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April 20, 2009

Not Quite an American Sweep at the Rolex FEI World Cup Finals

Filed under: Sports — Tags: , — admin @ 2:35 pm

by Nancy Jaffer/For The Star-Ledger
Monday April 20, 2009, 12:39 AM

Rolex FEI World Cup Finals

Rolex FEI World Cup Finals

LAS VEGAS — The dream of an American sweep at the last Rolex FEI World Cup Finals to be held in the U.S. for years fell short of reality Sunday, as even two perfect rounds over the fences couldn’t enable McLain Ward to take the international indoor show jumping title.

Ward, the Olympic double gold medalist from New York, was not quite as fast as Germany’s Meredith Michaels Beerbaum in the first leg of the competition at the Thomas & Mack Center on Thursday night, and that proved to be the difference that gave her a third World Cup title.

Like Ward, who rode Sapphire, Beerbaum and her 16-year-old equine partner, Shutterfly, were penalty-free in the two-round power jumping finale before a vocal crowd of 7,497. Beerbaum retained the two-penalty lead over Ward that she carried into the class, but the world’s number-one ranked rider called her triumph “the hardest win I’ve ever had.”

Ward had worked on a plan since last year to be the first American show jumper since 1987 to earn the title. It could have been quite a coup if he emulated the achievement of his countryman, Steffen Peters, who took the Dressage World Cup honors Saturday night.

“I certainly would have liked to have won, but I’m proud of what my team, my horse and myself did,” said Ward. “We did the best we could, and 99 percent of the time, we would have won.”

The only other American to finish in the ribbons was Ward’s 2004 and 2008 Olympic teammate, Beezie Madden, 12th on an up-and-coming mount, Danny Boy. Third place went to the Netherlands’ Albert Zoer on Oki Doki, who stalked the leaders throughout the competition.

Since 2003, the Cup finals had been held every other year in Las Vegas, but because of the economy, the organizer withdrew bids for 2011 and 2013. It was announced after the show, however, that a bid will be put in for 2014.
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April 16, 2009

Idea of quick GM bankruptcy filing meets with skepticism

Filed under: Automotive, Bankruptcy — Tags: , , , — admin @ 12:37 am

By Sharon Silke Carty, USA TODAY

DETROIT — General Motors (GM) may be inching toward bankruptcy court, but the theory that GM could get through the process quickly faces increasing skepticism.

On Friday, Fritz Henderson said he came into his new position as GM’s CEO three weeks ago believing a bankruptcy filing was more probable than not.

“I feel the same way today,” he says. Henderson said GM is working on two scenarios: one that involves bankruptcy and one that doesn’t. The plan that does not includes looking at each GM brand to see if it’s needed. USA TODAY reported Thursday that dropping Pontiac and GMC was being looked at, along with Hummer, Saab and Saturn, which are already on the block.

GM has resisted filing for bankruptcy court protection, saying the process would be messy and long and would scare away customers. But some in the government have argued that GM could enter a “prepackaged” bankruptcy that could take a few weeks and result in a healthier company.

Not so, says Doug Bernstein, an attorney who heads Plunkett Cooney’s banking, bankruptcy and creditors’ rights practice. He looked at recent prepackaged bankruptcies and saw that none took less than six months.

That’s because bankruptcy law allows every interested party to be heard by a judge, which can take weeks, months or years. Auto supplier Delphi filed in October 2005. It is still in bankruptcy court, and more than 16,000 documents have been filed.

“The process of bankruptcy cannot be rushed,” Bernstein said.

GM has received $13.4 billion in federal loans, and President Obama said it must offer a more aggressive restructuring plan by June 1 to get more aid. Henderson says GM will be prepared to file for bankruptcy if it can’t reach its goals in other ways.

Talks with bondholders are going slowly. Henderson said the company is having talks but nothing he would classify as “intense negotiations.” GM is looking to cut two-thirds of its debt by swapping bonds for GM shares. Bondholders have resisted, saying GM’s plans won’t make it profitable any time soon.

Talks with the United Auto Workers are also going more slowly than expected because the UAW also is negotiating with Chrysler. The unions and bondholders are watching to see what the other will give up and to get a better idea of what the revamped GM would look like.
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April 14, 2009

The Concept of Fertility Treatment

Filed under: Health tips — Tags: , — admin @ 3:26 am

The Concept of Fertility Treatment

The term fertility treatment suggests a treatment to improve the fertility or egg production in women who would like to bring a new child into the world. This term originated from a condition known as infertility, where, a man and woman who are in a loving relationship are unable to reproduce naturally. However, this is the scientific aspect; the social implications of infertility are very drastic and tend to cause major problems within a relationship. Infertility often creates high levels of stress within relationships. The inability of the female in the relationship to conceive or give birth to a healthy child, more often than not creates very stressful conditions for both partners. This results in an adverse change in behaviour in both partners and also creates great upheaval in both personal and working life of both parties.

The Situation at Present

Infertility is no longer a new issue for couples who are planning to start a family; however the progress in the field of fertility treatment has been rather sporadic and slow even by the modern standards of advanced health
treatments. The advances or lack of, are not unrelated to the ever increasing cases of infertility among people today. We are just unable to gather enough information to help us calculate the precise situation; this is because of the huge amount of cases of infertility which are never reported. However, the amount of cases of infertility in people today appears to be on the increase. Major lifestyle changes make people more susceptible to being plagued by infertility: quite often this illness, and it is an illness, is self-inflicted. The foods which many couples eat are just one problem; they do not eat enough nutritional content which is required for healthy living. Our bodies are under enormous threat from a great deal of outside influences, pollution throughout the world is on the increase, habit forming problems such as alcohol consumption and drugs, also work related stress, all of which contribute to the causes of infertility and other life changing illness.

Infertility from a Medical Point of View.

Infertility can affect either or both parties in any relationship. The treatments required for infertility, are gender specific and will vary with each patient’s case history. There are a number of tests which can be carried out, such as hysterosalpingogram or (HSG) which is an important basic test for infertility, or postcoital test (PC test) which is also known as (sims) and must be carried out within one to two days of ovulation, each of which will help to give clear analysis of the patients illness.

After the tests have been completed, the treatment for infertility will consider any and all cures, any of these can entail a number of different procedures which will depend on the requirements of the patient and the analysis gained from the tests. Drugs such as Clomid which is used to induce ovulation and is usually the first choice of any doctor in the treatment of infertility, it will also usually be suggested to the male partner to use cold packs to help cool the testicles. These are just a few basic examples, however, only a professional infertility expert can suggest exact fertility cures.

Exercise and other complimentary treatments

Apart from the use of medical fertility treatments there are also other things which will be suggested to compliment the ongoing treatment. These complimentary suggestions will be things such as, daily nutrition intake, maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Stress is a major contributing factor to a lot of illness not least infertility, therefore stress must be dealt with immediately.

The Broader Outlook

Infertility is quite an emotional experience for all concerned and deserves to be closely scrutinised by everyone concerned with the subject. Many people are afraid to admit to be suffering from infertility, which is a real shame as there is treatment and support available from many outlets. Having to experience infertility treatment is quite a difficult exercise and entails quite a stressful and emotional time for both partners; the process can be made more difficult by people’s ignorance of the facts, and the lack of medical research.
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James McLean Bowie is an author and book dealer who resides in East yorkshire England. He owns a number of web sites which offer articles and resources to writers, collectors and the hobbyist. Two of these sitres are http://jamesbowiebooks.com and http://bowiebooks.com .

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April 3, 2009

For Obama, politics may be hard to avoid in auto bailout

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin @ 10:27 am

By Peter Wallsten
April 6, 2009
Reporting from Washington — With the White House positioned to reshape the future of the auto industry, Republican Sen. Bob Corker was so concerned about the prospects for his home state of Tennessee that he delivered a personal warning to the administration’s point man on the issue.

Don’t keep plants open in Ohio and Michigan, which voted for President Obama last year, at the expense of a plant in Tennessee, which is solidly Republican, he said.

“I wanted to know: Would they employ a blue-state, red-state strategy?” Corker said in an interview, recalling his phone conversation last week with Steven Rattner, the administration’s top advisor on restructuring the domestic auto industry.

The question illustrates the new dynamic as Obama tries to balance the economic need to salvage a struggling industry that employs hundreds of thousands of people, and affects millions, against the needs of key constituencies and possibly his own reelection hopes.

Like Corker, all sides are attempting to decode messages from the White House.

The administration has sent reassuring signals to the United Auto Workers, a staunch campaign supporter of Obama, amid fears that union members and retirees will be forced to sacrifice more benefits.

By contrast, bondholders who are owed money by General Motors Corp. say they are still waiting to see whether the White House will consider their needs.

Corker would not divulge how Rattner responded to his concerns, saying only that he believed the White House would “try to do the right thing.”

But he added that politics could prove unavoidable, given the president’s ties to the UAW and his election campaign’s reliance on auto-heavy states such as Ohio, Michigan and Indiana.

“The administration owns this now,” Corker said. “They’ve taken over a private company, and in essence you can imagine the kinds of pressures on them as they move ahead.”

Rattner did not respond to requests for an interview.

A White House official, requesting anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the negotiations, said the president and his auto task force were focused on solutions that would save the industry — not on political calculations that pale in comparison with the larger risks awaiting Obama if the auto industry were to collapse.
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April 2, 2009

Political worries, falls abroad to hit Thai stocks

Filed under: Uncategorized — admin @ 12:05 pm 
 BANGKOK, April 7 (Reuters) - Thai stocks are expected to
edge down on Tuesday because of domestic political tension
ahead of a big anti-government rally, as well as gloom on
overseas markets due to U.S. financial fears, analysts said.
 Thousands of red-shirted protesters, supporters of exiled
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, plan a big rally on
Wednesday, and Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has vowed to
take firm measures to prevent bloody confrontation.
[nBKK442810]
 "Domestic politics remains the key risk factor for our
market, with investors likely to sell due to fears related to
the big rally on April 8," said Kosin Sripaiboon, head of
research at UOB Kay Hian Securities. "We will also track other
Asian markets lower."
 On Monday U.S. bank shares were dragged down after analyst
Mike Mayo of Calyon Securities warned of rising loan losses by
the end of 2010. [ID:nN06322858].
 Support on the main index .SETI is expected at 440 and
437 and resistance at 447 and 450, the analysts added.
 The Thai market was closed on Monday for a public holiday.
On Friday, it climbed 0.8 percent to 446.04, its highest close
since Feb. 16, cheered by improving U.S. data.
 Click [TH/TRADING01] for cumulative trading value by
investor type. ----------------------MARKET SNAPSHOT @ 0124 GMT
------------
                 INSTRUMENT   LAST       PCT CHG   NET CHG
S&P 500             .SPX       835.48      -0.83%    -7.020
USD/JPY             <JPY=>       100.74      -0.28%    -0.280
10-YR US TSY YLD    <US10YT=RR>  2.9168          --    -0.015
SPOT GOLD           <XAU=>       874.4        0.64%     5.600
US CRUDE            CLc1       51.04       -0.02%    -0.010
DOW JONES           .DJI       7975.85     -0.52%    -41.74
ASIA ADRS           .BKAS      95.49       -2.05%      -2.00
-------------------------------------------------------------
MARKET SUMMARY > NYMEX-Crude stays above $51/bbl after 2.8 pct
fall       [O/R] > US STOCKS-Wall Street rally stumbles as bank
fears reemerge[.N] > FOREX-US dollar rises broadly as U.S.
stocks fall       [USD/] > TREASURIES-Bonds fall on concerns
over supply, Fed buying [US/] > PRECIOUS-Gold edges up as
market seen oversold; ETF stead[GOL/]
 STOCKS AND FACTORS TO WATCH
 - Thailand's economy will contract sharply this year,
largely because of the global recession, and low inflation
gives it room for further interest rate cuts, the International
Monetary Fund said. [nN06419616]
 - The global economic crisis and the security threat posed
by North Korea's rocket launch will grab much of the attention
this weekend when Asian leaders gather in Thailand for their
annual summit. [nBKK489993]
 - For the Thai press digest click on [PRESS/TH]
 - For Thailand's IPO diary click on <TH/IPOMENU>
 - For Thailand's stock exchange news click on [TH-SET]
 - For Thailand corporate earnings: [TH-RES-RTRS]
 - For Thailand economic forecast: [POLL-ECI-TH-RTRS]
 ($1=35.37 Baht)
 (Reporting by Arada Therdthammakun; Editing by Alan Raybould)

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