Corporate Law: Private Equity Law of India

Under corporate law, corporations of all sizes have separate legal personality, with limited liability or unlimited liability for its shareholders. Shareholders control the company through a board of directors which, in turn, typically delegates control of the corporation's day-to-day operations to a full-time executive.

Corporate Laws in India

In India, laws governing companies are mainly to be found in the Companies Act, 1956. Voluminous and containing 658 Sections, 15 Schedules and several Rules, the Companies Act, 1956 is modeled on the English Companies Act.

Any entrepreneur desirous of doing business in India has an option to form a Company, Private or Public with limited liability under the provisions of the Companies Act.

A Private Limited Company must have a minimum number of two and a maximum number of 50 shareholders whilst a Public Company needs a minimum number of seven shareholders with no upper limit. Before commencing any business, a Public Company is obliged to obtain a certificate from the Registrar of Companies, whilst a Private Company can commence its business and exercise borrowing powers immediately upon its incorporation. The shares of a private limited company are not freely transferable and it cannot offer its shares or debentures to public for subscription. However, there are major exemptions and privileges enjoyed by a Private Limited Company under the Companies Act, 1956.

Corporate Law firm of India

The Corporate Law Team of Lakshmikumaran&Sridharan advises multinational and Indian clients in various sectors like power, oil and gas, telecom, infrastructure, real estate, automobiles, pharmaceuticals, chemicals, electronics, insurance and information technology.

Private Equity Laws of India

Private Equity Law practice in India is unique due to the dynamics of Indian businesses. The Indian economy is driven by a large number of family owned and managed companies and a relatively high number of listed companies, all of which face lack of liquidity in the market despite having large available capital. This presents a unique opportunity for private equity in India for making financial and operational contribution. The nature of Indian companies and local laws and procedures entail a thorough and systematic strategy for investment and exit from companies. Several choices of investment are available to suit the individual requirements. These choices range from outright buyouts with the requisite restructuring and reorganization of the company, structured investments, support to established businesses for further growth in the form of capital funds and roll ups to ensure economies of scale are achieved. Each of these choices requires special expertise and experience in the Indian scenario.

Private Equity Law firm in India

The Private Equity Law team in Lakshmikumaran&Sridharan consists of experienced practitioners who have handled several private equity investments in India. Attorneys in Lakshmikumaran&Sridharan have set up fund and advised on the mode of investment as also provided support in the form of ongoing portfolio assistance and restructuring in this area. The team understands that the success of the transactions also depends heavily upon the quality of the due diligence and subsequent compliance with the law and its teams are highly trained to manage these activities.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/editorchoice/~3/ekHlOKDFllk/Corporate-Law-Private-Equity-Law-of-India-bid-QVn2TCb552873843.html

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Ericsson Sues Samsung Over Wireless Patents

Ericsson is the latest to file a patent suit against Samsung after the?Swedish telecoms firm accused the Korean electronics giant of refusing to sign FRAND (Fair, Reasonable and Non-Discriminatory)?licensing agreements despite two years of negotiation.

Update: Samsung has issued a statement on the lawsuit, you can read it below.

?Ericsson has concluded that it has no option other than legal action after negotiations have not been successful since Samsung has refused to take a license on FRAND terms,??a company statement read.

The company says that the issue centers around one of its patented technologies that is ?essential?to several telecommunications and networking standards used by Samsung?s products?, in addition to other technologies that it claims are used in wireless and consumer electronics products.

FRAND licensing is typically used to license patents and technologies that have become essential, often for or as an industry standard. They are designed to stop monopolies, the idea being that a FRAND licensed technology can be offered to any company or group wanting to use it.

The growth of patent suits has added complication to FRAND licensing and Apple, for one, has reached out to industry bodies for greater clarification and change. In a letter to?the?European Telecommunications Standards Institute?(ETSI) in February, it is?said to have proposed suggestions to set royalty rates that all members of the ETSI would follow, in response to cases where inflated and unreasonable terms and prices have been proposed by patent owners.

Samsung was on the receiving end of a landmark decision when a US court decision handed it a fine of more than $1 billion?after?Apple won a key U.S. patent case. The Cupertino firm itself suffered a significant recent loss and $368 million fine as patent specialist VirtnetX won a Texas case against it, but Apple did end its ongoing feud with HTC as the two signed a 10-year licensing agreement this month.

Samsung told media it has no intention of striking a similar deal, despite the threat of US sales injunctions looming. Now it has one further case to concern itself with.

Update: Samsung has responded with the following statement:

?Samsung and Ericsson have previously negotiated and entered licensing deals. Now that the deal has to be renewed, we have faithfully committed ourselves to conducting fair and reasonable negotiations with Ericsson over the past two years, but this time Ericsson has demanded prohibitively higher royalty rates for the same patent portfolio.

?As we cannot accept such extreme demands, we will take all necessary legal measures to protect against Ericsson?s excessive claims.?

Headline image via?JONATHAN NACKSTRAND/AFP/Getty Images

Source: http://thenextweb.com/mobile/2012/11/27/ericsson-sues-samsung-over-wireless-patents-after-growing-frustrated-by-2-years-of-negotiation/

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#10: Nikon D600 24.3 MP CMOS FX-Format Digital SLR Camera ...

• Written by admin
• Posted November 23, 2012 at 9:08 am

Nikon D600 24.3 MP CMOS FX-Format Digital SLR Camera (Body Only) by Nikon (115) Date first available at Amazon.com: September 11, 2012 Buy new: $2,099.95 $1,996.95 29 used & new from $1,100.50 (Visit the Hot New Releases in Digital Cameras list for authoritative information on this product?s current rank.)

Buy:
#10: Nikon D600 24.3 MP CMOS FX-Format Digital SLR Camera (Body Only)

Source: http://www.wiki-products.com/10-nikon-d600-243-mp-cmos-fx-format-digital-slr-camera-body-only/

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Does Texas Have an Answer to Sky-High Tuition?

Texas is experimenting with an initiative to help students and families struggling with sky-high college costs: a bachelor's degree for $10,000,?including tuition fees and even textbooks. Under a plan he unveiled in 2011, Republican Gov. Rick Perry has called on institutions in his state to develop options for low-cost undergraduate degrees. The idea was greeted with skepticism at first, but lately, it seems to be gaining traction. If it yields success, it could prompt other states to explore similar, more-innovative ways to cut the cost of education.

Limiting the price tag for a degree to $10,000 is no easy feat. In the 2012-13 academic year, the average annual cost of tuition?in Texas at a public four-year institution was $8,354, just slightly lower than the national average of $8,655. The high costs are saddling students with huge debt burdens. Nationally, 57 percent of students who earned bachelor?s degrees in 2011 from public four-year colleges graduated with debt, and the average debt per borrower was $23,800?up from $20,100 a decade earlier. By Sept. 30, 2011, 9.1 percent of borrowers who entered repayment in 2009-10?defaulted on their federal student loans, the highest default rate since 1996.

In the Lone Star State, 10 institutions have so far responded to the governor?s call with unique approaches, ranging from a five-year general-degree pipeline that combines high school, community college, and four-year university credits to a program that relies on competency-based assessments to enable students to complete a degree in organizational leadership in as little as 18 months.??

At Angelo State University, admissions will begin in January for a four-year interdisciplinary-studies program through which students can combine three separate minors into one bachelor?s degree for an overall cost of $9,974. ASU President Joseph Rallo envisions the program as the perfect fit for an adult who is interested in broadening his skills in order to advance his career, not necessarily a student looking for the traditional college experience.

?The profile that we aim the degree for is the adult student who is interested in a broad degree and at the same time a degree that would be academically rigorous,? Rallo said, adding that students must have an ACT score of 27 or above to enter the program and maintain at least a 3.0 grade-point average to continue.

At the University of Texas (Arlington), the university teamed up with Tarrant County community colleges and school districts to create a program that would allow students to obtain a degree in any field for less than $10,000. Students in their junior and senior years of high school will complete dual credit programs already provided by their school districts in order to earn some college credit. The students will go on to spend about a year at community college before finishing their degree at UT Arlington.

?This program would appeal to the most dedicated, focused students who know from high school that they are willing to work hard to maximize their college investments,? said Kristin Sullivan, assistant vice president for media relations at UT Arlington. ?

Catherine Frazier, press secretary for Gov. Perry, said the plan aims to make college ?a reasonable goal for all Texans? and will help hold higher-education institutions accountable for reining in costs.

Critics doubt that the initiative will help institutions trim their own costs in providing an education, however.?Experts worry that reaching the $10,000 goal involves a scholarship process for students and not real savings for the schools themselves?in overhead and instruction.

?I question an artificially set benchmark of $10,000,? said Daniel Hurley, director of state relations and policy analysis at the American Association of State Colleges and Universities, adding that the discussion of actually containing the costs of education for the institution is ?often missing? from such initiatives.

Indeed, officials acknowledge that most of these programs would only reduce the price tag for the student, not the cost to the institution of providing the degree. While?select?students might pay less overall, institutions must deliver the same faculty, facilities, time, and knowledge they provide to students paying full price for their degrees.

?I would not frame this $10,000 degree challenge as a cost-efficiency measure for higher education,? said Dom Chavez, director of the Texas Higher Education Coordination Board. ?It?s a cost-efficiency measure for students and parents.?

Chavez added that as online learning gains traction and competency-based assessments get students out of the classroom more quickly, officials may begin to bend the cost curve in higher education. But he acknowledged that ?we may never get there.?

Hurley also questioned the quality and marketplace credibility of such a comparatively cheap degree. He pointed to the public perception that a high-quality education is a financial investment, and expressed concerns that potential employers might look at a $10,000 degree as a second-rate education.

?I think that the universities would really have to go out of their way and their graduates would really have to go out of their way to clearly communicate to the employer community that the quality of the degree? is not?compromised, Hurley said, adding that employers recognize that ?you get what you pay for.?

But some argue that a college degree is no longer worth as much as it?once was. A May 2012 study from the?Pew Research Center?showed that 57 percent of Americans say colleges fail to provide students with good value for money spent, and 75 percent say college is too expensive for most Americans to afford.?Another recent study that surveyed traditional college students across the country found that after four full years of college, 36 percent of students showed little to no increase in critical-thinking skills.

While the Pew study also pointed out that, despite cost concerns, graduates do see a payoff?adults with degrees believe they earn $20,000 a year more because of it, and 86 percent say their schooling has been a good investment?Thomas Lindsay, director of the Texas Public Policy Foundation?s Center for Higher Education, emphasized that a degree does not go as far in today?s job market.

?I think the market has decided, and parents and students have decided, that a college degree is for the most part overvalued,? Lindsay said. ?What we?re getting both in terms of job skills and learning, what you?re giving us isn?t worth more than $10,000.?

The approach that could gain the most traction is one geared toward graduating students with degrees that meet specific needs in the regional labor market. Texas A&M University (San Antonio), for instance, this fall began offering a bachelor?s degree in information technology with an emphasis on information security for just $10,026. Students who achieve this degree will graduate into the San Antonio region?s booming military and homeland-security industry.

Such degrees are ?highly aligned with regional state workforce needs,? Chavez said, adding that education officials try to identify key components of the regional market and tailor their programs toward employers? needs. This way, students who graduate from these programs are more likely to get a?local?job in a field relevant to their degree.

But if universities do not implement significant cost-efficiency measures, these types of programs may not be sustainable in the long run, according to the College Board?s Jennifer Ma. Despite a push by several states' governors?including Perry and Florida Gov. Rick Scott?to freeze in-state tuition rates, if state appropriations for education decrease, universities must hike costs to cover the budget gap.

Instead, experts say, states should focus on getting more students to complete their degrees in a timely fashion. Perry has proposed an appropriations process called outcomes-based funding, which ties 10 percent of an institution?s state funding for undergraduate education to the number of degrees it awards. Currently, less than 30 percent of students at four-year Texas institutions graduate in four years.

As for the $10,000 degree initiative, the push ?has spurred continued innovation, I would say, more in terms of program delivery ? rather than how can we simply cut costs at every corner,? Hurley said, adding that after seeing Texas?s success, other states may begin looking at new ways to offer students a college education. ?From that perspective, I think that time will tell, but [Perry?s] call could spur some new ways of delivering college degrees and credentials.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/does-texas-answer-sky-high-tuition-060005341--politics.html

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Unapologetic Sweat - BODYROCK.tv | Fitness Advice, Workout ...

Hi Bodyrockers,

We all go through dip?s where we lose our Mo-Jo & it?s at this time that we need someone to just give us a kick up the ass.

Well this is that moment if you re looking for it. It?s time to get into your favourite work-out gear, turn up your favourite workout song & Press PLAY on the Video below and smash out 2 rounds. Take no prisoners, sweat through each exercise & feel the rush of adrenaline as you HIIT the finish line stronger & more empowered in just 12 Mins.

Think this is impossible ? Take the challenge, If you have never tried a BodyRock Workout, Give this one a go and share you comments & scores below.

These workouts are designed around one simple goal- to create The Best Home Workout?s Online for free. All you have to do is check in with us everyday & get your daily Ass Kicked & Adrenaline pumping :)

This workout kick started my Mo-Jo this morning & pushed me outside of my comfort zone at the same time ? I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

ps, I would like to give a shout out to Aaron ? thank-u for kicking my ass & pushing me out of my comfort zone.

L xx

Todays Sweat Video:

Workout Break Down:

Set your?interval timer to 50 seconds work 10 seconds break. ?You will go through these exercises 2 times ? Or if you want to smash it out as a couplet workout? then set your timers for 3 rounds of each couplet ( 2 exercises ) & then move on :).

1. Reverse Shoulder Sequence Power Blocks

2. Deadlift + Row Using the Pink?Sandbag

3. Plank Push Up

4. Circle Chest Press Power Blocks

5. Single Arm Press Power Blocks

6. Mountain Climber Pike Jump

.

Video Tutorial & Question:

.

Friend Your Trainers on Facebook:

BodyRock Main Facebook?Here

Lisa-Marie Facebook?click?Here

Sean?s Facebook page click?here

Freddy?s Facebook page: click here

Time: 12 MinWorkout Type: body weightExercises: 1

Get your gear for this workout here:

• Lisa's Protein OptionGet your supplements here
• BodyRocker Interval TimerGet your equipment here
• Ugi Fitness BallGet your equipment here
• Stability BallGet your equipment here
• Bodyrock EqualizerGet your equipment here
• SandbagGet your equipment here
• Door PullUp BarGet your equipment here
• Abs and Dip StationGet your equipment here
• Power WeightsGet your equipment here
• Indian ClubsGet your equipment here

Source: http://www.bodyrock.tv/2012/11/22/unapologetic-sweat/

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Could Testing Block Psychopaths From Senior Management?

Freshly Exhumed writes "Dr. Clive Boddy believes that increasingly fluid corporate career paths have helped psychopaths conceal their disruptive workplace behavior and ascend to previously unattainable levels of authority. Boddy points out psychopaths are primarily attracted to money, status and power, currently found in unparalleled abundance in the global banking sector. As if to prove the point, many of the world's money traders self identify as the "masters of the universe." Solution? Screening with psychological tests. Who would pay for it? The insurance industry." The tech world has plenty of company heads who've been called psychopaths, too ? but would you want to actually change that?

Source: http://rss.slashdot.org/~r/Slashdot/slashdotScience/~3/w7IKQ976NHE/story01.htm

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California city building "tsunami-resistant" port

An Oct. 26, 2012 photo shows a large backhoe repairing damage caused by the March, 2011 tsunami at the boat basin in Crescent City, Calif. Once it overcomes some construction setbacks, the port hopes to have the West Coast's first harbor designed to withstand the kind of tsunami expected to hit every 50 years. (AP Photo/Jeff Barnard)

An Oct. 26, 2012 photo shows a large backhoe repairing damage caused by the March, 2011 tsunami at the boat basin in Crescent City, Calif. Once it overcomes some construction setbacks, the port hopes to have the West Coast's first harbor designed to withstand the kind of tsunami expected to hit every 50 years. (AP Photo/Jeff Barnard)

An Oct. 26, 2012 photo shows a large driling rig, at right, waiting for a custom drill bit to install bigger and stronger dock pilings to take the place of docks destroyed by the 2011 tsunami from Japan. Once it overcomes some construction delays, the port hopes to have the West Coast's first harbor designed to withstand the kind of tsunami expected to hit every 50 years. Due to the formation of the sea floor and the configuration of the harbor, Crescent City regularly takes the biggest hit of any port on the West Coast from tsunamis, whether they come from Chile, Alaska or Japan. (AP Photo/Jeff Barnard)

A March 12, 2011 photo shows sunken and damaged boats in the boat basin at Crescent City, Calif., after a powerful tsunami sent repeated surges that broke up docks and tore loose boats. After one tsunami after another over the decades, the port hopes that repairs under way will make the harbor able to withstand a similar tsunami in the future. (AP Photo/Jeff Barnard)

CRESCENT CITY, California (AP) ? It doesn't matter if the earth sways in Chile, Alaska or Japan, the formation of the sea floor along the U.S. West Coast generally aims any tsunami surges at the tiny California port town of Crescent City. Churning water rushes into the boat basin and then rushes out, lifting docks off their pilings, tearing boats loose and leaving the city's main economic engine looking as if it has been bombed.

That's what happened in March 2011, when a Japanese earthquake sparked a tsunami that sank 11 boats, damaged 47 others and destroyed two-thirds of the harbor's docks.

Port officials are hoping that tsunami is among the last of many that have forced major repairs in Crescent City, a tiny commercial fishing village on California's rugged northern coast. Officials are spending $54 million to build the West Coast's first harbor able to withstand the kind of tsunami expected to hit once every 50 years ? the same kind that hit in 2011, when the highest surge in the boat basin measured 8.1 feet (2.5 meters) and currents were estimated at 22 feet (6.7 meters) per second.

Officials are building 244 new steel pilings that will be 30 inches (76 centimeters) in diameter and 70 feet (21 meters) long. Thirty feet (9 meters) or more will be sunk into bedrock. The dock nearest the entrance will be 16 feet (5 meters) long and 8 feet (2.4 meters) deep to dampen incoming waves. The pilings will extend 18 feet (5.5 meters) above the water so that surges 7 ? feet (2.3 meters) up and 7 ? feet down will not rip docks loose.

Crescent City was not the only West Coast port slammed by the tsunami, which was generated by a magnitude-9.0 earthquake in Japan. The waves ripped apart docks and sank boats in Santa Cruz, California, and did similar damage in Brookings, Oregon, just north of Crescent City. But their geographical location doesn't make them as vulnerable to multiple tsunamis.

"Normally, Crescent City takes the hit for all of us," said Brookings harbormaster Ted Fitzgerald.

Since a tidal gauge was installed in the boat basin in 1934, this small port has been hit by 34 tsunamis, large and small. It typically suffers the most damage and the highest waves on the West Coast, said Lori Dengler, professor of geology at Humboldt State University.

The sea floor funnels surges into the mouth of Crescent City's harbor, and the harbor's configuration magnifies them, experts say.

A wave generated by an earthquake in Alaska on Good Friday, 1964, killed 11 people and wiped out 29 city blocks. That was 10 years before the boat basin was even built.

When the waves hit in 2011, the port was still repairing damages from a tsunami that hit in 2006. Officials already had a plan for dealing with future tsunamis, said Ward Stover, owner of Stover Engineering in Crescent City, which put together the plan.

With no tsunami building codes, Stover said the state of California and Crescent City decided to prepare for the kind of tsunami expected to hit every 50 years. They rejected as too expensive building a tidal gate to close off the mouth of the harbor or trying to survive a powerful tsunami like the one that hit in 1964. Instead, they planned to make the docks strong enough to ride out the most likely surges.

"It's tsunami-resistant, not tsunami-proof," Stover said.

Construction has been marked by one delay after another. Government funding was slow, and a custom-built drill bit for installing the extra-strength pilings deep in bedrock broke. So authorities switched to installing temporary docks the old-fashioned way, by pounding in the pilings, to get them through the winter. Many of the 60 commercial fishing boats based in Crescent City are still mooring in the outer harbor. Others have to make do without water or electricity.

The March 2011 tsunami was a wake-up call for communities up and down the West Coast. Many improved tsunami evacuation plans and held mock evacuations.

But some experts say the West Coast is still not taking the threat seriously enough.

"Many ports on the West Coast are in denial as to their tsunami hazard," said Costas Synolakis, professor of civil and environmental engineering and director of the Tsunami Research Center at the University of Southern California.

___

Jeff Barnard can be reached at https://twitter.com/JeffBarnardAP

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-11-22-Tsunami%20Repairs/id-8ce561a77ce44c8f942ab51173cfc398

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Video: Score best Black Friday deals at Staples, Gap, more

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3041440/vp/49928803#49928803

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The Good Things About A Life Essay

Life is beautiful but not always easy, it has problems too and the challenge lies in facing them with courage, letting the beauty of life act like a balm, which makes the pain bearable, during trying times, by providing hope.

Generally most of the students find it very easy to write a life essay. The reason for it is that in a life essay a student would be going to explain his experiences of the whole life. It may include his priorities, outlooks, problems etc. Try to be focused before writing the life essay the main reason is if you would concentrate on the essay it would become east for you to keep in mind all the important events of your life.

First of all in introduction of your essay give an overview of what you would be going to discuss in your life essay. You can summarize all the good & bad experiences of your life.

Next comes body of the essay, it is most lengthy and crucial part of the essay in this part you mention your childhood, your relationship with the family and your schooling experience. After that discuss your teen age it is the most memorable part of your life because in the beginning your life is free of all the tensions, worries an hardships.

You can enjoy your life to its fullest and you can hang out with your friends. After teenage you become young adult in this stage of your life you become responsible to some extent. You would be ablde to earn your own living and would start taking some of the responsibilities. The most important stage of your life is when you would become an adult at that time you would have the responsibility of your life partner as well.

After that comes the responsibility of your children their upbringing would then become one of the major responsibilities. The last stage is when you would become old It is a fact that when a person becomes old he would start behaving like a child and you would also have to treat them like a child.

In this way you can explain all the important events of your life in the life essay. You can share all your experiences either good or bad easily. The good thing about a life essay is that it is based upon real life events that is why there is no need to do any research before writing this essay.

My long experience of reading and correcting students'essays has taught me that good writing depends on several factors.Obviously, good grammar and a wide vocabulary are essential.It goes without saying that a knowledge of the right words and how to put them together
Life Essay | Writing a Life Essay

Source: http://articles.submityourarticle.com/the-good-things-about-a-life-essay-303318

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HOME BUYING BASICS - Pat Hiban Real Estate Group, Keller ...

Are You Ready to Buy a Home?

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Knowledge and experience are the keys to successful real estate transactions.?The Pat Hiban Real Estate Group provides an?enormous library of valuable real estate related information. Doing your research to gather knowledge as well as working with?realtors? like us whose expertise and experience can interpret and guide you through the information, can be essential to your success in buying a home that is right for you.

Planning is one of the keys to making the home buying process easier and more understandable. With research and planning, you?ll be able to anticipate requests from lenders, lawyers and other professionals, and you?ll move more easily through the home buying process.

Do You Know What You Want in a Home?

Whether or not you are a first-time home buyer, you need to ask why you want to buy. Do you need to move, or is buying an option and not a requirement? What property features do you want that you do not have now? Do you have a purchasing time frame?

Whatever your answers, the more you know about the real estate marketplace, the more likely you are to effectively define and achieve your real estate goals.

Once you get an idea of what you want in a home, we can help you to better understand the local markets, current market conditions and the many facets of the complex business of real estate. By answering your questions, we can give?you a realistic picture of the market and help you clarify your real estate goals.

Do You Have the Finances to Buy a Home?

It is important to get pre-qualified for a mortgage before you begin your house hunting quest. This way, you will only view homes you can afford and get excited about.

Homes and financing are closely intertwined. Financing is the difference between the purchase price and the down payment and is commonly referred to as debt or the mortgage. There are a many different kinds of mortgages and different lenders, so be sure to shop around to make sure you get the mortgage that best meets your needs and at the best price.

In addition to a down payment, purchasers also need cash for closing costs (the final costs associated with completing the transaction). Some mortgage programs not only allow the purchase of a home with no money down, but also underwrite closing costs.

While some people purchase with little or no money down, it means higher monthly mortgage payments, so most home buyers choose to put down some cash.

As for closing costs, in buyer?s markets, it may be possible to negotiate an offer that requires the owner to pay some or all of your settlement expenses.

Get Your Financial House in Order ? Establish Your Credit

You need good credit to get a mortgage. For at least one year prior to purchasing a home, you should assure that every credit card bill, rent check, car payment and other debt is paid in full and on time.

Prepare yourself for the complex adventure of buying a home: do your research,?plan ahead, know what you want, what you can afford and establish your credit. And when you are ready, contact us and we?ll work together to find the right home for you!

Showing properties 1 - 5 of 500+. See more Maryland Homes For Sale With 3 Car Garage.
(all data current as of 11/20/2012)

1. 5 beds, 4 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 6,201 sq ft

   Lot size: 18,731 sqft

   Year built: 2011

   Parking spots: 3

   Days on market: 0

2. 5 beds, 4 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 3,390 sq ft

   Lot size: 30,492 sqft

   Year built: 2012

   Parking spots: 3

   Days on market: 0

3. 3 beds, 3 full baths

   Lot size: 1.47 ac

   Year built: 1984

   Parking spots: 3

   Days on market: 0

4. 5 beds, 3 full baths

   Home size: 2,580 sq ft

   Lot size: 2.70 ac

   Year built: 1814

   Parking spots: 6

   Days on market: 0

5. 3 beds, 3 full, 1 part baths

   Home size: 3,223 sq ft

   Lot size: 25.90 ac

   Year built: 1999

   Parking spots: 3

   Days on market: 0

Listing information deemed reliable but not guaranteed. Read full disclaimer.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 20th, 2012 at 9:00 am and is filed under Buyer Info, Featured Properties, First Time Buyers, Home Search Tools, Housing Stories, How's the Market, Howard County. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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Source: http://hibanism.com/2012/11/20/home-buying-basics-info-for-the-prospective-home-buyer/

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Intern Picks: Information Technology Internships| Eye of the Intern

Every day, our intern Mitzi gets a sneak peek at all of the new internships being posted daily on Internships.com. Each week she?ll choose a theme and highlight a few of the?new internships she thinks are cool/useful/interesting.

By Mitzi Rodriguez

Information Technology defined by the?Information Technology Association of America is ?the study, design, development, application, implementation, support or management of computer-based information systems?. They are the people who insure that our computer programs are running?smoothly?and the ones who can give us a little bit of relief when our computer breaks down and we think nothing can be done. So if your on your way to becoming an IT, check out the following top IT internship listings of this week:

Information Technology Internship
Coolfire Media in St Louis, MO
Be a vital part of this company by helping to ensure that their systems run smoothly, safely and that their company users receive the maximum benefits from their computers functionality and programs. Apply now!

IT/Tech internship
GTV Corporation in West Hollywood, CA
Do you have the knowledge of Computer languages? Then this multi-media company needs you to assist in QA testing, bug testing, writing tech specifications, content duration, and production management. Apply now!

Information Technology Internship
FremantleMedia N.A., Inc. in Burbank, CA
One of the largest global television production companies and producer of well-known hit shows such as American Idol, The X Factor and America?s Got Talent needs an intern to setup PC and Mac laptops and desktops, troubleshoot hardware and software issues, troubleshoot and resolve networking issues and upgrade existing systems. Apply now!

IT/Computer Systems Analyst
A KickIn Crowd in Columbus, OH
This is a perfect internship for students interested in pursuing a career in web development, programming, or design. Here you will coordinate with teams to utilize technology to improve communication, contribute in improving functionality for web site and coordinate customer service and respond to customer inquiries. Apply now!

Information Technology Internship
Love?s Travel Stops & Country Stores in Oklahoma City, OK
One of the largest and fastest-growing retailers in the nation is seeking an IT intern to perform a variety of tasks/projects that address the needs of the Corporate IT department. Apply now!

Search through more IT internships?here.?What type of internships do you want us to highlight next week? Let us know in the comments below.

Source: http://www.internships.com/eyeoftheintern/news/whos-hiring/interns-picks-information-technology-internships/

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Breast Augmentation In Sydney Along With Other Medical ...

The interest in breast augmentation in Sydney, AU as well as other places is increasing for most reasons. Physical appearance is a crucial factor in acquiring jobs and getting good impressions, particularly in a competitive place like Australia. Many folks these days go through plastic surgery to enhance their looks. Doctors could correct imperfections you might have utilizing various medical methods. Achieve the features you need and improve your self-confidence by possessing the best plastic surgical treatment. Keep reading to learn other procedures that can help restore your confidence.

Nose and Ear Surgery

A plastic surgeon may correct flaws in your facial profile by executing facial surgical procedure. It may treat aesthetic defects that affect your own facial structure. Nose surgery and ear surgery are a couple of of the most frequent facial treatments. Surgeons carry out nose surgery to make modifications in your sinus shape. It may aid improve the general balance among your facial features. Ear surgical treatment, on the other hand, may change the look of your head and face by fixing big, obtruding ears.

Breast Augmentation

Breast augmentation might increase your look and your self-confidence, producing your breasts more proportioned with the rest of your body. Physicians use this method to correct sagging breasts that may happen soon after pregnancy and breast-feeding.

Arm Lift, Thigh Lift, and also Tummy Tuck

Plastic surgeons will let you lose a large amount of weight. Right after losing weight, you may notice stretch marks on your arms, upper thighs, and other body parts. Doctors may remove excessive tissue with plastic surgery processes, such as arm lift, thigh lift, and also tummy tuck.

Acquiring these processes may help eliminate your flaws, highlight pure beauty, and revitalize physical appearance. Improve both your physical and psychological well-being with the aid of a trustworthy Ny plastic surgeon. Here are a few of the benefits you may get from having plastic surgery:

Improves Self-Confidence

Acquiring cosmetic surgery procedures may help recover the confidence and self-esteem you once had. A lot of women reported they feel more self-assured after you have plastic surgery. A study showed that enhancing womens self-esteem is quite possible along with breast augmentation.

Revitalizes Physical Appearance

Both facial and body surgical treatments may create a more rejuvenated and younger look. For instance, you could think of getting an eyelid procedure to rejuvenate a stressful face. While some people discover plastic surgery processes pricey, most people admit the final results are worth the price. With the higher demand for plastic surgery, more and more people are consulting surgeons to look as well as feel youthful.

Tranquillity between Your Inner and Outer Self

Look and feel younger by acquiring the services of an experienced cosmetic surgeon. From the simplest non-surgical treatments to the more advanced surgical procedures, plastic surgeons can help regain your self-worth back and have a higher self-esteem.

Increase your self-confidence and feel good about your appearance by getting the proper medical treatment. Seek advice from skilled plastic surgeons, like those from http://www.plastic-surgery-sydney.com.au, on which surgical procedure suits you. They may enable you to pick a method that could provide you with the results you want.

Source: http://articlepdq.com/health-fitness/breast-augmentation-in-sydney-along-with-other-medical-procedures-that-help-restore-your-self-assurance/

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Gazans in survival mode: Change houses, avoid windows, stock up on food

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) ? Sleep away from windows, stock up on food, get the family car off the street ? these are the lessons Gazans have learned in previous rounds of fighting between Israel and the territory's Hamas rulers.

This time, some are adding "change houses" to the list as Israel increasingly targets homes of Hamas activists, making it difficult to guess where missiles might hit. Over the weekend, Israeli airstrikes struck the homes of some two dozen Hamas activists, killing 24 civilians.

For ordinary Gazans, moving sometimes doesn't help.

Pediatrician Sami Dawood moved twice. On Sunday, he evacuated his wife and three children from their high-rise apartment in Gaza City's Tel al-Hawa neighborhood after a missile hit the roof. Fearing Israel would strike the building again, the family moved to the home of his father-in-law near the Palestine Stadium in the center of the city. Early Monday, while the family was asleep, missiles hit the stadium as a suspected rocket-launching site.

"Now we are back home again," said the 40-year-old doctor.

Gaza City housewife Amal Lubbad lives across the street from a house flattened in an airstrike Sunday. The blast, which killed 11 members of the Daloo family, including a Gaza policeman, also blew out the windows of her home.

The 39-year-old Lubbad, her husband and eight children spent a restless night, sleeping on the floor in the room farthest away from the Daloo house, but there was no airstrike.

"We were afraid," she said, adding that the family has nowhere else to go. On Monday, she and her daughters swept up the glass shards as bulldozers in the alley below cleared away the ruins of the Daloo home.

___

Ola Hani, a 31-year-old mother of four, said that since the last Gaza war four years ago, she's kept a week's worth of food and other supplies in her house. "Even in normal days, I don't touch any of it, only when I have a chance to replace it," she said.

Her stash includes canned food, lentils, rice, milk powder, two small radios and candles. Her husband, a banker, is away in Jordan for a training course, and she asked a friend to drive the family car to another friend's yard, to keep it out of harm's way. The Hani family lives in a high-rise and does not have a parking garage.

At a bakery, bank teller Jibril Alawi bought 250 pieces of pita bread for his clan of 35 ? his immediate family and the wives and children of his four brothers who all live in the same building. He said they take turns going on vital errands to minimize exposure to risk.

Like others in Gaza, the Alawis have moved mattresses into inner hallways and rooms away from windows.

Still, sound sleep is impossible in Gaza these days. The massive booms from the airstrikes, often just minutes apart, rattle windows. The wailing of ambulances and the buzz of unmanned spy planes, or drones, make up the background noise.

Hani said she and her children feel scared when they hear the bombardment.

"But a few minutes after that, we start to cheer and laugh when we see another rocket landing in Tel Aviv," she said of attempts by Hamas to strike Israel's main metropolis.

___

Photographers in white lab coats hanging around the emergency room of Gaza's largest hospital, Shifa, are part of a different type of Hamas battle: They are members of a Health Ministry team documenting deaths and injuries in the fighting.

The head of the group, Ashraf al-Kidra, keeps journalists updated with casualty figures ? 106 dead as of Monday evening. In the long term, he hopes the information will serve as the basis for possible international legal action against Israel.

"We learned a lesson from the last war," said al-Kidra, referring to Israel's previous major offensive against Hamas targets in Gaza four years ago. Casualty figures at the time were hotly disputed, with Palestinians saying most of some 1,400 people killed were civilians, while Israel gave a lower figure and said most were militants.

In the chaos at the time, many Israeli attacks were not properly documented, al-Kidra said.

Now, he has two-member teams deployed at each of Gaza's 13 hospitals. They work in 12-hour shifts and update him with each new casualty. Equipped with two mobile phones and a walkie-talkie, the former physiotherapist and acupuncturist says he has barely slept since the offensive began Nov. 14.

One of his team members, Alaa Saraj, made the rounds in Shifa's emergency room Sunday. Amal Mattar, 38, was lying on a gurney, her face cut by shrapnel from an airstrike near her home in Tel al-Hawa, the Gaza City neighborhood. Saraj snapped her picture, and a doctor said she would need six stitches.

___

After more than a decade of on-and-off fighting with Israel, Gazans are not easily shaken.

A warning in Arabic by Israel's military that "Hamas is gambling with your fate and playing with fire," delivered Sunday by briefly taking over the frequencies of local radio stations, elicited mostly amusement.

A group of men hanging around a Gaza City taxi office tried to outdo each other in making fun of the warning. "Let's get some warmth from the fire that Hamas is using to burn us," one of them joked.

Hamas appears to have solid popular support for continued rocket attacks on Israel, despite the new hardships it has brought. Many here expressed satisfaction that Israelis should get a taste of the fear Gazans know so well.

Scenes showing Israelis ducking for cover from rocket fire were discussed with relish, and jokes have popped up on social media, including Facebook. In one, an Egyptian broadcaster with a popular music program asks a listener what he would like to hear. Answer: "The sound of the air raid siren in Tel Aviv."

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gazans-apply-lessons-learned-last-battle-200308141.html

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CSN: For 49ers, full-blown QB controversy

Colin Kaepernick seemed to be the only one who understood how delicate the next few days and perhaps weeks of the 49ers? season would be. Good vision on the field, good vision off it.

He was asked, based on coach Jim Harbaugh?s notion of having two quarterbacks with ?the hot hand,? if he thought he was ready to be the starting quarterback going forward, and he smiled and said, ?I don?t think one game can be a hot hand.?

Thousands will beg to differ after his exemplary work in the 49ers? ridiculously easy 32-7 throat-punching of the Chicago Bears Monday night. He gave no indication of being the neophyte he did the week before against St. Louis, not only staying in the pocket but commanding it. His raw numbers (16-of-23, 243 yards, two scores, a 133.1 rating) were arresting enough, but the way he rolled the 49er offense and even rediscovered tight end Vernon Davis in a surprisingly easy win over an allegedly good opponent.

[RELATED: Maiocco's Instant Replay: 49ers 32, Bears 7]

Indeed, starting now, he will be considered by the outside world to be the real starting quarterback ? even if the ever-coy Harbaugh decides otherwise.

In fact, you?re probably safe in thinking that Harbaugh will decide otherwise. One game does not a star make, and Harbaugh not only knows it, but frankly is banking on it. Having ?created? Smith, he isn?t likely to abandon him off one impressive performance against a broken team.

Oh, he kept the door open, to be sure. He dismissed the notion of ?the rule? that an injury doesn?t cost a player his starting job, and he said again and again, ?We have two quarterbacks with the hot hand, and we?ll make that decision when we have to make it.?

He also evaluated Kaepernick in the highest possible terms, citing ?his accuracy, poise in the pocket, running the offense, understanding the game plan,? and describing his pre-snap reads as ?in the high 90s, an A-plus operation.?

In short, Harbaugh raved about Kaepernick. But, and we cannot stress this too much, he has raved about Smith in his time, too. Harbaugh raves easily, even if all he?s doing is trying to smother a story.

Still, the Kaepernick raves, atop what all our eyes told us, creates a dynamic that hasn?t legitimately existed since the Montana-Young days. Oh, we?ve tried to create others, but the ingredients haven?t been the same. So, yes, this is about to get very very weird if Harbaugh lets it.

And he just might.

Now either he knows the dynamite with which he plays, or like so many other external pressures, he doesn?t care. He is sure that he can dominate his environment, and media speculation and the shrieks of the populace are part of that environment.

But Harbaugh is less a swashbuckler than a pragmatist, and even if Smith cannot clear all his protocols before the New Orleans game next week, he?ll want to see Kaepernick in a loud and hostile environment before he commits to anything longer term.

In short, Alex Smith will be the 49ers? starting quarterback again, and there?s no use you bitching about it. Whatever his limitations, perceived or otherwise, Smith has shown more in the aggregate than Kaepernick. And Harbaugh plays percentages.

Smith, on the other hand, is already sensing that he is about to become unpopular again, this time through no fault of his own. He has endured much in his time here, most of it as the earnest victim of the franchise?s wilderness years, and he has fixed almost all the things that have been laid at his feet by coaches who weren?t very coach-worthy and players who often weren?t.

And now that he?s shown he can handle the brand new car, people are trying to pry the keys away from him again. We may have to come to grips with the possibility that he is simply cursed.

But the real test for Smith now is narrowing his focus even more, and this is where Harbaugh can make things easy for him by telling him--if not anyone else--that he will be the starter again. He can say whatever he wants about two hot hands, but he can only put one man behind center Jonathan Goodwin. And he does not yet know with the metaphysical certitude a coach must have that Colin Kaepernick is the next superior 49er quarterback.

We all thought the Bears game would be an enormous test for either Smith or Kaepernick, and we were wrong, as it turned out. The 49er defense saw to that, holding Chicago to 143 total yards, the second lowest total of any team this season, and two yards fewer than the 145 the 49ers held the New York Jets to in Week 4. Aldon Smith stood proudly on Jason Campbell?s thorax, but nothing else worked for the Bears, either.

That, though, is the backstory. This is a quarterback controversy town, and this is a full-blown quarterback controversy, with 20 rooms, marble floors, platinum inlaid fixtures, a magnificent entry hall, and a huge garden with wild animals running free behind it.

It isn?t really, of course. Not inside the building, where such things really matter. Harbaugh isn?t ready for that one yet, only because Smith remains the smarter play.

But outside, where the screaming happens, it?s on, Jack. It?s so on.

Source: http://www.csnbayarea.com/11/20/12/For-SF-this-is-a-full-blown-QB-controver/nbcsportsniners.html?blockID=804107&feedID=2800

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The Three "Financial Structure" Paradigms Of Modern Finance ...

In a prior post, we discussed the implications of the global shadow banking system having risen to the unprecedented level of roughly 100% of global GDP. By now it should be quite obvious to even the most jaded optimists, that the reason why traditional leverage conduits are no longer applicable (and the only real source of bank credit creation is the Fed via the hopeless blocked up excess reserve pathway), and why credit money (and hence in a Keynesian world "growth") has to come via deposit-free, unregulated "shadow" venues, is that there are no longer enough good money good assets for conventional secured credit creation, and viable levered projected cash flows for conventional unsecured credit creation. Yet not the entire world has gone all in on this gambit, which together with the Fed's money printing, is truly the last bastion of "money' creation. In fact, as the FRB demonstrated, there are three distinct paradigms when it comes to source of credit creation or as it puts it, "financial structure": the US "massive shadow banking system" way, the German "conventional bank deposits funds loan creation" way, and the Saudi Arabian, and soon everyone else, "central planning to the max" way. In a nutshell, these are the three credit system structure extremes, with everything else currently inbetween. These can be visualized as follows:

Follows the FRB's commentary on these three financial system "paradigms"

Three main groups of jurisdictions emerge when analysing the structure of financial systems based on the share of banks, insurance companies and pension funds, other NBFIs/OFIs, public financial institutions and central banks in the total (see Annex 2 and Exhibit 3-1):

• A first group includes advanced economies characterised by a dominant share of banks combined with a limited share of OFIs that does not exceed 20%. Jurisdictions such as Australia, Canada, France, Germany, Japan, Spain fall in this category.
• A second group includes economies where the share of OFIs is above 20% of the total financial system and relatively similar, or higher, to that of banks. For instance, the Netherlands, the UK, the US, fall in this category.
• A third group includes emerging market and developing economies where the share of public financial institutions or the central bank is significant, often on account of high foreign exchange reserves or sovereign wealth funds, and where the share of OFIs is relatively low. This group includes jurisdictions such as Argentina, China, Indonesia, Russia and Saudi Arabia.

The chart above, incidentally, explains much if not all, the tension in modern finance.

On one hand, Germany and some of the other more stable financial systems in the world such as Canada, have traditionally relied on deposits (a bank liability) to fund bank assets (loans, secured mostly and to a less extent unsecured), represented in this case by the Green line (traditional banks) being so far higher than the Red line (Shadow banks). This system had a direct linearity between cause (deposit dollar) and effect (loan dollar), magnified simply by the legacy structures of fractional reserve banking.

It is this chart which explains why Germany is so scared of hyperinflation: should the massive "deposit" liability tranche of its banks start to withdraw over fears of rising price, and start chasing hard assets, not only would this start an epic bank run, not only will banks be promptly undercapitalized (recall that Deutsche's Bank's Tangible Capital is in the ~2% neighborhood, meaning the bank can withstand just 2% of deposits flowing out due to an inflation risk scare or otherwise, before it has to start selling assets to keep its equity buffer in place).

Ironically, it is the fact that Germany played along the rules of the conventional game that has put it in the current predicament: had Germany followed in the footsteps of many others, such as the US, and had "Other Financial Institutions" (OFIs) represent the bulk of assets, the Bundesbank and German politicians could care one bit what the ECB does to spark inflation fears. After all shadow banking is deposit free, and there is no fear of deposit outflows leading to an undercapitalized position. Sadly, that is the price to pay for preserving some semblance of a traditional banking system.

Which takes us to the US (and UK and Holland) three jurisdictions, where Shadow Banks (or OFIs) represent the bulk of assets. It is here that deposit levels are largely irrelevant as the financial system has over the past 2 decades primarily used shadow liabilities as funding conduits, which in turn means that central planning authorities have far greater degrees of freedom to intervene and monetize assets in the system, to preserve overall systemic leverage. It is also this tension between non-German Europe (willing to load up with Shadow liabilities) and Germany (not quite so willing), that has defined the European crisis for the past 3 years. It also implies that going forward central bank intervention will be determined to a big extent how dominant the Banking Sector is, whether Shadow Banking liabilities are rising (non-German Europe mostly) or falling (the US), and the relative position of central banks within the financial sector).

Which finally takes us to the third paradigm, that os Saudi Arabia, and China, and Russia, and Argentina, and Indonesia, and Switzerland and slowly but surely virtually every other place in the world, as the coordinated central bank cartel becomes the one and only source of money. And not just any money, but the definition of "Gresham Law" money, as creeping central planning and ubiquitous monetization, means very soon only central banks will be the source of any incremental leverage, while all "good credit" is slowly but surely driven out of the system (courtesy of perpa-ZIRP and fears of what happens when central banks finally lose control).

It is this third paradigm that is the preamble to the final collapse, because just before the endgame, it will be every central bank against everyone else, and against itself, whereby the only way to get ahead is to destroy your own currency of exchange as fast as possible, at first on a relative basis, by devaluing against all other currencies in a closed loop, then on an absolute, by devaluing against hard assets (see Executive Order 6102 and PM confiscations/redenominations).

It is this endspiel that the entire developed world is rapidly rushing toward. And it is this endspiel that only the hopelessly clueless central bankers and Economist PhDs that are responsible for bringing the world to the edge of collapse, are confident can be safely navigated. Everyone else is quietly tiptoeing toward the exits...

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Source: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2012-11-18/three-financial-structure-paradigms-modern-finance

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Obama: Historic Myanmar visit underscores progress

BANGKOK (AP) ? On the eve of his landmark trip to Myanmar, President Barack Obama tried to assure critics that his visit was not a premature reward for a long-isolated nation still easing its way toward democracy.

"This is not an endorsement of the government," Obama said Sunday in Thailand as he opened a three-country dash through Asia. "This is an acknowledgement that there is a process under way inside that country that even a year and a half, two years ago, nobody foresaw."

Obama was set to become the first U.S. president to visit Myanmar, with Air Force One scheduled to touch down in Yangon on Monday morning. Though Obama planned to spend just six hours in the country, the much-anticipated stop came as the result of a remarkable turnaround in the countries' relationship.

The president's Asia tour also marks his formal return to the world stage after months mired in a bruising re-election campaign. For his first postelection trip, he tellingly settled on Asia, a region he has deemed the region as crucial to U.S. prosperity and security.

Aides say Asia will factor heavily in Obama's second term as the U.S. seeks to expand its influence in an attempt to counter China.

China's rise is also at play in Myanmar, which long has aligned itself with Beijing. But some in Myanmar fear that China is taking advantage of its wealth of natural resources, so the country is looking for other partners to help build its nascent economy.

Obama has rewarded Myanmar's rapid adoption of democratic reforms by lifting some economic penalties. The president has appointed a permanent ambassador to the country, also known as Burma, and pledged greater investment if Myanmar continues to progress following a half-century of military rule.

Obama's administration also reopened a USAID mission in Myanmar earlier this year. During his stop Monday, the president is expected to announce $170 million in funding over the next two years for a democracy program led by the mission.

Administration officials say the turnaround in Myanmar marks the most successful implementation of the type of engagement Obama pledged in his inaugural address, when he told rogue nations that the U.S. "will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist."

But some human rights groups say Myanmar's government, which continues to hold hundreds of political prisoners and is struggling to contain ethnic violence, hasn't done enough to earn a personal visit from Obama.

Speaking from neighboring Thailand, Obama said Sunday he was under no illusions that Myanmar had done all it needed to do. But he said the U.S. could play a critical role in helping ensure the country doesn't slip backward.

"I'm not somebody who thinks that the United States should stand on the sidelines and not want to get its hands dirty when there's an opportunity for us to encourage the better impulses inside a country," Obama said during a joint press conference Sunday with Thailand's prime minister.

Even as Obama turned his sights on Asia, widening violence in the Middle East competed for his attention.

Obama told reporters Sunday that Israel had the right to defend itself against missile attacks from Gaza. But he urged Israel not to launch a ground assault in Gaza, saying it would put Israeli soldiers, as well as Palestinian citizens, at greater risk and hamper an already vexing peace process.

"If we see a further escalation of the situation in Gaza, the likelihood of us getting back on any kind of peace track that leads to a two-state solution is going to be pushed off way into the future," Obama said.

The ongoing violence is likely to trail Obama as he makes his way from Thailand to Myanmar to Cambodia, his final stop before returning to Washington early Wednesday.

Obama will meet separately in Myanmar with Prime Minister Thein Sein, who has orchestrated much of his country's recent reforms. The president will also meet with longtime Myanmar democracy activist Aung Sun Suu Kyi in the home where she spent years under house arrest.

The president, as he seeks to assuage critics, has trumpeted Suu Kyi's support of his outreach efforts, saying Sunday that she was "very encouraging" of his trip.

The White House says Obama will express his concern for the ongoing ethnic tensions in Myanmar's western Rakhine state, where more than 110,000 people ? the vast majority of them Muslims known as Rohingya ? have been displaced.

The U.N. has called the Rohingya ? who are widely reviled by the Buddhist majority in Myanmar ? among the world's most persecuted people.

The White House says Obama will press the matter Monday with Thein Sein, along with demands to free remaining political prisoners as the nation transitions to democracy.

The president will cap his trip to Myanmar with a speech at Rangoon University, the center of the country's struggle for independence against Britain and the launching point for many pro-democracy protests. The former military junta shut the dormitories in the 1990s fearing further unrest and forced most students to attend classes on satellite campuses on the outskirts of town.

Obama began his Asian tour on a steamy day in Bangkok with a visit to the Wat Pho Royal Monastery. In stocking feet, the president and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton walked around a golden statue of a sitting Buddha. The complex is a sprawling display of buildings with colorful spires, gardens and waterfalls.

Obama then paid a courtesy call to the ailing, 84-year-old U.S.-born King Bhumibol Adulyadej in his hospital quarters. The king, the longest serving living monarch, was born in Cambridge, Mass., and studied in Europe.

___

Associated Press writer Jim Kuhnhenn contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/obama-historic-myanmar-visit-underscores-progress-214229489.html

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Israel strike kills 11 in Gaza, including children

An emergency rescue worker carries a child's body found in the Daloo family house rubble following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. Palestinian medical officials say at least 10 civilians, including women and young children, have been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

An emergency rescue worker carries a child's body found in the Daloo family house rubble following an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. Palestinian medical officials say at least 10 civilians, including women and young children, have been killed in an Israeli airstrike in Gaza City. (AP Photo/Hatem Moussa)

A Palestinian man cries next the body of a dead relative in the morgue of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. President Barack Obama on Sunday defended Israel's airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, but he warned that escalating the offensive with Israeli ground troops could deepen the death toll and undermine any hope of a peace process with the Palestinians. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

A Palestinian man kisses the hand of a dead relative in the morgue of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. President Barack Obama on Sunday defended Israel's airstrikes on the Gaza Strip, but he warned that escalating the offensive with Israeli ground troops could deepen the death toll and undermine any hope of a peace process with the Palestinians. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue)

Palestinian Yoused Abu Khoussa, carries the body of his year-and-a-half old son Iyad, during his funeral in Bureij Refugee Camp, central Gaza Strip, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. The baby boy was one of five Palestinian children killed in Israeli strikes on Sunday, according to a Gaza health official.(AP Photo/Adel Hana)

A Palestinian man waves national flag during a protest against Israel's operations in Gaza Strip, outside Ofer, an Israeli military prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah, Sunday, Nov. 18, 2012. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) ? An Israeli missile ripped through a two-story home in a residential area of Gaza City on Sunday, killing at least 11 civilians, including four young children and an 81-year-old woman, in the single deadliest attack of Israel's offensive against Islamic militants.

The bloodshed was likely to raise pressure on Israel to end the fighting, even as it pledged to intensify the offensive by striking the homes of wanted militants. High numbers of civilian casualties in an offensive four years ago led to fierce criticism and condemnation of Israel.

In all, 73 Palestinians, including 37 civilians, have been killed in the five-day onslaught. Three Israeli civilians have also died from Palestinian rocket fire.

President Barack Obama said he was in touch with players across the region in hopes of halting the fighting, while also warning of the risks of Israel expanding its air assault into a ground war.

"We're going to have to see what kind of progress we can make in the next 24, 36, 48 hours," Obama said during a visit in Thailand.

On the ground, there were no signs of any letup in the fighting as Israel announced it was widening the offensive to target the military commanders of the ruling Hamas group.

The Israeli military carried out dozens of airstrikes throughout the day, and naval forces bombarded targets along Gaza's Mediterranean coast. Many of the attacks focused on homes where militant leaders or weapons were believed to be hidden.

Palestinian militants continued to barrage Israel with rockets, firing more than 100 on Sunday, and setting off air raid sirens across the southern part of the country. Some 40 rockets were intercepted by Israel's U.S.-financed "Iron Dome" rocket-defense system, including two that targeted the metropolis of Tel Aviv.

Israel's decision to step up its attacks in Gaza marked a new and risky phase of the operation, given the likelihood of civilian casualties in the densely populated territory of 1.6 million Palestinians. Israel launched the offensive Wednesday in what it said was an effort to end months of intensifying rocket fire from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip.

In the day's deadliest violence, the Israeli navy fired at a home where it said a top wanted militant was hiding. The missile struck the home of the Daloo family in Gaza City, reducing the structure to rubble.

Frantic rescuers, bolstered by bulldozers, pulled the limp bodies of children from the ruins of the house, including a toddler and a 5-year-old, as survivors and bystanders screamed in grief. Later, the bodies of the children were laid out in the morgue of Gaza City's Shifa Hospital.

Among the 11 dead were four small children and five women, including an 81-year-old, Gaza health official Ashraf al-Kidra said.

More than a dozen homes of Hamas commanders or families linked to Hamas were struck on Sunday. Though most were empty ? their inhabitants having fled to shelter ? at least three had families in them. Al-Kidra said 20 of 27 people killed Sunday were civilians, mostly women and children.

Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, said that "the Israeli people will pay the price" for the killing of civilians.

Israel sought to place the blame on militants, saying they were intentionally operating in places inhabited by civilians. The military has released videos and images of what it says are militants firing rockets from mosques, schools and public buildings.

"Hamas is using the Gaza population as human shields," said Brig. Gen. Yoav Mordechai, the chief Israeli spokesman. "They are exploiting crowded residential urban areas."

He acknowledged, however, that it was not clear whether the militant targeted in Sunday's attack was killed, despite earlier claims of success. "I still don't know what became of him," Mordechai told Channel 10 TV.

The prospect of mounting civilian casualties could quickly change the momentum of Israel's operation. Israel launched the offensive on Wednesday with a lightning airstrike that killed Hamas' military chief. Since then, it has carried out a blistering campaign of more than 1,200 airstrikes, targeting suspected rocket storage and launching sites.

Israel also struck two high-rise buildings housing media outlets, damaging the top-floor offices of the Hamas TV station, Al Aqsa, and a Lebanese-based broadcaster, Al Quds TV, seen as sympathetic to the Islamists. Six Palestinian journalists were wounded, including one who lost a leg, the Gaza press association said.

Foreign broadcasters, including British, German and Italian TV outlets, also had offices in the buildings.

Lt. Col. Avital Leibovich, an Israeli military spokeswoman, said the strikes targeted Hamas communications equipment on the rooftops. She accused the group of using journalists for cover.

Israeli officials expressed readiness to take the offensive even further with a ground invasion of Gaza. Israel has mobilized thousands of forces and columns of armored vehicles along the border ahead of a possible incursion.

"The Israeli military is prepared to significantly expand the operation," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared at the start of the weekly Cabinet meeting.

The threats come at an important crossroads ? with a fateful choice between further escalation or agreeing to a cease-fire with Hamas. Israel and the West consider Hamas, which seized control of Gaza in 2007, to be a terrorist group.

A ground operation would carry grave risks, given the likelihood of heavy casualties on both sides. The Israeli offensive into Gaza four years ago left hundreds of civilians dead, drawing fierce international condemnation and war crimes accusations.

Israel says its intelligence and technology have been perfected since then to minimize civilian casualties. But Gaza's crowded urban landscape makes it all but impossible to avoid them altogether, as Sunday's attack in Gaza City illustrated.

"In this case, you can't avoid collateral damage if they position the rockets in densely populated areas, in mosques, school yards," said Israeli Vice Premier Moshe Yaalon. "We shouldn't be blamed for the outcome."

Avihai Mandelblit, a recently retired chief advocate general in the Israeli military, said that from a legal perspective, "there's no immunity to anyone if you put weapons inside of civilian infrastructure."

But he acknowledged the sight of dead civilians could create a public relations debacle for Israel. "As more civilians will get hurt, the legitimacy clock is going to click faster to end this operation," he said.

Meanwhile, Obama and British Foreign Secretary William Hague cautioned against a potential Israeli ground invasion of Gaza.

Obama blamed Palestinian militants for starting the round of fighting by raining rockets onto Israel and said the U.S. supported Israel's right to protect itself. "Israel has every right to expect that it does not have missiles fired into its territory," Obama said. "We are fully supportive of Israel's right to defend itself."

Hague also said Hamas "bears principal responsibility" for initiating the violence, but made clear the diplomatic risks of an Israeli escalation. "A ground invasion is much more difficult for the international community to sympathize with or support," he said.

Obama said he had been in touch with Netanyahu as well as the leaders of Egypt and Turkey as international attempts to broker a cease-fire continued. Egypt, which often serves as a mediator between Israel and Hamas, has taken a leading role in the efforts.

Israeli TV stations said an Israeli envoy traveled to Cairo on Sunday, and was returning to Israel with details of cease-fire proposals. Channel 2 TV, citing American diplomats, said Netanyahu's personal envoy, Yitzhak Molcho, would be headed to Washington in the coming days.

Hamas officials said their supreme leader, Khaled Meshaal, also held talks with Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, and that Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu was to visit Gaza on Tuesday.

Izzat Rishaq, a senior Hamas official, said Egypt, Qatar and Turkey were continuing efforts to reach a cease-fire, but no "final results" had been reached.

Israel and Gaza's militant Hamas rulers remain far apart on any terms for a halt to the bloodshed.

Hamas is linking a truce deal to a complete lifting of the border blockade on Gaza imposed since Islamists seized the territory by force. Hamas also seeks Israeli guarantees to halt targeted killings of its leaders and military commanders. Israeli officials reject such demands.

They say they are not interested in a "time-out," and want firm guarantees that militant rocket fire into Israel will end. Past cease-fires have been short lived.

___

Federman reported from Jerusalem. Associated Press Writer Lauren E. Bohn in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-11-18-Israel-Palestinians/id-feeac2d9352b43f8b08319b7eb934c41

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