JOPLIN, Mo (Reuters) ? New houses, stores and office buildings are popping up from a tornado's ruins, but Rachael Lasley can only see the emptiness.
"I've lived my whole life here and it's not like Joplin anymore," Lasley, 36, said as she shielded her face from a cold wind whipping around a trailer park that is her temporary home. "My childhood memories are gone -- my elementary school, the playground, restaurants."
Joplin, Missouri on Tuesday observes the sixth-month anniversary of the EF-5 tornado May 22 that killed 161 people and destroyed some 900 buildings. The city is sponsoring a memorial service to honor victims and thank hundreds of volunteers who helped clean up the city.
While many in Joplin strike an upbeat tone about recovery, people who lost homes and loved ones still struggle mightily with their emotions and the upheaval in their lives.
Thousands of residents take part in state-sponsored counseling programs, including about one-third of the 7,700 public school students, officials said.
Stresses caused by the tornado, such as cramped or shared living space and financial hardships, have contributed to a 30 percent jump in cases of domestic violence and child abuse since the tornado, compared to a year ago, social service agencies report.
The mental health community is reaching out with billboards that read "Don't Let One Disaster Lead to Another."
Many families have moved multiple times since the tornado.
Christina Lackey, her husband and two small children stayed in a relative's living room, then a hotel and now rent a house outside town while their house is rebuilt. But they worry that ongoing construction delays will prevent them from moving before insurance stops covering their rent in March.
"It's real frustrating because it's going to take so long to get our lives put back together," Lackey said.
She said their 3 1/2 year old daughter still has scary memories of the tornado. On the 4th of July, for instance, fireworks "freaked her out," Lackey said.
Lisa Orem, director of special services for Joplin schools, said even children who did not lose a home in the tornado are shaken by the loss of places they knew so well.
Dannielle Robertson copes with the loss of her home and her mother, Vicki Robertson, 66, who died when the tornado slammed into her duplex. Robertson lives in what residents call "FEMAville," a barracks-like modular home park in a flat, open space in the northern part of Joplin. Homes were built by the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
The park has been the scene of several meth lab busts and violent crimes, Robertson said. She is trying to move but rental property is scarce and rent is rising out of the price range of a lot of people, she said.
Only recently, Robertson said, has she been able to drive through once-familiar parts of Joplin without crying. "To see those vast miles of empty space, it's so sad," she said.
Even new buildings are reminders of that awful day. Michael Madl lost a friend, Charlie Gaudsmith, 21, when the tornado tore through Wal-Mart while he was shopping. The new Wal-Mart opened earlier this month.
"I'd like to go there, but emotionally I don't think I could," Robertson said. He has found strength since the tornado by volunteering much of his time helping pack donated supplies for victims.
One of the most wrenching deaths that day occurred when the tornado pulled 18-year-old Will Norton out of the sunroof of his destroyed SUV two blocks from his home. His father, Mark Norton, was in the passenger seat but survived.
The Nortons were returning from high school graduation ceremonies when the tornado hit. Will Norton is talked about often, said a friend, Emma Cox. He was a popular kid, but never into cliques, she said.
"He had a Halloween party and invited everybody," Cox said.
Mark Norton said he has taken solace in the kind things people have said about Will, including one woman who said her introverted son decided to be more outgoing and involved in his first year of college because of Will's death.
"He realized life can be short and you can't waste years," Norton said.
The memorial service Tuesday is planned in Cunningham Park, where 161 trees will eventually be planted in memory of each tornado victim. Relatives of all victims have been invited to the service.
Robertson said the tree for each victim will be a symbol of renewal.
"It's part of the rebuilding of Joplin," she said. "A tree will be standing. That's important."
(Writing and reporting by Kevin Murphy; Editing by Mary Wisniewski and Greg McCune)
WALNUT CREEK, Calif. (AP) ? Private mortgage insurer PMI Group Inc. is seeking shelter from creditors under the Chapter 11 bankruptcy code after the seizure of two of its subsidiaries by regulators in Arizona.
The company said Wednesday that it filed a petition for relief with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware, but will continue operating as usual.
PMI intends to use bankruptcy protection to assess its options in light of the action taken by the Arizona Department of Insurance.
On Oct. 20, insurance regulators in Arizona seized PMI's main subsidiaries in the state, PMI Mortgage Insurance Co. and PMI Insurance Co., because the companies did not have enough money on hand to meet state requirements.
The state obtained an order from an Arizona Superior Court judge to take over the PMI subsidiaries. Shortly after, PMI said it would begin paying claims at just 50 percent.
PMI asked the court to vacate the state's takeover of the subsidiaries, but that motion was rejected Tuesday.
As part of its bankruptcy filing, PMI wants the court to appoint a receiver for the seized subsidiaries. A hearing has been set for Jan. 10.
The seizure of PMI's subsidiaries followed heavy losses at the company since the housing market bubble burst.
Private mortgage insurance protects lenders from losses if a homeowner defaults and the lender doesn't recoup costs through foreclosure. The insurance costs the borrower a monthly fee, typically a set percentage of the total mortgage loan.
Like other mortgage insurers, PMI has been able to sell profitable policies in recent years, but the gains from those sales hasn't outpaced losses from policies sold before the housing market collapsed. As flagging home prices have strapped borrowers, the company has had to pay more claims.
PMI said it had been in talks with Arizona's insurance regulators and policyholders over how to stabilize PMI Mortgage in order to maximize the claim payments when the state moved to seize the subsidiaries.
PMI noted it had sought to raise capital from new investors to enable a subsidiary of PMI Mortgage to serve as a platform to write new mortgage insurance nationwide.
Because its subsidiaries were seized, PMI decided pursuing a transaction to raise capital would be impractical now without bankruptcy protection.
Meanwhile, as a result of the bankruptcy filing, PMU's $685 million of senior unsecured notes and about $51.5 million of junior unsecured notes have become due. But PMI said bond holders' ability to enforce their rights under the notes has been halted because of the bankruptcy filing.
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]21, 2011 ? The LPGA today announced that Kia Motors America (KMA), one of the fastest growing automotive brands in the U.S., is expanding its involvement in women's professional golf and has been designated the ?Official ...
OKUMA, Japan?? Conditions at Japan's wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant, devastated by a tsunami in March, were slowly improving to the point where a "cold shutdown" would be possible as planned, officials said on Saturday during a tour of the facility.
Officials shepherded a group of about 30 mainly Japanese journalists through the plant for the first time since the meltdown of the plant's reactors, the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl 25 years ago.
Cooling systems at the plant, 240 km (150 miles) northeast of Tokyo, were knocked out by the powerful tsunami and evidence of the devastation was clear to see.
The nuclear reactor buildings were still surrounded by crumpled trucks, twisted metal fences, and large, dented water tanks. Smaller office buildings around the reactors were left as they were abandoned on March 11, when the tsunami hit.
Cranes filled the skyline in testimony to recovery efforts.
Journalists on the tour mainly stayed on a bus as they were driven around the plant and were not allowed near the reactor buildings. Still, they all had to wear protective suits, double layers of gloves and plastic boot covers and hair nets.
All carried respiration masks and radiation detectors.
"From the data at the plant that I have seen, there is no doubt that the reactors have been stabilized," Masao Yoshida, chief of the Daiichi plant, told the group.
The compound may still be littered with rubble, but Tokyo Electric Power (Tepco), the utility operating the plant, has succeeded in bringing down the temperatures at the three damaged reactors from levels considered dangerous.
They are confident they will be able to declare a "cold shutdown" -- when temperatures are stable below boiling point -- as scheduled by the end of this year.
While Tepco had managed to stabilize conditions so workers could enter the reactor buildings, Yoshida said there was still danger involved for those working there.
The disaster prompted the government to declare a 20-kilometer no-entry zone around the plant, forcing the evacuation of about 80,000 residents.
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A cold shutdown is one of the conditions that must be met before the government considers lifting its entry ban.
As an emergency measure early in the crisis, Tepco tried to cool the damaged reactors by pumping in huge volumes of water, much of it from the sea, only to leave a vast amount of tainted runoff that threatened to leak out into the ocean.
It solved the problem by building a cooling system to clean the radioactive runoff, using some of the water to cool the reactors.
A group of white tents houses the cleaning facility. In front were hoisted the flags of the United States, France and Japan ? the countries that provided the technology for the decontamination system.
"Every time I come back, I feel conditions have improved. This is due to your hard work ," Japan's environment and nuclear crisis minister Goshi Hosono told workers at the plant.
However, Hosono warned it would still take about 30 years to dismantle the reactors after a cold shutdown was achieved.
Workers engaged in the recovery effort are stationed at J-Village, a national soccer training center near Daiichi that has been converted into an operational base.
Tepco says up to 3,300 workers a day arrive from J-Village, located on the edge of the 20-kilometer no-entry zone.
At J-Village, workers on their way to the plant lined up at a white tent to change into protective gear. Every day when they return, the workers discard their protective clothing, which is treated as radioactive waste and stored.
A Tepco guide said every piece of discarded clothing has been kept there since March 17, about 480,000 sets heaped in large piles or put in bed-sized containers and stacked in rows.
Talmadge reported from Hirono. APTN producer Miki Toda, at the plant, and writer Mari Yamaguchi, in Tokyo, contributed to this story.
Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
The Winchester brothers, and a wedding? It just doesn?t sound right and that?s why this latest episode of season 7 is drawing plenty of curious fans. Get our full review of Supernatural?s ‘Time for a Wedding’ below. In another entertaining episode Sam has tied the knot! Unbelievable but true, the younger Winchester runs into a past friend, who he is madly in love with after only spending four days together. The fact that it was Becky came as a surprise too. If your like me, and try to avoid spoilers, you’ve only figured it out right as the preview began to roll in the beginning of the episode. Although I thought another character would show up to become Sam’s new bride (maybe an unknowing Lisa, with a drugged Sam), Becky was the one to don white, and make Dean’s head spin around. Dean’s reaction was hilarious, as well as Sam’s cool demeanor regarding his new found love with the Supernatural groupie. Of course long time fans of the show knew right from the get go that Sam had to be drugged. Slipping Sam a love potion she got from her wicken friend, Becky spends most of the episode showing her [...]
A new Obama administration policy to avoid deportations of illegal immigrants who are not criminals has been applied very unevenly across the country and has led to vast confusion both in immigrant communities and among agents charged with carrying it out.
Since June, when the policy was unveiled, frustrated lawyers and advocates have seen a steady march of deportations of immigrants with no criminal record and with extensive roots in the United States, who seemed to fit the administration?s profile of those who should be allowed to remain.
But at the same time, in other cases, immigrants on the brink of expulsion saw their deportations halted at the last minute, sometimes after public protests. In some instances, immigration prosecutors acted, with no prodding from advocates, to abandon deportations of immigrants with strong ties to this country whose only violation was their illegal status.
For President Obama, the political stakes in the new policy are high. White House officials have concluded that there is no chance before next year?s presidential election to pass the immigration overhaul that Mr. Obama supports, which would include paths to legal status for illegal immigrants. But immigration authorities have sustained a fast pace of deportations, removing nearly 400,000 foreigners in each of the last three years. With Latino communities taking the brunt of those deportations, Latino voters are increasingly disappointed with Mr. Obama. White House officials hope the new policy will ease some of the pressure on Latinos, by steering enforcement toward gang members and convicts and away from students, soldiers and families of American citizens.
Factors to weigh
In a June 17 memorandum, John Morton, the director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, laid out more than two dozen factors that its agents and lawyers should weigh when deciding whether to exercise prosecutorial discretion to dismiss a deportation. The memo called for ?particular care and consideration? for veterans and active-duty troops, elderly immigrants and minors, and those brought here illegally as children. In August, the homeland security secretary, Janet Napolitano, announced additional measures to put Mr. Morton?s guidelines into effect, including a review of all deportation cases ? about 300,000 ?currently in the immigration courts, with the aim of closing cases that do not meet the administration?s priorities.
In a report released Wednesday, the American Immigration Lawyers Association and the American Immigration Council collected 252 cases from lawyers across the country who had asked Mr. Morton?s agency, known as ICE, to exercise prosecutorial discretion to spare immigrants from deportation. ?The overwhelming conclusion is that most ICE offices have not changed their practices since the issuance of these new directives,? the report found.
?This is a classic example of leadership saying one thing and the rank and file doing another,? said Gregory Chen, director of advocacy for the lawyers association. The report found that training for immigration officers on the new guidelines had been lacking. Officials at the Homeland Security Department acknowledge the policy?s slow start. Mr. Morton?s June guidelines were followed by a three-month lull, when resistance grew among agents in the field. In late September, Ms. Napolitano and Mr. Morton went on the offensive to press the policy, and since then Mr. Morton has been on the road inaugurating training programs.
?Like any major change in enforcement policy, this is a work in progress,? Mr. Morton said by telephone from Miami, where he was joining in a training session. ?I have been handling much of the initial explanation myself, because I feel so strongly about it.?
Officials say they need time to transform federal agencies accustomed to cut-and-dried immigration enforcement, with any illegal immigrant a target for deportation. Ms. Napolitano says immigration agents must become more like other police officers, using ?sound prosecutorial practice? to follow priorities. Those priorities are to deport convicted criminals, serial violators of immigration law and recent border crossers, officials said.
A wedding disrupted
The priorities did not apply for Neida Lavayen, 46, an American citizen in Elizabeth, N.J. After a three-year courtship, she had planned on Sept. 23 to marry Rub?n Quinteros, an illegal immigrant from Uruguay. Mr. Quinteros, 43, had come legally to the United States, then stayed past his time limit. But once he and Ms. Lavayen married, he would be eligible for a permanent resident?s green card as the spouse of a citizen.
Eight days before the wedding, Mr. Quinteros was arrested by immigration agents. His lawyer, Heather Benno, argued that he should benefit from prosecutorial discretion, since he was days away from resolving his immigration status. He had no criminal record, had paid taxes and had provided vital support for his fianc?e, who suffered domestic abuse in her first marriage.
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Ms. Benno?s motions were denied. Ms. Lavayen found a pastor to marry the couple in the detention center, but immigration agents declined to release Mr. Quinteros for a few hours so he could go with Ms. Lavayen to get the marriage license, since registrars would not issue one without him. They were not able to marry, and Mr. Quinteros was deported Oct. 27.
?I never thought I would fall in love again and have dreams again and live such a beautiful romance,? Ms. Lavayen said in a telephone conversation, pausing often to cry. ?How did my country take away my happiness??
Success for a student
By contrast, a student from Germany received good news that he had not asked for. Manuel Bartsch, now 24, was brought to the United States when he was 10 years old, then remained without documents. He stuck to his studies and is now nearing graduation from a private university in Ohio. After a legal fight in 2006, the immigration agency suspended Mr. Bartsch?s deportation, said his lawyer, David Leopold. On Nov. 3, the agency surprised Mr. Bartsch by terminating his deportation case entirely.
Like others whose deportations are canceled under the new policy, Mr. Bartsch will remain in limbo without any positive immigration status, Mr. Leopold said. But he will be able to apply for a work permit, an identity document that can open many doors.
?Hats off to ICE in the field for following the directives,? Mr. Leopold said.
Outspoken resistance to the policy has come from Chris Crane, the president of the American Federation of Government Employees? union local that represents ICE deportation agents. In testimony last month before the immigration subcommittee of the House Judiciary Committee, Mr. Crane said that Mr. Morton?s guidelines were too complex and ?cannot be effectively applied in the field.?
Rather than adding flexibility, Mr. Crane said, the guidelines ?take away officers? discretion and establish a system that mandates that the nation?s most fundamental immigration laws are not enforced.?
Still, uncertainty about the policy among agents appeared more widespread than outright rejection did. That was the experience of Shamir Ali, a 24-year-old student born in Bangladesh, who was detained Oct. 19 when the police raided a Miami car rental agency where he worked, looking for someone else. Mr. Ali seemed to fit within the discretion guidelines: he had no criminal record and had been brought by his parents to the United States when he was 7. But immigration agents denied his first requests to be spared from deportation.
Then student groups staged protests on Mr. Ali?s behalf in eight cities. On Oct. 28, agents freed Mr. Ali on an order of supervision, also allowing him to apply for a work permit. For Mr. Ali, like Mr. Bartsch, that permit would be life-changing, since it would allow him to obtain a driver?s license and to enroll at resident rates in a state college.
Mr. Ali said he felt deeply grateful to the immigration agency. But he wondered: ?If I didn?t have all that support, what would have happened to me??
This article, "Deportations Under New U.S. Policy Are Inconsistent," first appeared in The New York Times.
SYDNEY (Reuters) ? John Daly stormed off mid-round, Adam Scott hit an albatross and Tiger Woods submitted a blemish-free scorecard but little-known Jarrod Lyle trumped them all to take a one-stroke lead after an eventful opening day at the Australian Open on Thursday.
Twice major winner Daly blamed his abrupt departure on running out of balls after dumping six into a lake off the 11th tee but his excuse cut little ice with PGA Australia, who withdrew his invitation to the Australian PGA Championship.
Championship director Trevor Herden slammed Daly as "unprofessional" and said it was unlikely the 45-year-old American, who staged a similar walkout in Austria in September, would ever be invited back.
"I'm extremely bitter and disappointed that he's treated this championship this way," said Herden.
Australian Lyle, who lost his card after a disappointing season on the U.S. PGA tour, earlier prospered in the morning rain with a seven-under-par 65 to finish a shot ahead of American world number five Dustin Johnson and his compatriot Nick Watney.
Watney was the only player to threaten the top of the leaderboard in difficult afternoon conditions when a changeable, gusty wind reduced players and caddies to throwing grass into the air at every tee.
Fred Couples, playing in Sydney alongside much of his team in preparation for next week's Presidents Cup, was in a group of four players sharing fourth with a 67.
The 52-year-old former U.S. Masters champion, who will be non-playing captain for the United States at Royal Melbourne, was tied on five-under with locals Steven Jones, Greg Chalmers and James Nitties.
AFTERNOON DRAMA
Woods, who started his round just after the wind started picking up, was delighted with his four-birdie 68, which left him tied for eighth on four-under and gave him a first bogey-free round in nine months.
"I hit it really good today," said the former world number one, who has slumped to 58th in the world after two years of personal turmoil and injury.
"That was exactly how I've been hitting them at home and that's good, I was able to take it to the golf course today and I was able to hit all the shots in these conditions."
If the better scores were recorded in the morning, the drama came mostly in the afternoon, starting when Australian Scott delighted a packed gallery at the par-five eighth hole with only the second albatross of his career.
The world number eight hit his second shot with a six iron from behind a bunker some 200 metres out and it landed on the green before screwing into the hole.
"It gave me a boost for sure," said Scott, who celebrated by high-fiving his controversial caddie Steve Williams. "It put me where I should have been considering how I hit the ball. I didn't make a putt today so I'm quite happy with three-under."
Scott's 69 was matched by fellow Australian top 10 player Jason Day, who finished with a bogey and will count himself unlucky not to have done better after a string of near misses with the putter.
Lyle, ranked 477th in the world, will start Friday's second round of his home open three shots ahead of his more illustrious compatriots and he felt he could have done even better than his five birdies and eagle three.
"I probably left three or four out there, to be honest," the 30-year-old, who battled cancer in his late teens, said.
"Everything evens itself out in the world. I missed a couple today. I might hole a couple tomorrow. I'm happy. Seven under is a damn good score. I am looking forward to tomorrow."
CREATOR aims to lift European ICT innovation to a next levelPublic release date: 11-Nov-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Tatu Koljonen Vice President, Information and Communication tatu.koljonen@vtt.fi 358-207-222-117 VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
The well known European paradox refers to the perceived failure of European countries to translate scientific advances into marketable innovations. On strategic policy level, good actions are already in place to cope with this paradox. Nevertheless, it remains in practice difficult for companies to get into the global market with their ICT innovations.
This issue deserves particular attention since ICT technologies promise to command a greater share of economic activity. The size and effectiveness of investment in software-related R&D can determine economic performance and international competitiveness more broadly. Many firms beyond the traditional software sector embrace software development as a complement to their non-software products and use ICT as a proper mean to innovate.
To face this important evolution, several challenges need to be tackled. The much-discussed knowledge deficit in the ICT sector results in potential skills shortage and imposes companies and knowledge centers to focus on industrial knowledge development and avoid dispersion of capabilities.
ICT innovation efforts are taking place in a context of increasing complexity of services and products. Furthermore the delivery of software products on time, within budget and with an acceptable quality, is a remaining challenging.
Hence, the deployment of ICT innovations needs to be efficient and fast. The industry has come to a stage where few companies are able to play the innovation game alone. This calls for the creation of industrial alliances focused on innovation.
Determined to tackle these new challenges, Institut Telecom, Sirris and VTT today announce the birth of CREATOR, a European expert network that supports ICT innovations through its expertise hubs in various countries, starting with France, Belgium and Finland. CREATOR aims to support the ICT industry to enhance its innovation processes and to create international alliances to design and deploy innovations on the global market.
The three partners in CREATOR share the same strong vision and ambition to tackle the issues of speed-to-global-market and the intrinsic complexity of future ICT services and products. In addition to this shared vision, the partners have their own unique contribution in this partnership.
Institut Telecom is recognized as an international top research and education center for its strong involvement supporting industry large and small companies. It has a profound experience in go-to-market of ICT research via new incubators. Sirris is a leading player in the realization of industrial driven innovation and has a deep experience in the creation and delivery of new generations of ICT services. VTT is an international top research institute and is recognized for its experience in the setup and realization of shared industrial ICT research projects on an international scale.
###
QUOTES
"Our economy is moving towards an economy of alliance under the pressure of the innovation stream. CREATOR has been designed to support this evolution and Institut Telecom is proud to contribute to it."
(Philippe Letellier, Innovation Director at Institut Telecom)
"VTT has a long and successful tradition of partnerships with larger companies. VTT's main target in the CREATOR alliance concept is to instigate Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) to focus on growth and global markets. CREATOR provide SMEs with new means to offer a complete solution, faster time to market, a wider addressable market as well as a variety of business models to choose from."
(Tatu Koljonen, VP Strategic Research at VTT)
"For companies, software and ICT is a dominant differentiator to innovate their products. By this ICT becomes a key innovation axis for the future. Its societal impact goes beyond national borders and industrial sectors. CREATOR is the beginning of a profound collaboration between European key players to help companies creating value in this new area of globalized innovation."
(Jeroen Deleu, Director at Sirris)
About Sirris - http://www.sirris.be
Sirris, the collective centre of the Belgian technology industry, was founded in 1949 by Agoria, the Belgian Federation for the Technology Industry. More than 150 highly qualified engineers, scientists and technicians assist companies in implementing technological innovations by investigating new technologies, raising industry awareness of promising innovations, providing advice at all decision-making levels and offering support, from the initial concept to the operational solution. Its mission is to increase the sector's competitiveness through technology and innovation. Sirris has more than 2.400 member companies. Sirris develops expertise and acquires knowledge in-house, and at the same time keeps up to date with developments in other parts of the world.
About Institut Telecom - http://www.institut-telecom.fr
The Institut Telecom is a higher education and research establishment specializing in information and communication science and technology. The Institut Telecom group includes the Grandes Ecoles Telecom ParisTech, Telecom Bretagne, Telecom SudParis and Telecom Business School, as well as two subsidiary institutions: Telecom Lille I and Eurecom. These schools are home to around 5400 students, 650 lecturers and researchers and 950 doctoral students, post-doctoral researchers and visiting professors. As European leader in the field of telecommunications science, the Institut Telecom established a network of 7 affiliated schools in 2008. Committed to innovation, the Institut Telecom and its network of partners have been awarded Carnot 2 certification for the quality of their collaborative research. The Institut launches over 50 technology start-ups every year via its business incubators.
About VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland http://www.vtt.fi
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is a leading multitechnological applied research organization in Northern Europe. VTT creates new technology and science-based innovations in co-operation with domestic and foreign partners. VTT's turnover is EUR 290 million and its personnel totals 3,100.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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CREATOR aims to lift European ICT innovation to a next levelPublic release date: 11-Nov-2011 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Tatu Koljonen Vice President, Information and Communication tatu.koljonen@vtt.fi 358-207-222-117 VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland
The well known European paradox refers to the perceived failure of European countries to translate scientific advances into marketable innovations. On strategic policy level, good actions are already in place to cope with this paradox. Nevertheless, it remains in practice difficult for companies to get into the global market with their ICT innovations.
This issue deserves particular attention since ICT technologies promise to command a greater share of economic activity. The size and effectiveness of investment in software-related R&D can determine economic performance and international competitiveness more broadly. Many firms beyond the traditional software sector embrace software development as a complement to their non-software products and use ICT as a proper mean to innovate.
To face this important evolution, several challenges need to be tackled. The much-discussed knowledge deficit in the ICT sector results in potential skills shortage and imposes companies and knowledge centers to focus on industrial knowledge development and avoid dispersion of capabilities.
ICT innovation efforts are taking place in a context of increasing complexity of services and products. Furthermore the delivery of software products on time, within budget and with an acceptable quality, is a remaining challenging.
Hence, the deployment of ICT innovations needs to be efficient and fast. The industry has come to a stage where few companies are able to play the innovation game alone. This calls for the creation of industrial alliances focused on innovation.
Determined to tackle these new challenges, Institut Telecom, Sirris and VTT today announce the birth of CREATOR, a European expert network that supports ICT innovations through its expertise hubs in various countries, starting with France, Belgium and Finland. CREATOR aims to support the ICT industry to enhance its innovation processes and to create international alliances to design and deploy innovations on the global market.
The three partners in CREATOR share the same strong vision and ambition to tackle the issues of speed-to-global-market and the intrinsic complexity of future ICT services and products. In addition to this shared vision, the partners have their own unique contribution in this partnership.
Institut Telecom is recognized as an international top research and education center for its strong involvement supporting industry large and small companies. It has a profound experience in go-to-market of ICT research via new incubators. Sirris is a leading player in the realization of industrial driven innovation and has a deep experience in the creation and delivery of new generations of ICT services. VTT is an international top research institute and is recognized for its experience in the setup and realization of shared industrial ICT research projects on an international scale.
###
QUOTES
"Our economy is moving towards an economy of alliance under the pressure of the innovation stream. CREATOR has been designed to support this evolution and Institut Telecom is proud to contribute to it."
(Philippe Letellier, Innovation Director at Institut Telecom)
"VTT has a long and successful tradition of partnerships with larger companies. VTT's main target in the CREATOR alliance concept is to instigate Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SME) to focus on growth and global markets. CREATOR provide SMEs with new means to offer a complete solution, faster time to market, a wider addressable market as well as a variety of business models to choose from."
(Tatu Koljonen, VP Strategic Research at VTT)
"For companies, software and ICT is a dominant differentiator to innovate their products. By this ICT becomes a key innovation axis for the future. Its societal impact goes beyond national borders and industrial sectors. CREATOR is the beginning of a profound collaboration between European key players to help companies creating value in this new area of globalized innovation."
(Jeroen Deleu, Director at Sirris)
About Sirris - http://www.sirris.be
Sirris, the collective centre of the Belgian technology industry, was founded in 1949 by Agoria, the Belgian Federation for the Technology Industry. More than 150 highly qualified engineers, scientists and technicians assist companies in implementing technological innovations by investigating new technologies, raising industry awareness of promising innovations, providing advice at all decision-making levels and offering support, from the initial concept to the operational solution. Its mission is to increase the sector's competitiveness through technology and innovation. Sirris has more than 2.400 member companies. Sirris develops expertise and acquires knowledge in-house, and at the same time keeps up to date with developments in other parts of the world.
About Institut Telecom - http://www.institut-telecom.fr
The Institut Telecom is a higher education and research establishment specializing in information and communication science and technology. The Institut Telecom group includes the Grandes Ecoles Telecom ParisTech, Telecom Bretagne, Telecom SudParis and Telecom Business School, as well as two subsidiary institutions: Telecom Lille I and Eurecom. These schools are home to around 5400 students, 650 lecturers and researchers and 950 doctoral students, post-doctoral researchers and visiting professors. As European leader in the field of telecommunications science, the Institut Telecom established a network of 7 affiliated schools in 2008. Committed to innovation, the Institut Telecom and its network of partners have been awarded Carnot 2 certification for the quality of their collaborative research. The Institut launches over 50 technology start-ups every year via its business incubators.
About VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland http://www.vtt.fi
VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland is a leading multitechnological applied research organization in Northern Europe. VTT creates new technology and science-based innovations in co-operation with domestic and foreign partners. VTT's turnover is EUR 290 million and its personnel totals 3,100.
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ROCHESTER, Mich. ? Republican presidential rivals agreed Wednesday night that Europe's countries should rise or fall on their own without any American bailout and warned that failing to cut budget deficits at home would doom the U.S. to the same sort of crisis that now plagues Greece and Italy.
Though sexual harassment allegations facing Herman Cain have dominated the GOP campaign for more than a week, the debate in economically ailing Michigan focused almost entirely on financial worries and proposed solutions in the U.S.
"Europe is able to take care of their own problems. We don't want to step in and bail out their banks and their economies," former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney said as he and GOP rivals met for the first time in three weeks in campaign debate.
Even so, he said the United States should continue contributing to organizations like the International Monetary Fund that are working to prevent a meltdown in troubled economies overseas.,
Rep. Ron Paul of Texas was more emphatic about Europe's debt. "You have to let it liquidate. We took 40 years to build up this worldwide debt," he added.
Cain said there wasn't much the United States could do to directly to help Italy at present because the economy there is in such difficult shape. "We need to focus on the economy or we will fail," he said, referring to the U.S. and calling for spending cuts, a strong dollar and measures to stimulate growth.
The Cain accusations did come up, though briefly.
The debate marked the first time the Republican rivals had gathered since complaints emerged from several women accusing Cain of sexual harassment, allegations that the unlikely front-runner in the polls has strongly denied.
"The American people deserve better than someone being tried in the court of public opinion due to unfounded accusations," he said when the question came up early in the debate. "I value my character and my integrity more than anything else. And for every one person that comes forward with an unfair accusation there are probably, there are thousands who come forward and say none of that ever happened with Herman Cain."
Romney, a former venture capitalist, was asked if he would keep Cain on the job as a CEO given the accusations. He responded, "Herman Cain is the person to respond to these questions. He just did."
The announced topic for the evening was the economy, a subject that produced few if any early sparks among rivals who often spar energetically.
Texas Gov. Rick Perry, former House Speaker Newt Gingrich of Georgia, Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum joined Romney, Cain, Paul and Huntsman on stage at Oakland University in Michigan, a state where unemployment is 11.1 percent and well above the national 9 percent jobless rate.
The debate took place less than two months before Iowa's kickoff caucuses, as the pace of campaign activity accelerates and public opinion polls suggest the race remains quite fluid. Romney and Cain currently share co-front-runner status in most surveys, with Perry and Gingrich roughly tied for third, within striking distance.
Not surprisingly, none of the contenders found much to like in President Barack Obama's economic stewardship.
Perry said the next president should systematically judge all of the government regulations enacted since Obama took office on a standard of whether they created jobs. Any that failed should be repealed, he said.
Bachmann sharply criticized Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. She said the latter had recently given multimillion-dollar bonuses to executives even though it was seeking a new federal bailout.
Gingrich, who last held public office more than a decade ago, bristled when asked what advice his company had given Freddie Mac for a $300,000 fee. "Advice on precisely what they didn't do," he shot back ? stop backing mortgages to applicants who aren't credit-worthy.
The government rescued mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in September 2008 to cover their losses on soured mortgage loans. Since then, a federal regulator has controlled their financial decisions.
The cost to taxpayers so far has been about $169 billion, the most expensive bailout of the financial crisis.
There was only scant mention of the Michigan auto industry, which benefited in 2008 and 2009 from a federal bailout that both President George W. Bush and Obama backed.
All eight Republicans on the debate stage say they wouldn't have offered government assistance.
Not so Obama, who stood outside a factory not far from the debate site recently and said government bailouts of General Motors and Chrysler were a success that saved thousands of American jobs.
Fresh off a $600K round of seed funding, developer education startup Treehouse is launching to the public this morning, using videos, quizzes and badges to take ostensibly anyone from n00b to 1337 in months. Unlike Codeacademy and Lynda, Treehouse offers a breadth of expert-curated web design, development and iOS development topics (HTML,?CSS Foundations,?Technology Foundations,?Aesthetic Foundations,?Introduction to Programming, and others) and is already profitable as it charges users from?$29 to $49 dollars a month to use its programs.
FILE - In this Aug. 2, 2007 file photo, Michelle Duggar, left, is surrounded by her children and husband Jim Bob, second from left, after the birth of her 17th child in Rogers, Ark. Arkansas couple Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar announced Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011 that they are expecting their 20th child in April. (AP Photo/ Beth Hall, File)
FILE - In this Aug. 2, 2007 file photo, Michelle Duggar, left, is surrounded by her children and husband Jim Bob, second from left, after the birth of her 17th child in Rogers, Ark. Arkansas couple Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar announced Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2011 that they are expecting their 20th child in April. (AP Photo/ Beth Hall, File)
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) ? TLC reality show "19 Kids and Counting" may soon need a new name. Arkansas couple Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar appeared with their burgeoning clan on NBC's "Today" show Tuesday and announced they are expecting their 20th child in April (http://bit.ly/tVfmny ).
Forty-five-year-old Michelle Duggar said she's in good physical shape and that she's not worried, despite complications during her last pregnancy that led to the premature birth of their youngest child two years ago. She says she's made it through her first trimester safely.
The couple has said they don't use birth control. Michelle Duggar says she didn't necessarily expect to get pregnant again and that she and her husband are excited to welcome the new addition to the family.
SHANGHAI ? Martin Kaymer made nine birdies over his last 12 holes Sunday and closed with a 9-under 63 to win the HSBC Champions for the biggest comeback ever in a World Golf Championship.
Starting the final round five shots behind Fredrik Jacobson, with a host of stars around him, Kaymer ran off four straight birdies to start the back nine at Sheshan International. The German finally caught Jacobson with a birdie on the 13th, and then poured it on with key birdies on the final two holes.
Kaymer delivered the lowest closing round by a WGC winner since the series began in 1999, topping the 64 by Hunter Mahan last year at the Bridgestone Invitational.
The former PGA champion hasn't found golf to be this easy since he shot a 59 his first year as a pro on a mini-tour in Germany, when he was 14 under over his last 16 holes.
"I just played really good golf, and I'm glad that it came together," Kaymer said. "The last few weeks, I played good golf, but it has not happened yet. And this week, it was nice that it happened here, the World Golf Championship event."
Kaymer is the 10th player to win a WGC and a major championship.
Adam Scott, hounded by questions over caddie Steve Williams' racial slur against former boss Tiger Woods, got within two shots of the lead early in the round until making two soft bogeys and never recovering. He closed with a 73 and was eight shots behind.
Jacobson led by as many as three shots until a long three-putt bogey on par-5 eighth. As Kaymer made his charge, the Swede came to life with birdies on the 12th and 14th to stay tied. Jacobson's hopes ended, however, when he pulled his tee shot into the rough left of the par-3 17th and failed to get par. He shot 71 and finished three shots behind.
"I wish I could have made maybe a couple of more putts along the way to really get a little bit of a cushion and put a little bit more pressure on Martin coming down the stretch," Jacobson said. "I gave it my everything, and overall, a great week."
Graeme McDowell closed with two birdies for a 67 to finish alone in third, quite a turnaround from last week in the Andalucia Masters when he failed to break 80 over the last two rounds at Valderrama.
Rory McIlroy made a short birdie on the par-5 18th that gave him a 69 and was significant for one other reason. With a three-way tie for fourth, he moved past Lee Westwood to No. 2 in the world. Westwood, playing in the same group, shot 40 on the front nine and closed with a 74 to tie for 13th.
It was the second win of the year for Kaymer, who moves to No. 4 in the world.
He won his first tournament of the year at Abu Dhabi and moved to No. 1 in the world at the end of February, holding the spot for eight weeks. Kaymer said he struggled with the attention of being No. 1, and the face of golf in Germany, and now was looking ahead.
"It was an OK year," Kaymer said. "But now it's a good year."
Europe now occupies the first four positions in the world ranking, starting with Luke Donald at No. 1. Donald did not play in the HSBC Champions because his wife is expecting their second child. He remains the favorite as PGA Tour player of the year, however, as PGA champion Keegan Bradley had a 72-72 weekend and failed to his bid for a third victory this year.
Kaymer finished at 20-under 268 and earned $1.2 million.
SEATTLE ? The yellow school bus could become another victim of the Great Recession in some parts of Washington.
Gov. Chris Gregoire doesn't want to see her state stop spending money to get kids to school. But any squeamishness over student transportation cuts isn't enough to keep that $220 million idea off her list of ways to potentially deal with budget shortfalls, the latest a $2 billion one.
Tough choices are the rule of the day in nearly every state in the rough U.S. economy.
But have things gotten so bad that it's time to tell kids to find their own way to school? Washington would be the first to completely eliminate state dollars for bus service because of the recent recession, said Bob Riley, executive director of the National Association of State Directors of Pupil Transportation Services. He noted that a few other states, including California and Colorado, have cut school transportation dollars in previous years.
Gregoire has floated the idea in advance of a special legislative session later this month. She is sending lawmakers a long list of ideas, including many she expects would hurt regular people.
The Democratic governor's proposal was the topic of discussion at a student bus stop in Normandy Park, Wash., on Thursday morning. Debra Carnes, who was waiting for the bus with her fourth grader, called the idea horrible ? but better than cutting money going to the classroom. She wondered what impact it would have on the attendance of low-income students and those new to the U.S.
"Our family, we'll figure it out. But there's a lot out there who would struggle," she said.
All states don't help pay to bus students to school ? although transporting disabled kids is required by federal law ? but most do, Riley said. About half the nation's public school children ride a yellow school bus, his association estimates.
States pay between 30 and 100 percent of the cost of student transportation in most places, including 67 percent in Washington state. The dollars are not evenly distributed across Washington, however, with some districts depending 100 percent on the state for transportation dollars and others filling in with local levy dollars.
Riley says the idea of cutting money for buses is problematic for several reasons ? from student safety to more traffic and air pollution from parents driving their kids to the impact it may have on attendance.
Washington's state schools chief, Randy Dorn, says there's one more consideration here: the state Constitution requires the state government to amply pay the costs of basic education, as defined by the state Legislature. Student transportation is part of the definition of basic education and although it's been a long time since the state has paid the entire cost of busing kids to school, that doesn't mean it shouldn't even try, he said.
Jim Crawford, an education number cruncher in the state Office of Financial Management, said the definition of basic education is open for debate.
"Because it's basic ed, doesn't mean it can't ever be touched under any circumstances," Crawford said, adding that the Legislature would have to adjust the definition to make way for many of the governor's ideas for cutting the state education budget.
State Rep. Ross Hunter, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, believes most of the items on the governor's list for education cuts are prohibited. Other proposals on the governor's list include increasing class sizes, reducing the school year by a week and eliminating full-day kindergarten.
"The Constitution either means something or it doesn't," said the Democrat from Medina, a suburb east of Seattle. "If it doesn't, can we just dispense with the other parts as well?"
Hunter wasn't ready to offer his own list this week, but he points out, as an example, that the Legislature has followed the rules and paid 100 percent of the state's debt service each year, because the Constitution requires it. He said the same argument could be used to argue for paying for basic education.
Dorn said he's hoping for an assist from the Washington Supreme Court, which is deliberating over a school spending lawsuit. School districts, education and community groups and parents are suing the state to demand it fulfill its constitutional duty to pay for basic education. A lower court judge ruled in favor of the school districts. When the state Supreme Court considered a similar case in the 1970s, it ordered the Legislature to take the Constitution more seriously.
Seattle Public Schools, the state's largest school district, stands to lose the most from the governor's school bus idea. The state currently pays only 50 percent of the cost to transport Seattle kids, but that adds up to about $15.7 million a year, said Tom Bishop, transportation manager for the district.
Bishop said school administrators have been working for years on a neighborhood school assignment and transportation plan designed to cut the number of kids taking the bus. At the same time, the district is hoping to prevent more parents from driving their kids, without increasing truancy, because as Bishop points out, Seattle is one of the top 10 worst traffic cities in the country.
But even with nearly $16 million on the line, Bishop isn't freaking out.
"The fiscal crisis that Washington faces is of historic nature and the governor's proposals for budget reductions are a glimpse of how serious the situation is," he said. Bishop was not ready to predict how his district would deal with a budget cut like the governor is proposing.
In the meantime, Seattle is working toward a future when many more kids will be walking to school.
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Public release date: 11-Nov-2011
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Fresh off a $600K round of seed funding, developer education startup