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ISLAMABAD ? Pakistan's president will be discharged from hospital in Dubai on Thursday, his office said, adding that all tests carried out on him returned results "within normal range."

The Wednesday statement did not specify the cause of the president's weeklong illness, but a close associate has said he suffered a "mini-stroke."

Zardari's illness and his sudden trip abroad has triggered speculation that the 56-year-old could be losing his grip on power. This is denied by officials.

The statement said Asif Ali Zardari was to rest at home, but didn't say whether this would be in Pakistan or in Dubai, where Zardari's family is known to have property.

The presidency also faxed a statement bearing the letterhead of the American Hospital in Dubai, giving details of the president's health. Signed by a doctor at the hospital, it said on admission the president was complaining of numbness in the left arm, twitching and had suffered a "loss of consciousness that lasted for a few seconds."

It did not give a diagnosis, but said Zardari was to continue taking his regular heart medications.

It said doctors performed procedures including an MRI scan of his brain and a lumbar puncture taking fluid from his spine, and that results "were within normal range."

On Wednesday, a close associate of Zardari said the leader had suffered a "mini-stroke"

A "mini-stroke" is medically known as a transient ischemic attack, or TIA. It occurs when the blood supply to part of the brain is briefly interrupted, causing symptoms similar to a stroke but not as long-lasting, because with a TIA, the blood supply is restored.

Zardari was admitted to hospital on Dec. 6.

His absence coincided with domestic political attacks against him over a memo delivered to U.S. officials, asking for Washington's help in reining in Pakistan's powerful military.

Zardari had been scheduled to present a statement to the Supreme Court this week explaining his role, if any, in the affair.

The president's illness also came a week after NATO airstrikes killed 24 Pakistani soldiers on the Afghan border, causing a spike in tensions with the United States.

Zardari had been expected to address a joint session of parliament about the raid, which has triggered a wave of anger in the country at his government's alliance with Washington.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111214/ap_on_re_as/as_pakistan

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FILE - In this Dec. 12, 2005, file photo, Marilyn Tavenner is seen at a news conference in Richmond, Va. Picking a specialist for a risky medical procedure could soon get easier. The government announces that Medicare will finally allow its extensive claims database to be used by employers, consumer groups and insurance companies to produce reports on local doctors and hospitals. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Picking a specialist for a delicate medical procedure like a heart bypass could get a lot easier in the not-too-distant future.

The government announced Monday that Medicare will finally allow its extensive claims database to be used by employers, insurance companies and consumer groups to produce report cards on local doctors ? and improve current ratings of hospitals.

By analyzing masses of billing records, experts can glean such critical information as how often a doctor has performed a particular procedure and get a general sense of problems such as preventable complications.

Doctors will be individually identifiable through the Medicare files, but personal data on their patients will remain confidential. Compiled in an easily understood format and released to the public, medical report cards could become a powerful tool for promoting quality care.

"There is tremendous variation in how well doctors do, and most of us as patients don't know that. We make our choices blind," said David Lansky, president of the Pacific Business Group on Health. "This is the beginning of a process to give us the information to make informed decisions." His nonprofit represents 50 large employers that provide coverage for more than 3 million people.

Medicare acting administrator Marilyn Tavenner called the new policy "a giant step forward in making our health care system more transparent and promoting increased competition, accountability, quality and lower costs." But some consumer groups said Medicare is still putting limitations on their access.

Early efforts to rate physicians using limited private insurance data have thus far focused on primary care doctors, but Medicare's rich information could provide the numbers to start rating specialists as well, Lansky said. Consumers will see the first performance reports by late 2012, said a Medicare spokesman.

Medicare officials say they expect nonprofit research groups in California, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Massachusetts and other states to jump at the chance to use the data. With 47 million beneficiaries and virtually every doctor and hospital in the country participating, Medicare's database is considered the mother lode of health care information.

Tapping it has largely been forbidden because of a decades-old court ruling that releasing the information would violate the privacy of doctors. Insurance companies tried filling with their own claims data, but their files are nowhere near as comprehensive as Medicare's

Following appeals from lawmakers of both parties on Capitol Hill, President Barack Obama's health care overhaul changed federal law to explicitly authorize release of the information. Medicare followed through in regulations issued Monday.

Employer groups welcomed the new policy.

"There is pent-up demand for this data because everyone wants to be a more informed, intelligent consumer, especially as health care costs are still rising," said Maria Ghazal, policy director at the Business Roundtable, which represents CEOs of major companies providing coverage to some 35 million employees, retirees and family members.

Companies will use the data analyses in their annual updates to their insurance plans. But Ghazal said they also want to put report cards directly in the hands of their employees.

"We want to make it understandable and usable by our employees," said Ghazal.

Early ratings efforts using insurance company data have lacked sufficient statistical power to rank specialists. The numbers of cases of cancer and serious heart problems in the younger, working-age population simply weren't big enough. The Medicare data could change that, since older people are more prone to chronic illnesses.

"If you want to look at heart disease or cancer, suddenly you have more data to look at each doctor with," said Lansky. "It's the power of numbers."

Doctors groups fought for years to prevent release of the Medicare data. The American Medical Association argued it could be misleading to untrained consumers. For example, a surgeon who has lots of patients who develop complications may actually be a top practitioner who takes cases that others less skilled would turn away.

Lately the medical groups shifted to putting conditions on the use of the data, with some success. For example, Medicare's rule gives individual providers the right to review their information before it is publicly released, and 60 days to challenge it.

Some consumer groups said that particular restriction will make it difficult for them to produce ratings. Unlike employer associations, they don't have economic leverage over doctors.

Consumers Union's Health Ratings Center is currently rating hospitals and some medical providers. But Lisa McGiffert, director of the group's patient safety campaign, said Medicare's review requirement may be too cumbersome for a group like hers.

"These kinds of caveats will lead to fewer users of the data, and fewer communicators to the public," she said. "There's this protectionism about doctors' information that we need to get beyond."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/bbd825583c8542898e6fa7d440b9febc/Article_2011-12-05-Medical%20Report%20Cards/id-af526e9265cd4692a9a7b6aebb05173b

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Eric Kayne for msnbc.com

Nathan Palmer, left, and Brett Jones at their home in Victoria, Texas.

By Allison Linn

Does $50,000 a year seem like plenty to live on, or not nearly enough?

If you said somewhere in between, that makes sense because?$49,445 is the national household median income, meaning about half?of all households live on?more than that and half on?less. The figure, based on 2010 calculations, was reported in September by the?Census Bureau as part of an extensive report on income and poverty.

In some places and circumstances, $50,000 is?enough for a large family to live comfortably. In others, it?s not even enough for a single person to afford rent, utilities and other expenses.

Four years into the deepest economic downturn in a generation,?some Americans, especially those who have experienced bouts with unemployment,?are overjoyed?to?be earning?$50,000 a year. Others are devastated to have seen their incomes fall so far.

For some, it?s a mixture of both.

We recently asked the readers of TODAY.com's Life Inc. blog to let us know what it's like to live on about $50,000 a year, and we got hundreds of responses.

?While unemployed I would have been thrilled to make $50,000,? said Dawn Mogan, 55.

Now that she actually makes that salary?after two years of unemployment, the single mom in Texas still worries constantly about money.

U.S. Census Bureau

Adjusted for inflation, median household income has fallen over the past few years.

Many of the readers who wrote to us say that on $50,000 a year they can?put food on the table,?pay for necessities and even splurge occasionally on a dinner out or a game for the family.

But others told us they have to watch their budgets closely and occasionally make sacrifices to get the bills paid.

?It's not poverty.?We don't miss meals and we make MOST of our bills. However, we live paycheck to paycheck, and we carry debt,? wrote Brett Jones, 37, who lives with his partner in Texas.

Many feel like they are treading water ? and for good reason.?After adjusting for inflation, the nation's median income has fallen about 7 percent from its peak in 1999, reversing a fairly steady increase that lasted for five decades from 1950, according to Census Bureau figures.

The troubles started when the nation last fell into recession in 2001. From?2000 to?2007, household income was virtually stagnant, said economist Heidi Shierholz with the Economic Policy Institute.

?Even that was dramatic,? she said.

Then came the Great Recession of 2007-09?and its ugly aftermath.

From 2007 to?2010, the Census Bureau estimates that median household income fell by 6.4 percent, to $49,445, as unemployment soared to a peak of over 10 percent. (The jobless rate dropped last month to 8.6 percent ? still high by historical standards although the best level in more than two years.)

Of course, median income varies a lot depending on what kind of household you live in. For families, defined as two or more related people living together, median household income was $61,544 last year. For single people, it was $29,730.

Gordon Green, a former Census official who is now a partner in Sentier Research, has been using government data to track monthly changes in American income levels.

He wasn?t too surprised to find that median income fell during the recession. After all, a deep recession combined with sharp job losses can be expected to have that effect.

But he was surprised to find that incomes have fallen even more sharply?in the weak recovery period that followed the recession, even as the massive job cuts slowed.

He suspects that?s because some people held onto their jobs but saw their hours or wages cut, while others, after long periods of unemployment, were forced to take jobs that paid less than their previous positions.

Taken together, he said the median income decline from December?2007 to?June?2011 "represents a significant reduction in the American standard of living.?

Even the?relatively low rate of inflation that has characterized the past few years can?start to add up if your income is not rising.

"Even if there?s 2 percent inflation, if they don?t get any raise that?s a 2 percent real wage drop,? Shierholz said. ?That happens for a couple years, and that starts adding up to a serious decline of what you can buy with your paycheck.?

The outlook for the future remains uncertain. Diane Swonk, chief economist with Mesirow Financial, said one major problem is that even as companies start hiring again, there aren?t good systems in place to train people for work that requires skills but not a?college degree. Those skilled labor jobs?traditionally have represented?a strong path to get into ??or stay in ? the middle class.

And even a?college degree isn?t necessarily the guarantee of a comfortable salary that it once was.

And despite the November surprise of a sharp drop in unemployment, it could be years before enough jobs are added to bring the rate down to historical norms of 4 to 6 percent.

?Unfortunately, if there was a silver bullet to be shot it would have already been shot,? Swonk said. ?We?re going to have to struggle through this time and adjust, and it?s a painful adjustment.?

Green saw a glimmer of hope in?recent data that?showed a slight increase in household median income to?$50,257 as of September. But he said it?s too early to tell whether that?s a sign of better times, or just a fluke in the data.

To see what it?s like to literally be in the middle of the nation?s income spectrum, Life Inc. is hitting the road this week to profile Americans from all walks of life whose household income is around $50,000 a year.

We?ll be posting their profiles here and sharing our thoughts?? and yours ? on Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus. We also invite you to comment on our posts ? but keep it civil and on topic, please!

Finally, please share your story of what it?s like to be living on about $50,000 a year here. We?ll feature some of your stories in future Life Inc. posts.

Could you or your family live on $50,000 a year?

?

Source: http://lifeinc.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/01/9145730-we-are-the-median-living-on-50000-a-year

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WASHINGTON ? Real estate giant Donald Trump says former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney "doesn't get the traction" he needs to nail down the Republican presidential nomination.

Trump, who will moderate a GOP candidate debate on Dec. 28, says Romney struggles to stay in front, saying "I don't know what it is."

Trump tells NBC's "Today" accusations that Romney flip-flops on issues are absurd, saying "we all change our minds on things."

He brushed aside decisions by both Ron Paul and Jon Huntsman to stay out of the debate, calling them "joke candidates."

Trump says "a lot of Republicans, top Republicans, asked me to do the debate." And he also says that if he isn't satisfied the GOP is putting up a viable candidate against President Barack Obama, he'd again consider running himself.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111205/ap_on_el_ge/us_trump_republicans

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/169512972?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain speaks to supporters at The Magnolia Room at Laurel Creek, Friday, Dec. 2, 2011, in Rock Hill , S.C. (AP Photo/ Richard Shiro)

Republican presidential candidate Herman Cain hugs a supporter at The Magnolia Room at Laurel Creek, Friday, Dec. 2, 2011, in Rock Hill , S.C. (AP Photo/ Richard Shiro)

ATLANTA (AP) ? Herman Cain is keeping supporters in suspense as he readies an announcement on whether to abandon his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination following a string of sexual harassment allegations and a claim of an extramarital affair.

The Georgia businessman planned to make the announcement Saturday at what was supposed to be a festive grand opening of a new headquarters in Atlanta, rented when Cain sat surprisingly atop the GOP pack.

With the candidate's poll numbers plummeting and fundraising stalled, some campaign aides said privately they expected him to exit the race. But Cain spokesman J.D. Gordon cautioned late Friday that no decision had been made.

A meeting with key staff members was expected early Saturday.

Cain returned to his suburban Atlanta home Friday and met with his wife, Gloria, the first time they have seen each other face to face since 46-year-old Ginger White came forward on Monday and said she and the Republican had carried on a 13-year relationship.

Cain has denied having an affair with White. He said the concern over the toll the allegations were having on his family as well as a candid assessment of whether his campaign could still attract the needed support would inform his decision on whether to press ahead.

On Friday night, even as Cain weighed whether his campaign would move on, volunteers were busy tacking up signs at his headquarters and a contingent of Secret Service agents was inspecting the site in advance of Cain's arrival there.

"We are moving ahead," said Cain's Georgia director David McCleary, who said he had talked to the candidate earlier in the day and describe him as "upbeat."

Cain, the former Godfather's Pizza chief executive who has never held elected office, rose to become an unexpected front-runner in the volatile Republican race just weeks ago. A self-styled outsider, Cain enjoyed strong tea party support from conservatives who viewed him as an alternative to Mitt Romney. His charisma on the campaign trail drew large and enthusiastic crowds.

But under the glare of the national spotlight he fumbled policy questions, leaving questions about whether he was ready for the presidency. Then it was revealed at the end of October that the National Restaurant Association had paid settlements to two women who claimed Cain sexually harassed them while he was president of the organization.

A third woman told The Associated Press that Cain made inappropriate sexual advances but that she didn't file a complaint. A fourth woman also stepped forward to accuse Cain of groping her in a car in 1997.

Cain has denied wrongdoing in all cases.

Polls suggest his popularity has suffered. A Des Moines Register poll released Friday showed Cain's support plunging, with backing from 8 percent of Republican caucusgoers in Iowa, down from 23 percent a month ago.

Fundraising has also fallen off. He issued an email appeal to supporters on Friday asking for donations, in an attempt to gauge whether his financial support has dried up.

"I need to know that you are behind me 100 percent," Cain told backers. "In today's political environment, the only way we can gauge true support is by the willingness of our supporters to invest in this effort."

On Friday, Cain urged backers in South Carolina to look past the allegations.

"There's a lot of garbage on the Internet. There's a lot of garbage out there on the TV. There's a lot of garbage out there about me, don't you know? There's a lot of misinformation out there. You have to stay informed and check out the facts for yourself," Cain said.

He added: "I'm on this journey for a reason. I don't look back."

___

Associated Press writers Philip Elliott in South Carolina and Steve Peoples in New Hampshire contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2011-12-03-Cain/id-0481f8efd5884b95ad6ee1372859e173

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Click here to read Ammo Canister Wine Box Won't Explode Your Liver

If you've got bulletproof tolerance, wine-in-a-bag-in-a-box is a beautiful thing. It's cheap, portable intoxication. But that cardboard won't make the cut when the Tour de Franzia gets a little more...COMBATIVE. You want your wine protected. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/M3HlqG8D7Q4/ammo-canister-loaded-with-wine-wont-explode-your-liver

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WASHINGTON ? U.S. builders spent more in October on new homes, offices and shopping centers, pushing construction spending up for a third straight month. Despite the gains, construction spending remained depressed.

The Commerce Department says construction spending rose 0.8 percent in October to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $798.5 billion. That's barely half the $1.5 trillion that economists consider healthy. Through the first 10 months of this year, construction spending is 2.9 percent below the depressed levels of 2010.

The construction industry was hit hard from the housing bust and has had trouble recovering from the recession. Analysts say it could be four years before construction returns to healthy levels.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20111201/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/us_construction_spending

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If the U.S. wants to get a hold of foreign data in any cloud -- American or not -- it has legal ways of getting it. The PATRIOT Act, or at least the idea of it, is giving foreign cloud computing firms a competitive advantage over American services, reports Politico's David Saled Rauf. Foreign competitors warn that putting data on U.S. services like Google or Microsoft will subject that data to the ?government restrictions on gathering data in America vis-a-vis the Patriot Act. "Put your data on a U.S.-based cloud, they warn, and you may just put it in the hands of the U.S. government," writes Rauf. But, it's kind of a moot point: U.S. spy laws are more lenient about foreign data as it is and have no legal barriers to monitoring non-citizen information.

Related: Google Music Will Actually Have Music

?

Related: Does Thomas Drake Owe the Media His Freedom?

The U.S. has separate, more lenient rules for spying on foreigners. The National Security Agency, the government electronic-espionage arm has far-reaching capabilities to monitor foreign data,?explained?Jane Mayer in the?New Yorker?earlier this year. "The agency reportedly has the capacity to intercept and download, every six hours, electronic communications equivalent to the contents of the Library of Congress," she wrote. And with the Bush wire tapping scandal, we saw the N.S.A.?track?incoming international data from foreign sources without warrants. Even though that?has been?ruled illegal, the N.S.A can still intercept foreign data,?especially?when it travels through the U.S.

Related: Google Music's Surprise: It's Free

As it is, the claims of protecting data from the PATRIOT Act by foreign data servers may be more about branding than it is an actual guarantee. "The PATRIOT Act has come to be a kind of label for this set of concerns,? Ambassador Philip Verveer, U.S. coordinator for International Communications and Information Policy at the State Department, told Politico. ?We think, to some extent, it?s taking advantage of a misperception, and we?d like to clear up that misperception." That statement would lead one to believe that the data isn't exactly in the government's hands. Who really knows. But that's the government word.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/enterprise/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/atlantic/20111130/tc_atlantic/keepingdatausserverswontpreventgovernmentsnooping45569

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Nov 262011

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Check the property of your worry really well sooner than you decide to shop for it. As an example, consider the quantity and extend of upkeep and refurbishments you will need to do in a particular belongings to make it plausible to a normal buyer. Understand that, every dollar you put in for repair or refurbishment is a part of your investment and it is going to without a doubt affect the returns you wish from it. Alternatively, in the event you foresee excellent profit opportunities, investing after an assets is probably not a foul deal. For this you need a normal understanding of the true property market and its forces. That you must seek the advice of a brief sale expert company for his or her assistance in this domain. From negotiating with a supplier to that with the concerned loan authority ? the quick sale mavens ? they?ll best possible allow you to deal with each aspect involved within the last of a successful actual property deal.

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Source: http://livingwellwithbadcredit.hcibooks.com/2011/11/26/investing-in-quick-sale-assets/

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Friday, December 16, 2011

Pakistan president to be discharged from hospital (AP)

Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Feds to allow use of Medicare data to rate doctors

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

We are the median: Living on $50,000 a year

Monday, December 5, 2011

Trump: Romney 'doesn't get the traction' in race (AP)

?Houston History? Fall 2011 Launch Reception (Offthekuff)

Sunday, December 4, 2011

In or out? Cain to say whether he'll stay in race

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Ammo Canister Wine Box Won't Explode Your Liver [Desired]

Construction spending rises for 3rd straight month (AP)

Friday, December 2, 2011

Keeping Data Off U.S. Servers Won't Prevent the Government from Snooping (The Atlantic Wire)

Monday, November 28, 2011

Investing In Quick Sale Assets |