TripAdvisor Spins Off From Expedia, Takes Flight On The NASDAQ As A Public Company

tripIn April, Expedia announced its intentions to spin off trip reviews site TripAdvisor as a public company. And this morning, TripAdvisor debuted on the NASDAQ under the symbol 'TRIP' trading at. This morning, TripAdvisor is trading at $29. Expedia is trading at $27.72, down 50 percent. TripAdvisor, which was founded in 2000, was originally bought by IAC in for $212 million in 2004. IAC spun off Expedia, which included TripAdvisor, in 2005. With 50 million unique monthly visitors and 20 million members, TripAdvisor is the giant in the travel reviews space. The site publishes 25 new contributions every minute and also features over eight million candid traveler photos. The reviews site operates in 30 different countries, including in China under the site Daodao. IAC chairman and CEO Barry Diller will serve as the TripAdvisor's chairman.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/gl4QMKWqjOc/

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House Republicans Think Obama (and Bo) Could Make a Payroll Tax Deal in About an Hour (The Atlantic Wire)

House Republicans want to work out a compromise with President Barack Obama about extending the payroll tax, but they can't just offer to do so without a bit of snark. In a press conference Thursday morning, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said Republicans could work out a deal with President Barack Obama in about an hour to extend the middle-class tax break for another year, Real Clear Politics has some video and this quote:

"I saw the president out yesterday doing his Christmas shopping. I saw he brought his dog with him.?You know, we're here. He could bring his dog up here. We are pet friendly. You know, again, it will not take a long time," Cantor said. "We could probably resolve the differences within an hour."

Meanwhile, Republicans in the Senate (which passed a two-month extension of the payroll tax cut already) are putting pressure on the house to get this done. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell issued a statement Thursday saying, "there is no reason why Congress and the President cannot accomplish all of these things before the end of the year."?

Related: Obama and Congress Are Not Getting Along Right Now

?

Related: Poll: More People Disapprove of Republicans in Stalled Debt Talks

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/uscongress/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/atlantic/20111222/pl_atlantic/houserepublicansthinkobamaandbocouldmakepayrolltaxdealabouthour46557

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Pentagon: US concedes mistakes in Pakistani deaths

(AP) ? A top U.S. general said Thursday that an "overarching lack of trust" between the U.S. and Pakistan, as well as several key communication errors, led to the NATO airstrikes last month near the Afghan border that killed two dozen Pakistani troops.

Brig. Gen. Stephen Clark, an Air Force special operations officer who led the investigation into the incident, says U.S. forces used the wrong maps, were unaware of Pakistani border post locations and mistakenly provided the wrong location for the troops.

Clark described a confusing series of gaffes rooted in the fact that U.S. and Pakistan do not trust each other enough to provide details about their locations and military operations along the border. As a result, U.S. forces on that dark, Nov. 26 night thought they were under attack, believed there were no Pakistani forces in the area, and called in airstrikes on what they thought were enemy insurgents.

The Pentagon did not apologize for the action, as Pakistan has demanded, and has not briefed Pakistani leaders on the results of the investigation, which were released Thursday.

"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.

He added that 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.

Pakistani officials did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the report. Afghan officials also 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 Nov. 26 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/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2011-12-22-US-Pakistan-Airstrikes/id-5d7d028252ef4b68a11cc5d38fa8f7df

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Manning hearing bogs down over dispute

The pretrial hearing for the U.S. soldier accused of leaking government secrets to the WikiLeaks website was bogged down in a dispute over the impartiality of the presiding officer.

David Coombs, the civilian defense lawyer for the accused leaker, 23-year-old Army Pfc. Bradley Manning, argued that Army Lt. Col. Paul Almanza, was biased and therefore should step aside.

Almanza's civilian occupation as a Justice Department prosecutor was the chief reason behind Coombs' latest move. The Justice Department is conducting a criminal investigation targeting WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.

Almanza refused to step down, and Coombs then asked that the proceedings be suspended while he initiated an appeal of that decision.

The hearing was to determine whether Manning will face a court-martial on charges that he aided the enemy by leaking hundreds of thousands of classified military and diplomatic documents.

Manning, who has been in military detention since his arrest in Iraq in May 2010, sat quietly at the defense table in the opening session of his pretrial hearing Friday as sides were tangled in the latest dispute.

A member of the prosecution team, Capt. Ashden Fein, said the government opposed recusal.

"The United States does not believe you've exhibited any bias in any form and that you can render a fair and impartial decision," Fein told Almanza.

Case spurs international movement
Manning is charged with aiding the enemy by leaking hundreds of thousands of secret documents that ended up on the website. At the time, he was a low-level intelligence analyst in Baghdad.

If his case goes to trial and he is convicted, Manning could face life in prison. The government has said it would not seek the death penalty.

The case has spawned an international movement in support of Manning, who is seen by anti-war activists as a hero who helped expose American mistakes in Iraq and Afghanistan. To others he is a villain, even a traitor, who betrayed his oath of loyalty by deliberately spilling his government's secrets.

Coombs also argued that Almanza had wrongly denied a defense request to call as witnesses the "original classification authorities" who first decided to classify as secret the material WikiLeaks published.

"Let's put witnesses on the stand," he said. "Why is this stuff classified? Why is it going to cause harm?"

Classified documents
The hearing is open to the public, but with limited seating. A small number of reporters were present but not allowed to record or photograph the proceedings.

A U.S. military legal expert told reporters shortly before the proceedings began that the presiding officer is likely to make his recommendation on whether to court-martial Manning within eight days after the hearing ends. The hearing is expected to last over the weekend and possibly well into next week.

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The legal expert, who could not be identified under Army ground rules, said Manning is to be present for all proceedings, including sessions closed to the public for consideration of classified material.

The site of the hearing, Fort Meade, is home to U.S. Cyber Command, the organization whose mission includes protecting computer networks like the one Manning allegedly breached by illegally downloading huge numbers of classified documents in Iraq.

Manning's lawyer asserts that the documents' release did little actual harm.

Last month, 54 members of the European Parliament signed a letter to the U.S. government raising concerns about Manning's 18-month pretrial confinement.

Plans for vigil
Manning's supporters planned to maintain a vigil during the hearing and were organizing a rally for Saturday.

Army Maj. Gen. Michael S. Linnington, commander of the Military District of Washington, could choose other courses aside from court-martial, including applying an administrative punishment or dismissing some or all of the 22 counts against Manning.

The Manning case has led to a debate over the broader issue of whether the government's system for classifying and shielding information has grown so unwieldy that it is increasingly vulnerable to intrusions.

Rape allegations
Absent from the Meade proceedings will be Assange, who runs WikiLeaks from England. He is fighting in British courts to block a Swedish request that he be extradited to face trial over rape allegations.

A U.S. grand jury is weighing whether to indict Assange on espionage charges, and WikiLeaks is straining under an American financial embargo.

The materials Manning is accused of leaking include hundreds of thousands of sensitive items: Iraq and Afghanistan war logs, State Department cables and a classified military video of a 2007 American helicopter attack in Iraq that killed 11 men, including a Reuters news photographer and his driver.

Manning, who turns 24 on Saturday, was detained in Iraq in May 2010 and moved to a Marine Corps brig at Quantico, Va., in July. Nine months later, the Army sent him to the military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., after a series of claims by Manning of unlawful pretrial punishment.

When it filed formal charges against Manning in March 2011, the Army accused him of using unauthorized software on government computers to extract classified information, illegally download it and transmit the data for public release by what the Army termed "the enemy."

Global headlines
The first large publication of the documents by WikiLeaks in July 2010, some 77,000 military records on the war in Afghanistan, made global headlines. But the material provided only limited revelations, including unreported incidents of Afghan civilian killings as well as covert operations against Taliban figures.

In October 2010, WikiLeaks published a batch of nearly 400,000 documents that dated from early 2004 to Jan. 1, 2010. They were written mostly by low-ranking officers in the field cataloging thousands of battles with insurgents and roadside bomb attacks, plus equipment failures and shootings by civilian contractors. The documents did not alter the basic outlines of how the war was fought.

A month later, WikiLeaks released hundreds of thousands of State Department documents that revealed a hidden world of backstage diplomacy, including candid comments from world leaders.

It took months for the Army to reach the conclusion that Manning was competent to stand trial. In the meantime Manning's civilian lawyer, Coombs, has sought to build a case that appears to rest in part on an assertion that the government's own reviews of the leaks concluded that little damage was done.

___

Associated Press writer Matthew Lee contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45696903/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

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Study suggests early ART in recently HIV-infected patients preferable to delayed treatment

[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 16-Dec-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: John Heys
jheys@idsociety.org
703-299-0412
Infectious Diseases Society of America

Among people recently infected with HIV, immediate antiretroviral therapy (ART) appears preferable to deferring treatment, according to a new study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases and now available online. Although the benefits of ART during early HIV-1 infection remain unproven, the findings support growing evidence favoring earlier ART initiation.

Christine Hogan, MD, of the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, led a team of researchers from various institutions to investigate the effects of ART on individuals infected with HIV-1 within the previous six months. The multicenter clinical trialthe AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) Setpoint Studyenrolled 130 men and non-pregnant women who were at least 18 years old and had not received ART previously. Participants were randomized into two groups: In the immediate treatment group, patients were to receive ART treatment for 36 weeks, after which treatment was stopped; treatment was deferred for patients in the second group. All individuals were followed throughout the study.

The study's primary endpoint was the patients' virologic setpoint at 72 weeks. The researchers also sought to compare the virologic setpoint at 72 weeks for patients in the immediate treatment group with that of patients in the deferred treatment group at 36 weeks.

Investigators found that the immediate treatment group had a better outcome than the deferred group. Individuals in the deferred arm experienced higher than anticipated rates of disease progression, necessitating the start of HIV treatment before the study endpoint. Half of the participants in the deferred treatment group required treatment on medical grounds within 18 months.

According to Dr. Hogan and colleagues, the results suggest that "if immediate therapy is not begun, progression to meeting standard criteria for ART initiation may occur more rapidly than expected, especially with changing treatment paradigms." In addition, patients who received treatment immediately appear to have been protected not only during treatment but for a brief period of time afterward.

In an accompanying editorial, Harout Tossonian, MD, PhD, and Brian Conway, MD, of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, noted that "immune preservation and reduction in the latent pool of HIV-1-carrying CD4 T-cells seems to require intervention at the earliest possible time of acute infection." They noted that the advantages of immediate treatment appear to be achieved with little to no harm to the patient, either in terms of drug-related toxicity or emergence of drug resistance. "The initial course of 36 weeks of treatment may delay the need for re-starting it more than the 36 weeks spent on it from the time of initial presentation," Drs. Tossonian and Conway wrote. "Thus over the lifetime of the patient, there will be less cumulative drug exposure."

Dr. Hogan and her team suggest that the findings may be of interest to clinicians and patients struggling with when to begin ART. An additional sub-study is underway "to address whether immediate versus deferred treatment during primary HIV infection results in improvements in markers of inflammation and immune activation, which may provide further insight into potential benefits of treating primary infection," the authors wrote.

###

Fast Facts:

1) In a comparative randomized trial of immediate versus deferred antiretroviral therapy (ART) in early HIV infection, patients whose therapy was deferred experienced higher than anticipated rates of disease progression.

2) Participants who received treatment immediately appear to have been protected not only during treatment but also for a brief period of time after treatment was stopped.

The study and the accompanying editorial are available online. They are embargoed until 12:01 a.m. EST on Friday, Dec. 16, 2011:

The Setpoint Study (ACTG A5217): Effect of Immediate Versus Deferred Antiretroviral Therapy on Virologic Set Point in Recently HIV-1Infected Individuals

Recent HIV-1 Infection: To Treat or Not to Treat, That Is the Question

Published continuously since 1904, the Journal of Infectious Diseases is the premier global journal for original research on infectious diseases. The editors welcome major articles and brief reports describing research results on microbiology, immunology, epidemiology, and related disciplines, on the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of infectious diseases; on the microbes that cause them; and on disorders of host immune responses. The journal is an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). Based in Arlington, Va., IDSA is a professional society representing more than 9,000 physicians and scientists who specialize in infectious diseases. For more information, visit http://www.idsociety.org.



[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


[ Back to EurekAlert! ] Public release date: 16-Dec-2011
[ | E-mail | Share Share ]

Contact: John Heys
jheys@idsociety.org
703-299-0412
Infectious Diseases Society of America

Among people recently infected with HIV, immediate antiretroviral therapy (ART) appears preferable to deferring treatment, according to a new study published in the Journal of Infectious Diseases and now available online. Although the benefits of ART during early HIV-1 infection remain unproven, the findings support growing evidence favoring earlier ART initiation.

Christine Hogan, MD, of the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, led a team of researchers from various institutions to investigate the effects of ART on individuals infected with HIV-1 within the previous six months. The multicenter clinical trialthe AIDS Clinical Trials Group (ACTG) Setpoint Studyenrolled 130 men and non-pregnant women who were at least 18 years old and had not received ART previously. Participants were randomized into two groups: In the immediate treatment group, patients were to receive ART treatment for 36 weeks, after which treatment was stopped; treatment was deferred for patients in the second group. All individuals were followed throughout the study.

The study's primary endpoint was the patients' virologic setpoint at 72 weeks. The researchers also sought to compare the virologic setpoint at 72 weeks for patients in the immediate treatment group with that of patients in the deferred treatment group at 36 weeks.

Investigators found that the immediate treatment group had a better outcome than the deferred group. Individuals in the deferred arm experienced higher than anticipated rates of disease progression, necessitating the start of HIV treatment before the study endpoint. Half of the participants in the deferred treatment group required treatment on medical grounds within 18 months.

According to Dr. Hogan and colleagues, the results suggest that "if immediate therapy is not begun, progression to meeting standard criteria for ART initiation may occur more rapidly than expected, especially with changing treatment paradigms." In addition, patients who received treatment immediately appear to have been protected not only during treatment but for a brief period of time afterward.

In an accompanying editorial, Harout Tossonian, MD, PhD, and Brian Conway, MD, of the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, noted that "immune preservation and reduction in the latent pool of HIV-1-carrying CD4 T-cells seems to require intervention at the earliest possible time of acute infection." They noted that the advantages of immediate treatment appear to be achieved with little to no harm to the patient, either in terms of drug-related toxicity or emergence of drug resistance. "The initial course of 36 weeks of treatment may delay the need for re-starting it more than the 36 weeks spent on it from the time of initial presentation," Drs. Tossonian and Conway wrote. "Thus over the lifetime of the patient, there will be less cumulative drug exposure."

Dr. Hogan and her team suggest that the findings may be of interest to clinicians and patients struggling with when to begin ART. An additional sub-study is underway "to address whether immediate versus deferred treatment during primary HIV infection results in improvements in markers of inflammation and immune activation, which may provide further insight into potential benefits of treating primary infection," the authors wrote.

###

Fast Facts:

1) In a comparative randomized trial of immediate versus deferred antiretroviral therapy (ART) in early HIV infection, patients whose therapy was deferred experienced higher than anticipated rates of disease progression.

2) Participants who received treatment immediately appear to have been protected not only during treatment but also for a brief period of time after treatment was stopped.

The study and the accompanying editorial are available online. They are embargoed until 12:01 a.m. EST on Friday, Dec. 16, 2011:

The Setpoint Study (ACTG A5217): Effect of Immediate Versus Deferred Antiretroviral Therapy on Virologic Set Point in Recently HIV-1Infected Individuals

Recent HIV-1 Infection: To Treat or Not to Treat, That Is the Question

Published continuously since 1904, the Journal of Infectious Diseases is the premier global journal for original research on infectious diseases. The editors welcome major articles and brief reports describing research results on microbiology, immunology, epidemiology, and related disciplines, on the pathogenesis, diagnosis, and treatment of infectious diseases; on the microbes that cause them; and on disorders of host immune responses. The journal is an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA). Based in Arlington, Va., IDSA is a professional society representing more than 9,000 physicians and scientists who specialize in infectious diseases. For more information, visit http://www.idsociety.org.



[ Back to EurekAlert! ] [ | E-mail | Share Share ]

?


AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.


Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-12/idso-sse121411.php

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Riley: Heat coach Spoelstra gets new contract

MIami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra watches the last minutes of an NBA basketball practice session while talking to media members in Miami, Friday, Dec. 9, 2011. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

MIami Heat coach Erik Spoelstra watches the last minutes of an NBA basketball practice session while talking to media members in Miami, Friday, Dec. 9, 2011. (AP Photo/J Pat Carter)

Miami Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra gestures as he speaks to members of the media during the team's NBA basketball media day, Monday, Dec. 12, 2011, in Miami. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee)

(AP) ? Erik Spoelstra and the Miami Heat have agreed on a contract extension, ending any speculation that Pat Riley's protege would be a lame-duck coach this season.

Riley, the team president, made the announcement Friday. The Heat typically does not release terms of deals for coaches and executives, and Riley did not divulge any details of Spoelstra's new deal. Spoelstra is beginning his fourth season as coach and his 17th season with the team overall.

"We have one of the great young coaches in the league, an absolute member of this family and has been for a long time, so we want him to become a Hall of Famer," Riley said Friday. "So it's been taken care of."

The 41-year-old Spoelstra was not available for immediate comment. The Heat had the day off Friday, and Riley spoke at his annual preseason availability.

Earlier this week, Spoelstra said he did not expect his contract to be a distraction, noting that Riley and the Arison family have never given him any reason to be worried about his status with the organization.

"It's a family here," Spoelstra said, "and I'm part of that."

In his first three seasons, Spoelstra has gone 148-98 in regular-season games, 18-15 in playoff games. A year ago, he led the Heat to a 58-24 mark and a 14-7 record in the postseason, where Miami lost the NBA finals to Dallas in six games.

"Me and Erik, our relationship will continue to grow," Heat forward LeBron James said this week. "It's much better today than it was the first day of practice last year. We didn't know each other at all. We were still learning each other. We'd seen each other from a distance. I'd seen him coach from the sideline ... he'd seen me play while he was coaching from the sideline. Our relationship is really good right now. I'm happy with where we are right now."

Riley said the team has been working on Spoelstra's deal "for a while."

Spoelstra came to the Heat in 1995, working his way up from the video room. Spoelstra was particularly close to Stan Van Gundy during his stint in Miami. When Van Gundy stepped down in 2005, Riley took over, and Spoelstra became the heir apparent.

When Riley decided in 2008 that his coaching days were over again, he and Heat owner Micky Arison quickly agreed Spoelstra was the right one for the job. Clearly, that hasn't changed.

"I think he's so much more comfortable his own skin," Riley said. "Contrary to what people might think, I am not a helicopter flying over the top of him all the time. I give him tremendous freedom and space, because I trust the fact that he's in there working every day. He is somebody who is very innovative, and he's not afraid to take some risks."

Riley is a regular onlooker at practice, and he and Spoelstra talk just about every day. But Riley insists the coaching is done by Spoelstra and his staff.

"He does a great job on the bench coming out of time-outs and being prepared for things," Riley said. "And I think the experience last year of also being in the finals and going down to the game that meant the difference in your season and going through that and that pain will help him. I think he's grown leaps and bounds, and he's the perfect coach for this team."

The core of Heat players ? James, Chris Bosh, Dwyane Wade, Udonis Haslem, Mario Chalmers, Mike Miller and so on ? are all under contract for several years to come.

Riley thought it was vital to have their coach be in the same position.

"He never would have been a lame-duck coach even though (media) would have made him one," Riley said. "Guy in the last year in his contract, that wasn't the reason why we did it. The reason why we did it is because we wanted to extend him and keep him in the family and not have somebody come in and steal him away from us. I mean that sincerely ... and I think the players feel the same way."

___

Follow Tim Reynolds on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/ByTimReynolds

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2011-12-16-BKN-Heat-Riley/id-f5fef149b7ab4048ba9630b8198951ee

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4 ways to avoid a government shutdown (The Week)

New York ? With Congress deadlocked over how to extend a payroll tax break, federal agencies are bracing for the possibility that they'll have to close their doors

The Obama administration is telling federal agencies to prepare for a possible government shutdown, as Democrats and Republicans remain deadlocked over extending a payroll-tax break due to expire at the end of the year. Both sides want to prolong the tax holiday, but they disagree over how to pay for it ? Democrats want a surtax on millionaires, and Republicans want Medicare premium hikes for upper-income seniors, among other measures. To force a deal, Senate Democrats have tied the issue to a spending bill, and if that's not passed the government will run out of money at midnight Friday. How can they avoid disaster? Here, four possible solutions:

1. Pass a short-term spending bill, then talk
Neither party is eager to close government agencies' doors, says Erik Wasson at The Hill, since both "stand to be blamed by the public if the government shuts down." Congress has "lurched toward shutdowns repeatedly this year, only to avert them, often at the last minute." Passing a short-term spending deal will buy more time. And with "brinkmanship on both sides" holding up the $1 trillion spending package, it's looking increasingly like that's the only way out.?

SEE MORE: Why the GOP caved in the payroll tax fight: 4 theories

?

2. Democrats cave, by giving up on the millionaire surtax
In what CNN says would be a "major concession," President Obama and his fellow Democrats may be preparing to drop their insistence on sticking the wealthy with the bill, says Allahpundit at Hot Air. That would sting, "given how well tax hikes on the rich poll." But let's be honest. "There was no way" Dems could make their plan fly. If they'd just untie the matter from the spending bill and make a deal, the GOP will probably drop the fast-tracking of a decision on the Keystone XL oil pipeline, in exchange.

3. Republicans cave, by dropping their poison pills
"As they've repeatedly done before, the GOP is exploiting the imminent shutdown of the government to push its conservative agenda," says Marie Diamond at Think Progress. They're insisting on sidestepping environmental regulations to push through an oil pipeline, and protect the rich. "This is the third time this year Republicans are using the threat of a government shutdown to get what they want." If they would just drop "these brinkmanship games" it would be easy to "compromise on a bill to keep the government?s lights on."

SEE MORE: The super committee's 'epic' failure: What now?

?

4. Let the payroll-tax holiday expire, and get back to business
"In their rush to head home for the holidays," says the Chicago Tribune in an editorial, neither party is mentioning how extending the payroll tax cut and jobless benefits "would add to our already enormous national debt." The payroll taxes are supposed to go into the Social Security system, which is "already imperiled." It might have made sense to help struggling families out with a tax break in 2011, but it's "foolhardy" to keep this up. Congress should let the payroll tax break die and get back to work ? future generations of retirees will be grateful.

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French ex-president Chirac convicted of corruption

Charles Platiau / Reuters, file

Former French President Jacques Chirac is seen at an awards ceremony for in Paris on Nov. 24.

By msnbc.com news services

PARIS --??A French court found former President Jacques Chirac guilty Thursday of embezzling public funds to illegally finance the conservative party he long led.

In the absence of the 79-year-old, who ruled from 1995 until 2007, the judge declared Chirac guilty and handed down a suspended two-year jail sentence.


Chirac, a savvy world diplomat and icon of France's political establishment for decades, is the first former French head of state to face prosecution since since Nazi collaborator Marshall Philippe Petain in 1945. But the former leader did not take part in the trial, after doctors determined that he suffers severe memory lapses.

Chirac was tried on charges of diverting public money into phantom jobs for political cronies while he was mayor of Paris between 1977 and 1995, a time when he built a new centre-right Gaullist party that launched his successful presidential bid.

He was convicted of embezzling public funds, abuse of trust, and illegal conflict of interest.

Chirac repeatedly denied wrongdoing.

The?two-year suspended prison sentence goes on Chirac's criminal record but means he does not have to go behind bars. The court said it took into account his age, health and status as a former head of state when determining the sentence.

'Deep affection'
Unusually, the prosecutor had requested earlier that the case be dropped, saying not enough evidence proved intentional corruption. The court disagreed, saying "his guilt results from long-standing and reiterated practices" of illegal party financing.

"For all those who could have expected a rejection of the case against him, or at least no penalty, the ruling can appear disappointing," said Chirac lawyer Georges Kiejman. "What I hope is that this ruling doesn't change in any way the deep affection the French feel legitimately for Jacques Chirac."

Chirac skirts trial yet again in corruption case

"We have to take a step back and read this ruling, we have to speak of course with the main person involved (Chirac), and we will know tonight if he accepts this decision or, on the contrary, he wants ? on principle ? to appeal. For the moment, it's impossible to say more," Kiejman said.

Contacted by The Associated Press, Chirac spokeswoman Benedicte Brissart declined to comment immediately, saying time was needed to go over the legal decision.

Chirac enjoyed immunity from prosecution during his 1995-2007 presidential tenure, during which he led France into the shared euro currency and strongly opposed the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Read more content from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2011/12/15/9462940-french-court-convicts-ex-president-jacques-chirac

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