Japan to ask Myanmar to join bilateral pact: Kyodo

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan's foreign minister will suggest that Myanmar enter negotiations on a bilateral investment accord when he holds talks with the country's top officials next week, Kyodo News reported Sunday.

The talks would mark another step as Myanmar gradually reconnects with the rest of the world after decades of tight military rule.

A series of reforms have been initiated by President Thein Sein aimed at pushing for the lifting of decades of Western sanctions and attracting much-needed foreign investment in the country formerly known as Burma.

Japanese Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba is traveling to Myanmar Sunday to meet his counterpart, Wunna Maung Lwin, as well as the president next week.

In Naypyitaw, Gemba will discuss the investment accord, which would promote cross-border investment and allow trade disputes to be settled under international frameworks, Kyodo said, citing a government source.

Gemba will also meet pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and will likely invite her to visit Japan in the near future, Kyodo said.

Gemba's visit is the first by a Japanese foreign minister in nine years.

In a landmark step, U.S. President Barack Obama decided last month to open the door to expanded ties, saying he saw potential for progress in a country until recently seen as an isolated military dictatorship firmly aligned with China.

That decision was followed soon after by a visit to Myanmar by U.S. Foreign Secretary Hillary Clinton, during which Myanmar's new civilian government pledged to forge ahead with political reforms and re-engage with the global community.

(Reporting by Mari Saito)

Source: http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kacu/news.newsmain/article/0/3/1888754/World/Japan.to.ask.Myanmar.to.join.bilateral.pact.Kyodo

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Neiman Marcus Christmas Book: Luxury Gifts for the Rich (Time.com)

For Christmas this year, I want a $75,000 life-size genie bottle. O.K., technically it's a yurt ? a round, tentlike structure invented centuries ago by nomads in Central Asia ? decorated with hand-embroidered tapestries, a crystal chandelier and all sorts of accessories specifically designed to look like the inside of Barbara Eden's genie bottle from I Dream of Jeannie. Barring that, I'd also accept a $395,000 limited-edition Ferrari or a $1 million set of choreographable "dancing" fountains installed on the grounds of my estate. (That reminds me: I need an estate.)

These gifts ? along with many more, including a custom-built library, a mahogany speedboat and a $45,000 Ping-Pong table ? are available to purchase from Neiman Marcus' 2011 Christmas book. The upscale Texas-based department store has been producing the catalog since 1926, but it didn't start selling ostentatious "fantasy gifts" until the 1950s, when then president Stanley Marcus offered a Steiff plush tiger decorated with jewels for $1 million. (Adjusted for inflation, that's about $8.4 million now.) These are the gifts that even the one-percenters pine for. (See "TIME's Luxury Gift Guide: A Lineup of Lavish Presents.")

I've always wondered if anyone actually buys these presents. If you're the sort of person with the means to buy a limited-edition Ferrari, are you really going to order it from a catalog? "Absolutely," says Ginger Reeder, Neiman Marcus' vice president of corporate communications and the brains behind the Christmas book. "We sell out of the cars every single year." According to Reeder, Neiman Marcus sells a few big-ticket fantasy gifts each holiday season, and not always to the type of person you might expect.

"One year we were offering a custom-made suit of armor," she says. "I had this idea that it would make a great gift for someone like Donald Trump ? I had this vision of his staff chipping in money and getting him his own suit of armor ? but actually, a couple bought it for their grown son, who traveled around the country to medieval fairs." Yes, that's right: somewhere out there, a young man is wearing a $20,000 suit of replica 15th century armor while he munches on a funnel cake.

Reeder is a wealth of interesting gift stories: she says a man once purchased a "Become a Rockette for a Day" package for his wife, who had always wanted to be a professional dancer. Another person once contacted Neiman Marcus and offered to let the company sell his collection of 18,400 records; he owned a 45-r.p.m. vinyl record of every single song that had been listed on the Billboard Hot 100 charts from 1955 to 1990. Even more surprising? For $275,000, someone actually bought it. "And of course there was the very first [matching] his-and-hers gift set we sold in 1960 ? a set of Beechcraft airplanes," Reeder says. "I didn't work here at the time, of course, but the way the story is told to employees, a gentleman called and wanted to know if we'd break the set." He said he didn't need both airplanes, just one, because " 'The little lady has a hankerin' for one of her own.' " Neiman Marcus agreed to it; the airplane went for $27,000 (the equivalent of $206,300 today). (See "TIME Gift Guides: Cheap Chic Presents That Come in Pretty Packages.")

What else has Neiman Marcus offered over the years? Let's take a look:

His-and-hers ancient Egyptian sarcophagi
Year: 1971
Original price: $16,000
Perfect for: A very elderly relative.
Fun fact: The Rosicrucian Egyptian Museum in San Jose, Calif., purchased the sarcophagi. Unexpectedly, one of them contained a mummy.

A camel
Year: 1967
Original price: Unknown
Perfect for: An overzealous Aladdin fan, or someone organizing an upcoming Truth.com antismoking campaign

A bag of uncut diamonds
Year: 1972
Original price: $250,000
Perfect for: An evil villain, or someone who's into really expensive craft projects

An edible gingerbread playhouse
Year: 2010
Original price: $15,000
Perfect for: Your hungry niece.

Satellite television with 48 channels
Year: 1979
Original price: $36,500
Perfect for: No one anymore.

Cupcake car
Year: 2009
Original price: $25,000
Perfect for: Katy Perry's next music video.

Thoroughbred racing horse farm with 12-15 horses
Year: 2008
Price: $10 million
Perfect for: A very short man who owns lots of brightly colored silk outfits but has nowhere to wear them.
Fun fact: No one purchased this item, according to Reeder ? probably because it entails running a business and caring for animals. You know, actual work.

A zeppelin
Year: 2004
Original price: $10 million
Perfect for: Someone who already owns a blimp. (The two are different. Look it up.)

10,000 gallons of Aramis cologne
Year: 1969
Original price: $5 million
Perfect for: Your smelly grandfather.

A Cracker Jack box that contains a ruby, emerald or sapphire on an 18-karat gold ring as the "prize"
Year: 1998
Price: $950
Perfect for: Kate Hudson, assuming you are her fictional boyfriend in a romantic comedy and you must do something zany yet adorable to win her over.

London taxi designed by Burberry
Year: 2002
Original price: $58,900
Perfect for: Your favorite servant.
Fun fact: A Dallas woman purchased it, only to resell it on Craigslist in 2007.

Mr. Potato Head covered in Swarovski crystals
Year: 2004
Price: $8,000
Perfect for: I don't know who would want this. Maybe Bj?rk.

Naturally, not everyone can give or receive a Neiman Marcus fantasy gift. Even if we had endless amounts of money, the items are either one of a kind or limited editions; there simply aren't enough of them to go around. The department store often offers distillery and vineyard tours and says they, along with the cars, almost always sell out. And let's face it: sometimes nobody's willing to buy something that expensive. (If I traveled around to medieval fairs, I don't think my parents would even buy me an armor-themed sweatshirt.) "That's why we call them fantasy gifts," says Reeder. "They're attention getters. It's fun to imagine what they'd be like, but no one really expects to get one." Neiman Marcus definitely doesn't base its business model on the sale of a camel or an airplane. "No," Reeder says, "our real bread and butter is jewelry and cashmere." Wait, people actually get jewelry and cashmere for Christmas? I need to have a serious talk with Santa.

See "TIME's Gift Guides: A Dozen Do-Gooder Presents."

See photos of the holiday shopping season.

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Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/time_rss/rss_time_us/httpwwwtimecomtimenationarticle08599210293000htmlxidrssnationyahoo/43980948/SIG=12lnasuag/*http%3A//www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2102930,00.html?xid=rss-nation-yahoo

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Four men with baseball bats scared off potential assault by bear spray

Police state that the men showed up to the home at 10020 Third Street with the bats, intent on fighting the occupants inside. One or all of the male suspects kicked in the door to the home, but fled when one of the occupants sprayed the would-be attackers with bear?spray.

One of the attackers received stitches at the hospital, but it is unknown at this time how he received cuts to his face. There were no other injuries?reported.

Police believe this was a targeted act as the occupants of the residence and their would-be attackers are known to each other.??

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/mile0city/~3/kVO5D8x8Lkk/four-men-baseball-bats-scared-potential-assault-bear-spray

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WTA, Sony end eight-year partnership

Sony Ericsson will end its sponsorship of the WTA next year, bringing to an end an eight-year association which once included title sponsor rights for the telecoms giant.

Sony's deal with the governing body of the women's tour began in 2005 and followed a two-year period when the WTA lacked a title sponsor.

But their parternership will now finish at the end of 2012.

"The WTA-Sony Ericsson partnership has over the past seven years taken women?s tennis to new heights of popularity and success, and broadened the audience for the sport across the globe," said a WTA statement.

"Sony Ericsson?s business and brand has evolved over the past seven years, and they have decided that 2012 will be the eighth and final year of the partnership.

"They have been a great partner and we will miss them. We look forward to the next phase of growth with our existing and future partners."

Source: http://wwos.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=8394604

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Roanoke College finds new appreciation for old-style mortarboards - www.roanoke.com

The 160-year-old landmark Roanoke College Administration Building is undergoing an exterior wall renovation (extreme left) after it was bowing outward under its own weight. The original bricks have been removed and a new brick veneer wall, this time complete with a foundation, is being put up.

Photos by Stephanie Klein-Davis | The Roanoke Times

The 160-year-old landmark Roanoke College Administration Building is undergoing an exterior wall renovation (extreme left) after it was bowing outward under its own weight. The original bricks have been removed and a new brick veneer wall, this time complete with a foundation, is being put up.

The original bricks, made on-site, were removed from the Roanoke College Administration Building after an exterior wall began to bow and are stacked on pallets off campus. Some are crumbly after moisture affected their stability. Their replacements were matched by Old Virginia Brick in Salem.

The original bricks, made on-site, were removed from the Roanoke College Administration Building after an exterior wall began to bow and are stacked on pallets off campus. Some are crumbly after moisture affected their stability. Their replacements were matched by Old Virginia Brick in Salem.

The original bricks, made on-site, were removed from the Roanoke College Administration Building after an exterior wall began to bow and are stacked on pallets off campus. Some are crumbly after moisture affected their stability. Their replacements were matched by Old Virginia Brick in Salem.

The original bricks, made on-site, were removed from the Roanoke College Administration Building after an exterior wall began to bow and are stacked on pallets off campus. Some are crumbly after moisture affected their stability. Their replacements were matched by Old Virginia Brick in Salem.

If you own an older home, you'll understand this.

You don't really know exactly what you've got until it falls apart. And make no mistake: Things fall apart. That's what you put up with in an older home.

So it is with the home that Roanoke College has occupied since the mid-19th century.

Since August, workers have removed the entire west wall of the college's administration building, a National Historic Landmark, because it was bulging outward. They are now rebuilding it.

The painstaking process has offered a window into antebellum construction methods, some of which don't necessarily make you feel all that good about that construction.

"With a building of this age, you're always going to have maintenance issues," said Randy Jones, an architect and CEO of OWPR Inc., a Blacksburg architecture and engineering firm that has been involved in numerous building and renovation projects on the campus in recent years.

But this is serious maintenance.

For years, the wall has tried to bulge outward. In the 1980s, the college anchored the wall to the interior of the structure with steel rods, which helped, but still it bulged ever so slowly until something had to be done. It had pushed outward some three or four inches.

"It was getting close to the point of being critical," Jones said.

The wall, part of an addition to the original core of the building, had to be taken down, by hand, one brick at a time.

That was partly because they couldn't just knock it down without likely damaging very nearby Miller Hall. It's also because of the way the wall was constructed.

It was nothing but bricks ? no frame or other reinforcement ? stacked upon dirt. That's right, no foundation whatsoever.

The wall was five courses of brick thick at the base, Jones said, and graduated as the wall climbed higher.

Even taking it down by hand was tedious.

"You just don't know, as you systematically remove it, if it's going to stay," Jones said.

A giant wooden facia was removed in one piece and will be replaced.

The college also saved as many of the bricks as possible ? several thousand of them are stacked on pallets now ? but they aren't being used to rebuild the wall. College officials aren't yet sure what they'll do with them.

New bricks from Old Virginia Brick in Salem are being used in the reconstruction ? anchored to a modern, steel-reinforced concrete block wall and sitting upon a new concrete foundation.

Two windows from the wall, part of the original construction, were also saved and will be reused.

"It's the essential building on campus, so you want to keep it as original as possible," Jones said.

Taken as a whole, the building, with its several additions, is one of the 10 or 12 oldest buildings in Salem, said historian John Long, director of the Salem Museum.

The two-story center of the building was built in 1848. An east wing was added in 1852, and the west wing in 1854. In 1903, a third story was added to the building to give it the shape it has today.

It has had other problems through the years. One of the four massive columns on the front was replaced a few years ago. The rear of the west wing began to sag badly, so workers installed jacks to prop it up, though some windows still list to the right.

A chimney also had to be rebuilt.

But then, that's the stuff you put up with when you have an older home.

Source: http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/302771

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Distro Issue 19: Peter Rojas plays 20 questions and Zach Honig boards Boeing's 787 Dreamliner

If you caught our release of Distro for Android tablets, you know we're in the mood for giving. In keeping with that sentiment, issue 19 ushers in two new weekly (and exclusive) features: "Recommended Reading," a guide to the best writing happening outside of our fine publication(s), and "Q&A," our take on the Proust questionnaire, answered this week by Engadget founder Peter Rojas. Of course no issue of Distro would be complete without a generous collection of reviews, and this one's packed full: Zach Honig takes a ride on Boeing's 787 Dreamliner, Richard Lai covers Meizu's MX, Dana Wollman puts Samsung's Series 7 Slate PC through its paces, Tim Stevens tackles the Motorola Xyboard 8.2 and last, but most definitely not least, we examine Verizon's LTE Galaxy Nexus. It may not be your own private Watson, but it might just give you something to do between swigs of eggnog. So hit the appropriate download link and enjoy.

Distro Issue 19 PDF
Distro on the iTunes App Store
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Distro Issue 19: Peter Rojas plays 20 questions and Zach Honig boards Boeing's 787 Dreamliner originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 23 Dec 2011 09:15:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/OmBfgReYQx0/

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Thursday's local men's college basketball roundup: VCU goes to 9-3 with win over UNC Greensboro

Bradford Burgess scored 24 points and Rob Brandenberg 17 Thursday night as VCU beat host UNC Greensboro 80-68.

The Rams improved to 9-3. The Spartans, guided by interim coach Wes Miller, fell to 2-11. Miller, 28, a former James Madison and North Carolina guard, is the youngest coach in Division I men's basketball.

JMU 62, George Washington 57

A.J. Davis and Humpty Hitchens scored 17 points apiece in the first half as James Madison built a 20-point halftime lead, and the Dukes held on in Washington.

The Dukes (6-3) led 55-33 after Andrey Semenov's layup with 13:46 left to play, but only made one more field goal the rest of the way.

Reserve David Pellom (eight points) and Tony Taylor (five points) sparked a 15-0 Colonials run. After Julius Wells' 3-pointer put the Dukes up 58-48, the Colonials scored six straight and trailed by four with 2:59 left.

GW (4-7) failed to score on its next five possessions, however, and the Dukes hit four free throws in the final 1:11 to secure the win.

ECU 69, Gardner-Webb 55

Darrius Morrow and Maurice Kemp each recorded double-doubles as East Carolina defeated Gardner-Webb in Greenville, N.C.

Morrow had 19 points and 10 rebounds while Kemp scored 18 points and grabbed 13 rebounds. Shamarr Bowden added 13 points and Miguel Paul had 10 for the Pirates (7-4), who have won three straight games.

Max Landis and Tashan Newsome each scored 12 points for the Bulldogs (6-8), who lost their second straight game.

Howard 88, Delaware 83, OT

Glenn Andrews had a career-high 28 points, and he combined with Calvin Thompson to score 13 points in overtime to lift Howard in Washington.

The win ended a four-game losing streak for the Bison (4-9), who are guided by former Hampton University coach Kevin Nickelberry. The Blue Hens had their two-game win streak snapped.

Andrews nailed a 3-pointer with 13 seconds left in regulation to tie the game at 70, sending it into the extra frame.

After Josh Brinkley converted 1 of 2 free throws to give the Blue Hens (5-5) a 71-70 advantage, Thompson and Andrews took over. Howard reeled off a 9-2 run to take a 79-73 lead at the 2:35 mark.

Georgia State 72, Georgia Southern 52

James Fields scored 18 points and Devonta White added 17 to help Georgia State (9-3) win in Atlanta for a school-record ninth straight win.

Eric Buckner finished with 13 points while Tony Kimbro Jr. had 13 and Jihad Ali chipped in with 12 for the Panthers.

Drexel 68, Binghamton 44

Samme Givens scored 15 points and Drexel shot 55.3 percent (26 of 47) from the field to defeat host Binghamton, keeping the Bearcats winless through 10 games.

Nine of Givens' points came in the first half. The Dragons (6-4) led 22-18 with 5:32 remaining before closing the half with a 14-4 run, which featured five layups to go in front 36-22.

Source: http://www.dailypress.com/sports/dp-spt-men-college-basketball-20111222,0,5044027.story?track=rss

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Galaxy Nexus gaming performance: ShadowGun and Riptide GP ...

Wondering how the Verizon Galaxy Nexus will handle all the high-end games that are coming out and taking advantage of super-powered Android hardware? Well wonder no more. Chris Burns over at SlashGear took his shiny new Nexus on a gaming bender, trying out two high-profile 3D games that are quickly becoming the standard for Android graphics: third-person shooter ShadowGun and jet ski racer Riptide GP.

The results are impressive, to say the least. Despite the Galaxy Nexus? 720p resolution, both games run quickly and smoothly at the highest settings. On ShadowGun you can notice minimal slowdown during screen-filling effects, but that?s about it. When playing Riptide, the racing is incredibly smooth and fluid even with the multiple water effects at play. Notice that in both titles, the virtual buttons on the Galaxy Nexus don?t disappear like they do with active videos ? this may be a limitation of the APIs in question, or it could be adressed by future releases of either game.

Check out the videos below:

Of course, neither game looks as good as it does on the Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime, but that?s to be expected. The quad-core Nvidia Tegra 3 processor combines with a slightly lower system load for Honeycomb as opposed to Ice Cream Sandwich, and Riptide GP has a special version designed specifically to take advantage of the hardware. But there?s no doubt about it: the Galaxy Nexus is one of the best Android smartphones out there for gaming, if not the best at the moment. We?ll see how long it can keep its crown when Tegra 3 smartphones from HTC and others start arriving in Q1 of 2012.

Source: http://androidcommunity.com/galaxy-nexus-gaming-performance-shadowgun-and-riptide-gp-20111220/

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Toyota aims to sell 8.48 million vehicles in 2012

(AP) ? Toyota is aiming for a comeback, targeting global sales of 8.48 million vehicles in 2012 and an even bigger number in 2013, after being battered this year by the March disaster in Japan and flooding in Thailand.

Toyota Motor Corp., Japan's top automaker, relinquished its title as the world's biggest in global vehicle sales for the first half of this year, sinking to No. 3 trailing U.S. rival General Motors Co. and Volkswagen AG of Germany.

Toyota's global vehicle sales for this year total 7.9 million vehicles, including group companies, down 6 percent from the previous year, it said in a statement Thursday.

General Motors Co. has not yet released its global sales numbers for this year. The Detroit-based automaker had been at the top for more than seven decades until Toyota took the crown in 2008.

Toyota's targets for 2012 and 2013 do not include group companies such as Daihatsu Motor Co. and Hino Motors, and so aren't directly comparable with any forecasts from GM and Volkswagen.

Toyota said the sales target for calendar 2012 would represent 20 percent growth from its global sales this year.

Toyota has been making up for sales declines in North America and Japan with momentum in relatively new but booming markets such as China and India.

The manufacturer behind the Prius hybrid and Lexus luxury models said it plans to sell 8.95 million vehicles around the world in 2013, not including group companies.

Toyota said it had not yet figured out forecasts for group companies. It is possible the target may exceed 9 million vehicles, had they been included.

Toyota acknowledged many uncertainties, which could push the numbers in either direction. One possible plus is the extension of Japanese government incentives for green vehicles, according to Toyota.

Toyota, with its strong hybrid lineup, has been a major beneficiary of such incentives.

Still, Toyota has gone through some hard times lately.

The global financial crisis in 2008 was behind a serious sales plunge in the key North American market.

Then came the massive recalls, mostly in the U.S., that tarnished Toyota's once pristine reputation for quality amid speculation it had not been as forthright as it should have been about defects.

Toyota was on a gradual recovery track when the March 11 earthquake and tsunami struck in northeastern Japan, damaging suppliers and disrupting production because of a severe parts shortage.

Production got slammed again later in the year, although on a smaller scale, from flooding in Thailand.

Toyota also said it expects to produce 8.65 million vehicles next year, up 24 percent from 6.97 million this year. It expects to produce 8.98 million vehicles in 2013, it said. Those numbers do not include group companies.

Michael Robinet, managing director of IHS Automotive Consultants in Northville, Michigan, said a global sales lead doesn't matter as much as how much money the company makes per vehicle, its model portfolio and overall profit.

A difference of several tens of thousands of vehicles is not significant for automakers that sell millions of vehicles like Toyota and GM, he said.

"It doesn't matter all that much when you're already in the 9 million to 10 million unit range," Robinet said.

___

AP Auto Writer Tom Krisher contributed from Detroit.

___

Follow Yuri Kageyama on Twitter at http://twitter.com/yurikageyama

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2011-12-21-AS-Japan-Toyota/id-b4b3cdeb888449c3ae7434855bb92812

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MTR Gaming Group Files for Ohio Gaming License | Benzinga

MTR Gaming Group, Inc. (Nasdaq: MNTG) today announced that it has officially submitted its application with the Ohio Lottery Commission for a license to operate video lottery terminals (?VLTs?) at its Scioto Downs racetrack. The filing is the next step in MTR Gaming's development of the Scioto Downs project and establishing a true beneficial impact to the Columbus, Ohio area. With the addition of VLTs to Scioto Downs, MTR Gaming will be providing a popular entertainment alternative as well as creating significant job opportunities and economic growth.

Upon reviewing the Ohio Attorney General's response to the lawsuit filed against several Ohio governmental bodies, which seeks to prevent the casinos and VLT operators from proceeding, the Company is very comfortable continuing the process of building and opening its new gaming facility at Scioto Downs in Columbus. The Company continues to believe the facility will open in the second quarter of 2012.

(c) 2011 Benzinga.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published in its entirety or redistributed without the approval of Benzinga.

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Source: http://www.benzinga.com/news/11/12/2219837/mtr-gaming-group-files-for-ohio-gaming-license

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