Analysis: Japan's DPJ picks up reviled habits of party it ousted (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) ? Two years after the Democratic Party swept to power pledging to reform how Japan is governed, the struggling ruling party appears to be reviving the very practices it reviled.

That poses a challenge for new Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, who -- if he lasts long enough to face a general election -- could have trouble convincing voters to back a party that no longer looks much different from the conservative Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) that it trounced decisively in 2009.

The Democrats, a mix of former LDP lawmakers, ex-socialists and younger conservatives, were never going to present radically different solutions. But many voters had hoped for a new style of government that was more open and less tied to the vested interests that backed the LDP during its decades in power.

"Noda is steering the wheel in the direction of going back to the old mold, pretty much being a mini-LDP in all aspects," said Sophia University professor Koichi Nakano.

"People may say, 'If we want the LDP, why not let the real LDP back in government?'"

The convergence of the two parties' governing techniques and policies also casts doubt on whether Japan can address the ills of an aging society and an economy mired in stagnation.

"It's not as if the LDP system worked," Nakano said.

Noda is the third DPJ premier since voters handed the Democrats a landslide win in August 2009.

The Democrats had promised to pry policymaking control away from bureaucrats -- seen as too narrowly focused to design the bold policies needed -- and give consumers more money to boost growth instead of catering only to big corporations.

The DPJ had also pledged to unify decision-making inside the government to prevent feuding between cabinet ministers and the ruling party from slowing down and distorting policies.

Implementing those pledges, however, has proved tough given the Democrats' inexperience and internal feuding, bureaucrats' foot-dragging, and the huge scope of Japan's problems including public debt already twice size of the $5 trillion economy.

Some voters say it is time to bring back the LDP.

"Nothing will change if we leave the DPJ as the ruling party," said 32-year-old Tomoki Takeda in Tokyo.

Others, though, have little hope for either side. "It seems to me there was no sense in shifting to DPJ, because it proved to be too immature," said graphic designer Tadashi Samizo, 41.

"At the same time, LDP had its chance for a long time and ended up with all sorts of problems. So, I think we need someone outside of parties, maybe even outside of Japan."

Critics worry that Noda, a fiscal conservative who served as finance minister under predecessor Naoto Kan, is under the thumb of ministry officials keen to curb debt but with little appetite for redirecting spending based on policy priorities.

In a sign bureaucrats are calling the shots, the finance ministry on August 23 decided to ask all ministries to cut discretionary spending in the budget from April by 10 percent across the board to keep public finances from deteriorating.

"The bureaucrats have never really been ousted," said Jeffrey Kingston, director of Asian studies at Temple University's Japan campus.

TWEEDLEDUM, TWEEDLEDEE?

On the policy front, the Democrats have had to drop or reconsider signature policies to give households more cash in order to win help in a divided parliament from the LDP and the No.2 opposition party.

They have also acknowledged the 5 percent sales tax would have to be raised to fund ballooning social welfare costs.

That is in line with LDP proposals, although both parties have substantial numbers of anti-tax naysayers.

Noda has also taken a step back from the campaign pledge to streamline policymaking. New DPJ policy chief Seiji Maehara -- who unlike his predecessor will not hold a cabinet post -- will now need to sign off on policies before cabinet approval.

"Noda's new proposal reflects what was once normal practice within the LDP," said an Asahi newspaper commentary.

Noda has also distanced himself from Kan's vision of a nuclear power-free world, floated after the March tsunami triggered a radiation crisis at a nuclear power plant.

Like many in the LDP, which long promoted nuclear power, he wants to regain trust in the industry but realizes dependence on nuclear energy must dwindle given public safety concerns.

On the diplomatic front, Noda like Kan has abandoned the Asia-centric rhetoric of the first DPJ prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, and echoes the traditional LDP stance that the U.S.-Japan's alliance forms the core of Tokyo's security policies.

The Democrats' internal bickering also seems all too familiar to those who recall the LDP's faction-driven politics.

The DPJ leadership race was a battle between critics and allies of power broker Ichiro Ozawa, and Noda won a run-off against his Ozawa-backed rival after getting backing from other groups.

Encouraged by their lead in voter opinion polls, the LDP is betting it can return to power in the next general election, which must be held by autumn 2013.

"The DPJ administration has lost its raison d'etre. Its manifesto is bankrupt and many of the people think its economic policies were mistaken . fundamentally, the mandate of the people should be sought as soon as possible," LDP lawmaker Yoshimasa Hayashi told Reuters in an interview.

(Additional reporting by Natalia Konstantinovskaya; Editing by Tomasz Janowski and Nick Macfie)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110901/wl_nm/us_japan_democrats

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President says Mexico will have clean cops (AP)

MEXICO CITY ? Mexican President Felipe Calderon said Friday that he will fight to the last day of his term to defeat the drug cartels that have taken over towns, police forces and institutions in parts of Mexico.

Calderon also promised in his annual state-of-the-nation address to clean up corruption among police and federal attorneys by the time he leaves office in December 2012.

In his second-to-last year in office, Calderon cut much of the usual fanfare around the speech out of respect for 52 civilians who died last week in a casino fire, a presumed extortion attack by Zetas cartel members in the northern city of Monterrey.

A police officer has been arrested in the attack. The Monterrey mayor's brother has been questioned regarding casino-related corruption.

Calderon announced the creation of a federal prosecutor dedicated entirely to victims of violence. The prosecutor's job will be to identify victims and find people who have disappeared at the hands of criminal groups.

Calderon has come under fire from victims' groups for minimizing the impact of violence on innocents. One of those groups is headed by the poet Javier Sicilia, who lost his son to an attack by drug gangs.

The new prosecutor "will take a major step to close the wounds that have opened in the country," Calderon said.

Last week he called the casino fire the worst incident of drug-related violence involving civilians in his term and declared three days of national mourning.

After encounters with the general public, Calderon said it became clear that "victims should be the center of our attention."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mexico/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110902/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/lt_mexico_state_of_nation

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Euro zone nearing Greek collateral compromise (Reuters)

BERLIN (Reuters) ? Euro zone governments are moving toward a compromise in a row over a bilateral deal between Finland and Greece that gives the Nordic country collateral in return for loans to Athens that other members of the currency bloc do not get.

Ireland's Finance Minister Michael Noonan said the initial deal between Finland and the Netherlands, which prompted some other euro zone countries to demand similar treatment, had been axed and that a new compromise was being hammered out.

"(The collateral deal between) Finland and Greece, I understand that is off the table now. There are other arrangements being made to compensate," Noonan told a financial parliamentary committee.

The wrangle has further undermined confidence among investors in the euro bloc's ability to resolve its debt crisis and prompted rating agency Moody's to warn that Greece's bailout payments could be delayed.

Dutch Finance Minister Jan Kees de Jager, speaking in the Hague, said a solution to the row was not far off.

"I expect a solution (for collateral demands by Finland) in the not very long term," De Jager said. "I see possibilities that an equal treatment of creditors is possible where you do not have the disadvantages from the draft agreement between Finland and Greece."

Greece agreed last month to provide cash collateral for AAA-rated Finland's loans in a bilateral deal that sparked criticism across the currency bloc and demands for similar treatment from Austria, the Netherlands and Slovakia.

Austrian Finance Minister Maria Fekter told Reuters on Wednesday euro zone countries were discussing charging fees for any such collateral, which could resolve the row.

"If collateral is linked to fees -- if they cost something just as a bank guarantee costs something -- then everyone's desire for it will immediately be limited," she said.

She reiterated Austria's demand for equal treatment if Finland gets its wish for collateral to back loans to Greece under a new 109 billion euro ($157 billion) rescue package.

Katinka Barysch of the Center for European Reform in London said the Finnish attitude was harmful for Europe.

"That is an attitude that if it materialized in Germany would be very dangerous," Barysch said. "The only good solution I can imagine is to get rid of this. If the Greeks were able to give collateral for all the bonds they issue or for the money we lend them, they wouldn't need us anyway."

A German government official said that the finance ministers of the Netherlands, Finland and Germany would meet in Berlin on Tuesday to discuss this but later added that the collateral issue was not formally up for talks.

"I cannot rule out they will talk about this but it is not officially on the agenda," the official said, adding that he read De Jager's comments to mean a compromise could be reached even ahead of Tuesday.

"The meeting is a broad exchange of views on the euro zone debt crisis between countries that have similar views," the official added.

De Jager said the three countries would meet in Berlin on Tuesday to discuss euro zone issues.

Finland had said it could drop out of the Greek aid program if its demands were rejected.

Although Finland's share of the package is tiny, it punches above its weight because of its top-notch credit rating -- which it shares with Austria and the Netherlands -- and the fact that its parliament is empowered to vote on funding issues.

(Reporting by Annika Breidthardt in Berlin, Gilbert Kreijger in The Hague and Carmel Crimmins in Dublin; Writing by Annika Breidthardt; Editing by Hugh Lawson and Andrew Hay)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110901/bs_nm/us_eurozone_germany_greek_collateral

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What is the School ... - Seattle Real Estate-Seattle Homes For Sale

School in starting this week or next week for some school districts in the Seattle area.

Recent news came out that Seattle?s School district reduces, revamps student bus service?

Seattle Public Schools is scaling back its student bus service for the new school year, cutting 80 buses from its fleet and redrawing routes as part of a two-year cost-cutting transportation plan. The changes mean that thousands of Seattle students will have to rethink how they get to school

Be sure that your student has a safe alternative or set transportation for the coming school year. What do you think of this situation?

Are your kids effected?

Posted via Seattle Real Estate-Seattle Homes For Sale

Post by Thach Nguyen

Thach Nguyen is the Founder and CEO of Thach Real Estate Group, company that serves people from diverse cultures and communities in buying, selling and investing in real estate.

Thach has written 1714 articles.

Source: http://www.thachrealestategroup.com/what-is-the-school-situation-in-seattle-wa-seattle-homes-seattle-houses-real-estate-in-seattle-httpwww-thachrealestategroup-com/

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Playskool Toys Review ? What types of Toys does Playskool Make ...

With over a century in business, Playskool is one of the great old businesses serving the market of toys for young children.? Originally named The Playskool Institute, the company was founded in 1901 by Lucille King who made wooden toys that were to be used as teaching aids to be used by children in a classroom setting.? The company has been passed between several hands over the decades that it?s been in operation, until it finally landed in the hands of America?s oldest game manufacturer Milton Bradley in 1968, which became the property of Hasbro Inc. in 1984.

Since its acquisition by Hasbro, Playskool has been in the habit of constantly refreshing its image, coming out with 9 new slogans over a period of 25 years.? That?s an average of a new slogan once every 3 years.? The company?s current slogan is ?More Than Play?, which it adopted in 2009.

Playskool manufactures several signature brands of toys which have become staples of childhood such as Play-Doh, Mr.

Potato Head, Tinker Toys, Tonka, Lincoln Logs, Glo Friends, Weebles, Pipeworks, Transformers, Teletubbies, Arthur, Barney, Teddy Ruxpin, Baby Alive, My Little Pony and more.? Playskool also manufactures products that are marketed towards new born and preschool aged children which are aimed at developing motor skills, such as the Kick Start Gym, the Tummy Time line, and the Step Start Walk ?n Ride.

With so many great products available, it?s really no wonder that Playskool has been able to keep running for over a century.? What childhood would be complete without those colorful clay-like blobs of Play-Doh, the distinctive smell of which will instantly bring adults back to their childhood days.? Or those childhood hours spent making funny faces with a Mr. Potato Head doll and giggling at the results.? And what young boy hasn?t had a Tonka Truck or played around building houses with Lincoln Logs?? And what young girl doesn?t want a My Little Pony doll or a Baby Alive doll to love and nurture?

And the company continues to expand and improve, and is now manufacturing a number of extra products under the Playskool name such as baby care supplies, books, children?s clothing, and even video games.? Playskool has even brokered a deal that allows it to manufacture products for the popular Nickelodeon cable television channel, which produces many very popular children?s? television shows such as Spongebob Squarepants, The Fairly Odd Parents, Rugrats, All Grown Up!, The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, Winx Club, and more.

The Playskool Company is one of those iconic companies that have affected all of our childhoods, as you would expect from a company that?s been running a successful toy business for over a century.? Few other children?s toy companies match Playskool?s age, and fewer still match its success.? Its products are in every home where young children play and learn.? The company is definitely about ?More Than Play?.? They make wonderful toys that build memories that last a lifetime, passing their success on to the next generation when those children grow up and become parents, to buy their children the iconic toys that they grew up with.? From its start with wooden toys to its success today as a major toy company, Playskool is one institution that we all know and love.

See our Author?s box below for a current list of the Top 10 Toys of the year

Thank you for taking the time to read about Playskool Toys. Here is more information where you can find the TOP 10 TOYS at Amazing Prices

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Source: http://www.fashion-comments.com/archives/playskool-toys-review-what-types-of-toys-does-playskool-make_21209.html

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Safety Steps for the spectator sport

Every morning, there can wake up a sports fan, turn on ESPN, and learn from a serious injury suffered by a player on their team. The experience downtime that can devastate an athlete trailer. These failures are unfortunate enough to spread. When Sid Crosby of the Pittsburgh Penguins suffered a high ankle sprain, and Richard Zednik of the Florida Panthers torn carotid artery or Deion Sanders, former Cincinnati Reds to catch a fly ball with hisHead injuries are not surprising part of the game.

But other injuries are often overlooked -. spectators sports injuries sports columnist Bob Gorman comments that "Nobody knows the number of balls into the stands during the game make, but it brings an estimate at 35-40 in the average Major League competition. " At least 35 deaths occurred as a result of this misguided balls and bats in Major League parks. UnconfirmedInformation indicates that significant damage is at least one per game.
It is estimated in various magazines over a period of 26 years, flying five deaths caused by injuries from shattered bats, balls up to 120 mph occurred in the stands or other objects leave the ball in the field of baseball stadiums. Because of the factual information, it is only left to guess the number of associated injuries.

The Journal of Internet Law, Health and Ethicstakes a random guess in his statement that "A study published recently by Milster the incidence of injuries is, Major League Baseball (MLB) fans from foul balls from 35.1 accidents per one million hits a spectator. The document contains limited details regarding Suppose the actual injury. "2, a baseball stadium, will receive 10 million visitors per season. This estimate would appear injured about 350th

The newspaper also reports that, "A study has found that while the Milzman 127Hockey games gave it 122 injured by pucks, 90 of which are sewn. 'Treated 2 Of these 122 injuries, 55 had in the hospital. These statistics are not surprising, since in both baseball and hockey, most injuries occur in the head or face. Loss of vision in one eye and fractures to the skull as a couple of injuries that sustained by the viewers of Hockey were.

Injury, the fans are known to result in legal consequences. Public arenas are often acquittedthe potential legal liability, decided that the fans are in these competitions at your own risk. This was the case of Cecil Brittani, 13-year-old was hit by a disk and then died of complications from a blood clot. Sue when the family tried in the arena, the judge decided that fans, the games are aware of the dangers.

Authority's response

Baseball-hockey stadiums and arenas do anything to reduce the risk of injury or death by balloons orPucks. Often spokesman for the public attention to the fans to be careful for these items are the warnings on the back of the ticket stubs and printed warnings flashing on the scoreboard. Furthermore, networks are strategically positioned to obtain these items in public areas such as behind a goal or stopped.

New Jersey Baseball Spectator Safety Act of 2006, every owner of the baseball stadium in use warning signs and take other safety measures to strengthen the protection of their audience. While theSecurity risk still employed by the viewers, there are now safety standards for children under this Act is required. Place nets behind home plate, for example, meet these requirements.

Hockey arenas parks is just as dangerous as the ball is to enforce security standards. The height from the base of the wall rail to the top of the ESG is a minimum of five meters. With reporting violation viewers hockey game, one can conclude that this is not a sufficient safeguardAvoid all possible dangers. The NHL has therefore ordered that relationships with net behind the goal of reducing the likelihood of a record that is reflected and hits a fan, as this will freeze the most common location for these rubber washers to exit from the runway, are enriched ice rink .

What can be done

Whether you are the father of a young baseball player or hockey eagerly participate in professional sporting events, or own or operate a stadium or track, includes the following options toTo avoid injury, spectators:

Make sure that the viewers aware of their dangers and love for all times, so that public service announcements before and during the event.

Place warning signs in high visibility areas.

Print warnings on the back of the ticket stub.

Fortify the stadium or the track with a safety net, especially in heavily trafficked areas.

Fans, the seats behind the safety net or in a section of the stadium or arena with a low probability of choosing oneWandering on the subject land.

Fans should always pay attention to the action at hand and look for objects headed their way.

Sports events are fun and too much of the fabric of the American recovery, so the risk of injury to keep the fans away srious. According to these common sense steps to help the safety of spectators at sporting events.

Source: http://sports-fencing.chailit.com/safety-steps-for-the-spectator-sport.html

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Samsung Conquer 4G review

It's peculiar how a simple number and letter can cause the price to skyrocket when added to the end of a phone's name. But that's exactly what the term "4G" does -- ultimately, making a phone or tablet compatible with a carrier's next-generation network seems to add value (and cost) in unthinkable ways. There's a growing concern in the mobile industry; Sprint's WiMAX 4G coverage, once a novelty in the United States, is now just one of the boys. It faces direct competition against its two (much larger) LTE brethren in Verizon and AT&T, and the Now Network is searching for other methods of utilizing its high-speed offerings. In doing so, the carrier wants to keep the value high without escalating the expense.

Enter the Samsung Conquer 4G, the latest addition to Sprint's blazing-fast lineup. Rather than going head-to-head with giants like the Photon 4G and EVO 3D, the company's strategy is to offer a WiMAX-enabled handset that's light on the wallet. It's not the least expensive of the bunch these days -- the Samsung Nexus S 4G takes the cake there -- but it's another option to toss into the network's growing lineup. So does this mid-range handset have a shot at living up to its namesake? Keep on reading to find out.

Continue reading Samsung Conquer 4G review

Samsung Conquer 4G review originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 30 Aug 2011 13:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Blacks believe in life insurance | Life Insurance Health

Many wish to assure a decent wake but burdening family, while withdrawal inheritance

Tim Grant/ Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

When Bonnie Caver and her father Jon married in 1967, one of a initial things they did was buy life word policies, especially given it was something they were taught early on by their families.

They had no thought how critical their preference would be. Fifteen years later, Jon became severely ill and afterwards died of leukemia during age 46.

?My father bought an word process and combined an estate before he had any thought he was sick,? pronounced Caver, 67, of East Liberty, Pa. ?Because of that decision, we never had to work again.?

Just 59 percent of U.S. adults have life insurance, a lowest turn given 1960 and down from 68 percent in 2004, a investigate by dual heading word attention associations, LIMRA International Inc. and a nonprofit Life Foundation, recently found. (Coverage appearance in 1978, when 72 percent of all U.S. adults had insurance, pronounced Catherine Theroux, a mouthpiece for LIMRA.)

African-Americans welcome life word some-more than people of other races and ethnicities, a investigate found. Blacks were some-more expected to possess life word (76 percent) than whites (62 percent) and Hispanics (54 percent).

For families underneath financial highlight and flourishing paycheck to paycheck, life word is a low priority.

African-Americans in ubiquitous fared worse than other secular and racial groups during a recession, that means many black families are underneath even some-more vigour to change life word premiums with other evident day-to-day needs.

Yet, many still seem to make it a priority.

?Our information shows in annoy of a resources opening ? and maybe given of it ? African-Americans have a most some-more certain perspective of life word than whites do,? pronounced Robert Kerzner, boss and CEO of LIMRA, before famous as a Life Insurance and Market Research Association. Based in Windsor, Conn., a tellurian organisation provides investigate to word and financial services companies.

Researchers found a categorical reasons African-Americans sojourn constant to life word branch from a enterprise to equivocate burdening others with wake expenses. Often, life word is a usually means of withdrawal an estate to desired ones.

African-Americans? chronological attribute with a life word attention has been complicated.

Early in a 20th century, black families bought policies famous as ?burial insurance,? sole door-to-door essentially by white word men. Black families? policies usually lonesome wake costs, while white families could compensate reduce premiums and accept some-more life word coverage, according to lawsuits.

Insurance underwriters saw blacks as higher-risk policyholders: some-more disposed to violence, reduction expected to reason solid jobs, some-more expected to have a shorter life camber and lots of children. If they kept a process to a full term, infrequently their premiums were so high they exceeded a genocide benefit.

Several life word companies, including MetLife, Prudential, Liberty Life and about 20 others, were forced to settle race-based claims totaling millions of dollars for policies they to sole black families during this era.

Today, sovereign law prohibits any word association from regulating competition as a criteria for evaluating risk or environment a cost for an particular policy. Underwriters are not even available to know an applicant?s competition for life insurance.

Despite that uneasy history, such policies for years have served as a cornerstone of many black families? domicile financial plans.

Like many of her peers who grew adult in a mid-1960s, Esther Bush, boss of a Urban League of Greater Pittsburgh, remembers her working-class relatives emphasizing a significance of life insurance.

?My mom watched out for aged people and ill family members,? Bush said. ?It wasn?t about either they had income in a bank. The regard was: Do they have life insurance? With a policy, their kids could have something, and a chairman could have a decent burial.

?There was so most informative honour in carrying a decent wake and in a peculiarity of a wake itself. It had to be a church wake with a decent box and good ?going home? music.?

Grace Robinson, an word representative in Pittsburgh for scarcely 3 decades, pronounced life word stays ?a really critical partial of a African-American community.

?In a past, a importance was on burial,? pronounced Robinson, who?s black. ?But now a concentration should also be on resources building and formulating an estate for a children as we pass.?

Subscribe to Detroit News home smoothness and accept a SPECIAL INTRODUCTORY OFFER.

Source: http://lifeinsurancehealth.net/blacks-believe-in-life-insurance/

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Bank of Italy warns on growth as bond sale falters (Reuters)

ROME (Reuters) ? The Bank of Italy warned on Tuesday that government plans to cut debt were at risk from weak growth as a lukewarm bond sale threatened to drag the euro zone's third-biggest economy back to the center of the debt crisis.

Ignazio Visco, deputy director-general of the Italian central bank, said growth was likely to be under 1 percent in 2011 and even weaker in 2012 and warned that market tensions remained high, despite government austerity measures.

"The problems of economic growth are perceived as a strong limit to the ability to rebalance the finances of our country," Visco told a hearing of the Senate budget committee.

Many analysts expect close to zero growth next year, when austerity will bite in a country seen as too big to bail out if issuing bonds to cope with a 1.9 trillion euro debt burden becomes prohibitively expensive.

At the same time, the government's 45.5 billion euro ($65.97 billion) austerity package to balance the budget by 2013 has drawn widespread criticism for a lack of detail and a virtual absence of reforms to improve growth potential.

Visco's remarks came as the European Central Bank returned to the market to buy Italian bonds after an auction of long-term BTPs drew a poor response that sent the spread over 10 year German bonds above the symbolically important 300 basis points.

The 7.74 billion euro bond auction had been seen as a major test of emergency steps taken to stem the spread of the euro zone debt crisis. Market participants say the ECB has focused on Italy with around 43 billion euros worth of debt purchases since it reactivated its bond buying program earlier this month to halt the spread of the crisis to Italy and Spain.

Italy slid dangerously close to a Greek-style meltdown last month as a market selloff sent yields on its 10-year bonds soaring to unsustainable levels of more than 6 percent.

The ECB's recent intervention has calmed immediate fears of a crisis that could overwhelm the euro zone and brought yields back down to just over 5 percent. But Tuesday's weak auction result showed how fragile the situation remains.

Visco said the overall austerity package was consistent with recommendations from the European Central Bank for balancing the budget but the final plan must include measures to help growth in Italy, which has one of the world's most sluggish economies.

UNION ANGER

The austerity package was passed by parliament in record time as the markets crisis raged earlier this month. But the plans have drawn wide criticism and Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has promised changes that are due to be sealed later this month.

However, Italy's record as one of the world's slowest-growing economies over the past decade means that broad skepticism remains over how effective even an amended package will be.

"The continuous changing of the measures is not a good signal because it shows there is division and indecision in the government and it transmits uncertainty to the markets," said Citigroup analyst Giada Giani.

"I don't think they'll get a balanced budget, especially because growth is falling sharply. We forecast the economy will contract by 0.3 percent next year," she said.

The latest amendments scrap key parts of the package, including a so-called "solidarity tax" on high earners and some cuts to local authority funding.

No detail has been given on how the changes would be funded apart from vague promises of a crackdown on tax evasion.

The amendments also put back the retirement age of many workers who will no longer be able to count years spent at university or in compulsory military service, even when they have paid contributions for those years.

Berlusconi, who risked a split with his Northern League coalition partners over the mix of tax hikes and spending cuts, said he was pleased with amendments agreed on Monday, which he said left the overall size of the package unchanged.

However, analysts said a lack of detail and the uncertainty surrounding the package meant markets would remain suspicious of Rome's ability to control public finances, particularly given the funding gap opened up by the latest amendments.

"There is a question mark against how they are going to make the numbers add up now that they have abolished the solidarity tax and reduced the cuts to local government," said UniCredit economist Chiara Corsa.

Visco's call in the Senate for more measures to boost competitiveness and help business reflect concerns about growth expressed by other groups, including Italy's main employers federation, Confindustria.

But his remarks also underlined how hard it will be to control the deficit while encouraging growth.

"Restoring public finances, aimed at balancing the budget by 2013, will slow growth but there are no alternatives," Visco told the Senate committee. "Any other scenario would lead to more traumatic results for our country."

(Additional reporting by Gavin Jones; Editing by Dan Grebler)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110830/bs_nm/us_italy_austerity

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How to Get Started in Archery : Sports and Recreation

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How to Get Started in Archery

Article by Scott Byers

Archery is a great activity that can help you relieve stress and let you enjoy the outdoors. It can even be a form of exercise! There are millions are archers all over the world, and there?s no reason why you can?t join them and enjoy this fine sport.

But how should you go about getting started in archery? Are you worried that it will be too expensive? Maybe you think that it will be hard to learn? Don?t fret, you can get started in archery for fairly little money, and there are plenty of resources available to help you learn the craft.

You won?t need to dedicate hours everyday to practice if you want to become a proficient archer. In fact, you may be able to consistently hit a target with as little as an hour of practice. However, archery some of the more advanced aspects of the sport can take years to master.

First you need to determine what you would like to do with archery. Do you want to just be a recreational shooter, or do you want to use your archery skills to hunt with? There are even archery competitions, if you wanted to get that involved in the sport.

You should locate an archery shop in your area. Preferably a place that focuses only on archery, as opposed to general sporting goods stores, as they will have a deeper understanding of archery and will better be able to assist you. Talk to the staff and try to learn more about archery, so that you can best determine which areas of the sport you would like to pursue. Many archery shops even have indoor ranges, where you can test different types of archery equipment and get a feel for your own style of shooting.

The amount of archery equipment available may be overwhelming at first, but a more experienced archer or store employee should be able to help you choose between the different types of bows, arrows, and accessories. If you are on a low budget, you should know that many archery shops will allow you to rent equipment for very reasonable prices.

You may want to consider joining a local archery club, if there is one in your area. The more experienced members will gladly teach you about archery, and you can make life-long friends as well.

Always remember to be safety-conscious while you are practicing archery. Your backyard may not be the best place to shoot, especially if you live in a more urban area where a poorly aimed arrow could injure someone. You should be able to locate an archery range within a reasonable distance from your house, where you will be able to safely practice and even meet other archers.

I hope you take action and get into the sport of archery. It can be a very rewarding pastime for you and your whole family for years to come.



About the Author

Scott Byers is a contributor to Absolute Archery ? a complete archery resource with article on archery, and archery supplies.

Written by: Dan on August 30, 2011.
Last revised by: Dan
on August 31, 2011.

Posted by Dan on Tuesday, August 30, 2011 at 1:51 pm?
Filed under Archery ? Tagged with Archer, Archery, Archery Competitions, Archery Equipment, Archery Shop, Archery Shops, Archery Skills, Arrows, Bows, Byers, Deeper Understanding, Exercise, Fine Sport, Indoor Ranges, Low Budget, Money, Recreational Shooter, Sporting Goods Stores, Started, Target, Very Reasonable Prices

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