Ruby Love murder: Man charged with murder after woman's body found in London's Grand Union Canal

• Manzar Juma accused of murdering Ruby Love
• Her body was found in Grand Union Canal in Southall
  

By Tom Kelly and Rebecca Camber

Last updated at 1:01 AM on 30th December 2011

The mother of a month-old baby was murdered and dumped in a canal on Christmas Day as her family waited for her to come home and open her presents.

Ruby Love?s body was spotted floating in the Grand Union Canal in Southall, West London, on Sunday morning.

Police believe the 23-year-old was thrown into the water just hours earlier, after being hit on the back of the head and strangled.

Ruby Love: The mother of three was described as 'the most lovely girl'

Miss Love, who also had a two-year-old son and nine-year-old daughter, was last seen at 6pm on Christmas Eve before going out for the evening.

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She had been expected to return home on Christmas Day to open presents with her children and her mother and sister, with whom she lived in Harrow, North London.

Last night police charged Miss Love?s boyfriend of five years with her murder. Manzar Juma, 27, is due to appear before Brent Magistrates Court later today.

Miss Love?s distraught mother Precious said: ?She was just the most lovely girl, the best daughter I could have asked for.

?We were having our Christmas dinner and opening our presents as we were waiting for her. I waited and waited and I texted her through the night.

Sealed off: Investigators were still at the scene where Miss Love was found

?I waited until it had got to 24 hours after [she left] and then I gave it one more hour, and then there was a knock on the door. It was the police.

?It?s such a loss ? I do not know how we are going to cope.?

The 45-year-old identified her daughter?s body on Boxing Day. She said she appeared to have been hit on the back of? her head, and that the body bore strang- ulation marks.

An initial post-mortem examination was unable to establish a formal cause of death.

Yesterday Miss Love?s sister Sarah, 22, fought back tears as she described her devotion to her children.

?She loved her kids but she was a mother to everyone,? she said. ?She always protected me and I could not protect her. She was an angel. We have just not stopped crying.?I still cannot believe this.?

Murder inquiry: The body of Ruby Love was found in the Grand Union Canal (pictured) in Southall, west London on Christmas Day

Grim discovery: Officers were called to the scene by a member of the public who had spotted the young woman's body

As a tribute, her mother has painted a white cross on Miss Love?s front door under the words: ?Ruby?s Angel House.? The Hindu-Sikh family had converted to Christianity and changed their surname from Malik. Miss Love worked in their property business.

Yesterday police divers were still searching the section of the canal where her body was found. The area forms part of the popular Hillingdon Trail walk.

A Scotland Yard spokesman said: ?Police have launched a murder investigation following the discovery of a body in the Grand Union Canal.

?Officers are appealing for anyone who witnessed anything suspicious on, or before Christmas Day.?

He added that officers ?are aware of? previous incidents which will form part of our investigation?.

? An Indian student ?executed? on Boxing Day may have been the victim of a racially-motivated attack, police said yesterday.

Anuj Bidve, 23, was shot in the side of the head as he walked with friends in Salford, Greater Manchester.

Five people ? including a boy of 16 and two aged 17 ? have been arrested by police on suspicion of murder.

Mr Bidve?s father Subhash, speaking from the family?s home in Pune, Maharashtra, said he learned of his son?s death via a message posted on Facebook.

? A mother was stabbed to death after an apparent domestic dispute.
A man believed to be the 36-year-old?s partner was yesterday fighting for his life in hospital after he was discovered unconscious at their flat.

Neighbours said the victim?s schoolboy son raised the alarm after stumbling out of the family property in Wolverhampton ?covered in blood?.

Police are not looking for anyone else in connection with the incident.

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Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2079964/Ruby-Love-murder-Man-charged-murder-womans-body-Londons-Grand-Union-Canal.html?ITO=1490

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Huge rally supports Pakistani cricketer's politics (AP)

KARACHI, Pakistan ? Tens of thousands of people have rallied in support of Pakistani cricket legend and opposition politician Imran Khan in the southern city of Karachi.

Sunday's rally further cemented Khan's status as a rising force in Pakistani politics. The turnout was impressive because the event was held outside his traditional support base, Punjab province.

Karachi is Pakistan's largest city and the capital of Sindh province.

Khan entered politics 15 years ago when he founded Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, or the Movement for Justice Party, but he long struggled to attract support.

That changed when he drew over 100,000 people to a rally in the Punjabi capital of Lahore in October.

He has attracted several prominent politicians to his party since then.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111225/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan

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Writer's Corner: Gilad Sharon (Politico)

In the new biography ?Sharon: The Life of a Leader,? Ariel Sharon?s youngest son, Gilad Sharon, devotes over 600 pages to his father?s political legacy. He writes about everything from the former prime minister of Israel?s close relationship with George W. Bush to the love letters Sharon received from women over the years.

From his family farm in Israel, Gilad Sharon dished to POLITICO about his writing routine, his passion for Russian literature and Hemingway novels, and why he would love an Oprah book club nod.

Do you prefer to write in a quiet room or inside a bustling coffee shop? Any surprising writing rituals?

Most of the writing was done on the farm, with the sound of the farm animals and the countryside nearby. I was inspired by the view, which changes every day and with each passing season. The farm is a special place to me ? we lived there with my father who preferred to come home almost each evening rather than stay in the prime minister?s residence in Jerusalem. It is a special place for me since that is where I spent the most time with my Dad, driving around the farm, discussing the issues of the day, as well as the sheep and cattle.

What was the hardest passage to write in the book?

As I say in Part III of ?Sharon,? the chapters dealing with the Yom Kippur War were the most difficult for me to write: although I was a child of 7, I remember it. For years I was plagued by the fact that it could have been different. I knew that he had been wronged in the desert during that war. He knew what was needed to be done in order for Israel to win, and to win quickly. But the higher-ups didn?t understand and didn?t want to listen. Political considerations swayed battlefield decisions. Although we eventually won a great victory after my father crossed the Suez Canal, it was a sad victory as well since this could have been achieved more quickly with many less casualties.

Would you rather get the Oprah book club nod, hear that President Obama is reading your book or neither.

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Continue Reading

Do you prefer to write in a quiet room or inside a bustling coffee shop? Any surprising writing rituals?

Most of the writing was done on the farm, with the sound of the farm animals and the countryside nearby. I was inspired by the view, which changes every day and with each passing season. The farm is a special place to me ? we lived there with my father who preferred to come home almost each evening rather than stay in the prime minister?s residence in Jerusalem. It is a special place for me since that is where I spent the most time with my Dad, driving around the farm, discussing the issues of the day, as well as the sheep and cattle.

What was the hardest passage to write in the book?

As I say in Part III of ?Sharon,? the chapters dealing with the Yom Kippur War were the most difficult for me to write: although I was a child of 7, I remember it. For years I was plagued by the fact that it could have been different. I knew that he had been wronged in the desert during that war. He knew what was needed to be done in order for Israel to win, and to win quickly. But the higher-ups didn?t understand and didn?t want to listen. Political considerations swayed battlefield decisions. Although we eventually won a great victory after my father crossed the Suez Canal, it was a sad victory as well since this could have been achieved more quickly with many less casualties.

Would you rather get the Oprah book club nod, hear that President Obama is reading your book or neither.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories1211_70843_html/44003885/SIG=11moif2u6/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/1211/70843.html

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Tahoma High graduate Chris Powers earns All-America honors at Eastern Washington for second straight year | Football

Tahoma High graduate Chris Powers was one of three Eastern Washington University football players to earn All-America honors this week.

Senior center?Powers, who was named to the All-America second team, finished his career with 35 starts -- the third-most among all Eastern players on offense -- in the 36 games he played as an Eagle.

In winning All-America honors as a junior in 2010, he represents the 17th time an EWU offensive lineman has earned All-America accolades in the last 18 years (1993-2010). He was a first team All-Big Sky selection in both 2010 and 2011, and Powers represents the 19th and 20th times an EWU offensive lineman has been honored on that squad since 1993.

In 2011 he started all eight games he played, and the Eagles led the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision with an average of 368.5 passing yards per game. Eastern was also seventh overall in total offense (447.4) and 27th in scoring (32.4). He was a 15-game starter in 2010 when EWU ranked 22nd in the FCS in total offense (397.1 yards per game), as well as rankings of 26th in passing (241.0), 49th in rushing (156.1) and 18th in scoring (31.5). As a 12-game starter in his sophomore season, he helped Eastern rank in the top 10 in four offensive categories in FCS, including passing (3rd, 321.3), total offense (4th, 462.2) and scoring (8th, 33.7).

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Source: http://feeds.soundpublishing.com/~r/cmvsports/~3/42I8WtX6msU/136167323.html

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Pentagon: US concedes mistakes in Pakistani deaths

WASHINGTON (AP) ? After 10 years of war in Afghanistan, a persistent lack of trust between the U.S. and Pakistan still complicates operations along the critical Afghanistan border and was a key factor in the errant American airstrikes late last month that killed 24 Pakistani troops.

U.S. officials on Thursday accepted some blame for the deadly incident that infuriated Pakistani leaders, prompting Pakistan to shut down key supply routes for the war and further eroding America's already rocky relations with Islamabad. The Defense Department briefed reporters Thursday on the conclusions reached in its investigation into the November incident.

But the U.S. did not apologize, despite the embarrassing series of communications and coordination errors. Pentagon officials said Thursday that military leaders had spoken by phone to Pakistan army chief Gen. Ashfaq Pervez Kayani about the report's conclusions, but have not yet given him a detailed briefing.

Pakistan refused to cooperate in the investigation. And the U.S. report ? placing some of the blame on Islamabad ? is likely to only increase their fury, hamper any hope of rebuilding the relationship and delay the opening of the supply routes.

In a Pentagon briefing, Brig. Gen. Stephen Clark, an Air Force special operations officer who led the investigation, made it clear that U.S. forces were fired on first and acted in self-defense.

But he acknowledged that efforts to determine who was firing on the U.S troops and whether there were friendly Pakistani forces in the area ? the primary questions in any cross-border incident ? failed because U.S. forces used inaccurate maps, were unaware of Pakistani border post locations and mistakenly provided the wrong location for the troops.

There is "an overarching lack of trust between the two sides" that keeps them from giving each other specific details on troops or combat outpost locations, Clark said as he went through a blow-by-blow account of the events that began late on Nov. 25 and continued overnight.

U.S. and NATO commanders, Clark said, believe that some of their military operations have been compromised when they've given details and locations to the Pakistanis.

According to Clark, U.S. troops were climbing up rugged terrain toward a village just west of the border when they began to receive machine gun and mortar fire very close to their positions. The U.S. ground commander requested a show of force, so an F-15 fighter jet and an AC-130 gunship flew over, shooting flares to signal the presence of American or NATO troops.

Clark said the gunfire and mortars continued. And in the first serious miscommunication, the troops on the ground were told that no Pakistani troops were in the area. Commanders then called for airstrikes.

In a confusing series of communications, U.S. officials gave Pakistan liaison officers the wrong location of the firefight and were told again that no Pakistani troops were in that region. The U.S. launched another round of airstrikes until around 1 a.m., when officials confirmed that there were friendly troops there and the firing stopped.

A key failing, Clark said, was that U.S. troops did not know that two relatively new and spare Pakistani outposts ? reportedly called Volcano and Boulder ? were just over the border from the village that was the target of the operation.

"They didn't have coordinates on the border posts to begin with because they didn't know they were there," Clark said. "The border was not considered a factor to the operation because everything was intended to remain within a kilometer, kilometer and a half inside of Afghanistan. So they never anticipated taking fire from the ridgeline, nor anticipated the idea that it might be Pakistan military there." A kilometer is about 0.62 miles.

He said that as a result the U.S. troops believed enemy insurgents were firing at them. He added that U.S. commanders in Afghanistan will make any decisions on whether anyone should be punished for the mistakes.

"For the loss of life and for the lack of proper coordination between U.S. and Pakistani forces that contributed to those losses, we express our deepest regret," Pentagon spokesman George Little told reporters.

Little said the U.S wants to learn from the mistakes and take any corrective measures needed to make sure such mistakes aren't repeated.

NATO, Afghanistan and Pakistani forces use the joint border control centers to share information and coordinate security operations.

The Pakistani army rejected the U.S. investigation. The army sent a short statement to reporters early Friday in Islamabad saying media reports of the investigation indicated it was "short on facts." It said a more detailed response would be given when the report was received.

Afghan officials had no immediate comment.

The Pakistani military has said it provided NATO with maps that clearly showed where the border posts were located.

Since the attack, a furious Pakistani government has shut down NATO supply routes to Afghanistan and thrown the U.S. out of its Shamsi Air Base in southwestern Baluchistan province. The base was used to maintain drones deployed in strikes against insurgents hiding in safe havens in Pakistan's lawless tribal belt on the Afghan frontier.

The Pakistani border closure forced the U.S. and NATO to reorient their entire logistics chains to the so-called Northern Distribution Network through Russia and Central Asia.

For most of the 10-year war in Afghanistan, 90 percent of supplies shipped to the international force came through Pakistan, via the port of Karachi. But over the past three years, road and rail shipments from NATO's European members via Russia and the Central Asian nations have expanded, and before the border incident accounted for more than half of all overland deliveries.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-12-22-US-Pakistan-Airstrikes/id-00db8ffb646e485a9ffac0e2dc9c2abf

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Pilot told of icing before NJ crash that killed 5

A State Police helicopter lands on the southbound lanes of route 287 in Harding Township, N.J., where a small plane headed for Georgia crashed, raining debris down on the highway and local streets Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011. The plane spiraled out of control and lost a section of the aircraft before hitting the wooded median strip, skidding into the roadway and exploding. All five people aboard were killed but no one on the ground was injured. (AP Photo/Joe Epstein)

A State Police helicopter lands on the southbound lanes of route 287 in Harding Township, N.J., where a small plane headed for Georgia crashed, raining debris down on the highway and local streets Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011. The plane spiraled out of control and lost a section of the aircraft before hitting the wooded median strip, skidding into the roadway and exploding. All five people aboard were killed but no one on the ground was injured. (AP Photo/Joe Epstein)

A piece of a small plane hangs from a tree located between Hilltop Circle and James Street near Interstate 287 where the plane crashed forcing the police to close all lanes of the highway to conduct their investigation, Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011 in Harding Township, N.J. (AP Photo/Joe Epstein)

A piece of a small plane that crashed Tuesday morning can be seen on James Street near Interstate 287, Tuesday Dec. 20, 2011 in Harding Township, N.J. Two New York City investment bankers are among the five dead in the small plane crash, which left debris on the highway and local streets, forcing the police to close the highway to conduct their investigation. The FAA says the plane departed Teterboro Airport for DeKalb Peachtree Airport near Atlanta Tuesday when there was a garbled transmission and it disappeared from the radar. (AP Photo/Joe Epstein)

A firefighter walks along the northbound lanes of Interstate 287 looking for pieces of a small plane that crashed Tuesday morning, Dec. 20, 2011 on Interstate 287 in Harding, N.J. Two New York City investment bankers are among the five dead in the small plane crash, which left debris on the highway and local streets, forcing the police to close the highway to conduct their investigation. The FAA says the plane departed Teterboro Airport for DeKalb Peachtree Airport near Atlanta Tuesday when there was a garbled transmission and it disappeared from the radar. (AP Photo/Joe Epstein)

A piece of debris from a plane that crashed in Morris Township, N.J. lies on the ground Tuesday, Dec. 20, 2011. The small plane heading for Georgia spiraled out of control and crashed Tuesday morning on a major New York-area highway, hitting a wooded median and scattering wreckage across the road. All five people aboard, including two investment bankers, were killed, but no one on the ground was injured. (AP Photo/The Asbury Park Press, Bob Karp) NO SALES

MORRIS TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) ? After a normal takeoff and a routine conversation with air traffic controllers about potential icing conditions, a small plane carrying two investment bankers and three others to Georgia headed off into the skies over New Jersey on Tuesday morning.

Minutes later, the high-performance Socata TBM-700 turboprop had spun out of control and crashed in a fireball on a busy highway, killing all five people aboard and narrowly avoiding dozens of cars and trucks speeding by.

Federal investigators were to resume searching the area for wreckage Wednesday morning. The debris was scattered over at least a half-mile, with one section found lodged in a tree a quarter-mile away. The crash closed both sides of busy Interstate 287 for hours on Tuesday.

The New York investment banking firm Greenhill & Co. said two of its managing directors, Jeffrey Buckalew, 45, and Rakesh Chawla, 36, as well as Buckalew's wife and two children, were on the plane. Buckalew was the registered owner of the single-engine plane and had a pilot's license.

National Transportation Safety Board officials said Tuesday the plane wasn't required to have a black box, which would have recorded flight data, but they said investigators would be searching for other memory devices, including GPS, collision avoidance systems or any device with a recordable chip that might yield more information.

The NTSB didn't say what role icing may have played in the crash. But an audio recording available online of the pilot speaking to air traffic controllers in the minutes before the crash offered some early clues.

The pilot was told to maintain an altitude of 10,000 feet as he headed southwest over northern New Jersey as a controller warned him about the conditions in the clouds above ? specifically accumulations of ice particles known as rime.

"There are reports of moderate rime. ... If it gets worse let me know and when center takes your handoff I'll climb you and maybe get you higher," one controller said.

The pilot responded: "We'll let you know what happens when we get in there. And, yeah, if we could go straight through it, that's no problem for us."

Seconds later, another controller is heard telling a different pilot about reports of severe icing at 14,000 feet.

Ice can form on airplanes when temperatures are near freezing and there is visible moisture, such as clouds or rain. The ice adds weight to an aircraft, and rough accumulations known as rime interrupt the flow of air over wings. In extreme cases, a plane can lose so much lift that it falls out of the sky.

Several eyewitnesses to Tuesday's crash described an out-of-control descent.

Will Keyser, who works in maintenance at the Spring Brook Country Club in Morristown, is used to hearing small planes fly over en route to nearby Morristown Memorial Airport. He was near the 13th hole Tuesday when he heard a loud plane overhead.

"It didn't sound quite right," Keyser said, recalling how he and his co-workers all looked up simultaneously. "We kind of lost it in the clouds, it came out of the clouds on the other side of the course, and it didn't look right, it didn't look like the pilot had control."

Keyser said the plane pitched back and forth, and for a moment he thought it was a stunt pilot.

"It was kind of rolling and making circles ? 'cause I've seen air shows before ? so I thought: 'Oh, OK;' but then he finally did a nosedive and we realized that was completely wrong."

Greenhill & Co. said Buckalew's wife, Corinne, and the couple's two children, Jackson and Meriwether, were traveling with him.

"The firm is in deep mourning over the tragic and untimely death of two of its esteemed colleagues and members of Jeff's family," the company said in a written statement.

A resident at Chawla's Manhattan apartment building remembered him as being constantly on the go, leaving early and getting home late. Arthur Yellin said that Chawla and his family were "wonderful people" and that the banker doted on his three children.

Authorities said a dog aboard the plane also was killed.

___

Contributing to this report were Associated Press writers Shawn Marsh and Beth DeFalco in Trenton, David Porter in Newark, Christopher Hawley and Cristian Salazar in New York, and Leonard Pallats in Atlanta.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-21-Plane%20Crash-Highway/id-7de95a88d9f94652a63a79dd9c6839d5

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Occupy Christmas: Nativity Scene Offends Protesters

What happens when you put a nativity scene in the middle of an Occupy camp?

This video happens. And it's pretty ironically hilarious, to say the least.

The reactions of the Occupy Wall Street protesters below speak for themselves. Seeing a guy state that "It's offensive" while wearing a baseball hat that says "F--k the police" ... so priceless. Watch the tables turn as Baby Jesus & Co. do the occupying:

Occupy vs. Nativity Scene (feat. Baby Jesus)

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2011/12/occupy-christmas-nativity-scene-offends-protesters/

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Typhoon hits Philippines killing nearly 180 (Reuters)

MANILA (Reuters) ? A typhoon hit the southern Philippines triggering flash floods and landslides that killed nearly 180 people and forced about 100,000 from their homes, government and army officials said Saturday.

Typhoon Washi, with winds gusting up to 90km/h (56 mph), hit the resource-rich island of Mindanao late Friday, bringing heavy rain that also grounded some domestic flights and left wide areas without power

Army spokesman Colonel Leopoldo Galon said emergency workers had recovered 97 bodies, most of them children, who drowned in floods in Cagayan de Oro City. Seventy-five people drowned in Iligan City.

The national disaster agency said five miners were also buried in a landslide.

"I can't explain how these things happened, entire villages were swept to the sea by flash floods," Galon told Reuters, saying the death toll could rise as hundreds of people were unaccounted for.

"I have not seen anything like this before. This could be worse than Ondoy," he said, referring to a 2009 storm that inundated the capital, Manila, killing hundreds of people.

Television images showed bodies covered in mud, cars piled on top of each other and wrecked homes. Helicopters and boats searched the sea for survivors and victims.

Rescue boats pulled at least 15 people from the sea, another army spokesman, Lieutenant-Colonel Randolph Cabangbang, told reporters.

Iligan City Mayor Lawrence Cruz said many people were caught by surprise when water rose one meter (three feet) high in less than an hour, forcing people onto roofs.

"Most of them were already sleeping when floodwaters entered their homes," he said. "This is the worst flooding our city had experienced in years."

The national disaster agency said it could not estimate crop and property damage because emergency workers, including soldiers and police officers, were evacuating families and recovering casualties.

The social welfare department said about 100,000 people were displaced and brought to more than a dozen shelters in the two cities.

Six domestic flights of Cebu Pacific were cancelled due to the rain and near-zero visibility in the southern and central Philippines. Ferry services were also halted, stranding hundreds of people.

An average of 20 typhoons hit the Philippines every year, often causing death and destruction.

(Editing by Robert Birsel)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111217/wl_nm/us_philippines_weather

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School explains move to out gay teen to parents (AP)

LEHI, Utah ? School officials say they were being proactive against bullying in deciding to tell the parents of a Utah student that he is gay.

The move came after a 14-year-old student created an advertisement about himself and his sexual orientation during a class project.

Alpine School District officials said an aide overheard other students making negative comments about the boy, who had told administrators he was gay but wasn't ready to tell his parents.

District spokeswoman Rhonda Bromley said Tuesday the boy reluctantly agreed to allow his sexual orientation to be revealed to his parents but chose not to be present when they were told.

Bromley says the parents are supportive but concerned about misconceptions involving the boy's treatment at school. His parents removed him from school until the controversy subsides.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/education/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111215/ap_on_re_us/us_gay_outing_school

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Tag Your Checked Luggage with the Destination Airport Code to Avoid Loss [Travel]

Most airports attach a printed tag to your checked luggage with the airport codes of the origin and destination airports to ensure your luggage safely arrives at the correct location, but sometimes these tags are lost. Double the chance that your checked bags arrive at the correct airport by attaching your own destination airport code luggage tag.

The easy and cheap way to do this is to attach a label with the the destination airport code to an old plastic membership card, punch a hole in the corner, and attach that to your luggage handle with a zip tie or keyring. Go ahead and make return labels and add them to your toiletries pouch?when you pack up to return to the airport, take the old label off and add the new one.

This way even if the airport's luggage tag is ripped off airline staff can route your bag to the correct airport which will make reclaiming the bag a much easier and quicker prospect.

Make sure to check out additional tips to prevent losing your luggage as well as Melanie's post on using a four-wheeler suitcase to avoid damage to your belongings. Photo by Becky Stern

10 Tips to Prevent Lost Luggage | via

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/HQhpSRNnj7k/tag-your-checked-luggage-with-the-destination-airport-code-to-avoid-loss

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Army suspends 1st female drill sergeant leader (Providence Journal)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

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Inside Anobit: Why Apple is investing in flash RAM technology ...

December 14th, 2011

Daniel Eran Dilger

Apple?s investments in acquiring flash RAM expertise and technology appear to be centered around packing more storage capacity into Macs and iOS devices at lower prices, with the same level of component reliability and longevity.
This week, Apple was both reported to be close to acquiring flash RAM chip designer Anobit and engaging in plans to set up a semiconductor development center in Isreal, where Anobit is located.

Apple already uses Anobit components in is iOS devices and the MacBook Air. The firm?s unique flash RAM technology, dubbed MSP or ?Memory Signal Processing,? is designed to enhance the reliability, performance, efficiency and endurance of flash RAM.

The pros and cons of flash RAM

Unlike DRAM, which stores memory bits using the state of electrical capacitors which must be continuously refreshed with power, NAND flash RAM stores bits using floating gate transistors, which do not need to be continually bathed in current to maintain their state.

This makes Flash RAM more energy efficient during operation, and allows it to retain its information even after the device is shut down. The use of Flash RAM storage in iOS devices and the MacBook Air provides long term storage of software, documents, music and movies without needing a conventional magnetic hard drive for disk storage.

The use of flash storage not only makes these devices quick to boot up and launch apps, but also slimmer, more battery efficient and less fragile than compatible devices using a conventional hard drive for persistent storage. Particularly on iOS devices, the use of fast flash RAM also limits the need for large amounts of DRAM, further increasing the devices? battery life.

On the flip side however, flash RAM storage is more expensive compared to disk storage, as well as being less reliable and having a shorter life span. The individual cells of flash RAM chips eventually wear out and stop working reliably, requiring specialized software to manage their use.

Strengthening flash RAM

Earlier this year, Apple incorporated TRIM support in Mac OS X Lion. TRIM is an OS level software technology designed to manage the flakey, short lived nature of flash RAM used in Solid State Drives like the MacBook Air?s (pictured below).

Anobit?s MSP technology attacks the same issues, but does so on firmware level, using sophisticated monitoring of flash RAM cells to accurately determine if they are failing or no longer able to reliably store data. These technologies also enable flash RAM to continue to function longer than previously possible by simply working around failures.

In addition to enabling flash RAM to live longer, MSP also promises to make components faster; it enables data to be pushed to flash RAM at speeds that generate more errors, but can then detect and correct the errors.

Cheaper SSDs and flash RAM

A second primary benefit to the MSP technology is that it makes less expensive types of flash RAM usable for a wider range of applications. Most flash RAM used in high speed storage holds one bit per memory cell, known as SLC or ?single level cell? memory.

A cheaper type of flash RAM known as MLC or ?multi level cell? can store two bits per memory cell, making it less expensive to manufacture because it has a higher memory density. A primary problem with MLC is that is more prone to error, requiring more sophisticated management to make it useful.

MSP promises to make cheaper MLC memory components as accurate over the same lifespan as conventional SLC, something that would dramatically change how much storage Apple could pack into its devices and computers at the same price. That would have a huge impact on Apple?s ability to compete, as flash RAM storage is a significant part of the bill of materials in the devices it builds.

NAND flash is the second most expensive component of the iPad (after the touchscreen display), according to iSuppli, accounting for around ten percent of its total component cost. For the MacBook Air, 64GB of SSD flash RAM is similarly estimated to be its second most expensive component (again, after the screen) and roughly the same price as its Intel CPU at a similar 10 percent of the total materials cost.

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Source: http://www.roughlydrafted.com/2011/12/14/inside-anobit-why-apple-is-investing-in-flash-ram-technology/

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2011's Movies Cut Into One Epic YouTube Clip

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Summary Box: Insurers urge restraint on banker pay (AP)

CURB THE CASH: the Association of British Insurers, whose 300 members include major shareholders in banks, called for a fundamental review of pay and bonuses at the end of a difficult year in which banks' stock prices have fallen and several face huge payouts to compensate buyers of payment protection insurance.

BONUS BANKERS: The seven- and eight-figure bonuses pocketed by some bankers are a sensitive political issue, especially since taxpayers rescued Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group during the credit crisis and continue to hold significant stakes in both banks.

STASHING IT AWAY: There is concern as well that banks should be hoarding cash to protect against the possibility that a European nation defaults on its debts or the 17-nation euro currency collapses.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/britain/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111206/ap_on_bi_ge/eu_britain_executive_pay_summary_box

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Giant super-Earths made of diamond are possible, study suggests

ScienceDaily (Dec. 5, 2011) ? A planet made of diamonds may sound lovely, but you wouldn't want to live there.

A new study suggests that some stars in the Milky Way could harbor "carbon super-Earths" -- giant terrestrial planets that contain up to 50 percent diamond.

But if they exist, those planets are likely devoid of life as we know it.

The finding comes from a laboratory experiment at Ohio State University, where researchers recreated the temperatures and pressures of Earth's lower mantle to study how diamonds form there.

The larger goal was to understand what happens to carbon inside planets in other solar systems, and whether solar systems that are rich in carbon could produce planets that are mostly made of diamond.

Wendy Panero, associate professor in the School of Earth Sciences at Ohio State, and doctoral student Cayman Unterborn used what they learned from the experiments to construct computer models of the minerals that form in planets composed with more carbon than Earth.

The result: "It's possible for planets that are as big as fifteen times the mass of the Earth to be half made of diamond," Unterborn said. He presented the study Tuesday at the American Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco.

"Our results are striking, in that they suggest carbon-rich planets can form with a core and a mantle, just as Earth did," Panero added. "However, the cores would likely be very carbon-rich -- much like steel -- and the mantle would also be dominated by carbon, much in the form of diamond."

Earth's core is mostly iron, she explained, and the mantle mostly silica-based minerals, a result of the elements that were present in the dust cloud that formed into our solar system. Planets that form in carbon-rich solar systems would have to follow a different chemical recipe -- with direct consequences for the potential for life.

Earth's hot interior results in geothermal energy, making our planet hospitable.

Diamonds transfer heat so readily, however, that a carbon super-Earth's interior would quickly freeze. That means no geothermal energy, no plate tectonics, and -- ultimately -- no magnetic field or atmosphere.

"We think a diamond planet must be a very cold, dark place," Panero said.

She and former graduate student Jason Kabbes subjected a tiny sample of iron, carbon, and oxygen to pressures of 65 gigapascals and temperatures of 2,400 Kelvin (close to 9.5 million pounds per square inch and 3,800 degrees Fahrenheit -- conditions similar to the Earth's deep interior).

As they watched under the microscope, the oxygen bonded with the iron, creating iron oxide -- a type of rust -- and left behind pockets of pure carbon, which became diamond.

Based on the data from that test, the researchers made computer models of Earth's interior, and verified what geologists have long suspected -- that a diamond-rich layer likely exists in Earth's lower mantle, just above the core.

That result wasn't surprising. But when they modeled what would happen when these results were applied to the composition of a carbon super-Earth, they found that the planet could become very large, with iron and carbon merged to form a kind of carbon steel in the core, and vast quantities of pure carbon in the mantle in the form of diamond.

The researchers discussed the implications for planetary science.

"To date, more than five hundred planets have been discovered outside of our solar system, yet we know very little about their internal compositions," said Unterborn, who is an astronomer by training.

"We're looking at how volatile elements like hydrogen and carbon interact inside the Earth, because when they bond with oxygen, you get atmospheres, you get oceans -- you get life," Panero said. "The ultimate goal is to compile a suite of conditions that are necessary for an ocean to form on a planet."

This work contrasts with the recent discovery by an unrelated team of researchers who found a so-called "diamond planet" which is actually the remnant of a dead star in a binary system.

The Ohio State research suggests that true terrestrial diamond planets can form in our galaxy. Exactly how many such planets might be out there and their possible internal composition is an open question -- one that Unterborn is pursuing with Ohio State astronomer Jennifer Johnson.

This research was funded by Panero's CAREER award from the National Science Foundation.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Ohio State University. The original article was written by Pam Frost Gorder.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Source: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2011/12/111205140531.htm

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First-class mail: Just a little bit s-l-o-w-e-r (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Already mocked by some as "snail mail," first-class U.S. mail will slow even more by next spring under plans by the cash-strapped U.S. Postal Service to eliminate more than 250 processing centers. Nearly 30,000 workers would be laid off, too, as the post office struggles to respond to a shift to online communication and bill payments.

The cuts are part of $3 billion in reductions aimed at helping the agency avert bankruptcy next year. They would virtually eliminate the chance for stamped letters to arrive the next day, a change in first-class delivery standards that have been in place since 1971.

The plan technically must await an advisory opinion from the independent Postal Regulatory Commission, slated for next March. But that opinion is nonbinding, and only substantial pressure from Congress, businesses or the public might deter far-reaching cuts.

Many postal customers will be upset.

"The post office is a mainstay of America, and the fact that these services will no longer be available is absolutely crazy," said Carol Braxton of Naperville, Ill., as she waited in line at a mail sorting center Monday with the holiday shipping season picking up steam.

"Well I'm not happy about them, but what else can you do with this economy? If they're getting ready to go bankrupt, it's better to cut back than to go totally bankrupt," said Deborah Butler of Brandywine, Md., who was at a Washington, D.C., post office. "You still need them. Because everybody can't afford the other ones, like express mail and things like that. .Even though the world is computer literate, everybody doesn't have computers."

At a news briefing in Washington, postal vice president David Williams said the post office needs to move quickly to cut costs as it seeks to stem five years of red ink amid steadily declining mail volume. After hitting 98 billion in 2006, first-class mail volume is now at less than 78 billion. It is projected to drop by roughly half by 2020.

The agency already has announced a 1-cent increase in first-class mail to 45 cents beginning Jan. 22.

Williams said in certain narrow situations first-class mail might still be delivered the next day ? if, for example, newspapers, magazines or other bulk mailers are able to meet new, tighter deadlines and drop off shipments directly at the processing centers that remain open.

But in the vast majority of cases, everyday users of first-class mail will see delays. The changes could slow everything from check payments to Netflix's DVDs-by-mail, add costs to mail-order prescription drugs and even threaten the existence of newspapers and time-sensitive magazines delivered by postal carrier to far-flung suburban and rural communities.

The Postal Service faces imminent default ? this month ? on a $5.5 billion annual payment to the Treasury for retiree health benefits and expects to have a record loss of $14.1 billion next year.

"Are we writing off first class mail? No," Williams said. "Customers are making their choices, and what we are doing is responding to the current market conditions and placing the Postal Service on a path to allow us to respond to future changes. We have to do what's in our control to put the Postal Service on sold financial ground."

The cuts would close 252 of the nation's 461 mail processing centers beginning next spring. They would result in the elimination of roughly 28,000 jobs. The number of employees varies by processing facility but generally ranges from about 50 to 2,000. Cincinnati, Boston and New Orleans are home to some of the largest centers.

Because the consolidations typically would lengthen the distance mail travels from post office to processing center, the agency also would lower delivery standards. Currently, first-class mail is supposed to be delivered to homes and businesses within the continental U.S. in one to three days. That would lengthen to two to three days, meaning mailers no longer could expect next-day delivery in surrounding communities. Periodicals could take two to nine days.

About 42 percent of first-class mail is now delivered the following day. An additional 27 percent arrives in two days, about 31 percent in three days and less than 1 percent in four to five days. Following the change next spring, about 51 percent of all first-class mail is expected to arrive in two days, with most of the remainder delivered in three days.

The Postal Service initially announced in September it was studying the possibility of closing the processing centers and published a notice in the Federal Register seeking comments. Within 30 days, the plan elicited nearly 4,400 public comments, mostly in opposition.

Catalogue companies worry they won't be able to predict when their catalogues will arrive and therefore when to add staff to handle increased call volumes. Small business owners say sluggish first-class mail will slow their businesses because merchandise and payments will spend more time in transit.

On Monday, postal customers said they valued having mail service but also acknowledged the realities of the Internet in everyday life.

"The post office services that we need as a nation are just too big at this point, so things have to be cut and there is nothing that can be done to change it other than email goes away," Ron Connor of Naperville, Ill., said as he walked into a local post office branch.

Lily Ickow, from Silver Spring, Md., said the post office needs to find other ways than wide-scale cuts to reach profitability. "It's definitely too bad," she said at a Washington post office. "I think the Postal Service is necessary personally. ...It would be useful to see if there are ways that they could innovate and come up with other types of services."

Separate bills that have passed House and Senate committees would give the Postal Service more authority and liquidity to stave off immediate bankruptcy. But prospects are somewhat dim for final congressional action on those bills anytime soon, especially if the measures are seen in an election year as promoting layoffs and cuts to neighborhood post offices.

Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe has been pushing for congressional changes that would give the agency more authority to reduce delivery to five days a week, raise stamp prices and reduce health care and other labor costs. But the agency also opposes current provisions in the House and Senate measures that would require additional layers of review before it could close post offices and processing centers.

The Postal Service, an independent agency of government, does not receive tax money, but is subject to congressional control on major aspects of its operations. The changes in first-class mail delivery could go into place without permission from Congress.

Maine Sen. Susan Collins, the top Republican on the Senate committee that oversees the post office, believes the agency is taking the wrong approach. She says service cuts will only push more consumers to online bill payment or private carriers such as UPS or FedEx, leading to lower revenue.

And Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, a member of the House committee that oversees the agency, said he would fight the changes.

"This privatization plan is bad for Americans, bad for businesses, bad for the economy and bad for workers. We can do better than to dismantle the Postal Service and privatize its operations," he said.

Ruth Goldway, chair of the Postal Regulatory Commission, said the commission will be reviewing the proposal closely to ensure that the Postal Service can continue its mission of providing adequate, effective service in a fair manner to all parts of the U.S. She said, "I think if the Postal Service does not respond to public concerns, it will bear the consequences of that itself."

___

AP video journalist Robert Ray in Naperville, Ill., AP television producer Kelly Daschle in Washington and business writer Jonathan Fahey in New York contributed to this report.

___

Online:

List of facilities to be closed:

http://about.usps.com/news/electronic-press-kits/our-future-network/study-list-110915.pdf

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111205/ap_on_go_ot/us_postal_problems

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House Republicans launch most ambitious effort yet to rein in Obama administration regulators (Star Tribune)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

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Source: http://electdavidpleat.com/automotive-led-lights/756/

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Senate pushes to hurry up Afghanistan pullout (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? The Senate voted on Wednesday to require President Barack Obama to devise a plan for expediting the pullout of U.S. troops from Afghanistan, signaling growing impatience in Congress.

Obama in June called for about a third of U.S. forces, or 33,000 troops, to leave Afghanistan by the end of next summer. The remaining 66,000 U.S. troops are to be slowly withdrawn until a final transition to Afghan security control in 2014.

The Democratic-controlled Senate's vote for accelerating that drawdown came on an amendment to an annual defense bill, but the chances of the requirement becoming law are slim.

A similar demand for an accelerated transition of military operations from U.S. to Afghan authorities was narrowly defeated in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives in May.

The sponsor of the version that passed the Senate on Wednesday, Democrat Jeff Merkley, said the chamber's vote was above all a message to the Democratic president that it was time to end the U.S. combat role.

"Our American forces have successfully pursued the two main goals set when we went to Afghanistan: stamping out the al Qaeda training camps and hunting down and bringing to justice those responsible for 9/11," Merkley said in a statement, referring to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

"It is time to bring our men and women home. The Senate sent that message to the President today in unequivocal terms," Merkley said.

The amendment passed on a voice vote. Republican John McCain, who opposed it, declared that senior U.S. military commanders were already uncomfortable with the drawdown Obama announced in June, and said stepping it up would be "reckless and wrong."

The Senate vote came as U.S. lawmakers continued to look for ways to cut government spending and rein in massive budget deficits. Unease in Washington over the decade-long war in Afghanistan has escalated amid rising worries about tight budgets and high unemployment.

During debate on the amendment, Merkley said the conflict in Afghanistan had cost the United States nearly a half-trillion dollars, and that it was time to "bring our troops and our tax dollars home".

His amendment had 20 co-sponsors in the 100-member Senate, including two Republicans - Mike Lee and Rand Paul, both members of the chamber's conservative Tea Party caucus.

(Editing by Paul Simao)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111201/pl_nm/us_afghanistan_usa_senate

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20 Percent of Wireless 911 Calls Come From Your Ass [Factoid]

Though were kind of, sort of, moving past the era of the butt dialing on our cellphones thanks to the advent of the touchscreen, it's still happening to a significant degree. The worst is that it's quite often 911. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/Y7hV-SOPeiI/20-percent-of-wireless-911-calls-come-from-your-ass

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Santos: 4 slain were longest-held rebel captives

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) ? Colombia's president says the four security force members found slain during a military operation were the longest-held captives of the country's main rebel group.

President Juan Manuel Santos says all four were killed execution-style, three with shots to the head and one with two shots to the back.

Santos said the three police officers and a soldier whose bodies were found Saturday morning after combat in the southern state of Caqueta had been held between 12 and 13 years.

He called the killings "a crime against humanity."

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) ? Four security force members held by Colombia's main rebel group were found slain Saturday, the defense minister said.

All four were killed execution-style, three with shots to the head and one with a shot to the back, Juan Carlos Pinzon told reporters in a brief appearance.

He said the bodies were found following combat in the country's south between troops and rebels.

He did not name the four or take questions, but blamed the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC.

"They were cruelly murdered with coups de grace," Pinzon said. He said that chains were found with the bodies.

The FARC is known to hold about 20 security force members, some for more than 13 years, and typically binds them with chains.

It would not be the first time the FARC has slain captives when under military pressure.

In June 2007, FARC fighters killed 11 regional lawmakers they had been holding for five years, apparently under the mistaken belief they were under attack by government forces.

In 2003, FARC fighters killed 10 captives, including a former defense minister and governor, during an attempted rescue when they heard approaching military helicopters.

Latin America's last remaining rebel army, the FARC took up arms in 1964 and has suffered a series of recent setbacks including the combat death earlier this month of its leader, Alfonso Cano.

It is believed to comprise about 9,000 fighters.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2011-11-26-LT-Colombia-Rebels/id-c2f1c32f70004e87b58291144a4afee6

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Hungary not playing "Turkish game" with IMF talks (Reuters)

BUDAPEST (Reuters) ? Hungary hopes that credit rating agencies Fitch and S&P will wait for the results of its talks with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the European Union (EU) before taking any rating action, a top government official said on Sunday.

The country, whose economy is seen among the most vulnerable in central Europe, returned to the IMF for help after more than a year without a financing backstop, only to see its debt downgraded to "junk" by Moody's this week, triggering a market selloff.

The right-of-center government, which called the downgrade part of a speculative attack against the country, performed a dramatic about-face and agreed on Friday to mend ties with the EU, the IMF and the country's banks to stabilize the economy.

Hungary expects to conclude the talks on a precautionary arrangement by late January or early February, to draw what it called a safety net around its currency and bond markets amid the turmoil in the euro zone.

"We are not playing the Turkish game," Economy Ministry State Secretary Zoltan Csefalvay told Reuters in an interview, referring to the stop-go game which helped Turkey retain market confidence some years ago.

Hungary is also on the brink of non-investment grade credit status at both Fitch and Standard & Poor's, both of which attach a negative outlook to their ratings.

"I hope that the two agencies will wait for the negotiation (with the IMF) and what the outcome will be and how this safety net will help Hungary in this turbulent time," Csefalvay said.

He said the spike in government bond yields, which rose above 9 percent across the curve on Friday, was temporary and said he was confident the yields would recede.

"I think it is an immediate reaction and certainly we should wait how the market will react on it," he said. "As we have seen in other countries, it will stabilize at a lower level."

He said it was up to the National Bank of Hungary as to whether it hikes interest rates at its next policy meeting on Tuesday, even if a hike would further hinder growth.

"The central bank is independent in Hungary," he said. "If it (hikes rates), it is the independent decision of the National Bank of Hungary. We accept it."

RATE HIKE

The government has criticized the central bank's rate increases between November 2010 and January 2011, which brought rates to their current 6 percent level.

The rate has been unchanged since January, but in the wake of the downgrade analysts expect the bank to hike the rate by 25 to 200 basis points on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Viktor Orban ended aid negotiations with the IMF last year in what he said was an economic "freedom fight."

Although it has been forced back to the international lender the government has insisted it will aim for as much flexibility on economic policy as possible during the talks.

However, Csefalvay said Budapest would not shy away from discussing controversial policies, including windfall taxes on banks, as well as other policies that hurt the financial sector, such as mandatory below-market exchange rates to repay foreign currency mortgages.

"We can discuss certainly ... these crisis taxes, the bank levy or the FX mortgage repayment scheme, whether this is right or not," Csefalvay said. "But all of Europe faces new problems and to solve these we need risk and burden sharing."

He noted that the crisis taxes, the bank levy and other such measures were temporary and the government was in the middle of executing reforms that he said would allow phasing out the taxes from 2013.

"The market sees some uncertainty as to what will happen when these (crisis) measures are abolished. We have more than one year to that time. We are in the middle of many important reforms, and we should push (them) through," he said.

Csefalvay said the government would continue to pursue a growth-centered agenda even as it planned next year's budget with a growth estimate in the 0.5 to 1 percent range, below a prior target of 1.5 percent.

However, if the cabinet sees any fiscal slippage next year, it will not hesitate to take steps to raise more revenue, much like September's excise tax hike, he said.

(Reporting by Marton Dunai; Editing by David Holmes)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20111127/bs_nm/us_hungary_imf

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