New site by experts monitors app security

PALO ALTO, Calif. - With Apples iPad rolling out this weekend, developers are scrambling to emanate new applications — or apps.

But are they safe? Thats the subject a new Web site hopes to assistance answer.

Internet security experts at Stanford University launched a site Friday that reviews how well sure Web and mobile applications strengthen users" privacy.

Story continues next ↓advertisement your ad here

Dozens of the some-more that 200 apps listedWhatApp have already been reviewed by a group of lawyers, computer scientists, and remoteness and security experts from Stanford and alternative institutions. Shoppers and developers can supplement their opinions and ask reviews.

Stanford Law associate M. Ryan Calo says the site provides a approach to guard whats being finished with picked up report and expostulate the app marketplace toward improved practices.

Click for associated contentiPads App Store launches — and so do pricesTopics: More stories, videos and slideshowsthe iPadThe initial iPad reviews are here

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Fraud defendants reach conditions Real Estate

Two some-more defendants in the Village of Penland genuine estate intrigue in Mitchell County have sealed agree agreements that will need them to spin over resources and income from the project.

Attorney General Roy Coopers bureau voiced that Richard Amelung and J. Kevin Foster have entered in to agree judgments with his office.

Amelung contingency yield the deduction of an word process to the court-appointed receiver in the case, and the state and the receiver have the right to explain any resources he unsuccessful to divulge when he spoken bankruptcy.

Foster will compensate $100,000 to the receiver. If Foster is found to own skill that he has not disclosed, the receiver can explain those resources as well.

Two alternative defendants, Anthony Porter and Neil O"Rourke, have entered in to identical agreements. In Feb 2008, Porter paid $100,000 to the receiver. In Jan 2009, O"Rourke paid scarcely $125,000.

The genuine estate try used arrogant appraisals to tempt consumers in to borrowing millions of dollars to squeeze skill in the Village of Penland, a 2,000-lot residential and sell growth in the mountains

According to the investigation, fraudulent sales to inside buyers arrogant the worth of the lots, that sole for $125,000 every even though their taxation values were $20,000 or less.

Many of the lots could not be used to set up homes since of their distance or topography, and nothing of the lots enclosed H2O and cesspool systems.

Mickelson overhauls Westwood to win Masters

Mark Lamport-Stokes AUGUSTA, Georgia Sun Apr 11, 2010 7:57pm EDT Factbox Factbox: Masters hold up Phil MickelsonSun, Apr eleven 2010 Related Video Tiger Woods earnings to golf Fri, Apr 9 2010 < 1 / 31 >

AUGUSTA, Georgia (Reuters) - Phil Mickelson birdied 4 of the last 7 holes to win his fourth vital title, and a third Green Jacket, by 3 shots at the Masters on Sunday.

U.S.&&&&Sports

A cadence at the behind of pacesetting Briton Lee Westwood overnight, the American left-hander dismissed a perfect five-under-par 67 to post a 16-under sum of 272 at a sun-splashed Augusta National.

Cheered on by outrageous galleries together with his mother Amy and 3 young kids as he walked up the 18th fairway, Mickelson put the sign on an romantic feat with an eight-foot birdie putt at the last.

He bearing both arms skywards in delight prior to hugging his caddie, jolt hands with Westwood and afterwards on foot off the immature for a prolonged welcome with his wife, who was diagnosed with breast cancer last year.

"It feels incredible," a lucent Mickelson pronounced prior to being helped in to the Green Jacket by 2009 hold up Angel Cabrera of Argentina. "I could go on and on as to majority reasons because but to win this tournament, it"s the majority extraordinary feeling.

"I"m really unapproachable of my mother and the quarrel and onslaught she"s been through. It"s been a formidable year and to come out on tip in this contest is really emotional.

"It feels superb and it"s really emotional."

Westwood, who had been looking his lass vital pretension and Britain"s initial given Paul Lawrie won the 1999 British Open, had to solve for second place after carding a 71.

American Anthony Kim sealed with a stimulating 65 to finish third at twelve under, a cadence in front of universe series one Tiger Woods and KJ Choi of South Korea, who returned relating 69s.

"I didn"t get off to a fast sufficient start," pronounced Westwood, who had scored equally for third in his dual prior majors.

"I didn"t expostulate the turn utterly as well currently as I had driven it in the initial 3 rounds.

"I try and take the positives out of everything. I accomplished third, third, second in the last couple of vital championships. I can"t be as well disappointed. I"m removing closer.

Mickelson, who won his initial dual Masters crowns in 2004 and 2006, effectively wrapped up the pretension with back-to-back birdies from the par-three 12th.

He rolled in a curling 14-footer on the 12th green, and afterwards narrowly longed for an eagle putt from only 3 feet at the par-five 13th prior to holing out from a identical area entrance back.

TIGHTENED GRIP

That put him dual strokes transparent prior to he picked up an additional shot at the par-five 15th, where he reached the immature in dual and two-putted, to tie his hold on a third Green Jacket.

Kim began an additional sun-splashed day at Augusta 7 strokes off the gait but he surged in to row with a sizzling birdie-birdie-eagle-birdie run from the 13th.

Choi quickly assimilated Mickelson in a share of the lead with eight holes to fool around prior to slipping behind with bogeys on thirteen and 14.

Four-times hold up Woods, personification his initial eventuality in scarcely five months with his in isolation hold up carrying spectacularly unraveled at the finish of last year, endured a roller-coaster day.

He proposed out feeble with 3 bogeys in the initial five holes prior to he recovered in fantastic fashion.

Woods holed out from the fairway for a overwhelming eagle at the par-four seventh where his turn pitched twenty feet left of the pin prior to solemnly creation the approach down the slant in to the cup.

After a short postponement the universe series one lifted his arms in jubilee prior to violation in to a outrageous smile.

He afterwards birdied the subsequent dual holes, removing up and down from only off the immature at the par-five eighth and rolling in a six-footer at the par-four ninth.

After blending bogeys at the 11th and 14th with a birdie at the 13th, he picked up an additional eagle when he coaxed in a 15-footer at the par-five 15th prior to signing off with a six-foot birdie putt at the last.

(Editing by Greg Stutchbury)

U.S. Sports lift let loose natural room for acne to help this mulls

The legislative imitation of the Digital Economy Act

Struan Robertson & ,}

They contend that there are dual things you should never see made: laws and sausages. As a little organisation of MPs debated the Digital Economy Act this week, the stomachs of an online assembly turned.

This was an Act upheld on the votes of hundreds of MPs who didn"t even attend those debates and due by politicians whose association showed a miss of bargain of even the majority simple conditions used in the debate.

This law should never have been passed. Regardless of your perspective on either copyright infringing websites should be shut off or infringing users cut off from the internet, this was no approach to pass such a argumentative and unconditional piece of legislation.

It was subjected to the "wash up" process, a pre-election rush-through designed to pass uncontroversial, uncontested Bills prior to Parliaments dissolve. It is not meant for a law similar to this one.

Related LinksMillions will have to buy routers to kick hackersDigital victimsNeed to know

This is a law that will deliver powers that could see households or coffee shops away from the web on accusations of file-sharing and internet service providers forced to retard entrance to websites that are deemed expected to transgress copyright. Nobody knows how these powers will be used since the item is unwritten.

It is a absolute law, one that manners on a little sincerely simple digital rights and has potentially large implications for adults and businesses alike.

Yet really couple of MPs incited up for the brisk debates. Far some-more incited up afterwards, only to opinion it through.

The debates were watched live online and silently heckled by thousands of Twitter users, majority of whom were witnessing the bizarre operation of the Parliamentary appurtenance for the really initial time. They declared and abashed the MPs who did not show; they indicted majority speakers of unwell to assimilate all things digital; they applauded the law"s majority sensitive critic, Labour"s Tom Watson, who was tweeting from the backbenches; and they vented their frustration at being amateurish to stop the machine. Perhaps these feelings will be reflected in list boxes on 6 May.

MPs from all parties concurred that the Bill was inadequate nonetheless they affianced their await for the passage. Shadow enlightenment cabinet member Jeremy Hunt called it "a weak, dithering and amateurish try to inhale hold up in to Britain"s digital economy." But Hunt voted for it. He pronounced that if the Conservatives come to power, his celebration will repair any problems with the Bill, "if it turns out that the legislation is flawed." That is not the approach to have a law.

Whether you upheld the Act"s beliefs or not, they are certainly significant. It deserved correct discuss and correct inspection but it perceived neither. It should not have been passed.

Struan Robertson is a Legal Director with Pinsent Masons LLP and editor of the firm"s online authorised service, www.out-law.com.

Why your man will NEVER assimilate how you feel

When I came up with the thought of essay my book The Male Brain, scarcely everybody done the same joke: "That will be a short book!"

But whilst culturally females might cruise men to be rather elementary creatures, zero could be serve from the truth. My clinical work and investigate as a neuropsychiatrist and highbrow of clinical psychiatry, in fields from neuroscience to evolutionary biology, assured me that the singular brain structures of men emanate a masculine reality, essentially opposite from the womanlike one.

Advances in genetics and brain mapping record concede us to see inside the human grey make a difference as never before.

Consequently, scientists have schooled that men make use of their smarts in intensely formidable and opposite ways to women.

"I was usually looking!"

AIG house approves Asian hold up section sale to Prudential

Paritosh Bansal NEW YORK Sun February 28, 2010 6:40pm EST Related News UK"s Prudential negotiates $35.5 billion understanding for AIG unitSun, February twenty-eight 2010UK"s Prudential negotiates $35.5 bln understanding for AIG unitSat, February twenty-seven 2010AIG posts $8.9 billion loss on loan repay, reservesFri, February twenty-six 2010AIG alters payback plan to FedFri, February twenty-six 2010UPDATE 1-AIG alters payback plan to Fed - sourceFri, February twenty-six 2010 Stocks & &

The trademark of British hold up insurer Prudential is seen on their building, in London Oct 21, 2008.

Credit: Reuters/Stephen Hird

NEW YORK (Reuters) - American International Group Inc"s (AIG.N) house authorized the sale of the Asian hold up word commercial operation to Britain"s Prudential Plc (PRU.L) for $35.5 billion, a source informed with the have a difference pronounced on Sunday.

Deals

Prudential, Britain"s largest insurer, will compensate about $25 billion in money and the rest in equity, that could embody elite stock, for AIG"s American International Assurance (AIA), the source said, disappearing to be identified since the understanding is not open yet.

A deal, in what would be the largest item sale for insurer AIG, could be voiced as shortly as Monday, the source said.

Prudential declined to comment. AIG was not rught away available.

AIG, that is scarcely 80 percent owned by the U.S. supervision and is perplexing to compensate behind taxpayers after a $182.3 billion bailout, had been formulation an primary open charity for AIA in Hong Kong, when Prudential jumped in with an offer.

It would be one of the largest abroad deals to date for a British organisation and have Prudential one of the greatest insurers in Asia.

Prudential operates in thirteen Asian markets where it has some-more than eleven million hold up customers. Asia, that accounted for 44 percent of Pru"s increase in 2008, is additionally seen as the engine of the group"s destiny growth.

It would additionally assistance AIG have a poignant hole in the superb check from the U.S. government, that has a $16 billion elite seductiveness in a special role car that binds AIA.

AIG is additionally in modernized talks to sell an additional large unfamiliar hold up word unit, American Life Insurance Co, to MetLife Inc (MET.N) in a rounded off $15 billion deal. Those talks hinge on a taxation issue that the dual sides are perplexing to resolve.

So far, AIG has voiced some-more than dual dozen deals to sell resources for over $11.9 billion.

(Editing by Leslie Adler)

Deals for acne doctors to help adolescents to treat their acne

Inspire says it has all-star

When Adrian Adams took over as the CEO of Miami-based Kos Pharmaceuticals at the opening of 2002, the association was generating $91million in annual sales -- rounded off the same volume as Inspire Pharmaceuticals in Durham is today.

By the time Kos was acquired at the finish of 2006 by hulk Abbott Laboratories, it was on lane to beget 10times as majority in each year sales.

"Thats just the kind of form that we would identical to to emulate," pronounced Ken Lee, authority of Inspires house of directors.

To assistance have that happen, Inspire voiced Friday that it had tapped Adams, 59, to be the companys new CEO. Adams succeeds Christy Shaffer, who pronounced last summer that she would be withdrawal the company.

Analysts noticed the move as good headlines for Inspire, that sells drug to provide eye diseases, such as pinkeye.It has about 235 employees. Inspire has projected that the income for all of 2009 will range in in between $80 million and $90 million.

"Clearly he had a unequivocally successful run [at Kos] ... and done investors utterly a bit of money," pronounced researcher Jon Stephenson of Summer Street Research Partners. Kos was sole for $3.7 billion.

Inspire shares sealed Friday at $6.32, up 34 cents.

Adams, a local of the United Kingdom, majority not prolonged ago was CEO of Massachusetts-based Sepracor, that was acquired by Japanese association Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma in October.

His depart from Sepracor additionally was voiced Friday in and with the headlines that the commercial operation was merging with Dainippons U.S. subsidiary.

Adams, who was declared CEO of Sepracor in 2007, didnt grasp the same heady success there that he enjoyed at Kos, Stephenson said.

But the $2.6 billion sale cost the association fetched rewarded shareholders with a full of health premium.

During Adams" reign at Sepracor, the association protected the rights to 7 products. Cowen and Co. researcher Ian Sanderson wrote in a investigate note that he expects Adams to follow a identical trail to variegate and enhance Inspires portfolio of products.

Stephenson sees Inspire as being in on all sides to take value of Adams" talents.

"I think a lot of the pieces have been put in place already, that is one of the reasons I wasnt astounded they got a good CEO," he said. "Who wouldnt wish to step in to that situation?"

In further to raised good expansion from the companys stream products, Stephenson is upbeat about the prospects for Inspires initial diagnosis for cystic fibrosis.

If it succeeds in using the regulatory gantlet and creates it to market, he forecasts rise worldwide annual sales of in in between $300 million and $500 million.

Although the last dual companies Adams headed were acquired by incomparable drug makers, Lee pronounced he isnt being brought on house to debonair up Inspire and afterwards sell it.

"We wish to conduct the association prolonged term," Lee said.

Shaffer, 51, whose last day as CEO was Friday, was one of the Triangles majority perceivable and ardent CEOs.

She became Inspires initial full-time worker in 1995 and, nonetheless she was demure to do so, supposed the tip post in 1999. She successfully took the association open in 2000.

Shaffer participated in the CEO poke and is assured that Adams is the right chairman for the pursuit since of his commercial operation and interpersonal skills.

"He is unequivocally an all-star, a unequivocally seasoned player," Shaffer said. "It will be a unequivocally seamless transition."

People who have worked with Adams told Shaffer that he understands "the significance of employees and treating employees with good respect."

"That was critical to me personally," she said.

Adams wasnt accessible for criticism Friday.

"He is literally receiving no time off," Shaffer pronounced Friday afternoon. "He was at Sepracor currently addressing all of his employees. Now hes on a craft and will proceed work here unequivocally early Monday morning."

Shaffer added: "He fundamentally told me a month ago, "my heart already is with Inspire.""

david.ranii or 919-829-4877

New graphene nanomesh could shift the destiny of electronics

While slicing graphene sheets in to nanoscale ribbons can open up a incomparable rope opening and urge function, "nanoribbon" inclination mostly have singular pushing currents, and unsentimental inclination would need the prolongation of unenlightened arrays of systematic nanoribbons -- a routine that so far has not been completed or obviously conceptualized.

But Yu Huang, a highbrow of materials scholarship and engineering at the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science, and her investigate team, in partnership with UCLA chemistry highbrow Xiangfeng Duan, might have found a new resolution to the hurdles of graphene.

In investigate to be published in the Mar issue of Nature Nanotechnology (currently accessible online), Huangteam reveals the origination of a new graphene nanostructure called graphene nanomesh, or GNM. The new make up is means to open up a rope opening in a large piece of graphene to emanate a rarely uniform, successive semiconducting thin movie that might be processed utilizing customary planar semiconductor estimate methods.

The nanomeshes are rebuilt by punching a high-density form of nanoscale holes in to a singular or a couple of layers of graphene utilizing a self-assembled retard copolymer thin movie as the facade template, pronounced Huang.

The nanomesh can have non-static periodicities, tangible as the area in in in between the centers of dual adjacent nanoholes. Neck widths, the shortest area in in in between the edges of dual adjacent holes, can be as low as 5 nanometers.

This capability to carry out nanomesh succession and neck breadth is really vicious for determining electronic properties since assign ride properties are rarely contingent on the breadth and the series of vicious stream pathways.

Using such nanomesh as the semiconducting channel, Huang and her group have demonstrated room-temperature transistors that can await currents scarcely 100 times larger than particular graphene nanoribbon devices, but with a allied on-off ratio. The on-off comparative measure is the comparative measure in in in between the currents when a device is switched on or switched off. This customarily reveals how effectively a transistor can be switched off and on.

The researchers have additionally shown that the on-off comparative measure can be tuned by varying the neck width.

GNMs can residence majority of the vicious hurdles confronting graphene, as well as bypass the majority severe public problems, Huang said. In and with new advances in the expansion of graphene over a large-area substrate, this judgment has the intensity to capacitate a uniform, successive semiconducting nanomesh thin movie that can be used to fashion integrated inclination and circuits with preferred device distance and pushing current.

The judgment of the GNM thus points to a transparent pathway towards unsentimental focus of graphene as a semiconductor element for destiny electronics. The singular constructional and electronic characteristics of the GNMs might additionally open up sparkling opportunities in rarely supportive biosensors and a new era of spintronics, from captivating intuiting to storage, she said.

The investigate was saved in piece by HuangUCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science Fellowship.

U.S. Sitting on Mother Lode of Rare Tech-Crucial Minerals

China reserve majority of the singular earth minerals found in technologiessuch as hybrid cars, breeze turbines, computer tough drives and cellphones, but the U.S. has the own mostly untapped pot that couldsafeguard destiny tech innovation.

Those pot embody deposits of both "light" and "heavy" rareearths family groups of minerals that assistance have all from TVdisplays to magnets in hybrid electricmotors. A association called U.S. Rare Earths binds the usually well known U.S.deposit of complicated singular earths with a thoroughness value mining,according to a new inform by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).

Light singular earths embody the minerals trimming from lanthanum togadolinium on the continual list of elements, whilst complicated singular earthsrange from terbium to lutetium.

Averting disaster

If developed, such deposits could assistance the U.S. equivocate a presumably crippling singular earth shortagein the subsequent decade. China has warned that the own industrial demandscould enforce it to stop exporting singular earths inside of the subsequent five or10 years.

"There is already a shortage, since there are companies thatalready cant get sufficient material," pronounced Jim Hedrick, a former USGSrare earth dilettante who not long ago retired. "No ones perplexing to expandtheir have use of of singular earths since they know theres not some-more available."

U.S. Rare Earths most stumbled on the initial singular earthdeposit at Lehmi Pass, on the limit in between Idaho and Montana, about15 years ago. The association founders desired the areas pot ofthorium an pick chief fuel and took small seductiveness in therare earths that were usually used, at the time, in lighter flints andtracer bullets for the military.

Their perspective altered over the years as singular earths became most irreplaceable in high-tech productsused by millions of people today. The association usually not long ago altered itsname to U.S. Rare Earths after staking out an additional deposition at DiamondCreek, Idaho.

"The actuality is, the Diamond Creek skill is today, the mostaccessible, underdeveloped singular earth apparatus with poignant [heavyrare earths] that there is in North America," pronounced Jack Lifton, anindependent expert who functions with U.S. Rare Earths.

Recent USGS total guess that the U.S. binds singular earth orereserves of up to thirteen million metric tons. By contrast, the complete worldproduced only 124,000 metric tons in 2009 but it would take both timeand income for the U.S. to turn excessively self-confident in producing rareearths.

Deposits circuitously civilization

The Diamond Creek place has the combined advantages of being in mining-friendly Idaho and carrying entrance to circuitously highways and energy lines factors that would have opening a cave most easier.

"We have power, light and roads, so were not in the center of the wilderness," pronounced Ed Cowle, CEO of U.S. Rare Earths.

Cowle hopes to capture sufficient appropriation over the subsequent 6 months todo a little exploratory training at his companys deposits. He additionally pointedto flourishing seductiveness from inhabitant legislators in prodding the federalgovernment to take action.

"Many times opening a cave takes a sure duration of time, but iftheres a vital need for element from government, that time periodcan be lessened," Cowle told TechNewsDaily. "Were carefree of thatbecause of the inlet of whats in the ground."

An costly proposition

Another company, Molycorp Minerals, has already started processing"light" singular earths, such as lanthanum and neodymium, from a stockpileit amassed at the cave in Mountain Pass, California. But it stillhas to boat the singular earths to China for last processing, since onlyChina now has the apparatus indispensable for the job.

"No one [in the U.S.] wants to be initial to burst in to the marketbecause of the cost of construction a subdivision plant," Hedrick explained.The former USGS dilettante pronounced that such a plant requires thousands ofstainless steel armoured column holding opposite containing alkali solutions to separateout all the particular singular earths.

The upfront costs appear daunting. Hedrick estimated that opening justone cave and construction a new subdivision plant competence cost anywhere from$500 million to $1 billion and would need a smallest of eight years.

Lifton has additionally referred to that most U.S. companies have not jumpedinto the marketplace since Chinas state-owned mines keep singular earthprices artificially low. But if U.S. companies do not proceed miningAmerican singular earth deposits soon, they might be left scrambling if Chinadoes one day stop exporting singular earths.

But Cowle, the CEO of U.S. Rare Earths, seems carefree that momentumhas already started construction for the U.S. supervision to encouragedevelopment of the own singular earth deposits.

"From what I see, security of supply is going to be some-more critical than the prices," Cowle said.

Shortage of Rare Earth Elements Could Thwart Innovation 7 Gadgets that Changed the World 10 Profound Innovations Ahead�

Real World star Puck harmed in car crash

March 26, 2010, 5:39 AM EST

LOS ANGELES (AP) -- Reality TV star David "Puck" Rainey has been arrested on guess of inebriated pushing after being severely harmed in a car pile-up on a farming San Diego County highway with his 8-year-old son, officials said.

The bad kid bike follower featured on the San Francisco-set third deteriorate of MTV"s "The Real World" was dipsomaniac Saturday night when he veered off the highway in Descanso, easterly of San Diego, and rolled down an embankment, California Highway Patrol Officer Brian Pennings pronounced Thursday.

Rainey was pinned in the Ford hatchback, but his son, Bogart, liberated himself from the car and flagged down a flitting motorist, Pennings said.

The span were flown to University of California, San Diego Medical Center, where Rainey was found to have postulated critical injuries.

Rainey"s manager, Michael Martin, pronounced Bogart was expelled to his mom and Rainey"s wife, Betty, Wednesday whilst Rainey remained in the sanatorium to bear multiform surgeries.

A sanatorium nursing administrator pronounced Thursday that Rainey was in great condition, but could yield no alternative details.

Pennings says Rainey will be charged with pushing underneath the influence, kid endangerment and pushing but a license.

Martin had no criticism on the charges opposite Rainey.

,,,

Western U.S. Canada go own approach on CO trade

Peter Henderson SAN FRANCISCO Thu Mar 11, 2010 7:18pm EST

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - As U.S. prospects for a national climate change bill fade, five U.S. states and Canadian provinces are on track to start a cap-and-trade market for carbon dioxide in 2012, say officials who see fading federal momentum boosting regional efforts.

California, the keystone market with the eighth-largest economy in the world, New Mexico, and the Canadian provinces of Ontario, British Columbia and Quebec all plan to join the system meant to combat climate change and boost economies by creating green jobs such as for workers who build alternative energy equipment.

There is already a working U.S. cap-and-trade system in the Northeast, although the five Western partners" market would be

roughly four times bigger when fully implemented.

Cap-and-trade systems put limits on pollution -- in this case, gases that suck up heat and warm the planet -- which are decreased year by year. Polluters must acquire emissions credits, which can be bought and sold. If a factory can make changes to cut pollution for less than the price of a credit, it is likely to do so, then sell unneeded credits at a profit.

Many members would prefer strong national systems, but at the moment they are not getting them.

"If things continue to stall in Washington D.C., then I think there"s some renewed energy around getting the authority to do this at the state level," said California Environmental Protection Agency"s Michael Gibbs.

The 11-member Western Climate Initiative had planned a bigger effort to cover most Western U.S. states and four of the 10 Canadian provinces, but Arizona says it won"t join cap-and-trade, and states like Washington and Montana have failed to get necessary legislative approval so far.

The contention that green policies like cap-and-trade are good for jobs is still a source of debate. Many businesses concerned with costs are mounting an effort to reverse the plan, and Republican candidates for California governor agree.

Such a move could roil the entire system, since smaller players can"t make an efficient market on their own.

CRITICAL MASS NEEDED

"The governor and many others believe that the future of New Mexico"s economy is in green jobs and renewable energy and clean-tech, and so we think that cap-and-trade will only support those types of companies," said Sarah Cottrell, adviser to Democratic Governor Bill Richardson.

But the state may put conditions in its plan to make sure there is a critical mass for a robust market. "New Mexico does not want to be trading on its own," she said.

If the current five stay on track, emissions from power plants and other big stationary sources will be traded in 2012, with transportation included in 2015 to cover up to 90 percent of their greenhouse gas emissions. The market for the five would be equal in size to roughly a tenth of U.S. emissions.

"The economic bulk is going to be in it," said Paul Cartwright, senior energy analyst and adviser to the governor in Montana -- which has not received legislative approval for cap-and-trade and won"t make the 2012 start.

California"s Gibbs said the five states and provinces in January had said they were ready to go and accounted for some two-thirds of WCI emissions. Other states and provinces unlikely to join the first cap-and-trade round are Manitoba, Oregon, and Utah.

British Columbia already has a carbon tax that must be harmonized with the cap-and-trade system.

California has come a long way but has yet to make key decisions such as how to apportion the allowances to pollute. A panel recently recommend that all allowances be auctioned -- as opposed to giving some to power plants and other emitters -- and that most of the proceeds be given back to households.

A big key is the price of carbon. The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative in the northeastern United States is trading carbon at low prices around $2 per ton -- about a tenth of what prices in Europe have been at times.

A 2008 analysis estimated the western U.S. could produce a price of $24 per ton for a system with a broad scope and the use of credits for projects that soak up greenhouse gases, offsetting pollution. A revised version of the economic analysis is due soon.

(Additional reporting by Allan Dowd in Vancouver; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

FACTBOX-German commentaries on Greek govt purgation

Thu Mar 4, 2010 8:29am EST Related News FACTBOX-German commentary on Greece budget crisisMon, Feb 22 2010FACTBOX-German commentry on Greece budget crisisWed, Feb 17 2010Eurogroup to push Greek reforms, not bailoutMon, Feb 15 2010Eurogroup to push for Greek reforms, not prepare bailoutSun, Feb 14 2010

BERLIN, March 4 (Reuters) - German Chancellor Angela Merkelhas said she would offer no aid to Greece at talks with PrimeMinister George Papandreou in Berlin on Friday, but has welcomedhis cabinet"s new austerity measures as an important step.

Currencies&&&&Bonds

Europe"s biggest economy and traditionally a rock ofstability in the euro zone is a crucial player for any aid.German public opinion is firmly against a bailout.

Following are extracts from influential German newspapereditorials on Greece from Thursday:

BILD (Centre-right mass-circulation)

"The Athens government wants to cut costs sharply, but whatif that"s not enough? Sell your islands, you bankrupt Greeks!... And sell the Acropolis too! It might sound crazy at first.But if we have to bail out the Greeks with billions of euros,they should also give up something in exchange -- for example afew of your beautiful Aegean Sea islands. You get cash. We getCorfu."

DIE WELT (Centre-right)

"It"s one thing to announce austerity measures. But it"s entirely different to implement and maintain the necessarystructural reforms ... And how will Europe hold the euro zonetogether without a common fiscal and economic policy? As long asthere"s no answer to the question it"s hard to shrug offGermans" doubts about the euro and Europe as hysteria."

SUEDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG (Centre-left)

"Greek Prime Minister Papandreou is behaving like a mandrowning in the stormy Aegean Sea. He keeps shouting "help"louder and louder and hopes that his compatriots will hear hispleas. The burden is large. Greeks will earn less and pay more.The prime minister hopes that his efforts will be noted inBerlin and Brussels."

HANDELSBLATT (Business daily)

"Greece is on the right track. Tough savings measures andpolitical support from the rest of the EU should calm thingsdown now."

DER TAGESSPIEGEL (Centre-left)

"Greece did not fail tragically but rather cheated theEuropean Union and tricked its way into the euro zone with bogusdata. Not a lot will change in Greece until there"s an opendiscussion about all that."

STERN (Centre-left)

"It will be more than a mere disgrace if the European Uniondoesn"t clear up the Greek problem quickly. It would alsopossibly be the beginning of the end of the EU and its -- onlyjust -- stable currency."

NEUE RUHR ZEITUNG

"It looks like the worst fears about the euro wereexaggerated. The euro zone looks like it will hold together now.But it is still too early to announce all is clear ... Hardlyanyone thought the Greek government would be able to pushthrough such serious austerity measures. They proved yesterdaythey could." (Compiled by Erik Kirschbaum; editing by Janet McBride)

Currencies Bonds

Germanys Merck to buy Millipore in $7.2 billion understanding

FRANKFURT Sun Feb 28, 2010 5:25pm EST Related News Merck revenue beats, confident on financial goalsTue, Feb 16 2010UPDATE 4-Merck revenue beats, confident on financial goalsTue, Feb 16 2010 Stocks & &

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German pharmaceutical company Merck KGAA (MRCG.DE) said on Sunday it has entered into an agreement with Millipore (MIL.N) to acquire all of Millipore"s shares for $107 per share cash, valuing the deal at around $7.2 billion including net debt.

Deals&&&&Inflows Outflows

In a statement, Merck said the two companies would create a 2 billion euro entity for the life science sector.

"Due to the fact that the two businesses are highly complementary Merck expects that the transaction will clear regulatory review," the statement said.

Merck expects the deal will be completed in the second half of 2010.

Deals Inflows Outflows