THE RESET: Gov't slowing economic and job growth

In this Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013 photo, Fernando Rames answers questions on a job application at the job fair in Sunrise, Fla. U.S. employers added 157,000 jobs in January, and hiring was much stronger at the end of 2012 than previously thought, providing reassurance that the job market held steady even as economic growth stalled, according to Labor Department reports, Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

In this Tuesday, Jan. 22, 2013 photo, Fernando Rames answers questions on a job application at the job fair in Sunrise, Fla. U.S. employers added 157,000 jobs in January, and hiring was much stronger at the end of 2012 than previously thought, providing reassurance that the job market held steady even as economic growth stalled, according to Labor Department reports, Friday, Feb. 1, 2013. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

White House press secretary Jay Carney briefs reporters at the White House in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

President Barack Obama declared last June that "the private sector is doing fine." And President Ronald Reagan liked to tell audiences, "Government is not the solution to our problem, government is the problem." Two major economic reports this week seem to lend some new weight to both provocative assertions.

The government continued to shed jobs in the first month of 2013, while the private sector again posted solid ? if not robust ? gains, the Labor Department reported Friday.

Employers added 157,000 jobs overall. There would have been more if governments hadn't shed 9,000 jobs in January, extending a recent trend.

The Commerce Department reported two days earlier that the economy contracted in the final three months of 2012, with the Gross Domestic Product slipping at a 0.1 percent annual rate.

A 6.6 percent drop in government spending, most of it at the national level, was the big culprit, subtracting about 1.3 percentage points from the GDP and dragging it into negative territory for the first time in over three years.

Yet the report also showed that the main drivers of the private economy ? housing, consumer spending and business investment ? had strengthened.

Obama was widely ridiculed for saying the private sector was "doing fine" compared to the government, and he backtracked a bit. But it turns out he wasn't totally wrong ? just about six months premature.

And present-day Reagan disciples continue to insist a smaller government is a better government ? even if it stokes job losses.

Reagan also declared, "It's morning in America again."

But that's a sentiment Obama is unlikely to be uttering anytime soon, with the jobless rate inching up in January to 7.9 percent from 7.8 percent in December.

"We still have work to do," White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters at Friday's daily briefing.

___

Follow Tom Raum on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tomraum

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-02-01-US-The-Reset/id-08e7f21d6ca1461b92960d1495ca6621

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Affleck's 'Argo' wins Directors Guild top honor

LOS ANGELES (AP) ? Ben Affleck has won the top film honor from the Directors Guild of America for his CIA thriller "Argo," further sealing its status as best-picture front-runner at the Academy Awards.

Saturday's prize also normally would make Affleck a near shoo-in to win best-director at the Feb. 24 Oscars, since the Directors Guild recipient nearly always goes on to claim the same prize at Hollywood's biggest night.

But Affleck surprisingly missed out on an Oscar directing nomination, along with several other key favorites, including fellow Directors Guild contenders Kathryn Bigelow for "Zero Dark Thirty" and Tom Hooper for "Les Miserables."

Affleck's Oscar snub has not hurt "Argo" and may even have earned it some favor among awards voters as an underdog favorite. "Argo" has dominated other awards since the Oscar nominations.

"I don't think that this makes me a real director, but I think it means I'm on my way," said Affleck, who won for just his third film behind the camera.

The Directors Guild honors continued Hollywood's strange awards season, which could culminate with a big Oscar win for Affleck's "Argo." The guild's prize for best director typically is a final blessing for the film that goes on to win best-picture and director at the Oscars.

Affleck can go only one-for-two at the Oscars, though. While "Argo" is up for best picture, the director's branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences overlooked him for a directing slot.

Backstage at the Directors Guild honors, Affleck said he had nothing but respect for the academy and that "you're not entitled to anything."

"I'm thrilled and honored that the academy nominated me as a producer of the movie," Affleck said. "I know our movie, we're a little bit underdog and a little bit the little engine that could, and you take me out of it maybe helps ... it's just about that picture. I feel like it's OK, I'm really lucky, I'm in a good place."

With 12 Oscar nominations, Steven Spielberg's Civil War saga "Lincoln" initially looked like the Oscar favorite over such other potential favorites as "Argo," ''Les Miserables" and "Zero Dark Thirty," since films generally have little chance of winning best picture if they are not nominated for best director. Only three films have done it in 84 years, most recently 1989's best-picture champ "Driving Miss Daisy," which failed to earn a directing nomination for Bruce Beresford.

But Affleck's "Argo," in which he also stars as a CIA operative who hatches a bold plan to rescue six Americans during the hostage crisis in Iran, has swept up all the major awards since the Oscar nominations. "Argo" won best drama and director at the Golden Globes and top film honors from the Screen Actors Guild and the Producers Guild of America.

Many of the same film professionals who vote in guild awards also cast ballots for the Oscars, so all the wins for "Argo" are a strong sign that the film has the inside track for best picture.

Milos Forman, a two-time Directors Guild and Oscar winner for "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and "Amadeus," received the group's lifetime-achievement award. Guild President Taylor Hackford let the crowd in a toast to Forman, who was ill and unable to attend.

Malik Bendjelloul won the guild's documentary award for "Searching for Sugar Man," his study of the fate of critically acclaimed but obscure 1970s singer-songwriter Rodriquez. The film also is nominated for best documentary at the Oscars.

Jay Roach won the guild trophy for TV movies and miniseries for "Game Change," his drama starring Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin in her 2008 vice-presidential run.

Roach said that he watched John McCain rush to choose Palin as his running-mate, potentially putting her second in line for the presidency.

"I said, 'We gotta talk about this,'" Roach joked.

"Girls" star Lena Dunham earned the guild honor for TV comedy, while Rian Johnson won for drama series for "Breaking Bad."

Dunham won for directing the pilot of "Girls," which focuses on the lives of a group of women in their 20s.

"It is such an unbelievable honor to be in the company of the people in this room, who have made me want to do this with my life," Dunham said.

Filmmaker Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu ("Babel," ''Amores Perros") won for best commercial for a Procter and Gamble spot he directed.

Among other TV winners:

? Reality program: Brian Smith, "Master Chef."

? Musical variety: Glenn Weiss, "The 66th Annual Tony Awards."

? Daytime serial: Jill Mitwell, "One Life to Live."

? Children's program: Paul Hoen, "Let It Shine."

Affleck's win Saturday nicks the Directors Guild record as a strong forecast for the eventual directing recipient at the Oscars. Only six times in the 64-year history of the guild awards has the winner there failed to follow up with an Oscar. This will be the seventh, since Affleck is not up for the best-director Oscar.

Peer loyalty might play in Affleck's favor at the Oscars. The acting branch in particular, the largest block of the academy's 5,900 members, might really throw its weight behind "Argo" because of Affleck's directing snub. Actors love it when one of their own moves into a successful directing career, and Affleck ? who's rarely earned raves for his dramatic chops ? also delivers one of his best performances in "Argo."

Affleck has had no traction in acting honors this season, and he's joked that no one considered it a snub when he wasn't nominated for best actor. So a best-picture vote for "Argo" might be viewed as making right his omission from the directing lineup and acknowledging what a double-threat talent he's become in front of and behind the camera.

A best-picture prize also would send Affleck home with an Oscar. The award would go to the producers of "Argo": George Clooney, Grant Heslov and Affleck.

But it's not as though Affleck has never gotten his due at Hollywood awards before. He and Matt Damon jump-started their careers with 1997's "Good Will Hunting," for which they shared a screenplay Oscar.

___

AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/afflecks-argo-wins-directors-guild-top-honor-063830435.html

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Video: How is Hillary Clinton spending her first day off the job?

>>> the most traveled secretary of state in u.s. history is jobless today for the first time in decades. former secretary of state hillary clinton received a warm sendoff in washington on friday. and while her political future may be in question, one thing is certain -- her short-term plans include a lot of rest. kristin welker is at the white house with more. good morning.

>> reporter: lester, good morning you to. that's right, clinton has joked about looking forward to sleeping in this weekend. this after visiting more than 100 countries, earning praise and some criticism along the way. secretary of state hillary clinton starting a new chapter in her storied life.

>> i cannot fully express how grateful i am to those with whom i have spent many hours here in washington, around the world, and in airplanes. [ laughter ]

>> reporter: clinton spent a lot of time on airplanes, traveling more than a million miles from overseeing a shift toward democracy in myanmar to helping to broker a cease-fire last year when tensions flared between israel and hamas. the final weeks of her tenure were rocky when she testified on capitol hill about the attack against the u.s. consulate in benghazi. foreign policy experts say she didn't have one signature achievement, but she did leave a mark.

>> on balance, i think that she's notable for a steadiness, for a relatively error-free period, for extremely loyal service to the president.

>> reporter: her journey to secretary of state was somewhat improbable. from the white house as first lady to a senate to a tough campaign against her now-former boss.

>> i was a big admirer of hillary's before our primary battles.

>> if the roles had been reversed and i had ended up winning, i would have desperately wanted him to be in my cabinet. so if i'm saying i would have wanted him to say yes to me, how am i going to justify saying no to my president?

>> reporter: while today she can sleep in, clinton 's next move is a mystery. she joked to "the new york times" in november, "maybe i'll get a decorating show." the speck blulation about a white house run in 2016 has begun in earnest.

>> for the foreseeable future, i don't think that i will be at all political because there's so much else i need to do.

>> reporter: now sources close to clinton tell me she really hasn't made up her mind about whether or not she'll run in 2016 . it's certainly one of the options on the table. they say right now she's just focused on get something rest. lester?

Source: http://video.today.msnbc.msn.com/today/50676120/

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Iran escalating efforts to destabilize region - Panetta

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Outgoing U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta accused Iran of an intensified campaign to destabilize the Middle East by smuggling anti-aircraft weapons to militant allies, The Wall Street Journal reported on Friday.

"There is no question when you start passing MANPADS around, that becomes a threat, not just to military aircraft but to civilian aircraft," Panetta told the newspaper in an interview. "That is an escalation."

MANPADS are shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles. Western officials have worried about the spread of such weapons and the risk they pose to airline passengers as well as to military helicopters and jets.

Yemeni forces intercepted a ship on January 23 carrying a large cache of weapons - including surface-to-air missiles - that U.S. officials suspect were being smuggled from Iran and destined for Yemeni insurgents.

"It is one of the first times we have seen it," Panetta said, referring to the seizure of MANPADS.

A Defense Department spokesman was not immediately available for comment on Panetta's remarks to the paper.

Yemen's government said the arms intercepted aboard the ship off the country's coast also included military-grade explosives, rocket-propelled grenades and bomb-making equipment.

Iran denies any interference in Yemen's affairs.

Panetta said the United States was stepping up efforts to counter the Iranian threat, and was leading a multinational exercise in the United Arab Emirates through Thursday to improve the interdiction of Iranian arms and other weapons.

He called the exercise critical to building up Arab capabilities to help halt Iranian arms transfers, including the smuggling of MANPADS.

U.S. officials have said the anti-aircraft weapons intercepted on January 23 likely were headed to northern Yemen's Houthi separatists, who are fighting the U.S.-backed government in Sanaa and have also clashed with Saudi forces.

Panetta is preparing to step down as defense secretary after 19 months in the job.

The Senate Armed Services Committee held a hearing on Thursday on the nomination of former Republican Senator Chuck Hagel to succeed Panetta.

(Writing by Doug Palmer; Editing by Peter Cooney)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iran-escalating-efforts-destabilize-region-panetta-022204627.html

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Lei Cha: Have You Ever Tried Hakka Pounded Tea? | The Kitchn

Recently Serious Eats featured "pestle tea," a Hakka Chinese drink made from tea leaves pounded with nuts and seeds. Intrigued by the sound of this creamy, nourishing tea, we explored further and realized this is the lei cha that we've found in packets at Asian markets ? but so much better when made from scratch.

Lei cha, also known as pounded, ground, or thunder tea, is a specialty of the Hakka people of southern China. (Large Hakka diaspora communities also exist in Taiwan and Southeast Asian countries like Malaysia and Indonesia.) The drink consists of green or oolong tea leaves pounded in a mortar and pestle with roasted nuts and seeds such as peanuts, sesame seeds, pine nuts, sunflower seeds, and pumpkin seeds. Herbs, beans, and roasted grains like puffed rice may also be added.

After grinding them to a paste, the ingredients are mixed with hot water or tea to form a thick, luscious drink. Often times it is served over rice, vegetables, and pickled radishes to make a nutritious soup.

Although it comes from centuries-old tradition, Hakka tea is not a specific recipe, and it's open to experimentation. For example, we loved reading how Hunger and Thirst adapted the method to her own, local ingredients and a molcajete. You can also use a food processor instead of a mortar and pestle, but we find that hand grinding can be very satisfying!

Have you ever tried pestle tea?

Learn more:
? Pestle Tea at Serious Eats
? Wild Pestle Tea at Hunger and Thirst
? Hakka Lei Cha at Arbor Teas

Related: Try This: Eight Treasure Tea

(Images: Heidi's WorK BooK, used with permission)

Source: http://www.thekitchn.com/have-you-ever-tried-hakka-lei-cha-183046

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What Makes a Hotel Luxury? | Travel and Leisure

Posted by admin on Jan 20, 2013 in Hotels

Everywhere you look the word luxury is being used; luxury coffee, luxury face cream. Hotels often attach the word luxury to their title, but what does it actual mean and what does it take to be called luxurious?

This article is going to discuss the meaning of luxury and then apply this to hotels and find out what they need to be doing and providing to customers for them to be able to use the word luxury in reference to their property.

The word Luxury is a noun, which has been defined as the state of great comfort and extravagant living. Another definition explains that luxury is something that is an indulgence rather than a necessity.

So it is fair to say that most people think luxury is something of value, however a luxury will vary to the individual. For example, a very wealthy person might feel an expensive gift is a luxury whereas a homeless person might feel a meal or a bed for the night is a luxury. Many people will often look at time as a luxury, as people are always wanting more time, both to spend with family and loved one and in life.

Personally Luxury items are those which are often priced high, and are very modern and only a few people own. For example designer handbags and tablet computers.

When luxury is used with hotels it is not so varied:

A hotel is defined as an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis, and a Luxury Hotel is defined as the same but the Luxury refers to combination of facilities and style and something which one don?t normally experience at home.

If a hotel has the word luxury attached, it is commonly know that the price is increase, so what are you paying for?

• Fast and easy check in, they should offer video or express checkout. And discrepancies on your bill should be settled swiftly.
• The correct room, the room you booked should be exactly as you expect it, as you should be able to specify the type and size of room and physical location in the hotel.
• High quality bedroom and bathroom features. The design and layout of the room should be ?luxurious?, they both should be clean and odorless.
• Personal service, each employee should provide personal service and go above and beyond to ensure each guest is happy.
• Complimentary touches, for example bottles water, tea and coffee in the room, free Wi-fi and free use of the gym facilities.

Source: http://www.sonfestchapel.org/210-what-makes-a-hotel-luxury.html

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Boeing 787 probe widens after battery voltage ruled out

4 hrs.

Reuters

U.S. safety investigators on Sunday ruled out excess voltage as the cause of a battery fire this month on a Boeing Co 787 Dreamliner jet operated by Japan Airlines Co (JAL) and said they were expanding the probe to look at the battery's charger and the jet's auxiliary power unit.?

U.S. investigators have already examined the lithium-ion battery that powered the auxiliary power unit (APU), where the battery fire started in the JAL plane, as well as several other components removed from the airplane, including wire bundles and battery management circuit boards.?

"Examination of the flight recorder data from the JAL B-787 airplane indicates that the APU (auxiliary power unit) battery did not exceed its designed voltage of 32 volts," the National Transportation Safety Board?said in a statement issued early Sunday.?

On Tuesday, investigators will convene in Tucson, Arizona to test and examine the charger for the battery, and download non-volatile memory from the APU controller, with similar tests planned at the Phoenix facility where the APUs are built. Other components have been sent for download or examination to Boeing's Seattle facility and manufacturer facilities in Japan.?

Securaplane Technologies Inc, a unit of Britain's Meggitt Plc that makes the charger, said it will fully support the U.S. investigation.?

Officials with United Technologies Corp, which builds the plane's auxiliary power unit and is the main supplier of electrical systems on the 787, said they would also cooperate with the investigation.?

Last week, governments across the world grounded the Dreamliner while Boeing halted deliveries after a problem with a lithium-ion battery on a second 787 plane, flown by All Nippon Airways Co (ANA), forced the aircraft to make an emergency landing in western Japan.?

A growing number of investigators and Boeing executives are working around the clock to determine what caused the two incidents which the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration says released flammable chemicals and could have sparked a fire in the plane's electrical compartment.?

There are still no clear answers about the root cause of the battery failures, but the NTSB's statement eliminated one possible answer that had been raised by Japanese investigators.?

It also underscored the complexity of investigating a battery system that includes manufacturers across the world, and may point to a design problem with the battery that could take longer to fix than swapping out a faulty batch of batteries.?

On Friday, a Japanese safety official had told reporters that excessive electricity may have overheated the battery in the ANA-owned Dreamliner that was forced to make the emergency landing at Japan's Takamatsu airport last week.?

"The NTSB wanted to set the record straight," said one source familiar with the investigation who was not authorized to speak publicly.?

The NTSB's decision to travel to Securaplane's facility sparked fresh questions about the safety of the lithium-ion batteries that remain at the heart of the investigation.?

While the 787 is the most aggressive user of lithium-ion battery technology in commercial aviation, the industry at large is testing it, and the FAA has approved its use in several different planes, each governed by "special conditions."?

"Lithium-ion batteries are significantly more susceptible to internal failures that can result in self-sustaining increases in temperature and pressure," the FAA said in 2006, when it allowed Airbus to use lithium batteries for the emerging lighting system on its A380.?

Securaplane, which first began working on the charger in 2004, suffered millions of dollars of damages in November 2006 after a lithium-ion battery used in testing exploded and sparked a fire that burned an administrative building to the ground.?

Boeing spokesman Marc Birtel said an investigation into the 2006 fire was later determined to have been caused by an improper test set-up, not the battery design. He declined comment on the current 787 investigations.?

After the fire, a former Securaplane employee named Michael Leon sued the company, alleging that he was fired for raising security concerns about charger and discrepancies between their assembly documents and the finished chargers.?

Leon's suit was later dismissed.?

The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) on Sunday said it had investigated Leon's safety complaints in 2008 and 2009 but concluded his allegations focused on prototypes that were not ultimately used in the new lightweight airliner.?

FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said the reviews also found that Securaplane's production of a particular printed circuit board complied with FAA requirements.?

Japan's GS Yuasa Corp makes lithium-ion batteries for the Dreamliner, while France's Thales produces the control systems for the battery. Thales has declined comment.?

In its statement, the NTSB said French authorities were also participating in the investigation. No comment was immediately available from the French safety agency.?

Japanese?probe?heating?up
Japan Transport Safety Board said it was aware of the NTSB report and would consider the U.S. statement in its probe.?

The NTSB said the Japanese agency was participating in its investigation of the Boston incident, while NTSB officials were helping the agency with its investigation of the emergency landing in Japan. Both investigations were ongoing.?

"There's nothing more I can add at this point as we still haven't started our investigation into the battery here," JTSB inspector Hideyo Kosugi told Reuters. "The NTSB's investigation started earlier. We still haven't taken X-rays or CT-scans of the battery."?

Kosugi said both the battery and the surrounding systems were being stored in Tokyo's Haneda Airport until authorities decided where to conduct the Japanese investigation.?

Boeing said on Friday it would continue building the carbon-composite 787, but put deliveries on hold until the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration approves and implements a plan to ensure the safety of potentially flammable lithium-ion batteries.?

In Washington, U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the 787, which has a list price of $207 million, would not fly until regulators were "1,000 percent sure" it was safe.?

Japan is the biggest market so far for the 787, with ANA and JAL operating 24 of the 290-seat wide-bodied planes. Boeing has orders for almost 850 of the planes, which have the most complex electrical systems of any planes on the market.?

It remains unclear if the investigations will cause other airlines -- and military aircraft builder -- to rethink their plans to use lithium-ion batteries, which are lighter and more powerful than conventional batteries.?

Airbus plans to use similar batteries on its rival to the 787, the A350, which is due to make its maiden test flight in the middle of this year.?

European executives said last week they would study the findings of the U.S. investigation but said their decision to move more slowly than Boeing towards electric systems, and spread the load over twice as many batteries, would reduce the risk.?

Aviation Week quoted Airbus programs chief Tom Williams as saying "failure management" was key and that any escaping gases from the A350 batteries would be protected by titanium as they are expelled from the aircraft. The company has not said if it would attempt to suppress a lithium fire or focus on containing a lithium blaze, as Boeing has done.?

Williams told Aviation Week that switching from lithium back to nickel cadmium would require significant engineering work with both space and weight penalties. Airbus was not immediately available to comment on the article.?

Brazilian plane maker Embraer SA declined comment when asked if it planned to rethink its use of lithium-ion batteries on its military transport plane and new business jets.?

The Embraer programs use a battery made in the United States, unlike the Japanese one on the 787.?

Lockheed Martin Corp, maker of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, has said it does not see a problem since the lithium-ion batteries on the military plane are made by France's Saft Groupe, not Yuasa.?

Copyright 2013 Thomson Reuters.

Source: http://www.nbcnews.com/business/boeing-787-probe-widens-after-excess-battery-voltage-ruled-out-1B8057218

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