Payroll jobs up, jobless rate falls to 8.5 percent (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Employment grew solidly last month and the jobless rate dropped to a near three-year low of 8.5 percent, offering the strongest evidence yet of an acceleration in economic activity.

Nonfarm payrolls increased 200,000 last month, the Labor Department said on Friday, the most in three months and way above economists' expectations for a 150,000 gain.

The economy needs to sustain the current pace of job creation to signal a robust recovery is finally under way.

The unemployment rate dropped from a revised 8.7 percent in November, which was previously reported as 8.6 percent. The jobless rate is now the lowest since February 2009.

However, the payrolls count for October and November was revised to show 8,000 fewer jobs created than previously reported, taking some edge off the report.

The separate household survey, from which the jobless rate is derived, showed gains in employment and a modest decline in the labor force, helping to lower the jobless rate.

But the economy needs even faster pace of job growth over a sustained period to make a noticeable dent in the pool of the more than 20 million Americans who remain either out of work or underemployed since the end of the 2007-09 recession.

With the labor market still far from healthy, the debt crisis in Europe unresolved and tensions over Iran threatening to drive up oil prices, the U.S. economy faces stiff headwinds.

Economists predict the recovery will lose a step early this year after expanding in the fourth quarter at what is expected to be the fastest pace in 1-1/2 years.

This should keep alive the possibility of the Federal Reserve embarking on a third round of asset purchases, or quantitative easing, to spur stronger growth.

GOVERNMENT A DRAG

All the job gains in December came from the private sector, where payrolls rose 212,000 -- the most in three months. Government employment contracted 12,000.

A measure of the share of industries that showed job gains during the month recovered after falling sharply in November. There were job gains in construction, where unseasonably mild weather has boosted groundbreaking for new homes.

Construction payrolls increased 17,000 after falling 12,000 in November. Transportation and warehousing also got a boost from the mild temperatures, with employment jumping 50,200.

(Editing by Neil Stempleman)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120106/bs_nm/us_usa_economy

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Rick Santorum In New Hampshire: Congress Should Take Obama To Court For Recess Appointments

BRENTWOOD, N.H. -- Rick Santorum, flying high off his victory in the Iowa caucuses, met with voters at a nursing home in New Hampshire on Wednesday night, telling them not to settle for a "pyrrhic victory" and to eschew the conventional wisdom of who is "electable."

"Fifty percent of all the money we've raised to date was raised today," he said to loud applause, basking in his finish just eight votes behind former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney in Tuesday's Iowa caucuses.

Santorum met with a packed room of voters and reporters at the Rockingham County Nursing Home for 90 minutes, which included a 10-minute response to a question about Social Security. Santorum took several digs at his fellow candidates -- most notably Romney, the frontrunner in New Hampshire -- but saved his sharpest barbs for President Barack Obama.

Santorum sharply criticized the president for recess-appointing Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau -- although he called it the Consumer Financial Services Commission -- and two Democrats and one Republican to fill vacancies on the National Labor Relations Board.

"When Congress refuses to act and as a result hurts our economy and puts people at risk, I have an obligation as president to do what I can without them," Obama said in a speech in Shaker Heights, Ohio, explaining his actions. "I have an obligation to act on behalf of the American people."

"What the president did was wrong," said Santorum.

"Pretty scary stuff," he added. "I hope that the United States Senate does what they're supposed to do, and they should go and even take the president to court. This is not something that the president should get away with."

One man yelled, "Impeach!" in response.

The labor relations board lost its quorum yesterday as the term of board member Craig Becker came to an end -- essentially crippling the agency that was unpopular with conservatives. Although the recess appointments will probably be challenged legally by business groups, the president's move could allow the board to continue operating without disruption.

Republicans say Obama may have violated the Constitution with his recess appointments, arguing that the Senate was in a "pro forma session" and therefore not technically in recess.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) also said Obama's move raised legal questions, adding that the NLRB appointments were "particularly egregious" because the president didn't nominate Block and Griffin until two days before lawmakers left town for the holidays in December.

However, two constitutional advisers to President George W. Bush argued in 2010 that presidents are allowed to make recess appointments despite pro forma sessions, writing, "[T]he Senate remains in 'recess' for purposes of the recess appointment power, despite the empty formalities of the individual senators who wield the gavel in pro forma sessions."

Obama has made 28 recess appointments, compared with 61 by President George W. Bush at the same point in his term, according to the White House.

"I can tell you, you may not agree with me on every issue, and I suspect you don't," Santorum said as an attempt to win over the votes of the people in the room on Wednesday, several of whom told The Huffington Post they were considering backing Romney. "But what you know is that I agree with me on every issue."

New Hampshire State Rep. Randall Whitehead, a Republican from Nashua who has been a Santorum backer for nine months, said he thinks winning the state will be a steep uphill climb for the former Pennsylvania senator. But a "strong showing" would be a victory for Santorum, Whitehead said.

"It's been very frustrating for us to be working so hard for all of these months and have him so low in the polls and not get the recognition he deserved, by the media and in the television debates," Whitehead said. "He had to fight and claw to get a word in here and there. Now, this is just a dream come true. It's full. We're in the middle of nowhere. It's a very cold night out there. It's a wonderful thing."

CORRECTION: Revised Dec. 4, 2011, at 11:53 p.m. to correct the spelling of Cordray.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/04/rick-santorum-new-hampshire-obama-court-recess_n_1185167.html

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North Korea military strategy superior, says think-tank

By Jeremy Laurence

SEOUL | Wed Jan 4, 2012 8:42am GMT

SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korea's military strategy is superior to the defensive posture of its affluent neighbour to the South, an independent think-tank said on Wednesday, giving Pyongyang the edge in the early days of any war on the divided peninsula.

The Seoul-based Korea Economic Research Institute said in a report that in 2011 North Korea operated a 1.02-million-strong army and a record number of tanks, warships and air defence artillery. Total military personnel strength is 1.2 million.

"The depressing reality is it would not be entirely wrong to say North Korea's military strength is stronger," the institute said.

"We need to remember that the North is far superior in terms of the number of troops, and especially the North's military is structured in its formation and deployment with the purpose of an offensive war."

South Korea's armed forces number nearly 700,000, and they are backed by about 28,000 U.S. troops.

But analysts say that even though the North's army far outnumbers the combined South Korean and U.S. troop levels, the North's forces would stand no chance of winning a war because their equipment was vastly inferior.

Experts say that while the North might have the early edge in any war, U.S. and South Korean air power alone would quickly turn the advantage their way.

The two Koreas are still technically at war having signed only an armistice to end the 1950-53 Korean War.

OFFENCE BEST FORM OF DEFENCE

Less than a month after the reclusive state's leader Kim Jong-il died, North Korea has made it clear its top priority is maintaining a songun, or military-first, policy whereby the army takes precedence over everything else.

The institute's report called for Seoul to hit back hard against any strike by the North.

"The only way to deter a pre-emptive attack by the North is to make it clear that the South Korean forces will assume it is a precursor to a full-out war and strike back regardless of the nature of the aggression, even if it is a small-scale regional guerrilla war."

While the North has fewer combat aircraft than in 1986, its air power has been boosted by top-class MiG-29 fighter jets since the 1990s, the institute said. It also said there have notable increase in the number of submarines.

But experts say most of the North's naval and air force equipment are aged, and that its low fuel supplies mean it would be unable to sustain a long military operation.

Most of the impoverished North's finances are used to develop its programmes to build weapons of mass destruction.

The North has come under international sanctions since 2006 for testing nuclear devices and long-range missiles. In late 2010, it unveiled a uranium enrichment facility, which has opened a second route to make an atomic bomb along with its plutonium programme.

"PROVOCATION"

Analysts say that the young and inexperienced new leader, Kim Jong-un, who is heading a third generation of dynastic rule in the North, will stick to his father's militaristic approach.

They say he could take action, such as a military attack or more nuclear or missile tests, to burnish his credentials as an iron-fisted leader in the same mould as his father and grandfather.

The North has threatened to turn the South's capital, Seoul, into a "sea of fire" on numerous occasions and repeated that rhetoric again last week.

North Korea has a long history of using bellicose language against the South, especially since the conservative government of Lee Myung-bak took office in 2008 and ended a policy of engagement with the North.

The South's Defence Ministry said on Wednesday it would sign a joint operational plan with Washington this month to counter potential aggression, and increase the number of joint exercises with U.S. forces.

The ministry said this move was part of efforts to stay alert and guard against North Korean threats.

"The threat of provocation by North Korea remains a constant possibility as Kim Jong-un moves ahead with building his regime," it said in a report to the president.

"Our military will annihilate the enemy's will to mount repeat aggression by striking back sufficiently against the source of the threat and any supporting element until the enemy threat is completely removed."

The North has in the past lashed out against joint U.S-South Korean drills, saying they themselves are a provocation and are a tantamount to practice for an invasion.

Seoul has revamped its defences since 50 South Korean soldiers were killed in two separate attacks in 2010.

It has boosted artillery defences on west coast islands where the attacks took place, and changed its combat rules permitting tougher retaliatory responses.

South Korea increased military spending by 5 percent to 33 trillion won in the 2012 budget.

(Additional reporting by Jack Kim and Iktae Park; Editing by Robert Birsel and Ed Lane)

Source: http://uk.reuters.com/article/2012/01/04/uk-korea-north-military-idUKTRE8030C920120104?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews

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[OOC] Powers and drawbacks

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Please post all "Players Wanted" threads in the Roleplayers Wanted forum!

This topic is an Out Of Character part of the roleplay, ?Guardians of Earth?. Anything posted here will also show up there.

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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.
If you have any questions about the powers and/or their drawbacks then please post here to check.

There are probably two things you didn't understand and they would probably be the powers of light and darkness. I'm hoping that light will be our healer, drawing power from him/herself to give to others and heal them. Also, I'm hoping that Darkness will be controlling darkness obviously but also affecting the mind and body in a negative way.

Light: controlling light, Healing mind and body.

Darkness: Controlling darkness, negative effects for mind and body.

ViviOrunitiaFF9

Member for 1 years

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NFL looking into obscene gesture from Jets' Scott

The NFL is investigating an obscene gesture given by New York Jets linebacker Bart Scott to the media in the team?s locker room Monday, according to CBS.

When asked about a circulating rumor that the former All-Pro linebacker wouldn?t be back with the Jets in 2012, Scott reportedly responded:

?All I know is I?ve got a guaranteed contract for $4 million,? Scott replied. He then displayed his middle finger and told reporters to ?take a picture of this,? while leaving the locker room.

Scott, 31, tallied 66 tackles and 4.5 sacks for the Jets this season. In 2006, when he was named to the Pro Bowl team, Scott had 103 tackles, 9.5 sacks, and two interceptions for the Baltimore Ravens.

Source: http://tracking.si.com/2012/01/03/nfl-investigating-bart-scotts-obscene-gesture-to-the-media/?xid=si_nfl

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News: Microsoft and Datel settle lawsuits

Dan Pearson
Senior Staff Writer, GamesIndustry.biz

05/01/2012 @ 09:53

Related articles

Microsoft and Datel have decided to mutually settle their lawsuits against each other, ending over two years of legal enmity between the two companies.

This is an excerpt from the full story. Log in or register for free to read the whole article.

Source: http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-01-05-microsoft-and-datel-settle-lawsuits

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East Visayas SMEs created 12,000 jobs in 2011 - DTI

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Source: www.moreover.com --- Monday, January 02, 2012
Philippine Information Agency Jan 2 2012 8:18AM GMT ...

Source: http://c.moreover.com/click/here.pl?r5688455672

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