Future brighter for Thomas Cook as debt prices rise

Debt prices in beleaguered tour operator Thomas Cook have started to increase following a series of changes in recent weeks, including the resignations of three non-executive directors.

In mid-December, when the future of Thomas Cook seemed bleak, investors could snap up debt for around 37p in the pound. This is now roughly 48p, still a dire number, but enough of an improvement to suggest that some faith has been restored in the group's potential fortunes.

Source: http://rss.feedsportal.com/c/266/f/3510/s/1b9ca06c/l/0L0Sindependent0O0Cnews0Cbusiness0Cnews0Cfuture0Ebrighter0Efor0Ethomas0Ecook0Eas0Edebt0Eprices0Erise0E62864920Bhtml/story01.htm

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Ford to open Silicon Valley lab

DEARBORN, Mich. (AP) - Ford Motor Co. is the latest automaker to open a research lab in Silicon Valley, where it hopes to scout out new technology and keep ahead of trends.

The company said Friday that it plans to open the lab near Stanford University in Palo Alto, Calif., in the first few months of this year. It will employ around 15 people, including some recruited locally and others who will rotate in from Ford's headquarters in Dearborn.

Ford's Chief Technical Officer Paul Mascarenas said the company decided about a year ago that it needed a bigger presence in Silicon Valley.

"This is a very natural extension into one of the most innovative communities in the world," he said.

He said the lab will work on ways to better integrate phones and other personal devices into cars, as well as safety systems that alert drivers when they're approaching another car.

The lab will also solicit and test applications from independent programmers. One app Ford is currently studying can find an open parking space and reserve it. Another would improve weather reporting by transmitting signals when a car's rain-sensing wipers are triggered.

Mascarenas said the lab will also study larger issues, including population growth in developing countries like China and India, and how best to handle traffic in those countries.

The lab will work with Ford headquarters as well as its design studio in Southern California and its office at Microsoft Corp. in Washington. Microsoft and Ford jointly developed Ford's Sync voice-activated entertainment system and My Ford Touch touch-screen dashboard.

But Mascarenas said it's important that the lab be in Silicon Valley - not Dearborn - so employees feel free to experiment.

Ford joins several other automakers that have similar offices in Silicon Valley, including General Motors Co., BMW AG and the Renault-Nissan alliance.

K. Venkatesh Prasad, a senior technical leader at Ford who will commute between Dearborn and the new office, said Ford considered opening a Silicon Valley office in the past but the technology wasn't ready. Now, he said, the Sync platform makes it easier and faster to reprogram the car and update it with new applications. Ford introduced Sync four years ago.

"The car is finally a platform," Prasad said.

Source: http://www.kval.com/news/business/Ford-to-open-Silicon-Valley-lab-136813948.html

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Apple Accessories Sale: iPod Touch, iPad2, iPad, iPhone 4/4S & MORE

by Mary on January 6, 2012

Welcome to Couponers United! If you're new here and don't want to miss a post, you may want to subscribe to my Daily Email Newsletter or my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Click on the category of your choice to see the current deals:

Apple iPhone 4 / 4S accessories

?iPad2 accessories?

iPod Touch accessories?

iPad accessories

iPhone 3 accessories?

The prices are great! ?Shipping is FREE! ?Please note that the shipping does take 3-4wks from Focal Price. ?

Source: http://www.couponersunited.com/2012/01/apple-accessories-sale-ipod-touch-ipad2-ipad-iphone-44s-more.html

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Motorcyclist found unconscious at Dakar Rally

In this photo taken on Dec. 31, 2011, French biker Sebastien Coue waves from his Yamaha during the Argentina-Chile-Peru Dakar Rally 2012 symbolic start in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Coue is in intensive care at a hospital in the province of Mendoza, Argentina after he was found passed out on the dunes as he competed in the second stage of the Dakar Rally in South America, according to a hospital official on Tuesday Jan. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Christian Heit)

In this photo taken on Dec. 31, 2011, French biker Sebastien Coue waves from his Yamaha during the Argentina-Chile-Peru Dakar Rally 2012 symbolic start in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Coue is in intensive care at a hospital in the province of Mendoza, Argentina after he was found passed out on the dunes as he competed in the second stage of the Dakar Rally in South America, according to a hospital official on Tuesday Jan. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Christian Heit)

In this photo taken on Dec. 31, 2011, French biker Sebastien Coue rides his Yamaha during the Argentina-Chile-Peru Dakar Rally 2012 symbolic start in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Coue is in intensive care at a hospital in the province of Mendoza, Argentina after he was found passed out on the dunes as he competed in the second stage of the Dakar Rally in South America, according to a hospital official on Tuesday Jan. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Christian Heit)

In this photo taken on Dec. 31, 2011, France's biker Sebastien Coue races his Yamaha during the Argentina-Chile-Peru Dakar Rally 2012 symbolic start in Mar del Plata, Argentina. Coue is in intensive care at a hospital in the province of Mendoza, after being found passed out on the dunes as he competed in the second stage of the Dakar Rally in South America, according to a hospital official on Tuesday Jan. 3, 2012. (AP Photo/Martin Mejia)

SAN JUAN, Argentina (AP) ? A French motorcyclist was in critical condition Tuesday after being found unconscious in remote sand dunes during the Dakar Rally. The rally, one of the most dangerous in motor sports, already has left three dead.

Sebastien Coue apparently crashed during the second stage in western Argentina and was exposed to temperatures above 104 degrees, Teodoro J. Schestakow Hospital said. His body temperature also exceeded 104.

"He entered in critical condition," hospital director Armando Dauverne said. "We don't know how long he was exposed to the sun. Right now he is in intensive care."

Joan Roma of Spain won the third stage while teammate Krzysztof Holowczyc of Poland led overall. Frenchman Cyril Despres captured the motorcycle stage to take first place overall after a navigational error by defending champion Marc Coma of Spain.

On Sunday, Argentine bike rider Jorge Martinez Boero died in a crash. On the same day, the pilot of an ultralight plane and his son died when the aircraft went down while following the race.

This is the fourth consecutive year the race is being held in South America. It had been run in Europe and Africa until the 2008 race was canceled because of fears of terrorism. The rally moved to South America the next year.

The past three years the race consisted of loop courses from Buenos Aires to Chile and back to Buenos Aires. This year the race began in Argentina, passes through Chile and finishes in Lima, Peru, on Jan. 15.

Roma won the 130-mile, high-altitude special from San Rafael to San Juan in 2 hours, 26 minutes, 51 seconds. He was 1:09 ahead of Holowczyc and 1:29 in front of last year's winner, Nasser Al-Attiyah in a Hummer.

For Roma, it was only his third stage win in a car but his 15th in race history.

Holowczyc led the overall, 54 seconds ahead of American Robby Gordon. Giniel Devilliers of South Africa, the 2009 champion, was 1:40 behind in third.

In bikes, Despres took the 170-mile special stage in 3:48:38. He finished 8:37 in front of Frans Verhoeven of the Netherlands, and 8:39 faster than Portuguese Paulo Goncalves.

More important, Despres was 10:12 ahead of his biggest rival, KTM teammate Coma. Coma, the leader after the second stage, took a wrong turn, lost 13 minutes and finished in seventh place.

"Yesterday was my day, but today definitely wasn't," Coma said.

Despres said: "It's good for my position, even if I'm never happy about other people's setbacks."

In the overall standings in bikes, France's David Casteu was third, 17:16 behind.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-03-CAR-Dakar-Rally/id-68607049b8514feab6e26f5e8289000a

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Zimbabwe police stop Anglican prayer retreat (AP)

HARARE, Zimbabwe ? Zimbabwean police stopped a retreat of 80 clergy over claims that their prayer gathering was not given police clearance under sweeping security laws, the country's mainstream Anglican church said Tuesday.

Zimbabwe's Anglican church has been split by a breakaway group led by a bishop close to the president, who has seized church properties without police intervention. The bishop has been excommunicated by world Anglicans.

The mainstream Diocese of Harare said in a statement that police ordered them to disperse Monday from the Peterhouse private school but they refused, denying any wrongdoing and insisting police remove them by force.

The mainstream Diocese of Harare said in a statement that police loyal to Bishop Nolbert Kunonga returned Tuesday to the school 50 miles (80 kilometers) east of the capital and were in a standoff, demanding the clerics, including two bishops, leave the school grounds.

"We deplore this action and call upon higher authorities to intervene. So much for freedom of religion," the head of the mainstream Anglicans, Bishop Chad Gandiya, said in the statement.

The boarding school is not linked to the church but allows Christian and other groups to use its facilities during vacations.

The police action marked the beginning of "another year of persecution at the hands of a hostile police force" and was a clear indication of the allegiance of police to Kunonga, the statement said.

The 80 clerics headed by Gandiya and Bishop Julius Makoni, the bishop of the eastern city of Mutare, represented the church in Harare and eastern Zimbabwe for their annual New Year's retreat.

Kunonga, the breakaway bishop, claims to lead Zimbabwe's Anglicans and has already refused to hand back the Harare Cathedral, offices, buildings, church bank accounts and vehicles he seized with the protection of police loyal to President Robert Mugabe.

In 2007, Kunonga was excommunicated by the main Anglican Province of Central Africa and the worldwide head of the church after he was accused of inciting violence in sermons supporting Mugabe's party.

The schism in the Zimbabwe's Anglican community has left many mainstream Anglicans without places of worship and they've experienced intimidation and threats of violence.

On a visit to Zimbabwe in October, the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, met with Mugabe and handed over a dossier detailing incidents of intimidation and violence that included death threats to Anglican bishops and police raids on churches and mission schools to drive out worshippers, clerics and staff loyal to Gandiya.

Williams told reporters after meeting with Mugabe that the president told him he was unfamiliar with the scale of intimidation the mainstream Anglicans in Zimbabwe were facing.

Kunonga, who has denied the allegations against him, won a Supreme Court ruling in August allowing him to retain control of Anglican properties until an appeal by the mainstream Anglican church is resolved.

That ruling was made by Chief Justice Godfrey Chidyausiku, who like Kunonga is an open supporter of Mugabe's party.

Kunonga insists he broke away from the mainstream Anglicans after the church in Britain recognized gay marriage and the rights of same sex partners. Mugabe is a bitter critic of homosexuality.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120103/ap_on_re_af/af_zimbabwe_anglicans

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NASA probes reach moon for gravity-mapping mission

By Irene Klotz

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida | Thu Jan 5, 2012 8:25am EST

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Two robotic probes began orbiting the moon Sunday in preparation for an unprecedented mission to map the lunar interior.

NASA's twin Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory, or GRAIL, spacecraft wrapped up 2.6-million-mile journey to put themselves into lunar orbit on Saturday and Sunday.

Over the next two months, the probes' 34-mile-high orbits will be adjusted to get them into optimal position to measure the pushes and pulls of the moon's gravity, data that scientists can use to model what is inside the moon.

"Pop the bubbly and toast the moon," NASA wrote on its Twitter feed after the first GRAIL spacecraft finished a 40-minute braking maneuver at 5 p.m. EST (22:00 GMT) on New Year's Eve.

The second spacecraft followed suit 25 hours later. Both are needed for the intricate gravity-mapping mission scheduled to begin in March.

"Everything is looking good," NASA wrote as ground control teams received radio signals Sunday confirming the second spacecraft's arrival. "It's going to be a great 2012."

Over the next two months, the probes' orbits will be tweaked until they are flying in formation low over the lunar poles. As the spacecraft fly over denser regions of the moon, they will speed up slightly in response to the extra gravitational tugs.

By constantly measuring changes in the distance between the two craft, scientists can create a gravity map of the moon. The changes in speed will be as subtle as a fraction of a micron per second. A micron is about the width of a red blood cell.

The data will be used to model the moon's interior, a key piece of information still missing despite more than 100 previous missions to the moon, including six human expeditions during NASA's 1969-1972 Apollo program.

Scientists believe the moon formed when an object about the size of Mars smashed into Earth shortly after the formation of the solar system about 4.5 billion years ago. But questions about how the moon evolved remain.

One longstanding question is why the far side of the moon is so different from the side that permanently faces Earth. The near side is filled with large, dark plains formed by ancient volcanic eruptions, while the far side is virtually all highlands.

The mission is scheduled to last 82 days, but if the solar-powered probes, built by Lockheed Martin Corp, survive beyond the next lunar eclipse in June, the $496 million mission could be extended for a more detailed mapping survey.

(Editing by Stacey Joyce)

Source: http://feeds.reuters.com/~r/reuters/scienceNews/~3/o9miNZfChsM/us-space-moon-idUSTRE7BT0WU20120105

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Graphical communication for legal scholarship ? Statistical Modeling ...

The legal academy, which is making strides toward sensible integration of a variety of empirical methods into its scholarship, is horribly ignorant of the utility of graphic reporting of data, a likely influence of the formative influence that econometric methods has exerted on expectations and habits of mind among legal scholars. Lee Epstein has written a pair of wonderful articles on graphic reporting ?

1. Epstein, L., Martin, A. & Boyd, C. On the Effective Communication of the Results of Empirical Studies, Part II. Vand. L. Rev. 60, 798-846 (2007).
2. Epstein, L., Martin, A. & Schneider, M. On the Effective Communication of the Results of Empirical Studies, Part I. Vand. L. Rev. 59, 1811-1871 (2007).

? but her efforts haven?t gotten the attention they deserve, and reinforcement, particularly at a venue like CELS is very important.

But the main issue there is just that graphic reporting dominates tables as a means of communicating information? something you touched on at the end (I am constantly referring people, incluiding authors whose papers I?m reviewing for peer-reviewed journals in law & in risk/science communication to Gelman, A., Pasarica, C. & Dodhia, R. Let?s Practice What We Preach: Turning Tables into Graphs. Am. Stat. 56, 121-130 (2002); also King, G., Tomz, M. & Wittenberg., J. Making the Most of Statistical Analyses: Improving Interpretation and Presentation. Am. J. Pol. Sci 44, 347-361 (2000)).

The more difficult points involve selection and integration of graphic reporting methods given the array of audiences legal scholars are likely to be targeting. These include (A) other scholars doing empirical legal studies, (B) other scholars who don?t use empirical methods and (C) lawmakers, judges, and lawyers. You sensibly said to me that the style of graphic reporting one uses depends on one?s purposes. For purposes of communicating with *any* of these constinuencies, the info-whatever USA Today stuff is not appropriate. But I don?t think there?s any *one* graphic reporting method that will always suit the purpose of communicating with all three of these groups of readers, and we often *are* writing for all three at once.

The nub of the problem, as I see it, is that the sort of graphic reporting you are extremely good at is aimed at communicating with (A). There is a lot that empirical legal scholars, particularly those who have been have lived through decades of the industrial-grade econometrics, need to learn in order to communicate with each other more effectively (in part b/c they don?t necessarily know *what* they *should* be communicating, or essentially what the most relevant statistical information is to make sense of their study results; one of the beautiful things about learning the art of graphic reporting is that it forces researchers to be reflective about data reporting and not approach statistical analysis in a mindless, robotic fashion).

But the graphic reporting that is ideal for them is often *not* the best for readers in the (B) & (C) classes. This is in part b/c the best graphics for (A) communicate certain concepts that (B) & (C) likely don?t understand. But it is also true b/c those readers, particularly ones in (C), are likely to be modest in numeracy, and likely to fail to understand or comprehend the significance of information that is reported in the graphics that are ideal for (A). Your excellent recent analysis of public opinion on capital punishment is a good example; the excellent Figures in that paper, some of which featured today in your presentation, would bounce ineffectually off the minds of essentially all (C) & of too many (B)?s as well (& not b/c they are dumb; they are smart, & motivated, which is why USA Today ?get there attention? is not relevant at all).

I know you get this issue? you negotiated it very well, e.g., in Red State, Blue State. I think it would have been great for CELS attendees to have the chance to explore these issues w/ you in a concrete way, one focused on examples you have deal with & that we have faced. Also, I?d love to know what you make of the sort of research on communicating statistical information that Spiegelhalter, D., Pearson, M. & Short, I. Visualizing Uncertainty About the Future. Science 333, 1393-1400 (2011), features (I referred to this in our brief exchange).

I don?t have any great reply here; really, any good answer would require experience in communication that I don?t have. But I do think that well-chosen dot plots and line plot can do well.

I think that what really might work are some examples of the graph and the explanation alongside. You don?t have to be Chris Ware to know that a picture plus 1000 words is better than two pictures or 2000 words. But all too often we seem to demand of our graphs that they stand on their own.

Source: http://andrewgelman.com/2012/01/graphical-communication-for-legal-scholarship/

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