Flu more widespread in US; eases off in some areas

NEW YORK (AP) — Flu is now widespread in all but three states as the nation grapples with an earlier-than-normal season. But there was one bit of good news Friday: The number of hard-hit areas declined.

The flu season in the U.S. got under way a month early, in December, driven by a strain that tends to make people sicker. That led to worries that it might be a bad season, following one of the mildest flu seasons in recent memory.

The latest numbers do show that the flu surpassed an "epidemic" threshold last week. That is based on deaths from pneumonia and influenza in 122 U.S. cities. However, it's not unusual — the epidemic level varies at different times of the year, and it was breached earlier this flu season, in October and November.

And there's a hint that the flu season may already have peaked in some spots, like in the South. Still, officials there and elsewhere are bracing for more sickness

In Ohio, administrators at Miami University are anxious that a bug that hit employees will spread to students when they return to the Oxford campus next week.

"Everybody's been sick. It's miserable," said Ritter Hoy, a spokeswoman for the 17,000-student school.

Despite the early start, health officials say it's not too late to get a flu shot. The vaccine is considered a good — though not perfect — protection against getting really sick from the flu.

Flu was widespread in 47 states last week, up from 41 the week before, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday. The only states without widespread flu were California, Mississippi and Hawaii.

The number of hard-hit states fell to 24 from 29, where larger numbers of people were treated for flu-like illness. Now off that list: Florida, Arkansas and South Carolina in the South, the first region hit this flu season.

Recent flu reports included holiday weeks when some doctor's offices were closed, so it will probably take a couple more weeks to get a better picture, CDC officials said Friday. Experts say so far say the season looks moderate.

"Only time will tell how moderate or severe this flu season will be," CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said Friday in a teleconference with reporters.

The government doesn't keep a running tally of adult deaths from the flu, but estimates that it kills about 24,000 people in an average year. Nationally, 20 children have died from the flu this season.

Flu vaccinations are recommended for everyone 6 months or older. Since the swine flu epidemic in 2009, vaccination rates have increased in the U.S., but more than half of Americans haven't gotten this year's vaccine.

Nearly 130 million doses of flu vaccine were distributed this year, and at least 112 million have been used. Vaccine is still available, but supplies may have run low in some locations, officials said.

To find a shot, "you may have to call a couple places," said Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, who tracks the flu in Iowa.

In midtown Manhattan, Hyrmete Sciuto got a flu shot Friday at a drugstore. She skipped it in recent years, but news reports about the flu this week worried her.

During her commute from Edgewater, N.J., by ferry and bus, "I have people coughing in my face," she said. "I didn't want to risk it this year."

The vaccine is no guarantee, though, that you won't get sick. On Friday, CDC officials said a recent study of more than 1,100 people has concluded the current flu vaccine is 62 percent effective. That means the average vaccinated person is 62 percent less likely to get a case of flu that sends them to the doctor, compared to people who don't get the vaccine. That's in line with other years.

The vaccine is reformulated annually, and this year's is a good match to the viruses going around.

The flu's early arrival coincided with spikes in flu-like illnesses caused by other bugs, including a new norovirus that causes vomiting and diarrhea, or what is commonly known as "stomach flu." Those illnesses likely are part of the heavy traffic in hospital and clinic waiting rooms, CDC officials said.

Europeans also are suffering an early flu season, though a milder strain predominates there. China, Japan, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Algeria and the Republic of Congo have also reported increasing flu.

Flu usually peaks in midwinter. Symptoms can include fever, cough, runny nose, head and body aches and fatigue. Some people also suffer vomiting and diarrhea, and some develop pneumonia or other severe complications.

Most people with flu have a mild illness. But people with severe symptoms should see a doctor. They may be given antiviral drugs or other medications to ease symptoms.

Some shortages have been reported for children's liquid Tamiflu, a prescription medicine used to treat flu. But health officials say adult Tamiflu pills are available, and pharmacists can convert those to doses for children.

___

Associated Press writers Dan Sewell in Cincinnati, Catherine Lucey in Des Moines, and Malcolm Ritter in New York contributed to this report.

___

Online:

CDC flu: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/index.htm

Read More..

Ridge Route repair group runs up against Forest Service

The roadblock facing Harrison Scott and his aging band of volunteers as they try to preserve the Ridge Route north of Los Angeles isn't just the heavy steel gate across the historic paved roadway that was the first to link Northern and Southern California.

As Scott tells it, it's also the U.S. Forest Service, which technically owns the two-lane road that was created by horse-drawn scrapers in 1914 across ridge tops dotting the Sierra Pelona mountain range north of Castaic.

The Ridge Route's place in California history is well-documented. Some experts say its construction prevented the state from being divided in two at the Tehachapi Mountains.

Others say it brought tourism that helped fuel Los Angeles' 1920s boom and served as a vital trade route until the three-lane Highway 99 — dubbed the Ridge Route Alternate — opened nearby in 1933. That highway in turn was replaced in the 1960s by the I-5 Freeway.

For history buffs willing to tackle its 697 curves, the original Ridge Route remained open to traffic well into the 21st century.

But the Forest Service closed the 20-foot-wide road to the public in 2005 after heavy rains washed out parts of it. Federal officials later spent millions of dollars to repair the damage and repave 1 1/2 miles of the road. It is now passable, although some areas remain unpaved because of recent pipeline relocation projects conducted by petroleum and gas companies whose lines run parallel to the road.

Nonetheless, Angeles National Forest officials — who have jurisdiction over the mountains that are crossed by the Ridge Route — have not reopened the 30-mile stretch, which zigzags along mountaintops between Castaic and Highway 138 near Gorman.

Officials also won't allow members of the nonprofit Ridge Route Preservation Organization to use mechanized equipment to clean out culverts and remove rocks that occasionally tumble onto the roadway, said Scott, though as the group's president, he has been given a key to the roadway's gate.

And they have balked at designating the road a National Forest Scenic Byway, according to Scott. That designation is a preliminary step in getting it named a National Scenic Byway, recognition that in the past would have freed up federal funding for things like guardrails, signage and a Ridge Route interpretive center, he said.

What repair and maintenance is now performed on the road is apparently done solely by the 150 or so members of Scott's organization.

"We're an older group of volunteers, in our 60s, 70s and 80s," said Mike Simpson, secretary of the preservation group. "We go up with shovels and wheelbarrows and clean out drains. It would be very helpful if we could use a Bobcat instead of having five or six guys shoveling dirt into a wheelbarrow."

The volunteers use sledgehammers to break up steamer-trunk-sized boulders that sometimes fall onto the road where it slices through a steep ridge at a place called Swede's Cut.

Simpson, 55, lives in Seal Beach and is a legal assistant with DirecTV. Since learning of Scott's preservation efforts, he has spent nearly 10 years helping out during monthly Ridge Route work days.

Scott and Simpson said frustration with the Forest Service has grown to the point that the group's board of directors may be asked later this month to approve disbanding the Ridge Route Preservation Organization.

"We can't even shove a spade of dirt over the side of the road" because of the agency's rules, said Scott, a 77-year-old retired Pacific Bell engineer who lives in Torrance and discovered the Ridge Route as a teenager in 1955 when he took his first car out for a spin.

Scott says his group was criticized for performing emergency repairs to a concrete stairway at the Ridge Route's 22-mile mark, the site of what 87 years ago was known as the Tumble Inn. It was a collection of stone structures that featured $2-per-night rooms, a restaurant and a Richfield gas station.

Off-road motorcyclists had damaged a staircase that once led to the sleeping rooms, and Scott's volunteers attempted to stabilize it to prevent the concrete steps from completely collapsing. Angeles National Forest officials complained in a letter to the state Office of Historic Preservation of the "inappropriate rehabilitation measures by a volunteer group."

The preservation organization also commissioned plans from a registered engineer that they could use in conjunction with an Eagle Scout from Santa Clarita to rebuild a stone archway that once stood at the top of the Tumble Inn steps. Although the Forest Service had earlier approved those plans, Scott's group was told last month that officials now "don't know that we can let you do it," he said.

The Forest Service's alleged foot-dragging over the scenic byway designation is particularly galling to Scott and Simpson. They speculate that the cash-strapped federal agency may be unnecessarily worried that such a label might require it to spend money on Ridge Route's maintenance.

"They promised years ago they would support the designation," Scott said. "But they're stonewalling. They say, 'We just don't have the money.' The road has to be open in order to get the National Forest Scenic Byway designation."

Simpson said the scenic byway label "wouldn't require any more" from the Forest Service than its blessing and could free up money for maintenance from other federal sources. "Scotty got the Ridge Route named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1997," he pointed out.

The criticism has jarred Angeles National Forest officials.

Acton-based District Ranger Bob Blount said he would try to discourage Scott and Simpson from disbanding the Ridge Route group. He said the roadway might reopen to the public later this year after the utility companies undertake a $10-million slope-shoring project that will protect both their pipelines and the pavement at Osito Canyon, near the road's halfway point.

"I look forward to working with the utility companies and potentially the state to hopefully come up with some funds so the road can be maintained," Blount said Friday. His agency is also "looking at what the Scouts are proposing to do" at the Tumble Inn site. Blount voiced support for the National Scenic Byway designation and said he is willing to ease the ban on mechanized equipment on days when there is not a high fire danger along the road.

"I love Harrison Scott," Blount said. "The Forest Service appreciates a great deal the valuable work he and his group have done. I certainly hope they hang in there."

bob.pool@latimes.com

Read More..

IHT Rendezvous: Hostages Caught Up in France's African Intervention

LONDON — The widespread satisfaction expressed in France at the government’s decision to intervene militarily against Islamic militants in Mali was tempered on Saturday by news of a failed overnight French hostage rescue mission on the other side of Africa.

After reports emerged from Somalia of a helicopter-borne commando raid in the south of the country, Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French defense minister announced that a hostage was believed to have been killed by his captors in an operation in which a French soldier died and another was missing.

The hostage, identified as Denis Allex, was a French secret service agent who had been held by Somalia’s Islamist Al Shabab militia since 2009. His captors, who may have seized the missing French soldier during the raid, claimed Mr. Allex was still alive and they planned to put him on trial.

Mr. Le Drian said there was no connection between the military operations in Mali and Somalia. The hostage rescue mission would have happened earlier, he told a news conference, if the conditions had been right.

However, news of the Somali raid prompted speculation that the action might have been prompted by France’s concern that its Mali intervention would spur retaliation against its citizens held captive in Africa.

These include eight hostages seized in Mali and neighboring states by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, one of the groups involved in last year’s Islamist takeover of northern Mali.

The decision of President François Hollande to send French forces into action in Mali to counter an offensive by Islamist militias that control the north of the country has been greeted with broad cross-party support at home.

Libération newspaper said it could represent a positive turning point in the presidency of Mr. Hollande, “who did not hesitate in the face of the very real risk of seeing the establishment of a terrorist state in the heart of the dark continent.”

Families of the hostages, however, expressed fears for the fate of their loved ones, with some demanding why military action to free them had not been taken earlier.

Jean-Pierre Verdon, the father of one captive, Philippe Verdon, told France’s RTL broadcaster: “Making war on terrorists is a matter for the state, but our obsession is the hostages.”

A leader of the regional Al Qaeda group last month accused France of blocking negotiations on a deal that would have led to freeing the captives.

Mathieu Guidère, a French academic expert on the region, speculated at the time that the government wanted to send a message to the militants that the capture of French citizens would not affect its foreign policy.

The government was trapped in an “infernal logic,”, according to Mr. Guidère, a professor at the University of Toulouse.

“The more the government declares it will intervene in Mali to support African forces, the more French citizens will be kidnapped,” he told Le Figaro in December. “If you want to fight terrorism, you don’t go about announcing it in advance.”

Before news came through of the abortive overnight raid in Somalia, the intervention in Mali had attracted support across the political spectrum in France.

Jean-François Copé, head of the center-right opposition U.M.P., said: “It was high time to act to prevent the establishment of a narco-terrorist state.”

François Fillon, a former U.M.P. prime minister said: “The fight against terrorism demands national unity beyond partisan differences.”

With Mr. Hollande now facing a second crisis in Africa, it is a political honeymoon that may not last.

Read More..

The Worst ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Player Ever

We realize there’s only so much time one can spend in a day watching new trailers, viral video clips, and shaky cell phone footage of people arguing on live television. This is why every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the videos that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention. Today:  

RELATED: Movie and Television Characters Need a Lesson in Talking Trash

If we’re ever on Wheel of Fortune we would hope that we were on with the worst players. In part, because deep down, we know we’d be pretty bad at it—all that pressure, all that Sajak, and Vanna staring at you with her vacant eyes… it’s just too much, really. But even we know Johnny Cash never made a song called “I Have the Wine.” 

RELATED: Proof Ceiling Cat Exists; 295 Movies Bring You ‘Baby Got Back’

RELATED: Behold the Power of ‘Gangnam Style’

Movies? We can explain:

RELATED: The Robot That Performs Gangnam Style Better Than You

RELATED: Catching Kangaroos Seems Pretty Easy; ‘The Dark Knight’ Goes Pee-wee

Oh, broadcast journalists, you may never know the pain of an embarrassing typo, but we don’t envy you. Not even one bit:

And, finally, this video makes us think of the time we were first introduced to after-work drinks. Which is where we will now be going. Enjoy!

Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: The Worst ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Player Ever
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/the-worst-wheel-of-fortune-player-ever/
Link To Post : The Worst ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Player Ever
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Taylor Swift, Marie Osmond Draw Love, Laughs from Readers This Week

By Andrea Billups

01/12/2013 at 08:30 AM EST

Taylor Swift and Rachael, Gabriel and Marie Osmond

Steve Granitz/Wireimage; Courtesy R&C

What's on the minds of PEOPLE readers this week? We love receiving your feedback, and as always, you weighed in with plenty of reaction!

From Marie Osmond's happy news to pregnant Kim Kardashian's real estate moves to Taylor Swift's love life, check out the stories with the top reactions on the site this week, and keep clicking on the emoticons at the bottom of every story to tell us what you think! 

As she sings about her love life and its mishaps, readers laughed out loud at yet another public break-up for Swift, 23 – this time with One Direction's Harry Styles, 18. The high-profile couple, who connected in November and then were seen cuddling and kissing from New York to the Caribbean to the ski slopes, reportedly called it quits after a Virgin Island trip went sour.

But it wasn't all LOLs for Swift this week. Emerging from her break-up with Styles, she made a bold statement on the People's Choice Awards red carpet. Decked out in a white Ralph Lauren Collection gown, with a plunging bodice, smoky eyes and sensual Christian Louboutin heels, Swift turned heads and signaled that she was not a victim of heartbreak.

For Marie Osmond, Christmas Day brought a huge present brimming with love. Her daughter Rachael, 23, a costume designer, married fashion designer Gabriel Krueger, 22, in a cabin in Park City, Utah, prompting a joyous Osmond to tell PEOPLE that she'd "never seen Rachael look happier." Readers shared in this Osmond story of love and family.

If reader's weren't shocked enough by their surprise baby news, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West continued to draw their ire with news that they purchased an extravagant $11 million Bel Air, Calif., mansion. As Kardashian, 32, negotiates her drawn-out divorce from basketball star Kris Humphries, 27, she and West, 35, continue to globe-trot along as they prepare to play house in a 9,000-square-foot Italian-style villa that a source says offers them privacy.

The international fashion world was rocked and readers were saddened by news last week that Vittorio Missoni, 58, the commercial and marketing director of the Missoni fashion house, went missing while on holiday in Venezuela. As the search continues for Missoni's missing twin-engine plane, which went off radar and never arrived at its destination, his family said they remained hopeful that somehow, he and his wife and another couple they were vacationing with, would be found alive.

Check back next week for another must-read roundup, and see what readers are reacting to every day here.

Read More..

Flu season puts businesses and employees in a bind

WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly half the 70 employees at a Ford dealership in Clarksville, Ind., have been out sick at some point in the past month. It didn't have to be that way, the boss says.

"If people had stayed home in the first place, a lot of times that spread wouldn't have happened," says Marty Book, a vice president at Carriage Ford. "But people really want to get out and do their jobs, and sometimes that's a detriment."

The flu season that has struck early and hard across the U.S. is putting businesses and employees alike in a bind. In this shaky economy, many Americans are reluctant to call in sick, something that can backfire for their employers.

Flu was widespread in 47 states last week, up from 41 the week before, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. The only states without widespread flu were California, Mississippi and Hawaii. And the main strain of the virus circulating tends to make people sicker than usual.

Blake Fleetwood, president of Cook Travel in New York, says his agency is operating with less than 40 percent of its staff of 35 because of the flu and other ailments.

"The people here are working longer hours and it puts a lot of strain on everyone," Fleetwood says. "You don't know whether to ask people with the flu to come in or not." He says the flu is also taking its toll on business as customers cancel their travel plans: "People are getting the flu and they're reduced to a shriveling little mess and don't feel like going anywhere."

Many workers go to the office even when they're sick because they are worried about losing their jobs, says John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an employer consulting firm. Other employees report for work out of financial necessity, since roughly 40 percent of U.S. workers don't get paid if they are out sick. Some simply have a strong work ethic and feel obligated to show up.

Flu season typically costs employers $10.4 billion for hospitalization and doctor's office visits, according to the CDC. That does not include the costs of lost productivity from absences.

At Carriage Ford, Book says the company plans to make flu shots mandatory for all employees.

Linda Doyle, CEO of the Northcrest Community retirement home in Ames, Iowa, says the company took that step this year for its 120 employees, providing the shots at no cost. It is also supplying face masks for all staff.

And no one is expected to come into work if sick, she says.

So far, the company hasn't seen an outbreak of flu cases.

"You keep your fingers crossed and hope it continues this way," Doyle says. "You see the news and it's frightening. We just want to make sure that we're doing everything possible to keep everyone healthy. Cleanliness is really the key to it. Washing your hands. Wash, wash, wash."

Among other steps employers can take to reduce the spread of the flu on the job: holding meetings via conference calls, staggering shifts so that fewer people are on the job at the same time, and avoiding handshaking.

Newspaper editor Rob Blackwell says he had taken only two sick days in the last two years before coming down with the flu and then pneumonia in the past two weeks. He missed several days the first week of January and has been working from home the past week.

"I kept trying to push myself to get back to work because, generally speaking, when I'm sick I just push through it," says Blackwell, the Washington bureau chief for the daily trade paper American Banker.

Connecticut is the only state that requires some businesses to pay employees when they are out sick. Cities such as San Francisco and Washington have similar laws.

Challenger and others say attitudes are changing, and many companies are rethinking their sick policies to avoid officewide outbreaks of the flu and other infectious diseases.

"I think companies are waking up to the fact right now that you might get a little bit of gain from a person coming into work sick, but especially when you have an epidemic, if 10 or 20 people then get sick, in fact you've lost productivity," Challenger says.

___

Associated Press writers Mike Stobbe in Atlanta, Eileen A.J. Connelly in New York, Paul Wiseman in Washington, Barbara Rodriguez in Des Moines, Iowa, and Jim Salter in St. Louis contributed to this report.

Read More..

For the record

City attorney's race: In the Jan. 11 LATExtra section, an article about the Los Angeles city attorney race said that candidate Mike Feuer was the first person to get Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa's endorsement in a citywide contest in this municipal elections season. On Friday, the mayor's office said it had erred in supplying that information, as Villaraigosa had previously endorsed Councilman Dennis Zine, who is running for controller.

Clippers: In the Jan. 11 Sports section, an article about the Clippers said that they would play three consecutive road games against teams whose records were a combined 14 games over .500 as of Thursday. Those teams were a combined 19 games over .500.

Dog mauling: In the Jan. 10 LATExtra section, a brief news item about maulings by dogs in Mexico City listed Tracy Wilkinson as the author. It was written by Daniel Hernandez.

Gun control: In the Jan. 9 Section A, an article about activists trying to build grass-roots support for federal gun-control legislation said that the mass shooting at Virginia Tech was in 2005. It was in 2007.

Money and politics: In the Jan. 10 Section A, an article about President Obama's record on limiting the influence of money in politics said that the third anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in the Citizens United case is Jan. 20. The anniversary is Jan. 21.

Read More..

IHT Rendezvous: Top Pirate Quits as Tide Turns Against Somali Raiders

LONDON — A notorious Somali sea raider known as Big Mouth is a pirate with a retirement plan.

He announced this week that he was quitting after an eight-year career in which he and his pirate crews plagued shipping in the Indian Ocean and raised millions of dollars in ransom.

Big Mouth — Mohamed Abdi Hassan — was named in a United Nations report last year as one of the most notorious and influential leaders of a Somali pirate network.

His decision to call it a day may be further evidence that international action, including patrols by European and other navies, is at last succeeding in containing the piracy scourge off the coast of east Africa.

“I have decided to renounce and quit, and from today on I will not be involved in this gang activity,” the pirate leader said in Somalia’s northern region of Adado on Wednesday. (You can watch his valedictory press conference here.)

He said he had also successfully encouraged many of his colleagues to quit.

Mr. Hassan’s decision came in the same week in which Koji Sekimizu of Japan, head of the International Maritime Organization, said 2012 saw a sharp reduction in successful piracy incidents off the coast of Somalia and in the Indian Ocean.

During the course of the year, the sea raiders only succeeded in capturing 13 vessels, as against 49 in 2010 and 28 in 2011, a year that saw a record number of pirate attacks.

The European Union’s naval task force in the region said last April that factors in the decrease included more armed security aboard merchant vessels and the presence of foreign navies.

Timo Lange, the spokesman for the force, said recently that anti-piracy efforts had been enhanced by a European decision to allow navies to destroy pirate supplies on shore, whereas previously that power was limited to the open waters.

In May, the force performed its first shoreline operation, sending an aircraft over the Somali coast to destroy pirate equipment that had been assembled for a mission.

In Big Mouth’s case, an additional factor in his decision to quit might have been the provision of a diplomatic passport by Somalia’s transitional government as an inducement. Last year’s U.N. report said the pirate boss had used it to visit his wife and family abroad.

The biggest anti-piracy victory of the year came last month, when naval police from the breakaway province of Puntland overran a pirate stronghold and liberated the MV Iceberg, a Panama-flagged cargo vessel, and its 22 crew members, who had been held for almost three years.

Mr. Sekimuzu cautioned this week that the scourge was not yet over. Twelve vessels and 159 people were still in the hands of Somali pirates, he said.

There are also concerns that the eventual scaling back of some naval forces might encourage a resurgence.

In Britain, which is facing naval cutbacks, a consortium of business executives has set up the country’s first private navy in 200 years. This year it will start protecting shipping in the Indian Ocean and elsewhere at a daily cost of $10,000 to $12,000 per vessel.

Meanwhile, the maritime authorities are warning seafarers that a decline in piracy off Somalia is being offset by an increase in incidents off West Africa. There were 32 attacks in the Gulf of Guinea in the first half of 2012, as against 25 in the same period the previous year.

Read More..

Skype founder browses globe for next tech earner

LONDON (Reuters) – Niklas Zennstrom, co-founder of internet phone service Skype, believes the next hot tech business will just as likely spring from Istanbul or Sao Paolo as from Silicon Valley or the coolest districts of London.

And he is prepared to fly around the world to find it.

“Talent can pop up anywhere in the world, it’s not just one city block,” the Swedish entrepreneur and venture capitalist said at the headquarters of his Atomico fund, based on upmarket New Bond Street in central London.

Zennstrom, who retains faint traces of a Swedish accent despite his years of globetrotting, is looking for start-ups ready to shift up a gear into new markets and has the experience, gained from growing Skype into a service used by millions around the world, to help them.

Skype was sold to eBay Inc in 2005 for roughly $ 3 billion, before being bought back by a consortium including Zennstrom in 2009 and then two years later sold on to Microsoft Corp for $ 8.5 billion, leaving him a multi-millionaire.

“If you have a product that works it’s important to scale (up) the business as quickly as possible,” said Zennstrom, named by Time Magazine in 2006 as one of its 100 most influential people. “As entrepreneurs, usually you may not have that experience; how does Asia work? Europe? Latin America?”

Atomico, founded by Zennstrom in 2006, has invested in companies in northern Europe including Finland-based Rovio, developer of Angry Birds, and Hailo, a London-based startup that has developed an app that connects passengers with taxi drivers and has raised $ 20 million so far.

It also led a $ 105 million funding round for U.S. online retailer Fab in July.

FUTURE PORTFOLIO

The investment fund, whose London office reception is decked out with simple designer furniture and modern art pieces, has opened offices in Turkey and Brazil, emerging markets with growing middle classes eager to shop online and buy internet services.

Zennstrom wants to make these markets a large part of Atomico’s portfolio in future.

The firm in 2011 backed Brazilian online retailers such as car parts supplier Connect Parts and announced a $ 16 million investment in a Russian online travel agency in October.

Atomico is not necessarily looking for the latest gizmo or internet trend, but savvy businesses with talented leaders who can take advantage of growth in nascent sectors such as e-commerce.

And Zennstrom, softly spoken and wearing an open-necked shirt and dark jacket, believes emerging market growth is fuelling a new breed of optimism and ambition.

“It’s a much more of an entrepreneurial spirit (in Turkey and Brazil) compared to southern European where it’s a depressed mindset,” he said.

Zennstrom earned his stripes in the tech world after helping launch file-sharing service Kazaa more than a decade ago, which failed as a business but paved the way for Skype.

He said getting investment today was far easier than when he was starting Skype. It took him a year to secure funding, whereas today the most talented entrepreneurs with the best ideas could take their pick of investors.

There is also increasing recognition that entrepreneurs might want to realize some of the value of their creations, something he said was lacking when Skype became successful.

“There was really no IPO market and it was not really accepted for founders to sell some of their shares to get some money off the table,” he said, adding that before Skype was sold to eBay, he could not even secure a mortgage on an apartment.

“I think we made the right decision for the time in terms of selling (Skype),” he said. “Today as an entrepreneur you have more options.”

(Editing by David Holmes)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

Title Post: Skype founder browses globe for next tech earner
Url Post: http://www.news.fluser.com/skype-founder-browses-globe-for-next-tech-earner/
Link To Post : Skype founder browses globe for next tech earner
Rating:
100%

based on 99998 ratings.
5 user reviews.
Author: Fluser SeoLink
Thanks for visiting the blog, If any criticism and suggestions please leave a comment

Read More..

Survivor: Caramoan - Fans vs. Favorites: See Who's Back

TV Watch

By Patrick Gomez

01/11/2013 at 09:00 AM EST

From left: Phillip Sheppard, Malcolm Freberg and Brandon Hantz

CBS/Landov (3)

The 26th season of Survivor will be the ultimate "Redemption Island" for ten returning contestants who will face off against ten newcomers on Survivor: Caramoan – Fans vs. Favorites.

A few of the returning contestants caught up with PEOPLE just before starting their "adventure of a lifetime" ... once again.

Malcolm Freberg, the Frequent Flyer
Less than three weeks after returning from filming Survivor: Philippines, Freberg was headed back out to the wilderness for a second shot at the $1 million dollar prize.

"My mental strategy has been to just not unwind," Freberg told PEOPLE during his short time in the U.S. between seasons. "I'm at the grocery store and someone will ask me a simple question and I'm thinking, 'What does he mean by that?' You don't trust anyone."

Freberg, 25, was a force in challenges and a charismatic player on Philippines, where he placed fourth. But in the Caramoan Islands, he will face off against returning players and fans who will not have had the opportunity to watch his season.

"I'm like the new kid on the block. I'm a wildcard and there is a stigma attached to being the guy that nobody knows anything about," said Freberg, who ate a large amount of sweets and drank plenty of beer while home in hopes of re-gaining the weight he lost while in the Philippines.

Brandon Hantz, the Repentant Liar
While his super-villain uncle Russell Hantz will not be back to play Survivor for a fourth time, Brandon returns to the game with a new mentality after cracking under the pressures of trying to reconcile his faith with strategy on Survivor: South Pacific.

"I was an emotional wreck when I played [the first time]," said Brandon, who placed sixth in 2011. "But now I've done it one time already, which created callouses as far as emotions are concerned. [Before] I didn't know that I didn't have to live a life like a monk. Now I know this game is not going to change my relationship with God."

Brandon, 21, will be reunited with his South Pacific castmates Dawn Meehan and John Cochran, but he does not expect previous relationships to cloud his judgment.

"It's pretty cool to have friends in the cast but to an extent, that goes out the window for me," he said. "Hopefully not for them, though. Hopefully they keep [their friendship with me] intact."

Phillip Sheppard, The Rogue "Agent"
As a contestant on Survivor: Redemption Island, Sheppard became notorious for wearing a feather in his headband, his pink underwear and his abrasive antics that left his tribemates uncomfortable – but the so-called "former federal agent" would not have his competitors see it any other way.

"I will give them a little sample of the Phillip they saw play [on Redemption Island] to make them feel like they can control me," said Sheppard, who made it to the finals alongside Redemption Island winner Rob Mariano in 2011. "But I will be in control. I will win this season."

Sheppard, 54, will be joined by his former Redemption Island tribemates Andrea Boehlke and Francesca Hogi, the only returning player to have been eliminated at the first tribal council.

"It would be funny if Francesca and I could come together and make everybody believe she hates me and I hate her and we ran the season," Sheppard said of possibly teaming up with his former tribemate, whose name he was never able to pronounce correctly. "I don't think it will happen but that would be fun."

Also joining the tribe of Favorites will be Gabon's Corrine Kaplan and Nicaragua's Brenda Lowe, who could team up and convince the final returning player, Micronesia's Erik Reichenbach, to give up his immunity necklace for a second time.

Survivor: Caramoan premieres Feb. 13 on CBS.

Read More..