Source: www.nytimes.com --- Wednesday, February 15, 2012
China?s vice President, Xi Jinping, was met with blunt criticism from Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who declared that the United States and China could cooperate ?only if the game is fair.? ...
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LONDON ? The governor of the Bank of England says that Britain's economy is likely to grow slowly this year in a "zigzag" pattern of quarterly gains and setbacks in output.
Introducing the Bank's latest quarterly Inflation Report, Mervyn King said Wednesday that spending cuts and tight credit conditions at home and the weakness of major trading partners abroad is holding back growth.
The Inflation Report forecast growth of 1 percent in 2012 and 1.8 percent in 2013.
King added that inflation, currently 3.6 percent, is likely to fall to the official 2 percent target by the end of the year, and be below target for much of the following two years.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
LONDON (AP) ? Britain's unemployment rate edged up to 8.4 percent in the last quarter of 2011, official figures showed Wednesday, as 48,000 people lost their jobs compared with the previous three-month period.
The Office for National Statistics said the unemployment rate has not been higher since 1995. It rose from 8.3 percent in the three months through September and was unchanged from the three months through November.
Wages excluding bonuses were up 2 percent, compared with 1.9 percent in the three months through November. Total pay including bonuses was up 2 percent, unchanged from the previous report.
Pay has increased slowly during a period when inflation shot as high as 5.2 percent in September. The latest data show inflation has dropped to 3.6 percent, and some analysts think it might drop to around 1 percent by the end of the year.
"The latest figures show some encouraging signs of stability despite the challenging economic climate," said David Freud, the minister for welfare reform.
"However, we are not complacent. With more people in the labor market we know that competition for those jobs is tough and we will continue to make it our priority to find people work," Freud added.
Vicky Redwood, chief U.K. economist at Capital Economics, noted that total employment rose by 60,000 in the last quarter of the year but that just kept pace with the growth of the work force.
"We continue to expect unemployment to rise much further in response to the weakness in the wider economy," Redwood said.
Britain's economy shrank by 0.2 percent in the last quarter of 2011, according to the statistics agency's first estimate.
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? President Barack Obama sought to emphasize his Christian faith on Thursday, telling a key election-year voting bloc that he prays every morning and has crafted elements of his economic policies in line with Jesus' teachings.
Obama, who rarely goes to church and speaks far less about his religion than his White House predecessors, told about 3,000 people at a National Prayer Breakfast that the challenges facing the United States required him to listen to God, avoid "phony religiosity," and pursue "bold action" in the face of resistance or indifference.
"I wake up each morning and I say a brief prayer, and I spend a little time in scripture and devotion," Obama told the annual gathering at a Washington hotel, also saying that pastors periodically stop by the Oval Office, phone him and send emails so they can pray together.
"I don't stop there. I'd be remiss if I stopped there, if my values were limited to personal moments of prayer or private conversations with pastors or friends," he said. "I must try to make sure that those values motivate me as one leader of this great nation."
American voters care deeply about religion, with two-thirds saying it is important for a presidential candidate to have strong religious beliefs.
When he emerged on the national stage, many Americans were uncertain about Obama's religion and as many as one in five thought he was a Muslim. The president has previously said that although he did not grow up in a religious household, he became a Christian as an adult "by choice."
On Thursday, he described a 2010 meeting with evangelical leader Billy Graham as transformative to his religious thinking, saying he had "prayed from the heart" at Graham's North Carolina retreat and frequently thereafter.
"I have fallen on my knees with great regularity since that moment - asking God for guidance not just in my personal life and my Christian walk, but in the life of this nation and in the values that hold us together and keep us strong," he said.
OBAMA CITES 'BIBLICAL CALL'
Mitt Romney, Obama's most likely opponent in the November 6 election, is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, whose followers known as Mormons espouse socially conservative values and believe Christ appeared to founder Joseph Smith in America.
Obama, a Democrat, did not reference Romney in his remarks to the prayer breakfast but emphasized his own attention to the poor and fight against inequality. He was clearly trying to draw a contrast with the Republican front-runner, who was widely criticized on Wednesday for saying he was "not concerned about the very poor."
Obama cloaked his economic platform - including a push for higher taxes on the wealthy, which Republicans in Congress have resisted - in religious scripture, adding a new layer to his re-election stump speech.
"I actually think that's going to make economic sense. But for me as a Christian, it also coincides with Jesus' teaching that 'for unto whom much is given, much shall be required,'" he said, also referencing "the biblical call" to help poor and marginalized people as reason for his foreign aid choices.
Texas Governor Rick Perry, a Republican who ended his White House run last month, had accused Obama on the campaign trail of leading a "war on religion," saying the president's decision to support gay rights overseas was "not in America's interest and not worth a dime of taxpayers' money."
Obama avoided mention in his prayer breakfast remarks of his administration's new rule requiring religiously affiliated non-profit groups to provide birth control to women, a decision that spurred fury from social conservatives and the Catholic Church.
Later on Thursday, White House spokesman Jay Carney sought to blunt criticism about the policy, which Republican House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner decried as "unconstitutional."
"The policy does not require any individual to take or provide or prescribe contraception. It simply requires employers to offer insurance coverage that provides that," Carney told reporters. "It is not requiring any individual to in any way violate his or her conscience."
(Additional reporting by Samson Reiny, Thomas Ferraro and Anna Yukhananov; Editing by Deborah Charles and Eric Beech)
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Many people who use positive affirmations often ask if there is any way to effectively add the power of positive statements to the EFT tapping process.
The EFT Choices method was originally developed by Dr. Patricia Carrington and it is one of the most effective ways to incorporate positive statements into the use of EFT. You may find this method useful in helping you to allow yourself to make positive choices to help you move toward what you want in life.
The EFT Choices method can also help you more precisely zero-in on what you want if you are finding it difficult to clarify your desired outcome.
This method can also be used if you feel uncomfortable with the most well-known EFT affirmation ?I deeply and completely love and accept myself? which is used during traditional EFT. It can also be extremely useful if you feel like you (or your clients) are suffering from low self-esteem.
The standard formula for the Choices Method is 3 rounds of tapping:
Round 1: How you feel (the ?negative?) stated in a present tense
Round 2: How you?d like to feel instead (the ?positive?)
Round 3: Go back and forth alternating on each tapping point with the negative and the positive and end on a positive.
When doing the EFT Choices method, you basically tap on each of your EFT points, one by one, while focusing on the negative aspects of your issue to neutralize your problem, then continue to tap while focusing on the solution, finish up by tapping as you alternate between a negative aspect of the issue and then stating your desired positive outcome.
Begin by using the EFT Basic Recipe, or any shortcut version that you like, and for your set-up and reminder phrases use the following format:
?Even though (I have this problem), I choose (to feel better instead).? When you state ?I choose?? state a specific desire for what you want or you can add self-acceptance phrases if you like.
For example: ?Even though my hand is throbbing, I choose to have my hand be comfortable and pain free.? or ?Even though I have this (pain, trauma, or feeling), I choose to (feel/do/have this better feeling).? If you like, change the specific outcome/affirmation that follows your I choose statement to one that feels right for you.
There are a few guidelines to follow when formulating your ?I choose? statements.
First and foremost, be specific when stating the exact details (the timing, the exact color, size, the amount etc?) of your desire. It is much more effective and much more fun to create ?pulling? choices ? write them as if you were writing an ad to sell to yourself, with descriptive language that get your super excited! Go for the best possible outcome and don?t settle for just being realistic.
Always state your choices in the present tense and NEVER use the words NOT or CAN?T.
Make choices that apply to you, not what others want for you.
Don?t focus on trying to change others, instead aim to change how you feel about them. Remember, make your ?I choose? statements positive, simple and easy enough to state out loud repeatedly.
The idea behind the Choices Method is that tapping while you focus on your issue gets rid of what you don?t want, and repeating the ?I choose??statement installs what you do want into your conscious and subconscious mind while tapping away any energetic static and emotional resistance.
Give it a try and you may be suprisingly pleased with the results you get.
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WOODLAND PARK, Colo. ? Sharpening his criticism, Rick Santorum on Wednesday laid into Mitt Romney's health care overhaul in Massachusetts and Newt Gingrich's shifting policy positions as he sought to deny either rival the Republican presidential nomination.
Santorum, looking to find footing ahead of Saturday's caucuses in Nevada and Tuesday's primary in Colorado, told supporters in a freshly polished campaign speech that Republicans would guarantee President Barack Obama a second term if Romney or Gingrich were to win the nomination. Signaling he was unwilling to exit the race and help either rival rise, Santorum said he would push on all the way to the Republican convention, if necessary.
"I'm in this race until the very end," he said to boisterous cheers during a speech that his advisers cast as a major address, but offered little new. "I'm going to stay in this until the very end."
With fresh frustration following Tuesday's loss in Florida, the former Pennsylvania senator said neither Gingrich nor Romney were bets Republicans could risk.
"There were people in our party who flirted with Obamacare," Santorum said. "Romneycare, Obamacare, all these plans, they don't care."
He noted the health care legislation Romney signed into law was a model for Democrats' national plan and Gingrich previously supported its centerpiece ? a requirement that everyone buy health insurance. While his arguments are familiar, Santorum sharpened his attacks after three consecutive losses in the nominating process.
"Barack Obama, in a debate or in this election, is going to destroy Mitt Romney on the issue of health care," Santorum warned.
"Gov. Romney is for Romneycare. Just not at the federal level. Who cares?" he said.
And he said Gingrich is "running around" taking credit for Republican accomplishments during his term as speaker.
"He's like the CEO of the company taking credit for making the car," Santorum mocked.
Yet Santorum is looking at some tough times ahead. He only recently opened political operations in Nevada, which he visited for his first campaign events on Tuesday and planned to return on Thursday. The organization-intensive caucuses are Saturday. Romney handily won them four years ago, and he didn't disengage from the state.
Next up is Colorado, where Santorum is campaigning hard while trying to scramble a traditional campaign.
That means a strategy shift toward sharp attacks in the hopes of wounding his rivals. He's shuttling between the upcoming states, hoping the criticism proves to shake the ground.
Minnesota and Missouri have their contests Tuesday. Gingrich is not on Missouri's nonbinding primary ballot. Santorum's advisers were hoping the attacks on Romney in recent days could yield a surprise showing there ? and perhaps give the Santorum campaign a shot of enthusiasm.
But Santorum faces challenges of his own as a candidate. During a question-and-answer session here in the mountains of Woodland Park, he found himself defending drug companies to a mother and son who asked Santorum about the high costs of medicine. Santorum said markets would solve the problems, despite the woman's repeated and frustrated pleas to help her pay the thousands of dollars each month for her son's prescriptions.
Meanwhile, Santorum's 3-year-old daughter, Bella, remained in a Philadelphia hospital undergoing treatment for complications of a genetic disorder. He said many experts describe the condition "as incompatible with life."
"If things work out, she'll be home either today or first thing tomorrow morning," he said after he spoke with his wife by phone before speaking at Colorado Christian University. "Thank you for all those prayers."
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MEXICO CITY (Reuters) ? Mexicans have been overcharged $13.4 billion a year for phone and internet services as the industry dominated by billionaire Carlos Slim gouges customers and keeps the economy from growing, a study released on Monday said.
Mexico, the second-largest economy in Latin America, cannot reach its growth potential until the cost of phone and internet access comes down and more people have easy access to telecom services, the report from the Organization for Co-operation and Development said.
From 2005 to 2009, Mexican consumers paid $13.4 billion a year excess for phone and internet services, with high fees disproportionately hitting the poor, according to the report. In total, overcharging cost the economy $129 billion over the five-year period, the report found, nearly 2 percent of the country's economic output.
"Inefficient telecommunication markets impose a significant cost on the Mexican economy and the welfare of its population," according to the report that reviewed the country's telecom sector.
Mexican home phone service is dominated by Slim's Telefonos de Mexico, or Telmex, which provides about 80 percent of services while the billionaire controls about 70 percent of the cellphone market through his America Movil.
"This is a critical study...that exposes the weakness of the telecommunications sector in Mexico," Dionisio Perez-Jacome, minister of Communications and Transport, said at a press event accepting the report.
The report found Mexico had the lowest per capita public investment in telecommunications in the 34-member OECD, while Slim's Telmex had very high profit margins compared to other countries.
In 2008, Telmex had a profit margin of 47 percent, while the average for countries including Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States was 28 percent.
A Slim spokesman declined to comment on the findings of customers being overcharged, but pointed to other reports that Mexico enjoys a relatively-affordable broadband base.
The report found broadband internet speeds are low compared to the OECD average and comparatively expensive, while a three-minute call from a cellphone to a local phone would cost a Mexican travelling in another OECD country $8.65, compared to the OECD average of $6.76.
It suggested that Mexico eliminate restrictions on foreign investment in the telecom sector and cut judicial red tape that lets the telecom industry stall new rules, fines and restrictions.
Mexico's President Felipe Calderon, at a separate event, said that his government planned to auction strands of fiber optic cable that would increase broadband service across the country.
Mexico's cable giant, Megacable, is in a partnership with cellphone company Telefonica and television giant Televisa to share one fiber optic project that should deliver more high-speed internet and telecom services.
(Reporting by Patrick Rucker and Krista Hughes; Editing by Gary Hill and Matt Driskill)
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