Oil up on Chinese demand, supply disruptions

By Lin Noueihed

LONDON | Fri Aug 9, 2013 3:06pm IST

LONDON (Reuters) - Brent crude oil inched up to trade near $107 a barrel on Friday, ending days of declines after promising Chinese data suggested the economy of the world's top energy consumer was stabilising.

Although an imminent rebound for China is still unlikely, steady consumer inflation in July offered some hope to markets already buoyed by strong trade numbers.

China's commodity imports saw an overwhelming increase in July, with crude oil, iron ore and soybean shipments all climbing to record highs, although its implied oil demand softened from a 4-month high in June.

Concern that disruptions to oil supplies in Libya and other OPEC producers could persist or even worsen were also supporting prices, analysts said.

A report from the International Energy Agency suggested on Friday America's shale oil boom was protecting the world from steep oil price spikes as several OPEC members struggle to maintain production due to unrest and infrastructure problems.

"Stronger than expected Chinese data and continued supply issues are supporting prices,' said Commerzbank analyst Carsten Fritch.

Brent crude for September was at $107.00, up 30 cents, by 0806 GMT, after settling at its lowest level since July 4 in the previous session. U.S. crude was at $103.30, up 43 cents, at 0907 GMT snapping five days of losses -- its longest losing streak this year.

Despite the price rebound, both benchmarks were set to post weekly losses as investors took profits ahead of September, when the U.S. Federal Reserve is expected to start paring back its massive stimulus programme.

"The market is factoring in a September pullback in the Fed's asset purchase programme," ANZ analyst Natalie Rampono said. "There could potentially be more profit-taking."

The Fed's move could tighten liquidity that has underpinned global markets, leading to a firmer dollar and weighing on commodities priced in the greenback by making them more expensive for holders of other currencies.

Workers' protests have already slashed Libya's oil output to the lowest levels since the 2011 civil war and more than halved its exports.

Pipleline attacks in Iraq's north have pushed output down and planned work at the southern shipping terminals in September could slash exports by up to 500,000 barrels per day, the IEA said.

(Additional reporting by Florence Tan)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/INbusinessNews/~3/Zvy7Pkf6Nno/story01.htm

UT Austin Lizzie Velasquez NFL Network att libya twin towers gizmodo

Video: Man performs coffin-escaping skydive

Sorry, Readability was unable to parse this page for content.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/video/cnbc/52696166/

texas rangers steve jobs meningitis bobby valentine bobby valentine Karrueche Tran miguel cabrera

Microsoft releases IE11 Developer Preview for Windows 7

We got a first glimpse of IE11 when Microsoft released the preview of the Windows 8.1 update. Now, Microsoft has released a developer preview of the upcoming browser for Windows 7 users as well.

IE11 aims to improve the performance and security of your existing IE10 browser. New features like ability to render web images as well as text using the GPU, support for W3C resource priorities, SPDY network protocol and an updated JavaScript engine improves page loading performance over its predecessors as well as its rivals. In SunSpider benchmark, IE11 Developer Preview was 4 percent faster than IE10 and nearly 30 percent faster than Chrome 28.

IE11 also includes support for WebGL, to enable richer interactive 3D content on web pages that use your GPU to make everything smoother and faster. Improved HTML5 video support means you can now watch videos on sites such as Netflix without having to install plugins, although this feature is currently only available on Windows 8.1 and not Windows 7.

There is also a new F12 menu for developers with redesigned controls that make it easy to add or change content on your web sites.

The IE11 Developer Preview is now available for download for Windows 7. You can get it from here.

Source

Source: http://blog.gsmarena.com/microsoft-releases-ie11-developer-preview-for-windows-7/

pga tour robin roberts Liz Cheney ESPYS 2013 project runway Honey Boo Boo Behati Prinsloo

Christie, Paul highlight GOP debate over security

WASHINGTON (AP) ? A rift over national security is developing in the early stages of the Republican Party's next presidential campaign, pitting libertarians who question government overreach against defenders of a more hawkish approach on national security formed after the 2001 terrorist attacks.

During a forum Thursday night in Aspen, Colo., New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie pointed to a "strain of libertarianism" coursing through both parties as a "very dangerous thought" more than a decade after the Sept. 11 attacks. Christie was asked whether he was referring to Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a potential presidential candidate who has been at the forefront of the party's libertarian wing.

"You can name any number of people and he's one of them," said Christie, noting his state suffered the second-most casualties in the hijacked airliner attacks on New York and Washington, which killed nearly 3,000 people. "These esoteric, intellectual debates ? I want them to come to New Jersey and sit across from the widows and the orphans and have that conversation. And they won't, because that's a much tougher conversation to have."

Paul responded Friday on Twitter, saying Christie "worries about the dangers of freedom. I worry about the danger of losing that freedom. Spying without warrants is unconstitutional."

For Republicans, the national security debate offers a window into an evolving party that nearly a decade ago re-elected President George W. Bush, in part, on the basis of his administration's hard-line response to the terror attacks and use of tools provided by the USA Patriot Act, which gave the administration the powers to search records and conduct roving wiretaps in pursuit of terrorists. It also serves notice that whoever hopes to claim the GOP nomination in 2016 may need to fuse factions within the party on national security.

The exchange followed a fight this week in Congress over the National Security Agency's collection of hundreds of millions of U.S. phone records, where libertarian-leaning conservatives and liberal Democrats sought to undo the NSA program that they contend is an affront to civil liberties. The House narrowly defeated the attempt to restrict the surveillance, with some Republicans questioning whether their adversaries had forgotten the lessons of 2001.

The House vote came in the weeks after former NSA systems analyst Edward Snowden leaked classified documents that exposed the government's secret surveillance activities. And it followed Paul's nearly 13-hour filibuster in March over President Barack Obama's pick to lead the CIA, a fight that focused attention on the president's use of aerial drones to kill suspected terrorists and concerns the unmanned aircraft could be used in the United States to target suspects who are American citizens.

Doug Stafford, a top adviser to Paul, said in a statement that if Christie "believes the constitutional rights and the privacy of all Americans is 'esoteric,' he either needs a new dictionary, or he needs to talk to more Americans, because a great number of them are concerned about the dramatic overreach of our government in recent years."

Republicans have said the libertarian strain within their party has been galvanized by what they call a large, more intrusive government under Obama, pointing to the health care overhaul, probes by the IRS into political groups and the Snowden affair. Yet the internal debate in the months after Obama's re-election underscores a party figuring out a new approach to foreign policy as long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan come to a close and many Americans express hesitation about future foreign entanglements.

Republican consultants based in early presidential voting states said there is an undeniable growing wave of libertarianism within the GOP that has already begun to reshape the political debate as candidates begin to jockey for position three years before the next presidential contest.

South Carolina-based Republican operative Hogan Gidley said there are risks ? both for candidates like Christie who criticize the libertarian movement and for candidates like Paul who embrace it. "You can't ignore the libertarian movement. And if you do, you do it at your own peril," said Gidley, a senior aide on Rick Santorum's 2012 presidential campaign.

But he said some libertarian policies ? particularly those that would aggressively scale back spending on defense and foreign policy ? could scare away voters, as was the case of former presidential candidate Ron Paul, the senator's father, who placed fourth in South Carolina's last presidential primary.

Yet Rand Paul's libertarian approach remains popular among influential Republican activists. Former New Hampshire GOP chairman Jack Kimball, who is active in the party's 'liberty movement,' said Christie "went overboard on this. He's got to tone this down. A lot of people in this country are upset with the breadth and scope of what the NSA is doing."

Christie, who is running for re-election this year and considered a formidable potential 2016 candidate, made his comments at an event sponsored by the Aspen Institute that also featured Republican governors Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, Scott Walker of Wisconsin and Mike Pence of Indiana, all of whom have been discussed as potential White House aspirants.

Asked whether the party had become more libertarian, Jindal said it was a "good thing" and in part, a reaction to Obama's policies. "You've got a lot of voters ... who are saying, 'I'm tired of the government telling me how to live my life.'" Walker spoke of the need to make fewer Americans dependent upon government services like unemployment benefits and Medicaid.

But Christie, who was appointed by Bush as U.S. attorney in New Jersey one day before the 2001 attacks, warned that the public would not look kindly upon lawmakers who seek to undercut national security efforts if another terror attack struck American soil.

"The next attack that comes, that kills thousands of Americans as a result, people are going to be looking back on the people who were having this intellectual debate and wondering whether" they knew that their first job was to defend the homeland, he said.

How Republicans deal with the debate could shape the party's future after losing the popular vote in five of the past six presidential elections.

"It's a mistake to try to drive anybody out when you're losing," said Sal Russo, chief strategist for the Tea Party Express. "I think you need to tolerate those different viewpoints."

___

Peoples reported from Boston.

___

Follow Ken Thomas on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP_Ken_Thomas

Follow Steve Peoples on Twitter: http://twitter.com/sppeoples

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/christie-paul-highlight-gop-debate-over-security-193205422.html

Allegiant Air Melissa Rycroft Cyber Monday Deals 2012 Sasha McHale Boy Meets World elizabeth taylor cam newton

Lions' Jim Schwartz among NFL coaches on hot seat

ALLEN PARK, Mich. (AP) -- Jim Schwartz stepped into perhaps the NFL's worst job of all time, inheriting its first 0-16 team.

When the Detroit Lions gave him his first shot to be a head coach at any level in 2009, he talked about taking on and tackling challenges his entire life.

Then Schwartz helped the hapless franchise improve in each of his first three years. He led the Lions to the playoffs for the first time in more than a decade in 2011.

The Lions, though, took a big step back last year by losing their last eight games to flop to a 4-12 finish. With the slide, Schwartz lost his status as a coach with stability and acknowledged getting a dose of humility.

"It was humbling for me personally," Schwartz said Thursday, the day before leading his first training camp practice of the year. "I think it was humbling for the team."

The coach, though, often pays the price for a team's failures. So Schwartz needs better results and fewer life lessons if he wants to stay in Detroit.

And he's hardly the only one in the league with his job on the line.

New York Jets coach Rex Ryan, Dallas' Jason Garrett, Tennessee's Mike Munchak , Oakland's Dennis Allen and Carolina's Ron Rivera also face a sense of urgency to win - or else.

When pressed to address Schwartz's job security - or lack of it - Lions vice chairman Bill Ford hasn't given him much of a vote of confidence.

"I think Jim would be the first to admit that there have been times where he's learned on the job," Ford said.

Schwartz, with a 22-42 record in Detroit, has declined to provide details about the lessons, but accepted Ford's assessment.

"If you're building cars on the line down the street, you're selling insurance, you're coaching or you're a player, you're going to learn," Schwartz said earlier this summer. "And, you're going to be better the second time you experience something or go through something."

Ryan, hired the same year as Schwartz, may not get a second chance to bounce back from a losing season. Unlike Schwartz, Ryan is working for a general manager who didn't hire him. Ryan's contract runs out after 2014.

The Jets were 6-10 last year under Ryan, following a .500 season that didn't build upon an 11-win 2010 or a winning season in his debut with the franchise.

Jets owner Woody Johnson fired GM Mike Tannenbaum a day after last season and hired John Idzik. While Johnson does seem to be fond of Ryan, he's not sold enough on him to extend his contract a second time.

"I wasn't surprised that I came back," Ryan said in an interview with The Associated Press in May. "The way I look at it, Mr. Johnson knows what he has in me. He's got a guy who's all in and would do anything for this franchise."

Cowboys owner Jerry Jones insisted several times during the offseason that Garrett isn't on the hot seat, and addressed his situation before being asked about it on the eve of training camp.

Jones said it was a "mistake" to consider this an "Armageddon year" for Garrett.

Garrett, though, has failed to make the franchise anything more than average with a pair of 8-8 records since taking over during the 2010 season. In fact, no one has lately. Dallas is 128-128 since the start of the 1997 season and 1-6 in the playoffs.

"Ever since I've been in this league as a player, as a coach, I think everybody each and every day is playing and coaching for their jobs," Garrett said. "That's the nature of this thing and that's what makes the NFL great."

The Titans haven't had a great team since winning an NFL-high 13 games in 2008 when Schwartz was Jeff Fisher's defensive coordinator.

Munchak has been their head coach for just two seasons, but he almost surely has to have a record more like his first than his second to improve his shot to stay. The Hall of Fame offensive lineman led the Titans to a 9-7 mark in 2011 and slipped to a 10-loss season last year.

Titans owner Bud Adams, who turned 90 in January, fired chief operating officer Mike Reinfeldt at the end of last season. Adams allowed GM Ruston Webster to spend nearly $110 million signing veteran free agents such as left guard Andy Levitre and safety Bernard Pollard.

"I think in our mind we're on the right track and that's why I hope there's a lot of excitement," Munchak said. "The preseason games, I hope you'll see a spark and people will see what we're talking about. And, hopefully in September we'll see that change."

Oakland didn't make a change with its coach, giving Allen another opportunity with the perennially rebuilding franchise after winning just four games in his debut. Allen has little talent at his disposal because about 40 percent of this year's salary cap will be spent on bonuses to players who are no longer on the team.

"I know there's a lot of experts out there that might think differently, but I like this football team," Allen said last month.

Raiders owner Mark Davis, whose father, Al, ran the Raiders since the 1960s and died almost two years ago, has publicly backed GM Reggie McKenzie. He hasn't offered the same support for Allen.

A week after Carolina closed with a 7-9 record, Panthers owner Jerry Richardson decided Rivera would return for a third season. There's promise on the Panthers with Cam Newton at quarterback and Luke Kuechley at linebacker - both won rookie of the year awards in the last two seasons - but it needs to turn into production.

And quickly. The Rivera-led Panthers have started 1-6 and 1-5, but he's trying not to focus too much on how his possibly pivotal season begins.

"It's all about where you finish," Rivera said.

And if Rivera and his fellow hot-seat coaches don't win enough, they likely will be finished leading their franchises.

---

AP Sports Writers Dennis Waszak Jr., in New York, Schuyler Dixon in Oxnard, Calif., Teresa M. Walker in Nashville, Tenn., Josh Dubow in Oakland, Calif., and Steve Reed in Charlotte, N.C., contributed to this story.

---

Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL

---

Follow Larry Lage on Twitter: http://twitter.com/larrylage

Source: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/F/FBN_HOT_SEAT_COACHES?SITE=ORLAG&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

new ipad release pregnant jessica simpson international womens day joe the plumber lra lra eric johnson

Jimmy Fallon reveals baby's name on 'Late Night'

TV

Ree Hines TODAY contributor

19 hours ago

All of the buzz has been about the royal baby's moniker this week, but "Late Night" host Jimmy Fallon revealed another baby's name on his show Wednesday night ? that of his new daughter, Winnie Rose Fallon.

"Welcome to 'Late Night With Jimmy Fallon,' I?m your host, Dada," the proud pop teased as he opened his monologue.

Fallon and wife Nancy Juvonen welcomed a baby girl on Tuesday, and he wasted no time sharing all the details with his audience.

"She's 5 pounds, 9 ounces ? I got it down to the ounce," he bragged. "That's how I weigh myself as well. I've got to lose a couple of ounces!"

Not that the new dad has time to worry about his waistline.

"It's been a crazy couple of days ... actually it's just one day," Fallon said of the blur the week has turned out to be for him. "It feels like it's been a four-day conference or something. It's very taxing on the fathers. I don't know how it is for the mothers, but very taxing."

But all joking aside, Fallon insisted, "I'm just so happy."

As for that other baby everyone's talking about, the host had a message for Prince George's proud parents: "Yes, William and Kate, we'll definitely set up a play date ? stop bothering me!"

Source: http://www.today.com/entertainment/jimmy-fallon-reveals-babys-name-late-night-6C10744806

mariah carey djokovic djokovic josh smith Andre Iguodala Ernesto Arguello Cricinfo

Comet ISON Blazes with Distant Galaxies in Stunning Hubble Photo

A spectacular new photo gives a deep-space view of Comet ISON, which could put on a dazzling show when it zooms through the inner solar system in late November.

The image ? which researchers stitched together from five photos of ISON taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope?on April 30 ? shows the icy wanderer blazing against a backdrop of galaxies and bright stars.

"The result is part science, part art," Josh Sokol of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md., which operates Hubble, wrote in a blog post last week. "It's a simulation of what our eyes, with their ability to dynamically adjust to brighter and fainter objects, would see if we could look up at the heavens with the resolution of Hubble." [Photos of Comet ISON: A Potentially Great Comet]

All five images were captured by Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 UVIS instrument, researchers said. Three exposures were made with a filter that transmits yellow and green light (represented as blue in the image), while two used a filter that lets in red and some near-infrared light.

"In general, redder things are older, more evolved, than blue things ? this is true both for the crosshair-spiked stars and the smudges of distant galaxies," Sokol wrote.

Comet ISON?is cruising toward a close encounter with the sun on Nov. 28, when it will skim just 724,000 miles (1.16 million kilometers) above the solar surface. The comet could get incredibly luminous around this time, perhaps shining as brightly as the full moon, researchers say.

ISON has thus attracted a fair bit of "comet of the century" hype, with skywatchers and scientists around the world eagerly tracking its long trek toward the sun. Indeed, Hubble is just one of many instruments that researchers around the world are training on the comet as part of a coordinated observation campaign.

Comets are primordial bodies made from the same fundamental building blocks that coalesced to form the planets 4.5 billion years ago. So scientists hope that close study of the material that boils off ISON as it nears the sun will reveal insights about the solar system's early days.

While hopes for a great sky show are high, there is no guarantee that ISON will live up to the hype. Comets are notoriously unpredictable, and ISON's behavior could be particularly tricky to forecast. The comet, which was discovered in September 2012, is thought to be making its first-ever foray into the inner solar system from the distant and frigid Oort Cloud.

Follow Mike Wall on Twitter?@michaeldwall?and?Google+.?Follow us @Spacedotcom, Facebook?or Google+. Originally published on?SPACE.com.

Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/comet-ison-blazes-distant-galaxies-stunning-hubble-photo-113938594.html

Jimmy Hoffa Rick Rubin The Wolf of Wall Street marilyn monroe MAC Cosmetics The Voice Results Miss USA 2013