NAPLES, Fla. ? Mitt Romney's strength may be growing, but he won't secure the Republican presidential nomination Tuesday, even if he scores a convincing victory in Florida's primary.
His rivals have vowed to keep fighting well beyond the Jan. 31 election. But win or lose in Florida, the Romney machine is already executing an aggressive multi-state strategy designed to suffocate his opponents' chances as the GOP contest moves forward. And some Republicans say it's time for Romney's rivals to give up.
"By traditional measures, a big Florida win for Romney would mean that this thing is just about wrapped up," said Todd Harris, a Washington-based Republican strategist with Florida ties. "Most Republicans think it's time to stop the infighting and start taking the campaign straight to President Obama."
Florida polls showed that Newt Gingrich briefly surged into the lead following his South Carolina victory just nine days ago. That lead is gone, according to an NBC News/Marist poll published Sunday. Romney now has support from 42 percent of likely Florida primary voters, compared with 27 percent for the former House speaker.
But even before he reclaimed the momentum in this rollercoaster race, Romney's advisers were looking ahead.
There are seven elections in February, beginning with Nevada's caucuses Saturday. A series of lower-profile contests ? including a non-binding Missouri caucus ? come over the next week in Colorado, Minnesota and Maine. They're followed by a 17-day break, which ends with primaries in Arizona and Michigan on Feb. 28.
The mid-month break, bookended by states considered favorable to Romney, presents significant challenges for the other candidates, who trail Romney in both money and organization.
"I think the biggest thing to keep an eye on is that two-and-a-half-week down time between the 11th and the 28th," said Romney political director Rich Beeson. "If you don't have momentum and resources coming into it, it's going to be hard to have momentum and resources coming out of it."
Romney has consistently dominated his opponents in fundraising, reporting $19 million in his campaign account at the end of December. And his campaign distributed paid staff on the ground ? months ago, in some cases ? to bolster a growing network of local supporters. They include a combined 380 Republican officials across February voting states, eight members of Congress among them.
Romney's advisers ? and unaffiliated Republicans ? see a widening path to victory beyond Florida.
"A lot of the contests are states he won four years ago. Some of them are big primary states like Michigan. Arizona, we didn't get to in 2008, but we think that's good, fertile territory for us," said Romney senior adviser Eric Fehrnstrom. "Other states ? Colorado, Minnesota, Maine ? these are all contests we won in the past, where Mitt still retains a strong base of support."
The optimism is backed by reality on the ground.
While his opponents have struggled to compete in one state at a time, Romney has had paid staff in Nevada since June. He has already begun advertising there. More recently, the campaign dispatched staff to Colorado and Arizona. Top New Hampshire surrogates are headed to Maine in the coming days.
And Romney is scheduled to campaign across Nevada, Colorado and Minnesota before next Saturday, according to Fehrnstrom.
He's not the only one looking ahead. Texas Rep. Ron Paul is skipping Florida altogether in favor of the less-expensive February states. Rick Santorum ? who's dealing with his daughter's illness ? this weekend abandoned plans to campaign in Florida in favor of Missouri, Minnesota, Colorado and Nevada.
But building momentum in those states alone will be difficult. And Republicans with no stake in the campaign agree that Romney has tremendous advantages.
"You've got one campaign with vastly superior resources across the board," said Washington-based Republican strategist Phil Musser, adding that fundraising will be an increasingly daunting challenge for Romney's competitors should he win Florida.
Outside help from so-called super PACs could be ending as well. Gingrich's recent rise was aided by a wealthy supporter who recently funneled $10 million to an outside group dedicated to helping him.
"For super donors, the romantic period is over," Musser said before offering a warning. "If we've learned anything from this cycle, it's that there aren't many crystal balls that are clear."
Housing is the one area of policy with the greatest potential to actually move the needle on the economy
I don?t know if the President will say much about housing, but there are some important and potential helpful policy choices percolating in the background.
Skip to next paragraph Jared Bernstein
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Before joining the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities as a senior fellow, Jared was chief economist to Vice President Joseph Biden and executive director of the White House Task Force on the Middle Class. He is a contributor to MSNBC and CNBC and has written numerous books, including 'Crunch: Why Do I Feel So Squeezed?'
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I?ve long held that of all the stuff on the White House?s ?we-can?t-wait? list?things they can do to help the economy and jobs without going through that legislative death trap formerly known as Congress?housing policy is the one with the greatest potential to actually move the needle.
And the most helpful policy in housing is the reduction of mortgage principal for underwater homeowners.?? Research has clearly revealed that owing more than the value on your home is the strongest predictor of foreclosure, and housing finance analysts widely agree that principal reduction is the best medicine to avoid this outcome.
But what does any of this have to do with stuff we could actually do right now?? Good question.? The answer is that the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which regulates Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, could quickly reduce the principal on millions of home loans they own or insure, without going through Congress.
So, why haven?t they done so?? Another fine question.?? First, you need to recall that Fan and Fred are 80% owned by the US gov?t right now, and FHFA, as conservator, wants to protect the taxpayer.? That?s fine?we thank you, FHFA.?
But?and news accounts have been getting this quite wrong?FHFA believes that loan forgiveness (principal reduction) would only save the taxpayers $20 billion while loan forbearance would save $24 billion (the latter modifies the loan, it does not reduce it).??
In other words, the FHFA agrees that both types of loan adjustments would reduce defaults and thus reduce losses to taxpayers, with a slight advantage to forbearance, which, as I?ll argue in a moment, is very likely incorrect.? I think if you did the analysis right, forgiveness would trump forbearance by a long shot.? But given the fact that reduction would clean this mess up a whole lot faster and more reliably than just changing the terms of the loans, and that taxpayers save either way, the path ahead?toward forgiveness, not forbearance?should be clear.
Unfortunately, the FHFA is placing landmines in that path.? Based on a letter reviewing all this by FHFA acting director Ed DeMarco, news accounts like this or this are reporting that if Fan and Fred were to reduce the principal on a subset of the mortgages they own or insure, it would cost?taxpayers $100 billion.
This $100 billion (it?s actually $102bn), however, is a gross number?it is the losses to the agencies, and the taxpayers, from all the mortgage defaults that FHFA expects to occur if they neither forbear nor reduce principal.? The relevant numbers, however, are the difference between the losses under a forbearance program ($78 billion), or a reduction program ($82 billion) and the cost of doing nothing.
The punch line, then, is that by their estimates, forgiveness saves the taxpayer $20 billion; forbearance, $24 billion.
But for a number of reasons, FHFA?s methods make forbearance look better than it really is.? This is some weedy stuff, but it matters:
?they use a state level price index rather than a localized price level.? This approach averages across cities with huge price drops and those with normal price declines, and thus reduces the number of the deeply underwater borrowers.*?? That in turn understates the impact of the policy most helpful to those borrowers: principal reduction.
?they use FICO credit scores and debt-to-income ratios at the time of loan origination rather than where those measures are today.? Obviously, they?re worse today, so this makes the agencies? book look better than it really is, and again, understates the benefits to principal reduction.? In other words, the way they do it artificially lowers their expected default rate, and so the policy that?s most effective against defaults for those with lower FICOs and higher DTIs gets less credit than it should.
?they assume that all of their debt forgiven in their forbearance programs is repaid?100% of it.?? That?s not realistic and it significantly reduces the cost of this option. ? Simply building in a realistic default rate for debt that?s been pushed back to the end of the loan would raise the cost of forbearance relative to principal reduction.
Any one of these changes will sop up the $4 billion difference in an NY minute, showing forgiveness to dominate forbearance.? But even if the FHFA wants to stick with their numbers, reductions will go to work much more quickly and effectively to prevent defaults.?
If they keep coming up with reasons not to do the right thing, the White House should do the right thing and replace DeMarco?a perfect good guy who believes he?s doing the right thing here but isn?t?with someone who gets the urgency of the situation.
*Imagine a) that anyone with a home price decline of 30% is underwater and needs a loan mod, and b) a state has two homeowners in two different cities.? Homeowner A?s price went up 30%, homeowner B?s price went down 30%. Average them together across the state and no one needs a mod; use the local price index, and B should get one.
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It used to be that choosing personal finance software was easy. You just pick one and the rest managed to take care of itself. However, in today?s high-tech society, choosing the right software to track your expenses is an extremely difficult decision process. This is because there are so many great programs to choose from. So many apps have newly added features that not only track your personal expenses, but also keep track of the stocks you have invested in. Learn about the top personal finance software and see whether it meets your needs.
Quicken:
If you want complete control over your money, than Quicken is cr?me of the crop. The most recent addition is Quicken 2011, which just recently received a much-needed face-lift. It now looks and behaves like a website. Since most people know how to browse websites, it is not only familiar to most of us, but also makes it a very easy to use. While it may be simple to use, underneath it is quite sophisticated?providing investors with much needed tools that allows them to view their data in a variety of ways.
Benefits -
Quicken is upgraded annually and backed by Intuit, which is the leading manufacturer of business software for both consumers and small businesses.
It also allows you to create detailed budgets in just a few minutes. You can also download all your bank and brokerage data. You can even view updated stats of your cash flow.
Quicken is a must have application for investors, since it can track how much you?ve spent on stocks even if you?ve invested in the same stocks more than one time.
You can store data on your own personal hard drive, which makes printing copies a breeze.
If you switch brokerage firms, you don?t have to worry about losing any of your financial data.
Pitfalls -
Since Quicken is an application, you must pay for it.
The Deluxe version costs $60.
Quicken runs best on Windows, but the app for Apple isn?t as good.
You must update your stocks every three years.
The 2011 version of Quicken is not compatible with Smartphones.
It used to be that many people needed to use a variety of software applications to accomplish more than one thing. Nowadays people can purchase one software app that has dual functions. Quicken can keep track of your spending habits and keep track of your stocks all at the same time. While this type of personal finance software does cost you some money, many people feel like it is money well spent. You no longer have to stay up all night computing numbers or figures because you have software that does this for you. And having more time to spend elsewhere, is a wise investment no matter which way you look at it.
DAKAR, Senegal ? An Associated Press reporter saw police tussle with international pop star Youssou Ndour, who was pushed back by police when he tried to enter a police station where a leading opposition figure is being detained.
Ndour had come on Saturday to the Criminal Investigation Division as part of a large crowd of opposition supporters who wanted to show their solidarity with Alioune Tine, a well-known human rights activist who is being questioned by police.
Tine was the organizer of a demonstration Friday that turned violent following the decision of Senegal's constitutional court to allow the country's leader to run for a third term. The legal body approved President Abdoulaye Wade's third term bid, even though critics say the constitution allows a maximum of two.
FILE - This undated file photo obtained from a Facebook page shows missing toddler Alya Reynolds. Investigators say they've found blood inside the Maine home where a toddler was reported missing six weeks ago. State police spokesman Steve McCausland said the blood was found in the basement early in the investigation into Ayla Reynolds' disappearance from her father's home in Waterville. The father, Justin DiPietro, said Ayla was missing from her bed when he checked on her the morning of Dec. 17. (AP Photo/obtained from Facebook, File)
FILE - This undated file photo obtained from a Facebook page shows missing toddler Alya Reynolds. Investigators say they've found blood inside the Maine home where a toddler was reported missing six weeks ago. State police spokesman Steve McCausland said the blood was found in the basement early in the investigation into Ayla Reynolds' disappearance from her father's home in Waterville. The father, Justin DiPietro, said Ayla was missing from her bed when he checked on her the morning of Dec. 17. (AP Photo/obtained from Facebook, File)
PORTLAND, Maine (AP) ? Investigators have been analyzing blood found in the basement of a Maine home where a missing toddler was last seen six weeks ago, an official said Saturday.
The blood was found early in the investigation into Ayla Reynolds' disappearance from her father's home in Waterville, state police spokesman Steve McCausland said. The state crime laboratory has been running tests on it since then, but it was unclear when results would be available.
Ayla's father, Justin DiPietro, reported her missing Dec. 17. He had put her to bed the night before in the home he shares with his mother and said she wasn't there the next morning.
McCausland called the discovery of the blood "troubling." He declined to discuss how much blood was found in the basement or how old it might have been.
Ayla was 20 months old when she disappeared. She had been staying with her father at the time in the house where DiPietro lives with his mother. Her mother, Trista Reynolds, lives in Portland.
DiPietro told police she was wearing green pajamas with polka dots and the words "Daddy's Princess" on them and had a soft cast on her broken left arm.
DiPietro, his mother and a third adult were home the night of Dec. 16, and police have questioned all three, McCausland said.
"We believe they have not given us the full story," he said.
Trista Reynolds was participating in a vigil Saturday for the girl and could not be reached for comment. DiPietro did not immediately return a message left on his cellphone.
The two came face to face for the first time since Ayla's disappearance at the vigil on the City Hall steps in downtown Waterville, said Bob Vear, a friend of the DiPietro family who organized the vigil. They spoke privately for about 10 minutes before giving each other a hug, Vear said.
A woman who answered DiPietro's mother's cellphone hung up after being asked about the blood.
The blood was among hundreds of pieces of potential evidence that were removed from their home as part of a criminal investigation into the girl's disappearance. The discovery of the blood was first reported Saturday by WCVB-TV in Boston.
Ronald Reynolds, who is Trista Reynolds' father, said DiPietro hasn't been forthcoming with his version of what happened or what he knows. DiPietro has said he took a polygraph test, but has declined to say what the results were.
"They haven't given the full story, but this family has gone through so much pain, so much hurt," said Reynolds, who lives in Portland. "We're going into two months now and don't know anything, and all we get is the runaround."
Vear said he was first made aware of the blood sample Dec. 24, but he doesn't think it'll amount to anything.
"I cut myself at home all the time," he said. "It could be Justin's, it could be the baby's. There were five or six people in the house that night."
Atlanta rapper commends Short Dog on his beef-free career and way with the ladies. By Rob Markman, with reporting by Sway Calloway
Too $hort Photo: Natasha Chandel/ MTV News
No doubt 2 Chainz is the hottest underground rapper in the streets right now, so when he threw a nod to rap legend Too $hort on Rick Ross' "F--- Em," it proved that the ATL spitter's hip-hop ties were deep-rooted. "Dad wasn't around; my father figure was Too $hort," 2 Chainz spit when he appeared on Rozay's Rich Forever mixtape.
So when Chainz and Short Dog appeared on Wednesday's "RapFix Live," they shared quite a moment. It was $hort's 1988 album Life Is ... Too $hort that provided 2 Chainz with his earliest musical memories after he sent someone much older than him to the store to buy the explicit CD LP for him. "I remember being in the neighborhood and all the other kids' parents thought I was bad because I was tryin' to get them to get on that," 2 Chainz said.
2 Chainz went on to praise $hort for his beef-free career as well as his way with the ladies. "I can only imagine why $hort has never had beef with nobody," 2 Chainz told "RapFix" host Sway Calloway. "He's a straight-up businessman. He got a savvy and it is about the women. And at the end of the day, it's about getting your money."
Getting money is something 2 Chainz knows plenty about. His current single, "Spend It," is a lyrical celebration of life's excesses. Industry insiders expect Chainz to go on to cash even bigger checks once he signs with one of the major labels that have been pursuing him. "I'm coming up to New York to have a few finalized meetings," 2 Chainz said about his plans for next week.
Chainz is also headlining his first major NYC show at SOB's on Monday and will stop by "RapFix Live" next Wednesday.
See any trend emerging here? Yes, we agree that Google's phones are getting hotter with each generation, but that's not the answer we're looking for. Here's a hint: if you examine the above image really closely, you might also discover a progression toward larger handsets. In all seriousness, the above comparison was generated by phone-size.com, a website that's quite useful to study the relative proportions of different smartphones. But wait, it gets even better. At the top of the webpage, you'll also find a toolbar to plug in the size and aspect ratio of your display. Once you jump through this minor hoop, the utility produces accurate, life-size depictions of the smartphones -- go ahead and hold your slab up to the screen, it really works. Before you dive in, however, be sure to hop the break: we've put together an entertaining look at the Xperia Mini, Titan and Streak 5 that you won't want to miss.
CAIRO ? Egypt banned at least 10 Americans and Europeans from leaving the country, including the son of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray Lahood, hiking tensions with Washington over a campaign by Egypt's military against groups promoting democracy and human rights.
The United States warned Thursday that the campaign raised concerns about Egypt's transition to democracy and could jeopardize American aid that Egypt's battered economy needs badly after a year of unrest.
The travel ban was part of an Egyptian criminal investigation into foreign-funded democracy organizations after soldiers raided the offices of 10 such groups last month, including those of two American groups.
The investigation is closely intertwined with Egypt's political turmoil since the fall of Hosni Mubarak nearly a year ago. The generals who took power have accused "foreign hands" of being behind protests against their rule and they frequently depict the protesters themselves as receiving foreign funds in a plot to destabilize the country.
Egyptian opponents of the military say the generals are trying to smear the protesters in the eyes of the public and silence organizations they fear will undermine their managing of the country.
Also startling is the military's willingness to clash with its longtime top ally, the United States, over the issue, particularly since the army itself receives more than $1 billion a year from Washington. The December raids brought sharp U.S. criticism, and last week President Barack Obama spoke by telephone with Egyptian military chief Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi to emphasize "the role that these organizations can play in civil society," according to State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland on Thursday.
The ban became public after Sam LaHood, Egypt director of the Washington-based International Republican Institute, went to Cairo's airport Saturday to catch a flight and was told by an immigration official that he couldn't leave.
"I asked her why I was denied, she said she didn't know. I asked how to fix it, and she said she didn't know," said LaHood, 36. An hour later, a man in civilian clothes gave him back his passport and escorted him to the curb, LaHood said.
"It's a dark signal for groups who are interested in doing this kind of work," he said.
LaHood's father, a former congressman from Illinois, is the only Republican in Obama's Cabinet. The elder LaHood declined to comment.
The IRI was among the groups raided last month, along with the National Democratic Institute and a number of Egyptian organizations. Both American groups, linked to the political parties of the same name, monitored Egypt's recent parliamentary elections. In the raids, troops ransacked 17 offices of the 10 organizations around the country, carting away computers and documents.
The Egyptian government said the raids were part of a legitimate investigation into whether the groups were operating legally.
Sen. John McCain blasted Egypt's handling of the issue Thursday, warning that continued restrictions on civil society groups "could set back the long-standing partnership between the United States and Egypt."
IRI and NDI officials said they have been trying since 2005 to register as required by law, but were left in legal limbo, never officially denied nor granted permission. Both groups continued to operate while keeping authorities abreast of their activities, they said. Many Egyptian non-governmental organizations say officials often keep their groups in such limbo to maintain a threat over their heads.
Sam LaHood said he was told by his lawyer that he is under investigation on suspicion of managing an unregistered NGO and receiving "funds" from an unregistered NGO, namely, his salary.
Two other Americans and a European with IRI have also been banned from travel, Lahood said his lawyer had been told. From the National Democratic Institute, three Americans and three Serb employees are also on the list, according to its Egypt director Lisa Hughes.
Hughes, who is among those barred, said she has been interrogated for more than four hours about her group's work and that she had planned to fly to the U.S. next month before she heard about the ban.
"I think we would be silly not to be concerned," she said. "We were concerned the moment armed men showed up at our office door, and this has done nothing to calm those concerns."
The State Department's top human rights official, Michael Posner, told reporters in Cairo Thursday that such moves could jeopardize U.S. aid to Egypt, one of the biggest recipients.
"All need to have the ability to operate openly, freely, without constraint, not based on the content of their work," he said.
Posner pointed to recent U.S. legislation that blocks annual aid to Egypt unless it takes certain steps. These include abiding by its 1979 peace treaty with Israel, holding free and fair elections and "implementing policies to protect freedom of expression, association and religion and due process of law."
"Obviously, any action that creates tension between our governments makes the whole package more difficult," Posner said.
The U.S. is due to give $1.3 billion in military assistance and $250 million in economic aid to Egypt in 2012. Washington has given Egypt an average of $2 billion in economic and military aid a year since 1979, according to the Congressional Research Service.
Egypt's military has been locked in a confrontation for months with protesters who demand it immediately hand over power to civilians.
Hundreds of protesters camped Thursday in Cairo's central Tahrir Square, a day after several hundred thousand people massed there to mark the one-year anniversary of the 18-day anti-Mubarak uprising.
Thursday evening, hundreds moved from Tahrir and rallied in front of the state TV building, beating drums as they chanted for the "liberation" of state-run media from the military's control. They projected video footage of soldiers beating protesters onto the building.
State TV has been a mouthpiece of the military, broadcasting its accusations against protesters. Activists demand it be restructured as an independent media institution.
"The media is still manipulated and projects the same lies," said protester Mahmoud Ragab. "We will be here everyday to let them know it is a revolution."
___
Associated Press writer Sarah El Deeb contributed to this report.
MOSCOW ? Russia's foreign minister said Wednesday the country will continue to block any U.N. sanctions on Syria and that any resolution by the world body must exclude the possibility of international military involvement such as in Libya.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said U.N. approval for sanctions against Syria mirroring those by other nations would be "unfair and counterproductive."
The U.S., the European Union, the Arab League and Turkey all have introduced sanctions against Damascus in response to Syrian President Bashar Assad's violent crackdown on opponents. The uprising has left more than 5,400 people dead, according to the U.N. estimates.
The U.N. Security Council has been unable to agree on a resolution since the violence began in March because of strong opposition from Russia and China.
Lavrov said Russia's own draft of a resolution, which circulated earlier this month, remains on the table, and that Moscow is open for any "constructive proposals." The draft calls on all parties to stop the violence, citing the "disproportionate use of force by Syrian authorities" and urging the Syrian government "to put an end to suppression of those exercising their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association."
But Western diplomats said the Russian proposal falls short of their demand for a strong condemnation of the Syrian regime's crackdown.
Lavrov affirmed that any U.N. resolution must say clearly it "couldn't be interpreted to justify any foreign military interference in the Syrian crisis."
"We believe that our approach is fair and well-balanced, unlike the attempts to pass one-sided resolutions that would condemn only one party and, by doing so, encourage another one to build up confrontation and take an uncompromising stance," Lavrov said after talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu. "We have seen that in Libya, and we will not allow repetition of the Libyan scenario."
Russia abstained in the U.N. vote authorizing military intervention in Libya, but harshly criticized NATO for what it saw as an excessive use of force and civilian casualties during the NATO bombing campaign against Moammar Gadhafi's regime.
Rebels eventually overthrew Gadhafi with enormous military support from the Western alliance. NATO jets flew 26,000 sorties against Libya in 2011, destroying about 5,900 military targets.
Russian officials have strongly warned the West against emulating the Libyan strategy in Syria.
Lavrov called for a quick start of talks between the Syrian government and the opposition, suggesting they could be hosted by Egypt, the Arab League, Turkey or Russia.
Asked about the Arab League's call Sunday for a unity government in Syria in two months, Lavrov said Russia believes the talks between the Syrian government and the opposition should start without any preconditions.
"We proceed from the assumption that all participants in such dialogue would seek to reach accord and show responsibility for the fate of the country and its people," he said.
Russia hosted some Syrian opposition leaders last fall, but its efforts to encourage them to sit down for talks with the government have brought no results.
Russia has been a strong ally of Syria since Soviet times, when Syria was led by the president's father, Hafez Assad. It has supplied Syria with aircraft, missiles, tanks and other heavy weapons. The 27-nation EU, in contrast, has imposed an arms embargo against Syria.
Earlier this month, a Russian ship allegedly carrying tons of munitions made a dash for Syria after telling officials in EU member Cyprus, where it had made an unexpected stop, that it was heading to Turkey. Turkish officials said the ship went instead to the Syrian port of Tartus.
Lavrov said last week that Moscow doesn't consider it necessary to offer an explanation or excuses over the incident, saying that Russia was acting in full respect of international law and wouldn't be guided by unilateral sanctions imposed by other nations.
On Monday, a top Russian business daily reported that Moscow had signed a $550 million contract to sell 36 Yak-130 combat jets to Syria. The Russian state arms-trading company declined comment.
Fyodor Lukyanov, the editor of Russia in Global Affairs magazine, said the deal represented an eleventh-hour attempt by Moscow to take advantage of its role of Syria's monopolist weapons supplier.
"Anticipating different possible scenarios, Russia is in a hurry to use the current status quo to pursue its commercial interests," Lukyanov told the AP. "It would be a good contract if Assad stays on."
He added that Russia realizes that its power is limited but has decided to back Assad, its last remaining ally in the region.
"An attempt to abruptly shift side and take a different stance in a hope to preserve some ground will be useless," he said. "Even if Russia now backs the Syrian opposition, the new authorities wouldn't need Russia anyway."
Drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. reported a 76 percent increase in the fourth-quarter profit Thursday, due to higher sales of eight drugs, lower taxes and a big charge a year ago, but it still fell short of Wall Street's expectations.
The company focused attention on rapid sales growth for aits three-year-old Type 2 diabetes pill Onglyza, which until now have been tepid compared to Merck & Co.'s blockbuster rival drug, Januvia. Onglyza sales jumped 110 percent to $153 million, almost as much as sales for all of 2010. But sales continued to fall for blood thinner Plavix, the world's second-best-selling drug, and blood pressure drug Avapro.
Net income rose to $852 million, or 50 cents per share, up from $483 million, or 28 cents per share, in the 2010 quarter.
The New York company said fees and discounts under the U.S. health care overhaul reduced earnings per share by 4 cents in the latest quarter, but drug prices rose 3 percent on average.
The year-earlier results were weighed down by $324 million in charges, for streamlining global operations, depreciation and shutdown costs, licensing payments and a tax charge.
Adjusted income rose 12 percent to $906 million, or 53 cents per share, from $807 million, or 47 cents per share, for 2010's fourth quarter. Total sales increased 7 percent to $5.45 billion from $5.11 billion.
Those results missed analyst expectations of 55 cents per share on sales of $5.51 billion, according to FactSet.
"Investors weren't expecting much and they didn't get much," said Erik Gordon, an analyst and professor at the University of Michigan's Ross School of Business. "A couple of products beat their sales estimates by a hair and a couple missed by a hair."
Bristol-Myers said it expects 2012 earnings per share between $1.90 and $2.00, and sales of $17.2 billion to $18.2 billion. Analysts are looking for $1.98 per share and sales of $18.27 billion, on average.
Company shares fell 15 cents to $32.55 in afternoon trading Thursday.
"We delivered solid results while setting the stage for a strong future," CEO Lamberto Andreotti told analysts during a conference call, adding the company has the products, pipeline and management team to grow beyond its upcoming patent expirations.
Bristol-Myers and French partner Sanofi SA jointly market Plavix, which posted a 3 percent drop in sales to $1.67 billion. It loses U.S. patent protection in May.
That happens to Avapro and foreign counterpart Avalide in March. Their combined sales fell 23 percent, to $195 million, because they have generic competition elsewhere and one of the three dosage forms still isn't available due to a recall.
Bristol's No. 2 drug, Abilify for schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, loses patent protection in the U.S. in 2015. Its sales rose 4 percent to $737 million.
Abilify, Plavix and Avapro together produce half of Bristol-Myers' revenue.
Given the looming generic competition, Bristol for some time has given profit forecasts for 2013, and as of July forecast $1.95 per share, excluding special items. But on Thursday, executives said they are still aiming for that but won't update it until next January.
"The markets have seemed to shrug off this," BernsteinResearch analyst Dr. Timothy Anderson wrote to investors, crediting Bristol's success recently in getting new drugs approved, such as Yervoy for metastatic melanoma and Nulojix for organ transplant patients. But he wrote that Bristol's stock price is high given that the company is "likely to have growth that is flattish from 2011-2020," and that could limit share price appreciation.
Last year, Bristol initiated a dozen or more partnerships and deals aimed at developing new drugs.
Executives said they are preparing for a U.S. launch of heavily touted anti-clotting pill Eliquis, which is approved in the European Union for preventing clots in patients getting hip or knee replacements. Bristol and partner Pfizer Inc. are seeking Food and Drug Administration approval to sell Eliquis for stroke prevention, a market with millions more patients, and expect a ruling by March 28.
Last week, the FDA said it wouldn't approve another much-anticipated drug, dapagliflozin for Type 2 diabetes, without more data to evaluate its risks and benefits. Andreotti said the company was disappointed but is confident in the drug's value and is working on the issues with the FDA.
For full-year 2011, the company earned $3.71 billion, or $2.16 per share, on sales of $21.24 billion. Excluding one-time items income was $2.28 per share.
There's a nice little insider quarrel going on over Google's just-announced privacy policy changes. A number of sites and commentators have let their fingers jump up mechanically in accusatory fashion. Google, caught red-handed being evil! Here, I think, is a time when the word "bias" is actually warranted. Everyone wants so badly for Google to do something truly evil (instead of just questionable or inconvenient) that their perceptions of Google actions are actually being affected. Casting events systematically in a non-objective light is the exhibition of bias, and the continual presentation of policies one disagrees with as evidence of "evil" seems to fall under that category. Google going evil has become the Godwin's Law of tech commentary.
A respected Russian scientist claims to have found signs of life on Venus in photographs taken by a Soviet probe 30 years ago. However, outside analysis suggests he is breathing life into an assortment of camera lens covers and image blurs.
According to the Russian news service Ria Novosti, Leonid Ksanfomaliti, a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences who worked on unmanned Soviet missions to Venus during the 1970s and '80s, has written a new article in the journal Solar System Research. In the article, he calls attention to several objects photographed by the Venera-13 landing probe, a spacecraft that landed on Venus in 1982. The objects ? including features described as a disc and a scorpion ? appear to change locations from one photo to the next. "Let's boldly suggest that the objects' morphological features would allow us to say that they are living," Ksanfomaliti stated, according to Ria Novosti.
Whether the scientist really has suggested that the old photographs contain living creatures that were somehow overlooked previously, or whether his words have been mistranslated, misconstrued or should have been quietly ignored, the claim has made headlines around the globe.
In one image,the Venera-13 landing probe is seen parked on the rocky Venusian foreground, and an object shaped somewhat like a crab stands inches from the probe. In another image, also taken by Venera-13, this crab-like object appears to be in a different location. [NASA Debunks Mysterious UFO Near Venus]
According to Jonathon Hill, a research technician and mission planner at the Mars Space Flight Facility at Arizona State University, who processes many of the images taken during NASA's Mars missions, higher-resolution versions of the Venera-13 images show that the crab-like object is actually a mechanical component, not a living creature. The same object shows up in a photograph taken by an identical landing probe, Venera-14, which landed nearby on Venus.
"If those objects were already on the surface of Venus, what are the chances that Venera 13 and 14, which landed nearly 1,000 kilometers apart, would both land inches away from the only ones in sight and they would be in the same positions relative to the spacecraft? It makes much more sense that it's a piece of the lander designed to break off during the deployment of one of the scientific instruments," Hill told Life's Little Mysteries, a sister site to SPACE.com.
According to NASA, the half-circle components are camera lens covers that popped off the Venera probes after they landed. As for why they appear to be in different places in the two Venera-13 photos, "Venera-13 had two cameras, one in front and one in back.?The one image shows the front camera lens cap and the other shows the rear camera lens cap, not one lens cap that moved," said Ted Stryk, a photo editor who reprocesses and enhances many NASA and Soviet space program images.
In fact, the half-circle objects are famous for being lens caps, because the one that popped off Venera-14's camera landed exactly where a spring-loaded arm was meant to touch the Venusian surface in order to measure its compressibility. The lander ended up measuring properties of the cap.
The other photograph highlighted by Ksanfomaliti, which supposedly shows a scorpion-like creature, contains a blur. "The features that Ksanfomaliti shows are nothing more than processed noise, at best, in some particularly bad versions of the images.?They are not in the original data," Stryk said.
Or, as Hill put it, the image is an example of "letting your mind see patterns in low-resolution data that simply aren't real."
This story was provided by Life's Little Mysteries, a sister site of SPACE.com. Follow Life's Little Mysteries on Twitter @llmysteries or on Facebook.
Baltimore Ravens free safety Ed Reed, right, celebrates his interception with teammate outside linebacker Terrell Suggs, left, during the second half of an NFL divisional playoff football game against the Houston Texans in Baltimore, Sunday, Jan. 15. (Patrick Semansky/AP)
Reason I was out the past few days: trip to Texas. Reason for the trip to Texas: none of your beeswax, frankly, but know this: the entire time I was there I barely heard a single word about the Rangers. Maybe that?s because I was doing way too much of this. Hard to say.
All I know for sure is that the Rangers buzz is going to get pretty big down there pretty soon as everyone wakes up from football season and realizes just how great a race there?s going to be in the AL West this year. And a big part of that is going to be Yu Darvish.
There was a press conference in Tokyo this morning featuring Darvish. Oh, and 10,000 fans too, which tells you what kind of figure Darvish is over there. At the press conference, Darvish set his sights pretty high when explaining his move to the United States to pitch for the Texas Rangers:
?I want to become the kind of pitcher that will make people say ?Darvish is the No. 1 pitcher in the world? ? I want to feel the thrill of pitching against the world?s best hitters. It was becoming harder to stay motivated in Japan.?
World?s best hitters, huh? ?Did anyone tell him just how many games he?s going to have against the A?s, Mariners and Astros over the next several years?
Oh well, I won?t tell him if you won?t. Would hate to disappoint him.
ABOARD THE USS ENTERPRISE?? The United States will not cut America's fleet of 11 aircraft carriers to help trim the budget deficit, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Saturday, citing tensions with Iran as an example of why the massive ships are so critical to national security.
Panetta was addressing about 1,700 sailors headed to the Gulf this spring aboard the USS Enterprise, which after a half-century of service is about to embark on its final tour before being taken offline in November.
The Enterprise's last deployment comes at a moment of heightened tensions with Iran, which has threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, the world's most important oil shipping lane. That's something the United States says it will not allow.
"You're part of what keeps our force agile and flexible and quickly deployable and capable of taking on any enemy, anywhere in the world," Panetta said, speaking about 100 nautical miles off the coast of the U.S. state of Georgia.
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"For that reason that the President of the United States and all of us . have decided that it is important for us to maintain our carrier presence at full strength. And that means we'll be keeping 11 carriers in our force," he said to applause.
Next week, the Pentagon is due to announce a five-year budget plan that will cut about $260 billion from projected defense spending, scaling back the military after a decade of costly land wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Some analysts have speculated that the Pentagon could slightly shrink the carrier fleet, perhaps by slowing construction of new ships to replace older ones like the Enterprise, the world's first nuclear-powered carrier. Its missions date back to the Cuban missile crisis in 1962 and the Vietnam war.
THREE-YEAR GAP
There will already be a nearly three-year gap between the time that the Enterprise goes offline in November and its replacement, the USS Gerald R. Ford, comes online in 2015.
But Panetta insisted that the U.S. commitment to a fleet of 11 carriers was long-term and was quick to cite Iran as one of the important reasons that aircraft carriers were important in projecting American military power anywhere in the world.
Asked about Iran by one of the crew, Panetta said the United States would forge ahead with efforts to tighten sanctions isolating Iran over its nuclear program - sending a clear message that the international community will not let it obtain a nuclear weapon. Iran says its uranium enrichment is peaceful.
"But the most important way we make those messages clear is to show that we are prepared, and that we are strong. And that we will have a presence in that part of the world. And that's what this carrier is all about," he said.
"And better for them to deal with us through diplomacy and through international rules and regulations - and not other ways. Because they ain't going to win."
Panetta's trip to the Enterprise came as its strike group ran drills confronting a hostile, hypothetical nation named "Garnet." Panetta sat in the captain's chair as a fictitious enemy ship trailed the Enterprise, and spoke to a pilot as he attempted to land on the deck. After more training, the Enterprise will deploy in March and eventually head to the Gulf.
"They are going to a critical area of the world," Panetta told reporters later. "They're going to be traveling through the Straits of Hormuz and they will represent the naval presence and power projection that we've made clear that we're going to maintain in the Middle East."
Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.
Winter is here, and it seems like it's getting colder every day. Here are five tips to keep your pet safe throughout the next few months:
1. Temperatures drop quickly. Winter temperatures can decrease hourly. Even if it feels warm enough to let your pet outside, it may not be. If you do let your dog out or take him for a walk, make sure it is in short intervals. If you have a?shorthaired dog such as a Chihuahua, be sure to put him in protective clothing.?Cats should be kept indoors at all times.
2. Small spaces. Animals find small, warm spots for shelter when it is cold. Hit your hood a few times before starting you car to ensure cats or other small animals are not still sleeping in your car wheel wells or under your hood.
3. Antifreeze and ice melt. Antifreeze products contain ethylene glycol and are highly toxic. Ice melt can harm the skin and gastrointestinal tract.?Be sure to keep your cats away from both antifreeze and ice melt and check their paws for it after they have been outside.
4. Outdoor shelters. Outdoor shelters are not safe for pets in the winter. Most doghouses are not completely draft-free and closing them off completely can limit the oxygen inside.
5. Pets in cars. Do not leave your pet in a car. Cars hold in cold air and can put your pet at risk.
PARIS - Pele thinks Lionel Messi still needs to improve at international level before he can be considered the greatest soccer player ever and needs to score more goals to come close to matching the Brazilian great.
The 24-year-old Messi already has won three straight FIFA Player of the Year awards.
"When Messi's scored 1,283 goals like me, when he's won three World Cups, we'll talk about it," Pele told Le Monde. "Football changes. Records are there to be broken, but it will be hard to break mine.
"People always ask me: 'When is the new Pele going to be born?' Never. My father and mother have closed the factory."
Although many observers consider Pele or Diego Maradona to be the greatest ever, Messi's form for Barcelona has him being mentioned in the same group.
Messi scored 55 goals in 2011 for Barcelona and already has 213 in 300 games for the club, 22 shy of Cesar Rodriguez's team record for goals. Messi is the club's leading scorer in the Champions League, scoring in victories over Manchester United in the 2009 and 2011 finals.
"I like Messi a lot, he's a great player," Pele replied when asked who his favorite current player is. "Technically, we're practically at the same level."
But Pele was also quick to point out that Messi has not scored at the same rate for Argentina in big tournaments. Messi failed to score in both the 2010 World Cup and Copa America last year, and has a modest tally of 19 goals in 67 international matches.
"He's a great player for Barcelona, but when he plays for Argentina he doesn't have the same success," Pele said.
Pele also feels he may have had more natural ability than Messi.
"No one knew which foot I was going to shoot with, I was two-footed. I also scored a lot of goals with my head," Pele said.
However, Pele knows that the debate over who is the world's greatest ever player will always divide opinion.
"Some people will say Beethoven couldn't play the piano. Others will say Michelangelo couldn't paint and that Pele couldn't play football," he said. "But we all received a gift from God."
Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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??Mario Balotelli scored a stoppage-time penalty kick Sunday to give first-place Manchester City a 3-2 victory over Premier League title rival Tottenham.
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SANAA, Yemen ? Outgoing President Ali Abdullah Saleh will leave soon to Oman, en route to medical treatment in the United States, Yemeni officials said on Saturday, part of an American effort to get the embattled strongman out of the country to allow a peaceful transition from his rule.
Washington has been trying for weeks to find a country where Saleh can live in exile, since it does not want him to settle permanently in the United States. The mercurial president, who has ruled for more than 33 years, has repeatedly gone back and forth on whether he would leave.
The officials' comments Saturday suggested Oman, Yemen's neighbor, could be a potential home for him. Three officials said he would go, but they were divided on whether he would remain in exile in Oman or return to Yemen after treatment. His return, even if he no longer holds the post of president, could mean continued turmoil for the impoverished nation at the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula.
After nearly a year of protests demanding his ouster, Saleh in November handed his powers over to his vice president and agreed to step down. A unity government between his party and the opposition has since been created. However, Saleh ? still formally the president ? has continued to influence politics from behind the scenes through his family and loyalists in power positions.
The U.S. does not want to take him in, concerned it would be seen by Yemenis as harboring a leader they say has blood on his hands for the killings of protesters. Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates already have rejected Saleh, American officials said.
Senior ruling party figure Mohammed al-Shayef told The Associated Press that Saleh would travel "in the coming days" to Oman, then head to the United States for treatment of wounds he suffered in an June assassination attempt.
After treatment, Saleh would return to Yemen to head his People's Congress Party, said al-Shayef, who is also a prominent tribal leader. Another top party official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk of the plans, gave the same itinerary, though he said Saleh would pass through Ethiopia en route from Oman to the U.S.
Saleh himself has spoken in recent weeks of working as an opposition politician after he leaves the presidency.
However, an official in the prime minister's office said Saleh "is supposed" to return to Oman to stay after his U.S. treatment is completed.
The official said Saleh's powerful son Ahmed was currently in Oman, arranging a residence for his father. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk the press. It did not seem that Ahmed, who commands the elite Republican Guard that has been at the forefront of the crackdown on protests, would remain in Oman.
The unity government has been struggling to establish its authority in the face of Saleh's continuing strength in the country. Like Saleh's son Ahmed, Saleh's nephew also commands one of Yemen's best trained and equipped security forces, and the president's loyalists remain in place in the government and bureaucracy.
Saleh agreed to step down under a U.S.-approved and Gulf-mediated accord with the opposition in return for immunity for prosecution.
Yemen's parliament on Saturday approved the immunity law, a key step toward Saleh's formal retirement from his post.
The law grants Saleh complete immunity for any crimes committed during his rule, including the killing of protesters during the uprising against his regime. However, parliament limited the scope of immunity for other regime officials and excluded immunity for terrorism-related crimes.
Initially, the law would have similarly given complete immunity to everyone who served Saleh's governments throughout his rule, sparking a public outcry and a new wave of protests. In response, the law was changed to grant them immunity only on "politically motivated" criminal acts. That apparently would not cover corruption charges.
Most protesters have rejected the accord entirely, saying Saleh should not be given immunity and demanding he be prosecuted.
Human Rights Watch said Saturday in a statement that the law allows senior officials to "get away with murder" and "sends the disgraceful message that there is no consequence for killing those who express dissent."
Today at Apple's education event, the company introduced iBooks 2, a textbook platform that effectively transforms $200 textbooks into iPad apps at a much more reasonable price. But of course, a textbook platform isn't worth a thing without the educational powerhouse publishers behind it. Luckily, the first up to the bat on the iBooks 2 platform are names we know well: Pearson, McGraw Hill and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. They're responsible for 90 percent of the textbooks sold.
From left, Bill Moore, COO, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex; Janet Petro, KSC deputy director; Jennifer Carroll, Lt. Gov. of Florida; Jeremy Jacobs, Chairman and CEO of Delaware North Companies and Chris Ferguson, Commander, STS-135, Atlantis hold shovels during the groundbreaking ceremony at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex for the future site of space shuttle Atlantis. The $100 million exhibit is slated to open in the summer of 2013. (AP Photo/Florida Today, Tim Shortt)
From left, Bill Moore, COO, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex; Janet Petro, KSC deputy director; Jennifer Carroll, Lt. Gov. of Florida; Jeremy Jacobs, Chairman and CEO of Delaware North Companies and Chris Ferguson, Commander, STS-135, Atlantis hold shovels during the groundbreaking ceremony at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex for the future site of space shuttle Atlantis. The $100 million exhibit is slated to open in the summer of 2013. (AP Photo/Florida Today, Tim Shortt)
From left, Jeremy Jacobs, chairman and CEO of Delaware North Companies; Bill Moore, COO, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex; Janet Petro, KSC deputy director and Jennifer Carroll, Lt. Gov. of Florida attend the groundbreaking ceremony at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Cape Canaveral, Fla. for the future site of space shuttle Atlantis. The $100 million exhibit is slated to open in the summer of 2013. (AP Photo/Florida Today, Tim Shorttt)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) ? NASA's retired space shuttle Atlantis is a step closer to completing its final journey.
The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex broke ground Wednesday for Atlantis' permanent home, a $100 million exhibit due to open in summer 2013. Schoolchildren waved red, white and blue Atlantis flags ? 33 flags representing each of Atlantis' space missions ? as state and local dignitaries joined former shuttle staff at the construction site.
The astronaut who commanded Atlantis' final spaceflight, Christopher Ferguson, told the more than 100 guests that Atlantis will serve as "a reminder of the limitless potential" of Americans and also inspire children, some of whom will become future space travelers.
Ferguson, who now works for Boeing on new space vehicles, made note of the effort to preserve the past while working toward the future: "I'd like you all to stay tuned as we turn to the next chapter of the journey that will never end."
Shuttle Discovery will actually be the first to ship out to museums. In April, it will head to the National Air and Space Museum's display hangar outside Washington. Shuttle Endeavour will travel to the California Science Center in Los Angeles in the second half of the year.
NASA's 30-year shuttle program ended last July with the voyage of Atlantis. Since then, workers have been getting them ready for display by draining hazardous fuel, disconnecting or removing some systems and replacing the main engines with replicas.
Delaware North Parks & Resorts, which runs the Kennedy visitor complex for NASA, used an industrial-size digger to unveil a huge picture of the planned exhibit hall. The six-story structure will feature two curved "wings" in orange and gold colors, representing the intense heat of re-entry.
Atlantis will be displayed as if flying in orbit, with the cargo bay doors open and the robot arm extended.
___
Online:
NASA: www.nasa.gov
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex: www.kennedyspacecenter.com
The (now digital) ink has dried on Apple's education event, we've met the new apps, we've seen the new services, and we've gotten an idea of where Apple is heading when it comes to schools, textbooks, and learning. But just an idea. Like any 1.0 product, this stuff is the broad strokes and there are tons of details left for Apple hammer out over the next year -- heck, over the next decade.
Life is a dream when you love your job and it's a nightmare when you hate it.
So what can you do if you are living a nightmare? Leave that job behind, according to two young entrepreneurs who found their passions in their second careers.
Shatoia Starks left her job as a pharmaceutical sales exec to operate a food truck, Mama Green's Gourmet Goodies. Shatoia's cookies are sold in Whole Foods and she now plans to open a bakery.
Jeremiah Bishop was the general manager at a bill collection agency in his former life. However, "When the economy crashed and tanked, nobody was paying bills, so I had to find something else to do." Five years later, Bishop is an in-demand fashion photographer and owner of Phinally Phocused Photography. Here Shatoia and Jeremiah discuss three ways they've mentally prepared to leave bad job situations and launch profitable new businesses.
1. Be open to explore new possibilities -- or old passions.
"Inspiration can come at any time; you must be open to receive it," says Shatoia. "I was in pharmaceutical sales for about 10 years, and I really started to dislike it a lot."
While visiting her mother for the holidays, "I started organizing my great -- grandmother's recipes, and as I sat there, a lot of memories were coming back. And I always loved food a lot and I enjoyed serving food. I always loved sales, so I combined those two and started a food truck. I am 100 percent happier now than ever before."
2. Find a mentor and educate yourself.
"My friend, Charan Ingram, is a great Web designer, and he had gotten into photography, and Adobe Photoshop," says Jeremiah Bishop. "Charan took me under his wing, and... I studied lighting techniques, makeup techniques, the kind of photography that I wanted to do, which is mostly high fashion."
You must also do the research to find needed resources.
"Try to use as much of the free help that's out there as possible," Shatoia states. "SCORE, the Small Business Association, here in Chicago, the Women's Business Development Center; try to use as much free info as the city offers, because these people are former executives and they've done this before."
3. Get a solid support system.
Having a solid support system will also help you to keep the faith when launching your business, advises Shatoia.
"The challenging part has been just taking the leap," Shatoia says. "Believing in myself and saying, OK, I'm going to do this, and the support that I got from my husband and my mom really encouraged me to believe that I can do it and not turn back."
Last, but not least, you should never give up, adds Jeremiah.
"You only can be knocked down for so long; nobody gives up permanently," Jeremiah states. "As long as you have a great work ethic and you're willing to work hard at it, I believe anybody can be successful in this country."
Your turn, if you've left a bad job situation to launch a business, how did you mentally prepare to strike out on your own?
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Follow Zondra Hughes on Twitter: www.twitter.com/ZondraHughes
A new artificial intelligence technique to speed the planning of tasks when resources are limitedPublic release date: 17-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Ana Herrera oic@uc3m.es Carlos III University of Madrid
This release is available in Spanish.
Scientists at Universidad Carlos III in Madrid have presented a new technique based on artificial intelligence that can automatically create plans, allowing problems to be solved with much greater speed than current methods provide when resources are limited. This method can be applied in sectors such as logistics, autonomous control of robots, fire extinguishing and online learning.
The researchers have developed a new methodology to solve automated planning problems, an area of AI, especially when there are more objectives than it is possible to achieve in the available time. The idea is to get the system to find, on its own, an ordered sequence of actions that will allow objectives to be reached (in a final stage) given the initial situation and available resources. For example, given a group of trucks and goods, these techniques can use automatic planning to optimize the routes and means of transport, based on timetables and products. The methodology presented by these scientists would, in this case, allow the users to create plans in a situation in which not all the packages can be delivered, as would occur when the time that is needed to perform the task is greater than the time that is available, because of the inadequacy of the available resources. In this case, the system would attempt to find a plan by which the greatest number of goods possible could be delivered, thus minimizing the cost.
The new methodology that these scientists propose allows solutions to be found that are equivalent to or better than those provided by the other existing techniques, in addition to doing so much faster, when there are limited resources that can be used. "With regard to time, our technique is three to ten times faster, and with regard to quality, our solutions offer similar quality to that obtained by the best technique that is currently available", states one of the researchers, ngel Garca Olaya, of the PLG group (Planning and Learning Research Group) of UC3M's Computer Science Department. "Now he points out we are making modifications that we hope will allow us to give still greater quality to our solutions". This study has been presented at the most recent Conferencia Espaola para la Inteligencia Artificial (CAEPIA Spanish Conference on Artificial Intelligence) in Tenerife, where it received the award for the best article. In addition, it has recently been published in Lecture Notes in Computer Science by Springer. This research at UC3M has received funding from the Autonomous Community of Madrid and the Ministry of Science and Innovation.
This new methodology can be applied in any sector in which is makes sense to implement automatic planning, as is already done in the cases of extinguishing fires, autonomous control of robots, on-line learning, logistics, etc. In this last field, in fact, these researchers have already carried out a project with Acciona for managing their logistics division; it was subsidized by the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce. To be specific, they created a system of automatic planning for multimodal transport of goods. The data that was provided to the system included the position of the trucks, as well as the schedules of the transport ships and trains, together with the characteristics of the clients' orders (situation of containers, route, type of merchandise). With this information, the system first decided which truck and container should carry out each part of the service, to then calculate the route to be taken, the order in which the items would be delivered and, if necessary, to change the method of transport (truck, train and/or boat).
"What very often happens in real situations is that there is no plan that can reach all of the objectives due to the limitations of one resource, such as time, money, fuel, battery... and this is where the methodology proposed in the article can be used", explains Professor ngel Garca Olaya. The researchers have tested it in a series of realms that simulate real situations and that occur frequently in the field of planning; it has already been integrated into an architecture for the autonomous control of robots that the group is working on. In fact, NASA has already used automatic planning for the autonomous control of their rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which traveled to Mars a few years ago. In that case, they used a mixed initiative system in which the rovers' operators used a planner to create the plans (movements, sample taking, photos, etc.) for the two automated vehicles. The planner took all of the operating restrictions into account and created a plan that could be modified by the operators. Later the plan, which had been conveniently checked to avoid any inconsistency, was transmitted to the rovers so that they could execute it. Currently, the PLG group is applying the techniques developed in a project carried out with the European Space Agency (ESA) on the planning of observation operations in space.
###
More Information:
Title: Using the Relaxed Plan Heuristic to Select Goals in Oversubscription Planning Problems
Authors: ngel Garca Olaya, Toms de la Rosa and Daniel Borrajo
Journal: Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2011. Volume 7023/2011, 183-192, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-25274-7_19
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
A new artificial intelligence technique to speed the planning of tasks when resources are limitedPublic release date: 17-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Ana Herrera oic@uc3m.es Carlos III University of Madrid
This release is available in Spanish.
Scientists at Universidad Carlos III in Madrid have presented a new technique based on artificial intelligence that can automatically create plans, allowing problems to be solved with much greater speed than current methods provide when resources are limited. This method can be applied in sectors such as logistics, autonomous control of robots, fire extinguishing and online learning.
The researchers have developed a new methodology to solve automated planning problems, an area of AI, especially when there are more objectives than it is possible to achieve in the available time. The idea is to get the system to find, on its own, an ordered sequence of actions that will allow objectives to be reached (in a final stage) given the initial situation and available resources. For example, given a group of trucks and goods, these techniques can use automatic planning to optimize the routes and means of transport, based on timetables and products. The methodology presented by these scientists would, in this case, allow the users to create plans in a situation in which not all the packages can be delivered, as would occur when the time that is needed to perform the task is greater than the time that is available, because of the inadequacy of the available resources. In this case, the system would attempt to find a plan by which the greatest number of goods possible could be delivered, thus minimizing the cost.
The new methodology that these scientists propose allows solutions to be found that are equivalent to or better than those provided by the other existing techniques, in addition to doing so much faster, when there are limited resources that can be used. "With regard to time, our technique is three to ten times faster, and with regard to quality, our solutions offer similar quality to that obtained by the best technique that is currently available", states one of the researchers, ngel Garca Olaya, of the PLG group (Planning and Learning Research Group) of UC3M's Computer Science Department. "Now he points out we are making modifications that we hope will allow us to give still greater quality to our solutions". This study has been presented at the most recent Conferencia Espaola para la Inteligencia Artificial (CAEPIA Spanish Conference on Artificial Intelligence) in Tenerife, where it received the award for the best article. In addition, it has recently been published in Lecture Notes in Computer Science by Springer. This research at UC3M has received funding from the Autonomous Community of Madrid and the Ministry of Science and Innovation.
This new methodology can be applied in any sector in which is makes sense to implement automatic planning, as is already done in the cases of extinguishing fires, autonomous control of robots, on-line learning, logistics, etc. In this last field, in fact, these researchers have already carried out a project with Acciona for managing their logistics division; it was subsidized by the Ministry of Industry, Tourism and Commerce. To be specific, they created a system of automatic planning for multimodal transport of goods. The data that was provided to the system included the position of the trucks, as well as the schedules of the transport ships and trains, together with the characteristics of the clients' orders (situation of containers, route, type of merchandise). With this information, the system first decided which truck and container should carry out each part of the service, to then calculate the route to be taken, the order in which the items would be delivered and, if necessary, to change the method of transport (truck, train and/or boat).
"What very often happens in real situations is that there is no plan that can reach all of the objectives due to the limitations of one resource, such as time, money, fuel, battery... and this is where the methodology proposed in the article can be used", explains Professor ngel Garca Olaya. The researchers have tested it in a series of realms that simulate real situations and that occur frequently in the field of planning; it has already been integrated into an architecture for the autonomous control of robots that the group is working on. In fact, NASA has already used automatic planning for the autonomous control of their rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, which traveled to Mars a few years ago. In that case, they used a mixed initiative system in which the rovers' operators used a planner to create the plans (movements, sample taking, photos, etc.) for the two automated vehicles. The planner took all of the operating restrictions into account and created a plan that could be modified by the operators. Later the plan, which had been conveniently checked to avoid any inconsistency, was transmitted to the rovers so that they could execute it. Currently, the PLG group is applying the techniques developed in a project carried out with the European Space Agency (ESA) on the planning of observation operations in space.
###
More Information:
Title: Using the Relaxed Plan Heuristic to Select Goals in Oversubscription Planning Problems
Authors: ngel Garca Olaya, Toms de la Rosa and Daniel Borrajo
Journal: Lecture Notes in Computer Science, 2011. Volume 7023/2011, 183-192, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-25274-7_19
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There's a nice little insider quarrel going on over Google's just-announced privacy policy 
Today at Apple's education event, the company introduced iBooks 2, a textbook platform that effectively transforms $200 textbooks into iPad apps at a much more reasonable price. But of course, a textbook platform isn't worth a thing without the educational powerhouse publishers behind it. Luckily, the first up to the bat on the iBooks 2 platform are names we know well: Pearson, McGraw Hill and Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. They're responsible for 90 percent of the textbooks sold.
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Public release date: 17-Jan-2012
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