractors to observe their commercial insurance needs.
Compass Insurance Agency located in Grand Rapids, Michigan would like to announce some policies that help small business owners stay covered with all their needs. Please visit: http://compassagy.com/insurance-for-contractors/ to find out how Compass Insurance Agency can help your small business.
About Compass Insurance Agency Compass Insurance Agency has a vision for helping people find broad coverage at a competitive price. They shop for you with multiple insurance companies which saves you time and money.
Contact Address: 2258 28th St SE Grand Rapids, MI 49508 Phone: (616) 245-5555 Email: info@compassagy.com
Forex Flash: Market reaction to Fed and ECB announcements remarkably ... NASDAQ FXstreet.com (C?rdoba) - The dollar and yen are firmer, while the euro and most other foreign currencies are down as the ECB failed to implement new measures at today's policy announcement, according to the Wells Fargo team. "The euro initially rose as ...
and more??
Read the full story here....
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Related Posts
Forex Flash: Expect additional follow thru in Majors early in the week ? BBH ? NASDAQ
July 30th, 2012 Forex Flash: Expect additional follow thru in Majors early in the week - BBH NASDAQ FXstreet.com (Barcelona) - The investment environment is punctuated with event risks this week, says Marc Chandler, Global Head of Currency Strategy at BBH, who anticipates "some additional follow through gains in the major foreign currencies, except ...
and more??
On The Money: Converting currencies ? Albany Times Union
July 22nd, 2012 On The Money: Converting currencies Albany Times Union If you're interested with dabbling in the currency exchange markets or planning travel for a business or leisure, the following sites offer the latest exchange rates for the U.S. dollar against a range of foreign currencies. Bloomberg: Provides foreign ...
and more??
Online resources for converting currencies ? STLtoday.com
July 22nd, 2012 Online resources for converting currencies STLtoday.com If you're interested with dabbling in the currency exchange markets or planning to travel for business or leisure, the following sites offer the latest exchange rates for the U.S. dollar against a range of foreign currencies. Bloomberg ? Provides ...
and more??
Help in converting currencies ? The Seattle Times
July 22nd, 2012 Help in converting currencies The Seattle Times If you're interested with dabbling in the currency-exchange markets or planning travel for a business or leisure, the following sites offer the latest exchange rates for the U.S. dollar against a range of foreign currencies. Bloomberg: Provides foreign ...
and more??
Forex Open Interest Hits Record High At CME As Euro Fears Rise ? Wall Street Journal
June 6th, 2012 Forex Open Interest Hits Record High At CME As Euro Fears Rise Wall Street Journal By HOWARD PACKOWITZ CHICAGO--Derivatives traders have built up a record number of open positions in foreign currencies, seeking to hedge their risk on mounting debt troubles in Europe and a weakening global economy, exchange operator CME Group Inc.
and more??
Forex Open Interest Hits Record High At CME As Euro Fears Rise ? NASDAQ
June 6th, 2012 Forex Open Interest Hits Record High At CME As Euro Fears Rise NASDAQ By Howard Packowitz CHICAGO--Derivatives traders have built up a record number of open positions in foreign currencies, seeking to hedge their risk on mounting debt troubles in Europe and a weakening global economy, exchange operator CME Group Inc.
and more??
Argentine Minister Denies Government Will Ban Foreign-Currency Transactions ? Wall Street Journal
June 1st, 2012 MercoPress Argentine Minister Denies Government Will Ban Foreign-Currency Transactions Wall Street Journal By Ken Parks OF DOW JONES NEWSWIRES BUENOS AIRES -(Dow Jones)- Argentine Deputy Economy Minister Axel Kicillof denied a report on Friday that the government plans to ban the use of foreign currencies in the economy, accusing the media and special ... Argentine Banks Lost $483 Million Foreign Currency Deposits Last WeekFox Business Argentina to Lower Price of Illegal Dollar, Radio Mitre SaysBloomberg ?Dollar clamp? cases will be dealt in the courts warns Argentine Chief JusticeMercoPress
all 269 news articles??
Moody?s: Significant India Rupee Depreciation Is Insignificant For Sovereign ? ? Wall Street Journal
May 28th, 2012 AFP Moody's: Significant India Rupee Depreciation Is Insignificant For Sovereign ... Wall Street Journal An article in the Weekly Credit Outlook noted that only 7% of government debts were denominated in foreign currencies, and most was owed to multilateral and bilateral creditors with a maturity profile that kept annual foreign currency repayments ... Rupee opens higher against US dollarNDTV Rupee at 55: Should you hedge your forex position?Firstpost (blog) Rupee up 32 paise against dollar in early tradeTimes of India Economic Times?-Business Today?-Channel News Asia all 123 news articles??
RBI: Foreign Currency Deposits ? Moneylife Personal Finance site and magazine
May 24th, 2012 RBI: Foreign Currency Deposits Moneylife Personal Finance site and magazine To attract inflows in view of a falling rupee, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) raised the interest rate ceiling on NRI deposits in foreign currencies by up to 3%. RBI said, ?Interest rate ceiling on Foreign Currency Non-Resident FCNR (B) deposits of ...
and more??
Currency Futures Positioning and Technical Outlook ? Business Insider
May 5th, 2012 Currency Futures Positioning and Technical Outlook Business Insider Over the last couple of weeks, we have argued that the technical tone for the major foreign currencies was more constructive than the our assessment of the fundamental backdrop. The price action following the larger than expected Australian rate cut, ...
and more??
Speculative Positioning In Currency Futures ? Seeking Alpha
April 22nd, 2012 Speculative Positioning In Currency Futures Seeking Alpha The speculative community is net short the major foreign currencies (euro, yen, sterling, Swiss franc) and long the dollar-bloc (Australian and Canadian dollars) and Mexican peso. Euro: The net short euro position grew to 118.1k contracts from 101.4k.
and more??
Speculative Positioning in the Currency Futures ? Business Insider
April 21st, 2012 Speculative Positioning in the Currency Futures Business Insider The speculative community is net short the major foreign currencies (euro, yen, sterling, Swiss franc) and long the dollar-bloc (Australian and Canadian dollars) and Mexican peso. Euro: The net short euro position grew to 118.1k contracts from 101.4k.
April 20th, 2012 Forex Flash: Bullish on foreign currencies near-term ? Wells Fargo Forexrazor High-Risk Warning Forex, Futures, and Options trading has large potential rewards, but also large potential risks. The high degree of leverage can work against you as well as for you. You must be aware of the risks of investing in forex, futures, ...
and more??
Costco misses targets on foreign currency woes ? Chicago Tribune
April 5th, 2012 Costco misses targets on foreign currency woes Chicago Tribune Costco Wholesale Corp. posted a 6 percent rise in March same-store sales that fell short of market expectations, partly hurt by weak foreign currencies compared with the US dollar. Analysts were expecting same-store sales, or sales in stores open for ...
and more??
India Said to Plan Using Foreign Currency for Iran Oil Deals ? BusinessWeek
March 27th, 2012 AFP India Said to Plan Using Foreign Currency for Iran Oil Deals BusinessWeek By Pratish Narayanan and Anto Antony on March 28, 2012 India may continue paying for Iranian (OPCRIRAN) oil in foreign currencies until European Union sanctions take effect in July, when buyers will start using rupees, according to two people with ... India may face currency issue with crudeUPI.com India ready to buy Iranian oil with rupeesRT
I am not your renovator even so know something about resources: As soon as used accurately, many people get the meant effects.
animated gifs The fact is that, many resources usually are not used accurately. As well as used your screwdriver to remove your nail mallet? Sure it is possible, though with much more hard work in addition to higher trouble.
Plenty of people would not consider having a school in order to accurately make use of a mallet. After all, you'll find nothing complex regarding this, suitable? What you know already that you may accurately make use of a mallet by simply looking at them, but tend to you get the utmost benefits from them?
If you agree with a mallet is as easy as it appears to be, assess the way you make use of a mallet while using the manner your woodworker may. Some sort of woodworker discovers how to keep in addition to safely and securely make use of a mallet; the methods where you can reach your nail that has a mallet to get best installation; as well as various employs of the numerous sorts of your hammers.
The song painters who will be finding the highest possible benefits outside of Websites like myspace are the type of whom use this beneficial, marketing and advertising in addition to communication tool such as a woodworker relies on a mallet.
Listed here are tips that will aid music artists make the most of the particular marketing and advertising, promo, in addition to publicity options available throughout the good by using your Websites like myspace site.
A single.) BUILD YOUR COMMUNITY: The goal of introducing pals should be to build a swimming pool regarding potential followers. If you have A hundred and also Twelve,500 pals, it doesn't matter if solely 15 of which consistently arrived at the demonstrates. Individuals 15 : regardless of how keen : cannot you. It's a good start out, but it's other Being unfaithful,888 that could actually you (and also aid you in getting your very own simple fact television show).
Exactly how do you construct a group regarding pals that should assistance your employment? Through captivating yourself to these : away from line. It is really funny, it's really. However, you must make the songs be a factor inside customers' lifestyles. An individual, as well as your songs, have to stand for an event that people want to be a part of. I am not just simply referring to demonstrates possibly. I'm referring to meet-and-greets, jamming events, and then for any functions to help promote your manufacturer or perhaps the triggers that you simply as well as your supporters trust. This consists of social functions, fundraising events, protests, etc. Something that provides the folks with each other in person is an excellent Page rank proceed in your case.
A couple of.) Create Your own Authority: Modify the configuration settings for your opinions site to merely have a look at using your approval. This can quit ridiculous opinions in addition to advertisements by getting submitted without you knowing and also approval. Ideally, all the opinions with regards to you for your site should state to the way amazing you are just as one artist and the way much people love the songs and also shows. Everything else (even though it's actually a meaning along with a scantily clothed babe and also adorable gentleman) will not a single thing in your case hence eliminate these...except in cases where there're music and singing the praises not surprisingly. Your entire open public opinions should paint a confident photograph of you which enables you look similar to somebody value learning the needs of.
3.) Papers Your own Account: Your current Websites like myspace site should inform your history regarding achievement (and also changing achievement). Your current history usually supplies the customers together with small in addition to genuine biographical info such as your location positioned, how we began, what the aims will be, and then for any information about the upcoming demonstrates, actions, and also functions. Certainly not all your existence history. Help you save this for your site with Wikipedia. Merely include things like small, to the point paragraphs together with real info : definitely not nonsense. It is beneficial to the particular mass media, marketplace experts in addition to supporters; allow them carry out the marketing in your case.
Several.) Provide them with A REASON TO RETURN: According to Mashable.com, the key web-site this records with web 2 . 0 news in addition to studies, folks spend more time looking at photos in addition to looking through blogs and forums with Websites like myspace than they conduct following songs (which is the reason many people superior their "photo album" features). Give the supporters motivation revisit the site through usually introducing and also varying your photos in addition to blogs and forums. Understand that each the blogs and forums as well as your images type perceptions with regards to you. What images would probably your online visitors move on together with once they seen the site currently?
Your five.) Develop a Simple to use Website page: Industry experts will likely not invest Several a matter of minutes awaiting the site to insert inside. Several a matter of minutes is good enough to get Justin Timberlake in addition to Madonna to avoid wasting the entire world, but it's too much effort on your site to insert inside.
Your current site will certainly insert inside quicker in case you eliminate chaotic qualification, enormous images, substantial images, a great number of super-hero gifs, in addition to many set videos. The actual marginal procedure for embellishing the site is effective (in addition to loads inside) most effective. 1 movie (that you would like individuals concentrate on) along with a link to your complete videos upon you Conduit is the best route to take.
Pertaining to the songs, put your better ft . (as well as your most effective melody) frontward through inserting them first for your playlist. Some sort of arbitrary choosing regarding websites reveals that the particular audio with the most range of works usually are shown first, and also are actually submitted for your website a long. All of us (everyone) are simply just related to the coolest trails, as well as your newest trails. Your current site should stand for a nice sense of balance between your not one but two.
Basic suggestions will let you nail across the good by using Websites like myspace for you to conduct a lot more significant network.
The estate tax issue has basically been tabled.? Senate Democrats pulled estate tax from their tax proposal to extend the Bush tax cuts for those making less than $250,000 per year.? Evidently, the issue is too politically sensitive for politicians to handle; they would rather wait until after the election to create legislation.? However, in this case, something happens whether they want it to or not: the estate tax levels and rates change.
Now that it is a virtual certainty that Congress will not act on the estate tax before at least November, it could be difficult for clients and professionals alike to do significant planning at that point.? Thanksgiving and the December holiday period can make it difficult to accomplish much and will generally push contemplating one?s own mortality to one?s back of mind.? However, with such a dramatic increase in the estate tax, it is important to consult with your tax advisor, your attorney, and with your financial planner now to determine whether any action should be taken.
Estate planners often say that nearly everyone in California is subject to the estate tax at a $1 million exclusion amount because real estate is more expensive than in other areas of the country:? it is not uncommon for a California home-owner to have a $500,000 or more asset just to live in, which often requires its own special planning.? However, it?s important to remember that for estate tax purposes, the home is only worth its net value.? If you own a $500,000 home and have a $400,000 mortgage, for example, your home is only worth $100,000 for estate tax purposes.? In these next few months, take a really good look at what the net value of your estate would be tomorrow.? Is it over $1 million?
Your tax advisor can help you determine whether you would have a taxable estate with an estate tax exclusion amount of $1 million.? Depending on your assets, the rules can get fairly involved.? If you find that you could have a taxable estate, the next steps are: 1) If you are married consider whether you still have a taxable estate if you double your estate tax exclusion amount to $2 million. If not, verify that your trust is an A-B trust, which will allow each spouse to each use the full $1 million estate tax exclusion amount, even if Congress does not extend portability past this year. 2) If you are unmarried, or if you are married and your estate still exceeds $2 million (with an A-B trust), consider your realistic appreciation in asset value and living expenses.? If you will spend your estate below the applicable exclusion amount, then verify with your estate planning attorney that your trust continues to meet your needs.? However, you might also consider annual gifting, depending on your life expectancy. 3) If you find that your estate significantly exceeds the new applicable exclusion amount, you should discuss your options with your estate planning attorney before the end of the year.? You might consider using your higher exclusion amount this year, life insurance, irrevocable trusts, or other tools to help protect and preserve your estate for your heirs.? You might also consider keeping your current plan in place, given the proposals to revert to the $3.5 million exclusion amount ($7 million for a married couple with an A-B trust). The waiting is over.? The time to really assess your estate tax situation with your professionals is now.
Estate Planning: The Price of Organization, Rewards, Gifts, and Wondrous Tax Things? FREE REPORT: This complimentary report, focused on Estate Planning, is comprised of many of Mr. Miller?s articles from his long running column for the largest regional newspaper in San Diego County. This report will guide you through the questions surrounding getting your estate planning in order.
The Ministry of Finance has suggested the Government increase the personal income tax threshold to VND9 million a month, up from the earlier proposed VND6 million.
Speaking at a press briefing on the Government?s regular monthly meeting on Tuesday, Deputy Minister of Finance Vu Thi Mai said a major upward revision of the tax-free income level has been proposed amid the current economic slump that has affected people?s incomes and sent consumption spiraling down.
The revised law on personal income tax is expected to be introduced in July 2013, six months earlier than earlier scheduled. The proposed amendments to the law also include significant adjustments involving deductions for dependents.
Along with the higher threshold for taxpayers, the deduction for dependents will also rise to VND3.6 million a month from the current VND1.6 million. Earlier, in the draft law the ministry prepared in March, the taxable threshold and deduction for dependents were expected to be lifted to VND6 million and VND2.4 million compared to the current VND4 million and VND1.6 million respectively.
Besides, the revised law will provide open regulations, which means the Government can ask the National Assembly Standing Committee for permission to revise deductions for dependents if there is a 20% rise in consumer prices.
Revisions will be based on criteria such as gross domestic product growth, GDP per capita, consumer price index, salary improvement projects, people?s living standards and income statistics. The Government will also adjust deductions by consulting the public.
The draft law may be passed at the National Assembly session at the end of this year after it gets the go-ahead from the Government.
According to the ministry, around 70% of 3.8 million taxpayers will be exempted from the personal income tax with the newly revised tax law coming into force. The law will also send State budget revenues dipping by VND5.2 trillion in 2013 and VND13.3 trillion in 2014.
The law on personal income tax has been in place since 2009. However, the current income-tax threshold and the deduction rate for dependents have become outdated given strong price hikes over the past two years.
Please say a Prayer for my cockatiel Darla. She got suddenly lethargic and sleepy sunday eve. Vet gave her meds today and I get sick when any of my pets arent well. I'm not whole until they are. Also please pray for my other bird Spike who has a growth (non life threatening) that bleeds with the littlest bump. I want him comfortable and would love it to go away. Thank you all and bless you for this site.
What does your dream home look like? Dreaming of retiring in a tropical paradise? One of the top retirement destinations today is Costa Rica. It is a beautiful Central American country surrounded by the Pacific Ocean and Atlantic Ocean. Costa Rica luxury homes offer great home properties with beautiful beaches, lush rainforest, idyllic weather and great landscape you will surely not want to miss. This small and fast developing nation is known for its stable and democratic government, quality and affordable healthcare, an open environment for foreign business and investments and a wealth of natural resources. With the current economy, retiring in Costa Rica might just be the perfect move for you and your family. Having a least one of Costa Rica luxury homes and properties will surely bring you closer to the prettiest beaches, tropical forests and exotic floras and faunas of Costa Rica. that?s is why this is the perfect place for people who loves the nature, animals, sports enthusiasts and people who want to have an entirely different lifestyle. Adventure tourism is very popular in Costa Rica and many companies offer various exciting activities like white water rafting, bungee jumping, jungle canopy tours, scuba diving, river and ocean kayaking, caving and sport fishing. For animal and nature lovers, Costa Rica home 32 national parks and more than 150 wildlife and reserves and refugees. This is the best place to spot marine fishes and 54 species hummingbirds, turtle nesting grounds, wet lands and rainforests. In addition, Costa Rica is more than just a nature paradise. It also offers plenty of wholesome entertainment to keep partygoer entertained. Even Costa Rica homes are not so far away from dozens of museums, galleries, bars, clubs, casinos and concert halls. Costa Rica also has a wide selection of fine restaurants and eateries that specialize in gourmet food from the world over and exotic cuisines. If you want a relaxing and rejuvenating experience, Costa Rica has a number of spas and health clubs scattered all over the place to soothe and calm the senses. For parents wishing to raise their children abroad and teach their children foreign languages, Costa Ricans place a very high value on education with a literacy rate of 96%. Furthermore, Costa Rica luxury homes are close excellent bilingual and trilingual schools teaching English, French, German or Spanish. Internet is also widely available throughout the country. This is no surprise why Costa Rica attracts migrating families from around the world.
Whether travel is part of your daily work routine, or perhaps only an annual?occasion, it can be challenging to make the most of your stay AND get all your work in. Today on GoAbroad, we feature a guest post from Issac?Bullen, where he shares four tips to make the most of your next business trip.?
Business travel can be a great way to see new places at the courtesy of your employer. Unfortunately, most people get bogged down by the business portion of the trip. Just because you?re on a business trip doesn?t mean that you can?t have some fun!
As long as you plan ahead and complete your business objectives there is no reason you couldn?t explore the area. Using your time wisely allows you to see beautiful countries within a limited time frame. Never feel guilty about taking some free time to enjoy the trip and live.
If you keep a few tips in mind when travelling for business, then you?re bound to have a good time. The following information will help you make the most out of business travel.
Research the Location Before You Leave
Since you only have a limited amount of free time on your trip, it?s best to research the area beforehand. Check out what the city has to offer. Read reviews and city guides to learn more about the area, publications such as the Lonely Planet?could be highly valuable here and never under estimate the importance of tips from the local people, mingle if you have time.
Always quiz friends and colleagues who have been there for suggestions. Make a list of things that you want to see and do while on your trip. Although you might not have time for everything, this research will give you some good ideas.
Whenever free time presents itself, use your list of ideas to explore the area.
Take Half the Stuff And Twice The Money
The old phrase applies here; you always end up with more clothes than you need and not enough cash by the end of your holiday.?Whenever feasible, only travel with a carry-on bag, you can get on the plane with your bag, move quickly and have more time for exploration.
Extend the Length of Your Trip
If you can, consider extending the length of your trip. For example, stay through the weekend instead of returning home on a Friday. Why not? Especially if you don?t work weekends anyway!
Lindsey Ueberroth, who is the Executive Vice President of Preferred Hotel Group, also recommends arriving a day early for business trips. This advice is especially good for those who are travelling internationally. Besides easing jet lag, an extra day also gives you some time to familiarise yourself with the new location.
In addition to this I always book morning flights and try to schedule my departure for later in the evening, I LOVE Hip Munk? for helping me with this.
Spend Time Exploring
Instead of taking a nap between meetings, use that time exploring the city or arrange an adventure after the meeting. It?s so easy to spend all of your time in the hotel room; especially if your jet lagged. However, your trip will be so much more rewarding if you?re willing to be adventurous. You may be surprised at what you find on the other side of the hotel door!
Get out and see what the place has to offer. This is the perfect time to pursue leisure activities or reignite the explorer in you.
Do you travel for work? What other tips would you share to make the most of a business trip? Tell us in the comments!
Isaac Bullen?has spent a lot of time traveling and spends his time working in digital marketing with a handful of successful global businesses such as Aon Hewitt?s pension administration?department.
Tagged as: business etiquette, business travel, domestic travel, GoAbroad Blogger Programs, GoAbroad Bloggers, GoAbroad guest post, Guest Post, Hip Munk, international education, international experience, Issac Bullen, Lindsey Ueberroth, Lonely Planet, travel tips
Synopsis The report is based on primary survey research of 465 industry professionals in the UK who travelled at least once in three months. The research was conducted by Timetric assessing its premium consumer panels. This report provides the reader with a definitive analysis of business travel outlook and explores how opportunities and demand are set to change in 2012. This report helps to understand key drivers for repeat visits. Topics covered include key drivers for repeat visits by travel frequency, age and company turnover.SummaryKey Drivers of Repeat Visits in UK Business Travel in 2012: Survey Snapshot is the result of an extensive multi-industry survey drawn from Timetrics exclusive panel of UK business travelers. It contains in-depth analysis on key drivers of repeat visits in UK business travel. This report examines and analyzes key drivers of repeat visits by business travelers to choose a particular hotel. Survey results have been presented and analyzed into segmentations based on travel frequency, age and company turnover.ScopeThe report features the opinions of hotel industry consumers (respondents) related to the following: Key drivers of frequent visits Strategic initiatives for repeat businessReasons To Buy Identify key features which influence frequent visits of business travelers.Key HighlightsNA
Original Post Key Drivers of Repeat Visits in UK Business Travel in 2012: Survey Snapshot source Researchmoz Market Research Travel Services Reports
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Hundreds of millions of people across India were left without power on Tuesday in one of the world's worst blackouts, trapping miners, stranding train travelers and plunging hospitals into darkness when grids collapsed for the second time in two days.
Stretching from Assam, near China, to the Himalayas and the northwestern deserts of Rajasthan, the outage covered states where half of India's 1.2 billion people live and embarrassed the government, which has failed to build up enough power capacity to meet soaring demand.
"Even before we could figure out the reason for yesterday's failure, we had more grid failures today," said R. N. Nayak, chairman of the state-run Power Grid Corporation.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had vowed to fast-track stalled power and infrastructure projects as well as introduce free market reforms aimed at reviving India's flagging economy. But he has drawn fire for dragging his feet.
By nightfall, power was back up in the humid capital, New Delhi and much of the north, but a senior official said only a third was restored in the rural state of Uttar Pradesh, itself home to more people than Brazil.
The cuts in such a widespread area of the world's second most populous nation appeared to be one of the biggest in history, and hurt Indians' pride as the country seeks to emerge as a major force on the international stage.
"It's certainly shameful. Power is a very basic amenity and situations like these should not occur," said Unnayan Amitabh, 19, an intern with HSBC bank in New Delhi, before giving up on the underground train system and flagging down an auto-rickshaw to get home.
"They talk about big ticket reforms but can't get something as essential as power supply right."
Power Minister Sushilkumar Shinde blamed the system collapse on some states drawing more than their share of electricity from the over-burdened grid, but Uttar Pradesh's top civil servant for energy said outdated transmission lines were at fault.
Asia's third-largest economy suffers a peak-hour power deficit of about 10 percent, dragging on economic growth.
Between a quarter and 40 percent of Indians are not connected to the national grid.
Two hundred miners were stranded in three deep coal shafts in the state of West Bengal when their electric elevators stopped working. Eastern Coalfields Limited official Niladri Roy said workers at the mines, one of which is 700 meters (3,000 feet) deep, were not in danger and were being taken out.
Train stations in Kolkata were swamped and traffic jammed the streets after government offices closed early in the dilapidated coastal city of 5 million people.
The power failed in some major city hospitals and office buildings had to fire up diesel generators.
By mid-evening, services had been restored on the New Delhi metro system.
"PUSHED INTO DARKNESS"
On Monday, India was forced to buy extra power from the tiny neighboring kingdom of Bhutan to help it recover from a blackout that hit more than 300 million people.
Indians took to social networking sites to ridicule the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government, in part for promoting Shinde despite the power cuts.
Narendra Modi, an opposition leader and chief minister in Gujarat, a state that enjoys a surplus of power, was scornful.
"With poor economic management UPA has emptied the pockets of common man; kept stomachs hungry with inflation & today pushed them into darkness," he said on his Twitter account.
The country's southern and western grids were supplying power to help restore services, officials said.
The problem has been made worse by a weak monsoon in agricultural states such as wheat-belt Punjab and Uttar Pradesh in the Ganges plain, which has a larger population than Brazil.
With less rain to irrigate crops, more farmers resort to electric pumps to draw water from wells.
India's electricity distribution and transmission is mostly state run, with private companies operating in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata. Less than a quarter of generation is private nationwide.
More than half the country's electricity is generated by coal, with hydro power and nuclear also contributing.
Power shortages and a creaky road and rail network have weighed heavily on India's efforts to industrialize. Grappling with the slowest economic growth in nine years, the government recently scaled back a target to pump $1 trillion into infrastructure over the next five years.
Major industries have their own power plants or diesel generators and are shielded from outages. But the inconsistent supply hits investment and disrupts small businesses.
High consumption of heavily subsidized diesel by farmers and businesses has fuelled a gaping fiscal deficit that the government has vowed to tackle to restore confidence in the economy.
But the poor monsoon means a subsidy cut is politically difficult.
On Tuesday, the central bank cut its economic growth outlook for the fiscal year that ends in March to 6.5 percent, from the 7.3 percent assumption made in April, putting its outlook closer to that of many private economists.
"This is going to have a substantial adverse impact on the overall economic activity. Power failure for two consecutive days hits sentiment very badly," said N. Bhanumurthy, a senior economist at National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
(Reporting by Delhi Bureau; Sujoy Dhar in Kolkata and Sharat Pradhan in Lucknow; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel; Editing by Robert Birsel and Diana Abdallah)
(An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the number of people affected by Monday's power outage)
LONDON (AP) ? Hopes that Europe is readying some firm action to deal with its debt crisis continued to support sentiment in the markets Monday at the start of a week that could also see the Federal Reserve also enact further measures to boost the U.S. economy.
Stocks, as well as the euro and the bond prices of Spain and Italy, have been buoyant since last Thursday's comments from European Central Bank president Mario Draghi that the bank "is ready to do what it takes to preserve the euro. Believe me, it will be enough."
Those comments raised expectations that, at the very least, the ECB will ramp up its bond-buying program in the hope of keeping a lid on Spanish and Italian borrowing rates. The recent sharp rise in Spain's interest rates raised concerns that the 17-country eurozone hasn't the capacity to bail out its fourth-largest economy, and raised the specter of Italy needing financial help too.
In Europe, Germany's DAX rose 0.6 percent to 6,730 while the CAC-40 in France was 0.5 percent higher at 3,295. The FTSE 100 index of leading British shares was up 0.4 percent at 5,648.
The euro however gave up some of its recent gains, trading 0.4 percent lower at $1.2258.
Making sure that Spain and Italy can continue tapping financial markets for cash appears to be the priority of policymakers despite a warning from Germany's central bank, the Bundesbank, that the line between monetary and fiscal policy should not be blurred.
Both Spain and Italy have seen the pressure on their bonds ease since Draghi's comments. The yield on Spain's 10-year bonds in the markets has dropped significantly below the dangerous 7 percent level to around 6.60 percent, while Italy was able to raise around a bigger than expected ?5.5 billion ($6.77 billion) in a round of auctions Monday. Crucially, the yield on the 10-year bond fell to 5.96 percent from 6.19 percent the last time it was offered, a signal of improving investor appetite.
"The pressure will be on for the ECB to actually deliver," said Geoffrey Yu, an analyst at UBS.
For now, investors continue to think that something will be delivered.
Wall Street was also poised for a modest retrenchment at the open later ? both Dow futures and the broader S&P 500 futures were 0.3 percent lower.
Most of the attention Monday will center on Europe, with U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner due to meet Draghi and Germany's finance minister to discuss the challenges facing Europe and the global economy.
The spotlight this week won't just be on Europe: Fed policymakers are also meeting this week and there are growing expectations that in light of waning economic growth, they may announce a new monetary stimulus. The Bank of England also holds its monthly rate-setting meeting.
"With the ECB meeting this week, and the Fed and Bank of England also having their regular get-togethers, there is plenty of scope for central bank-inspired excitement," said Chris Beauchamp, market analyst at IG Index.
Earlier in Asia, Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average closed up 0.8 percent at 8,635.44 and Hong Kong's Hang Seng jumped 1.6 percent to 19,585.40. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 climbed 0.9 percent to 4,245.70 and South Korea's Kospi rose 0.8 percent to 1,843.79. China's Shanghai Composite fell 0.9 percent to 2,109.91.
In energy trading, benchmark crude for September delivery was down 10 cents at $90.03 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
It?s not uncommon for drains to become clogged over time, and knowing how to fix them will save you time and money. Most clogged drains can be cleaned using a simple drain auger or plumbing snake. For the big jobs, you can always count on a professional plumber from Benjamin Franklin Plumbing of San Antonio. Our drain cleaning service in San Antonio has the efficient, innovative tools to repair the most stubborn clogs.
Fortunately, most clogged drains can be repaired on your own, providing you follow the proper regimen. For DIY plumbing repair, start with a sewer snake that can be purchased at any home improvement store. There are many varieties available, including handheld and electric powered ones; although most homeowners will find a hand operated, 50-foot plumbing snake to be adequate. Before you start, remove the drain cover from the drain you?ll be working on.
Learning how to use a drain snake is simple and starts by gliding the sewer snake into the drain hole until you reach the blockage. It?s important to push the sewer snake carefully but firmly as it may get stuck on the joints in the plumbing before it reaches the source of the clog. When you?ve finally reached the blockage, move the sewer snake back and forth so that it?s right against the obstruction. Do not push the blockage further down the plumbing.
Next, twist the handle of the sewer snake so that it starts to collect what?s in the plumbing. By rotating the device, the blockage becomes entangled in the coils on the snake. Once caught, lift the drain snake out of the drain and throw away the debris. Rinse the drain with clean water to remove loose debris, and replace the drain cover.
Using a sewer snake is the most effective way to remove stubborn clogs and avoids the need for chemical drain cleaners. If you cannot remove the blockage or the drain continues to clog, call in help from the professionals at Benjamin Franklin Plumbing of San Antonio. Our punctual plumbers can be reached at 210-549-9944.
Unusual variations in an athlete's blood could determine guilt, even if no illegal substances are found
By John Matson
?|
July 30, 2012?|
CAT AND MOUSE: Will regulatory agencies ever be able to get ahead of dopers and drug cheats?Image: ? Sezer Yadigar/iStockphoto
For thousands of world-class athletes, a passport is something they can't forget to pack before heading off to London for the summer Olympic games. But for a few athletes, a different kind of passport is keeping them out of competition entirely.
A new anti-doping program known as the athlete biological passport (ABP), which looks for indirect evidence that an athlete has cheated, is being implemented by several international sports authorities. Already the testing scheme, developed by the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), has ensnared world-class athletes?and survived a challenge to its validity.
The London Olympics mark the first summer games in which the ABP will be in use alongside traditional drug screenings. And for competitors in sports that have taken up the program, such as cycling and track and field, dreams of Olympic glory will depend on their test results?past and present.
Rather than screening an athlete's blood or urine samples for traces of banned substances right before or after a competition, testers using the ABP scheme compare samples with an athlete's baseline profile, as determined by multiple tests over time. In the absence of a legitimate physiological explanation, such as an illness or a natural response to changing altitude, variations in an athlete's biological samples can reveal wrongdoing even if the specific doping agent or process remains undetected. For instance, a sudden change in the number of reticulocytes, or immature blood cells, might provide indirect evidence that an athlete has used erythropoietin (EPO), a hormone that stimulates the generation of red blood cells and boosts the oxygen-carrying capacity of the blood. Similar tests can assess levels of the respiratory pigment hemoglobin, which can also reveal instances of blood manipulation to enhance oxygen transport.
"In this way, the athlete becomes his own reference point," says WADA medical director Alan Vernec. "Otherwise you're forever chasing after new types of substances or agents that are being developed."
So far the biological passport has been applied primarily to detect instances of blood doping, but the same strategy could be used on urine samples to identify users of anabolic steroids. Nevertheless, the ABP is unlikely to supplant conventional testing schemes that detect prohibited molecules, such as steroids or human growth hormone, in blood and urine. Anti-doping experts view the passport approach as a complement to such tests, which continue to catch athletes breaking the rules.
Indeed, conventional testing still plays a significant role in cycling, the first major sport to sign on to WADA's passport approach. In the highest-profile recent case, Spanish cyclist Alberto Contador was issued a two-year suspension and stripped of his 2010 Tour de France win after a sample that year tested positive for clenbuterol, which WADA classifies as an anabolic agent.
The International Cycling Union (UCI), suffering from a severe credibility problem, adopted the ABP in 2008, collecting about 10 blood samples each from more than 800 riders over the course of the year. But implementation of the ABP has not been without twists and turns. Cyclist Franco Pellizotti, who raced for Italy in the 2008 Olympics, was suspended in 2010 for irregularities in his blood profile that indicated "enhancement of oxygen transfer." But the rider was soon exonerated by the Italian Olympic committee, which held that the evidence against Pellizotti was insufficient to prove his guilt.
The cycling union appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland, which last year overturned the Italian committee's decision and reinstated Pellizotti's two-year ban from cycling. The court also upheld a two-year ban for Italian rider Pietro Caucchioli; the cyclist's variations in hemoglobin concentration over a span of several months, the court ruled, "could not be considered as physiological" and hence demonstrated doping to enhance the blood's oxygen-carrying capacity.
The trial of former Illinois police officer Drew Peterson, who was charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the drowning death of his former wife Kathleen Savio, is set to begin Tuesday.
By NBC News staff
Almost five years after the disappearance of his fourth wife, former Illinois police officer Drew Peterson will go on trial Tuesday?for the murder of his third wife.
A jury of seven men and five women will hear opening arguments in the long-delayed trial on whether Peterson, 58, killed his then-wife Kathleen Savio in 2004 and made it look like an accident.
Savio, 40, was found dead in a dry bathtub on March 1, 2004. Officials ruled the death an accidental drowning until Savio?s body was exhumed as part of their investigation. They eventually changed the cause of her death from an accident to homicide and charged Peterson with murder.
?
Jury selection in the high-profile case was completed last week.
"You will hear the story of Drew Peterson from beginning to end," lead defense attorney Joel Brodsky told reporters last week. "We will show that the state's theory is implausible at best." ?
Peterson, who was a sergeant in the Bolingbrook, Ill., police department, was in the middle of a bitter divorce from Savio and had already begun seeing Stacy Peterson at the time of Savio?s death. Prosecutors argue Peterson killed Savio because he feared their divorce settlement would wipe him out financially, the Associated Press reported. Prosecutors are expected to call their first witnesses Tuesday .
Stacy Peterson vanished in 2007. Her body has?never been found, but authorities believe she is dead and have named Peterson a suspect. He contends the 23-year-old mother of two ran off with another man, which Stacy?s family vehemently disputes.
The jury is likely to hear statements that Savio and Stacy Peterson allegedly made to friends and relatives about threats from Peterson -- hearsay testimony that is usually barred in court proceedings.?
There was a three-year delay?for the trial?because of appeals over whether such hearsay evidence could be allowed in court. An appellate court ruled last week that jurors can hear the statements and Peterson?s attorney can object to each bit of hearsay as the trial goes on.
Peterson, who has been in jail since he was charged with Savio's murder in 2009, denies wrongdoing in both Savio's murder and Stacy Peterson's disappearance.?
More content from NBCNews.com:
Follow US News from NBCNews.com on Twitter and Facebook
It is medically proved that properly maintained and clean hospital linens are important psychologically because of its immediate physical aids Christopher Wren was another early supporter Read > Business Photography Marketing Success Secret #7 ? Sound Successful To Drive People To Hire You! 06th May 2010 One of the major, little known ?secrets? to photography marketing success is that you must sound successful, to be successful You need to talk as if you are already successful, even if you aren?t as successful as you?d like to be yet
It is used in almost every field in all business and in all organizations By the end of the 18th century, when many nations were reforming their weight and measure systems, the seconds pendulum was the leading choice for a new definition of length, advocated by prominent scientists in several major nations, 60 years, Jane Upton Bell, Bert Bell, Philadelphia Eagles, commissioner, Liz Taylor, Betty White, Howard Cosell, , Email this Article to a Friend! Receive Articles like this one direct to your email box!Subscribe for free today! Excerpted from THE LAUGH MAKERS: A Behind-the-Scenes Tribute to Bob Hope?s Incredible Gag Writers (c) 2009 by Robert L Given that bricklaying is quite actual physical perform, you?ll clearly have to be fit sufficient to work correctly while in the work place I The university was fou
If these variations in the escapement?s force cause changes in the pendulum?s width of swing (amplitude), this will cause corresponding slight changes in the period, since (as discussed at top) a pendulum with a finite swing is not quite isochronous When in the second book of Don Quijote the hero learns that he is the subject of spurious adventures by a spurious author, we can only enjoy the pleasures of meta-narration Print and cut out the bunny ears utilizing the white cardboard then reduce a pair of scaled-down ears using the pi In this regards this creates great feelings after reading the sentence that palio diet is the second name of strong and powerful body and admirable physical structure Read > Food-and-Drink A Guide To Gas BBQ Smokers 07th April 2010 Gas smokers offer great portability and versatility, especially propane fueled units
Because the competition in the online market, to be on the top of the search results of the search engines is very high This was one of the three final options considered by the French Academy of Sciences committee Read > Health-and-Fitness URGENT BREAKING NEWS ?e Forewarned of The Five (5) Dangerous Eating Disorders?/a> 30th September 2011Home-and-Family Residential Roofing Options On the net there was not much producer up at his level! I would lease his beats for $24 Allen is also a graduate of Howard University, where he served as a staff writer, photo editor and general manager of the District Chronicles Retrieved 2009-03-04
There are many different types of soy candles and accessories, so you?re sure to find just the perfect one for anyone on your list Become an ebay powerseller today What probably worried Claire so much is the fact that Luke seems emotionless about the whole thingd What causes these price changes? How come the price of marine diesel fuel is not fixed or stable? There are many different things that cause the ch Nowadays, some absurd cases are seen act
Have you ever thought of retiring? COSELL: Not This is a very good and realistic claim as opposed to other creams that claim to get rid of scars 100% Read > Internet 4G Connectivity Supports Collaborative Learning 26th September 2011 The traditional conception of formal learning tends to view the process as a one-way street Marketing compa Charlie Crist during the 2010 election cycle, and offered a solid grade for Gov Yet magic never happens on own, there should be someone to create it
Related articles? http://demo.myshahgroup.com/activity/p/11309/ http://demo.myshahgroup.com/activity/p/11309/
Syria's Muslim Brotherhood denounced on Sunday President Bashar al-Assad, his allies Iran and Russia, and the international community for its "silence" and failure to protect civilians.
In a statement issued amid raging battles in Syria's commercial capital Aleppo, the influential Islamist movement said Assad was "legally and morally responsible for the death of every victim in Syria."
The Brotherhood also said that both Iran and Russia ? the powerful allies of the embattled Assad regime ? were "drowning in the blood of the Syrian people."
"Neither the Russians nor the Iranians will relieve [Assad] of responsibility for his crimes," it added.
The statement was released as troops pushed an offensive for a second day in a row on rebel-held districts of Aleppo, the key city in northern Syria.
Russian Foreign Minister "Sergei Lavrov gave Bashar al-Assad the green light to carry out a massacre," it said.
The Brotherhood also said the international community was "a partner" to violence in Syria, "by standing silent for too long... and failing to respect its obligation under international law to protect civilians."
Echoing a statement issued earlier on Sunday by the opposition Syrian National Council ? in which the Brotherhood plays an important role ? the exiled Islamist group warned of an imminent "massacre" in Aleppo.
It also accused Assad's regime of failing to deliver basic services to much of Aleppo's population.
"There is no running water in the houses, nor is there flour in the bakeries," it said. "There is no medicine in the pharmacies, nor any other kind of service being delivered."
The Muslim Brotherhood was banned in Syria in 1963. Many of its members fled the country following a revolt that was violently suppressed in 1982, leaving nearly 20,000 people dead according to estimates.
-AFP
For the latest developments on Syria, follow @NOW_Syria on Twitter or click here.
LONDON (Reuters) - Sports fans attending the London Olympics were told on Sunday to avoid non-urgent text messages and tweets during events because overloading of data networks was affecting television coverage.
Commentators on Saturday's men's cycling road race were unable to tell viewers how far the leaders were ahead of the chasing pack because data could not get through from the GPS satellite navigation system travelling with the cyclists.
It was particularly annoying for British viewers, who had tuned in hoping to see a medal for sprint king Mark Cavendish.
Many inadvertently made matters worse by venting their anger on Twitter at the lack of information.
An International Olympic Committee spokesman said the network problem had been caused by the messages sent by the hundreds of thousands of fans who lined the streets to cheer on the British team.
"Of course, if you want to send something, we are not going to say 'Don't, you can't do it', and we would certainly never prevent people," he said. "It's just - if it's not an urgent, urgent one, please kind of take it easy."
Other events due to take place on London's roads include the men's and women's marathon and triathlon.
An explosion in the use of mobile phones to access the Internet and take and send photos and video has made London 2012 the first true "social media Games", but also put pressure on the networks. The host broadcaster, the BBC, is enabling fans to see many events live on their smartphones.
Mobile operators and infrastructure companies had said they expected to be able to meet the extra demand.
The IOC spokesman said it appeared the problem lay with oversubscription on one particular network, and talks had taken place in an attempt to share more of the data. "It's a network issue, and it is that which we are working on," he said.
Official 2012 Olympic communications services provider BT, Vodafone and O2, owned by Spain's Telefonica, said they had not seen any network problems.
BT says it has provided four times the network capacity of the 2008 Beijing Games to meet the increased demand, laying enough cable to stretch between London and New York.
O2, subcontracted by BT to provide mobile services within the Olympic Village, suffered a glitch this month when a third of its customers were hit by a 24-hour network failure.
Steven Hartley at Ovum Telecoms Strategy said at the time that, while mobile capacity was being upgraded at transport and crowd hotspots, spikes in demand at peripheral sites could prove disastrous.
Television coverage is in the hands of the Olympic Broadcasting Services, created by the IOC to ensure uniform coverage at all Games.
The IOC spokesman conceded that asking people not to send messages at key moments "may not have an awful lot of effect".
By: My HolidaysLTC Tour Europe, Singapore LTC Tour, LTC Portblair Tour
LTC Tour Europe you will be able to shop for Bhutanese handmade artifacts and textiles. During the tour, you will get to see many monasteries and the mini zoo. Make sure you are appropriately dressed for the monastery. When you arrive in Paro you will be greeted by the beautiful sight of the Himalayas. Your Bhutan holiday will include a pleasant hike to Taktshang Monastery. The valleys of Punakh and Gangtey are civilized with cultivation and well populated region in Bhutan. Travel among valleys is easier now with the highway and development of roads. Your Bhutan tour will take you to recent and old fortresses and monuments built by kings and queens of the valley. Punakha is also the place of the residence of the monastery order during winter. You can have a nice picnic on the banks of the Punak chhu before returning to the hotel.
LTC Tour Europe is very important to book your holiday well in advance. This will ensure you get confirmed booking no matter where you go in India. If you think a visit to Bhutan is not enough, try the north India golden triangle as well. This way you get to see more than one region of this vast country. Most importantly, ask for your Bhutan holiday itinerary. You must have a list of hotels and numbers with you at all time. Ensure that your trip is packed with sightseeing, treks and hikes as well as some adventure. An all round tour will include a visit to the river valleys of Paro and Wang Chhu. Bhutan is the perfect place for a couple or the annual family vacation. It is a beautiful land very close to perfect paradise. A Bhutan holiday will take you to a picturesque land of the thunder dragon.
LTC Tour Europe is dotted with plenty of Buddhist monasteries and temples. The locals are peace loving. A Bhutan tour will include trips to the city of Thimpu and Gangtey. The luxurious open spaces are welcoming for anyone who comes from the hustle and bustle of the city. Visit punakha which is the confluence of two rivers. Here you can opt to spend the night in the comfortable hotel. Ensure you are provided with an English speaking guide to take you to the best places possible and show you the true Bhutan. Bhutan has only one city which runs an airport. This in itself shows how slow paced and calm this country is. If you are looking for calm and uninterrupted vacationing, then travel to Bhutan which is the right place to visit to get away. A very interesting place to visit is Paro.
LTC Tour Europe monastery which has now been restored or take a drive to Chela La Pass. All in all savour the beauty of the outdoors by foot. A Bhutan holiday is best experienced through long treks and excursions. Make sure you are well equipped for the outdoors in the right kind of clothing and shoes. Bookings online for your Bhutan holiday are quick and save you the hassle of running back and forth to your travel agent. You can get discounted rates on larger family groups or honeymoon packages. If you have something specific in mind remember to tell you online agent so that they can set it up for you. While booking feel free to ask for hotel details, travel details and important information pertaining to your travel to Bhutan. It is important to make all queries before you make the final booking.
About the Author:
Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com
|
How To RelaxBy: Graeme Smith | Jul 28th 2012 - It seems to be universally accepted that we all live incredibly busy lives these days and that is can sometimes be difficult to switch off. With this in mind, this article gives you a few ideas as to how best to relax for a while.
Tags: hot air balloon ride, balloon flight, family fun, flying, entertainment...
Off The Disney PathBy: Robert Nickel | Jul 28th 2012 - Everyone knows that Orlando, Florida is the home of Disney World and Universal Studios, but what if you've done that already? Are there other attractions to see in the big city? Of course there are; here are a few things to see that are most cer ...
Tags: Orlando, Florida, Tupperware, Disney World, Balloons...
Food To Try When Visiting PeruBy: Terry Philips | Jul 28th 2012 - One of the highlights of travelling anywhere is tasting the various foods and drinks that are specialties of each particular country or region. Not only is this just plain fun as well as delicious, it is also a great way to learn something about ...
Tags: luxury peru tours, peru luxury tours, luxury peru travel, peru luxury travel, machu picchu luxury tours...
Food To Try When Visiting ArgentinaBy: Terry Philips | Jul 28th 2012 - One of the highlights of travelling anywhere is tasting the various foods and drinks that are specialties of each particular country or region. Not only is this just plain fun as well as delicious, it is also a great way to learn something about ...
Tags: patagonia argentina tours, patagonia adventures, argentina adventure travel, argentina expeditions, argentina tour packages...
Smart Tips For Las VegasBy: Robert Nickel | Jul 28th 2012 - It is easy to be dumb in Las Vegas. All you have to do is disregard all logical thought, ignore warning signs and wear lots of polyester. Forget the vacation budget, in fact just pretend your annual salary is somewhere in the realm of Donald Tru ...
Tags: Las Vegas, the strip, gaming, slot machine, slot clubs...
Book Your Tour Vacation From A Discount Travel WebsiteBy: Lisa Steinway | Jul 28th 2012 - When you are looking for a tour, the first place to check is online discount travel sites. On these sites, you will be able to compare deals from many travel providers, and know that you are getting the best price available.
Tags: all inclusive vacations deals, top tours Canada, Canada tours, travel, offers...
Fantastic Vacations With Tucan TravelBy: Tracy Narvaez | Jul 28th 2012 - Vacation packages of all sorts are available for individuals as well as groups. They also provide stimulating Expedition Cruises for those seeking adventure. There are over 470 different choices of all types and to various amazing destinations f ...
Tags: Tucan Travel, Travel, Vacation
Booking A Holiday With Air Canada VacationsBy: Lisa Steinway | Jul 28th 2012 - Air Canada is Canada's oldest and largest commercial carrier. With its extensive reach and long experience of serving travelers, you can be sure that booking a holiday with Air Canada Vacations will bring an exciting and memorable holiday. Air C ...
Tags: cheap flights, find cheap flights, Air Canada vacations, book air canada vacations, travel...
Embracing North IndiaBy: Gets holidays | Jul 28th 2012 - India is the land of versatility and in this versatile soil, there is something or the other for everyone. The land is blessed with snow capped mountains, the golden beaches, dry sand dunes or deserts, the pristine emerald backwaters and the bea ...
Tags: india tour, delhi tour
Helpful Packing Hints For ShippersBy: Christine Richard | Jul 28th 2012 - When you are shipping a small or a large item across town, across the state, across the country or across the globe, it is absolutely essential that you are careful in getting your item packed carefully so it can be delivered in one piece.
Tags: Shipping Hazardous Materials, Shipping Personal Effects, Air Freight Services
Still can't find what you are looking for? Search for it!
BELLA laser achieves world record power at 1 pulse per secondPublic release date: 27-Jul-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Paul Preuss paul_preuss@lbl.gov 510-486-6249 DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
As Berkeley Lab's laser plasma accelerator project BELLA nears completion, its drive laser has delivered 1 petawatt a quadrillion watts of peak power once each second, a world record for laser performance
On the night of July 20, 2012, the laser system of the Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator (BELLA), which is nearing completion at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), delivered a petawatt of power in a pulse just 40 femtoseconds long at a pulse rate of one hertz one pulse every second. A petawatt is 1015 watts, a quadrillion watts, and a femtosecond is 10-15 second, a quadrillionth of a second. No other laser system has achieved this peak power at this rapid pulse rate.
"This represents a new world record," said Wim Leemans of Berkeley Lab's Accelerator and Fusion Research Division (AFRD) when announcing the late-night success to his team. Leemans heads AFRD's Lasers and Optical Accelerator Systems Integrated Studies program (LOASIS) and conceived BELLA in 2006.
"My congratulations to the BELLA team for this early mark of success," said Berkeley Lab Director Paul Alivisatos. "This is encouraging progress toward a future generation of smaller and far more efficient accelerators to maintain our nation's leadership in the tools of basic science."
"Congratulations to all of you on this spectacular achievement," said Stephen Gourlay, Director of AFRD. "It doesn't seem that long ago that BELLA was just a dream, and now there is even more to look forward to. Thank you all for the hard work and support that made this a reality."
Leemans says, "BELLA will be an exceptional tool for advancing the physics of laser and matter interactions. The laser's peak power will give us access to new regimes, such as developing compact particle accelerators for high-energy physics, and tabletop free electron lasers for investigating materials and biological systems. As we investigate these new regimes, the laser's repetition rate of one pulse per second will allow us to do 'science with error bars' repeated experiments within a reasonable time."
The BELLA design draws on years of laser plasma accelerator research conducted by LOASIS. Unlike conventional accelerators that use modulated electric fields to accelerate charged particles such as protons and electrons, laser plasma accelerators generate waves of electron density that move through a plasma, using laser beams to either heat and drill through a plume of gas or driving through plasma enclosed in a thin capillary in a crystalline block like sapphire. The waves trap some of the plasma's free electrons and accelerate them to very high energies within very short lengths, as if the accelerated electrons were surfing on the near-light-speed wave.
LOASIS reported its first high-quality electron beams of 100 million electron volts (100 MeV) in 2004 and the first beams of a billion electron volts (1 GeV) in 2006 in a sapphire block just 3.3 centimeters long. Planning for BELLA began shortly thereafter.
The BELLA laser is expected to drive what will be the first laser plasma accelerator to produce a beam of electrons with an energy of 10 billion electron volts (10 GeV). Before being converted to other uses, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center achieved 50 GeV electron beams with traditional technology, but required a linear accelerator two miles long to do it. By contrast, the BELLA accelerator is just one meter long, supported by its laser system in an adjacent room.
"LOASIS know-how in assembling our own laser systems allowed us to specify the laser requirements and specifications we'd need to achieve reliable, stable, tunable 10 GeV beams with short warm-up time," Leemans says. "U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said that new tools lead to new science, the kind BELLA is specifically designed to do. "
The BELLA laser system has already demonstrated compressed output energy of 42.4 joules in about 40 femtoseconds at 1 Hz. Its initial peak power of one petawatt is twice that of lasers recently said to produce pulses more powerful than that consumed by the entire U.S. "at any instant in time." "Instant" is the operative word, since the BELLA laser's average power is just 42.4 watts, about what a typical household light bulb uses. The enormous peak power results from compressing that modest average power into an extremely short pulse.
Developed by Thales of France, whose team at Berkeley Lab was led by Francois Lureau, and installed in facilities constructed at Berkeley Lab, the BELLA laser system is fully integrated with Berkeley Lab equipment and personnel protection systems. It is expected to rapidly improve upon its first record-breaking performance and will soon be able to deliver the powerful pulses needed to create 10-billion-electron-volt electron beams in an accelerator just one meter long. Experiments to demonstrate BELLA's ability to attain 10-GeV beams will begin this fall.
###
More about BELLA is at http://newscenter.lbl.gov/feature-stories/2009/12/22/accelerators-tomorrow-part2/ and http://www.lbl.gov/publicinfo/newscenter/features/2008/apr/af-bella.html.
More about LOASIS is at http://loasis.lbl.gov/, http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/AFRD-GeV-beams.html, and http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/AFRD-laser-wakefield.html.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world's most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab's scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. For more, visit www.lbl.gov.
DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit the Office of Science website at science.energy.gov/.
Thales is a global technology leader with a unique capability to design, develop, and deploy equipment, systems, and services that meet the most complex requirements. Thales has operations around the world working with customers as local partners.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
BELLA laser achieves world record power at 1 pulse per secondPublic release date: 27-Jul-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Paul Preuss paul_preuss@lbl.gov 510-486-6249 DOE/Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
As Berkeley Lab's laser plasma accelerator project BELLA nears completion, its drive laser has delivered 1 petawatt a quadrillion watts of peak power once each second, a world record for laser performance
On the night of July 20, 2012, the laser system of the Berkeley Lab Laser Accelerator (BELLA), which is nearing completion at the U.S. Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), delivered a petawatt of power in a pulse just 40 femtoseconds long at a pulse rate of one hertz one pulse every second. A petawatt is 1015 watts, a quadrillion watts, and a femtosecond is 10-15 second, a quadrillionth of a second. No other laser system has achieved this peak power at this rapid pulse rate.
"This represents a new world record," said Wim Leemans of Berkeley Lab's Accelerator and Fusion Research Division (AFRD) when announcing the late-night success to his team. Leemans heads AFRD's Lasers and Optical Accelerator Systems Integrated Studies program (LOASIS) and conceived BELLA in 2006.
"My congratulations to the BELLA team for this early mark of success," said Berkeley Lab Director Paul Alivisatos. "This is encouraging progress toward a future generation of smaller and far more efficient accelerators to maintain our nation's leadership in the tools of basic science."
"Congratulations to all of you on this spectacular achievement," said Stephen Gourlay, Director of AFRD. "It doesn't seem that long ago that BELLA was just a dream, and now there is even more to look forward to. Thank you all for the hard work and support that made this a reality."
Leemans says, "BELLA will be an exceptional tool for advancing the physics of laser and matter interactions. The laser's peak power will give us access to new regimes, such as developing compact particle accelerators for high-energy physics, and tabletop free electron lasers for investigating materials and biological systems. As we investigate these new regimes, the laser's repetition rate of one pulse per second will allow us to do 'science with error bars' repeated experiments within a reasonable time."
The BELLA design draws on years of laser plasma accelerator research conducted by LOASIS. Unlike conventional accelerators that use modulated electric fields to accelerate charged particles such as protons and electrons, laser plasma accelerators generate waves of electron density that move through a plasma, using laser beams to either heat and drill through a plume of gas or driving through plasma enclosed in a thin capillary in a crystalline block like sapphire. The waves trap some of the plasma's free electrons and accelerate them to very high energies within very short lengths, as if the accelerated electrons were surfing on the near-light-speed wave.
LOASIS reported its first high-quality electron beams of 100 million electron volts (100 MeV) in 2004 and the first beams of a billion electron volts (1 GeV) in 2006 in a sapphire block just 3.3 centimeters long. Planning for BELLA began shortly thereafter.
The BELLA laser is expected to drive what will be the first laser plasma accelerator to produce a beam of electrons with an energy of 10 billion electron volts (10 GeV). Before being converted to other uses, the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center achieved 50 GeV electron beams with traditional technology, but required a linear accelerator two miles long to do it. By contrast, the BELLA accelerator is just one meter long, supported by its laser system in an adjacent room.
"LOASIS know-how in assembling our own laser systems allowed us to specify the laser requirements and specifications we'd need to achieve reliable, stable, tunable 10 GeV beams with short warm-up time," Leemans says. "U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu said that new tools lead to new science, the kind BELLA is specifically designed to do. "
The BELLA laser system has already demonstrated compressed output energy of 42.4 joules in about 40 femtoseconds at 1 Hz. Its initial peak power of one petawatt is twice that of lasers recently said to produce pulses more powerful than that consumed by the entire U.S. "at any instant in time." "Instant" is the operative word, since the BELLA laser's average power is just 42.4 watts, about what a typical household light bulb uses. The enormous peak power results from compressing that modest average power into an extremely short pulse.
Developed by Thales of France, whose team at Berkeley Lab was led by Francois Lureau, and installed in facilities constructed at Berkeley Lab, the BELLA laser system is fully integrated with Berkeley Lab equipment and personnel protection systems. It is expected to rapidly improve upon its first record-breaking performance and will soon be able to deliver the powerful pulses needed to create 10-billion-electron-volt electron beams in an accelerator just one meter long. Experiments to demonstrate BELLA's ability to attain 10-GeV beams will begin this fall.
###
More about BELLA is at http://newscenter.lbl.gov/feature-stories/2009/12/22/accelerators-tomorrow-part2/ and http://www.lbl.gov/publicinfo/newscenter/features/2008/apr/af-bella.html.
More about LOASIS is at http://loasis.lbl.gov/, http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/AFRD-GeV-beams.html, and http://www.lbl.gov/Science-Articles/Archive/AFRD-laser-wakefield.html.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory addresses the world's most urgent scientific challenges by advancing sustainable energy, protecting human health, creating new materials, and revealing the origin and fate of the universe. Founded in 1931, Berkeley Lab's scientific expertise has been recognized with 13 Nobel prizes. The University of California manages Berkeley Lab for the U.S. Department of Energy's Office of Science. For more, visit www.lbl.gov.
DOE's Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States, and is working to address some of the most pressing challenges of our time. For more information, please visit the Office of Science website at science.energy.gov/.
Thales is a global technology leader with a unique capability to design, develop, and deploy equipment, systems, and services that meet the most complex requirements. Thales has operations around the world working with customers as local partners.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
MercoPress
AFP
AFP
| 
Site Navigation: 
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 27-Jul-2012
Share ]