Pakistani court warns premier over graft probe (AP)

ISLAMABAD ? Pakistan's Supreme Court warned on Tuesday it could dismiss the prime minister if he doesn't initiate corruption proceedings against the president, turning the screw further on a weak government already under pressure from the powerful army.

The political turmoil comes as the country is struggling with urgent economic and security challenges.

Earlier Tuesday, at least 30 people were killed when suspected Islamist militants detonated a bomb in a market in the northwest close to the Afghan border, the deadliest such attack in the country for several months.

The conflict with the court has been brewing since 2009, when judges struck down an amnesty protecting President Asif Ali Zardari and hundreds of other politicians from prosecution on graft and other charges, and ordered cases against them reopened. The government has resisted doing this, arguing that the president has immunity from prosecution.

Some independent commentators say the Supreme Court, which in the past has frequently been dragged into political disputes and on three occasions sanctioned military coups, is hostile to the current administration and is working with the army to oust it by "constitutional means."

A five-judge panel accused the government of "willful disobedience" and said "the buck stops" at the office of Prime Minister Yousuf Reza Gilani, who it said was "dishonest." The ruling warned that the court could declare him unfit to hold office and dismiss him if he does not implement its earlier verdicts.

It ordered the attorney general to appear before the court next week to explain the government's foot dragging.

Government lawmaker Babar Awan dismissed the ruling.

"Only the people of Pakistan have the right to decide who is popular and who is unpopular in the country, and who is honest and who is dishonest," he said soon after it was announced.

Zardari is a major beneficiary of the graft amnesty, which was part of a broader U.S.-backed deal to allow his wife, former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto, and her political allies to return to Pakistan in 2007 and take part in elections safe from prosecution on charges they have long maintained were politically motivated.

The Supreme Court has zeroed in on one case that had been taken up by the Swiss government against Zardari that was halted in 2008 under the amnesty. Zardari and Bhutto were found guilty in absentia in a Geneva court in 2003 of laundering millions of Swiss francs. They were handed six-month sentences and fined, but both punishments were automatically suspended upon appeal.

The court has ordered the government to contact Swiss authorities to reopen the case. Swiss prosecutors have told reporters that this would be impossible because Zardari has immunity.

Zardari also has been threatened by another scandal rocking the country's political, legal and media elite surrounding a memo sent to Washington last year seeking its help in reining in the army. The Supreme Court is investigating that note, which some have dubbed "treasonous."

The bomb in the northwest hit vehicles being used by an anti-Taliban militia in the Khyber region, said local security officer Khan Dad Khan. It killed at least 30 people and wounded 51, said local government official Jamil Khan.

The army has supported the formation of anti-Taliban militias in northwest Pakistan, but insurgents have ruthlessly attacked the groups over the last two years. Many of the country's bloodiest bombings have been against militia members or their families.

Shopkeeper Sharif Gul said the blast ignited a huge fire.

"People were burning," he said at a hospital in Peshawar, the main town in the northwest. "There was nothing to put out the fire."

Islamist militants with links to al-Qaida have carried out hundreds of bombings in Pakistan since 2007, killing hundreds of soldiers, police, government officials and civilians.

The Pakistani army has carried out offensives against the militants in their strongholds in tribally administered regions like Khyber, but the insurgents have proven to be a resilient foe. There have been conflicting reports of peace talks between some insurgent factions and the government in recent months.

While the frequency of large-scale attacks outside of the northwest has decreased over the last 18 months, the violence has triggered fears in the West that nuclear-armed Pakistan may be buckling under extremism.

The last major bombing was in September close to the Swat Valley, when a suicide bomber hit a funeral of a tribal elder opposed to the Taliban, killing 31 people.

___

Associated Press writer Riaz Khan contributed to this report from Peshawar.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120110/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan

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New chief of staff a low-key, long-time insider

Jack Lew, the administration's current budget director, listens at left, as President Barack Obama speaks about the resignation of White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington. Obama announced that Lew will replace Daley. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Jack Lew, the administration's current budget director, listens at left, as President Barack Obama speaks about the resignation of White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington. Obama announced that Lew will replace Daley. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Barack Obama shakes hands after announcing the resignation of White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley, right, Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington. Obama announced Jack Lew, left, the administration's current budget director, will replace Daley. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

President Barack Obama embraces Jack Lew, the administration's current budget director, a hug after announcing, Monday, Jan. 9, 2012, in the State Dining Room at the White House in Washington, that Lew will replace White House Chief of Staff Bill Daley. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

(AP) ? Jack Lew is the model Washington insider ? a savvy and cool policy technocrat with roots in Congress and a long and impressive administration resume. He is as low key as Rahm Emanuel, one of his predecessors as White House chief of staff, was high octane.

In choosing Lew to run his White House, President Barack Obama on Monday completed an arc of chiefs-of-staff, from the fiery Emanuel and his grasp of legislative intrigue, to William Daley and his ties to the business community to, now, Lew, a budget specialist with expertise on the inner workings of the executive branch.

Intensely private, Lew is often defined as a "pragmatic liberal," one who embraces core progressive notions about the role of government but understands the need to find bipartisan solutions to control deficits and reduce the national debt.

Those who know him say Lew is slow to get frustrated, a particularly useful trait at a time of high partisanship.

At age 56, Lew's career has placed him at the center of power for three decades. He was a top aide in the 1980s to then-House Speaker Tip O'Neill. His office mate in those days was Chris Matthews, now the colorful and occasionally combative MSNBC host.

Lew was director of the Office of Management and Budget, his current post, back in the Clinton administration, serving from 1998 to early 2001, prompting Obama to praise him as the "only budget director in history to preside over budget surpluses for three consecutive years."

"Over the past year he has helped strengthen our economy and streamline the government at a time when we need to do everything we can to keep our recovery going," Obama said. "Jack's economic advice has been invaluable and he has my complete trust, both because of his mastery of the numbers but because of the values behind those numbers."

Lew is well-regarded by Republicans, though he is likely to be perceived as more of a partisan than Daley, who had a close relationship with the corporate community.

Former Republican Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, who worked with Lew on appropriations and budget matters, called Lew's appointment a "solid choice."

"He's a very professional guy, he's a straight shooter, he's obviously partisan, but he knows his stuff," Gregg said. "He always told you what he thought. He was very straightforward. He has a lot of credibility on the Hill."

With his glasses and stiff, neatly parted dark hair, Lew is the picture of a green-eyeshades numbers cruncher. But his role goes far beyond spreadsheets.

He has had a hand in major policy decisions, from a Social Security deal reached between O'Neill and President Ronald Reagan in 1983 to President Clinton's narrowly approved budget deal in 1997 to the recurrent budget encounters last year with congressional Republicans.

Lew has a home with his wife in a Bronx neighborhood and keeps an apartment in Washington. Both of his children are grown.

He attended Carleton College in Minnesota where his faculty adviser was Paul Wellstone, then a political scientist who would become a Democratic senator from the state. Lew graduated from Harvard in 1978 and received his law degree from Georgetown University in 1983.

After working with O'Neill and in the Clinton administration, Lew returned to New York during the eight years of the Bush administration to work as executive vice president of New York University and then as chief operating officer at Citigroup.

His appointment comes in a presidential re-election year, meaning Obama's time and attention will be increasingly divided between the White House and his campaign operation in Chicago. If Daley represented a period when the Obama administration aimed to conduct more outreach with the business community, Lew's appointment suggests a more inward looking period relying on the skills of a consummate insider deeply familiar with the machinery of government.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-09-Lew-Profile/id-e5026e72a68342f1b20937823d17616b

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China stops unapproved stem cell treatments (Reuters)

BEIJING (Reuters) ? China has ordered a halt to all unapproved stem cell treatments and clinical trials, state media reported on Tuesday, as Beijing seeks to rein in the largely untested stem cell therapies now on offer across the country.

The Ministry of Health has also stopped accepting new applications for stem cell programs, a ban that will last until July and comes as China begins a one-year program to regulate the sector better, Xinhua cited a ministry spokesman as saying.

A growing number of hospitals and specialist clinics in large cities in China have been offering stem cell therapies in recent years for treatment of diseases ranging from cancer and Alzheimer's to spinal cord injuries, treatments that are backed by little or no scientific evidence and which are considered at best experimental.

Some of these involve large general hospitals where patients pay thousands -- or even tens of thousands -- of dollars for treatments that are advertised online.

The ministry spokesman said health providers could no longer charge money for experimental stem cell applications.

According to patients, doctors and relatives of patients who spoke to Reuters earlier, patients have come away with little or no improvement and a number have died. Receipts seen by Reuters indicate that one of these hospitals is run by the Chinese army.

Such treatment involving stem cell therapies is not confined to China.

Experts have raised the alarm about patients turning up at clinics and hospitals in Mexico, India, Turkey, Russia and elsewhere for stem cell therapies that have not undergone clinical trials and which are not recognized as standard treatment.

Last week, the United States' Food and Drug Administration issued a warning about unproven stem cell claims.

China's Ministry of Health was not immediately reachable for comment after the Xinhua report.

(Reporting by Sally Huang and Don Durfee; Editing by Ken Wills and Paul Tait)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/biotech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120110/hl_nm/us_china_health_stem_cell

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Twinkies maker Hostess seeks bankruptcy protection

Hostess Twinkies are shown in a studio photograph, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012 in New York. Twinkies maker Hostess Brands files for Ch. 11 reorganization to deal with high labor costs. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

Hostess Twinkies are shown in a studio photograph, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2012 in New York. Twinkies maker Hostess Brands files for Ch. 11 reorganization to deal with high labor costs. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

(AP) ? The maker of Twinkies, Sno Balls and Wonder Bread is trying to lose the fat.

Hostess Brands is hoping to cut its high costs as it heads back into bankruptcy protection for the second time in less than a decade.

Hostess has enough cash to keep stores stocked with its Ding Dongs, Ho Hos and other snacks for now as it battles rising labor costs and increased competition. But longer term, the 87-year-old company has a bigger problem: health-conscious Americans favor yogurt and energy bars over the dessert cakes and white bread they devoured 30 years ago.

Last year, 36 percent of Americans ate white bread in their homes, down from 54 percent in 2000, according to NPD Group. Meanwhile, about 54 percent ate wheat bread, up from 43 percent in 2000.

Consumption of healthy snacks is growing, too. About 32 percent of Americans ate yogurt at least once in two weeks in 2011, for instance, up from 18 percent in 2000.

"We're less likely to be snacking on items that we shouldn't be snacking on," said Harry Balzer, chief industry analyst for The NPD Group, a consumer marketing research firm.

Hostess, which is a privately held, doesn't disclose sales figures. But Nyeyoka Bryan, 26, is proof that the company has lost at least some of its hardcore fans.

Bryan said she stopped eating Twinkies at about age 16 because she decided they were unhealthy. Still, the student who was sipping a fruit smoothie in the snack aisle of a Duane Reade store in New York on Wednesday afternoon said she'd be sad if Twinkies disappeared.

"They've been around a long time," she said.

To be sure, Hostess' snacks don't neatly fit into the U.S. trend toward a healthier lifestyle that includes a diet rich in whole wheat foods, fruits and vegetables.

For instance, Twinkies, a snack cake with a mysterious cream filling that epitomizes empty calories, has 150 calories and 4.5 grams of fat. Meanwhile, a Ding Dong chocolate cake with filling has 368 calories and 19.4 grams of fat.

Hostess has introduced some healthier options in recent years, including 100-calorie packs of cupcakes and Twinkies. The company also is working on lowering sodium in some products. But those efforts haven't helped the company's junk-food status much.

"The iconic status of Twinkies is partly this perception that there's nothing real in it," said Ken Albala, professor of history at the University of the Pacific, in Stockton, Calif., who specializes in food history. "It's this cake filled with an unidentifiable sugary cream filling that never goes bad."

Hostess has other problems, too.

In Hostess' Chapter 11 filing on Wednesday, the company said its rivals have combined and expanded their reach, heightening competition in the snack space. Hostess' competitors range from Bimbo Bakeries, which makes Entenmann's baked goods, and McKee Foods, which make Little Debbie snack cakes. It also faces competition from larger food makers like Sara Lee and Kraft Inc.

Additionally, Hostess employees are unionized while most of its competitors aren't. As a result, Hostess has high pension and medical benefit costs. The company has 19,000 employees and operates in 48 states.

Hostess did not announce layoffs but spokesman Lance Ignon said Wednesday that the company will make future decisions "in the best interest of the company."

CEO Brian Driscoll said Hostess is working to reach a consensual agreement with its unions to modify its collective bargaining agreements. Hostess also hopes to modernize its systems, fleets and plants to keep pace with customer needs.

"This company has tremendous potential if we can remove the barriers to success," Driscoll said.

The Teamsters Union, which represents about 7,500 of Hostess' delivery drivers and merchandisers, said in a statement on Wednesday that it is also committed to working toward a solution.

The company's filing comes nearly three years after its predecessor emerged from bankruptcy proceedings. That company, called Interstate Bakeries and based in Kansas City, Mo., filed for bankruptcy protection in 2004 and changed its name to Hostess Brands after it emerged in 2009.

Hostess said Wednesday that its previous efforts to change, including the prior Chapter 11, were insufficient. Under its most recent bankruptcy filing, it is looking to restructure into a "strong, competitive" company.

In its filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, Hostess listed about $860 million in debt. The company's biggest unsecured creditor is the Bakery & Confectionary Union & Industry International Pension Fund, which it owes about $944.2 million.

In the filing, Hostess also listed its estimated assets between $500 million and $1 billion and its estimated liabilities at more than $1 billion.

The Irving, Texas-based company said that it will be able to maintain routine operations thanks to a $75 million financing commitment from a group of lenders led by Silver Point Capital LP.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-01-11-Hostess%20Brands-Bankruptcy/id-e182fcd6a01d4f7f9cc5d3f31e44d1f7

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Fresh iPhone Apps for Jan. 9: Shoutz, Scribe, Tongue Tied!, Walkabout Journeys (Appolicious)

Start sharing video updates with your friends with Shoutz, a mobile-based social network getting some brand new content starting this month. It?s leads our Fresh Apps today, followed by Scribe, a no-nonsense text-editor that lets you save straight to the cloud through Dropbox or iTunes. Tongue-Tied! is our first game offer today, which has you controlling a pair of dogs with their tongues tied together, followed by Walkabout Journeys, in which you?ll need to rotate your device to keep the path clear for a group clowns traveling through a crazy world.

Shoutz (iPhone, iPad) Free

Social network Shoutz is all about sharing videos among mobile users. Rather than posting text updates to the Internet as you would on other social networks, Shoutz has users making short videos that they can post to the Internet. You?ll see your friends? videos and they?ll see yours. Then you can comment on each other?s posts.

Shoutz is designed for mobile users to view, so it makes shooting videos easy. It?s also easy to comment quickly, ?Re-Shoutz? with your friends through the network and more. Shoutz also plans to roll out fresh new content in an update this month, and if you sign-up now, you can get updates for when the new content is available.

Scribe (iPhone, iPad) $1.99

Editing text when you?re out in the world can be a really handy function for your iPhone to have, which is why snagging Scribe can be pretty useful. The app is a minimalist text editor designed for the iPhone and iPad, giving you the ability to write text and save it when you need to, without a lot of other functions to get in the way.

Scribe supports both iCloud and Dropbox to let you save your work using an Internet connection, and you can also save files locally. It uses iOS?s cut-and-paste functions to make it easy to do HTML editing, if that?s your thing, and includes useful bits like undo and redo functions, word counts and AirPrint support.

Side-scroller Tongue Tied! has you controlling a pair of dogs with an interesting relationship ? their tongues are tied together. Despite the implications, both canines seem fine with the situation, and even use their elastic tongues to gather bones and work their way through the game?s levels. That?s where you come in. As the two dogs walk the path from one side of the level to the other, you pull one or the other to launch him into the air, using the second dog as an anchor and gathering coins from all over the place.

Tongue Tied! has a cool cartoon art style and atmosphere, giving it the air of the Saturday morning shorts from years gone by, and 50 levels of goofiness to play through. It contains 30 special challenges to up the difficulty, and there?s also Game Center support so you can track how well you manage your tongue-tied dogs as compared to players all over the world.

Another side-scroller with a unique art style, Walkabout Journeys stars a strange group of clowns (apparently) out on a stroll together. Trouble is, the screen tracks forward but the terrain doesn?t always cooperate, which is where you come in. You?ll need to rotate your iOS device in order to open paths forward for the group so they can keep moving. Send them too far back or forward, however, and you?ll lose them, and lose points, too.

Walkabout Journeys has 16 levels that cover each of the seasons and a great look about it. Its gameplay is pretty simple, but different levels can require fast reactions in order to keep your group alive and moving forward. Walkabout Journeys also just picked up a few new Christmas-inspired levels for the holidays, as well.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/appolicious_rss/rss_appolicious_tc/http___www_appolicious_com_articles10698_fresh_iphone_apps_for_jan_9_shoutz_scribe_tongue_tied_walkabout_journeys/44118504/SIG=13ptd3is4/*http%3A//www.appolicious.com/tech/articles/10698-fresh-iphone-apps-for-jan-9-shoutz-scribe-tongue-tied-walkabout-journeys

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1 dead after South Africa university stampede (AP)

JOHANNESBURG ? Women screamed, but the crowd of South Africans desperate for a chance to study kept pushing at the university gate. Tuesday's stampede killed a mother who had accompanied her son to an in-person application day at the Johannesburg campus, and two other people were seriously injured, officials said.

Thousands of young South Africans and their parents had begun gathering at the University of Johannesburg campus on Monday to seek admission. Space was limited ? some 11,000 people were expected to vie for as few as 800 spots ? a symptom of a larger crisis in South African education and perhaps contributing to a sense of desperation Tuesday. Many would-be applicants had only learned they were eligible for further study after getting results from national high school final exams last week, and university classes start next month.

Desmond Mlangu, a prospective student, said he witnessed the "traumatizing" scene, with women screaming and people continuing to push. He said those at the back of the crowd did not seem to realize what was happening at the gate.

Tendai Nembidzane, a final-year business student who is head of the university's student council, said he saw the dead woman's son crouching near her body. Nembidzane said student council members later took the young man to their campus office to be comforted. University of Johannesburg vice chancellor Ihron Rensburg said the young man and others affected by the stampede would be offered counseling.

The trouble erupted shortly before the gate was scheduled to open at 8 a.m. Hours later, shoes and other debris were strewn at the site. People remained in line, still seeking to study.

Roelof Hugo, the university's security chief, said his department would work more closely with police on crowd control to prevent problems like Tuesday's stampede. Rensburg said his staff had been preparing for crowds since the university experienced a similar application surge last year.

"You can do your best," Rensburg said. "But things can go wrong."

Across South Africa, universities are under strain as prospective students seek a better life as professionals in a nation beset by high rates of poverty and unemployment. The government hopes to expand its universities over the next decade.

"It is a systemic problem," Judy Backhouse, an education specialist at Johannesburg's University of the Witwatersrand. "It's insanely difficult to address."

Backhouse said reforms in the early part of the century saw training colleges designed under apartheid for black South Africans absorbed into universities. The goal was to improve the quality of education for blacks, but the result in some cases was that schools in black areas were closed down.

"The initiative was good, but the outcome has been bad," Backhouse said in an interview.

Those at the University of Johannesburg this week were seeking late admission. The late admission process was closed soon after the stampede, three days earlier than originally scheduled. Regular admission closed in June. University officials said between 4,000 and 6,000 people applied before the process was closed.

The university saw overall applications increase by some 20,000 this year over last to more than 85,000 and expects to enroll nearly 49,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students this year.

Rensburg said the crisis was further complicated because many young South Africans who were applying for university places should instead be continuing their studies at vocational colleges and other institutions.

Blade Nzimande, minister of higher education, told reporters after Tuesday's stampede that late applications could be banned. He also said authorities were considering centralizing the application process across the country and would work to provide better counseling and information to help students make education and career choices.

Rensburg's university has four campuses scattered across Johannesburg, including one in Soweto, the famed township set aside under apartheid for blacks and still overwhelmingly black and poor. The university prides itself on creating opportunity, with low fees, some programs more commonly found at technical colleges and a policy of accepting students who might be rejected elsewhere because of low grades. It is one of the few universities in South Africa to accept late applications.

The Union of South African Students said in a statement that government officials should move quickly "to build more universities and introduce free education." The youth wing of the governing African National Congress made a similar call.

Unemployment hovers around 36 percent, but soars to 70 percent among young people.

Sbahle Mbambo,a 17-year-old from Springs, a small town east of Johannesburg, arrived at the university with a blanket Monday morning. She spent the night in line, huddled on the sidewalk outside campus. She left Tuesday afternoon with a promise she would hear by the end of the week whether she had been accepted to a special journalism program that offered students with poor high school grades extra classes to help them catch up. She said the crowds at the University of Johannesburg showed how eager young South Africans were to grasp opportunities apartheid had denied their parents.

"Everyone in this country wants to be educated," she said. "They want to be independent, and to get proper jobs."

____

Online:

Donna Bryson can be reached on http://twitter.com/dbrysonAP

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120110/ap_on_re_af/af_south_africa_university_stampede

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Japan:Clothing brand g.u.to launch flagship store in Tokyo

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Clothing brand g.u.to launch flagship store in Tokyo
January 10, 2012 (Japan)

g.u. Co Ltd announces the March 30, 2012 opening of one of its largest flagship stores in Japan, in Tokyo's Ginza district, with three of its five floors dedicated to the latest in women's fashion. This new store is set to open in a 1,500-sq.-meter retail location that is currently occupied by g.u.'s sister brand, UNIQLO, whose basic, casual clothing is distinct from g.u.'s trendier, more affordable offerings.

The new g.u. Ginza Store will offer fashionable items at low prices, including a kids' clothing line, in the heart of one of the world's premier fashion hubs.

g.u. Ginza Store
Opening : March 30, 2012
Address : 5-7-7 Ginza, Chuo-ku, Tokyo, Japan
Business Hours : 11:00 - 21:00
Sales Floor : Approx. 1,500 sq. meters
First Floor : Women's fashion
Second Floor : Women's fashion
Third Floor : Women's loungewear and lingerie, kids fashion
Fourth Floor : Men's and women's sports
Fifth Floor : Men's fashion

The g.u. brand is ramping up its large-scale store launches as part of its efforts to operate 200 locations in Japan and generate 50 billion yen in sales in the fiscal year ending August 31, 2013. The g.u. flagship store that opened in Shinsaibashi, Osaka in 2010 and another flagship that opened in Ikebukuro, Tokyo in 2011 have significantly raised g.u.'s brand recognition while steadily increasing its customer base, especially among younger Japanese consumers.

The g.u. Ginza Store, the brand's third flagship, will offer high-quality products, superb customer service and cutting-edge visual merchandising to showcase the best of g.u. in one of its largest sales spaces in Japan.

The Ginza district's widespread appeal to both Japanese and non-Japanese shoppers will also provide g.u. with greater global exposure than ever before, setting the stage for the brand's future international expansion, just as the same retail location in Ginza has already done for the UNIQLO brand.


  • Pacific Brands considers acquisition proposal, January?10,?2012
  • Clothing brand - Blue Mount to expand retail footprint, January?10,?2012
  • Two-level Nordstrom Rack to open in Tysons Corner, January?10,?2012
  • Genesco raises fourth quarter earnings outlook, January?10,?2012
  • Vietnam?s Garco 10 to boost exports in 2012, January?10,?2012

Source: http://www.fibre2fashion.com/news/apparel-news/newsdetails.aspx?news_id=107064

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Katie Campbell: Top 5 New Year's Resolutions and How to Keep Them

First, I must address a peeve. New Year's Resolution (yes, I just made that a proper noun; surely that will peeve someone else), not New Years Resolution, which garners nearly 9 million Google search results. Now, I'll set the scene for you:

You had your champagne ready, your tie, hemline or sweatpants were smoothed out and you were ready to toast to the new year. All, you needed was for that ball to drop, but then someone asked you the dreaded question: "What's your New Year's Resolution?" You thought, Resolution? I'm not making any resolutions, they're ridiculous. You said, "Get in shape. Eat better. Be nice to people. Volunteer!" You lied and you know it. But it's too late! The words were said and now you must resolve to commit or not commit.

If you were cornered into making a hasty decision and defaulted to one of the five most common New Year's Resolutions, consider these tips that will help you succeed, where the rest of the population fails:

Get in Shape

2012-01-04-5076462967_27770f3645.jpgGet ready for the ads for reduced gym membership rates featuring ripped torsos oddly drenched in sweat and the friendly salespeople in polo shirts at your sporting goods store. They're there to sell you your new body, and obviously a treadmill is the answer. Not.

Going to the gym to get in shape takes motivation and dedication. So if you're going to buy a membership, and you don't have those things, forcibly commit yourself to lessons with a trainer. This will get you going and give you the guidance you need to find true success in the gym.

If sweaty mats and strangers staring at you (which they aren't doing) gives you the heebie-jeebies and you're considering the home gym route, test your commitment before testing new equipment. If you're thinking treadmill, try a walk around your neighborhood or if it's too chilly, try walking laps around your local mall. Thinking stair climber, find some free stairs and climb them. Once you've committed, start shopping and consider if it's worth the expense. For help, check out Bestcovery.com's treadmill reviews with top choices in every category.

Eat Right


2012-01-04-6309752576_76214657ee.jpgEating right is something we should all do, but rather than jumping into a full-blown "diet," try eating better. Fast food is certainly not healthy, but does become a sustenance crutch for some. If you find yourself in the drive-through lane, make a better choice. McDonald's Premium Crispy Chicken Classic Sandwich has 510 calories and 22 grams of fat. However, by having it grilled, the calorie count drops to 350 with nine grams of fat. Eating right means making drastic changes for some, but starting with small changes will prove more effective in the long run.

Now if you really want to eat better, it's no secret that your kitchen is a better place to go than the fat fryer. In CNN Health's article, "A Family's Guide to Healthy Food Substitutes," Dr. Alan Greene suggests swapping refined grains for whole grains, solid fats for oils, sugary drinks for flavored water and conventional beef for grass-fed organic beef. Dr. Greene says a minimum of 50 percent of the grains we eat should be whole grains and that only 5 percent of Americans hit this target. To help improve this statistic, and achieve your Resolution, opt for whole grain breads, bagels, pastas and cereals. Remember to read the labels and don't fall for "refined wheat flour" because it's just brown-colored white bread.

Save Money

2012-01-04-5737823348_3377213de5.jpgWe all want to save money and if you're like me, you'd like everyone to stop saying, "especially in these hard economic times." So with that said, how do you do it?

Start small. You don't have to be an "extreme couponer" to save money at the grocery store, but keep an eye out for coupons on items you're buying anyway, and don't forget to take advantage of your supermarket's club card discounts. A tip a checkout clerk gave my mother was to take her club savings, and put them in a jar. She did, and the yearly savings helped pay for a family vacation. You could also track your grocery budget and other spending with an online money management website.

Another easy way to save is to set up your checking account to automatically transfer a small amount into a savings account each month. For many banks, this simple transfer can help offset banking fees. If you choose to save $25 a month, that's $300 by the time you're coming up with resolutions to break next year. If you're looking to save a little more, check out Business Insider's article, "The Essential Bill-By-Bill Guide to Saving Money on Monthly Expenses."

Quit Smoking

2012-01-04-901955540_0546b3ce34.jpgThere's a good chance you came up with this one while freezing your fingers off and you've probably said it all year long while cocking your head to the side and saying "I know I should..." Like with everything on this list, start small and achieve big. If you're a pack-a-day smoker, leave one in the pack. When you stop being angry about that, leave two. Sure it's hard, but the payoff is undeniable and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have gathered a ton of "how to quit" resources to help.

Two birds, one stone? Not only will quitting improve your health, it will also save you money. With the costs of cigarettes and the tax placed on them rising, save the money you'd normally spend buying them and use it at the end of the year to do something rewarding. For additional tips on how to quit smoking, lung cancer and news surrounding these issues, visit the American Lung Association.

Volunteer

2012-01-04-4888264692_ab0f33f97d.jpgYou don't want to commit to a self-gratifying claim when the New Year's Resolution pressure is on, so what better way to make yourself look good then by blurting out that you're going to volunteer? Well, what better to do with some of your time than to actually volunteer? Whether it's for a singular event or an extended commitment, volunteering is a great way to learn new things and get involved in your community.

VolunteerMatch.org is a site that helps people find volunteer opportunities in their area based on their interests. You can also check out Volunteers of America and Volunteering in America for additional information about opportunities and ways to get involved. It's important to find something you enjoy doing. If you love animals, check your local shelters to see if they take volunteers. If you love being around people, look into nursing homes, missions, soup kitchens and libraries to see if they need assistance with their regular programs.

Whatever you decisively or accidentally blurt out as your New Year's Resolution this year, stick to it. With a few small steps, and more than half a thought, your Resolution can be successful. If you're still looking for your New Year's Resolution, consider doing something in 2012 that you've always wanted to do. It could be as small as going to a restaurant you've never been to or as grand as traveling to another country. Whatever you choose, set a realistic goal and make it happen. And, if you don't and the Mayan calendar extremists' predictions come true, it won't matter because we won't be here.

For more by Katie Campbell, click here.

For more on healthy new year, click here.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/katie-campbell/new-years-resolutions_b_1177167.html

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Hundreds of commuters delayed at Union Station during evening rush

Tribune reporter

8:27 p.m. CST, January 9, 2012

Hundreds of commuters were stuck at Union Station during the evening rush after signal problems jammed up several outbound and inbound trains, officials said.

Trains were delayed as much as 50 minutes, mainly on the Burlington Northern Sante Fe and SouthWest Service lines, according to Metra?s website.

?It?s next to impossible to get through,?? said a commuter trying to board a train for Western Springs. ?Hundreds of commuters are crammed in walkways and in loading areas.??

Other commuters complained of incorrect information on schedule boards and unintelligible announcements over the public address system.

But they said the crowds remained generally calm.

?They were good natured and well behaved,?? a commuter said. ?There was some pushing but no fighting.??

A Metra spokesman did not details of what caused the delays, other than to say there were switching and signaling problems.

rsobol@tribune.com

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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ChicagoBreakingNews/~3/zMf4xFZ48Zw/chi-delays-at-union-station-reportedly-affect-hundreds-of-commuters-20120109,0,4922591.story

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