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Thursday, December 29, 2011
Jest: Bad Omen... Tornado Drill Interrupts Wedding: http://t.co/JDCM9d8D
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Wednesday, December 28, 2011
deemehlow: Basically to Vh1 you are only valued as an accessory. RT @JamNoPeanut mob wives, baseball wives, hip hop wives, oh my! #vh1overdose
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Saturday, December 24, 2011
Morty Lefkoe: Do You Feel You Don't Deserve Your Success?
Are you one of the many executives who secretly feels that you are an impostor who doesn't really deserve your success? Do you feel, deep down, that you are really not good enough and that if others knew the truth about you, you'd lose all you had achieved?
If so, you are not alone. So many business executives have this feeling that it has been labeled the "Impostor Syndrome."
This common psychological phenomenon demonstrates how it is possible to hold negative beliefs about oneself despite a tremendous amount of evidence to the contrary. It seems that once we form these negative beliefs as a child, lots of evidence (a lot of practical success) and logical arguments are not sufficient to get rid of the beliefs.
I've written in prior posts why so many of us have negative self-esteem beliefs. But the question remains: Why do many people who believe I'm not good enough, I'm inadequate, I'm not capable, There's something wrong with me, I'm not important, I'm a fake and a fraud and other similar beliefs fail to achieve business success while other people with the same beliefs achieve tremendous success in business.
How do you survive?
There is a simple answer: a special type of belief that I call a "survival strategy belief."
Let me explain. Imagine you are a young child who has created a host of negative beliefs about yourself or about life. At this point you are in school, interacting with lots of other kids and adults. It dawns on you that you are going to grow up and will have to make your own way in life. You are confronted with a real dilemma, albeit an unconscious one: "How will I make it in life if there's something fundamentally wrong with me?"
Imagine the fear and anxiety you must feel when you experience these two conflicting "facts": On one hand, you sense that you must make it on your own in life. On the other hand, you have concluded that "There's something fundamentally wrong with me that will make it difficult, if not impossible, to make it on my own."
Anxiety is a painful feeling, so children who have it try to find ways of not feeling it. In tens of thousands of sessions with clients, I've discovered that people have two basic ways of dealing with the unpleasant feelings that are caused by negative self-esteem beliefs:
First, they use alcohol, drugs, sex, food, or other substances to cover up the feelings and numb themselves or to make themselves feel good. Underneath all addictions is a negative sense of self-esteem.
Second, they develop strategies that help them deal with the anxiety that stems from their negative beliefs. I call them "survival strategies" because the fear one experiences when one has negative self-esteem beliefs often makes one feel as if his survival is being threatened.
When a survival strategy is formed, the child also forms a belief about that strategy: "What makes me good enough (or important, or worthwhile, etc.) is having others think well of me (or making a lot of money, or taking care of people, etc.)" A variation of that is: "The way to survive is ...."
Survival strategies are based on a child's observation of what it takes to feel good about herself, to be important, to be worthwhile, or to be able to deal with life in spite of negative self-esteem beliefs.
(By the way, if you think you don't have any negative self-esteem beliefs, ask yourself: What makes you good enough [or important, or worthwhile, etc.]? When you answer anything other than "Nothing," it becomes clear that you need whatever you answered in order to be okay.)
$1,000,000 a year didn't help
Lawrence, a former client who works as an executive in a Wall Street firm, earns over $1,000,000 a year. His core belief is I don't matter, and his survival strategy belief is: What makes me worthwhile is being seen as important by others. As a result, he becomes anxious whenever a new person gets hired, or a colleague wins praise, or he isn't included in a meeting, or his boss doesn't acknowledge him after he's completed a project. In addition, that same belief has him work 14 hours a day, seven days a week, achieving things that his peers will see as important.
One consequence of being run by survival strategy beliefs is that you experience your survival as dependent on the success of your survival strategy. The need to fulfill the terms of your survival strategy dominates your life. Once you say you're not worthwhile just the way you are, no amount of accomplishment or praise will provide the unconditional sense of self-esteem you want and need.
So it should now be clear how it is possible to reach high positions in management and have all the trappings of success and still doubt yourself: you have a survival strategy belief that drove you to succeed and, at the same time, you had a lot of negative self-esteem beliefs underneath that makes you feel like an impostor.
Luckily, it is possible to eliminate your negative self-esteem beliefs, which will enable you to enjoy your success and no longer fear it will be taken away from you.
For more information about Morty Lefkoe and how his method for eliminating beliefs can improve business success, please go to http://lefkoe.com.
copyright ? 2011 Morty Lefkoe
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Friday, December 23, 2011
Winning Picks: Movies to See Before the Globes & Oscars
Want to know who you should be rooting for this awards season? Check out our list of 23 movies to see before the Golden Globes and Oscars!
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Thursday, December 22, 2011
Violent protest against power plant in another South China town (Reuters)
HAIMEN, China (Reuters) ? Police fired teargas to break up demonstrations on Thursday over a proposed power plant in a southern China town, where protests have escalated into clashes with police this week and officials tried to calm tempers by suspending the project.
Riot police were out in force and blocking entrances to Haimen town, aiming teargas canisters at lines of protesters on motorbikes to quell the latest outbreak of unrest in the southern province of Guangdong, an economic powerhouse.
Haimen, a coastal town of about 120,000 people, is about 130 km (80 miles) east of the village of Wukan, where a 10-day siege of villagers protesting against a "land grab" ended on Wednesday after the provincial government brokered a deal.
Protests in China have become relatively common over corruption, pollution, wages, and land grabs that local-level officials justify in the name of development. Chinese experts put the number of "mass incidents," as such protests are known, at about 90,000 a year in recent years.
The grip of Communist Party rule is not directly threatened by such bursts of unrest, but officials fear they could coalesce into broader, more organized challenges to their power.
The Haimen tensions have flared for three days as residents protest against plans for another coal-fired power plant, some turning over cars and throwing bricks in clashes with police.
On Thursday, riot police sent teargas into an open space to hold back a large band of protesters on motorbikes, according to footage shown on Hong Kong's Cable TV. As smoke billowed towards the crowd, some protesters could be seen riding away quickly.
"BEST FOR YOU TO LEAVE"
A Reuters witness earlier saw about 100 men on motorbikes had gathered to watch the wall of police, armed with batons and shields, who were blocking the highway near a large, shuttered petrol station.
"What place in the world builds two power plants within one kilometer?" said one of the Haimen residents, surnamed Cai, as he watched police lines just a few hundred meters away.
"The factories are hazardous to our health. Our fish are dying and there are so many people who've got cancer," he said.
"We thought of protesting outside the government office but we know none of them has listened to us. So we had no choice but to block the highway. The police beat up so many of the protesters in the past two days."
At one point on Thursday the Haimen residents screamed and surged forward when a riot policeman, waving his baton in the air, charged towards a man on a motorcycle who had been riding towards the police blockade on the highway.
"This place is very chaotic, I think it's best for you to leave immediately," a man who identified himself as a Shantou government official told a Reuters reporter.
CHALLENGE FOR PARTY CHIEF
Officials said on Wednesday they would suspend construction on the project, but residents refused to back down, demanding the plan be scrapped completely.
The Haimen unrest is the latest challenge for Guangdong Party chief Wang Yang, a contender for promotion to the highest echelons of the Communist Party in a leadership transition in late 2012.
China's top newspaper on Thursday praised the defusing of tensions in nearby Wukan, suggesting that the handling of the dispute would not necessarily hurt Wang's prospects.
The People's Daily chided local officials for letting the dispute get out of hand in the first place, but also hailed the outcome as an example of how the government should handle an increasingly fractious and vocal society.
Residents of Wukan had fended off police with barricades and held protests for days over the land dispute and death in police custody of a village organizer, rejecting the government's position that an autopsy showed he died of natural causes.
But after talks with senior officials, village representatives told residents to pull down protest banners and go back to their normal lives -- provided the government kept to its word.
Police in Haimen are going the more traditional route for breaking up protests in China -- with teargas and truncheons. Exits to Haimen from the expressway to nearby Shantou city were closed down.
But life appeared to be normal in other parts of Haimen on Thursday, with shops open and people going about their business.
Government officials, including those in charge of security, have been vague and played down the unrest. A Shantou official told Reuters by telephone on Wednesday there had been injuries in the clashes but no deaths.
On Thursday, an official at the Chaoyang Public Security Bureau denied any deaths or injuries, although he said there had been a "gathering" the previous day. Haimen is under the jurisdiction of Chaoyang district.
State news agency Xinhua said several hundred people had protested on a highway on Wednesday. According to Hong Kong's Ming Pao newspaper, more than 1,000 residents had gathered at a toll gate to confront hundreds of riot police.
On Thursday, China's main official newspapers published an account of a speech by Zhou Yongkang, chief of domestic security, who urged law-and-order cadres to ensure "a harmonious and stable social setting" ahead of the Communist Party's 18th Congress late next year.
At that congress, President Hu Jintao and his cohort will give way to a new generation of central leaders, a sensitive transition for the one-party government.
(Additional reporting by Sisi Tang, Alison Leung and Tan Ee Lyn in HONG KONG, and Ben Blanchard and Chris Buckley in BEIJING; Editing by Paul Tait)
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Sunday, December 18, 2011
Film details Jerry Lewis' 'Method to the Madness' (AP)
LOS ANGELES ? Gregg Barson is a documentarian, not a comedian. But when Jerry Lewis let him know that more than a dozen people were waiting in line to tell his story, Barson offered a persuasive punch line.
"Yeah, but they're not me," was Barson's comeback, followed by a momentary quiver of fear that he'd gone too far with the veteran star.
"He said, `I like that. You know why? Because you remind me of me,'" Barson recalled. That chutzpah-fueled exchange led to "Method to the Madness of Jerry Lewis," debuting 8 p.m. EST Saturday on Encore. Other airings include 11:30 a.m. EST Sunday and 8 p.m. EST Tuesday.
The film focuses on what makes the 85-year-old ? and still working ? Lewis tick as a performer and filmmaker. Those looking for dish on his family life or breakup with stage and screen partner Dean Martin or abrupt departure from the Muscular Dystrophy Association telethon he'd nurtured for nearly five decades won't find it here.
Barson, who describes himself as being "in heaven" whenever he caught a Lewis film on TV as a youngster, said his intent was to focus on Lewis' career from vaudeville on and his contributions to comedy and movies.
Younger people without exposure to Lewis' work likely consider him as "that telethon guy. Hopefully, the film will open their eyes as opposed to thinking he did one thing one day a year," Barson said.
During more than three years of filming, Barson had near-complete access as he followed Lewis from his yacht in San Diego to his home in Las Vegas to concert dates and to the Cannes Film Festival in France, the country that idolizes Lewis as a cinematic genius.
He was good company, Barson said. "He's always up, funny and playful. ... The sparkle, he didn't put in on for the camera. He's being real."
"Method to the Madness," which opens with Jerry Seinfeld, Eddie Murphy and other comedians anointing Lewis as comedy royalty, is an unabashed valentine. It is also a reminder that Lewis inspired rock-star levels of fan devotion, and of how impressively "The Bellboy" (1960) and many other films starring and written and directed by Lewis ruled the box office.
Barson, who made the well-received Phyllis Diller documentary "Goodnight, We Love You," sees parallels between Diller and Lewis, including their work ethic.
"She was 84 when she retired, and he's 85 and still working. They never rest on their laurels," Barson said. "They still care. They're not phoning it in."
And that, he said, is part of Lewis' method: Every aspect of his performance is planned.
"As Eddie Murphy says (in the film), slapstick looks simple but the reason it's been around so long is how well thought out it is," Barson said.
Lewis is pleased with the film. And his health is good, according to the filmmaker, who spills one appropriately quirky personal secret on his subject: "He drinks a lot of orange soda. Maybe that's the fountain of youth."
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Congress delays food marketing guidelines for kids (AP)
WASHINGTON ? The Federal Trade Commission says it is taking another look at guidelines designed to limit the marketing of unhealthy foods to kids after Congress delayed the effort.
The voluntary guidelines proposed by the government earlier this year set maximum levels of fat, sugars and sodium and ask food companies not to market foods that go beyond those levels to children ages 2 through 17. That could limit colorful cartoon characters on cereal packages, television ads and product websites.
The food industry, backed by Republicans in Congress, has lobbied aggressively against the guidelines. They say they are too broad and would limit marketing of almost all of the nation's favorite foods, including yogurts and many children's cereals. Though the guidelines would be voluntary, food companies say they fear the government will retaliate against them if they don't go along.
The delay, which would require the government to study the costs of the effort before releasing final guidelines, is buried in a massive spending bill to pay for the government's daily operations. The House passed the measure on Friday with expected Senate approval over the weekend.
In a statement Friday, Cecelia Prewett of the FTC said that "Congress has clearly changed its mind" about the marketing guidelines and that the government "will be assessing its language and working toward congressional intent." Congress originally asked for the guidelines in a 2009 spending bill to help combat childhood obesity.
Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa., who led the 2009 effort, said Friday that the delay "is a huge loss for our nation's children, who will continue to be bombarded with ads for junk food and sugary soft drinks."
The agencies in charge of the effort ? including the FTC, the Agriculture Department, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ? have already backed off the original guidelines proposed in April, which industry argued were too strict. David Vladeck, director of the Federal Trade Commission's Bureau of Consumer Protection, said at a congressional hearing in October that the government would likely soften the guidelines.
Among the changes he suggested were narrowing children targeted to 2- to 11-year-olds instead of up to age 17 and allowing marketing of the unhealthier foods at fundraisers and sporting events. Vladeck also said his agency would not recommend that companies change packaging or remove brand characters from food products that don't qualify, as was originally suggested.
Vladeck has called the idea that the voluntary guidelines would become mandatory "a myth."
The industry came out with its own guidelines over the summer, proposing to limit advertising on some foods for children but adjusting the criteria. Though the industry proposal is more lenient than the government plan, the effort has won praise from federal officials, who said they will consider it as they finalize the guidelines.
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Saturday, December 17, 2011
Peru could revive talks with foes of Newmont mine (Reuters)
LIMA (Reuters) ? Peru said on Wednesday it could reopen negotiations with foes of Newmont Mining's $4.8 billion Conga project, a sign a solution to the month long impasse could be found, after a crackdown coerced protesters to call off their rallies.
A detente might vindicate the harsh strategy of new Prime Minister Oscar Valdes, who froze the assets of regional leaders in Cajamarca, detained high-profile protesters, and imposed a state of emergency to show the government would not tolerate protests against projects.
Valdes, a former army officer, had pushed the strategy while interior minister. He was promoted in a weekend Cabinet shakeup by President Ollanta Humala that critics said would lead to law-and-order crackdowns on protesters and less willingness to use dialogue to solve hundreds of environmental disputes nationwide.
On Tuesday, the governor of Cajamarca, Gregorio Santos, wrote a letter to Valdes inviting him to hold talks, but also calling on him to unfreeze the local government's assets and end the state of emergency.
Valdes responded late on Wednesday in a letter to Santos obtained by Reuters. He recognized the end of the protests and said the government was willing to reopen talks with local authorities to promote regional development, but he did not mention the frozen assets.
"We are hoping dialogue can be restored," Valdes said in the
letter. He said only Humala could decide to end the state of emergency, and reiterated the project's environmental impact study would be reviewed by international experts in an audit.
Protesters who feared the Conga gold mine would disrupt their source of water, a string of alpine lakes, caused Newmont and its Peruvian partner Buenaventura to temporarily halt work last month on the project that would be the largest investment in Peru's mining history.
Newmont has said its environment plan for the mine, which was approved a year ago by the previous government, meets the highest standards in the mining industry and calls for the construction of reservoirs to replace the lakes.
The standoff over Conga has challenged Humala's young presidency as he was supported largely by the rural poor in a June election and promised to hold miners to better social and environmental standards in a country with a high 30 percent poverty rate.
But the Cabinet shuffle on Sunday underscored the one-time leftist's swift move toward the right. He kept investor favorite Luis Miguel Castilla as finance minister and appointed fellow former army officer Valdes to run the government.
Miners consulted by Reuters in recent days have said despite Conga's troubles they are still committed to investing in Peru, a top metals producer, with the majority of its potential untapped and where profits have soared on high global prices. Many said they were redoubling community relations efforts to win local support for their projects.
Anglo American's Peru country manager Luis Marchese said plans for the company's $3 billion Quellaveco project "have not changed," and that the mine could begin producing copper in 2015.
Australia's Metminco Limited also said its $2.2 billion copper and molybdenum project Calatos was moving ahead in southern Peru.
"There are concerns at the moment, but we've never thought of suspending anything, we're trying to do things right," the firm's legal representative, Eduardo Llosa said.
Humala has said repeatedly that he wants mining, which generates 60 percent of Peru's exports and brings needed tax revenue, but he also wants businesses to contribute more to development in rural towns and better respect the environment in a country where a third of the people live in poverty.
The new minister of energy and mines, Jorge Merino, a technocrat appointed on Sunday, echoed the message shortly after taking office this week, saying he would seek mining investment but will try to ensure it helps underserved communities that have not yet seen the benefits of Peru's decade-long boom.
Canada's Candente Copper said its $1.6 billion Ca?ariaco project would depend in part on its own community relations work.
"There is always a possibility that the community rejects the project in consultation, but we are confident in our capacity to communicate," said Ca?ariaco's general manager Marco Marticorena.
(Additional reporting by Patricia Velez and Teresa Cespedes. Writing by Caroline Stauffer.; Editing by Terry Wade and Carol Bishopric)
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Spain, the perfect golf escape and so much more
Dec. 14, 2011
By David Brice, Golf International, Inc.
David Brice, CEO of Golf International, reviews destinations on PGATOUR.COM that can be experienced by purchasing a package with Golf international, a leading provider of high-end international golf travel. For more information about this trip or any other of Golf International's destination trips, click here.
Golf has been played in Spain for well over a century, but it's only during the last fifteen years or so that American golfers have come to the realization that Spain is an exceptional golf destination. Not only is this fascinating country filled with history, culture, excitement and wonderful gastronomy, it's also the center of golf on Continental Europe. Boasting an impressive inventory of well over 300 top quality golf courses, many ranked among Europe's best, Spain also enjoys the ideal climate to play many of them 12 months a year - Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall, Spain's golf season simply refuses to end.
La Cala offers three championship layouts, all by maestro Cabell Robinson.
San Roque's New Course is a piece of contemporary design genius from Perry Dye.
Marbella's Puerto Banus Marina -- center of all the action and within striking distance of 40 top courses.
Seville is everyone's favorite Spanish city.
Las-Colinas is a new sparkler on the Costa Blanca.
Valencia is a charmer guaranteed to capture every visitors heart.
El Saler is the pride and joy of Valencia and one of Spain's top 5 courses.
Barcelona's colorful Ramblas is an irresistible magnet for visitors and locals alike.
PGA Catalunya's Stadium Course -- Pride of the Costa Brava and ranked no. 7 among Europe's Top 100.
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The 1997 Ryder Cup was responsible for bringing Spanish golf to the world's attention with the surprise announcement that Spain would have the honor of being the very first country outside of Britain and the USA, to ever host the world's most prestigious golf event. Skeptics and believers alike watched in wonderment as a course called Valderrama unveiled its classic finesse and confounded the best players on the planet. Impressed golfers around the globe began speaking of Spain in the same breath as they did Scotland or Ireland - Spanish golf had arrived.
Today it's almost as common for an American golf traveler to spend a week or so in Spain as it is in the more traditional golf destinations of northern Europe. Valderrama continues its multi-year ranking as Europe's very best course bar none, sitting alongside Pebble Beach, St. Andrews, Augusta National and other luminaries of the golfing world. But Spain is far more than a single layout -- this amazing country contains a depth of quality golf courses that take second place to none.
Many of Spain's best courses are located along the Mediterranean coastline, where they often occur in clusters, close to historic towns, villages and cities, with a never-ending array of cultural, shopping, sightseeing and gastronomic possibilities. This after all is Spain, where the excitement only begins on the golf courses and there are always so many other things to see and do.
The main concentration of courses along the Mediterranean occurs in the fascinating region of Andalucia and the Costa del Sol, affectionately referred to as the Costa del Golf. Laid out like a string of pearls, more than 80 world-class layouts are scattered along and around some100 miles of shoreline.
This is the heart and soul of Spanish golf. Included are some of the very best, including world famous Valderrama, outstanding Finca Cortesin, La Reserva, La Cala, San Roque and literally dozens more, all qualifying as Europe's crme de la crme courses.
For a special treat, take a couple of days to explore everyone's favorite city, Seville, located an easy 2 hour drive from the coast. The birthplace of flamenco and one of Spain's many centers of fine cuisine, there are also a few golf courses that shouldn't be missed, including Jose Maria Olazabal's masterly design at the Royal Seville Golf Club.
If you are this close, take an hour's drive down the road to Jerez de la Frontera, Sherry Capital of the World. Nearby Montecastillo Golf Club is another of Spain's shining golf stars and a frequent past host to the Volvo Open, until very recently, The European Tour's season grand finale event. While you are in Jerez, be sure to take in a visit to the world famous Royal School of Equestrian Art, it's an exhibition of horsemanship like nothing you have ever seen before.
But there are many other, not-to-be-missed, Andalucian sightseeing attractions, all literally calling out to be discovered -- Granada, home to the Alhambra, one of the world's finest monuments; Cordoba, containing Spain's most stunning Moorish architecture, including La Mezquita, the largest and arguably, most beautiful mosque in existence. Wander a little off the beaten path and discover Los Pueblos Blancos, an ancient network of fortressed white villages that have stood here for centuries, and golf will never be far away
Further eastward along the coastline there are more intriguing golf clusters, in the regions surrounding the cities of Alicante and Valencia. This is the Costa Blanca, a popular beach vacation spot for sun-seekers and another golf haven, where quality courses thrive and true gems are not unusual.
Alicante Golf Club may appear to be a little squeezed into its condo-lined layout, close to the city, but it's an excellent, Seve Ballesteros design with wonderfully contoured greens that will rank alongside the best greens you've ever mis-read. Making up for the abundant condo's is a piece of older urban development, set alongside the 14th green -- the remarkably well preserved remains of a huge Roman villa, dating from the 2nd century -- history lessons and golf come hand-in-hand in these parts.
To the south of Alicante is the spectacular, La Finca Golf Resort and Spa, a magnificent 5 star property with a uniquely testing championship course that has garnered nothing but the highest praise since it first opened, 7 years ago. No less inspiring is the truly superb, Las Colinas Golf & Country Club, a masterpiece by one of our favorite local residents, Cabell Robinson, a transplanted American with a very special design talent.
Other noteworthy layouts in the area include the very pleasant, Bonalba Golf & Spa, with it's preponderance of water hazards; a pair of stunning Jack Nicklaus layouts at Villaitana Wellness & Golf Resort and midway between Alicante and Valencia, impressive, La Sella Golf. Jose Maria Olazabal played a large part in La Sella's design, a fact that shines through clearly in its demands for an excellent short game.
The captivating city of Valencia is energetic, elegant and filled to over-flowing with history, fascinating sightseeing and truly extraordinary architecture, all easily discovered on foot. This is also another of Spain's gastronomic capitals where paella reigns supreme and the regional wines, seldom seen on this side of the Atlantic, are absolutely delightful. Valencia, much like Seville, has a magical appeal for all, whether a golfer or not and is guaranteed to win a place in every visitor's heart. The city is quite unique and well worth visiting as a tourist and for the golfers it's a definite must. This is home to El Saler Golf Club, officially ranked as Spain's # 2 course, following hot on Valderrama's heels, but providing a totally different but no less an exhilarating golf experience.
El Saler is a seaside test that has been compared to the best links courses in Scotland and provides a wonderfully stern examination of golfing skills to push the most accomplished player to the extreme. It's an outstanding layout that simply cannot be missed and being conveniently located, only 20 minutes from the heart of Valencia, will tempt any golf aficionado to return for a second round. Don't resist, seldom do we find courses that are quite this good. There's more golf to experience around town, including the hilly and very handsome course at El Bosque, an exciting Robert Trent Jones design and a very stylish layout that cannot fail to please, even the most seasoned international golfer.
The fun track at Club de Golf Escorpion doesn't pretend to be anything, other than what it is, a delightful course to restore the confidence perhaps lost to El Saler or El Bosque and pure golf enjoyment amid beautiful surroundings -- and it's all within minutes of the city. Drive a little further, north of Valencia and you could be playing Sergio Garcia's home club, Club de Campo Mediterraneo, added to the European Tour's permanent schedule for the first time last year. With more quality courses in the neighborhood, including the utterly charming Panoramica, the assurance of excellent golf makes Valencia a very worthwhile stopover. Delta Airlines recently inaugurated non-stop flights to Valencia, from New York, bringing this enthralling city, closer to Americans than ever before, so take advantage of the convenience and discover Valencia, a very special Spanish treat.
Reaching the far northeastern end of Spain's Mediterranean golf heaven, perhaps the best has been saved until last. Barcelona and the Costa Brava go together like peanut butter and jelly for both golfers and non-golfers alike. This part of Catalonia may not have the number of courses of the Costa del Sol, but whatever is lacking in quantity, is more than made up for with quality and the chance to combine superb golf on the dramatically beautiful Costa Brava, with the many delights of a city as universally appealing as Barcelona.
Heading the list of courses demanding to be played is certainly PGA de Catalunya, which is nothing less than a spectacularly beautiful beast, ranked among Spain's top five layouts and a superb addition to the Costa Brava's already excellent, golf collection. Hot on Catalunya's heels comes the impressive Robert von Haage design at Emporda, highly regarded, Golf Platja de Pals and a little further inland, Fontanals. In the immediate Barcelona area, the two layouts at El Prat are stunning as is Masia Bach, another masterly design from Jose Maria Olazabal.
But the Mediterranean coast is still only the beginning of Spain's golf story, to be continued in future articles, when we will explore some of the world-class layouts located around Madrid and other important Spanish cities. I'll take a glimpse at the golf gems scattered along the Atlantic coast in the north, including the home courses of two of Spain's most legendary golfers, Seve Ballesteros and Jose Maria Olazabal, as well as golf around the architecturally enchanting city of Bilbao, home to the world famous, Guggenheim Museum.
There are the regions of Castilla y Leon and Rioja, famous for their sophisticated wines and gastronomy, castles and World Heritage Sites, all waiting to be discovered, together with golf and the unique, Celtic heritage of Galicia, Spain's westernmost region.
Island golf is always special and Spain boasts some of the most impressive of all on her islands, located in the Mediterranean Sea and Atlantic Ocean. Less familiar to Americans, these jewels contain more than their fair share of golf excellence and a myriad of alluring, off-course attractions.
Spain is literally alive with amazing golf, but it's not only the number of world-class courses that exist, it's the diversity and never-ending variety, combined with so many other irresistible temptations that sets Spain in a category entirely of its own. Discover more of Spain, Europe's Golf Capital, in upcoming articles.
If you can't wait, especially if you are looking for a winter sunshine escape and a chance to get away from the oncoming chill of this winter, contact the friendly, Spain experts at Golf International. We have a host of ideas and suggestions that will excite even the most jaded golf traveler and we'll make sure any accompanying non-golfers are especially well taken care of. Call us toll-free at 1 (800) 833-1389 or click here and start planning your Spanish escape now.
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Torrent of bad financial news flows out of Europe
The Euro sculpture stands in front of the European Central Bank, right, in Frankfurt, Germany, on Friday, Dec.16, 2011.(AP Photo/Michael Probst)
The Euro sculpture stands in front of the European Central Bank, right, in Frankfurt, Germany, on Friday, Dec.16, 2011.(AP Photo/Michael Probst)
The Euro sculpture stands in front of the European Central Bank, right, in Frankfurt, Germany, on Friday, Dec.16, 2011.(AP Photo/Michael Probst)
The Euro sculpture stands in front of the European Central Bank, in Frankfurt, Germany, on Friday, Dec.16, 2011. Poster underneath the Euro sign reads: Let's talk about Future. At left tents of the occupy movement still remain. (AP Photo/Michael Probst)
President of the European Central Bank Mario Draghi, left, and and Charles Wyplosz, director of the International Center of Money and Banking at the Graduate Institute in Geneva, arrive for a commemoration of late economist Tommaso Padoa Schioppa, in Rome, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011. The Italian government faces a confidence vote over a package of austerity measures while a transport strike to protest the cuts is causing havoc for commuters across the country. Premier Mario Monti is putting his package of new and higher taxes and pension reforms to a confidence vote in the lower Chamber of Deputies to speed up its passage. The vote, which is expected by early evening Friday, will likely clear the measures, paving the way for final approval in the Senate within days. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
A man walks across tram rails in Milan, Italy, Friday, Dec. 16, 2011. The Italian government faces a confidence vote over a package of austerity measures while a transport strike to protest the cuts is causing Friday havoc for commuters across the country. Premier Mario Monti is putting his package of new and higher taxes and pension reforms to a confidence vote in the lower Chamber of Deputies to speed up its passage. The vote, which is expected by early evening Friday, will likely clear the measures, paving the way for final approval in the Senate within days.(AP Photo/Antonio Calanni)
DUBLIN (AP) ? Alarming financial news flowed out of Europe in a torrent, just a week after the EU leaders struck a deal they thought would contain the continent's debt crisis.
The bombardment Friday shredded hopes of a lasting solution to the turmoil that is endangering the euro ? the currency used by 17 European nations ? and threatening the entire global economy.
In quick succession:
? The Fitch Ratings agency announced it was considering further cuts to the credit scores of six eurozone nations ? heavyweights Italy and Spain, as well as Belgium, Cyprus, Ireland and Slovenia. It said all six could face downgrades of one or two notches.
? Moody's Investors Services downgraded Belgium's credit rating by two notches. Belgium's local- and foreign-currency government bond ratings fell to "Aa3" from Aa1," with a negative outlook. The ratings remain investment grade.
? Ireland's economy shrunk again much deeper than had been expected, with its third-quarter gross domestic product falling 1.9 percent. Ireland is one of three eurozone nations kept solvent only by an international bailout.
? Bankers and hedge funds were balking in talks about forgiving 50 percent of Greece's massive debts, a key issue in the debate over Greece's second rescue bailout.
? The red ink in Spain's regional governments surged 22 percent in the last year, endangering the central government's efforts to cut overall Spanish debt.
? France, the second-largest eurozone economy after Germany, warned that it faced at least a temporary recession next year.
? The euro hovered Friday just above $1.30, a cent higher than its 11-month low.
On the positive side, Fitch said France should keep its top AAA credit rating even though the country's debt load is projected to rise through 2014. Italian lawmakers overwhelmingly passed Premier Mario Monti's new austerity package in a confidence vote, even though many still objected to its pension reforms.
French officials and investors had feared that France could get downgraded, which would have immediate repercussions for the entire eurozone. France and Germany's AAA credit ratings underpin the rating for the eurozone's bailout fund.
European Union leaders confirmed Friday they have distributed the text of their proposed new budget-stability treaty, a pact designed to deter runaway deficits and supposed to become EU law by March. But as growth prospects fade across the continent, governments are facing the likelihood that Europe's debt crisis will prove longer and tougher to overcome than even their most recently revised forecasts.
Until this week, EU leaders held up Ireland as the model for how a debt-struck nation should behave ? defying economic gravity by simultaneously growing its economy while sucking billions out of that same economy in Europe's longest austerity drive.
But on Friday, Ireland announced its third-quarter gross domestic product fell 1.9 percent, its national product 2.2 percent. Economists had expected only an 0.5 percent fall for GDP and none at all for GNP. The latter figure is considered a better measure of Ireland's economic vitality because it excludes the largely exported profits of about 600 American companies based in the country.
Ireland has been cutting spending and hiking taxes since late 2008 and has plans to keep doing so through 2015. Next year's target is ?2.2 billion ($2.9 billion) in cuts and ?1.6 billion ($2.1 billion) in extra charges, including a hike in national sales tax to 23 percent and introduction of a new ?100 ($131) tax on every property.
But the country's finances this year are seriously out of whack: It is spending ?57 billion ($74.5 billion), including ?10 billion ($13 billion) to keep its five nationalized banks afloat, but collecting just ?34 billion ($44 billion) in taxes.
Labor union leaders say the unexpected slump confirmed Friday is irrefutable evidence that Ireland's 4.5 million citizens already have been squeezed too much, too quickly.
"Current policies are making recovery almost impossible," said David Begg, general secretary of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions. "No economy can sustain the sort of ongoing damage that is being inflicted on us."
"We need growth and we need it quickly," he added.
Ireland's year-old international bailout requires the Irish to reduce their annual deficits from an EU record 32 percent of GDP in 2010 to the traditional eurozone limit of 3 percent by 2015. But analysts agree that Ireland cannot hope to meet the 2015 goal if its economy doesn't grow sufficiently.
Ireland's recovery plan now presumes 1.6 percent growth in 2012 and 2.8 percent growth in each of the next three years ? figures many consider way too optimistic.
Alan McQuaid, chief economist at Bloxham Stockbrokers in Dublin, said Ireland would "do well" to reach 0.5 percent growth this year "given the deteriorating world economic backdrop and the fall-off in global demand." He said he doubted Ireland could top 1 percent growth next year.
In other developments:
ITALY:
The new premier's austerity package passed 495-88 Friday, but lawmakers on both the left and right criticized the pension reforms as too harsh. The plan raises ?30 billion ($39 billion) in extra taxes and pension reforms and plows about ?10 billion ($13 billion) of that back into growth measures.
Prosecutors in the southern region of Calabria, meanwhile, said they were investigating 10 envelopes with bullets inside found in a post office in the town of Lamezia Terme. The envelopes were addressed to the new leader Monti, his labor minister, former Premier Silvio Berlusconi and other top political or media figures, according to the Italian news agency ANSA.
Reports said the envelopes contained notes threatening those named if the austerity package wasn't changed.
GREECE:
European officials told The Associated Press that private holders of Greek bonds were resisting EU efforts to persuade them to take a voluntary 50 percent cut in the value of their holdings. The talks in Paris between EU and Greek leaders against representatives of global banks and hedge funds have been very difficult, they said.
The proposed ?100 billion ($130.6 billion) write-off of privately held Greek bonds is supposed to be agreed upon by early next year ? and it's central to Greece's second bailout deal. Without it, Greece's debt is forecast to escalate to nearly 200 percent of GDP.
SPAIN:
A new conservative government committed to increased austerity is coming into office next week, but it faces a rapidly deteriorating financial outlook.
The Bank of Spain announced a 22 percent surge over the past year in the debts of the country's 17 regional governments to ?135.2 billion ($176.6 billion). Spain's central government debt rose 15 percent to above ?706 billion ($922.3 billion).
PORTUGAL:
The main opposition party refused Friday to support the government's plan to amend the constitution to include a budget-deficit limit. All 17 members of the eurozone are supposed to make such commitments as part of the bloc's week-old plan to enshrine spending controls in a new treaty.
In a further worrying development, ratings agency Standard & Poor's on Friday downgraded the credit rating of six leading Portuguese banks to junk status.
Portugal received its own ?80 billion ($104.5 billion) international bailout deal in April.
___
Associated Press writers Angela Charlton in Paris, Gabriele Steinhauser in Brussels, Barry Hatton in Lisbon and Ciaran Giles in Madrid contributed to this report.
___
Online:
Ireland's GDP and GNP, http://bit.ly/vTKjuI
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Friday, December 16, 2011
Russian aid convoy crosses into Kosovo (AP)
MITROVICA, Kosovo ? A convoy of 25 Russian trucks carrying aid for Kosovo's dissident Serbs crossed into Kosovo early Friday after a deal between the EU and Moscow ended a tense four-day impasse.
Hundreds of Serbs greeted the convoy along a main road in Kosovo's north where Serb protesters have clashed with NATO and EU forces and put up barricades to resist majority ethnic Albanian rule.
The area has been a source of tensions ever since Kosovo declared its independence from Serbia in 2008. While major Western powers have recognized the new state, Serbia has rejected such a move.
Moscow, meanwhile, has become the champion of the local Serbs' defiance against Kosovo. Belgrade has refused to use force to save them from ethnic Albanian rule, so the Serbs in Kosovo have turned to the Kremlin for help.
A jubilant crowd of several thousands Serbs gathered in the Serb part of the ethnically split town of Mitrovica on Friday where Russia's ambassador to Serbia, Aleksandr Konuzin, pledged Russia's support for the beleaguered minority.
He handed over a framed portrait of Christ, a gift from Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for the Patriarchate of Pec, a Serb Orthodox monastery in the town of Pec that is also the seat of Serbian clergy, some 80 kilometers (60 miles) west of Pristina.
Russia is considered a traditional Serb ally because of common Slavic roots and the Christian Orthodox religion.
"This is a happy day for the Serbs," said Goran Milenovic, a resident of Mitrovica. "It shows that Russia is thinking about us."
The convoy was stranded at the border since Tuesday because Serb protesters refused to let EU police pass through the area. Russian officials in turn refused to use another crossing where they would have been submitted to controls by Kosovo authorities that Russia does not recognize as legitimate.
The head of the 3,000-strong EU police mission, Xavier Bout de Marnhac, brushed aside concern about a humanitarian crisis in Kosovo's north. Three EU police vehicles escorted the convoy early Friday after taking a roundabout way through Serbia to bypass roadblocks.
"We all know that there is no humanitarian crisis in Kosovo, that's obvious," de Marnhac told The Associated Press in an interview on Friday.
"If they (Russia) want to show some kind of support, why not? But it has to be done with respect of some basic principles that are rule of law principles. It's normal to be checked when you cross the gate... That's basic standards anywhere in Europe," de Marnhac said.
The Russian convoy's cargo has raised the suspicions of NATO and EU officials and security forces trying to keep the peace in the area. The canned food, blankets, tents and power generators suggest the convoy is intended for those manning roadblocks, not the general Kosovo Serb population.
Serbs have refused to remove roadblocks that dot the tense area since June after Kosovo authorities sent in special police units to take control of disputed border crossings.
___
Nebi Qena in Pristina, Kosovo, contributed to this report.
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Bill Gates: No, I?m Not Returning To Microsoft
Dismissing rumors that he might be making a comeback at Microsoft, founder Bill Gates went down under to rule out the possibility of ever returning to the software behemoth full-time. Instead, he says, he'll be working full-time at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation until the day he dies. Gates stepped down from his day-to-day role at Microsoft in June 2008.Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/OkivB4qbNCc/
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