Elizabeth Taylor evokes more images than the number of husbands she had. She was the breathtakingly beautiful guess handbags which – unlike her near contemporary, Judy Garland – seemed to slip into adulthood unscarred by her precocious professional success; the sultry dramatic actress; the compulsive bride, who went through husbands like fashion trends; the scarlet woman who broke up America's sweethearts, Eddie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds; the female half of what can very legitimately be described as the greatest love affair of the 20th century; the most beautiful woman in the world; front-page stalwart of the National Enquirer; star of some of the best movies of her era; star of some of the worst celebrity perfume adverts; the gay rights campaigner; the defender of Michael Jackson. Next to Taylor, Marilyn Monroe looks monochrome and monotone.
Even towards the end of her life, Taylor, despite near incapacitation, still not only understood the increasingly ridiculous celebrity world, but proved that – to paraphrase a quote from her most photographed role – age could not wither her. She was one of the most mature users of Twitter and her Twitter feed was so Tayloresque as to be nigh-on parodic, mixing passionate defences of Jackson with shout-outs to reality TV android Kim Kardashian and the occasional – and necessary – denials that she had re-re-re-re-re-re-re-re-remarried ("Jason is my dearest friend!" she tweeted last year, at the age of 78, with an understandable giggle).
Those born in the 40s will probably remember her as the wife of Richard Burton and the actor who radiated sex without ever being as coarsely upfront with her assets as, say, Monroe or Jane Russell. Those born in the 70s will have the slightly less erotic image of Taylor as the wife of the unforgettably named Larry Fortensky, sporting makeup, jewellery and hair that makes Russell Brand today look a guess handbags on sale bit low-key. Yet she was equally famous to those born in either decade, and this is not just because of her ever fluid image but her fearlessness at breaking social mores.
Her close friendships with gay actors – most notably Rock Hudson and Montgomery Clift – showed her to be more open-minded than most in an age when homosexuality was career-threatening. Taylor did more than pretty much anyone in her era by helping to remove the stigma of both homosexuality and, tragically, Aids by her loyalty to Hudson when he was dying from the disease.
Just as scandalous in its way was Taylor's relationship with Burton. Both were married when they met and neither made any attempt to hide not just their love for one another but their lust. Now divorce is as common among actors as undeserved Oscars but Taylor and Burton still look red-blooded next to today's anaemic Hello! wedding spreads. The publication last year of Furious Love: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and the Marriage of the Century, by Sam Kashner and Nancy Schoenberger, truly puts to shame today's pretenders, not least with its inclusion of Burton's love letters to Taylor. But there was one letter even Taylor, the consummate celebrity, couldn't share with the public: the last one Burton wrote to her just before his death in 1984, saying he wanted to come home, and Taylor was home. That letter remained where it has ever since she received it: in her dressing table drawer, next to her bed.
Carrie Fisher compares her mother, Debbie Reynolds, and her father, Eddie Fisher, to Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston, with Taylor – who made Fisher her husband number four – playing the Angelina Jolie role. It is a smart riff, neatly evoking the media hysteria that accompanied Fisher and Taylor's affair while he was still with Reynolds and the ensuing marriage (and, inevitably, divorce – there was no way little Fisher could ever compete with the mountain of machismo that was Richard Burton).
But the real joke is the comparison between Jolie and Taylor. Jolie's fame rests entirely on her personal life, which can be summed up as "married Rachel from Friends' husband, fond of adopting". As Jolie has amply proved, one doesn't need to be a good actor, or even appear in any good films, to be an A-list celebrity these days: one just needs to be thin and have a fondness for being photographed. Taylor had summer fashion 2011 the life, the looks, the movies, the smarts and the talent.
2011年3月24日星期四
2011年3月22日星期二
Diplomats in Brussels have become embroiled in guess handbags
Diplomatic sources say that a structure which has kept the peace in Bosnia could be replicated as the international community enforces the no-fly zone over Libya.
Diplomats in Brussels have become embroiled in bitter exchanges in recent days as they try to establish a command structure for the Libyan operation that would meet guess handbags, 70% off, designer 2011 guess handbags on sale Barack Obama's demand to relieve Washington of operational control.
The diplomats are now looking to Bosnia which was famously failed by the European Union in the mid 1990s. The EU finally redeemed itself when it assumed command from Nato of the peace keeping operation in Bosnia in 2004. The EU force, known as Eufor, has been in the lead ever since but is able to draw on Nato assets when needed.
In separate phone calls Tuesday night Barack Obama agreed with David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy that a similar structure would be established to run the no-fly guess handbags, 70% off, designer 2011 guess handbags on sale zone over Libya.
Political oversight would be in the hands of members of the international coalition joining the action to enforce the UN security council resolution 1973. Britain, France and the US are in the lead, but the coalition also includes Arab countries such as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. This oversight would be akin to the EU's role in Bosnia.
But the military campaign to enforce the no-fly zone would be run by Nato. This could mean that James Stavridis, an American admiral who is Nato's current Supreme Allied Commander Europe, could be in charge of the military operation.
The agreement by Obama, Sarkozy and Cameron will have to be put to all 28 members of Nato. The alliance operates by consensus which means that a raised eyebrow could scupper the plan.
But there were hopes in London and Paris that agreement will be reached, giving Nato the chance to summer fashion 2011 avoid its worst split in years.
An intense debate opened up after Obama, who wants to avoid a repeat of the US-led "shock and awe" tactics of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, made clear that Washington would command the campaign only in its early stages.
A clear message was sent across the Atlantic: Nato or a combination of its members with the support of Arab nations would have to take command of the no-fly zone to show the world that the US had no wish to impose its will on a Muslim country.
Sarkozy was keen to establish an Anglo-French command to run the military campaign. Britain was wary of the proposal however, and pushed hard for a clearly defined Nato operation.
"The French want to run this jointly with Britain," a senior Whitehall source said before Tuesday night's agreement. "That is their preference. It is not our preference. We want Nato to deal with this because Nato has the right experience in dealing with multinational teams."
The attempts to broker an agreement on the structure for the first major military action initiated under Obama's presidency started in a scratchy way on Monday when Nato ambassadors in Brussels held what was described as a "truly awful" and "emotional" meeting.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Nato secretary general, prompted a walkout by the French and German ambassadors after suggesting Paris was blocking the alliance and that Berlin was dragging its feet. One observer said: "There were a range of issues related to people's egos."
Tensions were running high even before the meeting opened. Britain and the US were said to be irritated that Sarkozy acted with characteristic impetuosity by launching the first strikes shortly after a summit of decision-makers in Paris on Saturday without properly briefing allies.
The Rasmussen statement said: "Nato has completed plans to help enforce the no-fly zone - to bring our contribution, if needed, in a clearly defined manner, to the broad international effort to protect the people of Libya from the violence of the Gaddafi regime."
Germany, which abstained in the vote at the UN last week, agreed that Nato should have no more than a supporting role. This view was shared by Turkey, Nato's third largest member and a crucial voice in the alliance because of its predominantly Muslim population.
But Ankara and Paris started to give ground over the last 48 hours. Sarkozy accepted that Nato would be in the lead on the military front as Britain and the US guess handbags, 70% off, designer 2011 guess handbags on sale accepted that international coalition members and not the alliance would provide political oversight.
Diplomats said that some of the newer members of Nato in eastern Europe put strong pressure on France. The likes of Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, the Baltic states and Belgium made clear that they could help enforce the UN resolution on the no-fly zone as part under a Nato umbrella.
Ankara also adopted what was described as a more flexible approach after a phone call late on Monday between Obama and Tayyip Recep Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister.
Obama, who was grateful for Ankara's role in helping to release four New York Times journalists in Libya, is understood to have impressed Erdogan in listening to his concerns about a western-dominated campaign.
Signs of movement were shown Tuesday when the Nato envoys met again to try to patch over their differences. Rasmussen announced Nato would take charge of the naval flotilla assembled in the Mediterranean to police a UN arms embargo against Libya.
The ships "will conduct operations to monitor, report and, if needed, interdict vessels suspected of carrying illegal arms or mercenaries. This will be done in close co-ordination with commercial shipping and regional organisations," he said.
Amid the disarray over who should run the air campaign, Norway said it was keeping its aircraft grounded on Crete until it knew who was in charge. Italy, close geographically to Libya, has made seven air bases available for the "coalition of the guess handbags, 70% off, designer 2011 guess handbags on sale willing" campaign, but warned that it would put them back under national control if Nato did not take charge.
Diplomats in Brussels have become embroiled in bitter exchanges in recent days as they try to establish a command structure for the Libyan operation that would meet guess handbags, 70% off, designer 2011 guess handbags on sale Barack Obama's demand to relieve Washington of operational control.
The diplomats are now looking to Bosnia which was famously failed by the European Union in the mid 1990s. The EU finally redeemed itself when it assumed command from Nato of the peace keeping operation in Bosnia in 2004. The EU force, known as Eufor, has been in the lead ever since but is able to draw on Nato assets when needed.
In separate phone calls Tuesday night Barack Obama agreed with David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy that a similar structure would be established to run the no-fly guess handbags, 70% off, designer 2011 guess handbags on sale zone over Libya.
Political oversight would be in the hands of members of the international coalition joining the action to enforce the UN security council resolution 1973. Britain, France and the US are in the lead, but the coalition also includes Arab countries such as Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. This oversight would be akin to the EU's role in Bosnia.
But the military campaign to enforce the no-fly zone would be run by Nato. This could mean that James Stavridis, an American admiral who is Nato's current Supreme Allied Commander Europe, could be in charge of the military operation.
The agreement by Obama, Sarkozy and Cameron will have to be put to all 28 members of Nato. The alliance operates by consensus which means that a raised eyebrow could scupper the plan.
But there were hopes in London and Paris that agreement will be reached, giving Nato the chance to summer fashion 2011 avoid its worst split in years.
An intense debate opened up after Obama, who wants to avoid a repeat of the US-led "shock and awe" tactics of the 2003 invasion of Iraq, made clear that Washington would command the campaign only in its early stages.
A clear message was sent across the Atlantic: Nato or a combination of its members with the support of Arab nations would have to take command of the no-fly zone to show the world that the US had no wish to impose its will on a Muslim country.
Sarkozy was keen to establish an Anglo-French command to run the military campaign. Britain was wary of the proposal however, and pushed hard for a clearly defined Nato operation.
"The French want to run this jointly with Britain," a senior Whitehall source said before Tuesday night's agreement. "That is their preference. It is not our preference. We want Nato to deal with this because Nato has the right experience in dealing with multinational teams."
The attempts to broker an agreement on the structure for the first major military action initiated under Obama's presidency started in a scratchy way on Monday when Nato ambassadors in Brussels held what was described as a "truly awful" and "emotional" meeting.
Anders Fogh Rasmussen, the Nato secretary general, prompted a walkout by the French and German ambassadors after suggesting Paris was blocking the alliance and that Berlin was dragging its feet. One observer said: "There were a range of issues related to people's egos."
Tensions were running high even before the meeting opened. Britain and the US were said to be irritated that Sarkozy acted with characteristic impetuosity by launching the first strikes shortly after a summit of decision-makers in Paris on Saturday without properly briefing allies.
The Rasmussen statement said: "Nato has completed plans to help enforce the no-fly zone - to bring our contribution, if needed, in a clearly defined manner, to the broad international effort to protect the people of Libya from the violence of the Gaddafi regime."
Germany, which abstained in the vote at the UN last week, agreed that Nato should have no more than a supporting role. This view was shared by Turkey, Nato's third largest member and a crucial voice in the alliance because of its predominantly Muslim population.
But Ankara and Paris started to give ground over the last 48 hours. Sarkozy accepted that Nato would be in the lead on the military front as Britain and the US guess handbags, 70% off, designer 2011 guess handbags on sale accepted that international coalition members and not the alliance would provide political oversight.
Diplomats said that some of the newer members of Nato in eastern Europe put strong pressure on France. The likes of Romania, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, the Baltic states and Belgium made clear that they could help enforce the UN resolution on the no-fly zone as part under a Nato umbrella.
Ankara also adopted what was described as a more flexible approach after a phone call late on Monday between Obama and Tayyip Recep Erdogan, the Turkish prime minister.
Obama, who was grateful for Ankara's role in helping to release four New York Times journalists in Libya, is understood to have impressed Erdogan in listening to his concerns about a western-dominated campaign.
Signs of movement were shown Tuesday when the Nato envoys met again to try to patch over their differences. Rasmussen announced Nato would take charge of the naval flotilla assembled in the Mediterranean to police a UN arms embargo against Libya.
The ships "will conduct operations to monitor, report and, if needed, interdict vessels suspected of carrying illegal arms or mercenaries. This will be done in close co-ordination with commercial shipping and regional organisations," he said.
Amid the disarray over who should run the air campaign, Norway said it was keeping its aircraft grounded on Crete until it knew who was in charge. Italy, close geographically to Libya, has made seven air bases available for the "coalition of the guess handbags, 70% off, designer 2011 guess handbags on sale willing" campaign, but warned that it would put them back under national control if Nato did not take charge.
2011年3月18日星期五
a kidney transplant recipient contracted the virus
According to an investigation by the CDC and New York city and state health officials, a kidney transplant recipient contracted the virus from a donor in an unnamed New York City hospital in 2009. The male donor acknowledged that he had engaged in unprotected sex with another man after he was screened for HIV, but before he donated the organ. The New York hospital tested the donor 79 days before transplant, when he showed no evidence of infection, but did not re-test him closer to the surgery that removed the organ.
The centers' 1994 guidelines for organ-donor screening, which are being revised, did not address the timing of screening tests.
The CDC is also recommending the use of a test that detects the virus within eight to 10 days of infection.
Of the three major transplant centers serving the city, Mount Sinai Medical Center said the event did not occur there; a spokesman for another, New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, said, "We don't have any information about this." New York University Langone Medical Center said that it would be "inappropriate" to comment.
Thanks to screening of organ donors for HIV, the chance of contracting the virus from a transplant is remote. The CDC estimates the risk of HIV transmission from deceased donors is about one in 25,000 donors, or about one every three years. "This may be happening more frequently than we recognize and we are likely missing cases," said Matthew J. Kuehnert, director of the CDC's Office of Blood, Organ, and other Tissue Safety.
The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, a public-private partnership that sets nationalpolicies for organ allocation and screening, and the United Network for Organ Sharing, which operates the system, are formulating a policy for living-donor screening that would keep patients safe without compromising organ availability, said Connie L. Davis, who chairs the panel working on the policy. "People don't realize how complicated the scheduling and logistics can be for donors who are stepping forward out of the true goodness of their heart." Dr. Davis said.
Sander Florman, director of the transplant program at Mount Sinai, said the hospital will test its donors as close to transplant as possible in accordance with the new recommendations, and educate donors "to be very careful about any risky behaviors and report them to us confidentially" before donating an organ.
The centers' 1994 guidelines for organ-donor screening, which are being revised, did not address the timing of screening tests.
The CDC is also recommending the use of a test that detects the virus within eight to 10 days of infection.
Of the three major transplant centers serving the city, Mount Sinai Medical Center said the event did not occur there; a spokesman for another, New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Weill Cornell Medical Center, said, "We don't have any information about this." New York University Langone Medical Center said that it would be "inappropriate" to comment.
Thanks to screening of organ donors for HIV, the chance of contracting the virus from a transplant is remote. The CDC estimates the risk of HIV transmission from deceased donors is about one in 25,000 donors, or about one every three years. "This may be happening more frequently than we recognize and we are likely missing cases," said Matthew J. Kuehnert, director of the CDC's Office of Blood, Organ, and other Tissue Safety.
The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network, a public-private partnership that sets nationalpolicies for organ allocation and screening, and the United Network for Organ Sharing, which operates the system, are formulating a policy for living-donor screening that would keep patients safe without compromising organ availability, said Connie L. Davis, who chairs the panel working on the policy. "People don't realize how complicated the scheduling and logistics can be for donors who are stepping forward out of the true goodness of their heart." Dr. Davis said.
Sander Florman, director of the transplant program at Mount Sinai, said the hospital will test its donors as close to transplant as possible in accordance with the new recommendations, and educate donors "to be very careful about any risky behaviors and report them to us confidentially" before donating an organ.
2011年3月14日星期一
U.S. crude for April edged up 11 cents to $101.30
The yen was steady against the U.S. Women shoes online, 2011 new style, Cheap women shoes online sale dollar despite the sharp selloff in Japanese stock markets and there were few signs that Japanese insurers were repatriating funds to help pay for the costs of the quake and tsunami that hit on Friday.
The Korean won, attempting a rebound from a three-day losing streak, started stronger but then slipped back to be marginally up. The won was quoted at 1,125.10/40 per dollar.
South Korean shares staged a tepid rally after initial small losses with the index .KS11 up 0.16 percent by 0118 GMT. Australian shares .AXJO were down just 0.55 percent, a tad weaker than their open and Taiwan and Hong Kong both posted small losses.
"While the quake, tsunami and nuclear power crisis in Japan are bad news from global investment perspective, investors are taking a relative and comparative approach on South Korea at this time," said Lee Jun-hyuck, senior fund manager at Dongbu Asset Management in Seoul.
"First off, a lot of Japanese refiners, steelmakers and chipmakers are shut down, and supply of the products is tight. This helps with pricing of products being manufactured by South Korea," he said.
http://www.womenonlineshop.com/
In Tokyo, the broad TOPIX index plunged nearly 7 percent .TOPX to below 790, the lowest since April 2009, after posting the biggest decline since the 2008 financial crisis on Monday on record volume.
The blue-chip Nikkei index dropped 6.4 percent .N225 to just below 9,000, driven down by selling in the futures market.
"All focus is on the nuclear crisis. In the situation where the crisis appears to be worsening, foreign investors, domestic fund operators are pulling out from Japanese shares," Hideyuki Ishiguro, a supervisor at Okasan Securities in Tokyo.
OIL AND YEN STEADY, AUSTRALIAN MINERS HIT
Oil rebounded from lows triggered by Japan's earthquake due to unrest in the Middle East as Saudi Arabia sent troops into Bahrain to help quell unrest.
U.S. crude for April edged up 11 cents to $101.30 a barrel by 0035 GMT, after recovering on Monday from a nadir of $98.47, the lowest intraday price since March 1 while Brent crude futures for April delivery fell 14 cents to $113.53 a barrel.
The Japanese yen was steady at around 81.80 as the Bank of Japan on Tuesday offered to pump 5 trillion yen ($61 billion) into the banking system, continuing its huge fund injection aimed at easing market jitters amid escalating damage from the earthquake.
Shares in Australia took a hit from the country's uranium miners, although many stocks rallied off their lows to post small losses. Paladin (PDN.AX) shares were down just 0.23 percent at 0129GMT having opened 3.8 percent lower, while Energy Resources of Australia (ERA.AX), a unit of global miner Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) (RIO.L) fell 1.82 percent, extending early losses.
In Seoul, nuclear power women shoes online, 2011 new style, cheap women shoes online sale issues pared early losses. KEPCO Engineering & Construction (052690.KS) was down 3.3 percent after a more than 5 percent fall at the open.
The Korean won, attempting a rebound from a three-day losing streak, started stronger but then slipped back to be marginally up. The won was quoted at 1,125.10/40 per dollar.
South Korean shares staged a tepid rally after initial small losses with the index .KS11 up 0.16 percent by 0118 GMT. Australian shares .AXJO were down just 0.55 percent, a tad weaker than their open and Taiwan and Hong Kong both posted small losses.
"While the quake, tsunami and nuclear power crisis in Japan are bad news from global investment perspective, investors are taking a relative and comparative approach on South Korea at this time," said Lee Jun-hyuck, senior fund manager at Dongbu Asset Management in Seoul.
"First off, a lot of Japanese refiners, steelmakers and chipmakers are shut down, and supply of the products is tight. This helps with pricing of products being manufactured by South Korea," he said.
http://www.womenonlineshop.com/
In Tokyo, the broad TOPIX index plunged nearly 7 percent .TOPX to below 790, the lowest since April 2009, after posting the biggest decline since the 2008 financial crisis on Monday on record volume.
The blue-chip Nikkei index dropped 6.4 percent .N225 to just below 9,000, driven down by selling in the futures market.
"All focus is on the nuclear crisis. In the situation where the crisis appears to be worsening, foreign investors, domestic fund operators are pulling out from Japanese shares," Hideyuki Ishiguro, a supervisor at Okasan Securities in Tokyo.
OIL AND YEN STEADY, AUSTRALIAN MINERS HIT
Oil rebounded from lows triggered by Japan's earthquake due to unrest in the Middle East as Saudi Arabia sent troops into Bahrain to help quell unrest.
U.S. crude for April edged up 11 cents to $101.30 a barrel by 0035 GMT, after recovering on Monday from a nadir of $98.47, the lowest intraday price since March 1 while Brent crude futures for April delivery fell 14 cents to $113.53 a barrel.
The Japanese yen was steady at around 81.80 as the Bank of Japan on Tuesday offered to pump 5 trillion yen ($61 billion) into the banking system, continuing its huge fund injection aimed at easing market jitters amid escalating damage from the earthquake.
Shares in Australia took a hit from the country's uranium miners, although many stocks rallied off their lows to post small losses. Paladin (PDN.AX) shares were down just 0.23 percent at 0129GMT having opened 3.8 percent lower, while Energy Resources of Australia (ERA.AX), a unit of global miner Rio Tinto (RIO.AX) (RIO.L) fell 1.82 percent, extending early losses.
In Seoul, nuclear power women shoes online, 2011 new style, cheap women shoes online sale issues pared early losses. KEPCO Engineering & Construction (052690.KS) was down 3.3 percent after a more than 5 percent fall at the open.
2011年3月11日星期五
NFL Players Association cleared the way in 2011
Despite 16 days of negotiations with a federal mediator — and previous months of stop-and-start bargaining — the sides could not agree on a new deal. The league said it hadn't decided whether to lock out the players, who, meanwhile, went to court to request an injunction to block such a move.
"The parties have not achieved an overall agreement, nor have they been able to resolve the strongly held competing positions that separated them on core issues," mediator George Cohen said. "No useful purpose would be served by requesting the parties to continue the mediation process at this time."
By dissolving and announcing it no longer represents the players in collective bargaining, the NFL Players Association cleared the way for class-action lawsuits against the NFL, which opted out of the CBA in 2008. The antitrust suit attacked the NFL's policies on the draft, salary cap and free-agent restrictions such as franchise-player tags.
The CBA originally was due to expire last week, then was extended twice, in hopes that the sides could find common ground on the key issues: how to divide more than $9 billion in annual revenues, and how much financial information the league would be willing to turn over.
In the end, it appeared the sides were about $185 million per year apart on how much money owners would get up front during the new collective bargaining agreement — well down from the $1 billion that separated them for so long. The union refused to budge any further without getting detailed financial information for each team.
"I would dare any one of you to pull out any economic indicator that would suggest that the National Football League is falling on hard times," NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said. "The last 14 days, the National Football League has said, 'Trust us.' But when it came time for verification, they told us it was none of our business."
It all set the stage for a lengthy court fight that eventually could threaten the 2011 season for a league whose past two Super Bowls rank as the two most-watched programs in U.S. television history. The last time NFL games were lost to a work stoppage came when the players struck 24 years ago, leading to games with replacement players.
Even though the NFL is early in its offseason — and the regular season is six months away — this is hardly a complete down time. Free agency usually begins in March, and there are hundreds of free agents now in limbo. Also this month, under a regular schedule, offseason workouts would start, and the owners meet to establish rules changes.
Plus, March and early April are when many sponsors and corporate partners renew their deals with the NFL, part of why the league says hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue are going to be lost now.
"This obviously is a very disappointing day for all of us. I've been here for the better part of two weeks now, and essentially ... the union's position on the core economic issues has not changed one iota," New York Giants owner John Mara said. "One thing that became painfully apparent to me during this period was that their objective was to go the litigation route."
The NFLPA also decertified in 2011. Antitrust lawsuits by players led to a new CBA in 1993 that included free agency, and the union formed again that year.
The sides met from 10 a.m. until about 4 p.m. Friday, discussing a new proposal by the owners. When the possibility of another extension was raised, the union said it first wanted assurances it would get 10 years of audited financial information.
"I will tell you this: Any business where two partners don't trust each other, any business where one party says, 'You need to do X, Y and Z because I told you,' is a business that is not only not run well, it is a business that can never be as successful as it can be," Smith said.
At 4:45 p.m., Smith and the union's negotiators left. About 15 minutes later, the union decertified.
"No one is happy where we are now," NFL lead negotiator Jeff Pash said. "I think we know where the commitment was. It was a commitment to litigate all along."
A league statement added: "The union left a very good deal on the table."
The public acrimony that arose Thursday night seeped into Friday.
After Pash spoke, outside union lawyer Jim Quinn said: "I hate to say this, but he has not told the truth to our players or our fans. He has, in a word, lied to them about what happened today and what's happened over the last two weeks and the last two years."
The NFL said its offer included splitting the difference in the dispute over how much money owners should be given off the top of the league's revenues. Under the expiring CBA, the owners immediately got about $1 billion before dividing the remainder of revenues with the players; the owners entered negotiations seeking to roughly double that by getting an additional $1 billion up front.
But the owners reduced that eventually to about $650 million. Then, on Friday, they offered to drop that to about $325 million. Smith said the union offered during talks to give up $550 million over the first four years of a new agreement — or an average of $137.5 million.
"We worked hard," said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who was joined at mediation on Thursday and Friday by nine of the 10 members of the owners' powerful labor committee. "We didn't reach an agreement, obviously. As you know, the union walked away from the mediation process."
Also in the NFL's offer, according to the league:
— Maintaining the 16 regular-season games and four preseason games for at least two years, with any switch to 18 games down the road being negotiable.
— Instituting a rookie wage scale through which money saved would be paid to veterans and retired players.
— Creating new year-round health and safety rules.
— Establishing a fund for retired players, with $82 million contributed by the owners over the next two years.
— Financial disclosure of audited league and club profitability information that is not even shared with the NFL clubs. That was proposed by the NFL this week, and rejected by the union, which began insisting in May 2011 for a complete look at the books of all 32 clubs.
As Pash outlined each element of the owners' last offer, he ended with the phrase: "Evidently not good enough."
When Goodell, Pash, Mara and owners Jerry Jones of the Cowboys and Jerry Richardson of the Panthers emerged from Cohen's office shortly after 5 p.m., they sounded hopeful negotiations would soon resume.
"We're discouraged, we're frustrated, we're disappointed, but we are not giving up. We know that this will be resolved in the negotiation process," Pash said. "We will be prepared to come back here any time the union is ready to come back here."
"The parties have not achieved an overall agreement, nor have they been able to resolve the strongly held competing positions that separated them on core issues," mediator George Cohen said. "No useful purpose would be served by requesting the parties to continue the mediation process at this time."
By dissolving and announcing it no longer represents the players in collective bargaining, the NFL Players Association cleared the way for class-action lawsuits against the NFL, which opted out of the CBA in 2008. The antitrust suit attacked the NFL's policies on the draft, salary cap and free-agent restrictions such as franchise-player tags.
The CBA originally was due to expire last week, then was extended twice, in hopes that the sides could find common ground on the key issues: how to divide more than $9 billion in annual revenues, and how much financial information the league would be willing to turn over.
In the end, it appeared the sides were about $185 million per year apart on how much money owners would get up front during the new collective bargaining agreement — well down from the $1 billion that separated them for so long. The union refused to budge any further without getting detailed financial information for each team.
"I would dare any one of you to pull out any economic indicator that would suggest that the National Football League is falling on hard times," NFLPA executive director DeMaurice Smith said. "The last 14 days, the National Football League has said, 'Trust us.' But when it came time for verification, they told us it was none of our business."
It all set the stage for a lengthy court fight that eventually could threaten the 2011 season for a league whose past two Super Bowls rank as the two most-watched programs in U.S. television history. The last time NFL games were lost to a work stoppage came when the players struck 24 years ago, leading to games with replacement players.
Even though the NFL is early in its offseason — and the regular season is six months away — this is hardly a complete down time. Free agency usually begins in March, and there are hundreds of free agents now in limbo. Also this month, under a regular schedule, offseason workouts would start, and the owners meet to establish rules changes.
Plus, March and early April are when many sponsors and corporate partners renew their deals with the NFL, part of why the league says hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue are going to be lost now.
"This obviously is a very disappointing day for all of us. I've been here for the better part of two weeks now, and essentially ... the union's position on the core economic issues has not changed one iota," New York Giants owner John Mara said. "One thing that became painfully apparent to me during this period was that their objective was to go the litigation route."
The NFLPA also decertified in 2011. Antitrust lawsuits by players led to a new CBA in 1993 that included free agency, and the union formed again that year.
The sides met from 10 a.m. until about 4 p.m. Friday, discussing a new proposal by the owners. When the possibility of another extension was raised, the union said it first wanted assurances it would get 10 years of audited financial information.
"I will tell you this: Any business where two partners don't trust each other, any business where one party says, 'You need to do X, Y and Z because I told you,' is a business that is not only not run well, it is a business that can never be as successful as it can be," Smith said.
At 4:45 p.m., Smith and the union's negotiators left. About 15 minutes later, the union decertified.
"No one is happy where we are now," NFL lead negotiator Jeff Pash said. "I think we know where the commitment was. It was a commitment to litigate all along."
A league statement added: "The union left a very good deal on the table."
The public acrimony that arose Thursday night seeped into Friday.
After Pash spoke, outside union lawyer Jim Quinn said: "I hate to say this, but he has not told the truth to our players or our fans. He has, in a word, lied to them about what happened today and what's happened over the last two weeks and the last two years."
The NFL said its offer included splitting the difference in the dispute over how much money owners should be given off the top of the league's revenues. Under the expiring CBA, the owners immediately got about $1 billion before dividing the remainder of revenues with the players; the owners entered negotiations seeking to roughly double that by getting an additional $1 billion up front.
But the owners reduced that eventually to about $650 million. Then, on Friday, they offered to drop that to about $325 million. Smith said the union offered during talks to give up $550 million over the first four years of a new agreement — or an average of $137.5 million.
"We worked hard," said NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who was joined at mediation on Thursday and Friday by nine of the 10 members of the owners' powerful labor committee. "We didn't reach an agreement, obviously. As you know, the union walked away from the mediation process."
Also in the NFL's offer, according to the league:
— Maintaining the 16 regular-season games and four preseason games for at least two years, with any switch to 18 games down the road being negotiable.
— Instituting a rookie wage scale through which money saved would be paid to veterans and retired players.
— Creating new year-round health and safety rules.
— Establishing a fund for retired players, with $82 million contributed by the owners over the next two years.
— Financial disclosure of audited league and club profitability information that is not even shared with the NFL clubs. That was proposed by the NFL this week, and rejected by the union, which began insisting in May 2011 for a complete look at the books of all 32 clubs.
As Pash outlined each element of the owners' last offer, he ended with the phrase: "Evidently not good enough."
When Goodell, Pash, Mara and owners Jerry Jones of the Cowboys and Jerry Richardson of the Panthers emerged from Cohen's office shortly after 5 p.m., they sounded hopeful negotiations would soon resume.
"We're discouraged, we're frustrated, we're disappointed, but we are not giving up. We know that this will be resolved in the negotiation process," Pash said. "We will be prepared to come back here any time the union is ready to come back here."
2011年3月10日星期四
reportedly opened fire at a rally in the east usa
Crude oil pared losses after the police in Saudi Arabia, the Middle East’s biggest petroleum producer, reportedly opened fire at a rally in the east of the country.
New York guess handbags futures rebounded from a four-month low and Brent crude, Europe’s benchmark, briefly rose after the report on the gunfire. Oil earlier fell as much as 3.6 percent after U.S. unemployment claims increased and Spain’s credit rating was cut, bolstering concern that the global economic recovery and fuel demand growth will slow.
“When the Saudi Arabia story broke, shorts got scared out of the market,” said Richard Ilczyszyn, a market strategist at Lind-Waldock, a broker in Chicago. “The bad economic data probably led you to believe that growth is not as good as expected.”
In other markets, corn, wheat and rice futures fell after the U.S. said global grain inventories will be higher than expected in February. Orange juice also declined. The UBS Bloomberg Constant Maturity Commodity Index dropped 1.2 percent to 1,736.97. The gauge slid for the fourth straight day, the longest slump since late August.
Oil futures for April delivery declined $1.68, or 1.6 percent, to settle at $102.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The most-active contract traded at $101.50 before reports of the gunfire.
Brent futures for April settlement slipped 51 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $115.43 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe in London. Earlier, the price slumped as much as 2.1 percent.
Grains Drop
Corn futures for May delivery fell 18.25 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $6.8275 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. The price dropped for the fifth straight session, the longest slump since November.
Bigger corn production than forecast in Brazil and more wheat expected from Argentina and Australia led the U.S. 2011 summer fashion shop Department of Agriculture to boost forecasts for global inventories before harvests this year in the Northern Hemisphere. World rice stockpiles will be 5.3 percent larger than estimated in February.
Tighter supplies amid rising demand helped fuel a rally in crop prices in the past year, as corn, wheat and rice jumped last month to the highest levels since 2008. The gains boosted global food prices to a record in February after surging 25 percent last year, according to the United Nations.
“Production numbers out of some foreign countries are starting to pick up, and in the U.S., there was a slowdown with some export business being shifted to other countries,” said Brian Hoops, the president of Midwest Market Solutions in Yankton, South Dakota. “It probably puts less pressure on the U.S. to produce a big corn crop and a big wheat crop, although it’s still early in the season.”
Wheat futures for May delivery declined 18.25 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $7.405 a bushel, capping an 11 percent plunge in four days.
Rice futures for May delivery plunged by the exchange limit of 50 cents, or 3.7 percent, to $13.05 per 100 pounds, the lowest since Nov. 17.
Orange Juice
Orange juice fell to a three-week low after the USDA unexpectedly boosted its estimate of the Florida orange crop, signaling damage from a December frost was less severe than estimated.
Growers in Florida, the world’s second-largest producer, will collect 142 million boxes of oranges in the harvest that began in October and runs into July, the agency said in a report. That was up 2.9 percent from 138 million projected in February, marking the first increase in four months.
Five analysts in a Bloomberg News survey projected a crop of 136.2 million boxes, on average. Two weeks ago, orange juice reached the highest price since April 2007 after the adverse weather in Florida in December and January. PepsiCo Inc.’s Tropicana unit, the largest cheap guess handbags purchaser of Florida fruit and juice, plans to raise prices on some products.
New York guess handbags futures rebounded from a four-month low and Brent crude, Europe’s benchmark, briefly rose after the report on the gunfire. Oil earlier fell as much as 3.6 percent after U.S. unemployment claims increased and Spain’s credit rating was cut, bolstering concern that the global economic recovery and fuel demand growth will slow.
“When the Saudi Arabia story broke, shorts got scared out of the market,” said Richard Ilczyszyn, a market strategist at Lind-Waldock, a broker in Chicago. “The bad economic data probably led you to believe that growth is not as good as expected.”
In other markets, corn, wheat and rice futures fell after the U.S. said global grain inventories will be higher than expected in February. Orange juice also declined. The UBS Bloomberg Constant Maturity Commodity Index dropped 1.2 percent to 1,736.97. The gauge slid for the fourth straight day, the longest slump since late August.
Oil futures for April delivery declined $1.68, or 1.6 percent, to settle at $102.70 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The most-active contract traded at $101.50 before reports of the gunfire.
Brent futures for April settlement slipped 51 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $115.43 a barrel on ICE Futures Europe in London. Earlier, the price slumped as much as 2.1 percent.
Grains Drop
Corn futures for May delivery fell 18.25 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $6.8275 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade. The price dropped for the fifth straight session, the longest slump since November.
Bigger corn production than forecast in Brazil and more wheat expected from Argentina and Australia led the U.S. 2011 summer fashion shop Department of Agriculture to boost forecasts for global inventories before harvests this year in the Northern Hemisphere. World rice stockpiles will be 5.3 percent larger than estimated in February.
Tighter supplies amid rising demand helped fuel a rally in crop prices in the past year, as corn, wheat and rice jumped last month to the highest levels since 2008. The gains boosted global food prices to a record in February after surging 25 percent last year, according to the United Nations.
“Production numbers out of some foreign countries are starting to pick up, and in the U.S., there was a slowdown with some export business being shifted to other countries,” said Brian Hoops, the president of Midwest Market Solutions in Yankton, South Dakota. “It probably puts less pressure on the U.S. to produce a big corn crop and a big wheat crop, although it’s still early in the season.”
Wheat futures for May delivery declined 18.25 cents, or 2.4 percent, to $7.405 a bushel, capping an 11 percent plunge in four days.
Rice futures for May delivery plunged by the exchange limit of 50 cents, or 3.7 percent, to $13.05 per 100 pounds, the lowest since Nov. 17.
Orange Juice
Orange juice fell to a three-week low after the USDA unexpectedly boosted its estimate of the Florida orange crop, signaling damage from a December frost was less severe than estimated.
Growers in Florida, the world’s second-largest producer, will collect 142 million boxes of oranges in the harvest that began in October and runs into July, the agency said in a report. That was up 2.9 percent from 138 million projected in February, marking the first increase in four months.
Five analysts in a Bloomberg News survey projected a crop of 136.2 million boxes, on average. Two weeks ago, orange juice reached the highest price since April 2007 after the adverse weather in Florida in December and January. PepsiCo Inc.’s Tropicana unit, the largest cheap guess handbags purchaser of Florida fruit and juice, plans to raise prices on some products.
2011年3月9日星期三
From a savvy kid who bought his frist power balance
The value of the 71-year-old's companies as measured by Forbes, around $74 billion, is nearly twice the projected 2011 power balance gross domestic product of Lebanon, from where Slim's father fled to Mexico in 1902 to escape Ottoman rule.
Slim, who tops the list of Forbes' richest people for the second year in a row, increased the gap between his nearest rivals Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, both of whom have vowed to give guess handbags up much of their money to charity. [ID:nN09283763]
Though Slim has also channeled billions of dollars into philanthropic causes, he has kept a tighter rein on his fortune, most of which is controlled by his family.
Businessmen do more good by creating jobs and wealth via investment "not by being Santa Claus," Slim likes to say.
"One should not seek exposure or applause for the things one does, but simply do them well for one's own sense of accomplishment," he once said about his social work.
The biggest boost to Slim's wealth in 2011 guess handbags came when he realized big savings and wrongfooted competitors by carrying out a $21 billion tie-up between his telecom companies to create a sectoral conglomerate under America Movil (AMX.N) (AMXL.MX).
Cash continued to flood in after power balance Slim made an aggressive bet on the price of raw materials through mining investments within his Grupo Carso (GCARSOA1.MX) holding.
While business success dominates media coverage of Slim, his predecessors at the top of the list have made headlines in recent years as celebrated philanthropists.
Microsoft (MSFT.O) co-founder Gates has given away more than a third of his wealth to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. Buffett said in 2006 he planned to give up around 85 guess handbags percent of his wealth to charitable causes.
Slim has two major foundations worth around $10 billion in total, according to his spokesman Arturo Elias Ayub.
Much of Slim's charitable work is overseen by his three daughters. Management of his most important companies has passed to his three sons, nephews and sons-in-law.
NOT SLOWING UP
From a savvy kid who bought his first government savings bond at age 11 to becoming the world's richest man, Slim is one of the most influential entrepreneurs in Latin America. But it has not all been smooth sailing.
No stranger to controversy at summer fashion 2011 shop home, where detractors accuse him of using political connections to kick-start his rise two decades ago, Slim is now embroiled in a competition row over his dominant position in the telecommunications industry.
Slim, who tops the list of Forbes' richest people for the second year in a row, increased the gap between his nearest rivals Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, both of whom have vowed to give guess handbags up much of their money to charity. [ID:nN09283763]
Though Slim has also channeled billions of dollars into philanthropic causes, he has kept a tighter rein on his fortune, most of which is controlled by his family.
Businessmen do more good by creating jobs and wealth via investment "not by being Santa Claus," Slim likes to say.
"One should not seek exposure or applause for the things one does, but simply do them well for one's own sense of accomplishment," he once said about his social work.
The biggest boost to Slim's wealth in 2011 guess handbags came when he realized big savings and wrongfooted competitors by carrying out a $21 billion tie-up between his telecom companies to create a sectoral conglomerate under America Movil (AMX.N) (AMXL.MX).
Cash continued to flood in after power balance Slim made an aggressive bet on the price of raw materials through mining investments within his Grupo Carso (GCARSOA1.MX) holding.
While business success dominates media coverage of Slim, his predecessors at the top of the list have made headlines in recent years as celebrated philanthropists.
Microsoft (MSFT.O) co-founder Gates has given away more than a third of his wealth to the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation. Buffett said in 2006 he planned to give up around 85 guess handbags percent of his wealth to charitable causes.
Slim has two major foundations worth around $10 billion in total, according to his spokesman Arturo Elias Ayub.
Much of Slim's charitable work is overseen by his three daughters. Management of his most important companies has passed to his three sons, nephews and sons-in-law.
NOT SLOWING UP
From a savvy kid who bought his first government savings bond at age 11 to becoming the world's richest man, Slim is one of the most influential entrepreneurs in Latin America. But it has not all been smooth sailing.
No stranger to controversy at summer fashion 2011 shop home, where detractors accuse him of using political connections to kick-start his rise two decades ago, Slim is now embroiled in a competition row over his dominant position in the telecommunications industry.
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