Caroline Kennedy nominated as ambassador to Japan

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama announced Wednesday that he is nominating former first daughter Caroline Kennedy as U.S. ambassador to Japan, offering the most famous living member of a prominent American family a new role of service to country.

Kennedy, an attorney and bestselling book editor, is being rewarded for helping put Obama in the White House where her father served until his assassination 50 years ago. If confirmed, she would be the first woman in a post where many other prominent Americans have served to strengthen a vital Asian tie.

Kennedy helped propel Obama to the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination in a celebrated endorsement over Hillary Rodham Clinton ? the only time she's endorsed a presidential candidate other than her uncle Ted Kennedy in 1980. She played a prominent role, particularly in courting female voters by headlining swing state events for Obama during both his presidential campaigns.

She was a co-chair of Obama's vice presidential search committee and in the 2012 race served as one of 35 national co-chairs of his re-election campaign. She called Obama "the kind of leader my father wrote about in 'Profiles in Courage'" during a prime-time speech at the 2012 Democratic National Convention.

The White House announced her nomination without any particular fanfare, listing her in a news release along with other selections for administration posts. Obama said in a statement that all the choices bring "a depth of experience and tremendous dedication to their new roles," but he offered no comment specific to Kennedy.

Kennedy, 55, doesn't have any obvious ties to Japan, a key ally in dealing with North Korea's nuclear ambitions. She would replace John Roos, a wealthy former Silicon Valley lawyer and top Obama campaign fundraiser.

Japan is one of the United States' most important trading and military partners and accustomed since the end of World War II to having renowned American political leaders serve as envoy. Former U.S. ambassadors to Japan include former Vice President Walter Mondale, former House Speaker Tom Foley and former Senate Majority Leaders Mike Mansfield and Howard Baker.

She also would bring a third generation of her family into the U.S. diplomatic corps. Her grandfather Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. was President Franklin D. Roosevelt's ambassador to Britain, while her aunt Jean Kennedy Smith was ambassador to Ireland under President Bill Clinton.

Caroline Kennedy was five days shy of her sixth birthday when her father was killed, and she lived most of the rest of her life in New York City. She earned a bachelor's degree from Harvard University, got a law degree from Columbia University, married exhibit designer Edwin Schlossberg and had three children.

Kennedy is president of the John F. Kennedy Library Foundation and chair of the senior advisory committee of the Institute of Politics at Harvard. She has served on the boards of numerous non-profit organizations, helped raise millions of dollars for New York schools and edited numerous bestselling books on history, law and poetry.

She considered running for political office after Clinton resigned the New York Senate seat to serve as Obama's secretary of state. But Kennedy eventually withdrew herself from consideration to fill the seat, once held by her uncle Robert F. Kennedy, citing unspecified personal reasons.

Source: http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/07/24/3519044/ap-sources-kennedy-nominated-for.html

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Grants, scholarships key to paying for college

Prospective students and their parents tour Georgetown University's campus in Washington, Wednesday, July 10, 2013. The defeat of a student loan bill in the Senate on Wednesday clears the way for fresh negotiations to restore lower rates, but lawmakers are racing the clock before millions of students return to campus next month to find borrowing terms twice as high as when school let out. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Prospective students and their parents tour Georgetown University's campus in Washington, Wednesday, July 10, 2013. The defeat of a student loan bill in the Senate on Wednesday clears the way for fresh negotiations to restore lower rates, but lawmakers are racing the clock before millions of students return to campus next month to find borrowing terms twice as high as when school let out. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

FILE - Prospective students tour Georgetown University's campus in Washington, in this Wednesday, July 10, 2013, file photo. Grants and scholarships are taking a leading role in paying college bills, surpassing the traditional role parents long have played in helping foot the bills, according to a report from loan giant Sallie Mae. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Grants and scholarships are taking a leading role in paying college bills, surpassing the traditional role parents long have played in helping foot the bills, according to a report from loan giant Sallie Mae.

Since the recession, more college-bound students have eliminated schools from their searches based on costs and have relied less on their parents once they get to campus, said the report released Tuesday. Worries such as tuition increases and job losses seem to have faded as the economy has improved, yet parents and students still make decisions on schools, majors and work schedules based on the price tag.

"We have moved into a post-recession reality in how people pay for college," said Sarah Ducich, Sallie Mae's senior vice president for public policy.

College spending per student was about $21,000 during 2012, down from a peak of $24,000 in 2010, according to the Sallie Mae-Ipsos Public Affairs report.

The annual survey of student financial aid found students earned about $6,300 in grants and scholarships to pay for college costs, taking the top spots from parents. Student loans were the third most common source to pick up the bill for courses, housing and books.

The average student borrowed $8,815 in federal loans.

The rate for those loans was the subject of debate in the Senate last week, as lawmakers considered a compromise that would offer some students lower rates for the next few years but would prescribe higher rates for future classes. The Senate is expected to vote on that compromise this week.

Last year, the average family turned to grants and scholarships to cover 30 percent of college costs. Parents' income and savings covered 27 percent of the bill and student borrowing covered 18 percent.

"Parents are willing to stretch themselves," Ducich said "It's not that they're willing to pay. It's that their income is not keeping up."

Parents' enthusiasm for college has not shriveled, though. The survey found 85 percent of parents saw college bills as an investment in their children's future.

"We're in a new normal where big ticket items like college, families will pay for them but won't stress about them too much," said Cliff Young, managing director at Ipsos.

One-fifth of parents added work hours to pay for college and half of students increased their work hours, too. The report found 57 percent of families said students were living at home or with relatives, up from 41 percent last year and 44 percent in 2011.

Among other strategies employed to deal with costs:

? One-fifth of students from low-income families chose to transfer to less expensive schools.

? About one-fifth of students said they changed majors to fields that were expected to be more marketable upon graduation.

? In all, 67 percent of students and their families eliminated colleges at some stage during the application process because of costs, up from 58 percent in 2008.

"It forced them to adopt new behaviors of savings and ways to find nickels and dimes," Young said.

The tuition sticker price at public four-year colleges is up 27 percent beyond overall inflation over the last five years, according to the latest figures from a separate study from the College Board. This past year it rose nearly 5 percent to an average of $8,655 nationwide. Including room and board, the average sticker price at public colleges is now $17,860, and students pay on average $12,110. At private four-year colleges, the average full tuition price is now just under $40,000, with the average student paying $23,840.

What does that mean for the average college student?

About two-thirds of the national college class of 2011 had loan debt at graduation, and their debt averaged $26,600, according to the most recent figures from the California-based Institute for College Access and Success. That was an increase of about 5 percent from the class before them.

The Ipsos telephone poll was conducted between April 10 and May 9 with 1,802 parents of undergraduate students and 800 18- to 24-year-old undergraduate students. The survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.5 percentage points.

___

Follow Philip Elliott on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/philip_elliott

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-07-23-US-Student-Loans/id-47e9651c26c9422a8831cc8a8ff60293

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Hallam London - Shakespeare?s Sonnets: AvantPop

Part of the Bristol Shakespeare Festival

Vocals and guitar Hallam London
Bass and synth Alex Fox
Drums Michael W?nsch

Dresden-based Hallam London, praised as ?a virtuoso singer, colourful guitarist and, above all, a daring composer?, has recreated Shakespeare?s sonnets as stunning alternative songs. German press characterises his music as ?captivating and magical?elaborately and manifoldly composed?.

Unsurprisingly, the RSC has since presented his work in myShakespeare - a project accompanying the 2012 World Shakespeare Festival.

As part of the 2013 Bristol Shakespeare Festival, Hallam will showcase his songs with his live band.

This is a Hall 2 seated cabaret performance.

Source: http://www.colstonhall.org/whatson/Event3634

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Hang Up and Listen: The Worth Its Wait in Gold Edition

Listen to "Hang Up and Listen" with Stefan Fatsis, Josh Levin, and Mike Pesca by clicking the arrow on the audio player below:

Hang Up and Listen is brought to you by?Stamps.com.?Click on the radio microphone and enter HANGUP to get our $110 bonus offer.

Hang Up and Listen is also brought to you by Audible. Get a 30-day free trial by signing up at audiblepodcast.com/hangup. Our pick of the week is?The Rider by Tim Krabb?.

In this week?s episode of?Slate?s sports podcast Hang Up and Listen, Stefan Fatsis, Josh Levin, and Mike Pesca discuss Texas A&M quarterback Johnny Manziel, the first freshman to win the Heisman Trophy. Next, they?re joined by Joe Drape, author of Soldiers First: Duty, Honor, Country, and Football at West Point, to talk about Army?s football program and its 11-game losing streak to Navy. Lastly, they speak with shot putter Adam Nelson, whose 2004 Olympic silver medal could turn to gold as a consequence of former gold medalist Yuriy Bilonog?s failed drug test.

Also, call 77-HANGUP-10 to submit your question for Hang Up and Listen?s upcoming call-in podcast. Ask us anything!

Here are links to some of the articles and other items mentioned on the show:

Mike?s Alexeyev: Abraham Lincoln?s sports connection: Warren Wallace Beckwith, a baseball player known as ?the dude? and ?the lady killer.?

Podcast production and edit by Mike Vuolo. Our intern is Eric Goldwein.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=6fb0ec32ac35661152b8856db9b81a76

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On the Way Out, Schapiro Steps In to 'Volcker' Rift (WSJ)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS and RSS Feed via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/270110226?client_source=feed&format=rss

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Security, Enterprise Mobility and Cloud Priorities for Business in 2013

Security will remain an important issue for businesses, as the number of people taking advantage of ?Bring Your Own Device? (BYOD) grows. ?BYOD complicates security for businesses. They are racing to support a wide variety of consumer devices in the workplace, and that will inevitably increase security incidents because of poorly controlled user-owned devices connected to the network. It?s harder to manage data loss and leakage prevention in this type of environment, so we can expect to see an increase in both malicious and unintentional data loss incidents.?

Enterprise mobility will continue to be a key focus for businesses, with the priority to reduce operational costs. ?Businesses must control and reduce carrier costs through telecommunications expense management, which is a major operational cost. Reducing real estate and developing a well-equipped mobile workforce will also shrink these costs while delivering productivity benefits. It is important that users have positive experiences with enterprise mobility, and that end-user devices and applications are well supported. Expect to also see an explosion in form factors next year, as key players continue to innovate to create new niches,? says Neil Campbell.

The race to adopt cloud technology will also pose some interesting questions for businesses. Neil Campbell expects to see the cloud battleground move from infrastructure style applications to cloud development platforms for custom applications.

?Businesses are getting smarter ? they can see through the hype surrounding cloud technology. The term ?cloud? is being generalised ? simple hosted offerings are being called could technology ? and I think we?ll see more businesses start to understand the difference between true cloud and hosted technology.

?We also expect to see the trend of pushing commodity infrastructure into IT Outsourcing or cloud continuing, with ITO becoming more commonplace for mid-sized businesses.?

2013 will also see a further defining of use and defining of market for social media. ?Social media is under used now but likely to be over used in the near future. In a year or two it will settle between where it is now and where the hype thinks it will get to. There will be a clarification of the definition of external social and internal social, even if those are not the names that will be used. Internal social is being more and more coupled with the traditional definition of UC&C as PBX get replaced by IPTel, email traffic decreases and social activity streams increase, and the demand increases for analytics around social media usage patterns and employee behaviour.

?Overall, I think 2013 will provide interesting IT challenges and opportunities for Australian businesses, as they make sense of evolving technology and the right decisions to help their business grow.?

About Dimension Data: Founded in 1983, Dimension Data plc is an ICT services and solutions provider that uses its technology expertise, global service delivery capability, and entrepreneurial spirit to accelerate the business ambitions of its clients. Dimension Data is a member of the NTT Group. www.dimensiondata.com

Source:http://www.cfoworld.com.au/mediareleases/15461/security-enterprise-mobility-and-cloud-priorities/

Source: http://www.theoutsourceblog.com/2012/12/security-enterprise-mobility-and-cloud-priorities-for-business-in-2013/

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7 world-renowned paintings stolen in Dutch heist

AMSTERDAM?? Seven paintings, including several by modern masters Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, and Claude Monet were stolen from Rotterdam's Kunsthal museum early Tuesday around 3 a.m. local time (9 p.m. Monday ET).

Also stolen were works by Lucian Freud, Paul Gauguin, and Meyer de Haan.

The heist, one of the largest in years in the Netherlands, occurred while the private Triton Foundation collection was being exhibited publicly as a group for the first time. The collection was on display as part of celebrations surrounding the Kunsthal's 20th anniversary celebrations.

Millions in stolen art recovered in LA area

Neither the police nor the Kunsthal were immediately able to put a value on the haul, but the theft is one of the art world's most dramatic in recent years and will likely be worth millions.

Renoir bought for $7 at flea market may have been stolen from museum in 1951

Kunsthal, designed by Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, does not have its own collection and exhibits different types of art, including photos, sculptures, design and fashion.

Video: 'Art For the Taking'

The museum was closed Tuesday as police reviewed videotape footage and called on witnesses to come forward.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49429139/ns/world_news-europe/

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