Oil jumps to above $80 after EU deal on banks

NEW YORK -- The price of oil soared after European leaders took unexpectedly aggressive steps to support the region's beleaguered banking sector.

Benchmark U.S. crude jumped by $4.49, or 5.8 percent, Friday to $82.18 per barrel in New York while Brent crude rose by $4.15, or 4.5 percent, to $95.51 per barrel in London. A day earlier, oil hit its lowest level since early October.

Major stock markets also jumped nearly 2 percent in morning trading.

Oil surged after eurozone leaders agreed to pump bailout money directly into banks instead of onto the balance sheets of already stressed governments. The decision eased fears of widespread European bank failures that could have hampered lending in other parts of the world.

The measures were a breakthrough for Europe, whose leaders have repeatedly clashed over how to deal with hefty government debts. The deal was struck as borrowing rates in Spain and Italy surged to levels that were considered unsustainable.

The debt crisis has loomed over stock and energy markets for almost two months.

"All of a sudden we're not worried about the Spanish and Italian banks going bankrupt over the weekend," said Phil Flynn, an oil analyst with Price Group.

Elsewhere, European nations prepared to stop buying Iranian oil starting Sunday in an effort to pressure the country to open its nuclear facilities to inspection. Western nations fear that Iran is building a nuclear weapon; Iran denies the claim.

International sanctions already have cut Iranian exports by about 700,000 barrels per day. Experts said it's unclear how much more of Iran's oil will be taken off the market due once the embargo goes into effect. A further reduction in global supply could increase prices for the remaining oil.

Meanwhile, retail gasoline prices fell to $3.353 per gallon in the U.S., the lowest since Jan. 6, according to auto club AAA, Wright Express and Oil Price Information Service.

In other futures trading, heating oil added 10.52 cents to $2.6571 per gallon and wholesale gasoline added 7.38 cents to $2.688 per gallon. Natural gas rose by 3.9 cents to $2.761 per 1,000 cubic feet.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2012/06/29/2874027/oil-jumps-to-above-80-after-eu.html

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KU Cancer Center gets National Cancer Institute designation, senator says

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Source: http://feeds.bizjournals.com/~r/vertical_40/~3/jD4r8VY5EDw/ku-cancer-center-gets-national-cancer.html

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NFC's Faintich commits to play baseball at UCF

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Source: http://www.tallahassee.com/article/20120627/SPORTS01/120627009/1002/RSS01

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BAYBRIDGE CONDOS IN BAYSIDE QUEENS | Manhattan, NYC ...

DESCRIPTION

BedS Bath Develop Price ML# Town Type

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1 1 Baybridge 385000 2497052 Bayside Condo

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1 1 Baybridge Condo 395000 2505226 Bayside Condo

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1 1 Baybridge 399000 2497944 Bayside Condo ? 2 2 Bay Bridge 548888 2424206 Bayside Condo ? 2 2 Baybridge 558000 2500959 Bayside Condo

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Fully Rennovated 2nd Floor 2Bed/2 Bath Withterrace And Private Driveway All Within A 24Hr Gated Community With Full Clubhouse/Spa/Gym-Including Indoor/Outdoor Pools,Indoor Raquetball,Tennis,Indoor/Outdoor Basketball And Much Much More!!!

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Source: http://www.geoffreystevens.com/blog/?p=505

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FDA clears first new weight-loss pill in 13 years

This photo provided by Food and Drug Administration shows Arena Pharmaceutical's anti-obesity pill Belviq. The Food and Drug Administration has approved Belviq, the first new prescription drug for long-term weight loss to enter the U.S. market in over a decade. The agency cleared the pill Wednesday for adults who are obese or are overweight with at least one medical complication, such as diabetes or high cholesterol. (AP Photo/Food and Drug Administration)

This photo provided by Food and Drug Administration shows Arena Pharmaceutical's anti-obesity pill Belviq. The Food and Drug Administration has approved Belviq, the first new prescription drug for long-term weight loss to enter the U.S. market in over a decade. The agency cleared the pill Wednesday for adults who are obese or are overweight with at least one medical complication, such as diabetes or high cholesterol. (AP Photo/Food and Drug Administration)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Food and Drug Administration has approved Arena Pharmaceutical's anti-obesity pill Belviq, the first new prescription drug for long-term weight loss to enter the U.S. market in over a decade.

Despite only achieving modest weight loss in clinical studies, the drug appeared safe enough to win the FDA's endorsement, amid calls from doctors for new weight-loss treatments.

The agency cleared the pill Wednesday for adults who are obese or are overweight with at least one medical complication, such as diabetes or high cholesterol. The drug should be used in combination with a healthy diet and exercise.

Obesity Society President Patrick O'Neil said he's encouraged by the drug's approval because it underscores the notion that lifestyle changes alone are not enough to treat obesity.

"This is good news because it tells us that the FDA is indeed treating obesity seriously," said O'Neil, who teaches at Medical University of South Carolina and was the lead researcher on several studies of Belviq. "On the other hand, it's not the answer to the problem ? or even a big part of the answer."

Even if the effects of Belviq are subtle, experts say it could be an important first step in developing new treatments that attack the underlying causes of obesity.

"The way these things tend to work is you have some people who do extremely well and other people don't lose any weight at all. But if we had 10 medicines that were all different and worked like this, we would have a real field," said Dr. Louis Aronne, director of the weight loss program at Weill-Cornell Medical College.

The FDA denied approval for Arena's drug in 2010 after scientists raised concerns about tumors that developed in animals studied with the drug. The company resubmitted the drug with additional data earlier this year, and the FDA said there was little risk of tumors in humans.

Arena and its partner Eisai Inc. of Woodcliff Lake, N.J., expect to launch the drug in early 2013.

With U.S. obesity rates nearing 35 percent of the adult population, many doctors have called on the FDA to approve new weight loss treatments.

But a long line of prescription weight loss offerings have been associated with safety problems, most notably the fen-phen combination, which was linked to heart valve damage in 1997. The cocktail of phentermine and fenfluramine was a popular weight loss combination prescribed by doctors, though it was never approved by the FDA.

In a rare move, the FDA explicitly stated in a press release that Belviq "does not appear to activate" a chemical pathway that was linked to the heart problems seen with fen-phen.

The FDA said the drug acts on a different chemical pathway in the brain, which is believed to reduce appetite by boosting feelings of satiety and fullness.

Belviq is one of three experimental weight-loss drugs whose developers have been trying for a second time to win approval, after the FDA shot them all down in 2010 or early 2011 because of serious potential side effects.

Vivus Inc.'s Qnexa is thought to be the most promising of the drugs, achieving the most weight loss. But the FDA has delayed a decision on that pill until July.

Shares of San Diego-based Arena Pharmaceuticals Inc. jumped $2.54, or 28.7 percent, to close at $11.39. Shares of Mountain View, Calif.-based Vivus rose $1.94, or 7.4 percent, to $28.33. Shares of Orexigen Therapeutics Inc., the third drugmaker with an obesity pill before the FDA, rose 20 percent to close at $4.92.

Arena's studies showed that patients taking Belviq, known generically as lorcaserin, had modest weight loss. On average patients lost just 3 to 3.7 percent of their starting body weight over a year. About 47 percent of patients without diabetes lost at least 5 percent of their weight or more, which was enough to meet FDA standards for effectiveness. By comparison, average weight loss with Qnexa is 11 percent, with more than 83 percent of patients losing 5 percent of their weight or more.

The FDA said patients should stop taking Belviq after three months if they fail to lose 5 percent of their body weight. Patients are unlikely to see any significant weight loss by staying with the drug.

Side effects with the drug include depression, migraine and memory lapses.

In May a panel of expert advisers to the FDA voted 18-4 to recommend approval of Arena's drug, concluding that its benefits "outweigh the potential risks when used long term" in overweight and obese people.

Experts say the challenge of weight loss drug development lies in safely turning off one of the body's fundamental directives: to eat enough food to maintain its current weight.

While several drugs are available for short-term weight loss, until Wednesday there was only one FDA-approved prescription drug for long-term weight loss: Xenical from Roche, which is seldom prescribed because of unpleasant digestive side effects and modest weight loss. Belviq is the first new prescription drug approved to treat obesity since Xenical's approval 13 years ago.

Other safety failures for diet pills have continued to pile up in recent years.

Four years ago Sanofi-Aventis SA discontinued studies of its highly anticipated pill Acomplia due to psychiatric side effects, including depression and suicidal thoughts. In 2010, Abbott Laboratories withdrew its drug Meridia after a study showed it increased heart attack and stroke.

Associated Press

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Cross Blog: Red Cross news and views from Oregon and beyond ...

Welcome to the Weekly Worldwide Wrap-Up, in which we consolidate the international Red Cross and Red Crescent news into one list of bite-sized links for you.? It's a non-comprehensive sampling of the larger and/or more intriguing aspects of our global work...

UGANDA:? The Uganda Red Cross Society has been assisting in the search and rescue operations following a landslide in the Bududa district of the country which left an estimate 18 people dead and hundreds displaced.? Thousands more are said to be at risk of further landslides caused by floods in the region. ? Rapid assessments by local Red Cross staff indicate that 3,368 people are at high risk and need to be relocated immediately.

SYRIA:? Last weekend Bashar al-Youssef, a 23 year old volunteer for the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, was shot while on first-aid duty.? This is the fourth killing of this kind in Syria over the past year.? The IFRC and ICRC have condemned these acts, that highlight the difficulties faced by the Syrian Red Crescent Society, the only Syrian humanitarian organization operating in areas affected by violence.

BRAZIL:? Last week was the Rio +20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Brazil.? In conjunction with Rio +20 was the People?s Summit for Social and Environmental Justice, in which the IFRC hosted a 90-minute discussion on the role of youth and women in advancing the food security agenda.? To demonstrate the importance of both youth and volunteering, the Brazilian Red Cross had a 100-strong team working 12 hours a day at three first aid posts throughout the People?s Summit.

LIBYA:? The Libyan Armed Forces and the ICRC signed a memorandum of understanding earlier this week, under which the ICRC will provide support for the integration of the rules of international humanitarian law in the army?s training and operations.? The ICRC has considerable expertise in promoting respect for the basic rules of international humanitarian law, having carried out humanitarian operations in armed conflicts for almost one and a half centuries.

GLOSSARY:

ICRC = International Committee of the Red Cross
IFRC = International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

PHOTO:
Staff and volunteers from the Uganda Red Cross Society undertaking search and rescue operations in the village of Bunakasala. (Uganda Red Cross)

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Smart Blog: Top 10 Best Board Games

Board games have been an endearing way to spend time with family and/or friends, and have been able to entertain people for centuries. Over the last 100 years, board games have really seen a increase in popularity.?

There are lots of board games to choose from; board games that get you moving, board games that get you drawing, board games that get you thinking, board games that get you laughing, and there are so many other types of games out there, with more and more being produced each year.

This list is my opinion of the top 10 best board games that are around, and possibly of all-time.

1. Monopoly

Monopoly, the king of board games, it just had to appear on this list. The game was named after the economic term 'monopoly', being published by the Parker brothers.

Monopoly is one of my favorite board games to play but can be frustrating when you're not winning. I can't imagine how many arguments around the world have been monopoly-related. :)

You can have 2-6 players, some have 2-8 players. Monopoly has an average game time of 1-4 hours.The longest recorded game to have 1,680 hours (the equivalent of 70 days). Over 200 million Monopoly games have been sold worldwide, with more than five billion little green houses being "built" since 1935.

Because of the games popularity; Monopoly tokens, Railroad, Community Chest, Chance, and Title Deed designs, as well as Boardwalk and all four gameboard corners are legally protected.

It is estimated that around 500 million people have played the game. It has been published in 27 different languages across 81 different countries.

2. Chess

Chess is played by millions of people worldwide is a two-player board game played on a chessboard, a square checkered board with 64?squares arranged in an eight-by-eight grid.

The average time of a casual game is 10 minutes - 1 hour. In tournament play a game can be anywhere from 10 minutes to over 6 hours.

Chess is played in clubs, online, and in professional tournaments around the world. Chess can be played at any level whether you're a beginner or a tournament professional.

An interesting fact about chess; the number of unique chess games that can be played is 10¹²⁰. Chess is another favourite board game of mine.

3. Scrabble

Scrabble is a 2-4 word-playing game in whch players play on a 15x15 square grid in a crossword-style. Players must make words with the letters provided, landing on score-boosting squares to help gain more points, the words must appear in a dictionary. You can specially get an 'Official scrabble players dictionary' that contains all of the words that are permissible to use.

The game is sold in 121 countries and there are 29 different language versions. Scrabble is one of my mum's favorite games. :)

Every hour, there are on average more than 30,000 games started, and 4,000 scrabble clubs around the globe.

4. Uno

Uno is a card game using its own unique set of printed playing cards. The game was originally developed in 1971. The game can be played with 2-10 players. Uno is an incredibly popular game with Uno tournaments being held and specially themed packs. Some themes include: Batman, Coca-Cola, Disney, Doctor Who, Family Guy, Iron man, Hulk, Mario bros, Nintendo, Pirates of the Caribbean, The Simpsons, Star Trek, Toy Story, and sports.

5. Cluedo

Cluedo (also known as Clue) is a murder mystery board game in which players must move around the game board (which is designed to be a mansion) and solve who the murderer was, including weapon and part of the mansion, from various clues and questions that are asked.

Clue was designed in 1949 by Anthony E. Pratt by Waddingtons, Leeds. Cluedo has also been made into various books and a film.?

Cluedo is another one of my mum's favourite games. :)

6. Risk

Risk is a strategic turn-based game for 2-6 players, who have to strive for world domination. The board shows a political map of the world, which is divided up into 42 territories, which are grouped into 6 continents. Players have to capture territories by using their army and results from dice-rolls. The player who manages to capture all 42 territories wins the game.

An average game will last from 1 hour to 6 hours.

The Parker Brothers (who produced the game) have also created some rule variations for the games. These are: two player risk, capital risk, and secret mission risk. Because of the games popularity, there have been many 'themed' risk games made.

7. Game of Life

The Game of Life (known to some people as simply LIFE) is a game that simulates a persons life, from college all the way through to retirement. The game was created by Milton Bradley in 1860, produced by the Milton Bradley Company of Springfield, Massachusetts.

A game can be played with 2 to 6 players, with some variations allowing for up to 8 or 10 players. An average game time is roughly 45 minutes.

The modern version, which has been around since 1960, was created by Reuben Klamer. There have been many 'themed' versions of the game created.

8. Trivial Pursuit

Trivial Pursuit is a popular board game that requires players to answer questions about popular culture or general knowledge. The progress of a players advance around the board is determined by their ability to answer the questions.

The game was created in 1974, with its popularity peaking in 1984. During that year 20 million copies of the game were sold. Individual themed questions have also been published to allow players to get a range of new diverse questions.

It is for 2-6 players and teams are allowed.

9. Backgammon

Backgammon is a popular board game and is also one of the oldest two-player board games there is, dating as far back as 5000 years. To win, backgammon requires the player to use a miture of luck and skill. Luck is a factor and does effect the outcome, however skill is a big part and is effective in the long-run.?

Like chess, backgammon software has been created by computer scientists, which now are advanced enough to claim victory against world-class players. There are major tournaments just for backgammon that numerous people attend with the hope of winning.

10. Pictionary

Pictionary is a popular word-guessing game which involves team members from the various teams working together to guess a certain team members drawing, which is depicting a word.

The aim of the game is for a team to reach the end of the board which is made up of squares. A team may advance a square by correctly guessing a team members drawing, with each square labelling what type of picture is to be drawn. The average playing time of the game is 1 hour.

I don't claim ownership or credit for the pictures present, all credit is reserved for the original owners. No copyright intended, if you have an issue with a picture that is present, then please contact me. I am in no way profiting from the pictures that are present.

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The states cutting the most to school and cities

By Michael B. Sauter, Ashley C. Allen, Alexander E.M. Hess and Lisa A. Nelson, 24/7 Wall

??Funding from local governments? two biggest sources -- state aid and property taxes -- fell?for the first time since 1980, according to a report released this month by the Pew American Cities Project.?The decrease in funding from these two sources has forced many local areas to cut expenses significantly. Relying on the Pew report, 24/7 Wall St. identified eight states slashing local funding to cities, towns, counties and school districts.

24/7 Wall St.?s independent analysis of data from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and the U.S. Census Bureau indicates states that cut funding the most had budgets that were particularly hard hit during this period. Some suffered budget shortfalls that forced them to cut spending. Others experienced drops in tax revenue that prompted the same response.

Of the eight states with the highest cuts in local funding, four experienced among the steepest declines in tax revenue. Wyoming, which had the worst decline in tax revenue, fell a whopping 21.9 percent during the period.

Budget shortfalls were among the worst in many of these states. Arizona, California and Nevada, among the eight states cutting local budgets, had the first, second and third highest budget shortfalls as a percentage of their general fund. Arizona faced a 65 percent shortfall in 2010.

24/7 Wall St.: 10 states that cannot pay their bills

These budget shortfalls, according to Robert Zahradnik, research director for the Pew American Cities Project, forced states to make deep budget cuts, hitting local governments -- and their employees -- particularly hard. According to the report, the number of employees on local government payrolls fell in 45 states between 2008 and 2011.

In several of the states with the largest cuts to local governments, these declines were the most pronounced. California, Arizona and Nevada were among the 10 states with the largest drops in government employees per person. In Nevada, the number of government employees fell by 15.4 percent, the most in the country.

While police and fire departments and other areas of local budgets were hit hard as well, no area suffered more than school districts. Zahradnik?explained, ?about half of the reduction of?the local government jobs were in the education sector, and that?s not entirely surprising because that?s where the staff and the money are for the local government.? This is a notable departure from standard practice during a downturn in the economy. Usually, Zahradnik noted, local governments will leave education off the table because it is something the public wants to protect. In the great recession, however, there simply were no other options.

24/7 Wall St.: 8 things to do if you haven't planned for retirement

24/7 Wall St. identified the eight states with a 5 percent or greater decrease in state aid to cities, towns, counties, and school districts?between 2009 and 2010 based on state funding to regional governments and government employee data from the Pew American Cities Project report, ?The Local Squeeze: Falling Revenues and Growing Demand for Services Challenge Cities, Counties, and School Districts.? The report relies on the latest available Census Bureau information on state budgets. It also calculated the change in government workers between December 2008 and December 2011 using Bureau of Labor Statistics data on government employee figures, as well as population estimates, also from the Census Bureau.?Separately, 24/7 Wall St. obtained state budget shortfall data from the Center for Budget Policies and Priorities, as well as changes in tax revenue between 2009 and 2010 from the Census Bureau.

These are the eight states slashing local funding the most.

1) New Mexico

• ?Percent decline in local funding:?10.4 percent
• ?Actual decline local funding:?$498 million (9th largest)
• ?State budget shortfall (2010):?18.2 percent (11th smallest)
• ?Percent change in government?workers per capita:?-5.4 percent (16th largest decline)

Out of all states, New Mexico cut funding to its localities the most, reducing spending by more that 10 percent between 2009 and 2010. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, additional state cuts also resulted in fewer funds for higher education, the state workforce and services for the elderly and the disabled. The?Santa Fe New Mexican?writes that the Santa Fe School District endured the worst of its fiscal cuts in the 2009-2010 school year, when they were underfunded by about $11 million. After three consecutive years of deep budget cuts, New Mexico is now projecting a budget surplus of $250 million in 2012. NPR reports state leaders are debating whether to restore some services.

2) Wyoming

• ?Percent decline in local funding:?9.5 percent
• ?Actual decline local funding:?$185 million (19th largest)
• ?State budget shortfall (2010):?1.8 percent (the smallest)
• ?Percent change in government?workers per capita:?+2.5 percent (2nd largest increase)

Between 2009 and 2010, Wyoming?s local governments? revenue suffered from what Pew calls a ?one-two punch?: shrinking in both state aid and property taxes. According to Census State Government Finance data, state aid fell by $185 million, while tax revenues declined by 21.9 percent -- the highest proportional decline in the country. Belt-tightening measures were necessary for the state to avoid layoffs of government officials. According to the?Billings Gazette,?officials at the Natrona?County Detention Center were told that if they did not comply with budget cuts as high as 27 percent, they would be forced to lay off almost a third of their staff.

24/7 Wall St.: America's richest school districts

3) Virginia

• ?Percent decline in local funding:?8.5 percent
• ?Actual decline local funding:?$1 billion (4th largest)?
• ?State budget shortfall (2010):?24.1 percent (20th largest)
• ?Percent change in government workers per capita:?-4.7 percent (tied at 22nd largest decline)

In February 2010, Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell proposed a total of $2.3 billion in cuts in order to?balance the state budget without any increase in taxes. As a result of these cuts, the state of Virginia reduced transfers to its localities by more than $1 billion. The city of?Roanoke, which was forced?to raise taxes after the state?s budget was passed, responded to these cuts with particular frustration. Local officials in Roanoke denounced the state initiatives as indirect taxation, because they required municipalities to raise taxes to cover those funding cuts.

4) Minnesota

• ?Percent decline in local funding:?8.2 percent
• ?Actual decline local funding:?$928 million (5th largest)
• ?State budget shortfall (2010):?22.7 percent (21st smallest)
• ?Percent change in government?workers per capita:?-3.8 percent (24th smallest decline)

According to the Minnesota Budget Project, the inability of?the state to pay down its deficit in the 2010-2011 biennium?was caused?by a heavy reliance on one-time measures that failed to correct or reduce?long-run deficits. In 2011, the League of Minnesota Cities sued the state?s legislature and governor in order to continue receiving aid after a government shutdown that July.?The cities eventually agreed to accept a $138 million dollar cut in the funds to be received -- a reduction of about 19 percent.

Read the rest of States Slashing Local Funding at 24/7 Wall St.'s site

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Justin Bieber, Usher Vie To Top Billboard Chart

Bieber's Believe enters charts just one week after his mentor's Looking 4 Myself, as Usher tells MTV News, 'We support each other.'
By Christina Garibaldi

<P><P>For the past several years, <a href="http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/usher/artist.jhtml">Usher</a> has been helping his prot&#233;g&#233; <a href="http://www.mtv.com/music/artist/bieber_justin/artist.jhtml">Justin Bieber</a> become an international pop star. The pair have <a href="/news/articles/1673032/justin-bieber-usher-christmas-song.jhtml">collaborated on songs</a> and onstage, but now they are about to have their first battle &#8212; on the charts.</P><P>Usher's album, <a href="/news/articles/1686990/usher-looking-4-myself-evolution.jhtml"><i>Looking 4 Myself</i></a>, debuted on top of the <a href="/news/articles/1687847/usher-billboard-looking-4-myself.jhtml"><i>Billboard</i> albums chart</a>, becoming his fourth #1 album after selling 128,000 copies in its first week. But now it's Bieber's turn: Just one week later, Bieber will be entering the charts with his third studio album, <a href="/news/articles/1685471/justin-bieber-believe-track-list.jhtml"><i>Believe</i></a> and <a href="/news/articles/1687988/justin-bieber-believe-album-sales.jhtml">early predictions</a> are expecting huge album sales.</P><P></p><div class="player-placeholder right" title="Do Usher And Justin Bieber Have a Friendly Competition For Record Sales?" id="vid:789781.id:1686957" width="415" height="255"></div><p></P><P>According to <a href="http://www.billboard.com/#/news/justin-bieber-kenny-chesney-headed-for-top-1007386952.story?utm_source=most_recent" target="_blank"><i>Billboard</i></a>, <i>Believe</i> is on course to sell between 410,000 and 440,000 units, which would make it the year's biggest debut to date.</P><P>Even though Bieber is on track to beat his mentor in sales, the R&B superstar isn't concerned.</P><P>Regarding whether he and Bieber speak about topping each other on the charts, Usher told MTV News, "Actually, we have not had that conversation. We try to calculate when we release so that we support each other. It's like a seesaw: 'You take it this week; I'll take it this week.' "</P><P>Usher also said that even though he and Bieber do not appear on each other's albums, he was still heavily involved in each song that made the cut on <i>Believe</i>.</P><P>"We talked about many different things when making his album. The coolest part about it is we support each other regardless if I'm on the album or he's on my album or not," Usher said. "Every album, it is that sit-down that we have to have, to go through this record. We talk about the audiences that are there: This song is for this audience member, this song is for this region. And that's always very helpful."</P><P>Bieber shared during <a href="http://www.mtv.com/videos/news/765694/usher-continues-to-mentor-justin-bieber.jhtml#id=1684329">"MTV First: Justin Bieber"</a> that he still turns to Usher for sound advice.</P><P>"He's just giving me the advice of: Always keep the people that were there at the beginning and keep them with you, because those are the people that really care and they want to see you succeed."</P><P><i>Do you expect Justin Bieber to top Usher on the charts? Sound off below!</i></P><P></p><div class="player-placeholder right" title="Usher Continues To Mentor Justin Bieber" id="vid:765694.id:1684329" width="415" height="255"></div><p></p></p>

Related Videos

• MTV News Extended Play: Usher
• MTV First: Justin Bieber

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Buying, Estate, Real Estate, and Sale

We always feel safe in our own property. Like they say, there is no place like home. Certainly, that may be true. But what if you wish to market your own house? Selling your own property can be challenging, because you are not able to see your house being a property to sell. You happen to be used to the way your property looks and functions and there is no problem with that. But buyers see things in a different way, by way of example is the house even now suitable to live in?, is the home neat and tidy?, does the home have a large area for the entire family?, is it in a safe and sound neighborhood? etc.

Marketing your own house could be entertaining or even a stressful action because you need to ready your house and repair the problems of your house. You are able to choose on your own whether or not you wish to sell your own property or you might want to use a broker to sell your house. Every single option has its own advantages and disadvantages. Because it is your property, you possibly can make a decision on your own.

If you do not wish to be bothered along with selling your house, and then use a realtor to offer your property immediately to have an affordable price that you or the agent recommend. The realtor will take care of all the paperwork and set up the meetings in between you and the buyer. The agent also utilizes an open house if you do not have time to get it done. Even when you will lose some money while using realtor, at least the house will get sold at the price that you desire and you do not need to think about the documents and the permits either. Everything is organized and also handled by the adviser.

But what if you want to sell your own house on your own? It is still possible, in fact, you can save more money because you do not have to waste your cash on a realtor. However, selling your own house by yourself requires extra work and additional time. The fun simple truth is that you can stress your house?s greatest factors to the buyers and negotiate the purchase price right with them without any third-party such as the realtor. You will find specifics of selling your own house on the net or in a paper. You need to be wise throughout selling your own house.

chicago for sale by owner is a way to help you save money. A lot more detail you can find at chicago flat fee mls website, check it out!

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Matt Kemp all but ruled out of All-Star game

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Jim Caruk Goes Big With Renos On 'Builder Boss'

Jim Caruk doesn't sugarcoat the renovation process, and that's part of the reason why he's managed to attract such a loyal following of HGTV viewers over the years. Fans have been missing Caruk's honest, no-nonsense approach since he put his popular show, "Real Renos," on hiatus several years ago. They'll be happy to hear their favourite master contractor is back with a new show called "Builder Boss," which is now airing Thursday nights on HGTV .

This time around, his renos are bigger, pricier and a whole lot more stressful. That means more drama, and, of course, some pretty jaw-dropping reveals. Caruk and company don't shy away from unusual jobs; you can watch them build everything from an underground golf simulator to a rustic log home. We caught up with Caruk to find out what to expect from "Builder Boss." With plenty of drama, meltdowns and unique projects, it sounds like Caruk fans are in for a treat.

What are some of the biggest differences between "Builder Boss" and "Real Renos"?
The company is now much bigger, the projects are much bigger, and there are more projects than before. We've pretty much doubled. With "Builder Boss" we're doing 13 episodes and 13 builds, which is crazy. We would typically do six or seven. Some of the jobs have taken a year or more and they're going to be crammed into 22 minutes. Needless to say, it was fun, but it was also very punishing.

What can we expect to see this season? I heard that you build a bunker for a golf simulator in one episode?
Yeah, we call it the bunker. It's a golf simulator, so this thing's like 20 feet in the ground. It's about 900 square feet. When people saw what we were building they thought the world was coming to an end. [Laughs] But really, it's to house a golf simulator and the rest of it was for their kids' playroom. When you walk into their backyard you'd never know it was there, it's just a big stone patio on top. But below it's pretty crazy. There's definitely no shortage of money with these people when you can build a bunker in your backyard!

Wow. Cool. Any other unusual projects?
Yeah. We built a beautiful log home up in ski country. And we took on a fire build this year. I've never done a fire restoration before. That was very rewarding. It's a young couple's first house, and they didn't even get to move into it before fire had taken it from them. It's a pretty incredible story. We also had a huge 6,000 square foot plantation home that we added 2,000 square feet onto. That'll be probably one of the last episodes. It took us almost 18 months to do the job.

What were some of your favourite moments from the season?
When it ended. [Laughs] The favourite moment is always when you've gone through all the crap to get it finished and you see their face right at the end, you've got that sense of accomplishment that you've pulled it off again.

What were some of the biggest challenges? Do we see any meltdowns?
Our clients are bigger. Clients are more educated now with the internet, and definitely more demanding. It's been tough dealing with that. You've got people telling you how to do your job, which drives you nuts, needless to say. There's been weather conditions on the bunker alone that were killing us, as you'll see on the show. We had a machine stuck in there, water was two feet up, the ice was freezing, we had to get another machine to pull it out. It was chaos. But clients don't care about that stuff, they just want their job done.

And then there's just the indecision of people. They can't make their minds up, yet they'll never admit that. It comes down to the bottom line of 'You took forever to do the job' and 'Well, you took forever to make a decision' and it's that battle which as a contractor you never win anyway. You just have to suck it up and say OK, whatever and move on. That's enough! [Laughs] Those are the big ones. I really sum it up as three things: time, money and emotion. When you put those three things together it's not a good mix. It's funny the network always told me they want drama. Well, you mix those three you can have all the drama you want!

What do you think surprises people the most when they go through a renovation or even see a show like this?
I think what surprises people most is how indecisive they could be, but they'll never admit that. But also how costs can get out of hand very quickly. They typically come back and try to blame the contractor. I'm not the one making decisions about your finishes, you are. We've given you an allowance for X amount of dollars for something, and if you've chosen something that's far more expensive it's only common sense that it's going to cost you more, right?

What's the most common question you get from fans?
It's a whole wide range. Some ask about my family. Most of it is we miss your show, when are you coming back, your show is the most realistic on air. We had an email years ago from a couple that said' Jim, I love how you don't sugarcoat the process. My husband and I were thinking about renovating, but after watching your show we decided to buy a new house.' I laugh about it and then I think about it and say, my message got across! They are not the renovating type or the building type. They understood it and just decided to buy a new house. They were smart.

Builder Boss airs on HGTV Thursdays at 10:00 p.m. ET/ PT.

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American River College professor publishes first novel

When it comes to academia, it's a "publish or perish" world. With his debut novel, "The Infinite Tides" (Bloomsbury, $26, 400 pages), American River College professor of English Christian Kiefer has passed the test.

In the moving, symbol-heavy "Tides," Kiefer confronts the Big Issues ? life, death, loss, hope, redemption ? as experienced by Capt. Keith Corcoran and, by extension, Everyman.

Keith is an astronaut on the International Space Station who gets word that his teenage daughter has been killed in a car wreck, and his adulterous wife is demanding a divorce. Back on Earth, he goes on hiatus from NASA and tries to cope with losing everything.

Kiefer is a published poet ("Feeding Into Winter"), musician (the Christian Kiefer band) and now novelist ("I like to keep busy"). He and wife Macie live with their five children near Newcastle, "on a ridge on a couple acres with some chickens. It's a little empire of awesomeness."

Kiefer, 41, grew up in Auburn, earned a master's degree from California State University, Sacramento, and a Ph.D. in American literature from the University of California, Davis.

He will host a book-signing at 7 p.m. Thursday at Time Tested Books, 1114 21st St., Sacramento; (916) 447-5696. I caught up with him by phone at his campus office.

What do you teach at ARC?

Composition, creative writing and literature ? the whole gamut.

What do your students think about you as novelist?

They're interested and excited. A good many of them are in college for the first time, so to have a faculty member who has published a novel ? and he's teaching them how to write sentences ? is a big thing for them.

What sparked the story?

Part of it was listening to the news and beginning to feel I might be the only man in America who still had a job.

Then sitting at Starbucks (grading papers), watching other men at other tables looking through the want ads, then drifting to the sports pages, then to the funnies, then finally to the front page. Basically using the hunt for a job as a way to fill the endless hours of their otherwise vacant days.

That's certainly cheerful.

Men ? and I guess women, too ? define themselves by what they do. When a large swath of them end up with no answer to the question, "What do you do (for work)?" it presents an interesting social and cultural situation.

How so in the book?

(The story is) about imagining oneself as a vector, which has direction and momentum. Then learning you're not a vector, you're a point, which sits in one spot and has no mass. Keith is completely focused on himself moving forward in the world on a path he has envisioned. When the moment comes when he is derailed from that path, he slowly becomes aware of all the things he has missed in his life.

What about the theme of isolationism?

All of our lives are containerized. We go from the container of our car to the container of our house. Keith's mission is flying on a container ? the space shuttle ? to another container ? the International Space Station ? and climbing in to a space suit ? another container. He's seen most of his life from (various) containers.

His house and the neighbors' houses are basically the same. The Starbucks are all purposely the same. In terms of the novel, every container is the same as the next container. The significant events in the book are when he's outside.

The question becomes, "How do you locate yourself as a unique individual in the context of such self-similartiy?"

Your skill as a poet must have informed the book.

The poetry made me hyper-sensitive to word choice. And reading mid 19th century literature ? Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville ? has given me a real sense of focus on the flow of sentences. William Faulkner, too, though from a later period but very much coming out of that tradition. I carried Faulkner's "Absolom, Absolom!" with me in my backpack, and still refer to it when I want to remind myself what a sentence can really do.

What are the "infinite tides"?

I don't want to give away the symbology of the book, but ? Keith is a character who moves forward all the time, but (can't because) the ebb and flow (of life) is part of its process. There's an infinite kind of circularity, and it takes Keith a long time to realize that it's essentially what life is.

After a loss such as Keith suffers, how does one move on?

The famous text on that is "On Death and Dying" by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross, who (explains) the steps you go through in the grieving process. There's a moment when Keith realizes he's stuck in one of these grief stages and it pisses him off that he is so ordinary in the end. He's thought of himself as a super-genius his whole life. But when it comes to these types of emotional resonances, we are all the same at heart.

What does Keith finally learn?

As simple as it sounds, he learns to stop and accept the fact that the things around him and the people around him are enough.

? Copyright The Sacramento Bee. All rights reserved.

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Call The Bee's Allen Pierleoni, (916) 321-1128.

? Read more articles by Allen Pierleoni

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