Age may be nothing but a number, but it?s a much different story when it comes to shedding unwanted pounds, experts say. The sad truth is the older we get, the more challenging it is to get the weight off.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/44994610#44994610
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BRUSSELS ? The chairman of the eurogroup of finance ministers says the delay to a debt crisis creates a "disastrous" image of the eurozone to the outside world.
Jean-Claude Juncker, who is also the prime minister of Luxembourg, added that it's not necessarily just France and Germany that have differences of opinion on how to tackle the crisis.
He said decisions had to be taken by all 17 eurozone countries.
Juncker made the comments as he arrived for a meeting of eurozone finance ministers in Brussels Friday.
The meeting will be followed by talks between EU finance ministers Saturday, a summit of EU leaders on Sunday, and another crisis summit early next week.
The second summit was made necessary when France and Germany realized that a deal would not be reached in time for Sunday.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
BERLIN (AP) ? Germany and France agree over the main points of a plan to deal with Europe's crippling debt crisis, Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted Friday, a day after the two countries conceded that a new strategy won't emerge this weekend.
Markets appear to be giving Europe the benefit of the doubt that they will eventually be able to agree to a comprehensive package of measures in time for a second summit, which France and Germany say will be held by Wednesday at the latest. Europe's main stock markets all opened higher Friday, with the Stoxx 50 of top European shares up 0.7 percent.
Finance ministers from the 17 countries that use the euro will be looking to thrash out differences of opinion later Friday as they gather in Brussels, ahead of the arrival of the leaders on Saturday.
Sunday's leaders' summit had been earmarked as the time Europe would finally deliver a comprehensive plan to get a grip on the currency union's debt troubles, which has seen three countries bailed out and threatened the future of the euro currency itself.
Leaders had been expected to detail new financing for debt-ridden Greece, produce plans to make Europe's banks fit to sustain worsening market turbulence and further empower the eurozone bailout fund.
Though Merkel insisted in discussions with lawmakers Friday that there are no major differences of opinion between herself and French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Europe's two biggest economies appeared to be at loggerheads over how to make best use of the bailout fund, the so-called European Financial Stability Facility, or EFSF.
A spokesman for Merkel's conservative Christian Democrats said the chancellor refused to be drawn on reports of the split between her and Sarkozy in talks with lawmakers from her party.
"She would not say anything other than that they were in agreement," Dominik Geissler told reporters in Berlin.
Yet, while France proposes turning the EFSF into a bank that would have access to unlimited credit from the European Central Bank, Germany has refused to sanction such a move, arguing it would compromise the ECB's impartiality.
"Considering the importance of the discussions and there potential impact upon the European economy, global capital markets and the future of the EU itself a delay of a few days is neither here nor there in the overall scheme of things," said Gary Jenkins, an analyst at Evolution Securities. "However the suggestions that they are still far apart on how to make best use of the EFSF is of some concern."
What to do about the euro440 billion ($607 billion) EFSF doesn't seem to be the only point of contention.
Germany and several other rich countries have been pushing for banks and other private investors to take steeper losses on their Greek bondholdings, before the eurozone can sign off on a second multibillion euro rescue package for the struggling country.
France and the European Central Bank had so far opposed forcing banks to write off more Greek debt, fearing that would destabilize the banking sector and worsen market turmoil.
France is thought to be particularly worried about losing its cherished triple A credit rating, a scenario which Standard & Poor's said was possible if Europe slides back into recession or its borrowing rises even further. In a stress test report, S&P warned that France Spain, Italy, Ireland and Portugal could have their ratings reduced by one or two notches.
On the future of Greece, the French and German statements Thursday indicated that the two countries may be edging toward a solution. They have asked Greece to immediately start negotiations with the private sector to reach a deal "that would improve (Greece's) debt sustainability."
A leading German banker, Commerzbank chief Martin Blessing, said in comments published Friday that Athens should declare bankruptcy, saying it is the only way out of the debt crisis.
"States have only two options," Blessing told Germany's top-selling Bild newspaper. "Either they pay back their debts as agreed, or they declare themselves insolvent and accept the consequences that brings."
Lawmakers from Merkel's junior coalition partner, the Free Democrats, said the chancellor had indicated that Spain and Italy in particular were concerned about such a move, which could further undermine confidence in their own ability and willingness to repay their debts if markets start to think that Greece is not a one-off case.
The main worry in the markets is that the debt crisis, which has already seen Greece, Ireland and Portugal bailed out, could envelop the much bigger economies of Spain and Italy.
The eurozone's third and fourth largest economies are currently being supported by the European Central Bank's bond-buying program, which has helped prevent their borrowing costs in the markets from rising up to unsustainable levels.
The ECB has been a reluctant buyer of their bonds in the markets; the EFSF is soon set to take on that role.
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HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- After the tornadoes roared through on April 27, it was all hands on deck for local public safety workers.
But how to feed them all?
"We were scrounging to figure that out," Huntsville Police Chief Mark Hudson said Thursday. "Then the good Lord sent along Chris Tucker."
Tucker, managing partner of Carrabba's Italian Grill at Parkway Place Mall, offered to cook up the food in the restaurant's coolers for police, firefighters, paramedics, sheriff's deputies, public works crews and anyone else involved with recovery efforts.
Between April 28 and May 3, when power was finally restored to most of Madison County, Carrabba's dished up an estimated 8,000 free meals in the mall's parking deck.
"It's part of what got us through the tornado," Hudson said. "It just filled a void we needed at the time we needed it most."
Carrabba's employees cooked from mid-morning until 11 p.m. daily, he said, then boxed up the leftovers so cops on third shift wouldn't go hungry.
"For them to step up and help public safety was just monumental," City Administrator Rex Reynolds said Friday. "We had so many assets on the ground that we couldn't allow them to take a supper break."
Hudson gave Tucker a public thank-you, as well as the police department's certificate of appreciation, at a recent Huntsville City Council meeting.
"You just can't beat people who step up like that," he said.
Nykael Stewart, first assistant at Carrabba's, said the restaurant believes in "taking care of our friends and family." Carrabba's is part of Tampa, Fla.-based OSI Restaurant Partners, which also owns Outback Steakhouse, Bonefish Grill, Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar and Roy's Hawaiian Fusion Cuisine.
"We had workers that were sitting home with nothing to do" because of the power outage, Stewart said Friday. "We just felt like we could give them something to do and take care of the community also."
Source: http://blog.al.com/breaking/2011/10/huntsvilles_carrabbas_restaura.html
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Artist Ray Villafane created a pumpkin that reminds me of MMA's best punch-faces.
That is an impressive work of art, particularly the flying pumpkin teeth. Could you do any better?
Here's the challenge. Create an MMA-inspired pumpkin and post it on the Cagewriter Facebook page. It can be a fighter, a fight, a logo, whatever. It just needs to be obviously related to mixed martial arts and made from a pumpkin, and not obscene, vulgar or otherwise inappropriate. We will award the best ones DVDs, fight programs and whatever else we can pull from the Cagewriter prize closet.
Read on to see some inspiration from recent fights via photographer Tracy Lee, or look through a collection of Cagewriter's exclusive pictures.
Nam Phan and Leonard Garcia at UFC 136
Gray Maynard and Frankie Edgar at UFC 136
Chris Lytle and Dan Hardy at UFC on Versus 5.
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Outgoing European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet, left, talks to IMF President Christine Lagarde, center, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, second right, and President of the EU Commision Jose-Manuel Barroso prior to a farewell ceremony for Trichet at the old opera house in Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Kai Pfaffenbach, Pool)
Outgoing European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet, left, talks to IMF President Christine Lagarde, center, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, second right, and President of the EU Commision Jose-Manuel Barroso prior to a farewell ceremony for Trichet at the old opera house in Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Kai Pfaffenbach, Pool)
Outgoing European Central Bank (ECB) President Jean-Claude Trichet , right, talks to German Chancellor Angela Merkel prior to a farewell ceremony for Trichet at the old opera house in Frankfurt, Wednesday Oct. 19, 2011. The final year of Trichet's presidency of the ECB has been marked by controversy over a decision to buy the bonds of troubled euro zone countries, which critics say oversteps the mandate of the central bank and has led to the resignation of two of its most experienced German policymakers. (AP Photo/Kai Pfaffenbach,Pool)
German Chancellor Angela Merkel smiles during the weekly cabinet meeting at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011. (AP Photo/Michael Sohn)
RETRANSMISSION FOR ALTERNATE CROP - French President Nicolas Sarkozy leaves the old opera house in Frankfurt, Germany, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2011 after a meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. (AP Photo/dapd, Thomas Lohnes)
FRANKFURT, Germany (AP) ? Europe's leaders face huge expectations to come up with nothing less than a grand plan to save the euro ? and protect the global economy from another recession ? when they meet for three days of emergency talks this weekend.
Some 22 months after the crisis first exploded in Greece, investors are still criticizing European leaders for acting only when markets demand it. With markets volatile, economic growth ebbing, and social unrest rising, the heads of government and finance ministers meeting in Brussels from Friday need to show they can finally get ahead of events.
They will have to manage expectations on the one hand but also convince volatile bond and currency markets that the euro will survive the crisis.
A new plan is expected to cover three main points ? debt reduction for Greece, new capital for ailing banks that might take losses from Greek bonds, and enhanced financial firepower for the bailout fund to stabilize markets.
Heading into the talks, however, there was still disagreement over each of the measures.
After a week of cautious optimism, "the market is right to be more nervous," said analyst Jane Foley at Rabobank. "There is a huge amount of ground to be covered by euro politicians."
The meetings kick off on Friday, when eurozone finance ministers gather, with the finance ministers of the full European Union in talks on Saturday, and the heads of state and government on Sunday.
The bailout fund, the European Financial Stability Facility, needs more lending capacity to backstop big countries such as Spain and Italy by buying their bonds and holding down interest costs that threaten to their finances.
The fund was just expanded to euro440 billion ($608 billion) in lending power. But with some euro287 billion of that already committed to bailout out Greece, Ireland and Portugal, the fund is considered too small and economists say it may need effective lending power of up to $2 trillion.
Proposals to stretch its lending power ? without asking governments for more money ? include various kinds of leverage, such as having it guarantee part of the value of Italian and Spanish debt.
The eurozone crisis was caused by governments piling up too much debt, raising fears they might not pay it back. Default concerns have driven borrowing costs beyond what some countries can afford. Greece, Portugal and Ireland have been cut off from bond lending and needed bailouts from the eurozone governments and the International Monetary Fund.
The European Central Bank has been propping up Italian and Spanish bonds by buying them in the secondary market, driving down interest rates. It's a risky task it wants to hand off to the EFSF. It's not clear when that might happen, though.
ECB officials have balked at allowing the EFSF to use the bank's money to magnify its lending power. Some eurozone officials, meanwhile, want to use the EFSF to help backstop continued ECB bond purchases. The ECB's power to create new money means it in theory has almost unlimited financial firepower ? but that is a step it has so far refused to take.
German Finance Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble said Thursday that the "outlines" of how to step up the bailout had been agreed with France but fell short of a comprehensive deal to the crisis that financial markets appear to have come to expect.
"We are cautious, but think that we will be able to agree on these," he said at a news conference in Berlin. "Germany and France are in complete agreement on this question, but we know that is not the same as a European solution."
A hastily called meeting Thursday night in Frankfurt, Germany among Schaeuble, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Nicolas Sarkozy and the heads of the International Monetary Fund and the European Central Bank ended without any statement.
Other complex and related questions include the extent of the losses bondholders should face to cut Greece's debt to level where it can be repaid. Since that would inflict losses on banks, officials are trying to come up with a mechanism to get banks Europe-wide to add to their financial cushions.
That's difficult because banks are mostly regulated at the national level, and because raising capital cushions is a painful process that can divert money from bonuses and dividends or mean selling riskier but more profitable assets.
A deal agreed in July would cut the value of bondholders investments by 21 percent, but economists and eurozone leaders now say that won't be enough, even with a second, euro109 billion bailout.
Managing expectations has been a key aspect of the meeting. Stocks and the euro have rising since a Group of 20 finance ministers' meeting last weekend urged eurozone leaders to quickly address its debt crisis before it derails the global economy. But the optimism from that may set up a sudden market downfall if the results of the summit disappoint.
The euro has rallied from euro1.3145 on Oct. 4 to $1.3731 on Thursday, boosted by expectations that politicians are finally ready for decisive action.
German officials tried earlier this week to dampen expectations, and on Thursday, Merkel tried to balance between reassuring markets that something will be done and not overpromising.
She said the leaders' summit on Sunday "will not be the end point of regaining trust. It will be a point at which we act, but much more will follow."
European Central Bank head Jean-Claude Trichet, who was getting a ceremonial farewell at the Frankfurt event that later turned into a platform for the meeting, was blunter. Europe needs "immediate action," he said.
___
Melissa Eddy in Berlin contributed to this report.
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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) ? A Missouri man and his beloved classic car have been reunited 16 years after the vehicle was stolen.
Edward Neeley, of Jefferson City, Mo., picked up his red 1969 Chevy Camaro in Salt Lake City on Tuesday after tracking it down in Utah last month.
Neeley contacted Utah authorities after he saw the Camaro listed for sale online, the Deseret News of Salt Lake City reported (http://bit.ly/raLn1d).
The seller, Brent Dockery of Syracuse, bought the car four years ago on eBay and also is a victim, investigators said. He was unaware its vehicle identification number had been switched.
Davis County detectives obtained a search warrant and found the authentic VIN in the door panel, which confirmed Neeley's suspicions.
After an investigation, the Utah Motor Vehicle Enforcement Division returned the car to Neeley, who was determined to be the rightful owner.
"Oh, oh, I got my baby back," Neeley said when he laid eyes on the car again this week. "Never in a million years did I think it would come, even after I found it on the Internet."
Charlie Roberts, spokesman for the Utah motor vehicle division, said it's unknown how many owners the car has had and how many miles it has racked up since it was stolen in 1995. Neeley was 18 years old at the time.
Dockery said he bought the car for nearly $16,000 and added another $10,000 in upgrades, and he wants to take out the upgrades he installed. Utah officials said any further issues between Neeley and Dockery would have to be resolved in civil court.
Neeley had the car shipped back home this week.
"She's back," he said. "She already loves me, I can tell, so we're back together, baby. I'll get (her) back in shape."
___
Information from: Deseret News, http://www.deseretnews.com
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TODAY's Kathie Lee Gifford and Hoda Kotb, together with contributors Rob Shuter and Bobbie Thomas, put Seattle coffee companies to the test.
By Wayne Curtis, Travel + Leisure
Blame Seattle.
A certain coffee shop chain started there four decades ago and changed the way Americans thought about coffee. Dried-out coffee flakes sold in tin cans were out. Highly polished European contraptions that hissed noisily and sent forth geysers of steam were in.
Despite, or perhaps because of, the rapid expansion of Starbucks and other standardized chains, small coffeehouses are flourishing. Americans are increasingly educated about their coffee and evaluate these independents with chains as a benchmark: is the coffee better or more interesting? Is the environment more appealing? Does it have an engaged clientele, or is it a generic ?coffeeworld? where you get your cup to go, head bowed?
Coffeehouses that meet the criteria for cool each stand out from the crowd and attract us for diverse reasons. Travelers have an extra appreciation for a neighborhood coffeehouse with personality ? the last thing you want to drink on vacation is your workday cup of joe. We pop in to refuel after hours of pounding the pavement, but also to sample regional brews, people-watch, and find out about local goings-on.
Some coffeehouses draw us primarily for their own scene, like Poets and Busboys in Washington, D.C., which hosts impassioned speakers or (surprise!) poets on many evenings. At quieter times, you can browse a small in-shop bookstore and check out artwork.
Courtesy of Octane Coffee Bar
Octane Coffee Bar, a spacious, modern shop in Atlanta, feels like a lively college study hall.
Others are virtually small universes built around state-of-the art machines, like the Lamill Coffee Boutique in Los Angeles, which approaches coffee as a university laboratory might approach quarks and is always tweaking something. This is the place to discover what an $11,000 Clover coffee machine can do to improve your day.
Caf? du Monde in New Orleans, by contrast, draws on a lost 19th-century coffee culture imported from the Old World. The coffee is roasted with chicory root for extra tang and paired, naturally, with beignets.
Even though it?s touristy, Caf? du Monde, like the best coffeehouses, is fundamentally also a community living room, where neighbors can be both alone and with others ? and visitors can blend right in.
Coffee: it?s the best legal drug. We know because the right cup in the right place can change your reality.
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