Dentist who used paper clips gets year in jail

FALL RIVER, Mass. (AP) ? A former Massachusetts dentist was sentenced to one year in jail Monday for using paper clips instead of stainless steel posts in root canals.

Dr. Michael Clair pleaded guilty earlier this month to a list of charges, including assault and battery, defrauding Medicaid of $130,000, illegally prescribing medications and witness intimidation.

Prosecutors said Clair sometimes used sections of paper clips when performing root canals in an effort to save money. Some of his patients reported infections and other problems.

Brenda Almeida said her teenage son's tooth turned black and had to be removed after Clair performed a root canal on him in 2005. She said Clair also performed shoddy dental work on her other two children.

Almeida, who watched Clair get sentenced in Fall River Superior Court Monday, said she was angry about what she considers to be a light sentence.

"He put my kids in pain for months ... I hope he rots there," she said after Judge Richard Moses sentenced Clair to a year in the Bristol County House of Correction.

Prosecutors, who asked for a sentence of five to seven years, declined to comment immediately after the sentence was imposed.

Clair, who had a dental practice in Fall River, now lives in Crofton, Md.

The judge said he considered Clair's acceptance of responsibility, lack of a criminal record and "certain mental health issues" Clair is dealing with in deciding on the one-year sentence. He did not give any specifics on the mental health issues.

Clair's lawyer, John Dingee, declined to comment.

Moses granted a request from prosecutors to order Clair to stay away from his victims and seven people who worked in his office. Assistant Attorney General Toby Unger said Clair's former staff members "have expressed concern for their safety," but did not elaborate.

Moses sentenced Clair to 2? years, with all but one year suspended, followed by five years of probation.

Clair did not speak during the sentencing, except to thank the judge.

"Thank you, your honor, for your consideration," he said.

Clair's license to practice dentistry was suspended in Massachusetts in 2006. A spokesman for Attorney General Martha Coakley said Clair is no longer licensed to practice dentistry in any state.

Prosecutors said Clair was suspended by Medicaid in 2002, but continued to file claims from August 2003 to June 2005 by using the names of other dentists in his practice.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/apdefault/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-30-Paper%20Clips-Dentist/id-deaa8bd3dd2b4f11bd5fbb22e71e6f9d

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France's Juppe to push Arab League plan at U.N. (Reuters)

PARIS (Reuters) ? France's Foreign Minister Alain Juppe will address the U.N. Security Council in New York on Tuesday in an effort to push through an Arab-backed resolution for political change in Syria.

"The minister will be in New York on Tuesday to convince the Security Council to meet its responsibilities as the crimes against humanity committed by the regime get worse," Foreign Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said on Monday.

Arab League chief Nabil Elaraby left for New York on Sunday where he will brief representatives of the Security Council on Tuesday, seeking support for the Arab peace plan, which calls for President Bashar al-Assad to step down.

France and Britain crafted the resolution in consultation with Qatar and Morocco, as well as Germany, Portugal and the United States. It is intended to supersede a Russian draft that Western delegations say is too accommodating to Assad and also no longer relevant in light of the recent Arab League proposals.

Veto-holding Russia, which said last week that parts of the Western-Arab draft resolution were unacceptable, said on Monday it wanted the Council to hear directly from the Arab League's observer mission in Syria before discussing any resolutions.

The French-backed draft resolution, obtained by Reuters, calls for a "political transition" in Syria. While not calling for U.N. sanctions against Damascus, it does say that the Security Council could "adopt further measures" if Syria does not comply with the terms of the resolution.

"It is time the Security Council acts to find a solution to this crisis," Valero said in a daily briefing to reporters.

France has been prominent in Western efforts to try to force Assad to end a crackdown on protests and has suggested a need to set up zones to protect civilians - the first proposal by a Western power for outside intervention on the ground.

Escalating bloodshed prompted the Arab League to suspend the work of its monitoring mission on Saturday. Arab foreign ministers, who have urged Assad to make way for a government of national unity, will discuss the crisis on February 5.

"The situation in Syria is appalling and is just getting worse," Valero said. "Everything must be done to put an end to the spiral of violence that has led to the bloody repression which we've seen for the last 10 months."

Juppe made a similar address in March to the 15-nation council when he urged it to adopt a resolution that would authorize a no-fly zone against Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. The resolution passed, with Russia and China abstaining, and within two days NATO air forces were bombing Libya.

Given Russian and Chinese objections now, and Syria's position, unlike Libya, at the heart of Middle East power politics, such an intervention seems unlikely as yet.

(Reporting By John Irish; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/un/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120130/wl_nm/us_france_syria

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Weaker banks, commodities drag Britain's FTSE lower (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? Weakness in banks and commodity stocks dragged Britain's leading share index lower on Monday as the protracted search for a Greek bond deal and concerns about economic growth kept investors nervous.

The FTSE 100 (.FTSE) index closed down 62.36 points, or 1.1 percent, at 5,671.09, extending Friday's falls and retreating further from Thursday's six-month closing high.

The FTSE volatility index (.VFTSE) was also active, up over 10 percent, its biggest daily percentage rise in a month and signaling an increase in risk aversion.

Banks (.FTNMX8350) were the biggest blue-chip casualties, hit by concerns that extra liquidity injections from central banks had not addressed the sector's fundamental problems.

Credit Suisse reduced its recommendation on the European Banking sector to "underweight" as it said the direct earnings impact of the European Central Bank's (ECB) late-December splurge of cheap, long-term cash for the banks appeared to be over-estimated.

Barclays (BARC.L) was the UK sector's biggest faller, down 4.2 percent, while Lloyds Banking Group (LLOY.L) shed 4.1 percent, and Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) fell 3.5 percent.

EU leaders met in Brussels on Monday, the first summit of 2012, to sign off a permanent rescue fund for the euro zone -- Britain's biggest trading partner -- though the meeting was overshadowed by the unresolved Greek debt problems.

To avoid a chaotic default, which could have grave ramifications for sentiment and financial systems across the globe, Greece must secure a deal with its private bond holders and persuade international lenders it is serious about reforms in order to secure much-needed cash.

Fresh tensions between Greece and the euro zone's biggest economy Germany over the weekend regarding the debt bail-out terms also knocked sentiment.

"This isn't the first time Greece has shown resistance to accepting certain EU bailout terms and conditions, and given their weak position they may need to concede again, otherwise risk defaulting on the debt repayments due in March," said Jordan Lambert, Trader at Spreadex.

U.S. blue chips (.DJI) were down 0.6 percent by London's close, also suffering on concerns over the Greek debt situation, and after further dull U.S. economic data.

U.S. consumer spending was flat in December as households took advantage of the largest rise in income in nine months to boost their savings, setting the tone for a slowdown in demand early in 2012.

COMMODITIES DIP

Weakness in commodity issues also weighed on blue chips in London, with a retreat in crude knocking the integrated oils (.FTNMX0530) as an expected Iranian vote to suspend crude exports to Europe was postponed, easing supply concerns.

Miners (.FTNMX1770) also moved lower in tandem with weaker metal prices, as softer-than-expected U.S. economic data fuelled concerns about demand levels.

Defensive stocks dominated on the short list of blue chip gainers, led by drugmakers, with AstraZeneca (AZN.L) and GlaxoSmithKline (GSK.L) up 0.6 percent and 0.5 percent.

AstraZeneca will post fourth-quarter results on Thursday.

Utilities were in demand, with energy generator International Power (IPR.L) up 0.6 percent, and power distributor National Grid (NG.L) ahead 0.5 percent. Both firms are due to issue trading updates later this week.

And chip designer ARM Holdings (ARM.L) gained 0.3 percent, with its fourth-quarter results due tomorrow.

(Reporting by Jon Hopkins; Editing by Will Waterman)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120130/bs_nm/us_markets_britain_stocks

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Former rival Cain endorses Gingrich for president (reuters)

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Guest lineups for the Sunday news shows (omg!)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Guest lineups for the Sunday TV news shows:

ABC's "This Week" ? 2012 GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich; House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio.

___

NBC's "Meet the Press" ? 2012 GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum; David Axelrod, political adviser to President Barack Obama's re-election campaign; Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.; former Sen. Fred Thompson, R-Tenn.

___

CBS' "Face the Nation" ? Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee; Florida Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, head of the Democratic National Committee; Rep. Michele Bachmann, R-Minn.; Donald Trump; Reps. Allen West and Mario Diaz-Balart, R-Fla.

___

CNN's "State of the Union" ? 2012 GOP presidential candidate Ron Paul; Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky.; Gov. Rick Scott, R-Fla.; Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; former Commerce Secretary Carlos Guttierez.

___

"Fox News Sunday" ? Gingrich; Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_guest_lineups_sunday_news_shows141409024/44335571/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/guest-lineups-sunday-news-shows-141409024.html

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NASA sees a weakening Cyclone Funso's 'closed eye'

ScienceDaily (Jan. 27, 2012) ? Powerful Cyclone Funso's eye has been clear in NASA satellite imagery over the last several days until NASA's Aqua satellite noticed it had "closed" and become filled with high clouds on January 27.

NASA's Aqua satellite passed over Tropical Cyclone Funso on January 27 at 0730 UTC (2:30 a.m. EST). The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument captured a true color image of the storm that showed Funso's eye has now filled with clouds and appears ragged. Despite being filled with high clouds, the eye appears on multi-spectral satellite imagery to be 30 miles (48.3 km) in diameter. The MODIS image showed that Funso was moving south past the southern end of Madagascar to the east.

The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite had a good view of powerful tropical cyclone Funso on January 26, 2012 at 1341 UTC (8:41 a.m. EST). TRMM data showed that Funso had moderate to heavy rainfall around the center and in bands of thunderstorms north of the center of circulation. The heavy rain was falling at a rate of 2 inches (50 mm) per hour.

On January 27 at 0900 UTC (4 a.m. EST), Funso's maximum sustained winds were near 105 knots (120.8 mph/194.5 kph). The storm was over 440 miles (708 km) in diameter as it moved south-southeast at 4 knots (4.6 mph/7.4 kph) through the southern end of the Mozambique Channel. Funso's center was located about 385 nautical (443 miles/713 km) miles east of Maputo, Mozambique, near 25.9 South and 39.7 East.

Funso is weakening more as it moves to the south-southeast and will encounter stronger wind shear and cooler waters, both of which will sap the energy from the cyclone more quickly. Funso is expected to become extra-tropical over the weekend of January 28 and 29, 2012 in the open waters of the Southern Indian Ocean.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. The original article was written by Rob Gutro.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/IYrZoJ92V3k/120127174844.htm

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Russian Rocket Fleet Grounded Again

Nope. Sorry, I know far too many people at NASA for that to remotely ring true.

However, Space flight is very dangerous, requires high label of engineering and maintenance, and is risky not jsut to the crew, but to everyone who wants to get to space. So there are a lot of details and NASA, being the experts, know what companies need to do. Companies OTOH get all pissy when they find out going to space is in no way like flying a plane and need to be held to a high standard, just like NASA.

NASA has nothing to gain by limiting private companies. Being able to rational remove themselves from low orbit bus trips is something they would like see happen.

Congress did NOTHING to help them move to a new launch vehicle. NASA originally didn't want a shuttle, they wanted specialized ships. One for people, and one for Cargo. Had congress allowed for that, we would have a more robust commercial launch system...probably.

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/HZEu1U0yGKg/russian-rocket-fleet-grounded-again

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Huck: "I Didn't Approve That Message" (TIME)

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Prevalence of oral HPV infection higher among men than women

Thursday, January 26, 2012

The overall prevalence of oral human papillomavirus (HPV) infection is approximately 7 percent among men and women ages 14 to 69 years in the United States, while the prevalence among men is higher than among women, according to a study appearing in JAMA. The study is being released early online to coincide with its presentation at the Multidisciplinary Head and Neck Cancer Symposium.

"Oral HPV infection is the cause of a subset of oropharyngeal [relating to the mouth and pharynx] squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC). Human papillomavirus?positive OSCC are associated with sexual behavior in contrast to HPV-negative OSCC that are associated with chronic tobacco and alcohol use. At least 90 percent of HPV-positive OSCC are caused by high-risk (or oncogenic) HPV type 16 (HPV-16), and oral infection confers an approximate 50-fold increase in risk for HPV-positive OSCC. The incidence of OSCC has significantly increased over the last 3 decades in several countries, and HPV has been directly implicated as the underlying cause," according to background information in the article. "Although oral HPV infection is the cause of a cancer that is increasing in incidence in the United States, little is known regarding the epidemiology of infection."

Maura L. Gillison, M.D., Ph.D., of the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbus, and colleagues examined the prevalence of oral HPV infection in the United States. The researchers used data from a cross-sectional study as part of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2009-2010, a statistically representative sample of the U.S. population. Men and women ages 14 to 69 years examined at mobile examination centers were eligible. Participants (n = 5,579) provided a 30-second oral rinse and gargle with mouthwash. For detection of HPV types, DNA purified from oral exfoliated cells was evaluated via testing methods.

The researchers found that the overall prevalence of oral HPV infection was 6.9 percent, and the most prevalent HPV type detected was HPV-16 (1.0 percent). The prevalence of oral HPV infection had peaks in different age ranges, with a first peak in prevalence observed among those 30 to 34 years of age (7.3 percent) and a second, higher peak among those ages 60 to 64 years (11.4 percent). Men had a significantly higher prevalence than women for overall oral HPV infection (10.1 percent vs. 3.6 percent). Prevalence of HPV was higher among current smokers and heavy alcohol drinkers and among former and current marijuana users.

The authors also found that oral HPV prevalence was associated with several measures of sexual behavior, including higher prevalence among individuals who reported ever having had sex vs. not (7.5 percent vs. 0.9 percent). Prevalence of HPV increased with lifetime or recent number of partners for any kind of sex, vaginal sex, or oral sex.

In analysis inclusive of individuals 14 to 69 years of age, factors independently associated with prevalent oral HPV included age, sex, lifetime number of sexual partners, and current number of cigarettes smoked per day.

The researchers write that their data provide evidence that oral HPV infection is predominantly sexually transmitted. "Taken together, these data indicate that transmission by casual, nonsexual contact is likely to be unusual."

"Our results have important research as well as public health implications. Natural history studies of cervical HPV infection were essential for the development of public health interventions, such as HPV vaccination to prevent and HPV detection to screen for cervical cancer," they write. "Natural history studies of oral HPV infection are therefore necessary to understand the effects of age, sex, and modifiable risk factors (e.g., smoking and sexual behavior) on the incidence and duration of oral HPV infection."

"Vaccine efficacy against oral HPV infection is unknown, and therefore vaccination cannot currently be recommended for the primary prevention of oropharyngeal cancer. Given an analysis of U.S. cancer registry data recently projected that the number of HPV-positive oropharyngeal cancers diagnosed each year will surpass that of invasive cervical cancers by the year 2020, perhaps such vaccine trials are warranted. Such trials could inform ongoing discussions regarding the benefits of HPV vaccination for males, given the higher prevalence of oral HPV infection demonstrated here as well as higher incidence of HPV-positive OSCC among men," the authors conclude.

(JAMA. 2012;307[7]doi:10.1001/JAMA.2012.101.

###

JAMA and Archives Journals: http://www.jamamedia.org

Thanks to JAMA and Archives Journals for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Source: http://www.labspaces.net/117091/Prevalence_of_oral_HPV_infection_higher_among_men_than_women

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Palestinian leader: Talks with Israel over

RAMALLAH, West Bank?? A low-level dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians about a future border has ended without any breakthrough, the Palestinian president said Wednesday, reflecting the impasse plaguing the negotiations for at least three years.

President Mahmoud Abbas said he would consult with Arab allies next week to figure out how to proceed now. While frustrated with the lack of progress, Abbas is under pressure to extend the Jordanian-mediated exploratory talks, which the international community hopes will lead to a resumption of long-stalled formal negotiations on establishing a Palestinian state.

Israel said Wednesday it's willing to continue the dialogue. Abbas didn't close the door to continued meetings, saying he'll decide after consultations with the Arab League on Feb. 4.

A Palestinian walkout could cost Abbas international sympathy at a time when he seeks global recognition of a state of Palestine in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, the territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

The gaps between the leaders are vast, and Abbas believes there is no point in returning to formal negotiations without assurances, such as marking the pre-1967 war lines as a basis for border talks and halting Israeli settlement building on occupied lands. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says everything should be discussed in negotiations and insists he is serious about reaching a deal by year's end.

Though there have been talks off and on, the last substantive round was in late 2008, when Israel informally proposed a deal and the Palestinians did not respond. When Netanyahu took office the next year, he took the proposal, including a state in most of the territories the Palestinians claim, off the table.

A round started in late 2010 by President Barack Obama quickly sputtered over the settlement issue.

Visiting EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is scheduled to meet separately over the next two days with Abbas and Netanyahu to try to salvage the exploratory talks. Two officials involved in the contacts said she is trying to put together a package of Israeli incentives that would keep the Palestinians from walking away.

"We need to keep talks going and increase the potential of these talks to become genuine negotiations," Ashton said.

Under Jordanian mediation, Israeli and Palestinian envoys have met several times over the past month, including on Wednesday. The Quartet of international mediators ? the U.S., the U.N., the EU and Russia ? said last fall that it expected both sides to submit detailed proposals on borders and security arrangements in these meetings.

Palestinian officials said they submitted their proposals, but that Israel did not. Abbas suggested that exploratory talks could continue if Israel presented a detailed border plan.

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"If we demarcate the borders, we can return to negotiations, but Israel does not want to do that," Abbas said Wednesday, after talks in Jordan with Jordan's King Abdullah II. His remarks were carried by the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The Palestinians are flexible on security arrangements, but would object to any Israeli presence in a Palestinian state, he said.

Netanyahu has said he would not give up east Jerusalem, the Palestinians' hoped-for capital, but has never outlined where he would draw a border.

Such a demarcation could set off a political firestorm in his governing coalition, particular among pro-settler parties, because it would spell out how many settlements would have to be dismantled at a minimum.

In the exploratory talks, Israel submitted a list of 21 issues that would need to be discussed, but didn't present positions.

The Palestinians have accused Netanyahu ? a reluctant latecomer to the idea of Palestinian statehood ? of seeking negotiations as a diplomatic shield, with no real intention of reaching an agreement.

An Israeli government official said Israel is committed to reaching a full accord before the end of the year. "We hope that the Palestinians aren't looking for an excuse to walk away from the table," the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters.

The two sides even disagree on how much time was set aside for these talks. The Palestinians said the deadline is Thursday, or three months after the Quartet issued its marching orders, while Israel believes it has until early April, or three months after the start of meetings.

In other developments Wednesday, the Geneva-based Interparliamentary Union protested the arrest of Hamas lawmakers by Israel in recent days. Five legislators have been arrested since last week, including Speaker Abdel Aziz Dwaik. The IPU, which represents 159 parliaments worldwide, said it is "extremely concerned" and demanded that the lawmakers be released.

Currently, 24 of 45 Hamas legislators from the West Bank are in Israeli detention on charges of membership in an illegal organization. Hamas lawmakers have been subject to arrest by Israel since the group defeated Abbas' Fatah movement in the 2006 parliament election.

Hamas alleged that the arrests are meant to sabotage presidential and parliamentary elections, tentatively set for late spring. Hamas has said it would only participate in elections if its candidates are safe from arrest by Israel.

Israel says the arrests are not politically motivated.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46128396/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/

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[OOC] Group 2 intro: Lucas and Mariah

Forum rules
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Forum for completely Out of Character (OOC) discussion, based around whatever is happening In Character (IC). Discuss plans, storylines, and events; Recruit for your roleplaying game, or find a GM for your playergroup.
This group will be starting in Longmont, Colorado -- South of Fort Collins on 287.

Places of Interest:
- Hamms Nature Area
- Izaak Walton Park
- McIntosh Park and Lake
- Union Resevoir
- Golden Ponds
- Vance Brand Airport
- Garden Acres Park
- Clark Centennial Park
- Numerous Grocers (Simply Bulk Market, AB Supermarket, Flavor of India, Safeway, 7-Eleven, Dollar Store, Loaf 'N Jug, Natural Grocers, Robin Chocolates, Pantry Market, etc.)
- Numerous Pharmacies (Walgreens, The Medicine Shoppe, Safeway, Good Day Pharmacy, King Soopers, Associated Pharmacists)
- Numerous Sporting Goods (Dick's Sporting Goods, WTW Corp, Grand Shelters Inc)
- Numerous medical clinics

Environment:
The estimated population of Longmont, CO is 71,093
Longmont is highly urban, influenced by its proximity to the Boulder metro area.
Vegetation is sparse, due to the development of homes, but carefully tended parks provide a lush atmosphere.
Once you exit Longmont, the population becomes much less dense and developed.

~*Do not frown, you never know who is falling in love with your smile*~

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Facebook Engineers Built A Way Better Version ... - Business Insider

A bunch of Facebook engineers ? along with engineers from Twitter and MySpace ? just admonished Google to "focus on the user" and "don't be evil."

Earlier this month, Google launched an optional feature called "Search plus your world." It integrates personalized content from social networks into Google search results.

Only, search plus your world doesn't include any content from Twitter, Facebook, or MySpace ? the biggest social networks out there.

It does, however, include lots of content from Google's social network, Google Plus.

Some engineers at Twitter, Facebook, and MySpace think this is unfair to users ? and to demonstrate why, they've created a modified version of Google, which you can access on a site called Focusontheuser.org.

The site reads:

"How much better would social search be if Google surfaced results from all across the web? The results speak for themselves. We created a tool that uses Google?s own relevance measure?the ranking of their organic search results?to determine what social content should appear in the?areas where Google+ results are currently hardcoded."

It's unclear whether or not this site is officially the work Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace, the companies, or just something put out by a bunch of their employees. In an FAQ, the product is said to be "a?proof of concept built by some engineers at Facebook, Twitter and MySpace and in consultation with several other social networking companies."

We learned about this site when Facebook engineer Blake Ross tweeted about it.

A telling detail: to use the product, you have to install a bookmarklet labeled "Don't Be Evil."

FocusOnTheUser.org will inevitably raise uncomfortable antitrust questions for Google. Is it using its search market share dominance to unfairly promote its own social products? Is that different than the kind of product "bundling" that got Microsoft?

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/facebook-twitter-and-myspace-engineers-build-a-tool-to-show-how-googles-social-search-should-work-2012-1

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Mysterious monkey re-discovered in Borneo

Public release date: 20-Jan-2012
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Contact: Dixon Tam
dixont@sfu.ca
778-782-8742
Simon Fraser University

Simon Fraser University PhD student Brent Loken was hoping to capture images of the elusive Bornean clouded leopard when he set up a camera trap in the rainforest. Instead, he made the re-discovery of a lifetime.

Reviewing time-lapse photos taken at a mineral lick in the Wehea Forest of East Kalimantan last June, he and his fellow researchers were stunned to see an animal they didn't recognize. The pictures showed Miller's grizzled langur, one of the rarest and least-known primates on the island of Borneo, and also a species many suggested was extinct or on the verge of extinction.

"It was a challenge to confirm our finding as there are so few pictures of this monkey available for study," says Loken, who is in SFU's resource and environmental management program. "The only description of Miller's grizzled langur came from museum specimens. Our photographs from Wehea are some of the only pictures that we have of this monkey."

Loken's work is featured in a paper being published online this week in the American Journal of Primatology (print version, March 2012).

A former secondary-school principal and science teacher, Loken holds both Trudeau and Vanier scholarships. He spends up to six months each year in Borneo where he runs Ethical Expeditions, a non-profit organization he co-founded to help the indigenous Wehea Dayak people fight back against deforestation. The island has lost 65 per cent of its rainforest, largely due to palm oil plantations and coal mines.

"Finding Miller's grizzled langur in a forest outside of its known geographic range highlights how much we don't know about even the basic ecology of this monkey," says Loken. "We need more scientists doing research in Borneo to help us learn about understudied species such as Miller's grizzled langur and clouded leopards. The rapid degradation of Borneo's forests makes it difficult to learn about and adopt conservation strategies in time to protect species."

Loken's camera traps were part of a larger biodiversity study he organized in collaboration with the local Wehea Dayak community to investigate the diversity and abundance of animals that were living in this remote forest.

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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.

Public release date: 20-Jan-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Dixon Tam
dixont@sfu.ca
778-782-8742
Simon Fraser University

Simon Fraser University PhD student Brent Loken was hoping to capture images of the elusive Bornean clouded leopard when he set up a camera trap in the rainforest. Instead, he made the re-discovery of a lifetime.

Reviewing time-lapse photos taken at a mineral lick in the Wehea Forest of East Kalimantan last June, he and his fellow researchers were stunned to see an animal they didn't recognize. The pictures showed Miller's grizzled langur, one of the rarest and least-known primates on the island of Borneo, and also a species many suggested was extinct or on the verge of extinction.

"It was a challenge to confirm our finding as there are so few pictures of this monkey available for study," says Loken, who is in SFU's resource and environmental management program. "The only description of Miller's grizzled langur came from museum specimens. Our photographs from Wehea are some of the only pictures that we have of this monkey."

Loken's work is featured in a paper being published online this week in the American Journal of Primatology (print version, March 2012).

A former secondary-school principal and science teacher, Loken holds both Trudeau and Vanier scholarships. He spends up to six months each year in Borneo where he runs Ethical Expeditions, a non-profit organization he co-founded to help the indigenous Wehea Dayak people fight back against deforestation. The island has lost 65 per cent of its rainforest, largely due to palm oil plantations and coal mines.

"Finding Miller's grizzled langur in a forest outside of its known geographic range highlights how much we don't know about even the basic ecology of this monkey," says Loken. "We need more scientists doing research in Borneo to help us learn about understudied species such as Miller's grizzled langur and clouded leopards. The rapid degradation of Borneo's forests makes it difficult to learn about and adopt conservation strategies in time to protect species."

Loken's camera traps were part of a larger biodiversity study he organized in collaboration with the local Wehea Dayak community to investigate the diversity and abundance of animals that were living in this remote forest.

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

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.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-01/sfu-mmr012012.php

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Cuba set to explore offshore as oil rig arrives (AP)

HAVANA ? A huge drilling rig arrived Thursday in the warm Gulf waters north of Havana, where it will sink an exploratory well deep into the seabed, launching Cuba's dreams of striking it rich with offshore oil.

The Scarabeo-9 platform was visible from Havana's sea wall far off on the hazy horizon as it chugged westward toward its final drill site about 30 miles (50 kilometers) from the capital, and 60 miles (90 kilometers) south of Key West.

Spanish oil company Repsol RPF, which is leasing the rig for about a half-million dollars a day, said it expects to begin drilling within days to find out whether the reserves are as rich as predicted.

"The geologists have done their work. If they've done it well, then we'll have a good chance of success," Repsol spokesman Kristian Rix said by phone from Madrid. "It's been a long process, but now we're at the point where we discover whether our geologists have got it right. It's a happy day."

It's been a long, strange journey for the Scarabeo-9, Repsol and Cuba, a process shadowed at every step by warnings of a possible environmental debacle and decades of bad blood between Cuba and the United States.

The U.S. trade embargo essentially bars U.S. companies from doing oil business with Cuba and threatens sanctions against foreign companies if they don't follow its restrictions, making it far more complicated to line up equipment and resources for the project.

To avoid sanctions, Repsol chose the Scarabeo-9, a 380-foot-long (115-meter), self-propelled, semisubmersible behemoth capable of housing 200 workers. The rig qualifies for the Cuba project because it was built with less than 10 percent U.S.-made parts, no small feat considering America's dominance in the industry.

While comparable platforms sat idle in the Gulf of Mexico, the Scarabeo-9 spent months navigating through three oceans and around the Cape of Good Hope to arrive in the Caribbean at tremendous expense.

Even after the rig is in place, the embargo continues to affect just about every aspect.

The Scarabeo-9's blowout preventer, a key piece of machinery that failed in the 2010 Macondo-Deepwater Horizon disaster, is state of the art. But its U.S. manufacturer is not licensed to work with Cuba so replacement parts must come through secondary sources.

It's also more complicated to do things like the maintenance necessary to keep things running smoothly and decrease the chances of something going wrong.

If it does, Cuba would be hard-pressed to respond to a major spill on its own, and getting help isn't as simple as making a phone call to Washington. The embargo would require licenses to be issued for all manner of equipment and services for an emergency response.

Few U.S. companies so far have gotten permission to work with the Cubans in the event of a spill ? representing just 5 percent of all the resources thrown at the Macondo blowout, according to an estimate by Lee Hunt, president of the International Association of Drilling Contractors.

Two U.S. companies have received licenses to export capping stacks, crucial pieces of equipment for stopping gushing wells, but related services like personnel and transportation have not been green-lighted, Hunt said.

"So what you have is a great big intelligent piece of iron without a crew," he said. "You can't just drop it on the hole and hope (the spill) will stop. It's not a cork."

Even Tyvek suits worn by cleanup crews cannot currently be exported to Cuba because potentially they could be used for the construction of bacteriological or chemical weapons, Hunt added.

Meanwhile cooperation between the two governments, which often struggle to see eye-to-eye on things as basic as delivering each other's mail, has been only bare-bones.

"With any other country ? Mexico, Canada or Russia ? we would already have in place agreements between the coast guards of the two countries," said Dan Whittle, Cuba program director for the Environmental Defense Fund. "There would be contingency plans written and publicly available. There already would have been drills, a comprehensive action plan for responding to a spill."

"We don't have that yet."

There has been some movement.

U.S. inspectors examined the rig last week in Trinidad and gave it a clean bill of health, though notably said that did not constitute any certification. And American representatives at a regional oil meeting last month in the Bahamas were left impressed by their Cuban counterparts' openness and willingness to share information.

But the countries' proximity has increased fears of a disastrous spill with the potential to foul not only Cuba's reefs and gleaming, white-sand beaches, but also, swept up by the Gulf Stream, the coast of Florida and the Atlantic Seaboard up to North Carolina.

Curiously, those fears have been cited by people on both sides of the embargo issue: Some say the prospect of environmental disaster shows the U.S. needs to lift the embargo and work with the Cubans in the interest of safety; others say the fact that the trade ban failed to prevent Cuba from drilling shows it needs to be made even tougher.

Some of the harshest criticism has come from Cuban-American members of Congress such as House Foreign Affairs Committee chairwoman Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, who recently accused the Obama administration of dropping the ball on Cuban drilling.

"Oil exploration 90 miles off the Florida coast by this corrupt, unaccountable dictatorship could result in horrific environmental and economic damage to our Gulf Coast communities, in addition to enriching the Castro tyranny," Ros-Lehtinen said.

The exact size of Cuba's offshore reserves, estimated at 5 billion to 9 billion barrels, is still unknown. And production would not come online for years, so any windfall is still on the horizon. But island officials are hopeful of a big strike that could inject much-needed cash into their struggling economy, and they're not asking anyone for permission.

"Cuba is going through its own change regardless of American foreign policy," said U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the No. 2 Democrat in the U.S. Senate who met with Cuban officials in Havana this week on oil and other matters.

"This discovery, or potential discovery, of significant amounts of oil could dramatically change the economy of Cuba, and change the relationship with the United States in small ways and large," Durbin said while visiting Haiti on Thursday.

___

Associated Press videojournalist Pierre-Richard Luxama in Haiti contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/energy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120119/ap_on_bi_ge/cb_cuba_oil_dreams

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Active Child: Hanging On [Video]

I loved Active Child in September. I still love the sound now. And what's this? The world exclusive first look at Active Child's newest video, for the dreamy, ethereal and decidedly spacey Hanging On. Sci-fi sound, natural beauty visuals. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/GUTvJ2kl3aE/active-child-hanging-on

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Iran says in touch with powers on new talks, EU denies it (Reuters)

TEHRAN (Reuters) ? Iran said on Wednesday it was in touch with big powers to reopen talks soon but the European Union denied this, and Britain said Tehran would have to show it was serious if it wanted to avoid more EU sanctions over suspicions it is seeking nuclear weapons.

A year after the last talks fell apart, confrontation is brewing as the EU prepares to intensify sanctions against Iran with an embargo on its economically vital oil exports.

EU diplomats said on Wednesday that member governments had also agreed in principle to freeze the assets of Iran's central bank alongside the planned oil embargo, but had yet to agree how to protect non-oil trade from sanctions.

Iran has threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz, used for a third of the world's seaborne oil trade, if it cannot sell its own crude, fanning fears of a descent into war in the Gulf that could inflame the Middle East.

Iranian politicians said U.S. President Barack Obama had expressed readiness to negotiate in a letter to Tehran, a step that might relieve tensions behind recent oil price spikes.

"Negotiations are going on about venue and date. We would like to have these negotiations," Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi told reporters during a visit to Turkey.

"Most probably, I am not sure yet, the venue will be Istanbul. The day is not yet settled, but it will be soon."

A spokesman for EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton, representing the six powers, denied there were any fresh discussions with the Islamic Republic to organize a meeting.

"There are no negotiations under way on new talks," he said in Brussels. "We are still waiting for Iran to respond to the substantive proposals the High Representative (Ashton) made in her letter from October." Iran has yet to respond formally.

SERIOUS NEGOTIATIONS

British Foreign Secretary William Hague said Iran had to be ready for serious negotiations. "It is significant that when we are discussing additional sanctions in the European Union an offer of negotiations emerges from Iran," he said.

"We will not be deterred from imposing additional sanctions simply by the suggestion there may be negotiations. We want to see actual negotiations," he told a news conference in Brazil.

"In the absence of such meaningful negotiations, of course, the pressure for greater peaceful but legitimate pressure will continue," he said, referring to a meeting on Monday of EU ministers that will discuss an oil embargo on Iran.

Iran denies wanting nuclear bombs, saying its enrichment work is for power generation and medical applications.

Washington has yet to respond to the Iranian suggestions of talks. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said on Wednesday only that the U.S. military was fully prepared to deal with any threats by Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz.

Ashton wrote to Iranian negotiator Saeed Jalili to stress that the West still wanted to resume talks but Iran must be ready to engage "seriously in meaningful discussions" about ways to ensure its nuclear work would be wholly peaceful in nature.

The Islamic Republic has insisted in sporadic meetings over the past five years that talks focus on broader international security issues, not its nuclear program.

PROTRACTED IMPASSE

The last talks between Iran and the permanent members of the U.N. Security Council - the United States, Britain, France, Russia and China - along with Germany stalled in Istanbul a year ago, with the parties unable to agree even on an agenda.

Since then, a U.N. nuclear watchdog report has lent weight to concern that Iran has worked on designing a nuclear weapon. Washington and the European Union have turned to extending hitherto modest sanctions in place since 2006 to target Iranian oil.

EU foreign ministers are expected to approve a phased ban on imports of Iranian oil at the meeting on January 23 - three weeks after the United States passed a law that would freeze out any institution dealing with Iran's central bank, effectively making it impossible for most countries to buy Iranian oil.

"On the central bank, things have been moving in the right direction in the last hours," one EU diplomat said on Wednesday. "There is now a wide agreement on the principle. Discussions continue on the details."

Iran has said it is ready to talk but has also started shifting uranium enrichment to a deep bunker where it would be less vulnerable to the air strikes Israel says it could launch if diplomacy fails to curb Tehran's nuclear drive.

Western diplomats say Tehran must show willingness to change its course in any new talks. Crucially, Tehran says other countries must respect its right to enrich uranium, the nuclear fuel which can provide material for atomic bombs if enriched to much higher levels than that suitable for power plants.

Russia, a member of the six power group that has criticized the new EU and U.S. sanctions, said the last-ditch military option mooted by the United States and Israel would ignite a disastrous, widespread Middle East war.

"On the chances of whether this catastrophe will happen or not you should ask those who repeatedly talk about this," Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told a news conference in Moscow.

"I have no doubt that it would pour fuel on a fire which is already smoldering, the hidden smoldering fire of Sunni-Shi'ite (Muslim) confrontation, and beyond that (it would cause) a chain reaction. I don't know where it would stop."

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, speaking during a visit to the Netherlands on Wednesday, repeated his view that "Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear weapons, period."

Earlier in the day, his Defense Minister Ehud Barak said any decision about an Israeli attack on Iran was "very far off."

THREATS, FRIENDSHIP

China, which shares Russia's dislike of the new Western moves to stop Iran exporting oil, said U.S. sanctions that Obama signed into law on December 31 had no basis in international law.

Iranian politicians said Obama had written to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei responding to Tehran's threat to close the Strait of Hormuz if sanctions prevent it selling oil.

Several members of Iran's parliament who discussed the matter on Wednesday said it included the offer of talks.

"In this letter it was said that closing the Strait of Hormuz is our (U.S.) 'red line' and also asked for direct negotiations," the semi-official Fars news agency quoted lawmaker Ali Mottahari as saying.

"The first part of letter has a threatening stance and the second part has a stance of negotiation and friendship."

Washington has often said it has a dual-track approach to Iran, leaving open the offer of talks while seeking ever tighter sanctions as long as Tehran does not rein in its nuclear work.

But any fresh opening to Tehran might be a risky strategy for Obama in an election year as aspiring Republican presidential challengers compete over who is toughest on a country Washington has long considered a pariah state.

(Reporting by Tulay Karadeniz in Ankara, Chris Buckley in Beijing, Phil Stewart in Washington, Alexei Anishchuk in Moscow, Justyna Pawlak in Brussels, Allyn Fisher-Ilan in Jerusalem, Fredrik Dahl in Vienna and Estelle Shirbon in London; Anthony Boadle in Brasilia; Writing by Robin Pomeroy and David Stamp; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120118/wl_nm/us_iran

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Germany lowers 2012 growth forecast (AP)

BERLIN ? Germany's government cut the country's 2012 growth forecast Wednesday in the wake of a faltering global economy and Europe's debt crisis, but said Europe's largest economy should avoid sinking back into recession.

Following what is believed to have been a contraction in economic activity in the fourth quarter of 2011, Economy Minister Philipp Roesler said the government had reduced Germany's growth forecast for this year to 0.7 percent from 1 percent ? its second reduction in three months. As recently as October, the prediction had been 1.8 percent.

Germany's economy, the world's fourth largest, is thought to have contracted by up to 0.3 percent in last year's fourth quarter compared with the previous three-month period, though final numbers are not yet in.

Roesler said he expects growth of 0.1 percent in the current quarter, which would mean that Germany avoids slipping into a technical recession, defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.

Other forecasters have painted a bleaker picture, however, with many ? such as Commerzbank last week ? predicting that Germany will fall into a modest recession in the first quarter before returning to growth.

Roesler said "a temporary dent in growth can be expected for the coming months" but predicted that "the economy will gradually liven up over the course of 2012." Growth next year is expected to be 1.6 percent, he said.

Roesler conceded there were risks around the forecasts, not least from financial market turbulence and the debt crisis in the 17-country eurozone.

"Germany remains on the course of growth ? assuming that there is no new sudden crisis on the financial markets, and the uncertainty in the eurozone above all gradually abates," said Roesler, who is also Germany's vice chancellor.

Over 2011 as a whole, Germany grew by 3 percent ? following a growth spurt of 3.7 percent in 2010 after its emergence from recession the previous year.

That contrasted with the performance of many of its partners in the eurozone, which have seen their economies barely grow or shrink amid debt troubles and tough austerity measures.

The German government figures come after the World Bank forecast that the eurozone economy as a whole will contract by 0.3 percent this year. It sees the United States growing by 2.2 percent, Japan by 1.9 percent and China by 8.4 percent.

Exports have been the bedrock of Germany's growth over recent years, but Roesler said this year's expansion will stem from stronger domestic demand. His ministry forecast that export growth will slow to 2 percent from 8.2 percent last year.

It also expects a further improvement in Germany's already-bright labor market picture, with the average unemployment rate this year projected to fall from last year's 7.1 percent ? already a two-decade low ? to 6.8 percent.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120118/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_germany_economy

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Lincecum offered record $17M, asks for $21.5M

FILE - In this Sept. 14, 2011, file photo, San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum (55) delivers a pitch during a baseball game against the San Diego Padres in San Francisco. Lincecum has asked for $21.5 million in salary arbitration and been offered $17 million. The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner's request Tuesday, Jan. 17. 2012, neared the record amount sought in arbitration. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

FILE - In this Sept. 14, 2011, file photo, San Francisco Giants pitcher Tim Lincecum (55) delivers a pitch during a baseball game against the San Diego Padres in San Francisco. Lincecum has asked for $21.5 million in salary arbitration and been offered $17 million. The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner's request Tuesday, Jan. 17. 2012, neared the record amount sought in arbitration. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

FILE - In this May 4, 2011, file photo, San Francisco Giants' Tim Lincecum (55) delivers a pitch during the first inning of a baseball game against the New York Mets at Citi Field in New York. Lincecum is expected to set records for the highest salaries asked for and received in arbitration. The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner made $13.1 million last season, completing a two-year deal worth $23.2 million. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Tim Lincecum asked San Francisco for $21.5 million in arbitration, just shy of the record for a player, and the Giants offered him a club-record $17 million Tuesday on a dizzying day when 80 players agreed to contracts.

The two-time NL Cy Young Award winner was among 54 players who exchanged figures with their teams, and his request fell short of the record $22 million requested by Roger Clemens from Houston when he became a free agent and accepted the Astros' arbitration offer before the 2005 season.

Interrupting the frenzied focus on money, there were two notable injury announcements.

Detroit said star slugger Victor Martinez could miss the entire season after tearing his left anterior cruciate ligament last week during offseason conditioning.

"After you feel sorry for yourself for a day or so, you move on," general manager Dave Dombrowski said. "We have a good club. We've got a lot of players who will step up."

Boston outfielder Carl Crawford had surgery on his left wrist Tuesday and could miss opening day. He was bothered by the wrist last season, and felt discomfort as he intensified pre-spring training workouts.

"Carl will be our everyday left fielder for the bulk of the 2012 season," new general manager Ben Cherington said. "We're not ruling out opening day, but we're not going to put a timeline on it."

At the exchange of arbitration figures, Lincecum set a mark among players with less than six years in the majors, topping Derek Jeter's $18.5 million submission in 2001. And the Giants' offer broke the 11-year-old club mark of $14.25 million offered by the Yankees to Jeter that winter.

"I'm overall optimistic that we'll find common ground without a hearing room," Bobby Evans, Giants vice president of baseball operations, said before seeing Lincecum's filing numbers. "It's a process that begins long before today in terms of conversations about possible deals that work for both sides. That process has continued in a mutual fashion. At this point we haven't reached a conclusion."

Lincecum is eligible for free agency after the 2013 season.

Boston designated hitter David Ortiz, who became a free agent and accepted Boston's offer of arbitration, had the second-highest request at $16.5 million and was offered $12.65 million by the Red Sox.

Other large amounts involved Chicago Cubs pitcher Matt Garza ($12.5 million vs. $7.95 million), Philadelphia outfielder Hunter Pence ($11.8 million vs. $9 million), Texas World Series star Mike Napoli ($11.5 million vs. $8.3 million), Los Angeles Dodgers NL Cy Young Award winner Clayton Kershaw ($10 million vs. $6.5 million) and Baltimore right-hander Jeremy Guthrie ($10.25 million vs. $7.25 million).

Garza's $4.55 million gap was the largest. All-Star pitchers Chris Perez of Cleveland and Jair Jurrjens of Atlanta submitted the same figures as their teams, a signal a deal already was all but finalized.

Barring agreements, hearings before three-arbitrator panels will be scheduled for the first three weeks of February. Players won two of three hearings last winter, but teams lead 286-212 since arbitration began in 1974. The 119 players in arbitration averaged a 121 percent increase last year, according to a study by The Associated Press.

Among the 142 players who filed last Friday, 98 already have settled, including 10 after figures were exchanged.

There was just one multiyear agreement among Tuesday's deals, with Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval getting a $17.15 million, three-year contract, a deal subject to a physical.

The largest one-year deals went to Philadelphia pitcher Cole Hamels ($15 million), Dodgers outfielder Andre Ethier ($10.95 million), Boston outfielder Jacoby Ellsbury ($8.05 million), Milwaukee reliever Francisco Rodriguez ($8 million), San Diego outfielder Carlos Quentin ($7,025,000) and Tampa Bay outfielder B.J. Upton ($7 million).

Among international free agents, the Milwaukee Brewers agreed to a two-year contract with Japanese outfielder Norichika Aoki, a three-time batting champion in Japan's Central League.

Texas had a deadline of 5 p.m. EST on Wednesday to reach an agreement with Japanese pitcher Yu Darvish.

Also, former All-Star pitcher Joe Saunders agreed to a $6 million, one-year contract with Arizona, which cut him loose last month rather than allow him to become eligible for arbitration.

___

AP Baseball Writer Janie McCauley and AP Sports Writers Jimmy Golen and Noah Trister contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-17-Baseball%20Rdp/id-62ae1e85e6934feb97328f3322c82e0f

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