??NYT: In a bitter skirmish over the definition of depression, a new report contends that a proposed change to the diagnosis would characterize grieving as a disorder and greatly increase the number of people treated for it.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3036697/vp/46122088#46122088
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/wF-W3Wx_YuY/story01.htm
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KHASAB, Oman ? By dawn, the unmarked speedboats from Iran pull into port. By dusk, they are racing back across the Strait of Hormuz loaded with smuggled consumer goods ranging from Chinese-made shoes to cut flowers from Holland.
Even as sanctions squeeze Iran ever tighter, there's one clandestine route that remains open for business: A short sea corridor across the Persian Gulf connecting a rocky nub of Oman and the Iranian coast about 35 miles (60 kilometers) away.
Yet even this established smugglers' path is now feeling the bite from the pressures on Iran over its nuclear program.
Business is sharply down, the middlemen and boat crews say, as the slumping Iranian currency leaves fewer customers for the smuggled wares. At the same time, the risks of interception are higher as Iranian authorities step up patrols near the strategic oil tanker lanes at the mouth of the Gulf.
The strait, which is the only access in and out of the Gulf, has been the scene of Cold War-style brinksmanship between Iran and the West after Tehran last month threatened to block the passageway for about one-sixth of the world's oil in retaliation for new U.S. sanctions.
"We used to make two or three trips across every day. Now, it's maybe one," said an Iranian middleman, who gave only his first name Agheel to protect his identity from authorities in his homeland.
He watched crews load up a pickup truck with bolts of fabric from Pakistan and table-size boxes of cut flowers from the Netherlands, before the trucks headed off through the treeless mountains to Khasab port.
The operation smuggles in merchandise to avoid Iranian tariffs and to bring in American and European products that have disappeared from Iranian markets because of international sanctions. Experts note that the consumer items post no real challenge to efforts to block material with military or nuclear uses.
"Still, it shows you can't close off all channels into Iran no matter how hard you try," said Paul Rogers, who follows security affairs at Bradford University in Britain. "People will find a way."
On this side of the Gulf, the smugglers operate under a tacit tolerance from authorities, even though Oman and the United Arab Emirates are close U.S. allies and have pledged to enforce sanctions. The port lies in a sparsely populated peninsula enclave belonging to Oman but encircled on land by the UAE, a legacy of how the area was carved up in the final days of British rule here in the last century that resulted in Oman holding joint control with Iran over the strait.
The goods are legally imported into the UAE and truck drivers take them across the border, paying the customary 50 dirham ($13.50) entry fee, according to the smugglers interviewed by The Associated Press. In Khasab, the merchandise is taken to warehouses and then piled on the docks less than 100 yards (100 meters) from the port police headquarters.
Omani authorities did not respond to requests for comment on the traffic.
The Khasab speedboats are far from the only back channel into Iran. Drug traffickers easily cross the hinterland borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan, and black market networks stretch across the frontiers with Iraq and Turkey. Authorities in Iraq's Kurdish region have been under pressure for years to crack down on fuel trucks heading into Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions.
But Khasab stands out for its openness and for lying on the highly sensitive Strait.
A shipment arranged by the Iranian smuggler Agheel this week was done with practiced efficiency.
A pickup truck backed into a wood-floored warehouse with hundreds of cases of cigarettes bundled three together and wrapped tightly in gray plastic weave ? in total 3,000 cigarettes under south Asian brands such as Ruby Menthol. The truck was soon sagging under the weight of boxes piled five high.
Agheel did some quick calculations: Each three-case load cost him about $1,200 and he could sell them to merchants in Iran for the equivalent of about $1,350 under current exchange rates. The truck pulling out of the warehouse represented a potential return of about $4,500.
"If we don't get caught," he added.
The smugglers have their ways of avoiding Iranian authorities.
Spotters off the coast ? on the island of Qeshm and near the port of Bandar Abbas ? call in coast guard movements to Khasab. The speedboat drivers keep close attention to the water conditions on the Strait and try to approach the Iranian coast just after sunset. The trip can take as little as 90 minutes in calm seas and up to four hours in rough water in the stripped down stripped-down 16-foot (five-meter) fiberglass boats.
Agheel's truck passed through the Khasab customs station at midday and then down a strip of hardscrabble road.
At the port ? almost in the shadow of a Costa cruise ship making a day stop ? dozens of boats were being packed and secured for the trip. There were no names or markings on the speedboats. But the items loaded on carried familiar logos: LG 42-inch flatscreen TVs, Discovery Channel DVDs, Panasonic microwaves, Yamaha motorcycle parts. Also in the stacks were textiles, satellite dishes and Chinese-made clothes and shoes.
One boat driver, who gave his name only as Aziz, had a breakfast of eggs, beans and Mountain Dew as he waited for the day's shipment to be loaded for the return run to Qeshm, a long arrow-shaped island near the Iranian coast and a main waystation for the smugglers.
Months ago, he could make as many trips as possible because the merchants in Iran were demanding goods.
But now the struggling Iranian rial ? dragged down partly by U.S.-led sanctions that could target Iran's Central Bank ? has put many things out of reach for Iranians, he said.
"No one wants to buy because the (rial) rate is not stable," he said.
He also said the Iranian coastal patrols have been boosted amid the escalating tensions over the Strait.
On Wednesday, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said the American military is "fully prepared" to deal with any Iranian effort to close the waterway. Next month, Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard plans naval exercises in the area.
If spotted by patrols, Aziz said the two-man boat crews try to heave the goods overboard. They then must pay back the smuggling network, which can amount to thousands of dollars.
But it's worth the risk, he said.
"The situation is getting worse now," he said. "All the prices are up and Qeshm has nothing else" except smuggling.
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TV court shows like The People?s Court, The Judge Mathis Show and Judge Judy fill up the daytime television schedule. If you?ve never seen these shows?which is doubtful?you?re missing out on a parade of people trying to get their money back from someone else. Just a few hours of watching these cases can give you all you ever need to keep yourself out of these situations. For those of you who don?t watch, here are four truths that will keep you out of small claims court if you can remember them the next time you?re about to part with your money.
If someone has bad credit, you shouldn?t be letting them use yours. Now, this may seem harsh but it?s true. Bad credit comes from taking out accounts in their name and not paying the bills associated with them. What makes you think they?ll suddenly have enough money to pay the bills once it?s just your name on it? Putting someone?s car, phone or electricity bill in your name is usually a recipe for you to end up with bad credit, too.
Family, friends and money don?t mix. Do remember that time you borrowed your sister?s jeans and lost them? She does. And, she?ll never let you forget it. Now, if you two are still going at it over a piece of clothing, the odds that you two will get over a lost couple thousand dollars are slim. Relationships have been ruined over smaller amounts of money. If you must mix money with your loved ones, consider making it a gift instead of a loan for the sake of your relationship.
Nobody really pays you when they get their tax refunds. Ok there are definitely exceptions to this one but more often than not, it?s true. It?s so true that as soon as the plaintiff starts talking about how the defendant was just waiting for her tax refund, Judge Mathis starts laughing. That?s because there?s usually a long time between when you give her your money and when she gets her refund. And what if she doesn?t get a refund that year? Or something else comes up? You may find yourself chasing her all through tax season and the rest of the year, too.
If you?re going to do it anyway, you need a contract. It?s easy to say these things here but sometimes you find yourself breaking with conventional reasoning. If you do, don?t forget to get it in writing. It doesn?t have to be a formal, notarized document. Just get the details down on a piece of paper with your signatures. Don?t forget to date the contract and include the specific date you expect to be paid back. That way if you do end up in small claims court, you have something to show the judge when you get there.
Source: http://madamenoire.com/130805/four-personal-finance-truths-that-will-keep-you-off-judge-mathis/
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HARTFORD, Conn. ? The warning from the ratings agency could not have been more direct: The parent company of the Mohegan Sun faces a "wall of debt" due early this year as the casino, struggling with rising competition and a weak economy that's hammered consumer spending, tries to refinance hundreds of millions of dollars in loans.
The Mohegan Tribal Gaming Authority has $505 million in loans outstanding and another $250 million due April 1, Keith Foley, an analyst at Moody's Investors Service, recently told investors. The gaming authority, parent company of casinos in Uncasville, Conn., and Wilkes-Barre, Pa., also has about $21 million in interest payments due Feb. 15, he said.
Mohegan Sun announced this month that fourth-quarter net income rose significantly, to $46.7 million, compared with a net loss of $26.3 million in the same period in 2010. But it also said it failed to reach an agreement to refinance debt, though lenders waived a possible default.
"They get to live another day," Foley said in an interview.
Executives at Mohegan Sun did not respond to a request for an interview.
Mohegan Sun is not alone as several Indian-run casinos ? some with plans for expansion that have been put on hold ? struggle to refinance debt after being caught short when the economy went into recession in December 2007.
Foxwoods Resort Casino in eastern Connecticut seeks to restructure debt, and the Mescalero Apache tribe restructured $200 million in bonds last year for casino resort property in New Mexico. A spokeswoman said Foxwoods is in debt talks, but would not provide details.
An advantage that Indian-run casinos have over their commercial counterparts is that they cannot file for bankruptcy and creditors can't foreclose on their properties because tribal governments are sovereign, said Clyde Barrow, director of the Center for Policy Analysis at the University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth.
Valerie Red-Horse, an investment banker and financial adviser who worked on the Mecalero Apache deal, called it the "best model out there," in part because it preserved the casino's financial distributions to tribal members and tribal government while bond holders kept their stakes, she said.
Some tribes have been forced to agree to cut their distributions until debt is paid down, Red-Horse said. Making sure distributions continue is a "very delicate subject. It causes a lot of angst among tribes," she said.
Financial problems at the casino, the Inn of the Mountain Gods, were due in part to the slowing economy and faltering tourism, she said.
Indian-run casinos expanded rapidly because they are strong economic development tools for the tribes that run the casinos, said Peter Kulick, a Lansing, Mich., tax and gaming lawyer. The businesses survived economic downturns in the 1970s and 1980s and were seen as immune to recessions, he said.
"In the last go-round, that's not the case," he said.
Kulick and Barrow said competition is the newest threat to casinos, even as revenue is now rising as the economy slowly improves.
"There are some real pockets of recovery going on right now," Barrow said.
Massachusetts legalized casino gambling in November, but it will be years before the three casinos authorized will be operating.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced this month that he would work with the Genting Group, one of the world's largest gambling companies, to transform the Aqueduct horse track into a megaplex that would eventually include the nation's largest convention center, 3,000 hotel rooms and a major expansion of a casino that began operating in October.
For Connecticut's two casinos, "Aqueduct could be pretty substantial competitive pressure," Barrow said.
"I don't see real revenue growth for Connecticut's casinos, he said.
Declining or stagnant revenue is bad news for Connecticut state government, which takes 25 percent of what the casinos pull in. State revenue from the two casinos reached their peak in 2007 at more than $411 million, said Kevin Lembo, Connecticut's comptroller who tracks state revenue from all sources.
That's declined to $342 million in the state's budget year that ended last June 30, down $69 million, or 17 percent.
"The loss of revenue is one obvious and immediate impact for the state," Lembo said. "What happens to jobs? What happens to future development plans? These are areas of concern for everyone at this point."
Lt. Gov. Nancy Wyman said the health of the two casinos is critical because they are destinations in southeast Connecticut, drawing tourists who also visit vineyards along the shoreline, the Mystic Aquarium and other sites.
"This is a big thing for us," she said.
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Family matters to Reed Grimm. The 26-year old has been singing on stage with his parents and siblings since the age of two.
So it was only appropriate that the American Idol hopeful auditioned last night via the Family Matters theme song, harmonizing and scatting his way through this unique track, much to the amusement of all three judges.
Steve Tyler referred to Grimm as "genius." Randy Jackson said he was "enthralled" by the performance. Watch it for yourself now and come up with your own description:
Grimm, of course, was not the only standout in Pittsburgh. We also were huge fans of Hallie Day and Eben Franckewitz.
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