Missoni scion on plane missing in Venezuela

In this photo taken on March 30, 2005 Vittorio Missoni, right, and his wife Maurizia Castiglioni smile in Milan, Italy. The search resumed Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013 for a small plane that has disappeared off the Venezuelan coast with six people aboard, including Vittorio Missoni, a top executive in Italy's Missoni fashion house, officials said. Vittorio Missoni, 58, is the director general of the iconic brand and the eldest son of the company's founder. Flying with him on Friday's flight from Venezuela's Los Roques resort archipelago to Caracas, was Missoni's wife, Maurizia Castiglioni, two Italian friends of the couple, and a crew of two Venezuelans. (AP Photo/Livio Valerio, Lapresse)

In this photo taken on March 30, 2005 Vittorio Missoni, right, and his wife Maurizia Castiglioni smile in Milan, Italy. The search resumed Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013 for a small plane that has disappeared off the Venezuelan coast with six people aboard, including Vittorio Missoni, a top executive in Italy's Missoni fashion house, officials said. Vittorio Missoni, 58, is the director general of the iconic brand and the eldest son of the company's founder. Flying with him on Friday's flight from Venezuela's Los Roques resort archipelago to Caracas, was Missoni's wife, Maurizia Castiglioni, two Italian friends of the couple, and a crew of two Venezuelans. (AP Photo/Livio Valerio, Lapresse)

In this undated photo provided by Venezuela's Ministry of the Interior and Justice Press Office, a plane that went missing sits on the tarmac of the airport in Los Roques, Venezuela. Venezuela's Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said the plane was declared missing hours after taking off Friday, Jan. 5, 2013 from Los Roques, a string of islands, cays and islets that is popular for scuba diving, white beaches and coral reefs. He said the plane was expected at Simon Bolivar International Airport in Caracas but didn't arrive and that the four Italian tourists aboard had spent their Christmas and New Year at the resort. The plane had two Venezuelan crew members. (AP Photo/Ministry of the Interior and Justice Press Office)

In this photo taken on Nov. 23, 2004 Vittorio Missoni, left, and his father Ottavio smile in Milan, Italy. The search resumed Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013 for a small plane that has disappeared off the Venezuelan coast with six people aboard, including Vittorio Missoni, a top executive in Italy's Missoni fashion house, officials said. Vittorio Missoni, 58, is the director general of the iconic brand and the eldest son of the company's founder. Flying with him on Friday's flight from Venezuela's Los Roques resort archipelago to Caracas, was Missoni's wife, Maurizia Castiglioni, two Italian friends of the couple, and a crew of two Venezuelans. (AP Photo/Livio Valerio, Lapresse)

In this photo taken on Feb. 23, 2010, Vittorio Missoni poses for photographers in Milan, Italy. The search resumed Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013 for a small plane that has disappeared off the Venezuelan coast with six people aboard, including Vittorio Missoni, a top executive in Italy's Missoni fashion house, officials said. Vittorio Missoni, 58, is the director general of the iconic brand and the eldest son of the company's founder. Flying with him on Friday's flight from Venezuela's Los Roques resort archipelago to Caracas, was Missoni's wife, Maurizia Castiglioni, two Italian friends of the couple, and a crew of two Venezuelans. (AP Photo/Gian Mattia d'Alberto, Lapresse)

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) ? Rescue crews used boats and aircraft on Saturday to search for a small plane that disappeared off Venezuela carrying the CEO of Italy's iconic Missoni fashion house and five other people.

But more than a day after the BN-2 Islander aircraft disappeared from radar screens on its short flight from the Venezuelan resort islands of Los Roques to Caracas, no sign of the plane had been found, officials said.

"We have no other news" about the plane carrying 58-year-old Vittorio Missoni, the head of the company; his wife, Maurizia Castiglioni; two of their Italian friends; and two Venezuelan crew members, said Paolo Marchetti, a Missoni SpA official. He spoke briefly to reporters as he left company headquarters in the northern Italian town of Sumirago on Saturday afternoon.

Missoni's younger brother, Luca, who is active in the family-run business, was reportedly traveling to Venezuela on Saturday to monitor search efforts.

"We're holding onto a glimmer of hope," said Oswaldo Scalvenzi , a relative of Elda Scalvenzi, one of the Missoni friends aboard the flight. "Until we can see the wreckage" hope will remain, Scalvenzi told Italian state TV on Saturday night.

Search teams were using a plane and a helicopter, working together with the Venezuelan coast guard, Venezuela's National Civil Aviation Institute said in a statement Saturday.

The twin-engine plane had enough fuel on board for a three-hour flight, said Francisco Paz Fleitas, president of the civil aviation agency. Paz said the plane took off at 11:39 a.m. on Friday and had been expected to arrive at Caracas' Simon Bolivar International Airport 42 minutes later.

The civil aviation agency said the authorities declared an alert after the plane didn't make contact with the control tower at the Caracas airport or with the tower in Los Roques.

"The last position registered in radar data and those supplied by a system on board the aircraft" was about 11 miles (18 kilometers) south of Los Roques, the agency said in the statement.

The Italian newspaper La Repubblica reported that Venezuelan aircraft, boats and helicopters took off at dawn Saturday to resume the search for the missing plane, which had been suspended on Friday night.

Venezuelan Interior Minister Nestor Reverol announced that the plane was missing hours after it took off from Los Roques, a string of islands popular for scuba diving, white beaches and coral reefs, and where the Missonis and their friends were on vacation.

Reverol said on Friday that two navy patrol boats were involved in the search and that a specialized oceanographic ship, the Guaicamacuto, also had been deployed.

Vittorio Missoni is the eldest son of the company's founder, Ottavio, who at 91 still follows the business.

The Corriere della Sera newspaper reported that Ottavio and his wife Rosita were at their home in Italy, along with their daughter Angela, waiting for information about the search. Rosita Missoni designs housewares for the company, and Angela is the company's creative director.

The Missoni fashion house, with its trademark zigzag and other geometric patterns in sweaters, scarves and other knitwear, is one of Italy's most famous fashion brands abroad. It is scheduled to display its latest menswear creations at a fashion show in Milan later this month.

Vittorio Missoni played a key role in marketing the Missoni family creations in Asia, especially in Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea as general director of marketing for Missoni SpA. He also spearheaded a push for the company's products in the United States and France. His efforts to expand the brand abroad led Missoni to be dubbed the company's "ambassador."

Vittorio Missoni has been described as an active sportsman and lover of the outdoors. He and his wife and their friends from northern Italy were scheduled to fly back from Caracas to Italy on Friday after spending the Christmas and New Year's holidays in the islands.

The plane disappeared shortly after takeoff on a flight of about 95 miles (150 kilometers) from the islands to the Caracas airport.

Other small planes have gone down or vanished on flights between the archipelago and the mainland.

On Jan. 4, 2008, a plane on a flight from Caracas to Los Roques disappeared after crashing with 14 people aboard, including eight Italians, a Swiss man and five Venezuelans. The pilot had radioed to controllers that he was having engine trouble before the plane went down as it approached the islands. The body of the Venezuelan co-pilot later washed ashore, but no wreckage was found and most of those on board remain missing.

In 2009, a small plane returning from Los Roques with nine people aboard plunged into the Caribbean Sea, but all survived.

____

Associated Press writer Frances D'Emilio contributed reporting from Rome. Ian James reported in Caracas.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-05-Italy-Venezuela-Missing%20Plane/id-b192f3d20ded4a60a9dae7c9206a8ac1

joy division norco rand paul detained asexual jim carrey san francisco chronicle kourtney kardashian pregnant

imranijins: Vocational Education - ajayfatania - arthurturner10's ...

December 26, 2012 Education

Economies of the world will turn into knowledge economies. With the basics of the world are changing with the evolution of technologies, it is important for a person to specialize in a particular area to find gainful employment.

This type of specialization is taught by vocational schools. In the fields of health, technology, art and business of professional training is offered in general. The classification of these subjects will still be conducted in other courses.

Vocational education has gained increased revival of enthusiasm in the world of today?s demand for skilled workers for the company. Vocational training in the details is extremely diverse theme and title of the analysis of a wide range of references and sources includes several specific questions about education, vocational training and career. You will find many online sources that can help you with detailed information about the training in education. Due to the desperate need that rises on a large scale among corporate houses of skilled workers in the world today believe that the people business schools, rebuild its stable foundation.

Faculty of vocational schools is very experienced. They provide practical knowledge to their students. As a result, students are able to have a real life experience and industry practice. Students are also provided with training.

There are several professional development projects around the world. In fact, every state has vocational schools, where villagers can earn degrees and become part of a dedicated workforce. The majority of these training institutions. Work according to the rules and regulations of the State Department of Education The Ministry of Education of the State or Central Government granted recognition training institute.

AVLC is a center of learning, different types of training, such as vocational training, job training, training, English IELTS and so provides.

Source: http://nationalmilitarychildeducationcenter.net/education/vocational-education.html

calipari national archives brock lesnar kentucky jayhawks wwe wrestlemania oakland shooting

Source: http://ypasnsda.posterous.com/imranijins-vocational-education

king of kings ostara andy kaufman masters 2012 tom watson kawasaki disease resurrection

Source: http://logepaet.posterous.com/imranijins-vocational-education-ypasnsda39s-p

weather nyc open marriage department of justice doj dept of justice weather chicago swizz beatz

Source: http://ajayfatania.blogspot.com/2012/12/imranijins-vocational-education.html

end of the world december 21 2012 norad 12/21/12 bruno mars winter solstice Jabari Parker

Source: http://arthurturner10.posterous.com/imranijins-vocational-education-ajayfatania

game change own stacy francis tournament brackets 2012 ncaa basketball tournament walt what time is it

Source: http://lopudifaryt.posterous.com/imranijins-vocational-education-ajayfatania-a

lsu alabama lsu game lsu game beezow doo doo zopittybop bop bop cordova demaryius thomas transtar

Budget battles threaten to limit Obama's second-term agenda

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After a brutal "fiscal cliff" battle, President Barack Obama's looming budget confrontation with Congress threatens to sharply curtail his second-term agenda and limit his ambitions on priorities such as immigration reform and gun control.

Obama has vowed to push ahead with other legislative priorities during the fiscal fight, but faces the likelihood that they will be elbowed aside in a fierce struggle with Republicans over approaching deadlines to raise the limit on federal borrowing, cut spending and fund government operations.

Obama and Congress must agree by the end of March on increasing the $16.4 trillion debt ceiling, the fate of $85 billion in delayed automatic spending cuts and passage of a bill to fund the government after a temporary measure expires.

Those budget battles could be even more intense than the weeks-long "fiscal cliff" fight that ended on New Year's Day with an agreement to raise taxes on the wealthy, leaving divided Republicans itching for revenge and a fractured relationship between Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner.

"We always felt that a bipartisan and amicable conclusion to the fiscal cliff would lead to a very positive agenda for the next two years, and the opposite occurred. It bodes poorly for Obama's other major priorities," said Jim Kessler, senior vice president for policy at the centrist think tank Third Way.

"There is a high level of dysfunction. They haven't cracked the code yet on how to work with each other," Kessler said of Obama and congressional Republicans.

The fiscal cliff fight overwhelmed nearly everything else at the White House for two months. A similar result in the budget battle would be bad news for Obama, cutting into the narrow one-year to 18-month window when second-term presidents traditionally still have the political clout to achieve their most significant legislative victories.

"From a Republican standpoint, if you don't want Obama to get any oxygen on these other issues, focusing on the fiscal cliff and all these budget issues is a very good way to run out the clock on him," said Republican strategist John Feehery, a former Capitol Hill aide.

Obama has promised to pursue a broad second-term agenda focused on comprehensive immigration reform, bolstering domestic energy production, fighting climate change and gun control. After the "fiscal cliff" deal, he said he would not curtail his agenda because of the looming budget fights.

"We can settle this debate, or at the very least, not allow it to be so all-consuming all the time that it stops us from meeting a host of other challenges that we face," Obama said on New Year's Day before boarding a flight to Hawaii to resume a holiday interrupted by the fiscal cliff fight.

"It's not just possible to do these things; it's an obligation to ourselves and to future generations," he said.

PRIMED FOR A FIGHT

Republicans are primed for the coming fight, believing they have more leverage against Obama than during the fiscal cliff battle. Failure to close a deal on the debt ceiling could mean a default on U.S. debt or another downgrade in the U.S. credit rating like the one after a similar showdown in 2011.

A failure to reach agreement on a government funding bill could mean another federal shutdown like brief ones in 1995 and 1996.

Republicans say they will not back an increase in the federal debt ceiling without significant spending cuts opposed by many Democrats, particularly to popular "entitlement" programs such as the government-funded Medicare and Medicaid healthcare plans for the elderly and poor.

"When you look at what's coming down the pike, it will make the fiscal cliff look like a day in Sunday school," said Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis.

"You're talking about a battle that's going to last weeks or months. If they get a deal, it's going to be ugly, it's going to be brutal. Once you get past that, where do you find the will to address other issues? It's going to be very hard," he said.

Administration officials promise to move quickly in January in pursuit of new legislation on gun control and immigration. The gun control effort will be led by Vice President Joe Biden, who was appointed to develop a response to the deadly Connecticut school shootings in December.

But what seemed to be fresh momentum for new measures such as a ban on assault rifles after the mass killing in Connecticut could be stalled by a protracted focus on the seemingly never-ending budget showdowns.

Obama also plans to introduce comprehensive immigration legislation this month. Republicans will have fresh incentive on the issue after Hispanics soundly rejected Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney in the November election, giving Obama more than 70 percent of their vote.

But a Senate Republican leadership aide said economic issues would be the prime concern of Congress for months, pushing back consideration of gun control and immigration. The aide blamed Obama.

"The lack of leadership on spending and debt has put us behind on a number of other issues. That is not something that can be resolved quickly," the aide said.

When blocked in Congress, Obama has shown a willingness to use executive orders and agency rules to make policy changes. During last year's campaign, Obama ordered an end to deportations of young undocumented immigrants who came to the country as children and had never committed a crime.

This week, the Department of Homeland Security changed its rules to make it easier for undocumented immigrants to get a waiver allowing them to stay in the country as they seek permanent residency.

With Republicans motivated to improve their standing with Hispanics, there is a chance Congress will work with the White House to pass an immigration bill that both bolsters border security and offers a pathway to legal status for undocumented immigrants who pay their back taxes and fines.

Finding the rare sweet spot where Obama and Republicans actually agree on an issue could be the key to second-term legislative success.

"The only thing that gets done outside of the economy are things that Republicans decide they have to get done for their own political futures," Feehery said.

But Kessler said he was skeptical that Obama and Congress can find common ground on a comprehensive immigration measure that provides a long-term solution for the country's 12 million illegal immigrants.

"Will something get done on immigration? Probably. But a major deal that addresses all undocumented immigrants in a comprehensive way? We're much less confident than we were two weeks ago," Kessler said.

"The question now is, do they even know how to make deals with each other?" he said.

(Additional reporting by Jeff Mason and Thomas Ferraro; Editing by Claudia Parsons)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/budget-battles-threaten-limit-obamas-second-term-agenda-193036078.html

Bret Bielema blake shelton sons of anarchy adriana lima victoria secret fashion show SEC Championship Rick Majerus

4 Sisters Who Had Breast Cancer Sue Drug Maker, Blaming ...

BOSTON (CBS) ? Four sisters have a bond they?d rather not share. All of them have suffered from breast cancer. Not just bad luck, they say, or coincidence. The Melnick sisters blame a drug called Diethylstilbestrol, commonly known as DES.

And now they are taking pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly to court in a groundbreaking lawsuit.

Melnick sisters

DES is drug that was given to pregnant women to prevent miscarriage from the 1930?s until it was pulled from pharmacies in 1971 after links to a rare form of vaginal cancer were discovered.

Since then, ?DES Daughters? have reported fertility and reproductive problems. The Melnick sisters experienced infertility, but it was when the breast cancer diagnoses came, that they looked further into the DES link.

Michele Fecho was diagnosed in 1998. Her sister Donna McNeeley?s bad news came in 2002. Then Andrea Andrews and Francine Melnick were diagnosed with breast cancer on the same day in 2003.

A fifth Melnick sister did not have breast cancer, but their mother did not take DES during her pregnancy with that sister.

?There has to be a link,? says Andrea. ?This isn?t a coincidence.?

The lawsuit claims in utero exposure to DES caused their breast cancer and accuses drug maker Eli Lilly of knowing about the risks but failing to warn patients.

?I?m sad for my mother who took this because she wanted to have us and wasn?t explained the risks of what she took,? says Andrea.

Eli Lilly did not respond to requests for an interview. In court documents, their lawyers say the sisters have no ?no competent evidence? that backs up their claim.

The sisters have been fighting Eli Lilly for five years. Some say they are angry. Others are sad. All four say the DES problems have impacted their lives for decades.

They finally have their day in court Friday when jury selection begins. They hope the result of their case is increased awareness for other women who may be suffering.

?My primary concern is the awareness and at least educating the medical community and DES Daughters,? says Michele.

There are more than 50 other cases dealing with the breast cancer link to DES that have been filed in Federal Court in Boston. This is the first to go to trial.

Source: http://boston.cbslocal.com/2013/01/03/4-sisters-who-had-breast-cancer-sue-drugmaker-over-mothers-medication/

humber raffi torres michael mcdonald jon jones vs rashad evans earth day 2012 jon jones rashad evans ufc jones vs evans

Cliff averted, it's on to the next fiscal crisis

President Barack Obama waves as he gets off Air Force One upon his arrival at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Honolulu, Hawaii, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013. The president is back in Hawaii for vacation after a tense, end-of-the-new-year standoff with Congress over the fiscal cliff. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

President Barack Obama waves as he gets off Air Force One upon his arrival at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Honolulu, Hawaii, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013. The president is back in Hawaii for vacation after a tense, end-of-the-new-year standoff with Congress over the fiscal cliff. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

A trader works on the floor at the New York Stock Exchange in New York, Wednesday, Jan. 2, 2013. The ?fiscal cliff? compromise, for all its chaos and controversy, was enough to send the stock market shooting higher Wednesday, the first trading day of the new year. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)

Speaker of the House John Boehner, R-Ohio, walks with House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., following a closed-door GOP meeting as the "fiscal cliff" bill passed by the Senate Monday night waits for a vote in the Republican-controlled House, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday Jan. 1, 2013. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Onward to the next fiscal crisis. Actually, several of them, potentially. The New Year's Day deal averting the "fiscal cliff" lays the groundwork for more combustible struggles in Washington over taxes, spending and debt in the next few months.

President Barack Obama's victory on taxes this week was the second, grudging round of piecemeal successes in as many years in chipping away at the nation's mountainous deficits. Despite the length and intensity of the debate, the deal to raise the top income tax rate on families earning over $450,000 a year ? about 1 percent of households ? and including only $12 billion in spending cuts turned out to be a relatively easy vote for many. This was particularly so because the alternative was to raise taxes on everyone.

But in banking $620 billion in higher taxes over the coming decade from wealthier earners, Obama and his Republican rivals have barely touched deficits still expected to be in the $650 billion range by the end of his second term. And those back-of-the-envelope calculations assume policymakers can find more than $1 trillion over 10 years to replace automatic across-the-board spending cuts known as a sequester.

"They didn't do any of the tough stuff," said Erskine Bowles, chairman of Obama's 2010 deficit commission. "We've taken two steps now, but those two steps combined aren't enough to put our fiscal house in order."

In 2011, the government adopted tighter caps on day-to-day operating budgets of the Pentagon and other cabinet agencies to save $1.1 trillion over 10 years.

The measure passed Tuesday and signed Wednesday by Obama prevents middle-class taxes from going up while raising rates on higher incomes. It also blocks severe across-the-board spending cuts for two months, extends unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless for a year, stops a 27 percent cut in Medicare fees paid to doctors and prevents a possible doubling of milk prices.

The alternative was going over the cliff, an economy-punching half-trillion-dollar combination of sweeping tax increases and spending cuts. Despite the deal, the government partially went over the brink anyway with the expiration of a two-year cut in Social Security payroll taxes of two percentage points.

Action inside a dysfunctional Washington now only comes with binding deadlines. So, naturally, this week's hard-fought bargain sets up another crisis in two months, when painful across-the-board spending cuts to the Pentagon and domestic programs are set to kick in and the government runs out of the ability to juggle its $16.4 trillion debt without having to borrow more money.

Unless Congress increases or allows Obama to increase that borrowing cap, the government risks a first-ever default on U.S. obligations. Republicans will use this as an opportunity to leverage more spending cuts from Obama, just like they did in the summer of 2011.

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, vows that any increase in the debt limit ? which needs to be enacted by Congress by the end of February or sometime in March ? must be accompanied by an equal amount in cuts to federal spending. That puts him on yet another collision course with Obama, who has vowed anew that he won't let haggling over spending cuts complicate the debate over the debt limit.

The cliff compromise represented the first time since 1990 that Republicans condoned a tax increase. That has whipped up a fury among tea party conservatives and increased the pressure on Boehner to adopt a hard line in coming confrontations over the borrowing cap and the spending cuts that won only a two-month reprieve in this weeks' deal.

Put simply, House Republicans are demanding new spending cuts ? possibly through changes in Social Security and Medicare benefit formulas ? as a scalp, and they're dead set against raising more revenues through anything less than an overhaul of the tax code now that Obama has won higher taxes on the wealthy.

"Now the focus turns to spending," Boehner said after Tuesday's vote, promising that future budget battles will center on "significant spending cuts and reforms to the entitlement programs that are driving our country deeper and deeper into debt."

Obama is just as adamant on the other side, saying higher revenues have to be part of any formula for further diverting the automatic spending cuts.

While conservative activist Grover Norquist gave Republicans a pass on violating his anti-tax pledge with this week's vote, he and other forces on the right won't be so forgiving on any future effort to increase revenues.

The refusal of Republicans to consider additional new taxes is sure to stir up resistance among Democrats when they're asked to consider politically painful cuts to so-called entitlement programs like Medicare. Democratic protests led Obama and Boehner to take a proposal to increase the Medicare eligibility age off the table in the recent round of talks.

The upshot? More scorched-earth politics on the budget will probably dominate the initial few months of Obama's second term, when the president would prefer to focus on legacy accomplishments like fixing the immigration problem and implementing his overhaul of health care.

The relationship between Boehner and Obama has never been especially close and seemed to have suffered a setback last month after the speaker withdrew from negotiations on a broader deficit deal. The two get along personally, but politically, a series of collapsed negotiations has bred mistrust. The White House has the view that Boehner cannot deliver while the speaker is frustrated that matters brought up in his talks with the president are not followed through by White House staff.

And on the debt limit, Boehner and Obama at this point are simply talking past each other.

"While I will negotiate over many things, I will not have another debate with this Congress over whether or not they should pay the bills that they've already racked up through the laws that they passed," Obama said after the deal was approved.

Said Boehner spokesman Michael Steel: "The speaker's position is clear. Any increase in the debt limit must be matched by spending cuts or reforms that exceed the increase."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-01-03-Fiscal%20Cliff/id-0bfc4b3483eb44e58dbc1be994873093

bridge to nowhere primary results dale earnhardt jr michigan primary school shooting daytona 500 winner cleveland plain dealer

'Fiscal Cliff' Deal Favors Housing Recovery

The housing market is on firmer ground today, as two major tax provisions survived the "fiscal cliff." Congress did not touch the mortgage interest deduction, and it extended tax relief for one year on mortgage debt forgiveness.

"An extension of the tax break is positive for home values by reducing the number of foreclosures and helping more troubled borrowers stay in their homes," wrote Jaret Seiberg of Guggenheim Partners. "That means less supply on the market."

Under a law signed in 2007, debt relief on loan modifications, short sales, and foreclosures were no longer taxable; that break expired at the end of 2012. The fear was that if the tax break was not extended, home owners would not agree to short sales (when the home is sold for less than the value of the mortgage) because they would then face a tax bill. They would also not agree to principal reduction loan modifications, which have proven to be far more successful than other modifications that leave the principal balance as is.

Under the $25 billion mortgage servicing settlement, borrowers have received $6.3 billion in mortgage principal relief through September, according to the settlement's monitor, Joseph A. Smith, Jr. The average loan balance reduction, $150,000. Banks completed 13,351 principal reduction loan modifications in November alone, according to Amherst Securities Group, a 62 percent jump from September.

Short sales also surged toward the end of the year, thanks to streamlined procedures and a more aggressive stance by the big banks, again in part due to the mortgage servicing settlement. More than 98 thousand short sales were completed in the third quarter of 2012, according to RealtyTrac.

Source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/100349018

nike foamposite galaxy bill maher seabiscuit dingo nba all star weekend malin akerman jeff carter

Q & A: Is Year-Round Daylight Saving Time Feasible?

[unable to retrieve full-text content]Any time plan can be adopted by human beings, but whether year-round daylight saving time would achieve its chief goal ? saving energy ? is another question.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/01/science/is-year-round-daylight-saving-time-feasible.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

michael phelps Kerri Strug Ledecky Nadia Comaneci Rebecca Soni Snoop Lion London 2012 Table Tennis