Syria activists say battle for airport intensifies

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syrian activists say the battle between rebels and government troops for the country's second-largest airport is intensifying.

The director of the Britain-based Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdul-Rahman, says the fighting Saturday near Aleppo International airport is concentrated around a section of a highway connecting the city with a strategic facility the rebels have been trying to capture for weeks.

Rebels have recently taken control of two military bases protecting the airport. They have also cut off a highway the army has been using to transport troops and supplies there.

President Bashar Assad's troops have been locked in a stalemate with the rebels in Aleppo since July, when Syria's largest city became a major battlefield in the nearly two-year conflict.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/syria-activists-battle-airport-intensifies-110038396.html

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Canada's Rona outlines strategy after another quarterly loss

TORONTO (Reuters) - Rona Inc , Canada's top home-improvement retailer and distributor, reported a narrower quarterly loss on Thursday and outlined plans to expand its distribution business and scale back its big-box store strategy outside the province of Quebec.

Fourth quarter earnings for the Boucherville, Quebec-based company, which also announced plans to cut roughly 200 full-time administrative jobs, were weaker than expected after stripping out charges related to restructuring, impairments and other one-time items.

Rona shares dropped about 1.6 percent after the news.

The company, which rebuffed an unsolicited C$1.8 billion ($1.77 billion) takeover proposal from larger U.S. rival Lowe's Cos Inc in August, has come under intense investor pressure after a string of disappointing quarterly results. It bowed to the pressure and shuffled its board in January, promising to make "drastic moves" to improve performance.

Acting Chief Executive Dominique Boies said he believes Rona's new strategy would allow it to get back on a profitable growth track.

"We are facing short-term headwind in our industry with key indicators trending downward but the fundamentals of the renovation and construction industry remain robust," Boies said in a statement.

Rona's long-time Chief Executive Robert Dutton stepped down in November. Rona said on Thursday its search for a new CEO is well underway and a decision should be announced shortly.

In January, Rona named a new executive chairman and four other new directors as part of a deal with its top shareholders to avoid a potentially bruising proxy battle.

The new executive chairman, Robert Chevrier, said last month Rona would consider selling non-core assets and making other moves to address weak sales at big-box stores.

Rona was founded in Quebec in 1939 by independent hardware stores keen to ditch their powerful wholesalers, and the French-speaking province is still home to about half of its 30,000 employees.

The company transformed itself from a modest Quebec hardware distributor to a national retailer in the 1990s, making a string of acquisitions, in a bid to head off Home Depot Inc as the big-box retailer arrived in Canada.

Rona said the 15 percent reduction in administrative staff would result in a restructuring charge of about C$25 million. The move will boost earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization by C$35 million to C$45 million over the next two years.

Rona shares fell 1.6 percent to C$11.91 in early trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange on Thursday.

QUARTERLY RESULTS

The net loss in the fourth quarter was C$17.9 million ($17.6 million) or 15 Canadian cents a share. That compared with a year-earlier loss of C$153.6 million, or C$1.19, when its results were hit by a very large goodwill impairment charge.

Excluding one-time items, the company said earnings in the period ended December 30 fell to 5 Canadian cents a share, down from 15 Canadian cents a share, a year earlier.

Analysts, on average, had forecast earnings of 12 Canadian cents a share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Quarterly revenue rose 2.2 percent to C$1.20 billion, mainly due to the booking of an extra week of sales in the quarter and the opening of some new stores.

($1 = 1.0148 Canadian dollars)

(Reporting by Euan Rocha and Allison Martell; Editing by Nick Zieminski and Grant McCool)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/canadas-rona-outlines-strategy-another-quarterly-loss-151211595--sector.html

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India allows Italian marines, charged with murder, home for elections

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India's Supreme Court on Friday allowed two Italian marines charged with the murder of two fishermen off the coast of India to return home to vote in this month's general election.

The two sailors, members of a military security team protecting a cargo ship from pirate attacks, are accused of shooting the fishermen they say they mistook for pirates off the southern state of Kerala in February last year, sparking a diplomatic row between New Delhi and Rome.

"The judges were sympathetic to the marines' request to exercise their democratic right of casting their votes," Diljeet Titus, one of the lawyers representing the Italian marines, told Reuters.

Last month, the Supreme Court said in a long-awaited ruling that India had jurisdiction to try marines Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone, setting the stage for a criminal trial that could further sour ties between India and Italy.

Italy had challenged India's right to try the two, arguing that the shooting had taken place in international waters.

The Italians spent Christmas in Italy last year, after a Kerala court allowed them to join their families for the holiday, on condition that they returned to India by January 10, which they did.

The marines are currently held at the Italian embassy in New Delhi. They report to a police station once a week.

(Reporting by Annie Banerji; Editing by Frank Jack Daniel and Nick Macfie)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/india-allows-italian-marines-charged-murder-home-elections-075301076.html

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Florida governor expands Medicaid

By Maggie Fox, Senior Writer, NBC News

Florida governor Rick Scott, one of the biggest critics of President Obama?s health reform efforts, said Wednesday he would do the administration?s bidding and expand the Medicaid program.

But Scott said he was doing the expansion on his own terms: for three years only, while the federal government is footing the entire bill.

?While the federal government is committed to paying 100 percent of the cost of new people in Medicaid, I cannot, in good conscience, deny the uninsured access to care,? Scott said in a news conference.

?We will support a three-year expansion of our Medicaid program under the new health care law, as long as the federal government meets their commitment to pay 100 percent of the cost during this time. This legislation would sunset after three years and need to be reauthorized.?

Scott denied he was giving in to the administration. ?It is not a white flag of surrender to government-run health care,? he said.

The 2010 Affordable Care Act was designed to transform health care in the United States, which most experts agree currently costs too much and leaves far too many people without health insurance.?It was meant to provide more care to people who can?t buy insurance by forcing states to expand Medicaid.

The hope was to add about 16 million of the poorest people to the rolls -- about half of those who need health insurance. But after a series of challenges to the law, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that the Medicaid expansion requirement went too far. While most of the Affordable Care Act was constitutional, the court ruled, the federal government could not force states to offer Medicaid to more people.

The Congressional Budget Office projects that 12 million people will become newly eligible for Medicaid in the states that choose to expand their offerings by 2022.?The law required states to extend Medicaid to people earning up to 133 percent of the federal poverty level, or about $14,800 for single people and $31,000 for a family of four.

Many Republican governors immediately said they wouldn?t expand Medicaid.

Texas governor Rick Perry turned down $76 billion in federal matching funds that would have helped pay to do it over the first five years. ?We?re just not going to be a part of ? socializing health care in the state of Texas,? Perry told reporters in July.

South Carolina?s Nikki Haley said expanding Medicaid would bring people out who were already qualified -- and she said that her state would go broke taking care of them, even if the federal government paid the bill for those who would newly qualify. In addition, states will have to start paying a very small percentage in 2017.

But health care experts predicted that many red states would not turn away free money from the federal government.

Arizona governor Jan Brewer said her state would expand Medicaid to about 300,000 residents in her state of the state address last month. Michigan governor Rick Snyder made his announcement Feb. 6: His state will add about 320,000 people to the joint state-federal health insurance plan for the low-income.

?I am forced to accept it as today?s reality and I have decided to expand Nevada?s Medicaid coverage,? Nevada governor Brian Sandoval, another Republican, ?said in December.

Republican-leaning holdouts include Alabama, Louisiana, Idaho, Mississippi, South Carolina, Maine and 12 others.

Scott said he wasn?t happy, but said he was facing reality.

?There are no perfect options. Our options are either having Floridians pay to fund this program in other states while denying health care to our citizens or using federal funding to help some of the poorest in our state with the Medicaid program as we explore other health care reforms,? he said.

Left-leaning groups applauded.

?Now about 613,000 Florida women stand to gain the security of quality health coverage and the ability to get the care they need, when they need it, without facing huge medical bills,? said Judy Waxman of the National Women?s Law Center.

?Combined with other reforms in the Affordable Care Act, this expansion would reduce the percentage of uninsured women in Florida from 25.3 percent to 5.8 percent.?

Scott says he?s not against health reform, he just doesn?t like the approach taken in the 2010 health reform law.

?Before I ever dreamed of standing here today as Governor of this great state, I was a strong advocate for better ways to improve health care than the government-run approach taken in the President?s health care law,? he added.

?I believe in a different approach. But, regardless of what I -- or anyone else -- believes, a Supreme Court decision and a presidential election made the President?s health care mandates the law of the land.?

Scott says he will still refuse to set up a state health insurance exchange, leaving the federal government to run it.

Related stories:

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Source: http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/20/17034418-florida-governor-a-health-reform-foe-expands-medicaid?lite

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Wisconsin governor wants to cut income taxes, public school aid

(Reuters) - Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker proposed a nearly $70 billion biennial budget on Wednesday that combines income tax cuts with increased spending on transportation infrastructure and private education.

Walker, a first-term Republican facing re-election next year, said he would offset the tax cuts and spending increases contained in his 2013-2015 budget by redirecting some funds away from public schools and healthcare, freezing aid to local governments and selling off state assets such as power plants.

Democrats said the proposal would weaken the economic security of the state's most vulnerable residents.

Walker, who touched off massive protests two years ago when he curbed the collective bargaining rights of public workers, said his proposed income tax cut would save residents $343 million.

"More money in the hands of taxpayers will likely drive greater demand for goods and services, which will likely lead to greater production and eventually more hiring of employees," he said.

The proposed budget, unveiled in an address to both houses of the Legislature in Madison, included expanded state aid to private schools through voucher programs and the tightening of income eligibility requirements for recipients of publicly funded health programs.

Walker said he also wanted "able-bodied, non-elderly" people receiving food stamps in Wisconsin to be enrolled in mandatory employment training.

"I'm all for providing a temporary hand up," he told lawmakers. "But ... it should not be a permanent handout.

Democrats, who tried unsuccessfully last year to recall Walker, were critical of the proposed budget.

State Senator Kathleen Vinehout, who was a candidate for governor in the Democratic primary ahead of last year's recall election, said, "Roads and bridges are being paid for by borrowing and raiding money that would otherwise go to schools and universities.

"These are political choices, not the choices voters in Wisconsin would make."

Walker's proposed budget will now go to the state Legislature, which is controlled by Walker's fellow Republicans.

Debate on the measure is expected to continue for months.

(Reporting by James B. Kelleher; Editing by Philip Barbara)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/wisconsin-governor-wants-cut-income-taxes-public-school-034129397--business.html

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Circumnavigating Colorado in Ford's fun and efficient C-Max hybrid

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We were about to drive the new C-Max and the CADA Honda Odyssey, wrapped in a Clean the Air Foundation graphic, to Gunnison and Montrose CO, where Jackson was presenting a PowerPoint enhanced talk on the history and future of the auto industry with local Rotary Clubs there. This is how CADA promotes the Denver Auto Show and evangelizes upon the considerable benefits of owning a new car.

Having driven a multitude of hybrid vehicles over the past several years, the Ford C-Max started to stand out from the rest as soon as highway speeds kicked in and we began to ascend the Colorado Foothills.

It?s not that all hybrids make you think limp-wristed acceleration, but some of them drive sensibly even when that?s not your intention. As it turns out, the Ford C-Max is not one of those, as the 2.0-liter Atkinson-style IVCT engine combines with the electric motors to evoke serious power for a commuter car getting an EPA rating of 47-mpg.

The truly fun part of driving from Denver to Montrose comes in three separate parts. The first of these begins a few miles south of Fairplay and continues to where Highway 285 intersects Highway 24, near Buena Vista. Here the roadway twists and turns like erratically corrugated cardboard, undulating over ridge and valley with the snow-capped peaks of Mt. Princeton and Mt. Antero as a backdrop.

Driving through this area is a joy in any car with the power and handling to glibly navigate the serpentine ups and downs and the C-Max was a sheer delight.

Once turning onto highway 50, we had only a few miles to go before beginning to ascend to the 11,317-foot summit of Monarch Pass. Despite melting snow and icepack on this warm winter day, the 2013 Ford C-Max climbed the mountain undaunted, losing its footing for only a split second on one particularly slippery spot.

The front wheel drive vehicle with a continuously variable transmission performed as well on the snowy mountain pass as many all-wheel-drive vehicles we?ve driven.

One interesting part of the SYNC MyTouch hybrid info display comes whenever you brake to a stop. A message appears stating ?96 percent energy returned,? touting the efficiency of the regenerative braking.

When you first enter the hybrid, a green leaf crosses the right side of the instrument panel as if blown by the wind coming through the door. When you turn the car off with the start/stop button, a message appears stating, ?Thank you for driving a hybrid.? Isn?t that special!

Once you pass Gunnison, Highway 50 crosses through the Curecanti National Recreation Area, a long mountain reservoir the highway snakes around. Further along the highway you pass beside the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, now a National Park.

The Gunnison River is descending at a terrific rate in this area equal to 34 feet per mile, the fifth steepest mountain descent in North America. Winding through the Gunnison Gorge National Conservation Area, the highway descends along sweeping curves at a similar if not steeper rate of decline.

Not all cars like to descend like this, but most hybrids do, soaking up the kinetic energy as they go ? driving this portion of Highway 50 in the 2014 Ford C-Max was as much fun as any roller coaster ever made.

Not everyone enjoys driving through mountains where sometimes you have a mountain on one side of you and thin air on the other. For some others, the S-curve signs on the side of the road mean Spectacular!

Racking up 600 miles in two days by crossing Kenosha, Monarch and Vail passes, plus climbing up Loveland pass to the Eisenhower Tunnel, we averaged 36-mpg in the C-Max without pampering it, generally driving at highway speeds that defeat the car?s aerodynamics.

The phone paired easily and the cruise control worked smartly, but we could have used a little more preflight time to acclimate to the newly redesigned articulated steering wheel.

The extremely raked windshield creates an open and roomy feel in the front seat and full-size adult passengers in the back seat found nothing to complain about.

The 2013 Ford C-Max SEL has a base price of $28,200, to which a technology package was added for $3,080. This provided navigation, Bluetooth connectivity, rearview camera, power liftgate, smart key and even a self parking system we didn?t get a chance to try out.

The grand total came to $32,075 with destination charges of $795 included. According to the EPA estimate of 47-mpg, if you drive 15,000 miles in a year paying $3.55 a gallon for gas, your annual fuel expenditure should be $1,150. That?s a savings of $5,850 compared to a 23-mpg vehicle with all else remaining the same.

When we divided our actual mileage by the EPA rating and multiplied that by the five-year savings, it still came out to about $4,481. So that means any extra cost the hybrid technology added will be returned within those five years if gas doesn?t go up. If the price of petrol does rise, the return will be much quicker.

In conclusion, we have driven more powerful and luxurious hybrids, but they cost more than double what the 2014 Ford C-Max does. It provides good mileage, power and safety, seating for up to five and more cargo capacity than the Prius V at a price point considerably less. Add to that, it?s actually great fun to drive.

We think Ford may have hit a homer with the C-Max. So did the sales manager at Phil Long Ford, stating everyone that takes one for a test drive comes back smiling.

We were still smiling after driving it more than 600 miles in two days.

Source: http://www.torquenews.com/397/circumnavigating-colorado-ford-fun-and-efficient-c-max-hybrid

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Thursday’s afternoon reads are just a click away: Major companies recruiting mothers to return to work – Wall Street Journal The best finds from the 2013 Toy Fair – Parenting.com Would you pick your caregiver based on an online rating site? – PopSugar Moms One child dies every three hours from gun violence in the [...]

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