The legislation is different from the earlier attempts for increasing the fuel efficiency of the cars in US. US government is currently dolling out loans and subsidies for creation of sell high-mileage cars. The bill presents an alternative to reward a company, instead of paying up upfront to create something that may or may not be appealing to customers.

Rep. Dan Lungren (R—Calif.), the sponsor of the bill writes in his website “Looking at average fleet-wide fuel economy, the introduction of automobile transportation at 100 miles per gallon translates into the ability to travel nearly five times a given distance on a tank of gas. Current automobile gasoline consumption levels of 8.9 million barrels per day could ultimately be replaced by a fleet of NOPEC vehicles which would reduce consumption to about 1.8 million barrels a day. Assuming a constant relationship between reduced gasoline consumption and carbon dioxide emissions, commensurate reductions in the level of auto pollution could also result from this modest proposal.”

This is not a new idea. US based Progressive Insurance has been already been awarding prizes for a car with mileage greater than 100 MPGe. The other requirements are 4 passengers, 4 wheels, range exceeding 200 miles, 0-60 in less than 15 seconds, meeting Consumers Union dynamic safety standards and Tier 2 Bin 8 emissions. The contest is world wide.

Other than hybrids, no car company in US is close to getting this prize as all manufacturers are working to create alternative fuel cars.

The State Dept. said that these none of these items can be used against protestors. This isn’t a new sale nor are we using a legal loophole. The items had been notified and cleared by the Capitol Hill previously or are not large enough to require Congressional notification.

Far-reaching amendments have been announced by the Bahraini King Hamad Bin Issa Al Khalifa. The new provisions included streamlining relations between the executive and legislative powers, expanding the competencies of the Parliament and consolidating its role as a control body. The King also decided to set up an independent international legal committee to investigate the the preceding events.

“We have and will continue to use our security assistance to reinforce reforms in Bahrain. We have seen some important initial steps from the Bahraini government in implementing the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry’s (BICI) recommendations, but more needs to be done. We urge the government of Bahrain to take action on the full range of recommendations that we believe will help lay the foundation for longer-term reform and reconciliation,” added the State Dept release.

In February, the Head of the Bahraini independent fact finding committee Prof. Mahmoud Basyouni is scheduled to visit Bahrain to follow up the implementation of the recent recommendations issued by the committee. Basyouni is expected to meet with members of the national committee for the implementation of the recommendation, headed by Bahrain’s Speaker of the Advisory Council Ali Saleh al-Saleh, to discuss the steps taken by the national committee to implement the recommendations.

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), a lobby of big studios, which fathered the bills, expressed regrets, while Anonymous, the Internet-based hacker and protest group brought down the MPAA website.

The protests saw organisations like Google, Wikipedia, WordPress, Mozilla etc, either blackening their sites and or putting up a link to the online petition. The non US citizens had an option of signing a petition to the State Department.

The protest organisers feel that the bills will be back in another form. In a statement announcing the dropping of PIPA and SOPA, Tiffiniy Cheng, co-founder of Fight for the Future, said, “We’re indebted to everyone who helped in the beginning of this movement — you, and all the sites that went out on a limb to protest in November — Boing Boing and Mozilla Foundation (and thank you Tumblr, 4chan)! And the grassroots groups — Public Knowledge, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Demand Progress, CDT, and many more.

#SOPA and #PIPA will likely return in some form. But when they do, we’ll be ready. Can you make a donation to Fight for the Future, to help us keep this fire going?”

While the protests have been compared to Arab Spring protests, the organisers say “China’s internet censorship system reminds us why the fight for democratic principles is so important.”

Obama spoke of a promise kept, a new day for a self-reliant Iraq and a focus on building up the economy at home. “I can report that, as promised, the rest of our troops in Iraq will come home by the end of the year,” Obama said.

“After nearly nine years, America’s war in Iraq will be over.” Obama spoke after a private video conference with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and he offered assurances that the two leaders agreed on the decision. There was no mention of retaining troops as hedge against Iran.

The US military presence in Iraq stands at just under 40,000 and all US troops are to exit the country in accordance with a deal struck between the countries in 2008 when George W Bush was president. Obama, was an opponent of the war from the start, before he took the office.

In August 2010, he had declared the cessation of US combat mission in Iraq.

“Over the next two months our troops in Iraq, tens of thousands of them, will pack up their gear and board convoys for the journey home,” Obama said.

“The last American soldier will cross the border out of Iraq with their heads held high, proud of their success and knowing that the American people stand united in our support for our troops.”

“We are in trade war. But today we’re fighting back,” said Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown, one of the bill’s chief champions, celebrating an end to “the unilateral disarmament approach we’ve taken for the past decade.”

The proposal rides on the tide of US voter frustration at a sour economy and high unemployment ahead of November 2012 elections. The bill envisions retaliatory duties on Chinese exports if the value of the yuan is unfairly “misaligned.”

Republican House Speaker John Boehner has hinted that he will not bring the legislation to a vote, calling it “dangerous” to economic relations between the world’s number-one and number-three economies. “You could start a trade war. And a trade war, given the economic uncertainty here and all around the world — it’s just very dangerous, and we should not be engaged in this,” Boehner had said.

This is another major defeat for President Barack Obama, who had declined to back the legislation last week. he said that it could violate World Trade Organisation (WTO) rules even as he accused China of “gaming the trade system” in a way that hurts the US economy.

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner backed Obama’s concerns on breaking international trade rules. When asked whether senators had fired the first shot in a trade war, he said “They did not.”

It is more than a decade of the knowledge that China keeps the yuan unfairly low against the dollar, giving its goods as much as a 30 percent edge over similar US products, widening the American trade deficit and costing jobs in Washington.

The nay Sayer’s warn that it risks worsening ties with China, and say a rise in the yuan would merely boost manufacturing and jobs in countries such as Vietnam or Malaysia not in the United States. They are also of the opinion that if the measure is successful, the bill will increase the cost of commodities or consumer goods from China, hurting rather than helping US businesses and families.

The legislation’s backers, an unusual coalition of Democrats and Republicans, have said it’s time for Washington to take on Beijing, and predict a boost in the yuan will make Chinese workers wealthier and more likely to buy US goods, thus creating jobs and narrowing the trade gap.

The man’s imaginations transformed Apple from also ran computer company to one of the most admired companies which gave us IPad, Ipod, iPhone and other products, which sells even before it is released in the market. These products have altered and enhanced the way we live our lives.

US President Barack Obama described Steve Jobs as a visionary and one of America’s greatest innovators.

Steve Jobs. Image: Apple

In 2004, Jobs announced that he was suffering from pancreatic cancer and was operated on later that same year. Later he underwent a liver transplant in 2009. after resigning as Apple CEO six weeks before.

His death came a day after Apple unveiled the new iPhone 4S at its headquarters in California.

“Research shows us that giving people the chance for even an additional one hour of rest during critical periods in a schedule can improve work performance and reduce the potential for fatigue,” said FAA Administrator Randy Babbitt. “Taking advantage of the time you have to rest is also a professional responsibility.”

The new scheduling rules have already been put in place and will be fully in effect by the end of the week. Controllers will now have a minimum of nine hours off between shifts. Currently they may have as few as eight. Controllers will no longer be able to swap shifts unless they have a minimum of 9 hours off between the last shift they worked and the one they want to begin. Controllers will no longer be able to switch to an unscheduled midnight shift following a day off. FAA managers will schedule their own shifts in a way to ensure greater coverage in the early morning and late night hours.

Bill Allen, LAEDC President and CEO wrote “We are deeply saddened by the passing of our colleague, friend and mentor, Lee Harrington. We mourn the loss of a great leader, a dedicated public servant and a giving and decent human being. For the past five years, Lee led our Southern California Leadership Council, an organization dedicated to making the region a better place for the more than 20 million people who live and work here. He worked closely with former Governors Davis, Deukmejian and Wilson as well as Governor Brown to improve the business climate and create a better quality of life for everyone who calls Los Angeles County and Southern California home. Lee also led our organization, the LAEDC, for more than ten years. His accomplishments as CEO are too many to enumerate, but he took the LAEDC to new levels of effectiveness and prominence, and in doing so, helped create and save more than 100,000 jobs for the people and communities of Los Angeles County. His life of public service and his legacy of civic responsibility are testaments to his love and passion for Los Angeles. Lee was taken too abruptly from us while he was still in the prime of his life. He will be deeply missed by everyone at the LAEDC family.”

He is a graduate of USC School of Law where he earned his Juris Doctorate and served on Law Review. He graduated on the Dean’s List at University of California at Santa Barbara and served as an officer in the United States Navy Supply Corp. Mr. Harrington is also a graduate of the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program. He resides in the Santa Barbara area.

Mr. Harrington is a member of the California and Federal Bars and has served on Boards of Directors of both publicly traded corporations as well as many non-profit, foundation and educational institutions. He was a member of the Board of Western Water Company, a publically traded water resource company. He is currently a member of the Board of The Planning Center, a privately held Costa Mesa based planning and development consulting firm.

Mr. Harrington has served on numerous Committees and Blue Ribbon Taskforces for several California Governors and leaders of the California State Legislature. He currently serves as Chair of the Public Benefits Committee of the Governor’s Public Infrastructure Advisory Council, tasked with facilitating the creation of public- private- partnership projects in California. He is also a member of the Pacific Council’s Climate Change Adaptation Committee which is developing climate change recommendations for the State of California.

Prior to the LAEDC, Mr. Harrington served for 20 years in positions of increasing executive responsibility with Pacific Enterprises and its subsidiary, the Southern California Gas Company, the US’s largest natural gas utility. At Pacific Enterprises, Mr. Harrington was Counsel to the Real Estate Development Group with active residential, commercial and industrial development projects throughout southern California. At the Gas Company, he was responsible for major energy project negotiations, natural gas procurement, oil and gas drilling ventures, national and state natural gas deregulation efforts and ultimately as Senior Operating Executive, overseeing a work force of more than 10,000 employees. As a senior executive he
personally negotiated the headquarters moves of Pacific Enterprises and The Gas Company, involving both anchor tenant leases and ownership interests in the Maguire Thomas Partners’ Library Tower and Gas Company Tower high rise projects in
downtown Los Angeles. The move also involved the sale of the former Gas Company headquarters site involving 1.25 square blocks of fully entitled property in downtown Los Angeles to Shuwa Corporation, a Japanese real estate development company.

Croatiahas made significant progress and is now upgraded from the Category 2 safety rating the country received in September 2008 to Category 1.

A Category 1 rating means the country’s civil aviation authority complies with ICAO standards. A Category 2 rating means a country either lacks laws or regulations necessary to oversee air carriers in accordance with minimum international standards, or that its civil aviation authority – equivalent to the FAA for aviation safety matters – is deficient in one or more areas, such as technical expertise, trained personnel, recordkeeping or inspection procedures.

With the International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA) Category 2 rating, Croatian air carriers could not establish new service to the United States. Now with the Category 1 rating, Croatian air carriers will be able to establish new service to the United States.

The digital collection includes eight of Kennedy’s presidential news conferences held between August 1961 and February 1963, as well as the announcement of Kennedy’s death made by KFJM, the public radio station on UND’s campus.

Curt Hanson, head of UND special collections, said tapes of Kennedy’s news conferences were sent to KFJM by the White House prior to Kennedy’s visit to UND. Before being converted to digital (MP3) format, they were not available online.

During the news conferences, Kennedy addresses topics ranging from a nuclear test ban agreement with the Soviet Union, the Peace Corps, tax legislation, the war in Vietnam, rising steel prices and other national and global issues of the early 60s.

“President Kennedy was killed not long after he visited UND, which made his visit here that much more significant,” Wilbur Stolt, director of UND’s Chester Fritz Library noted.