Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Roseanne Barr has filed the official paperwork necessary to run for the Green Party nomination for president of the United States.

Barr filed her paperwork with the Federal Election Commission on Jan. 25. Her filing creates a four-way race for the Green nomination, which is to be decided at the Green Party Nomination Convention in July.

The comedian tweeted Thursday, “I am running for Green Party nominee for POTUS. I am an official candidate. I am4 the Greening of America & the world. Green=peace/justice.”

‘I will run until the convention in July in Baltimore, I fully expect Jill Stein 2b the nominee & I will support her, but till then-I’ll serve,” Barr continued in several tweets that followed her announcement.

Barr’s platform, as detailed in a tweet, is a promise to institute “#Europeanstyle” single payer healthcare within the first 100 days of her term, and to forgive all credit card and mortgage debt “by kicking out the FED-those who all this fake debt is owed.”

In May 2010, in a campaign announcement, Barr outlined a more detailed platform. “First, to make war illegal and legalize hemp and marijuana. Second, change the demographics of government to include more women. Third, outlaw–how do we say this politely–outlaw bull. Yes, that’s it. Outlaw bull.”

On the Green Party website, Barr expressed her support for the Occupy Wall Street Movement and said, “Both the Democratic and Republican parties are bought and paid for by corporate America and cater to the needs of the highest bidder as opposed to the people the claim to represent. I cannot be bought.”

View full post on All Stories

Kathmandu, Nepal (AHN) – Six years after the end of a decade-long armed conflict, Nepal’s ex-Maoist fighters who have been languishing in various satellite camps have begun leaving their cantonments.

The process started Friday in the three major camps–Sindhuli, Chitwan and Nawalparasi–and was scheduled to begin in the other four main camps from Saturday. The entire process is expected to be over in two weeks.

The lengthy conflict ended in 2006 after killing nearly 14, 000 people and replacing a century-long Hindu monarchy with a secular republic country.

This is an important part of Nepal’s ongoing peace process.

The Maoist combatants have been monitored since 2007 by the United Nation’s political mission that oversaw the storage of weapons and the soldiers’ registration, verification and housing. After the UN left Nepal in 2011, Nepal’s political party agreed to set up Special Secretariat to look after them.

After completion of this process, integration of the Maoist combatants in the national army and the social life of the nation will begin.

Out of the 19,000 UN-verified combatants, 7,365 combatants who chose voluntary retirement will head to their homes after the Maoist party hosts a formal farewell ceremony on Feb. 11. Another 9,000 opted for integration into security agencies.

Those who opted for retirement will receive around $ 6,300 to $10,200 from the government in installments.

The Maoist guerillas, under the aegis of the UCPN (Maoist) party, which is now largest political party in Nepal’s Constituent Assembly, fought to set up a hardcore communist regime in Nepal.

View full post on All Stories

Mannheim, Germany (AHN) – A court ruling favoring Motorola Mobility has forced Apple to pull several of its iPad and iPhone models from its German online store.

Motorola had filed suit against Apple to enforce its patent injunction against its rival. In December, the court in Manheim, Germany issued a ruling saying that Apple had failed to license one of Motorola’s wireless intellectual properties.

The affected products include Apple’s iPhone 3G, iPhone 3GS and iPhone 4, along with all 3G models of its iPad. However, its Apple’s newer iPhone 4S and its wi-fi-only iPad are not affected.

Apple says it will appeal the ruling. It claims that Motorola had repeatedly refused to license the applicable patent to Apple with reasonable terms and conditions. However, Motorola disagrees and says it has offered Apple reasonable licensing of the patent since 2007.

View full post on All Stories

New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Wall Street opened lower Friday after a report showed that the U.S. economy expanded less than forecast..

Just after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was lower by 33 points, the Standard and Poor’s 500 Index was flat and the NASDAQ was up by about 6 points.

Weighing on stocks was a report that showed the U.S. economy expanded at 2.8 percent in the fourth quarter, less than the 3 percent that had been projected.

In Europe the Stoxx Europe 600 Index slipped 0.7 percent as investors await word on developments on the region’s sovereign debt crisis. European Union Economic and Monetary Affairs Commissioner Olli Rehn said authorities are “very close” to reaching an agreement on private-sector involvement in a Greek debt swap.

Despite those words of optimism, the dismal growth of GDP in the U.S. was keeping investors cautious. The health and growth of the U.S. economy is a very important and leading indicator of economic growth worldwide. As analysts like to say, “when the U.S. sneezes, the world catches a cold.”

In corporate news, Ford fell after reporting numbers that missed estimates. Starbucks shares slipped despite reporting better than expected numbers, and Juniper Networks plunged after the second biggest maker of computer networking equipment forecast sales and profits that missed estimates.

In commodities, oil was unchanged at $$99.60 a barrel, gold rose $4.70 to $1,725 a troy ounce and silver was up a few pennies at $33.63.

View full post on All Stories

NYC, NY, United States (AHN) – Nancy Shevell, otherwise known as Mrs. Paul McCartney, resigned from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority board Wednesday.

Ms. Shevell was appointed to the MTA board in 2001 by former Gov. George Pataki. She is the third-longest serving current member and has remained as a holdover member since her term expired in 2010.

Ms. Shevell is the vice president of New England Motor Freight and her family’s stable and prosperous businesses.

Ms. Shevell did not give any explanation for her resignation, but her presence, and the loss of her high profile name, is a loss for the board.

Ms. Shevell did not speak to reporters about her decision to step down. She did however say at the meeting Wednesday, “I am very emotional and sad right now.”

View full post on All Stories

New York, NY, United States (AHN) – Wall Street opened mixed to lower Friday morning following earnings reports from General Eclectic and Google that disappointed.

Just after the opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat, the S&P 500 Index was down 3 points and the NASDAQ fell 9 points.

Weighing on stocks was an earnings report from Dow component General Electric. Shares of GE dropped more than 2 percent after the largest U.S. conglomerate reported roughly flat profit from continuing operations, and revenues that missed estimates.

Meanwhile, Internet giant Google tumbled more than 8 percent, or 52.38, to 586.66, after the search engine reported quarterly profit and revenue that missed Wall Street estimates. Google blamed the shortfall on declining search advertising rates.

Microsoft shares rose 3 percent after decent earnings, and IBM rose $4.87 to $185.45 after giving a strong outlook on a strong earnings report.

Investors are still keeping a close eye on developments in Europe regarding the sovereign debt crisis.

Greece and its private bondholders were “converging toward” a long-awaited debt swap deal, with an initial agreement coming as early as Friday that would prevent a default from Greece.

In commodities, oil was trading off $1.19 to $99.20 a barrel, and gold was down $1.20 to $1,652.90 a troy ounce.

View full post on All Stories

DC, Washington, United States (AHN) – The U.S. Conference of Mayors wrapped up its winter meeting Friday in Washington, D.C., with Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel stepping into controversies on same sex marriage and education.

Emanuel joined about 80 other mayors from across the nation in endorsing laws to give legal recognition to same sex marriage, along with the tax breaks and other benefits spouses can share.

The mayors signed on to a statement that said, “Our cities derive great strength from their diversity and gay and lesbian families are a crucial part. Studies have shown what we know through our hands-on experience that cities that celebrate and cultivate diversity are the places where creativity and ideas thrive.”

Emanuel supported the Illinois Legislature’s effort last year to legalize civil unions for same-sex couples.

He said New York did “a good thing” last June when state lawmakers legalized gay marriage.

In separate comments Friday, Emanuel discussed his plan to turn Chicago’s community colleges into training institutions for the city’s employers.

Currently, Chicago’s City Colleges have a graduation rate of about 7 percent and job prospects for graduates that are “not as high,” Emanuel said.

His plan calls for each of the city’s seven community colleges to operate with specialties, such as health care, transportation, hospitality and manufacturing.

In addition, employers would be brought in to develop curricula that would train the students to become their employees.

“I want it to have economic value” to attend college, Emanuel said at the downtown Washington hotel where about 250 mayors were meeting.

Turning colleges into job training institutions is controversial among some academics, who say a well-rounded education requires liberal arts courses that include literature, history and the arts.

Nevertheless, job creation and recovery from the economic disaster of the Great Recession were dominant themes throughout the meeting this week.

The U.S. Conference of Mayors released a report that said the nation’s metropolitan areas will struggle for five more years to regain jobs lost during the recession that started in September 2008.

“The recovery is very uneven across U.S. regions, with the southeastern and southwestern metro [areas that] were the most affected by the housing bubble looking ahead to years of recovery,” the report says.

U.S. nonfarm payrolls will grow about 1.3 percent this year, which is unlikely to reduce the unemployment rate below 8 percent, according to a report by IHS Global Insight.

The report predicts the nation will regain nearly half the jobs lost during the Great Recession by the end of 2012.

The mayors used the economic report to try to prod Congress to approve legislation that would create more jobs.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, president of the Conference of Mayors, said “Congress has jumped ship” in its obligation to stimulate the economy and employment.

However, Villaraigosa acknowledged cities will have a hard time squeezing money out of Congress at a time the federal government is trying to reduce its deficit by cutting spending.

View full post on All Stories

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – The U.S. State Department is reportedly denying a permit for the construction of Keystone XL, a 1,700-mile oil pipeline between Canada and the U.S. The news sent shares of TransCanada Corp., which will undertake the project, falling on Wednesday.

According to sources, the State Department will not issue the permit following the White House’s admission that it won’t meet the Feb. 21 deadline set by Congress to approve the pipeline that will transport Canadian bitumen to U.S. refineries in the Gulf Coast.

Meanwhile, 350.org, a group opposing the project, welcomed the news. Author, environmentalist and 350.org founder Bill McKibben said the denial of the Keystone XL permit is a victory for its opponents and a brave act of President Barack Obama.

McKibben said lobbyists for the project will still push American lawmakers to approve the project. Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) plans to introduce a bill that will allow Congress to approve the $7 billion project.

Congress had given the State Department 60 days to decide on the project. The State Department, however, claimed that more time is needed to complete an environmental impact assessment on putting a pipeline in the sensitive Nebraska Aquifer, which is part of the proposed route of the pipeline.

View full post on All Stories

Brussels, Belgium (AHN) – A European Union official said Thursday the 27-nation bloc can start its oil embargo on Iran six months after agreeing to do so as three member countries—Greece, Italy and Spain—need to find alternative sources of oil first.

The official privy to ongoing negotiations of EU foreign ministers on the imposition of the embargo also said the ban on Iranian petrochemical products may start three months after all EU states agree on the oil embargo in their meeting on Jan. 23, the deadline for coming up with a collective decision.

The official added that it is possible that Italy may initially be exempted from imposing the oil embargo as it needs to sell oil imports to pay off its debt to Rome-based oil company Eni SpA.

EU foreign ministers are meeting in Brussels to explore ways to implement the oil embargo, according to Maja Kocijancic, a spokeswoman for the European Commission.

The EU imports 450,000 barrels of Iranian oil per day with Greece, Italy and Spain, accounting for nearly 70 percent of the volume in 2010.

Iran is the second largest oil producer among members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. It produces and exports 3.58 million barrels of crude per day.

The oil embargo is the latest sanction imposed on Iran by Western countries, including the U.S., in a bid to force it to stop its nuclear program. The embargo aims to cut Tehran’s earnings from oil exports, where it sources funding for its nuclear program.

View full post on All Stories

Washington, D.C., United States (AHN) – Consumer borrowing in the United States rose in November by more than analysts had expected, fueled by purchases of cars and other items.

Spending rose by $20.4 billion to $2.48 trillion, which was the largest monthly increase since November 2001, according to the Federal Reserve.

That exceeded economists’ median estimate of $7 billion.

The data suggests that consumers are borrowing again, which could signal a recovery in the economy. Consumers had saved more and borrowed and spent less since 2007.

View full post on All Stories