Lithuanians reject new nuclear plant project

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Rios leads the way

L.A.'s Scioscia plays game under protest; Rios' second HR gives Chicago an 8-6 win

Nam Y. Huh / AP

Chicago's Alex Rios, right, smiles as he celebrates with teammates after hitting?a two-run home run to beat Los Angeles in the 10th inning on Friday night. He also had a solo home run earlier in the game.

Associated Press Sports

updated 1:31 a.m. ET Aug. 4, 2012

CHICAGO - With so many players on the Chicago White Sox having stellar seasons, Alex Rios can tend to go a bit unnoticed.

In reality, he might be having the biggest season of them all.

Rios hit his second homer of the game, connecting for a two-run shot in the 10th inning Friday night that lifted the White Sox over the Los Angeles Angels 8-6.

"He's very underestimated, very undervalued for a lot of people," manager Robin Ventura said. "But for us he's been as solid as anybody in the league."

Rios also hit a solo homer as the White Sox won their third in a row. The Angels lost their third straight, with starter Zack Greinke roughed up in his second start since being acquired from Milwaukee.

Angels manager Mike Scioscia played the game under protest after a baserunning call went against his team in the first inning.

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Adam Dunn singled off Hisanori Takahashi (0-3) to open the 10th. Pinch runner Jordan Danks stole second with one out before Rios hit his 18th home run.

Rios raised his average to .318 and he has 67 RBIs, a welcome change from when he hit .227 with 13 homers and 44 RBIs in 145 games last season.

"After last year, what he went through, him and (Dunn), you never want to see anybody struggle like that," said A.J. Pierzynski, who also homered for the White Sox. "For him to bounce back, I couldn't be happier for a guy."

"It's nice to see him get the results he deserves," he said.

Matt Thornton (4-6) pitched a scoreless 10th for the win.

Pierzynski's three-run homer highlighted a four-run first for Chicago. It was his career-high 19th home run, one more than he hit in 2005.

"I guess I just got too fastball happy and I got myself in trouble with Pierzynski," Greinke said. "I didn't think he would be able to do that with that pitch. It was kind of where I wanted, maybe not perfect, but I was really surprised he was able to hit it as far as he did."

Greinke allowed six runs and 10 hits over seven innings.

Albert Pujols hit his fifth home run in four games for the Angels. Mike Trout also connected for Los Angeles.

Alejandro De Aza doubled home Alexei Ramirez in the seventh to make it 6-all. De Aza and Ramirez had three hits apiece.

Scioscia argued a call in the first and then played the game under protest.

With the bases loaded and no outs, Paul Konerko hit a grounder to third base. After getting the out at home, catcher Chris Iannetta threw wide to first, pulling Pujols off the bag.

Scioscia contended that Konerko was not within the base line for the last 45 feet. The umpires convened and upheld the safe call, bringing Scioscia back out for another discussion. After a second umpire meeting, Konerko was still ruled safe, prompting Scioscia's decision to play under protest.

"What took place there was a play at home and the catcher came out and threw to first," crew Chief Dana DeMuth told a pool reporter after the game. "He threw wild. Konerko going down to first was no way interfering with the play at first."

The play loomed large as Pierzynski homered with two outs.

"We're filing with the league and I think it's a very clear case in our favor," Scioscia said. "(Konerko) was inside the line, which it makes it virtually impossible for him not to affect the throw from Iannetta trying to make the throw to first base."

Trout hit a two-run homer, his 19th, in the second. Pujols hit his 23rd in the sixth, a solo drive that chased a struggling Phil Humber.

Notes: The White Sox sent RHP Chris Devenski to Houston as the player to be named to complete the July 21 trade for RHP Brett Myers. ... Chicago signed OF Dewayne Wise to a minor league contract and assigned him to Triple-A Charlotte. Wise was released by the Yankees on July 31. He is renowned in White Sox lore for a remarkable ninth-inning catch to preserve Mark Buehrle's perfect game in 2009. ... Ervin Santana (5-10, 5.97 ERA) will start Saturday for the Angels against Gavin Floyd (8-9, 4.28). ... White Sox manager Robin Ventura announced LHP Chris Sale (arm fatigue) will pitch Monday. Sale last pitched July 27 in Texas. ... Angels RHP Dan Haren will pitch on Sunday. Haren was scratched from his Wednesday start due to back stiffness.

? 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Rios leads the way

??Alex Rios hit his second homer of the game, connecting for a two-run shot in the 10th inning Friday night that lifted the Chicago White Sox over the Los Angeles Angels 8-6.

Sabathia's 3-hitter ends M's 7-game streak

NEW YORK (AP) - CC Sabathia pitched a three-hitter and struck out 10 strikeouts, dominating the Mariners as usual while leading the New York Yankees to a 6-3 victory Friday night that stopped Seattle's seven-game winning streak.

Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/48497876/ns/sports-baseball/

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Iraq attacks kill 33 people: officials

Iraq attacks mainly targeting security force personnel killed at least 33 people on Thursday, officials said, after government figures showed July was the bloodiest month in almost two years.

At least 39 people have been killed in violence in the first two days of August, which have seen a number of attacks on security forces and their facilities, including a prison, a military site and checkpoints.

At least nine people were killed and at least 32 wounded in a car bombing in the Husseiniyah area of north Baghdad, medical officials said.

In the northern oil city of Kirkuk, militants attacked the home of a Turkmen family, cutting the throats of a father, mother and two daughters, an AFP correspondent reported.

Gunmen killed seven soldiers and wounded 11 others in three separate attacks south of the city, according to security and medical officials and Shalal Abed Ahmed, mayor of Tuz Khurmatu, where one of the attacks took place.

Gunmen also shot dead four police in Tikrit, north of Baghdad, while three members of the Sahwa anti-Qaeda militia were killed by a bomb near Balad, also north of the capital, security and medical officials said.

And gunmen attacked a checkpoint near a police station northeast of Samarra, killing one police and one Sahwa member, a police captain and a hospital source in Samarra said.

An army officer said that gunmen attacked a checkpoint near Dujail, north of Baghdad, killing a soldier and kidnapping four others.

And Colonel Obeid Ibrahim al-Kataa was killed along with two other police in clashes with gunmen who tried to take control of a checkpoint in Al-Rutba, in the far west, police officers said.

In the Euphrates Valley, a police major said a patrol was hit by a roadside bomb in Haditha, wounding four police, while three police were wounded in another attack by gunmen on a checkpoint east of the town.

South of Kirkuk, six gunmen wearing explosive belts tried to attack a military site but five of them were killed and the sixth seriously wounded and the attack failed, Staff Brigadier General Mohammed Khalaf Saeed al-Dulaimi said.

And a police captain said that three gunmen, one of them wearing an explosive belt, tried to attack a police checkpoint in Baiji, north of Baghdad, but all three were killed.

Al-Qaeda front group the Islamic State of Iraq has said it will look to retake territory in the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in an offensive slammed by Washington as "cowardly", and appealed for Sunni Arab tribes to send fighters in a recording posted in the name of its leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

The message posted on various jihadist forums said the ISI would begin targeting judges and prosecutors, and try to help its prisoners break out of jails.

The latest violence comes a day after official figures put the number of people killed in attacks in July at 325, the highest monthly death toll since August 2010.

While violence has decreased compared to its peak in 2006 and 2007, attacks remain common across Iraq. There were attacks on 27 of the 31 days in July.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/iraq-attacks-kill-33-people-officials-211304661.html

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Shanker Blog ? Investing In Children = Supporting Their Families

Although some parents are better positioned than others to meet their families? child care needs, very few parents are immune to the challenges of balancing work and family. Adding further stress to families is the fact that single-parent households are at a record high in the U.S., with more than 40 percent of births happening outside of marriage. Paid parental leave and quality early childhood education (ECE) are two important policies that can assist parents in this regard. In the United States, however, both are less comprehensive and less equally distributed than in most other developed nations.

As a recent (and excellent) Forbes piece points out, we have two alternatives: hope that difficult family circumstances reverse themselves, or support policies such as paid parental leave and universal early childhood education and care ? policies which would make it much easier for all parents to raise children, be it as a couple or on their own. So, what?s it going to be?

In 2010, a global survey on paid leave and other workplace benefits directed by Dr. Jody Heymann (McGill University) and Dr. Alison Earle (Northeastern University) found that the U.S. is one of four* countries in the world without a national law guaranteeing paid leave for parents.** The other three nations are Liberia, Papua New Guinea, and Swaziland. Some might see this as evidence of American ?exceptionalism,? but what a 2011 Human Rights Watch report finds exceptional is the degree to which the nation is ?Failing Its Families.? In fact, according to a survey of registered voters cited in the report, 76 percent of Americans said they would endorse laws that provide paid leave for family care and childbirth. Yet, it is still the case in the U.S. that parental leave, when available at all, is usually brief and unpaid.

Similarly, early childhood education programs are almost universal in Canada and Europe. By contrast, ECE in the U.S. is generally regarded as the private responsibility of parents. Although there are some state and federal programs that help poor and working families defray childcare costs, this patchwork system leaves many families struggling to find and pay for ECE that is safe and of high quality.

In fact, New York University?s ?At Rope?s End? report estimates that paying for childcare can account for over three-quarters of some single parents? monthly expenditures, with prices as high as $20,200 per year to place an infant in a childcare center. Another study by the National Women?s Law Center shows that, in 2010, 37 states pulled back on assistance. So, as more and more parents struggle to raise children on their own, government assistance is getting harder and harder to obtain.

Along the same lines, the U.S. has the lowest enrollment by five-year-olds in formal, government-provided programs and among the lowest for four-year-olds. As the figure below shows, about half of three-year olds and a fourth of four-year-olds have no access to preschool, and about a third of those who do are enrolled in private programs.

In most European countries, by contrast, the distinction between parental leave and ECE is not always clear-cut; the two policies are often seen as part of a continuum of supports that cover a substantial portion of the early childhood period.

But what evidence do we have that these policies will mean long-term social and economic gains?

Some studies show that expansions of leave in Europe have led to long-term gains in educational and labor market outcomes. In the U.S. context, a recent study by researchers from UCLA/CUNY and the Center for Economic and Policy Research found evidence that the California Paid Family Leave Insurance Program ?had a positive or neutral effects on productivity, profitability, turnover and employee morale? ? here.

Or, as Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke recently observed, ?Specialists in economic development have identified educational attainment as a key source of economic growth and rising incomes in many countries around the world.?

Studies examining the long-term benefits of high-quality early childhood education are quite compelling. Expansions of early childhood programs, to cover more or younger children, have been found to yield benefits at school entry, in adolescence, and into adulthood, across a wide variety of studies ? see here, here, here and here. Generally, the gains tend to be largest for children from low socioeconomic and immigrant backgrounds.

As Dana Goldstein recently wrote: ?The typical middle-class 5-year old can identify all 26 letters of the alphabet on her first day of school; a 5-year old living in poverty may know only two letters. By first grade, middle-class children have double the vocabulary of their low-income peers.?

Thus, if we want to ?[?] equalize educational opportunity, we cannot ignore the disparities that develop before a child ever enters the public education system.?

In sum, the U.S. social welfare system is designed around the idea that government assistance is a last resort. As a result, the U.S. is the only advanced country in the world without paid family leave and universal access to preschool?programs that benefit the individual, yes, but have also been shown to benefit society and the economy as a whole.

Although the research on the long-term consequences of these policies is large and growing rapidly, it?s not always easy to quantify the variety and magnitude of effects. We live in the age of quantification, where data and evidence are supposed to chart the course. But, on important issues like these, what is the role of public opinion? When society overwhelmingly declares something to be of value, such as universal preschool, do we wait to see what the research says? Or do we find ways to accomplish what most Americans agree is the right thing for their families and their nation?

- Esther Quintero

*****

* Australia instituted paid parental leave in January 2011, bringing the global tally to 178 countries with laws on paid leave.

** The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides 12 weeks of unpaid leave from employment for major life events, but coverage is far from universal, and many cannot afford to take time-off from work without pay.

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Source: http://shankerblog.org/?p=6421

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In Six Hours, A Russian Robo-Freighter Sprints To the ISS with Tons of Supplies [Video]

Two days might not seem that long for your latest Amazon order's arrival, but for the crew of the International Space Station, waiting 48 hours for fresh supplies must seem an eternity. That's why NASA and Rosaviakosmos have melded new technology and old technique to deliver supplies eight times faster than before. More »

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Drivers, insurers rebel against 'crash tax'

By msnbc.com's James Eng and Andrew Mach

Cary Feldman says it was unpleasant enough?to be?knocked off his motor scooter at an intersection in Chicago Heights, Ill., by the car behind him. But what added insult to his injuries was the $200 bill that came in the mail a few months later ? for the fire truck response.

?It was astounding. I thought I was living in North Korea. I had the audacity to fall on their pavement,? said the 72-year-old retired clinical psychologist, who lives in nearby Matteson, Ill.

Feldman tried unsuccessfully to get Chicago Heights officials to rescind the fee stemming from the June 2010 accident, in which he says the other motorist was deemed at fault and there was never any need for a fire truck to respond along with police and an ambulance. When he couldn?t get the other party?s insurance company to?cover the bill, Feldman wound up paying it out of pocket.

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?If you?re the victim of somebody else?s negligence, why should you have to pay? It?s crazy to me,? he says.

Citizens and insurance companies cite stories like Feldman?s in their intensifying crusade against so-called ?accident response fees,? also known as ?crash taxes.? Cash-strapped municipalities and cities across the U.S. started imposing such fees around 2006-07, when the U.S. economy started to falter,?to raise money to help fund local police and fire departments.

Some local governments have since done an about-face and voted to rescind the fees, saying it?s given their city a black eye.

The city council in Oceanside, Calif., for example, last year voted to repeal the crash tax it charged to out-of-town drivers who get into car crashes that require emergency help from city paramedics.

"We're talking about a program that hasn't worked, that isn't successful and has hurt us," Councilman Jerry Kern said at the time.?"I think for PR (public relations) alone, we should drop this program and tell people we welcome them to this city."

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According to the National Association of Mutual Insurance Companies, municipalities in?as many as 34 states charge accident response fees or are considering ordinances to allow them. Thirteen states prohibit such fees.

Municipalities often contract with a third-party vendor to collect the fees, which?vary widely but are typically a few hundred dollars. Some local governments charge?for police response to car crashes, some for fire response. Some target the fees only at out-of-town drivers.

The fees are usually billed to a motorist?s insurance company. In some cases, like Feldman?s, a collection agency winds up trying to collect from the individual.

The NAMIC is among the insurance organizations that vigorously oppose such fees. Joe Thesing, assistant vice president-state affairs with NAMIC, says most auto insurance policies don?t cover non-medical accident response and thus won?t pay the fee. The result, he says, is that municipalities wind up collecting only a fraction of what they?re billing for.

?These fees are a form of double taxation applied only to responsible citizens who follow state law and carry auto insurance,? Thesing says. ?It?s our belief that responding to investigative accidents is a function of police and fire departments supported by local taxes.?

Thesing contends third-party vendors have been ?duping? municipalities into thinking that the insurance industry is the ?cash cow? they can use to prop up their ailing budgets.

Have you ever had to pay 'crash tax' fees? Join the discussion on Facebook

One of the largest such vendors is Cost Recovery Corp. of Dayton, Ohio, a collection agency that has contracts with hundreds of municipalities in 16 states. Its president, Regina Moore Jones, disputes Thesing?s contention that ?responsible? drivers are being hit with unfair bills.

?We never bill for an ?accident.? There has to be some sort of negligence. There?s never a victim that?s ever assessed a fee. Only a negligent party and their insurance provider receive a bill,? Moore Jones told msnbc.com.

She said negligent drivers ? not taxpayers ? should rightfully foot the bill for police or fire response to car crashes.

?Tax dollars should be used for core services.? Core services do not include subsidizing for negligence,? Moore Jones said. ?Is it popular with insurance? Absolutely not.?

Thesing says more local governments are shying away from such fees as they learn more about ?the insurance process and as a result of negative publicity.

In the past five or six years, at least 40 municipalities have rescinded or voted down accident response fee ordinances, according to Thesing. That includes New York, the nation?s most populous city, where Mayor Michael Bloomberg last year dropped plans to charge motorists involved in accidents as much as $495 for emergency-response services. The proposal was shelved following an outcry of opposition from citizens, city council members and others.?

?The Fire Department doesn't charge for its response to structural fires, and the Police Department doesn't charge for patrolling a block," City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said at the time.?"Charging for responding to the scene of an accident is a slippery slope, and I don't want to see us begin to go down that road out of a desperate desire to find sources of revenue."

Carol L. Schlitt, a New York personal injury attorney, said the Bloomberg administration's?idea was wrongheaded from the start.

?These are basic government functions that the government is supposed to provide to its citizenry,? she told msnbc.com. ?The reason we have government is to provide services for the common good. When you impose these types of fees or taxes it is a destruction of the communal bond.?

For Feldman, the $200 bill he wound up paying hurt more than the cuts and bruises he sustained in the scooter accident. He got an insurance settlement for the damaged bike, but never got relief for the first-responder fee.

?This is not acceptable to me. You have to come up with another way (of raising revenue) without exploiting people,? he said.

?I don?t go back to Chicago Heights anymore. I?ve told everybody I know,??Stay away, they?re going to find some way to get money from you.??

Chicago Heights Mayor David Gonzalez did not immediately return a call for comment.

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Euro, shares gain on Spanish banks, stimulus hopes

LONDON (Reuters) - The uncertain worldwide growth outlook flushed more investors out of riskier assets on Monday, sending shares and commodities down, despite signs that a drive by Europe's leaders to tackle the region's debt crisis was gathering momentum.

The euro slid 0.2 percent to $1.2430, though it was trading well above the $1.2288 it hit on Friday, its lowest level since July 2010, while Brent crude oil fell below $97 a barrel to a 16-month low.

But safe-haven German government bond yields also rose from last week's record lows as some investors looked to take profits on the sharp moves of the past week, with low liquidity due to a UK market holiday exacerbating price swings.

"Investors are just fleeing risk assets," said ATI Asset Management chief investment officer Simon Burge.

The latest sell-off followed disappointing U.S. jobs growth figures on Friday and weak Chinese manufacturing data, which stoked fears that deepening problems in the euro zone are causing a global slowdown in business activity.

Those fears caused sharp falls across Asian markets on Monday, dragging Tokyo's Topix index <.TOPX> to a 28-year low, and followed a fall of more than 2 percent in U.S. stocks on Friday. U.S. stock index futures also pointed to a lower open on Wall Street on Monday <.N>.

The MSCI world equity index <.MIWD00000PUS> was down 0.5 percent at 290.58 points, and is back at levels last reached in December before a wave of coordinated central bank intervention sparked a recovery.

In thin European markets, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 <.FTEU3> index of top shares was down 0.1 percent at 953.94 points after hitting a six-month low on Friday, while the blue chip EuroSTOXX 50 <.STOXX50E> was down 0.9 percent at 2,086.62 points.

Investors are waiting to see if policy meetings by the European Central Bank (ECB) and the Bank of England this week will produce any sign that another wave of easing is likely given the weaker-than-expected economic data.

Figures on Monday showing euro zone factory prices were unexpectedly stable in April from March, the fourth straight month of weakening inflation pressures, offered some hope that ECB could cut rates.

"Everybody is now waiting for what decision the ECB will take on Wednesday and what (U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben) Bernanke will announce on Thursday. There are strong expectations that something will happen, otherwise the market will go much further down," said Francois Duhen, strategist at CM-CIC Securities.

However, the latest Reuters survey of economists' expectations, taken before the latest U.S. jobs data, showed only a third of economists - 27 out of 73 - say the ECB will cut interest rates before the end of the year, and only 11 expect it to move at this week's meeting.

"Without any political or monetary intervention, markets are left in a vacuum," said Stewart Richardson, chief investment officer at RMG Wealth Management.

"The potential for a market capitulation in this period is high, and if we are correct in this view, we fully expect coordinated money printing from the major central banks towards the end of June," he said.

EUROPEAN MASTERPLAN

Europe's leaders are trying to ease market concerns by speaking out about moves to greater fiscal integration before their summit at the end of the month, and before a G20 group of nations meeting on June 18 and 19.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has been pressing for a central authority to manage euro area finances, and also wants a coordinated approach to reforming labor markets, social security systems and tax policies.

Spain, which is struggling to shore up its banking system, signaled over the weekend that it was on board with a key element of the plan.

Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy called for the establishment of a central authority that would oversee and coordinate national budgets in the euro zone.

Spain will provide a big test of investor sentiment this week when it auctions more government debt on Thursday. Its 10-year bond yields have eased to around 6.5 percent, close to the 7 percent level at which other indebted countries have been forced to seek an international bailout.

COMMODITY SELL-OFF

The past week has been another bearish one for commodities as investors fear the slowdown in China coupled with the faltering U.S. recovery will hurt demand.

According to analysis by Standard Chartered Bank, funds that specialize in tracking commodity prices have seen assets under management (AUM) fall $1 billion since the start of the year. However, this was mainly due to price falls. Last week saw outflows of $91 million or 0.6% of AUM.

In price action on Monday Brent crude lost nearly 2 percent to hit a session low of $95.63 a barrel, its lowest since late January 2011.

U.S. crude fell $1.82 to $81.41 a barrel after tumbling as low as $81.32 earlier in the session, its lowest level since last October.

Gold mostly held its ground around $1,615 an ounce after its biggest rally in more than three years on Friday suggested bullion is regaining its safe-haven draw.

(Additional reporting by Anirban Nag and Tricia Wright.; Editing by Will Waterman and Elizabeth Piper)

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