Hackers attack large Brazilian bank (AP)

SAO PAULO ? A group of Internet hackers said Tuesday it took down the website of Brazil's second largest private sector bank, one day after it did the same with the country's largest private bank.

The group that calls itself "Anonymous Brasil" said on Twitter: "Attention sailors: Target hit! The http://bradesco.com.br is sinking. TANGO DOWN."

Banco Bradesco SA said in a statement that its site suffered "momentary interruptions," due to a denial of service attack, but that it was never forced offline. However, attempts by The Associated Press to access the site were unsuccessful for several hours.

Denial of service attacks are operations that block websites by flooding them with traffic.

The group said on Twitter that its attacks were a protest against corruption and would continue for at least a week.

On Monday, the group attacked the website of Itau Unibanco Banco Multiplo SA, Brazil's largest private sector bank, saying it was the first of several such attacks.

That bank said in a statement that its site was offline for part of the day, but that it was re-established after the problem was detected.

The Brazilian Federation of Banks said in a statement posted on its website that it has been calling for approval of a law that criminalizes electronic attacks and fraud.

One week ago, the websites of the Sao Paulo state government and state court were taken down for a few hours by the same group of hackers.

Anonymous Brasil said the attacks were to protest the evictions of some 5,000 people from a sprawling slum.

In June last year, hackers struck the website of Brazil's statistics agency and temporarily blocked traffic to the websites of the Brazilian presidency, the nation's internal revenue service, oil company Petrobras, the Senate and the Sports Ministry

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/internet/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120131/ap_on_hi_te/lt_brazil_hacker_attack

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Deal of the Day ? 15.6? Dell Vostro 3555 AMD A8 Quad-core Laptop with 750GB HDD, Backlit Keyboard, Mouse, and Laptop Bag

Today’s LogicBUY Deal is the 15.6″ Dell Vostro 3555 AMD A8 Quad-core laptop bundle for $569.? Features:? 4GB RAM, 750GB hard drive, backlit keyboard, fingerprint reader, USB 3.0 ports, Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS.? Bundled with a 16? business laptop carrying case and a Logitech M305 wireless mouse. $873.98 – $304.98 = $569 with [...]

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Mitt Romney, Newt Gingrich trade barbs in Florida (Washington Post)

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IMF leads global push for euro zone to boost firewall (Reuters)

DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) ? International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde led a global push on Saturday for the euro zone to boost its financial firewall, saying "if it is big enough it will not get used."

Lagarde, supported by the British finance minister, George Osborne, said the IMF could boost its support for the euro zone but pressed its leaders to act first. Some attendees at the Davos Forum still doubted the viability of the currency union.

Countries beyond the 17-country bloc want to see its members stump up more money before they commit additional resources to the IMF, which this month requested an additional 500 billion euros ($650 billion) in funding.

"Now is the time - there has been a lot of pressure building in order to see a solution come about," Lagarde told a Forum panel discussion on the economic outlook from which euro zone leaders - most notably Germany - were conspicuously absent.

"It is critical that the euro zone members develop a clear, simple firewall that can operate both to limit the contagion and to provide this sort of act of trust in the euro zone, so that the financing needs of that zone can actually be met," she said.

Lagarde's comments rounded out a crescendo of calls at the Davos Forum for the euro zone to boost its financial defenses. The annual five-day conference began with German Chancellor Angela Merkel deflecting pressure to do so.

In a carefully worded keynote address, Merkel suggested doubling or even tripling the size of the fund may convince markets for a time, but warned that if Germany made a promise that could not be kept, "then Europe is really vulnerable."

On Friday, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner pressed Europe to make a "bigger commitment" to boosting its firewall.

Two bankers who attended meetings with Geithner at the Forum said on Friday the United States was looking for the euro zone to roughly double the size of its firewall to 1.5 trillion euros. There was no immediate comment from the U.S. Treasury.

Osborne said the currency bloc must beef up its firewall before other countries increase their funding to the IMF.

"I think the euro zone leaders understand that," said Osborne, the only European minister on Saturday's panel discussion on the global economic outlook in 2012.

"There are not going to be further contributions from G20 countries, Britain included, unless we see the color of their money," he added, calling for the euro zone "to provide a significant increase in available resources."

MORE OPTIMISM...FOR SOME

Japanese Economics Minister Motohisa Furukawa echoed Osborne's comments, saying: "Without the firm action of Europe, I don't think the developing countries like China or others are willing to pay more money for the IMF."

On condition that the euro zone boosts its own defenses, he said Japan and other countries were willing to additional support via the IMF.

Lagarde said, however, that if the international lender's resources were boosted sufficiently, this would raise confidence to such a degree that they would not be needed.

"If it is big enough, it will not get used. And the same applies to the euro firewall for that matter," she added.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, speaking to the Forum by video link from Tokyo, said Japan was working with South Korea and India to reduce the risk of the euro zone crisis spreading to Asia.

"Japan stands ready to support the euro zone as much as possible," he added.

Mexico's central bank chief, Agustin Carstens, said on Friday he believed a consensus was building on boosting the IMF's resources to help European countries and others that might need aid from the global lender.

There has been a palpable sense of hope at the Davos Forum that the euro zone is pulling back from the brink of catastrophe, though business leaders are equally worried that Europe's woes will hold back a global recovery.

Osborne saw some signs of optimism.

"People have commented on the mood of this conference being quite somber but having been here for a couple of days people have also pointed out that actually people are slightly more optimistic at the end of the week than the beginning," he said.

However, Davos 2011 also ended on upbeat note about the euro zone and a feeling that worst of the crisis was over - only for the situation to deteriorate and financial markets to turn their fire on Italy, the bloc's third biggest economy.

"The euro zone is a slow-motion train wreck," said economist Nouriel Roubini, made famous by predictions of the 2008-09 global banking crisis.

He expected Greece, and possibly Portugal, to exit the bloc within the next 12 months and believed there is a 50 percent chance of the bloc breaking up completely in the next 3-5 years.

Hong Kong's Chief Executive, Donald Tsang, said no matter how strong the euro zone's firewall is, the market will look at the nature of the economies it is protecting.

"If it is protecting insolvent economies...no matter how strong the firewall is, it won't survive," he said..

(Additional reporting by Ben Hirschler; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120128/bs_nm/us_davos_economy_lagarde

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Ford Motor Co.'s 2011 profits at a glance (AP)

Skip to navigation ? Skip to content ? By The Associated Press The Associated Press ? Fri?Jan?27, 4:53?pm?ET

Ford Motor Co. released its full-year earnings on Friday. This shows the automaker's operating profits, by region, and the comparison to profits in 2010.

Region 2011 Operating Profit/Loss 2010 Operating Profit Percent change

North America $6.2 million $5.4 billion 15 percent

South America $861 million $1 billion -14 percent

Europe -$27 million $182 million -114 percent

Asia-Pacific/Africa -$92 million $189 million -148 percent

Source: Ford Motor Co.

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Analysis: Romney is fiery, focused in Fla. Debate (AP)

ORLANDO, Fla. ? Mitt Romney, forced to prove his resilience after a stinging loss in South Carolina, is showing why the so-called Republican establishment thinks he has the best discipline, organization and campaign smarts to challenge President Barack Obama this fall.

The former Massachusetts governor turned in his best debate performance yet Thursday night, putting chief rival Newt Gingrich on the defensive from the opening minutes in Jacksonville, Fla., and never letting up for two hours. It was a striking change after two South Carolina debates in which Gingrich revived his own campaign with fiery populist and media-bashing zingers that made Romney appear pallid in comparison.

Romney hired a new debate coach after those events. He was considerably more aggressive in a debate Monday in Tampa.

Then on Thursday, he urged his supporters to pack the hall in Jacksonville for the debate aired by CNN. As soon as it started, he appeared more prepared, polished and focused than Gingrich, who curiously dropped the fire-breathing aggressiveness he had shown only hours earlier at a morning tea party rally.

In contrast to the rousing ovations that Gingrich, the former House speaker, had received in the two South Carolina debates, the Jacksonville audience seemed mostly on Romney's side.

"When I'm shot at, I'll return fire," Romney said moments after the debate ended. "I'm certainly no shrinking violet."

Many Republicans expect Tuesday's Florida primary to be close. And debate performances are only one part of the GOP presidential campaign. It also features millions of dollars in TV, radio and mail ads and heavy coverage of candidates' events by local news outlets.

This cycle's presidential debates, however, have drawn big audiences and played an unusually large role in shaping the campaign. Gingrich's feisty performances after his near-fatal finish in Iowa helped put him into strong contention with Romney.

Romney's performance Thursday will doubtlessly reassure many mainstream party members who see Gingrich as too mercurial and burdened by past political battles to make the strongest case against Obama.

"Romney took the right lesson from South Carolina: Keep your opponent down, don't let him back up," New Hampshire political scientist Dante Scala, who follows the contest closely, said on Twitter before the debate was half over.

Former Sen. Rick Santorum and Texas congressman Ron Paul also participated in the forum, although Paul is not actively campaigning in Florida. Santorum scored strong points by noting that both Gingrich and Romney have supported mandatory health insurance for individuals.

Santorum says that history weakens the two men's ability to challenge Obama on mandated health coverage. Santorum is struggling to compete in sprawling, expensive Florida, however, and he planned to return for a while to Pennsylvania on Friday.

Romney's performance in Jacksonville was by no means perfect. He said he didn't remember a Spanish-language radio ad that his campaign is airing against Gingrich. CNN's Wolf Blitzer assured him the ad was his, and Gingrich needled him about it.

Romney also spent long segments explaining that his millions of dollars in personal wealth are invested by a trustee who keeps the details private to avoid conflicts of interest. Such sound bites might hurt Romney in a general election, which draws independent and Democratic voters who are likely to be more skeptical of a millionaire's hired accountants and complex investing than are some Republican activists.

On balance, however, Gingrich's supporters are likely to look back on the CNN debate and wonder what happened to the fire that boiled inside their champion Thursday morning, when he accused Romney of lies and gross hypocrisy.

One moment was especially telling. Blitzer asked Gingrich to explain his criticism of Romney's investments in, among other places, Swiss banks and Cayman Island accounts. Those locations sometimes are used to avoid U.S. taxes.

Gingrich, who often delights conservative crowds by lecturing or berating reporters, said the question was inappropriate for a presidential debate. Blitzer pressed on, saying Gingrich had made serious allegations about the investments, which Romney defends as above-board.

In what seemed a peace offering, Gingrich turned to Romney and said, "You want to try again?"

Romney answered with a verbal smack. "Wouldn't it be nice if people didn't make accusations somewhere else that they weren't willing to defend here?" he said coldly.

The moment was reminiscent of Tim Pawlenty's refusal in an August debate to repeat a sharp criticism he had recently made of Romney. Pawlenty, a former Minnesota governor, soon dropped out and endorsed Romney.

Romney seemed determined to attack Gingrich at the first opportunity, even at the risk of strained indignation. He pounced when Gingrich, pressed on whether Romney is "the most anti-immigrant candidate," said blandly, "I think, of the four of us, yes."

"That's simply inexcusable," Romney retorted.

Immigration is a sensitive issue among Florida's Hispanic voters. Gingrich recently dropped an ad that called Romney anti-immigrant, at the request of Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., whose parents are from Cuba.

Romney said Gingrich's comments were "the kind of over-the-top rhetoric that has characterized American politics too long." He said Gingrich should apologize.

Gingrich regained some of his populist groove late in the debate.

"One of the reasons I am running is, there has been an increasingly aggressive war against religion, and in particular against Christianity in this country, largely by a secular elite and the academic, news media and judicial areas," he said. "It's important to have some leadership that stands up and says, `Enough.'"

The campaign question for Gingrich is: Did he do enough in his two debate opportunities in Florida to maintain his eye-popping momentum from South Carolina?

___

EDITOR'S NOTE ? Charles Babington covers politics for The Associated Press.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_an/us_gop_campaign_analysis

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Long road ahead for US home invasion survivor

FILE - This June 2007 file photo provided by Dr. William Petit Jr., shows Dr. Petit, left, with his daughters Michaela, front, Hayley, center rear, and his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, on Cape Cod, Mass. Dr. Petit was severely beaten and his wife and two daughters were killed during a home invasion in Cheshire, Conn., July 23, 2007. Joshua Komisarjevsky was convicted Thursday, Oct. 13, 2011 for the crimes, and will be formally sentenced to death Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/William Petit, File)

FILE - This June 2007 file photo provided by Dr. William Petit Jr., shows Dr. Petit, left, with his daughters Michaela, front, Hayley, center rear, and his wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, on Cape Cod, Mass. Dr. Petit was severely beaten and his wife and two daughters were killed during a home invasion in Cheshire, Conn., July 23, 2007. Joshua Komisarjevsky was convicted Thursday, Oct. 13, 2011 for the crimes, and will be formally sentenced to death Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/William Petit, File)

FILE - This March 14, 2011 file photo released by the Connecticut Department of Correction shows Joshua Komisarjevsky, convicted Thursday, Oct. 13, 2011 on several counts related to the beating of Dr. William Petit Jr., and killing his wife Jennifer Hawke-Petit and their two daughters in a July 2007 home invasion in Cheshire, Conn. Komisarjevsky will be formally sentenced to death Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. (AP Photo/Connecticut Department of Correction, File)

William Petit Sr., right, stands with his wife Barbara and family outside Superior Court in New Haven after the formal sentencing of Joshua Komisarjevsky in New Haven, Conn., Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Komisarjevsky is joining co-defendent Steven Hayes on death row for the 2007 killings of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley and Michaela, in their Cheshire home. William Petit Jr. is the sole survivor of the crime. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Barbara Petit, mother of William Petit Jr., stands with family outside Superior Court in New Haven after the formal sentencing of Joshua Komisarjevsky in New Haven, Conn., Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Komisarjevsky is joining co-defendent Steven Hayes on death row for the 2007 killings of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley and Michaela, in their Cheshire home. William Petit Jr. is the sole survivor of the crime. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

Dr. William Petit Jr. arrives at Superior Court in New Haven for the formal sentencing of Joshua Komisarjevsky in New Haven, Conn., Friday, Jan. 27, 2012. Komisarjevsky is joining co-defendent Steven Hayes on death row for the 2007 killings of Jennifer Hawke-Petit and her daughters, Hayley and Michaela, in their Cheshire home. Petit is the sole survivor of the crime. (AP Photo/Jessica Hill)

NEW HAVEN, Connecticut (AP) ? How does a man move on with his life after losing his wife and daughters to two ruthless home invaders who tormented, then killed them?

For more than four years, a nation both disgusted and captivated by a chilling crime in prototypical suburbia has wondered that. Only one man ? Dr. William Petit, the sole survivor ? can provide the answer.

On Friday, with the second killer sentenced to death and the book closed after two long, graphic trials, Petit gave a clue as to how he copes with pain he has been forced to revisit continually in court.

"My only hope is for justice to be served and to do my best to honor the lives of my family, who should all still be here to share their gifts and love with the world," Petit said Friday right before a judge sentenced Joshua Komisarjevsky, 31, to death.

"I hope to continue to honor my family," said Petit, who survived being beaten with a baseball bat and tied up. "I push forward in the hope that good will overcome evil, and feel the need to tell the world that evil lives among us and we need to rid the world of it."

The gruesome crime evoked comparisons to Truman Capote's "In Cold Blood," about the brutal murders of a Kansas farmer and his family.

Komisarjevsky admitted in an audiotaped confession played for the jury in his trial late last year that he spotted Petit's wife, Jennifer Hawke-Petit, and their 11-year-old daughter, Michaela, at a supermarket and followed them to their house in Cheshire, a suburb of New Haven.

After going home and putting his own daughter to bed, he and Steven Hayes, now 48, returned to the Petit house in the middle of the night, while the family was sleeping, to rob it.

Dr. Petit was beaten, tied up and taken to the basement. Michaela and Hayley, 17, were tied to their beds. In the morning, Hayes took Jennifer to the bank to withdraw money, while Komisarjevsky stayed at the house.

It's believed that's when he sexually assaulted Michaela, the 11-year-old. Hayes was convicted of sexually assaulting the mother.

After Hayes arrived back at the house with the girls' mother, she was strangled. The pair doused the house and beds with gasoline, set it ablaze and left. The sisters, bound helplessly while flames and fumes rose around them, died of smoke inhalation.

Dr. Petit managed to escape the basement and hop, roll and crawl across a yard to a neighbor's house for help ? too late to save his family.

"July 23, 2007, was our personal holocaust," Petit said Friday. "A holocaust caused by two who are completely evil and actually do not comprehend what they have done."

Petit called his wife a friend, confidant and wonderful mother. He noted that Hayley would be in medical school by now and that Michaela loved to cook and sing.

"I lost my family and my home," he said. "They were three special people. Your children are your jewels."

Petit said he has difficulty sleeping and trusting. Family gatherings are subdued, he said, with no one quite sure what to do or say.

Jennifer's sister, Cynthia Hawke-Renn, said via a video played in court that everyday items like gas, rope and bedposts conjure horrific memories.

"There is no escaping the horrors of that night," she said.

Petit's father, William Petit Sr., said his son is not the same person now as he was in the days when he was a happy husband and father.

"Not only did we lose Jennifer, Hayley and Michaela, we have lost the Bill that we knew, and it is heartbreaking daily to watch him," Petit said. "He puts on a brave face and tries to hide his anguish and despair by working hard."

Petit has found what he calls occasional moments of peace, dedicating himself to a charity named for his family that raises money for education, the chronically ill and those affected by violence; and by campaigning for tougher laws, including the death penalty.

He has admitted he contemplated suicide many times. But this month he became engaged to a woman who volunteered at foundation events.

Petit has maintained his composure in court through three trials, even as the defense referred to him and his family as the "Petit posse."

Komisarjevsky's lawyers had worked to spare him the death penalty by describing sexual abuse their client endured as a child. The jury and the judge ? who had been subjected to grim evidence including pictures of charred beds, rope used to tie up the family and autopsy photos ? were unmoved.

The crime led to the defeat of a bill to outlaw the death penalty in Connecticut and sparked tougher state laws for repeat offenders and home invasions.

"This is a terrible sentence, but it is in truth a sentence you wrote for yourself with deeds of unimaginable horror and savagery on July 23, 2007," Judge Jon Blue said.

Komisarjevsky conveyed a mixture of regret and insistence in court Friday, saying that he didn't intend for anyone to die, that he didn't rape Michaela and that he didn't start the fire.

"I wonder when the killing will end," he said of his death sentence.

He described regrets and the devastating consequences of his decisions ? but blamed Hayes for the killings.

"I know my responsibilities, but what I cannot do is carry the responsibilities of the actions of another," Komisarjevsky said. "I did not want those innocent women to die."

The state's last execution in 2005 was the first since 1960, and Komisarjevsky and Hayes will likely spend years, if not decades, in prison.

William Petit and his relatives left the courtroom before Komisarjevsky spoke. The killer noted that "forgiveness is not mine to have" but said it wasn't the forgiveness of the victims' relatives he needed to find.

"I have to learn how to forgive my worst enemy ? myself," he said.

Petit's sister, Hannah Chapman, said Komisarjevsky tried to blame others when he planned and carried out the crime, escalating it by attacking her brother and molesting her niece.

"Either way, he will be damned to hell for what he did," she said, "and that is where he belongs."

Associated Press

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Titan: mile-wide dunes on Earth's frozen twin intrigue scientists

Some dunes on Titan ? a Saturn moon seen as a chillier version of early Earth ? are huge. Scientists now have suspicions about what's going on, but they don't yet know how Titan's version of sand formed.?

The discovery of intriguing differences among vast fields of sand dunes on Saturn's moon Titan is opening a window on the haze-shrouded satellite's geology and climate, researchers say.

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Radar images from NASA's Cassini orbiter reveal that the size and spacing of the dunes change depending on the latitude of the dune fields and the elevation of the land on which they sit. The findings may help uncover the distribution of winds on the moon and yield clues to help resolve a long-standing debate over how and where the sand itself formed, according to the team reporting the results in the January issue of the journal Icarus.

"Understanding how the dunes form as well as explaining their shape, size, and distribution on Titan's surface is of great importance to understanding Titan's climate and geology," notes Nicolas Altobelli, Cassini project scientist with the European Space Agency, one of NASA's partners in the mission, in a statement.

Titan, Saturn's largest moon and the second largest in the solar system, has been a prime target for Cassini's instruments since the craft began touring Saturn and its moons in June 2004.

Formed mainly of water ice and rock, Titan hosts lakes of liquid hydrocarbons. When it rains on Titan, it drizzles liquid methane, rather than water.?

With its vast array of different hydrocarbons, astrobiologists have long viewed Titan as?a chillier version of Earth prior to the emergence of life. Some even suggest that the moon may hide potential habitats for life below its surface today.

Titan's dunes cover an area about the size of the continental United States, or roughly 13 percent of the moon's surface. The grains of sand making up Titan's dunes are thought to be clumps of solid hydrocarbons, rather than tiny grains of silicates, as on Earth.

From orbit, the dunes ? which appear within Titan's tropics ? display the same shapes and patterns seen in large dune fields on Earth. But Titan's dunes are larger, with dunes up to a mile wide, 300 feet tall, and hundreds of miles long.

Using data gathered by Cassini's radar, a team of US and French scientists determined that dune size appears be linked to the altitude of the surface the dune covers.

The largest dune fields appear in areas of lowest elevation near Titan's equator and tend to get smaller, less tightly packed, and show less sand between dunes at higher elevations. Dunes follow a similar trend the farther north they appear from the equator.

The team suggests that changes with altitude may mean that at higher elevations, wetter weather is eroding the sand faster than it is replaced.

Thinned-out dune fields in the northern tropics may be influenced by Titan's hydrocarbon lakes. Increased moisture around the lakes may dampen sand in source areas, keeping it from blowing into regions where the dunes form. In addition, winds may be weaker at high latitudes.

Periodic changes in wind patterns around an Australia-size plateau dubbed Xanadu also may affect the accumulation of Titan's tropical dunes, the team posits.

And where does the sand come from? The subject is a topic of intense debate, says team leader Alice Le Gall of the Laboratory for Atmosphere, Environments, and Spatial Observations in Paris, in an e-mail.?

Some measurements "suggest that the dune material is mainly made up of solid organics, which points to an atmospheric origin," she writes. Essentially, hydrocarbon aerosols form from reactions between gases in the atmosphere energized by sunlight.?The grains then fall to Titan's surface. Such reactions have appeared in laboratory experiments on Earth aimed at simulating conditions in Titan's atmosphere.

But these aerosols are tiny, less that 1/100th the width of a human hair. How they gather into grain-size clumps remains a mystery.

Scientists have posited several potential answers to the "clump" mystery. They include:

• The sand could be formed by erosion as liquid methane flows along the surface, much like the action of occasional floods in usually dry river beds in deserts on Earth.
• The larger grains may form through chemical reactions as Titan's northern lakes periodically dry out ? although its unclear how enough material could find its way south to build the large dunes seen in the regions along Titan's equator.
• Perhaps prolonged long wet periods provided the moisture needed erode Titan's surface, forming the sand.
• Or perhaps the erosive moisture welled up from beneath the surface in key locations.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/science/~3/lm0EUQXDskI/Titan-mile-wide-dunes-on-Earth-s-frozen-twin-intrigue-scientists

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Greg Kelly Rape Investigation Creates 'Ethical Minefield' For New York District Attorney

NEW YORK -- Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus J. Vance may face pressure to tap an outside prosecutor to investigate rape allegations against the son of New York City's police commissioner as a result of his office's deep ties to the police department, legal experts said Thursday.

The probe began after a young woman filed a rape complaint against Greg Kelly, 43, at a police station in Manhattan late Tuesday or early Wednesday, according to the New York Times, which broke the news of the investigation Wednesday night.

The alleged sexual assault occurred in October, the woman told police, after she and Kelly had drinks together.

Kelly, a local television news anchor and son of Ray Kelly, the NYPD commissioner, maintains his innocence, according to his attorney, Andrew M. Lankler. "Mr. Kelly strenuously denies any wrongdoing of any kind," Lankler said in an email.

The NYPD handed over the rape complaint to Vance because it was filed against the commissioner's son, an NYPD spokesman told news outlets on Thursday. Kelly has not been charged with a crime.

As the investigation proceeds, Vance might face pressure to turn over the case to an outside prosecutor because of the close working relationship between the district attorney's office and the police department, according to former prosecutors and defense attorneys.

"There's precedent for bringing in an outside prosecutor, and I think that in this case some people will probably call for that," said Paul Callan, a former New York City prosecutor and criminal defense attorney.

Mark Geragos, a prominent Los Angeles defense attorney, said Vance's close working relationship with Ray Kelly creates an appearance of conflict of interest. "It's clearly a valid concern," he said.

A spokeswoman for the district attorney's office declined to comment.

But Callan said he expected Vance's office would resist calls to relinquish the case. "Historically prosecutors fight tooth and nail to hang on to these cases, to prove that they can be fair," he said.

Holding on to the Kelly case could prove politically perilous for Vance, experts said, and scrutiny of his performance will be extraordinarily high in the wake of last year's failed prosecution of Dominique Strauss-Kahn on sexual assault charges.

Vance's office charged Strauss-Kahn, the former International Monetary Fund chief, with attacking an immigrant maid last May, only to see the case collapse after his accuser repeatedly lied in official statements. Yet despite the damaged credibility of Strauss-Kahn's accuser, many in the city criticized the district attorney for refusing to put the case before a jury.

Others, meanwhile, questioned Vance's judgment in bringing criminal charges against such a high-profile defendant before carefully investigating his accuser's claims.

The Kelly case will only be further complicated by the intimate working relationship between Vance's office and the NYPD.

"Clearly it's an ethical minefield," said Mark Geragos, a prominent Los Angeles defense attorney. "He's going to try to play it exactly like he would treat anybody else, but that's just fraught with danger."

Details of the allegations against Greg Kelly remain sketchy, but according to police sources cited by the New York Times and other news outlets, Kelly allegedly met his accuser, a young woman in her late 20s or early 30s, on the street last October. The woman reportedly told police that she and Kelly had drinks at a waterfront restaurant, then proceeded to a law office in lower Manhattan where she worked.

A police source quoted by the New York Daily News said the woman reported that the rape occurred at the office, while she was highly intoxicated.

The woman's boyfriend learned about the alleged assault and eventually confronted Ray Kelly, the NYPD commissioner, at a public event, NYPD spokesman Paul J. Browne told the New York Daily News. The boyfriend told the commissioner that his son "ruined my girlfriend's life," Browne said.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/26/greg-kelly-rape-investigation_n_1235235.html

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Video: Cramer's Issues for the Street

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/46147126/

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Thunderstorms pound Texas; tornado threat looms (Reuters)

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) ? Thunderstorms pounded San Antonio, Austin and Dallas on Wednesday morning and moved into Houston, bringing the parched Lone Star State drenching rains and destructive winds that knocked out power, flooded streets and kept emergency workers busy with water rescues.

Springlike moisture from the Gulf of Mexico dropped the heaviest rainfall - 6-8 inches - on an area east of Austin and San Antonio along IH-35, said Mark Wiley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Fort Worth.

"That's very unusual for this time of year," he told Reuters. "It was just so much rain in such a short period of time. In so many areas, the ground is still fairly dry, but it was just so fast that it didn't have anywhere to go, especially in the urban areas."

Crews were planning to check for evidence of tornadoes, he said. He did not have reports of any injuries.

By midday, the powerful storms were pushing into Houston and were expected to move gradually into Louisiana.

"Now, Houston will be under the gun," Wiley said.

Tornadoes are possible on Wednesday afternoon and evening, according to AccuWeather.com.

In Bastrop, an area east of Austin heavily damaged by Labor Day weekend wildfires, schools canceled classes on Wednesday. And in Pflugerville, north of Austin, school buses were delayed Wednesday morning because the school district's bus barn was damaged overnight, the district website said.

In San Antonio, lightning hit an apartment complex on the city's north side as storms blew through, sparking a fire that forced people into the driving rain and destroyed four apartments, officials said.

Between Austin and Houston, in Brenham, high winds twisted trees and tore the roofs off a couple of buildings in the downtown area, said Ricky Boeker, fire chief and emergency management coordinator.

"It sounded like the world was coming apart -- I'm not going to lie," Boeker told Reuters.

The severe weather in Texas follows damaging storms and tornadoes that swept through Arkansas and Alabama earlier in the week.

In Texas, "while most of the region is still in the grips of a severe drought and very much needs the rain, too much rain too quickly can do more harm than good," AccuWeather.com meteorologist Mark Miller said in a Wednesday report. "Still, the rain will go a long way in helping to reduce the severity of the drought in exceptionally dry locations."

CPS Energy, the South Texas electric utility, reported more than 30,000 customers without power as wind snapped electric power lines and knocked out traffic signals during the morning rush hour in San Antonio. In Austin, some 5,000 customers of Austin Energy lost power, spokesman Ed Clark said.

As San Antonio resident Johnny Grant surveyed damage to homes in his northwest San Antonio neighborhood on Wednesday, he said of the storm: "It sounded like a freight train to me. It was something terrible."

(Additional reporting by Lauren Keiper, Deborah Quinn Hensel and Corrie MacLaggan. Editing by Paul Thomasch)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120125/us_nm/us_weather

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Peyton's next place should be SF

AP

Last week, long-time Browns beat writer Tony Grossi of the Cleveland Plain Dealer inadvertently posted an unflattering message about Browns owner Randy Lerner on Twitter.

?He is a pathetic figure, the most irrelevant billionaire in the world,? Grossi said.? The tweet was later deleted.

As it turns out, Lerner may remain sufficiently relevant to influence the work assignments at the Cleveland Plain Dealer.? According to CleveScene.com, Grossi has been removed from the beat.

Last week, the newspaper addressed the issue at its website, Cleveland.com:? ?Last night, Plain Dealer Browns beat reporter Tony Grossi made an inadvertent, inappropriate post to Twitter concerning Browns owner Randy Lerner.? Grossi has reached out to Lerner to apologize.? The Plain Dealer also apologizes.?

Grossi also addressed the situation in a video podcast:? ?Last night there was a comment attributed to me on my Twitter account.? It was inadvertent, it was inappropriate, and I do apologize for it.? I?ve reached out to Randy Lerner to apologize to him for it and we?ll just leave it at that. It was inappropriate and not meant to be tweeted, but it was inappropriate nonetheless.?

Though no one has explained specifically how it happened that the tweet was posted on Grossi?s page, it appears this is the latest example of someone not understanding how to properly use the ?direct message? function.? Grossi apparently intended to express his opinion privately to one of his Twitter followers, but he accidentally posted it onto his primary Twitter profile, which can be viewed publicly.

And while we know nothing about any other issues or circumstances between Grossi and his bosses, the reaction seems more than a little harsh.? Though the not-intended-for-publication message raises potential questions about Grossi?s objectivity when it comes to Lerner, it?s not as if Lerner is actively involved in the management of the team.? In many respects, Lerner is an absentee landlord, with little or no interest in doing the things that so many other NFL owners love to do.

But while Lerner takes a hands-off approach to the Browns, he has shown a willingness to respond to indignities with aggressive action.? In 2008, the Browns ended a preseason partnership with WOIO-TV after the station broadcast a portion of a 911 call made by Lerner?s sister when her daughter drowned.

?The recent coverage of the Lerner family tragedy is but the latest, albeit the most shocking and insensitive example of this destructive behavior,? Browns vice president Michael Keenan wrote in a letter to WOIO terminating the contract for ?irresponsible journalism.?

It?s currently unknown whether Lerner or the Browns requested, suggested, or demanded that Grossi be reassigned.? Regardless of how this all came to be, Grossi?s only wrongdoing, in our view, was his failure to properly navigate the Twitter application on his smartphone.

Besides, the substance of Grossi?s comments don?t come off to us as objectively offensive or inappropriate.? He referred to Lerner as ?pathetic? and called Lerner an ?irrelevant billionaire.?? (I?ve been called much worse than an ?irrelevant billionaire,? and I aspire to be much less.)

If it turns out that Lerner indeed pushed the Plain Dealer to dump Grossi from the beat for his accidental expression of a private opinion he?s entitled to have, it definitely will be evidence, in our opinion, of a pathetic act by the billionaire owner of a largely irrelevant team.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/01/25/manning-to-49ers-could-be-tricky-to-pull-off/related/

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Watch: GOP Members on State of the Union (ABC News)

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Romney's $20 Million IRA: A Lousy Investment? (Time.com)

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The solar system on paper

Kat Austen, CultureLab editor

(Image: Mishka Henner)

Ever wanted to hold the universe in the palm of your hand? Well, you can't. But thanks to artist Mishka Henner, you can hold the solar system in your outstretched arms - or at least a scale version of it, with a bit of artistic license thrown in.

Henner's newest project, Astronomical, is a book series that contains the whole solar system, in miniature. Each page of the 12-volume epic represents one million kilometres of the six billion between the Sun and Pluto. Starting with our double-page spanning star, Henner's first volume ranges through page after page of blackest black until you happen upon the tiny speck that is Mercury...or is that just a blip in the printing? It's hard to be sure.

Earth, being larger, is easier to identify, but eerily ghostly in black and white miniature, dwarfed by the expanse of darkness surrounding it.

That's just the impression Henner is going for. He wants the 6,000 pages to demonstrate just how lonely and surrounded by nothingness we are. To this end, Henner made the book as cold and unsentimental as possible, "because the universe is cold, isn't it? And isolated, lost, lonely," he says.

And it really works. The physicality of turning over thousands of pages of uninterrupted black brings home the scale of how far we are from the other planets orbiting the sun. How many books it would take to get to the next nearest star? Henner has already worked it out - 79,000, he tells me.

Henner?s interest in nothingness was piqued when he heard about the cosmonauts'?experiences on space station Mir . "What the cosmonauts taught us was that being up there and staring out into the void just makes you want to go home," he tells me.

Prior to Astronomical, Henner put together an as yet unpublished 400 page book of the Ultra Deep Field image, which was taken by the Hubble Space Telescope in 2004. The telescope was focussed for 12 days on an "empty" part of the universe, revealing 10,000 previously undiscovered galaxies. Henner likens the impact of that image to that of the first pictures of Earth - a shift in consciousness to highlight the real scale of the universe. Given its size, "it's impossible that we're alone in the universe," he says.

For Astronomical, Henner teamed up with his maths whizz friend to work out the average orbital distance of the planets from the sun, before figuring out how to scale them down to fit into his 6,000-page series. Each planet is illuminated from the left by the sun on the first page of volume one, and is positioned on the right-hand page of its spread, squarely half-way down - which Henner tells me is a case of artistic license rather than fortuitous average orbital radius values.

It's a neat idea. Henner seemed quietly amused that the realisation of it also meant he could trundle unassumingly around London with the entire solar system in his otherwise unremarkable suitcase. He assures me he has read the entire 12 volumes. And how was it? He replies with only one word. "Meditative."

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Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/1c17a80f/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cblogs0Cculturelab0C20A120C0A10Cthe0Esolar0Esystem0Eon0Epaper0Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

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UFC on FX 1?s Three Stars: Jim Miller, Jorge Rivera and Nick Denis

The UFC's first event on FX may as well have been nickname, "Guys who need to win the get their career back on track." However, that's a bit wordy. Instead, fighters like Pat Barry and Jim Miller, who were in need of a win got back on their feet. Here are Cagewriter's Three Stars. Tell us yours in the comments or on Facebook.

No. 1 star -- Jim Miller: After losing the Ben Henderson in August, Miller needed a win to remain among the stacked lightweight division's best. He easily picked it up, choking out Melvin Guillard in just two minutes. It won him an extra $45,000 for Submission of the Night.

No. 2 star -- Jorge Rivera: Every fighter wants to leave the game on his own terms. Rivera was one of the lucky few who got to do that, winning by TKO in the second round over Eric Schaefer hours after announcing his retirement. He finished his 11-year career with 20 wins, nine losses, and a cadre of fans who admired Rivera's never say die attitude in the cage.

No. 3 star -- Nick Denis: Thankfully, the UFC replayed Denis' ballet of elbow violence after the main card, allowing fans without Fuel or Fox Deportes (a viable option for fans without Fuel) to see Denis knock out Joseph Sandoval with short elbows in just 22 seconds in the winner's UFC debut. "The Ninja of Love" walked away with an extra $45,000 for Knockout of the Night.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/ufc-fx-1-three-stars-jim-miller-jorge-140205469.html

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European rating agency could launch in 2012: report (Reuters)

MILAN (Reuters) ? Plans to launch a European ratings agency to compete with S&P, Moody's and Fitch are at an advanced stage and a new private institution could start business as soon as the first half of this year, German businessman Roland Berger told an Italian newspaper.

The founder of consultancy Roland Berger said he hoped a new private, non-profit organization, in the form of a foundation, could be ready in "the first half or the first nine months of the year," according to Saturday's Corriere della Sera.

Berger, who has been lobbying European governments and companies to gather support and financing for a new agency, hopes to have raised the 300 million euros of capital needed from European investors by that time, the paper said.

"The proposed model is of an agency where the service is paid by the clients, who have an interest in having reliable and objective results," Berger said.

Roland Berger partner Markus Krall, who is largely tasked with setting up the agency, told Germany's Euro am Sonntag weekly that it would differentiate itself from competitors by accepting liability for its analysis.

This would mean customers could potentially claim damages from the agency, which Krall said provides a "strong incentive" to provide accurate analysis.

"Currently ratings are legally speaking purely opinion and are not subject to any product liability (laws)," Krall told the paper in comments published on Saturday.

European policymakers have criticised agencies Standard & Poor's (MHP.N), Moody's (MCO.N) and Fitch (LBCP.PA) during the euro zone debt crisis, saying they have been too quick to downgrade the credit ratings of indebted EU states despite bailouts and austerity programmes.

Earlier this month, S&P downgraded the credit ratings of nine euro-zone countries, stripping France and Austria of their coveted triple-A status but not EU paymaster Germany.

Berger's plan for the new agency, which would be incorporated in the Netherlands, has received signals of support from the European Commission and governments in Europe but also in China and among some Arab states, the paper said.

(Reporting by Michel Rose, additional reporting by Christiaan Hetzner in Frankfurt; Editing by Alison Birrane)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120121/bs_nm/us_berger_ratingagency

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Congress withdraws anti-piracy measures

SAN ANTONIO?? U.S. lawmakers stopped anti-piracy legislation in its tracks on Friday, delivering a stunning win for Internet companies that staged an unprecedented online protest this week to kill the previously fast-moving bills.

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said he would postpone a critical vote that had been scheduled for Jan. 24 "in light of recent events."

Lamar Smith, the Republican chairman of the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee, followed suit, saying his panel would delay action on similar legislation until there is wider agreement on the issue.

"I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy. It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products," Smith said in a statement.

The bills, known as PIPA in the Senate and SOPA in the House, are aimed at curbing access to overseas websites that traffic in pirated content and counterfeit products, such as movies and music.

The legislation has been a priority for entertainment companies, publishers, pharmaceutical companies and other industry groups who say it is critical to curbing online piracy, which they believe costs them billions of dollars a year.

But technology companies are concerned the laws would undermine Internet freedoms, be difficult to enforce and encourage frivolous lawsuits.

Public sentiment on the bills shifted in recent weeks after Internet players ramped up their lobbying.

White House officials weighed in on Saturday, saying in a blog post that they had concerns about legislation that could make businesses on the Internet vulnerable to litigation and harm legal activity and free speech.

Then on Wednesday, protests blanketed the Internet, turning Wikipedia and other popular websites dark for 24 hours. Google , Facebook, Twitter and others protested the proposed legislation but did not shut down.

The protest had quick results: several sponsors of the legislation, including senators Roy Blunt, Chuck Grassley, Orrin Hatch, John Boozman and Marco Rubio, have withdrawn their support.

In a brief statement on Friday, Reid said there was no reason why concerns about the legislation cannot be resolved. He offered no new date for the vote.

Reid's action comes a day after a senior Democratic aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said the measure lacked the 60 votes needed to clear a procedural hurdle in the 100-member Senate.

Swift reaction
The indefinite postponement of the bills drew quick praise from the Internet community, and ire from Hollywood.

"We appreciate that lawmakers have listened to our community's concerns, and we stand ready to work with them on solutions to piracy and copyright infringement that will not chill free expression or threaten the economic growth and innovation the Internet provides," a Facebook spokesman said.

Chris Dodd, chief executive of the Motion Picture Association of America and a former Democratic senator, said the stalling of legislation is a boost for criminals.

"As a consequence of failing to act, there will continue to be a safe haven for foreign thieves," Dodd said.

Way forward?
Lawmakers, technology companies and the entertainment industry pledged to find a way to combat online piracy and copyright infringement.

Reddit.com, a vocal leader in the protests and among the sites to go dark on Wednesday, said it was pleased the protests were able to slow things down, but said piracy needs to be addressed.

"We really need people at the table who have the technical expertise about these issues who can ensure that whatever bills are drafted have airtight, technically sound language, definitions and frameworks," the company's general manager Erik Martin told Reuters.

Reid expressed hope on Friday that Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, who has been shepherding the bill through Congress, could help resolve differences in the legislation.

"I am optimistic that we can reach a compromise in the coming weeks," Reid said.

Leahy slammed the Senate derailment of the anti-piracy legislation as a "knee-jerk reaction to a monumental problem" but said he is committed to getting a bill signed into law this year.

There are already alternatives in the works.

Senator Ron Wyden introduced a bill last month that he said "meets the same publicly stated goals as SOPA or Protect IP without causing massive damage to the Internet."

Representative Darrel Issa on Wednesday introduced a companion bill in the House.

Issa said SOPA and PIPA lacked a fundamental understanding of how Internet technologies work. The technology sector has shown more optimism about prospects for Issa and Wyden's alternative bill, called the OPEN Act.

"It's a great starting point for discussion, and we're definitely very open to that," said Tiffiniy Cheng, co-founder of Fight for the Future, a nonprofit that helped organize the Internet protests against SOPA and PIPA.

(Msnbc.com is a joint venture of Microsoft and Comcast/NBC Universal. Microsoft publicly opposes SOPA in its current form, while Comcast/NBC Universal is listed as a supporter of SOPA on the House Judiciary Committee website.)

More on SOPA and PIPA from msnbc.com:

Copyright 2012 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46072484/ns/technology_and_science-security/

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Libya could fall into 'bottomless pit', leader warns

By msnbc.com stadd and news services

Mustafa Abdel Jalil, the head of Libya's ruling National Transitional Council (NTC), warned on Sunday the country could be heading towards a "bottomless pit" after protesters stormed a government office in Benghazi when he was inside.

A crowd demanding the resignation of the Libyan government smashed windows and forced their way into the NTC's local headquarters late on Saturday, in the most serious show of anger at the new authorities since Muammar Gaddafi was ousted.

---

The NTC has the support of the Western powers who helped force out Gaddafi in a nine-month conflict, but it is unelected, has been slow to restore basic public services, and some Libyans say too many of its members are tarnished by ties to Gaddafi.

Speaking to reporters at a hotel in Benghazi, Abdel Jalil warned the protests risked undermining the country's already fragile stability.

"We are going through a political movement that can take the country to a bottomless pit," he said. "There is something behind these protests that is not for the good of the country."

"The people have not given the government enough time and the government does not have enough money. Maybe there are delays, but the government has only been working for two months. Give them a chance, at least two months."

The protests in Benghazi, in eastern Libya, are particularly troubling for the NTC because the city was the birthplace of the revolt against Gaddafi's 42-year rule. It was the site of the NTC's headquarters during the revolt.

Abdel Jalil said he met with religious leaders and protesters to discuss their grievances.

He said he had accepted the resignation of the head of the Benghazi local council, Saleh El-Ghazal. Like most Libyan officials, the head of the council was appointed but Abdel Jalil said his successor would be chosen through an election.

Abdel Jalil said that later on Sunday he will unveil a law on elections for a national assembly, which are scheduled to take place within about six months.

Libya's leaders hope the law will ease some of the tension by setting out a clear road-map for the replacement of the NTC with an elected body.

More from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Reuters and msnbc.com staff contributed to this report.

Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/22/10210037-libya-could-fall-into-bottomless-pit-leader-warns

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Mitt Romney?s rough week ? in one graph (Washington Post)

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Study: 'Tiger Parenting' Tough on Kids (LiveScience.com)

"Tiger mom" and Yale professor Amy Chua caused an uproar last year with a Wall Street Journal article about the superiority of her strict, Chinese-style version of parenting. Now, research suggests that critics of the piece may have had a point: High-achieving Chinese-American children do, in fact, struggle more with depression, stress and low self-esteem than their equally high-achieving European-American counterparts, and the reason involves parenting style.

Chua's piece, excerpted from her book "Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother" (Penguin Press, 2011), extolled the virtues of strictness, blunt criticism and an unyielding insistence on academic perfection. In the essay, she tells the story of making her 7-year-old daughter sit at the piano without food or bathroom breaks until she mastered a difficult piece.

Strict parenting and stellar academic achievement are common in Chinese immigrant families, according to Desiree Baolian Qin, a professor in the department of human development and family studies at Michigan State University. But unfortunately, so are depression, stress and other so-called "internalizing" disorders.

"If you're doing well, you should be feeling good," Qin told LiveScience. "But what I've found persistently in my research is that that's not the case."

Family and mental health

In a new study to be published in the Journal of Adolescence, Qin compared 295 Chinese-American ninth graders with 192 European-American ninth-graders at the same highly competitive U.S. school. This high school, in a northeastern U.S. state, accepts only the top 5 percent of applicants by test scores. Thus, all the children in the study were academic all-stars.

Earlier research had turned up disturbing patterns of mental health struggles in Chinese-American high-achievers, Qin said. She wanted to understand why. So she and her colleagues had the two groups of ninth graders fill out questionnaires to measure their grades, levels of anxiety and depression and the amount of conflict in their families. The researchers also asked about how much warmth and support they felt from their parents, a measure called family cohesion.

"It wasn't completely surprising, but I was still a little shocked that in all these measures of family conflicts and cohesion and mental health, we see the Chinese kids were more disadvantaged," Qin said. "They reported higher levels of conflict, particularly around education, and they report much lower levels of cohesion." [7 Things That Will Make You Happy]

Not only that, but they were more stressed and depressed than the Euro-American counterparts, and they had lower self-esteem.

The culprit, Qin found, had everything to do with family. The more conflict and less cohesion in a teen's family, the more likely they were to have poor mental health. When the researchers removed conflict and cohesion from the statistical analysis, essentially erasing those differences between the white and Asian kids, the mental health difference also disappeared.

"Parent-child relations are the main factors that contribute to their lower levels of reported mental health," Qin said.

Academic strife

In a second study, Qin conducted in-depth interviews with18 of the Chinese students at the school. She found that academics are an enormous point of contention in Chinese-American families. The students complained that their parents talked constantly about academics and reacted emotionally to failure.

"They just take everything so literally, and exaggerate," one female student told Qin, "like if I get one bad grade, they think, 'Oh no, you're going to fail school, you're going to become one of those bad girls who do drugs.'"

Students also struggled with being compared to other children or family members, such as an older sibling who went to an Ivy League college. They even mentioned struggling with a cultural gulf between themselves and their parents. For example, one student said that she had a tough time in her relationship with her mother because American culture values standing up for oneself, while her Chinese-born mother feels that children should respect their parents and do as they're told.

While East Asian culture has a deeply ingrained focus on education, many of the issues that arise in these families are migration-related, Qin said. All the Chinese children in the larger sample had immigrant parents, she said, while almost none of the European-American kids did.

"My co-authors and I are not pathologizing Chinese kids and saying, 'Oh my God, Chinese kids are oppressed,'" Qin said. "The findings really point to immigration and the challenges created by migration in families."

"When children are caught in between their parents' old way of parenting and being and culture and the new in the U.S., then that can be very, very tough for children in a variety of ways."

Finding a middle ground

Not all Chinese parents take the "tiger" approach, of course. In fact, Qin's in-depth interviews, to be published in an upcoming issue of the journal New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, found that even strict "tiger parenting" is not black and white. The parents of the kids in the study worried about their children's health and happiness, and expressed sympathy when the children were overworked.

"They have a lot of internal conflict," Qin said of these parents. "They want them to be successful in the new land, and they want them to be healthy."

Fortunately, both are possible, Qin said. In a 2008 paper, Qin compared high-achieving Chinese-American students who were distressed with Chinese-American high-achievers who were mentally healthy. She found that the teens in families where parents take a strict "tiger mom" approach were the distressed ones. The high-achieving Chinese-American kids with more flexible parents did just as well in school, but were happy, too.

That's the important message for all parents, "tiger" or not, Qin said. It's not a problem to have high expectations for your child, she said. You just have to communicate those expectations with love and warmth.

"You can have a happy child with high achievement," Qin said. "A lot of families do have that."

You can follow LiveScience?senior writer Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas. Follow LiveScience for the latest in science news and discoveries on Twitter @livescience?and on Facebook.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/parenting/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/livescience/20120120/sc_livescience/studytigerparentingtoughonkids

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