Many single women, a key bloc, are avoiding GOP

Monday 24 December 2012

Denver, Dec 24 : Sara Stevenson spends her working hours surrounded by Republicans, namely the married men who work alongside her in a Denver oil and gas firm company.

But after hours and on weekends, she usually spends her time with other single women, and there's not a Republican in sight among the bunch.

"There was just no way I could have supported any Republican this year," said Stevenson, 31. "They skew so much to the religious right. ... They focused so much on taxes. It's not something that women in my demographic really care about. I've never heard my friends lament their taxes."

As Republicans dust off their Election Day drubbing last month, their party must confront the reality that the ranks of unmarried women are growing rapidly, and these voters overwhelmingly have backed Democrats for decades.

Women increasingly are graduating from college and joining the workforce, and postponing marriage. From 2000 to 2010, the number of unmarried women increased 18 percent, according to census data.

Republicans have spent the past month tallying up all their demographic weak spots, including with Hispanics and Asian-Americans. But some warn that single women, already one-quarter of the electorate, represent the most serious threat to the party's viability.

"It's a faster-growing demographic than most others," said Kellyanne Conway, a Republican pollster. "That's a cultural zeitgeist that demands a political response."

In 1960, the average American woman married at age 20. Now it's 27. That reflects, and is partly the cause of, a boom in solo living, with nearly one-third of all U.S. households comprised of single people living alone, according to Eric Klinenberg, a New York University sociologist and author of a book on the subject. In 1950, it was 9 percent.

Around the world, as women gain more education and earn more money, they increasingly are delaying marriage, said Stephanie Coontz, who teaches history and family studies at The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., and is director of research for the Council on Contemporary Families. "Nowadays, women don't feel so driven to get married because they can support themselves," she said. "A lot of this is driven by women and a combination of lowering payoffs to just marrying any man and rising expectations" of what marriage will bring, she added.

For decades, Conway said, Democrats targeted unmarried women while the GOP dismissed them.

In the Nov. 6 election, President Barack Obama's campaign targeted this group in a series of direct mail and email pieces featuring the singer Beyonce and activist Lily Ledbetter, whose name was on the first bill Obama signed, making it easier for women to sue over unequal pay. The campaign also released an online video by actor and writer Lena Dunham that compared a woman's first time voting to losing her virginity.

Now, Conway said, "the Republicans have to decide if they want a one-party response or a two-party response."

In a presidential election dominated by debates over women's health and abortion, unmarried women backed Obama over Republican Mitt Romney by a 67-31 margin. Since 1992, when exit polls began identifying single voters, unmarried women have favored Democrats by similar margins.

Celinda Lake, a Democratic pollster who wrote a book with Conway on the women's vote, said unmarried women are a tough group for the GOP to crack.

"Any way you cut it, this demographic is much more on their own and much more precarious and much more interested in a safety net," Lake said. "If you're married, you're much more likely to be a churchgoer and have your church as a community. If you're married, you're much more likely to have owned your home for a while and have that community to rely on. If you're married, you're more likely to have your spouse to depend on."

Single men are also significantly more likely to back Democrats than Republicans, but that is largely a function of their age, because they are largely younger. Unmarried women, however, are more evenly spread across all age groups and consistently lean Democratic, said Page S. Gardner, president of the Voter Participation Center, which tries to increase voting by single women. They also are much more likely to support abortion rights.

In Colorado, Democrats have assiduously focused on abortion and other health issues to win support from both married and single women. In 2010, Sen. Michael Bennet defied the Republican wave by hammering his tea party challenger on his opposition to abortion rights. This year, Obama campaigned in the state with activist Sandra Fluke, an unmarried law student branded a "slut" by commentator Rush Limbaugh for testifying before Congress in support of requiring that employer-provided health insurance covers contraception.

The Obama campaign attacked Romney on the airwaves over his refusal to support the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, his opposition to federal dollars for Planned Parenthood and his opposition to abortion rights.

Katy Atkinson, a GOP consultant in Denver, said that two elections in a row should be a warning sign for the GOP.

"That whole fighting social issues with economic issues just doesn't work," she said. Atkinson noted that both Romney, as well as Bennet's opponent, Ken Buck, contended that women really cared about pocketbook issues rather than reproductive issues. "While women care about pocketbook issues, they don't want to elect an extremist."

Conway said the GOP can win over unmarried women on economic matters. "What do women, married or unmarried, do every week?" Conway asked. "Do they fill up the gas tank or get an abortion?"

Lauren Koebcke, 32, is a glimmer of hope for Republicans. She is single, favors gay marriage and abortion rights but sides with the GOP on economic issues. The bad news for the GOP is that she's the only one of her single friends who votes Republican.

"Most people I know are Democrats and most Democrats I know are single," said Koebcke, a project manager in Austin, almost 300 miles west of Denver. "Most Republicans want home and hearth. They want babies and that family life."

Stevenson isn't sure whether she wants a family. "Most of us didn't make any money until we were 26 year old and we want to enjoy ourselves," she said. She logs 11 hour days analyzing legal issues for her energy company. "I can't imagine coming home and having to cook dinner and deal with someone else's problems," she said. "I'm not there yet."

She also knows that Republicans won't be getting her vote anytime soon.

Republican Senate candidates in Missouri and Indiana infuriated her when they tried to explain why they think rape victims shouldn't be allowed to have abortions. Stevenson stayed up late on election night just to confirm that they both lost.

The women's issues that Obama emphasized, such as equal pay for women and contraception coverage, are pocketbook issues to Stevenson. The fact that GOP candidates denigrated them as social issues just shows how out of touch the GOP is, she said.

"There are just so many off-putting comments from the Republican party," Stevenson said. "It's crazy to me that they're still acting as if women are a niche market."

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Paramount postpones Pa. premiere of Cruise film 'Jack Reacher' after Conn. school shooting

New York, Dec 24 : The U.S. premiere of the Tom Cruise action movie "Jack Reacher" is being postponed following the deadly Connecticut school shooting.

Paramount Pictures says "out of honour and respect for the families of the victims" the premiere won't take place in Pittsburgh, where "Jack Reacher" was filmed.

The premiere would've been Cruise's first U.S. media appearance since his split from Katie Holmes over the summer. It was to be more contained with select outlets covering and a location away from Hollywood or New York.

A proclamation ceremony for Cruise had been planned with Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett and Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl.

No new date for the premiere has been set. The movie opens Dec. 21.

The massacre at a Newtown, Conn., elementary school killed 20 children and several adults.

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Twin NASA spacecraft prepare to crash into moon

Los Angeles, Dec 24 :The moon is about to take another hit.

Twin NASA spacecraft are preparing to crash into the lunar surface next week after a successful mission mapping the moon's gravity.

Scientists say the crash won't be visible from Earth. The spacecraft — named Ebb and Flow — are too small and light to carve a crater or kick up a lot of dust. They're aiming for a mountain that's far away from the Apollo landing sites.

Ebb and Flow slipped into orbit around the moon last New Year's weekend. By measuring the moon's uneven gravity field, they found it took quite a beating in the past, more than commonly thought.

During the mission, students got a chance to direct the spacecraft to photograph craters and mountains.


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More flooding on 2nd day of CA 'king tides'

Huntington Beach, Dec 24  : King tides swelled again along the Southern California coast but only minor flooding was reported in a few areas.

Television news reports showed ankle-deep water on some streets in the Sunset Beach area near Huntington Harbour shortly after a morning high tide of over 7 feet.

No homes were flooded and there were no major traffic tie-ups, even though water spilling from the harbor submerged one lane of the Pacific Coast Highway, a major Orange County coastal route.

Newport Beach also had some roadway flooding, but no damage to homes, and the tidal flow from the bay was lower, city spokeswoman Tara Finnigan said.

"It peaked at around 8 feet," she said. "Yesterday it peaked here at about 8 feet, 4 inches ... Things are moving in the right direction."

The highest tide of the year struck California but proved to be more of a nuisance than a threat.

Bruce DuAmarell, an 18-year Sunset Beach resident, said he got a call at work from an alarmed neighbor and came home.

"There were four to five inches in my garage," he said, as he took a break from sweeping water onto the street. "It came up over the seawall and literally filled up the harbor."

DuAmarell said he lost a vacuum cleaner and some Christmas presents for his children, but otherwise was unscathed.

The worst damage was just north of San Francisco, where the tide swamped a commuter parking lot in Marin City and seeped into dozens of cars.

King tides occur several times a year when the Earth, moon and sun align in a way that increases gravitational pull on oceans, raising water levels several feet above normal high tides. The non-scientific term also refers to extremely low tides.

Residents of Sunset Beach had expected the flooding but that didn't keep 13-year resident Fred Grether out of trouble.

He tried to drive his 2004 Porsche to a car wash to rinse off the salt water after the flooding reached the rims and undercarriage. But driving to the car wash did more damage than staying put, he said as a tow truck prepared to haul his car to the shop.

"I didn't realize how deep it was at the intersection and as soon as I got to the intersection, I heard this frizzling noise and my car alarm started going off and I realized that I had burned out the electrical system on my car," he said.

"Now I'm off to my local mechanic today about me doing something very, very stupid," said Grether, who's seen flooding three times.

The tide at Marin City reached 7 feet, slightly higher than during last December's king tides, which prompted the California Highway Patrol to temporarily close a highway connector ramp due to roadway flooding midmorning.

The tides reached over 10 feet in Redwood City, a bit above predicted levels, the National Weather Service said.

The event provided organizers of the California King Tides Initiative an opportunity to get California residents thinking about and preparing for the future.

The 3-year-old initiative, sponsored by government and nonprofit groups, enlists camera-toting volunteers to photograph the King Tides as an illustration of what low-lying coastal areas could look like if predicted sea level rises caused by climate change come to pass.

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Science doubters say world is warming

Washington, Dec 24 : A growing majority of Americans think global warming is occurring, that it will become a serious problem and that the U.S. government should do something about it, a new poll finds.

Even most people who say they don't trust scientists on the environment say temperatures are rising.

The poll found 4 out of every 5 Americans said climate change will be a serious problem for the United States if nothing is done about it. That's up from 73 percent when the same question was asked in 2009.

And 57 percent of Americans say the U.S. government should do a great deal or quite a bit about the problem. That's up from 52 percent in 2009. Only 22 percent of those surveyed think little or nothing should be done, a figure that dropped from 25 percent.

Overall, 78 percent of those surveyed said they believe temperatures are rising, up from 75 percent three years earlier. In general, U.S. belief in global warming, according to polls, has fluctuated over the years but has stayed between about 70 and 85 percent.

The biggest change in the polling is among people who trust scientists only a little or not at all. About 1 in 3 of the people surveyed fell into that category.

Within that highly skeptical group, 61 percent now say temperatures have been rising over the past 100 years. That's a substantial increase from 2009, when the poll found that only 47 percent of those with little or no trust in scientists believed the world was getting warmer.

This is an important development because, often in the past, opinion about climate change doesn't move much in core groups — like those who deny it exists and those who firmly believe it's an alarming problem, said Jon Krosnick, a Stanford University social psychologist and pollster. Krosnick, who consulted on the poll questions, said the changes the poll shows aren't in the hard-core "anti-warming" deniers, but in the next group, who had serious doubts.

"They don't believe what the scientists say, they believe what the thermometers say," Krosnick said. "Events are helping these people see what scientists thought they had been seeing all along."

Phil Adams, a retired freelance photographer from Washington, N.C., said he was "fairly cynical" about scientists and their theories. But he believes very much in climate change because of what he's seen with his own eyes.

"Having lived for 67 years, we consistently see more and more changes based upon the fact that the weather is warmer," he said. "The seasons are more severe. The climate is definitely getting warmer."

"Storms seem to be more severe," he added. Nearly half, 49 percent, of those surveyed called global warming not just serious but "very serious," up from 42 percent in 2009. More than half, 57 percent, of those surveyed thought the U.S. government should do a great deal or quite a bit about global warming, up from 52 percent three years earlier.

But only 45 percent of those surveyed think President Barack Obama will take major action to fight climate change in his second term, slightly more than the 41 percent who don't think he will act.

Overall, the 78 percent who think temperatures are rising is not the highest percentage of Americans who have believed in climate change, according to the  polling. In 2006, less than a year after Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans, 85 percent thought temperatures were rising. The lowest point in the past 15 years for belief in warming was in December 2009, after some snowy winters and in the middle of an uproar about climate scientists' emails that later independent investigations found showed no manipulation of data.

Broken down by political party, 83 percent of Democrats and 70 percent of Republicans say the world is getting warmer. And 77 percent of independents say temperatures are rising. Among scientists who write about the issue in peer-reviewed literature, the belief in global warming is about 97 percent, according to a 2010 scientific study.

About 1 in 4 people surveyed think that efforts to curb global warming would hurt the American economy, a figure down slightly from 27 percent in 2009 when the economy was in worse shape. Just under half, 46 percent, think such action would help the U.S. economy, about the same as said so three years ago.

The poll was conducted Nov. 29-Dec. 3 by Roper Public Affairs and Corporate Communications. It involved landline and cellphone interviews with 1,002 adults nationwide. Results for the full sample have a margin of error of plus or minus 3.9 percentage points; the margin of error is larger for subgroups.

The latest poll jibes with other surveys and more in-depth research on global warming, said Anthony Leiserowitz, director of Yale University's Project on Climate Change Communication. He took no part in the poll.

When climate change belief was at its lowest, concerns about the economy were heightened and the country had gone through some incredible snowstorms and that may have chipped away at some belief in global warming, Leiserowitz said. Now the economy is better and the weather is warmer and worse in ways that seem easier to connect to climate change, he said.

"One extreme event after another after another," Leiserowitz said. "People have noticed. ... They're connecting the dots between climate change and this long bout of extreme weather themselves."

Thomas Coffey, 77, of Houston, said you can't help but notice it.

"We use to have mild temperatures in the fall going into winter months. Now, we have summer temperatures going into winter," Coffey said. "The whole Earth is getting warmer and when it gets warmer, the ice cap is going to melt and the ocean is going to rise."

He also said that's what he thinks is causing recent extreme weather.

"That's why you see New York and New Jersey," he said, referring to Superstorm Sandy and its devastation in late October. "When you have a flood like that, flooding tunnels like that. And look at how long the tunnel has been there."

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Whoa: Physicists testing to see if universe is a computer simulation

London, Dec 24 : Some physicists and university researchers say it's possible to test the theory that our entire universe exists inside a computer simulation, like in the 1999 film "The Matrix."

In 2003, University of Oxford philosophy professor Nick Bostrom published a paper, "The Simulation Argument," which argued that, "we are almost certainly living in a computer simulation." Now, a team at Cornell University says it has come up with a viable method for testing whether we're all just a series of numbers in some ancient civilization's computer game.

Researchers at the University of Washington agree with the testing method, saying it can be done. A similar proposal was put forth by German physicists in November.

So how, precisely, can we test whether we exist? Put simply, researchers are building their own simulated models, using a technique called lattice quantum chromodynamics. And while those models are currently able to produce models only slightly larger than the nucleus of an atom, University of Washington physics professor Martin Savage says the same principles used in creating those simulations can be applied on a larger scale.

"This is the first testable signature of such an idea," Savage said. "If you make the simulations big enough, something like our universe should emerge."

The testing method is far more complex. Consider the Cornell University explanation: "Using the historical development of lattice gauge theory technology as a guide, we assume that our universe is an early numerical simulation with unimproved Wilson fermion discretization and investigate potentially-observable consequences."

To translate, if energy signatures in our simulations match those in the universe at large, there's a good chance we, too, exist within a simulation.

Interestingly, one of Savage's students takes the hypothesis further: If we stumble upon the nature of our existence, would we then look for ways to communicate with the civilization who created us?

University of Washington student Zohreh Davoudi says whoever made our simulated universe might have made others, and maybe we should "simply" attempt to communicate with those. "The question is, 'Can you communicate with those other universes if they are running on the same platform?'" she asked.

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Tax evasion costs Greece 5 pct of GDP: EU tax chief

Athens, Dec 24 : Greece could generate budget revenues amounting to 5 percent of national output annually if it reforms tax collection and clamps down on tax cheats, the European Union's tax chief told a Greek newspaper.

Athens plans reforms next year to combat rampant tax evasion as it struggles to shore up public finances and achieve a primary budget surplus, both necessary to continue receiving bailout aid from international lenders.

The euro zone agreed to provide nearly 50 billion euros ($64 billion) in long-delayed aid to Greece, averting a catastrophic default and securing its survival in the zone after months of doubt and political turmoil.

Experts estimate that a shadow economy lying outside Greece's tax system amounted to more than a quarter of annual output in 2011, the highest level in the European Union.

It is common in the country for small business owners to under-report sales and pay lower value-added tax. The self-employed such as plumbers and electricians often get paid in cash, avoiding receipts.

"According to our estimates at the Commission, out of the 53 billion euros in (overdue) taxes owed to the Greek state, 15 to 20 percent could be collected," EU tax commissioner Algirdas Semeta told newspaper Kathimerini in an interview.

He said the country's tax system needed an overhaul with simple and easily applicable rules.

A bill introduced to boost state revenues is due to scrap many tax exemptions and raise tax rates on property, companies and households with above-average income. The government also plans a tax on capital gains on stocks traded on the Athens stock exchange.

The measures are expected to increase tax revenues by about 2.5 billion euros in 2013-2014.

Speaking to a medical conference, Greek Finance Minister Yannis Stournaras said the government would complete tax reforms in coming months so that all Greeks contribute to saving the country.

He cited 2011 tax data revealing that half of the self-employed reported annual incomes of up to 5,000 euros, showing the biggest tax burden fell on wage earners and pensioners.

Semeta told Kathimerini that the 27-nation European Union loses about 1 trillion euros annually because of tax evasion and that capturing part of the foregone tax revenue could help European economies recover faster.

"Every citizen in Europe loses about 2,000 euros every year because of tax evasion," the commissioner said.\

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Economic slowdown throughout euro zone a worry for ECB: Liikanen

Berlin, Dec 24 : Economic growth is slowing to a worrying degree across the euro zone and not only in the periphery, European Central Bank Governing Council member Erkki Liikanen said in an interview to be published in Germany's Welt am Sonntag newspaper.

"There are a number of indications that the economy is getting weaker and not only in the indebted southern European countries, but across the euro zone," Liikanen was quoted as saying in an excerpt released.

"Economic developments are causing us concern," he said, adding that no-one is immune to the effects of the debt crisis. "Not even the German economy."

Liikanen did not say what action should be taken to deal with the slowdown, and a poll this week found economists are evenly split on what else - if anything - the ECB will do.

Thirty-nine economists said the ECB would hold its main refinancing rate at its current record low of 0.75 percent through the first quarter of next year, while 38 believed it would cut the rate to 0.5 percent.

The ECB on December 6 predicted the euro zone economy would shrink again in 2013. Its projections for economic performance ranged from a 0.9 percent drop to a meager 0.3 percent rise next year, suggesting contraction is far more likely than not.

It had previously penciled in a range of -0.4 percent to +1.4 percent for the euro area economy.

On Dec 7. the central banks of Germany and Austria forecast barely any economic growth in 2013, with the Bundesbank flagging risks of a recession in the euro zone's biggest economy as the debt crisis hits the bloc's core.

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UBS faces $1.6 billion fine over Libor rigging: paper

Zurich, Dec 24: UBS faces a fine of 1.5 billion Swiss francs ($1.63 billion) to settle interest rate rigging charges, a Swiss newspaper reported.

Citing unnamed sources, Tages-Anzeiger daily said the bank would admit 36 traders around the globe manipulated yen Libor between 2005 and 2010. A UBS spokesman declined to comment.

People familiar with the matter said UBS could reach a $1-billion-plus settlement and admit to criminal wrongdoing by its Japanese arm, where one of its traders manipulated yen Libor and euroyen contracts.

Between 25 and 30 people have left UBS over the matter, the sources said. The Swiss bank had hoped for a softer touch from regulators by cooperating in industry-wide probes and was surprised by the size of the expected settlement, they added.

A 1.5 billion franc settlement would be the biggest ever paid by the bank, recovering from a $2.3-billion trading fraud by London-based trader Kweku Adoboli for which it was fined 30 million pounds ($48.36 million) last month.

A settlement would make UBS the second major bank to be sanctioned for its role in the Libor scandal. Britain's Barclays (BARC.L) paid a $450 million fine in June.

Libor is the rate used as a benchmark for pricing trillions of dollars worth of financial instruments and contracts around the globe. Tiny shifts in the rate, compiled from daily polls of bankers, could benefit dealers in complex products.

Tages-Anzeiger said the fine, together with restructuring charges of 500 million francs from plans to cut 10,000 staff as UBS winds down its fixed income business, would probably push the bank to a fourth-quarter loss.

UBS had already said costs related to the investment banking overhaul would lead to a fourth-quarter and full-year loss after it posted a third-quarter net loss of 2.172 billion francs. It is due to publish full-year results on February 5.

By admitting to a charge against its Japanese subsidiary, UBS would stop short of admitting wrongdoing at a group level, which could be fatal for a bank as it could lose its license.

Chairman Axel Weber, who joined UBS this year after stepping down as head of the German central bank, has been on a whirlwind diplomatic tour over the probe, the Tages-Anzeiger reported.

Swiss newspapers noted that Mark Branson, now responsible for overseeing big banks for Swiss financial markets regulator Finma, was chief executive of UBS Japan at the time of the alleged rate rigging.

A Finma spokesman said Branson had removed himself from Finma's investigation into Libor to avoid any appearance of conflict of interest but declined to comment further.

In 2009, UBS paid $780 million to settle a messy U.S. investigation into tax evasion by admitting it had helped wealthy Americans evade and cheat on their taxes.

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Best Buy extends deadline for founder bid

New York, Dec 24 : Best Buy Co Inc (BBY) agreed to extend the deadline to February 28 for founder Richard Schulze to make a bid for the company, continuing the uncertainty for shareholders over whether he can put a bid together.

Best Buy shares fell 14.2 percent to $12.12 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company said the extension would allow Schulze to include the consumer electronics retailer's full-year results as part of his due diligence review.

The new deadline will also give him more time to line up partners and financing for a bid. A source said that Schulze didn't have financing lined up in time for a December bid.

Schulze, who founded Best Buy in 1966, has said he would fund any deal through a combination of private equity and debt financing, as well as the reinvestment of some of his own equity in the company.

"Obviously with the extension, there is still some hesitation on the part of his private equity suitors about how much financing they would want to put up for this deal," Morningstar analyst R J Hottovy said.

Under the extension, Schulze will be able to submit an offer any time during February, and the company will have 30 days to review and make a decision on the bid.

In August, Schulze made an informal proposal to acquire Best Buy for $24 to $26 per share, or a total of $8.16 billion to $8.84 billion. Including debt, it would be as much as $10.9 billion.

But Best Buy's performance has continued to lag and its stock has slid since. Last month, the company reported a decline in same-store sales for the ninth time in the last 10 quarters.

Best Buy's fortunes have faltered as consumers increasingly use its big box stores as showrooms for products they end up buying online at Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and other websites.

To add to its troubles, the company forced out Schulze's protégé, Brian Dunn, as chief executive earlier this year amid allegations he was having an inappropriate relationship with a female employee.

That scandal led to the ouster of Schulze from the board, and Best Buy hired turnaround expert Hubert Joly as CEO to come up with its own restructuring plan.

Schulze remains Best Buy's largest shareholder with about one-fifth of the company's outstanding shares.

If he can come in with a bid at about $16 or $17 a share when the market thinks the stock is only worth $12, it is in the interests of shareholders to extend the deadline, Hottovy said.

"That's really the best hope for investors, that Schulze takes it out because there's been no other good news for the company," said Rakesh Agrawal, principal analyst at San Francisco-based consulting firm reDesign Mobile.

Agrawal, who also advises hedge funds and money managers on the technology sector, said at this point the stock was trading entirely on whether a deal can get done or not.

A Best Buy spokesman said the extension will not affect the company's day-to-day operations, especially during the all-important holiday season.

"We are determined to have a strong holiday season," both in stores and online, spokesman Matt Furman said, adding that the company was moving "full speed ahead" with its turnaround plan.

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Best Buy extends deadline for founder bid

New York, Dec 24 : Best Buy Co Inc (BBY) agreed to extend the deadline to February 28 for founder Richard Schulze to make a bid for the company, continuing the uncertainty for shareholders over whether he can put a bid together.

Best Buy shares fell 14.2 percent to $12.12 on the New York Stock Exchange.

The company said the extension would allow Schulze to include the consumer electronics retailer's full-year results as part of his due diligence review.

The new deadline will also give him more time to line up partners and financing for a bid. A source said that Schulze didn't have financing lined up in time for a December bid.

Schulze, who founded Best Buy in 1966, has said he would fund any deal through a combination of private equity and debt financing, as well as the reinvestment of some of his own equity in the company.

"Obviously with the extension, there is still some hesitation on the part of his private equity suitors about how much financing they would want to put up for this deal," Morningstar analyst R J Hottovy said.

Under the extension, Schulze will be able to submit an offer any time during February, and the company will have 30 days to review and make a decision on the bid.

In August, Schulze made an informal proposal to acquire Best Buy for $24 to $26 per share, or a total of $8.16 billion to $8.84 billion. Including debt, it would be as much as $10.9 billion.

But Best Buy's performance has continued to lag and its stock has slid since. Last month, the company reported a decline in same-store sales for the ninth time in the last 10 quarters.

Best Buy's fortunes have faltered as consumers increasingly use its big box stores as showrooms for products they end up buying online at Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) and other websites.

To add to its troubles, the company forced out Schulze's protégé, Brian Dunn, as chief executive earlier this year amid allegations he was having an inappropriate relationship with a female employee.

That scandal led to the ouster of Schulze from the board, and Best Buy hired turnaround expert Hubert Joly as CEO to come up with its own restructuring plan.

Schulze remains Best Buy's largest shareholder with about one-fifth of the company's outstanding shares.

If he can come in with a bid at about $16 or $17 a share when the market thinks the stock is only worth $12, it is in the interests of shareholders to extend the deadline, Hottovy said.

"That's really the best hope for investors, that Schulze takes it out because there's been no other good news for the company," said Rakesh Agrawal, principal analyst at San Francisco-based consulting firm reDesign Mobile.

Agrawal, who also advises hedge funds and money managers on the technology sector, said at this point the stock was trading entirely on whether a deal can get done or not.

A Best Buy spokesman said the extension will not affect the company's day-to-day operations, especially during the all-important holiday season.

"We are determined to have a strong holiday season," both in stores and online, spokesman Matt Furman said, adding that the company was moving "full speed ahead" with its turnaround plan.

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SEC has examined Bank of America mortgage repurchases

Washington, Dec 24 : Securities regulators have made inquiries into the mortgage repurchase practices at Bank of America Corp's Countrywide unit, according to a transcript filed in a lawsuit against the bank by insurer MBIA Inc.

The details of the inquiries, which had not been previously disclosed, were included in documents filed this week.

It is unclear if the SEC continues to investigate the matter, but the documents reveal the agency's interest dating back to at least 2010 in an issue that has already saddled the second-largest U.S. bank with billions of dollars of losses in the wake of the financial crisis.

According to the documents, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requested a meeting with the bank to discuss its representations and warranties process, according to the documents.

When selling the mortgages, banks made promises or "representations and warranties" about the loans. Investors can ask banks to buy back soured mortgages if these promises were evidently broken, for reasons such as poor underwriting, insufficient verification of income or other documentation errors.

The SEC also asked about reserves for mortgage repurchase requests, a bank employee testified.

Since buying Countrywide in 2008, Bank of America has been forced to take billions of dollars of losses on soured mortgages that were sold to investors such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during the housing boom. At the end of the third quarter, it had set aside reserves of $16.3 billion in reserves for future claims.

While the SEC has taken action against Bank of America over its merger with Merrill Lynch, it has not sued the bank over conduct at Countrywide. In 2010, the SEC imposed a record $22.5 million penalty on Countrywide chief executive Angelo Mozilo over disclosures made as the subprime mortgage crisis emerged.

The SEC's interest in repurchases was disclosed as part of heated litigation between MBIA and Bank of America over mortgage-related claims. Bank of America filed a lawsuit against MBIA related to the bank's efforts to buy the insurer's bonds.

An SEC spokesman did not respond to a request for comment. A Bank of America spokesman declined to comment.

In its annual report filing in February, the bank said it had received "a number of subpoenas and other requests for information" from regulators about mortgage-backed securities and other mortgage-related matters.

In its most recent quarterly filing, it also included a recurring disclosure that "in the ordinary course of business" the bank is "subject to regulatory examinations, information gathering requests, inquiries, investigations, threatened legal actions and proceedings."

The transcripts filed this week include depositions MBIA lawyers conducted with Bank of America employees in August. The interviews, with Cynthia Simantel and Michael Schloessmann, shed new light on what the SEC may be examining.

Simantel, who is an executive in Bank of America's investor audit department, which handles repurchase claims, said she gave testimony to the SEC "a few years ago", and discussed with the SEC a grid used to rate loans that came in to the group, according to the transcripts.

Schloessmann, who managed the representations and warranties process, which governs how repurchases are made, said Countrywide provided the SEC with claims-related data the agency had requested in early 2010.

Countrywide also put together a document about the top five reasons that they have approved repurchases related to so-called monoline insurers, which was provided to the SEC, according to emails discussed by Schloessmann.

The details suggest the SEC could be examining whether the bank was properly reserving for repurchases, or whether it properly disclosed its repurchase requests.

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Book on IHK’s natural resources released

Srinagar, Dec 24 : Justice (retd) B A Kirmani said in order to achieve self- reliance there is urgent need to explore and tap natural resources which are in abundance in held Kashmir.

 “It was unfortunate that Kashmir despite being rich in the treasures of natural resources was in a bad condition for want of day to day commodities and civic amenities like electricity,” he said at the release of a book "Natural Resources of Jammu Kashmir and Ladakh" authored by Dr Mir Nazim Hussain and Mir Ashiq Hussain at auditorium of S P College here.

 He blamed people and government equally for what he termed as devastation of natural resources.

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Thieves on prowl in Zakura, Batpora

Srinagar, Dec 24 : Thieves decamped with goods worth lakhs of rupees from a garment shop at Zakura crossing last night.
 Reports said the thieves broke shutters of the shop Wearhouse and decamped with garments worth lakhs of rupees.

 Meanwhile in the same area, three LPG gas cylinders were stolen from two residential houses at Jeelanabad and Batpora in Hazratbal on December 12 and 13 respectively.

 Among the three LPG gas cylinders two belonged to Ghulam Rasool Wadoo and another to Ghulam Rasool Wani were stolen by thieves.

 “We have lodged complaint with the concerned police station. We make a fervent appeal to SSP Srinagar to look into the matter and nab the accused at the earliest to restore sense of security in the area,” he said.

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Infant deaths shock Baramulla

Baramulla, Dec 24 : Death of two infants in the newly set up Special Newborn Care Unit (SNCU) in district hospital Baramulla has sent shockwaves in this occupied Kashmir town.

Two neonates died after the hospital authorities failed to provide the electricity to the SNCU unit for 4 hours.

Sources said that two women hailing from Sheeri and Dardpora Baramulla gave birth to two babies. “The new born babies were suffering from asphyxia and the hospital authorities decided to place them under observation in the SNCU,” they added.

 Grief stricken parents of the neonates told Greater Kashmir that the electricity of the SNCU went off and the hospital authorities did not bother to start the generator for at least four hours leading the death of both the neonates.

“Despite our repeated pleas to start the generator the on duty officials remained unmoved. Both the infants died due to the acute hypothermia” said Tariq Ahmed father of one of the infants.
 “We saw our babies dying in front of our eyes. The two doctors deployed for the night duty did not bother to visit the ward. Where were they? Why paramedics of the unit did not inform the on duty doctors” questioned Tariq.

 While demanding stern action against the hospital authorities parents and relatives of the infants lodged a strong protest and demanded immediate inquiry in to the incident.
 Repeated attempts to contact the Director Health, Chief Medical Officer Baramulla and the Block Medical Officer proved futile.

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