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$1,350.00 - Woodland Hills - NEW MANAGEMENT! 1 MONTH FREE IPAD!!! LOOK AND LEASE LUXURY 1BEDROOM 1 BATH!

Rent: $1,350.00

Deposit: $500

Listing Type: Standard Rental

Bedrooms: 1 bedroom

Bathrooms: 1 Bath

Furnished: No

Lease Type: Flexible lease

Pets: Will consider pet

Structure Type: Apartments

Parking: 2-car Parking included


Source: http://www.westsiderentals.com/adref/RSSFeed/default.cfm?listing_id=1016325

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Facebook pauses efforts to launch ad network

Facebook pauses efforts to launch ad network

Remember that mobile ad network that Facebook ushered into beta around three months ago? Don't look for it to escape anytime soon. Per a new report from AllThingsD, spokesman Brandon McCormick has stated the following: "We are pausing our mobile ads test off of Facebook. While the results we have seen and the feedback from partners has been positive, our focus is on scaling ads in mobile news feed before ads off of Facebook. We have learned a lot from this test that will be useful in the future."

For those unaware, the general goal was for Facebook to place its own ads on other developer's mobile apps, and given the wealth of data it has on a billion or so users, you'd think said plan was pretty sound. Of course, gearing up to launch something to rival Google's AdSense network is no small feat, and we're left to assume that Facebook would rather wait and get it right than launch a subpar alternative. There's no word yet on when the pause button will be pressed once more, but you can probably assume it won't be until Q1 2013 at the earliest.

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Source: AllThingsD

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/19/facebook-pauses-mobile-ad-network/

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365 Days of Health & Fitness: Anxiety: How Common is It? : Mental

by Dana R. Arevalo

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Welcome.? For the past couple of days, I have been having major issues with Blogger via desktop.? Today, I will be delivering more than one post.? I apologize that we were off-air yesterday.? Hopefully, we do not experience any further issues.?

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Last week, I wrote a post as a contributing writer on?the amazing blog P.O.V.? Revisiting the article, I noticed its popularity.? Therefore, I would like everyone to take a moment and recognize mental illness.? Many times individuals are afraid to discuss it in detail out of fear that they will be considered "different" in a bad way.? This is not the case.? Please take it seriously.? Share this with a friend or a loved one.? See the link below:?

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Disclosure:? Please note, the author will not be held liable for any content herewith nor is she an expert in psychological or psychaitric disorders.? This post is meant for informational purposes only.? Please contact your physician shall any issues arise.? We will not be held legally responsible for any decisions or thoughts the reader may experience.? ?

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Source: http://www.365daysofhealthandfitness.com/2012/12/anxiety-how-common-is-it-mental-health.html

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Source: http://barrjewell25.typepad.com/blog/2012/12/365-days-of-health-fitness-anxiety-how-common-is-it-mental.html

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Source: http://adasocarroll.typepad.com/blog/2012/12/365-days-of-health-fitness-anxiety-how-common-is-it-mental.html

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Source: http://serviceability-plenty.blogspot.com/2012/12/365-days-of-health-fitness-anxiety-how.html

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Washington Watch with Roland Martin, 12.16.12, Video Podcast

At the top of our agenda this week: the GOP?s battle to destroy unions moves to Michigan, forcing unions to fight back. Teenager Jordan Davis shot dead in Florida. His parents seek justice against the shooter. Republican senators take down UN Ambassador Susan Rice, forcing her to withdraw from consideration for Secretary of State.

In the ?Washington Watch? roundtable: Rahiel Tesfamariam, columnist for TheWashingtonPost. com; Dr. Chris Metzler, political scientist from Georgetown University; Deborah Simmons, senior correspondent for ?The Washington Times?; and Joseph Williams, contributor for TheGrio.com.

And an historian?s look back at the real man behind the new Lincoln movie. He freed the slaves, but was that enough? Plus, Christmas at the White House with a special tour guide ? Bo, the First Dog.

It?s all happening right now on ?Washington Watch.?

Download?the ?Washington Watch with Roland Martin? Video Podcast.

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Hollywood quiet so far on gun control after Connecticut

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Pick a social cause and you'll often find a Hollywood celebrity speaking out. Gay marriage (Brad Pitt), Darfur (George Clooney), the environment (Robert Redford or Leonardo DiCaprio).

Gun control? Not so much.

Most of Hollywood's biggest action movie stars have remained silent, so far, on the divisive issue following last week's slaying of 20 young children and six adults at a Connecticut school. And pop culture experts say it's not hard to see why.

"If you are known for being a star who carries around weaponry and fires it, when something like this happens, the last thing in the world you want to do is insert yourself ... unless you say you are never going to star in another action-adventure movie," Robert Thompson, professor of popular culture at Syracuse University, said on Monday.

Longtime gun control advocates like actress Susan Sarandon and "Bowling for Columbine" documentary director Michael Moore were quick to take to Twitter after Friday's Connecticut massacre, and tens of thousands of Americans have since signed online petitions urging approval of stricter gun control laws.

Yet major action heroes Arnold Schwarzenegger, Bruce Willis, Denzel Washington, as well as Pitt and Clooney, have had little or nothing public to say.

That may change, according to a veteran public relations executive who handles many Hollywood clients.

"I think there will be a very public display of outrage from prominent people in the entertainment world and people wanting to do something about guns," said the public relations chief who asked not to be named because he was not authorized to speak for his clients.

"I think the stereotypical Hollywood action star not wanting to touch an issue like this may be dated. There is a lot of talk about people wanting to express very public outrage. Let's see who joins, and how that manifests itself," he told Reuters.

CRUISE IN SPOTLIGHT FOR "JACK REACHER"

With Hollywood studios again under scrutiny for making violent movies, Paramount Pictures canceled Saturday's premiere in Pittsburgh of Tom Cruise's new film "Jack Reacher," in which Cruise plays a cold-blooded former military sniper.

In New York, the Lincoln Center Film Society postponed a Monday screening and conversation with Cruise "out of respect for the families who lost loved ones in Newtown, Connecticut," according to a statement.

"Jack Reacher," which opens with a sniper picking off and killing five apparently random targets on a riverfront promenade, is due to open in U.S. movie theaters on Friday.

Cruise has said nothing publicly about the shootings in Connecticut, and maintained his silence on the subject during a Monday appearance on "Late Show With David Letterman" to promote the film.

But "Jack Reacher" director Christopher McQuarrie told entertainment industry website TheWrap.com that the actor played a key role in the decision to cancel the red carpet premiere in Pittsburgh - where much of the movie was shot.

"Tom and I insisted on it. Nobody should be celebrating anything 24 hours after a tragic event like that," McQuarrie told TheWrap on Monday.

Letterman, however, spoke at length about the killings before Cruise joined him on the set, saying "it's a sad, sad holiday season."

The talk show host also said that gun laws were not the answer to a "multi-faceted" social ill.

"I'm not dumb enough to think that this is a problem of guns, because before there were guns people were killing each other," Letterman said.

He added that he was mystified by the "need" for semi-automatic weapons like one reportedly used in the Connecticut massacre. In a lighter vein, he remarked: "I've never seen a deer worth 30 rounds of ammo and an automatic rifle."

On television, the Fox broadcast network pulled graphic trailers for its upcoming serial killer drama "The Following," and replaced Sunday episodes of animated shows "Family Guy" and "American Dad" to avoid what a network source called the airing of "any potentially sensitive content."

The finale of Emmy-winning drama "Homeland" - which included a massive car bomb scene - was preceded with a disclaimer warning that some scenes may be disturbing.

AMERICAN PYSCHE AT FAULT?

Hollywood is often irked when movies and videogames are held to blame for the actions of Americans, some of them with mental health issues, who have run amok with guns in recent years.

"I think it's always unfair to single out the entertainment business for scrutiny. There is something deep in the American psyche that is much deeper than videogames or movie or records," the public relations executive said.

Despite the 12 people killed and 59 wounded by a gunman at a Colorado movie screening in July of "The Dark Knight Rises," the Batman movie went on to make more than $1 billion at the global box office and is the second most-successful movie in the United States and Canada for 2012.

Thompson at Syracuse University questioned how much influence celebrities wield when expressing their personal opinions - whatever the cause - and especially on an issue like gun control that raises such passion in the United States on both sides of the argument.

"It is much more likely that that kind of speaking out gets people to change their opinion about a celebrity, not an issue," Thompson said

Besides, he said, who really cares what random stars think about events as emotive as the Connecticut killings?

"Celebrities weighing in after something like this is perceived by a lot of people as tacky. The idea of expecting (their) opinion to somehow make anything better or different is, I think, perceived by a lot of people as self-centered hubris," Thompson said.

(Additional reporting by Lisa Richwine, Zorianna Kit and Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Philip Barbara and Xavier Briand)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/hollywood-quiet-far-gun-control-connecticut-061307247.html

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Workers Compensation Insurance For Colorado Nannies ...

Do You Need Workers Compensation as a Private Individual Employer of Domestic Help?

? 2012 All Rights Reserved

Many homeowners or individuals who hire any domestic help may need to consider the liability of being sued if these individuals are hurt while helping you around your home.? Maybe you hired a nanny to help out with the kids.? Or, a person to clean your house on a frequent basis. It could be someone to perform landscaping and snow removal.?

The Colorado Workers Compensation Act has language that may necessitate purchasing a workers compensation insurance policy for nannies, landscaping, house cleaning assistance or other domestic help. ?

What Kind of Injuries Could Happen To Your Domestic Employee?

Landscaping:

  • Back injuries from heavy lifting
  • Cuts from mowers, trimmers or shears
  • Eye Injuries due to flying debris
  • Injuries from using equipment
  • Broken bones from falling off ladders or other equipment

Nannies

  • Back injuries from picking up a child, strollers or other equipment
  • Slipping or falling on toys or other hazards
  • Automobile accident while taking your child to the park
  • Cuts from preparing food for children
  • Injury from flying objects thrown by children
  • Broken limbs from playing outdoor sports with childrer

Domestic Cleaning Service/Maid/Janitorial Service

  • Back injuries from bending or picking up equipment
  • Cuts from cleaning dishes or knives
  • Slips and fall from wet floors
  • Broken limbs from cleaning showers and bathtubs
  • Falling from ladders to clean ceiling fans or light fixtures

Domestic Help Work Comp Act Colorado

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Colorado Workers Compensation Act:

  • Section 8-40-302 Paragraph 4
  • Not intended to apply to employers of person who do domestic work or maintenance, repair, remodeling, yard, lawn, tree, or shrub planting or trimming, or similar work about the private home of the employer if such employers have not other employees subject to said articles 40 to 47 and if such employments are not wthin the course of the trade, business, or profession of said employers.
  • ?Full Time?: means work performed for forty hours or more a week or on five days or more a week
  • Please note:? our agency called the division of workers compensation in Colorado for further clarity on this section.? Their position is not for interpreting the statutes and suggested seeking legal advice for a licensed attorney.

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?Have You Determined If You Need Colorado Workers Compensation??

Our agency offers the convenience of an online application.? It takes less than 10 minutes to complete:

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Source: http://www.gpbusinessinsurance.com/nanny-landscaper-janitorial-injuries-workers-compensation/

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সোমবার, ১৭ ডিসেম্বর, ২০১২

T-Mobile doc suggests Multi-Window feature coming to Samsung Galaxy Note II on December 19th

TMobile doc suggests MultiWindow feature coming to Samsung Galaxy Note II on December 19th

We saw the productivity-increasing feature make its way to Sprint's Galaxy Note II not too long ago, and it looks like it could soon show up on T-Mobile's model as well. According to a support document on the Magenta carrier's website, Samsung's Multi-Window trait is due to hit the 5.5-inch, S-Pen-toting device a couple of days from today, on December 19th, via an upcoming software update. The aforementioned T-Mobile page doesn't list any other major changes (save for some fixes to issues with Exchange and Gmail), but if it does indeed turn out to be true, the addition of the Multi-Window feature alone could certainly make it worthwhile for owners of most everyone's favorite phablet.

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Via: Android Central, TmoNews

Source: T-Mobile Support

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/17/t-mobile-galaxy-note-ii-multi-window/

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The Samsung Exynos kernel exploit - what you need to know

Note 2

A new kernel exploit has been found (credit to alephzain at XDA) that affects some Samsung Exynos chipsets -- which happen to power many of Samsung's more popular phones. Normally kernel exploits don't make the rounds as news, but this time the word "malware" got attached to it so it's got a bit of steam behind it.

Let's start this by reminding everyone that any app or program that roots your Android phone or jailbreaks your iOS device is malware by this definition. People really need to give up on that damn click-bait, and instead worry about educating people to help keep them safer. That's what we're going to try to do, so read on and lets have a look.

Source: XDA; More: Chainfire's ExynosAbuse root exploit thread

read more



Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/Pibgaa_LPRo/story01.htm

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PFT: Cowboys to wear '53' decals to honor Brown

CroAP

The Dolphins have launched a new smartphone app that allows fans to upgrade their seats while at the game.

RB C.J. Spiller is among four Bills making a late push for a Pro Bowl berth.

Jets CB Antonio Cromartie has done a nice job of replacing Darrelle Revis as the guy who matches up with the other team?s best receiver.

Patriots DT Vince Wilfork says LB Jerod Mayo is ?like Tom [Brady] on the other side of the ball.?

Browns K Phil Dawson?s final appearance at Cleveland Browns Stadium could be coming on Sunday.

Steelers WR Antonio Brown says his ankle is still less than 100 percent, but that like other injured players ?[w]e?ll all just tape it up and go on.?

For Ravens P.R. guru Kevin Byrne, the decision to fire offensive coordinator Cam Cameron conjured memories of the organization?s decision in 1993 (while in Cleveland) to cut QB Bernie Kosar.

Bengals offensive coordinator Jay Gruden wants to see QB Andy Dalton play better in the final two regular-season games; ?We expect to see progress and not regression, and he kind of took a step back [Thursday] night,? Gruden said.

Titans DT Karl Klug will get more snaps on Monday night after getting two sacks in only 15 plays against the Colts.

The Texans have donated more than 225 bikes to local kids.

The Colts have thrown a league-high 21 tipped or batted balls, which isn?t a good thing considering that the Texans defense has a league-high 35 tipped or batted balls.

Rookie G Austin Pasztor is going from the Jaguars? practice squad to the starting lineup, all in the same week.

WE Rod Streater is emerging as an unlikely star for the Raiders.

More words of wisdom from Chiefs QB Brady Quinn regarding a tragedy that feels like it happened a lot longer than two weeks ago.

This week, Chargers coach Norv Turner is avoiding contact with Carolina assistant Scott Turner, for obvious reasons.

The key to keeping Broncos QB Peyton Manning from being sacked on a regular basis could be G Chris Kuper.

Cowboys defensive coordinator Rob Ryan explained the penalty he received for getting into a verbal spat with Cincinnati OT Andre Smith:? ?I think he was attacking the American Flag,? Ryan said.? ?We?re America?s Team and he was attacking America.?

Eagles CB Nnamdi Asomugha is a finalist for the 2013 Bart Starr Award.

Given that Redskins QB Robert Griffin III loves superheroes, it was a no-brainer for coach Mike Shanahan to put RG3?s locker next to LB London Fletcher.

A pair of Virginia Tech rookies ? RB David Wilson and CB Jayron Hosley ? will play big roles for the Giants on Sunday.

Lions WR Kris Durham has learned more about playing the position from three months with the Lions and Calvin Johnson than Durham had in three prior seasons.

The future of Bears coach Lovie Smith remains shrouded in mystery.

Vikings DE Jared Allen thinks expanding the playoffs would be ?stupid.?? (He arguably would disagree if the Vikings finish No. 7 in the NFC and the league offered to let his team in.)

Packers WR Greg Jennings says that he?s aware of no contract talks between his agent and the team.

Bears coach Lovie Smith insists QB Jay Cutler doesn?t have a knee ?problem,? but he?s listed as having a knee injury, and multiple reports indicate it?s a mild MCL sprain.

Saints QB Drew Brees wants a different kind of explanation.

The Buccaneers have had a hard time holding leads against hurry-up offenses.

Falcons WR Julio Jones prefers to let his play do the talking.

Rookie S D.J. Campbell is quickly becoming a leader for the Panthers.

The Cardinals look to be poised to abandon their 25-year relationship with Northern Arizona University, site of their training camp.

Seahawks DE Bruce Irvin has cut a $100,000 check to West Virginia University; the money will support the construction of a new weight room.

Sunday is Fan Appreciation Day at the Rams? home stadium, and the Rams would surely appreciate it if fans show up.? For a change.

49ers LB Aldon Smith is donating $5,099 for each regular-season sack to the Boys and Girls Clubs of San Francisco and the Peninsula; the current total of his donation is $99,430.50.

Source: http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/12/15/cowboys-to-wear-53-decals-to-honor-jerry-brown/related/

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Some Features Of Corporate Video Production | valttiblogi.com

Posted by mikaza on December 15, 2012 in Finance | Short Link

Corporate video production is done for different purposes such as corporate interaction, training and education, videotaping seminars and formalities, and sales. Generally, this kind of solution refers to audio-visual corporate communications component in the type of DVD, High-definition video, streaming video commissioned primarily for use by an organization. Different organizations utilize corporate videos for various functions. Usually, a corporate video is utilized for a specific function in a corporate or B2B atmosphere and watched by a minimal or targeted audience.

click is all about developing online videos that are distinct and purposeful. Innovative, skilled and experienced specialists are associateded with such video production. These professional have experience in advertising, layout and television, and recognize how to enhance brand worth of a business. The video production is done to convey corporate notification to the intended viewers. A corporate video not just features item, service or business promo video clips, but likewise includes training videos and information videos. Organizations encourage presenting promo videos on their main internet site of a business to get to a bigger area of the crowd. There are three phases associateded with corporate video production procedure; the first stage is all about choosing spending plan in between the production company and customer, complied with by the second stage that consists of area shooting with a video camera crew and supervisor. The final stage is the production stage that consists of modifying the shot footage. The last could additionally include tape-recording an audio voice-over, adding graphics, composing a songs soundtrack, and featuring 2D/3D animation sequences with the finished video. Marketing brand understanding and item array via the combined usage of video and article production strategies is an impressive, artistic and effective means of telling your tale and getting it listened to and has the ability to efficiently market any kind of product and/or service ? pet shops, cooking area style and fitting, driving colleges and photo are merely a little example of the varied businesses all of which can easily take advantage of a expert video production service.

In the era of innovation, various audio graphic stations of interaction are utilized to develop optimal impact on the pinpoint viewers. Nowadays, video and some other kinds of media interactions, such as program television and TELEVISION marketing are used to make certain a visual impact. Professionally generated read more will certainly improve your brand profile in the age; with some two billion plus appeals YouTube every single day of the year at present rates and looking argued proceed trending up, video as a procedure of brand promotion and corporate publicity is the future. Our advertising and marketing videos was a hit, we got help from a audiovisual company.

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Source: http://valttiblogi.com/some-features-of-corporate-video-production/

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Child deaths and bitter cold in Syrian refugee camps

ZAATARI, Jordan (Reuters) - One-year-old Ali Ghazawi, born with a heart defect, faced a battle for survival even before his family fled Syria's civil war. It was a struggle he lost two weeks ago in the bitter winter cold of a tented refugee camp in north Jordan.

Ali died two days after undergoing a heart operation in Zaatari camp, which houses at least 32,000 refugees who escaped fierce bombardment in Syria's rebellious southern province of Deraa, cradle of the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad.

"I covered my son with two blankets, but he was not warming up, and he turned blue before he passed away in my hands," said his sobbing 22-year-old mother, alone with a three-year-old daughter after she left her husband in Deraa and crossed the border in November.

Ali was the fourth baby to die in three weeks in the windswept camp. United Nations aid workers say none of the deaths were the direct result of conditions in Zaatari, yet they highlight the challenge facing relief agencies scrambling to provide basic shelter for half a million refugees in the region.

"These deaths are a result of cumulative factors, some related to shortage in needs and natural causes. But on top of that, the reality that conditions are harsh cannot be ignored," said Saba Mobaslat, program director at Save the Children.

Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey each host more than 130,000 registered refugees, and relief workers predict the numbers will only increase as violence escalates around the capital Damascus.

Mirroring Syria's youthful population, almost 65 percent of Jordan's camp residents are newborns and young children.

"Every night we are getting children as young as four days old, six days old, one week, two weeks old, and it's a real struggle to try to make sure that everyone survives," said Andrew Harper, Jordan head of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

"Women are giving birth on the border, and people are coming across pregnant. It's a situation where we just need to redouble efforts, particularly as we move into winter, because you have hundreds of pregnant women who cross the border," Harper said.

Families often send the most vulnerable to safety, he added, so alongside the very young in Zaatari are many older refugees. "Last night we had a couple who were 97 years old," he said.

"CHILDREN'S CAMP"

Along the main road in the middle of the camp's muddy and gravel streets, children of all ages race around the makeshift market place that sprang up after the camp opened in July.

Many families join in, out of enterprise or necessity, selling everything from hot falafel to household goods, old clothing and fresh vegetables.

"It's a children's camp. You walk into it and there are children everywhere. It's in your face. The male adults are staying behind, and a woman comes with 10 children without her bread earner," Mobaslat added.

In one of several UNICEF-run playgrounds, among seesaws, swings and volunteers giving music lessons, the scars of war are fresh in the minds of most children.

"I long for my home, and I hope Bashar falls to get back to my home. It's much better than here, where we are humiliated," said Mohammad Ghazawi, 12, who came to play after a break from selling cheap cigarettes.

Their elders complain that two thin blankets per refugee distributed in recent weeks were not enough to warm them in tents that let in rain water despite zinc reinforcements and waterproof layers that have helped insulate them.

"Kids are dying from cold and lack of blankets. My kids shiver at night, and one has constant diarrhea," said Mohammad Samara, 46, who fled heavy shelling in the southern Syrian town of Busr al-Sham in October with his wife and four children.

Carsten Hansen, country director for the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), which has set up a heated tent that receives families on arrival, says much progress has been made to help distribute aid.

"Everybody is trying to mobilize resources ... in order to react to bigger numbers and a huge influx," Hansen said, adding that 6,000 gas heaters had been airlifted to Jordan to help heat the tent camp.

FROM CRISIS TO DISASTER?

Harper said UNHCR was working to prevent "this humanitarian crisis becoming a major disaster". But he said that while aid teams were racing to improve conditions at Zaatari, there were 100,000 other registered refugees living outside the camp and probably another 100,000 unregistered, whose living conditions were not improving.

In Lebanon, too, host to 154,000 refugees, many face a bleak winter, and aid workers expect their numbers to more than double by the middle of next year.

In the Bekaa Valley town of Bar Elias, a woman from the northern Syria province of Idlib says her home for the last year has been a wooden shack with only plastic sheeting to protect from the rain. Plastic bags are stuffed into the roof as extra insurance against leaks. "There is no water, no electricity, no school for my kids," she said in a croaky voice.

"My husband is sick. The situation is very bad."

Mads Almaas, NRC country director in Lebanon, said many more may flee Syria over the winter to escape worsening conditions there, putting even greater strain on relief efforts.

"The violence will not only continue but also get worse. And even in the increasingly likely event of the fall of Assad, we don't think the violence will end," he said.

Almaas said the United Nations would launch a regional response plan on Wednesday anticipating a total of 300,000 registered refugees in Lebanon by mid-2013. "At first we thought it was too high. Now we are concerned it is too low," he said.

In Turkey, which hosts 136,000 refugees, camps for the most part have facilities such as portable electric heaters, and refugees receive three hot meals a day from the Red Crescent. But temperatures can plunge below freezing in the rugged terrain along the 900 kilometer (560 mile) border with Syria during the winter months, and rain can be torrential and cause flooding.

Overcrowding remains a concern, with extended families cramped in single tents and ever more refugees arriving as fighting across the border drags on.

Across the region, aid workers fear an explosion in violence could leave them seriously overstretched.

"Right now funds are sufficient. What is a challenge is if we get any shocks, something like 5,000-10,000 refugees arriving (in Lebanon) in a matter of hours," Almaas said.

If fighting swept through the center of Damascus, thousands of Syrians could flee to the Lebanese border in a matter of hours. "For that, we are not prepared as the NRC. I also question the international community's capacity."

(Additional reporting by Oliver Holmes in Beirut and Nick Tattersall in Ankara; Editing by Dominic Evans and Will Waterman)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/child-deaths-bitter-cold-syrian-refugee-camps-100008228.html

Election Results Map Early voting results BBC Dick Morris Daily Show provisional ballot npr

Egyptians vote in controversial referendum

Amr Abdallah Dalsh / Reuters

Supporters of Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and members of the Muslim Brotherhood chant pro-Morsi slogans during a rally in Cairo on Friday in the runup to Saturday's vote on a draft constitution.

By NBC News wire services

Updated at 9:31 a.m. ET: Egyptians voted on Saturday on a constitution promoted by its Islamist backers as the way out of a prolonged political crisis and rejected by opponents as a recipe for further divisions in the Arab world's biggest nation.

Lines formed outside polling stations in Cairo and other cities and soldiers joined police to secure the referendum process after deadly protests during the build-up. Street brawls again erupted on Friday in Alexandria, Egypt's second city. ?

ANALYSIS: As Egypt votes, what is at stake?

The opposition says the constitution is too Islamist and tramples on minority rights. Morsi's supporters say the charter is needed if progress is to be made toward democracy nearly two years after the fall of military strongman Hosni Mubarak.

Highlighting the tension in the run-up to the vote, nearly 120,000 army troops were deployed on Saturday to protect polling stations. Clashes between Morsi's supporters and opponents over the past three weeks have left at least 10 people dead and about 1,000 wounded.

"The times of silence are over," bank employee Essam el-Guindy said as he waited to cast his ballot in Cairo's upscale Zamalek district. "I am not OK with the constitution. Morsi should not have let the country split like this."

El-Guindy was one of about 20 men standing in line. A separate women's line had twice as many people. Elsewhere in the city, hundreds of voters waited outside polling stations for nearly two hours before stations opened at 8 a.m.

PhotoBlog:?Egyptians vote on divisive constitution

"I read parts of the constitution and saw no reason to vote against it," said Rania Wafik as she held her newborn baby while waiting in line. "We need to move on and I just see no reason to vote against the constitution."

In Alexandria on Friday, tensions boiled over into a street brawl between rival factions armed with clubs, knives and swords. Several cars were set on fire and a Muslim preacher who had urged people to vote "yes" to the constitution was trapped inside his mosque by angry opposition supporters.

NBC's Ayman Mohyeldin is outside the presidential palace in Cairo where hundreds of thousands are protesting what they say is an unjust constitution. They want to delay a vote on the current draft of the constitution now scheduled for December 15.?

In the capital, Cairo, both sides made low-key final efforts to rally supporters.

Flag-waving Islamists gathered peacefully at one of the main mosques, some shouting "Islam, Islam'' and "We've come here to say 'yes' to the constitution."

Opposition supporters ? who have been urged to vote "no" by their leaders ? assembled outside the presidential palace.

The building remains ringed with police, soldiers and tanks after street clashes caused at least eight deaths earlier this month in violence prompted by Morsi's decision to award himself sweeping powers in order to ram through the new charter.

ANALYSIS: Egypt's military maintains watchful eye on politics

The referendum will be held on two days ? this Saturday and next ? because there are not enough judges willing to monitor all polling stations after some in the judiciary said they would boycott the vote.

Egyptians are being asked to accept or reject a constitution that must be in place before a parliamentary election can be held next year ? an event many hope can steer the country toward stability.

The measure is generally expected to pass, given the well-organized Muslim Brotherhood's record of winning elections since the fall of Mubarak. Many Egyptians, tired of turmoil, may simply fall in line and vote "yes."

If the constitution is voted down, a new assembly will have to be formed to draft a revised version, a process that could take up to nine months.

ANALYSIS: Egypt is rapidly approaching its own 'cliff'

Just over half of Egypt's electorate of 51 million will vote in the first round in Cairo and other cities. Polling stations opened at 8 a.m. (0600 GMT) and will close 12 hours later.

Official results will not be announced until after the second round, though it is likely that details will emerge after the first round that will give an idea of the overall trend.

The charter has been criticised by some overseas bodies.

The International Council of Jurists, a Geneva-based human rights group, said it falls short of international standards on the accountability of the armed forces, the independence of the judiciary, and recognition of human rights.

'Men don't have to worry about being caught': Sex mobs target Egypt's women

United Nations human rights experts said the draft should be reviewed to ensure that Egypt meets its obligations under international law on equality and women's rights.

To provide security for the vote, the army has deployed about 120,000 troops and 6,000 tanks and armoured vehicles to protect polling stations and other government buildings. While the military backed Mubarak and his predecessors, it has not intervened on either side in the present crisis.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

More world stories from NBC News:

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Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/12/15/15919168-egyptians-vote-in-controversial-constitutional-referendum?lite

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Boehner: No progress in fiscal cliff talks

WASHINGTON (AP) ? House Speaker John Boehner said Friday there has been no progress in negotiations to avert a "fiscal cliff" combination of automatic tax increases and spending cuts in January and called on President Barack Obama to produce a new offer.

Four days after House Republicans offered a plan to raise tax revenues and cut spending, Boehner told reporters that the White House has failed to outline its proposal and instead has pushed the nation closer to a fiscal cliff that economists warn could plunge the country into another recession. The two men also spoke privately by phone on Wednesday. Boehner described the conversation as pleasant "but just more of the same."

"Since then, there's been no counteroffer from the White House," Boehner complained. "Instead, reports indicate that the president has adopted a deliberate strategy to slow-walk our economy right to the edge of the fiscal cliff."

Boehner singled out for criticism White House aides who have said Obama was willing to allow Bush-era tax cuts for everyone to expire on Jan. 1 and automatic, across-the-board spending cuts to kick in the next day. He called their comments "reckless talk."

Boehner repeated the long-standing Republican argument that raising tax rates would be detrimental to small businesses and "is not going to help our economy and it's not going to help those seeking work." Obama has insisted that any deal must include an increase in the tax rates for high earners.

But Boehner declined an opportunity to take a hard line on tax rates, skirting a direct question on whether he might be willing to accept some increase in the top tax rate, currently set at 35 percent.

"There are a lot of things that are possible to put the revenue that the president seeks on the table. But none of it's going to be possible if the president insists on his position ? insists on 'my way or the highway,'" Boehner said when asked whether he might be able to accept a compromise top rate of 37 percent. "That's not the way to get to an agreement."

The Republican leader pointed out that he had offered on Monday to raise tax revenues by $800 billion over the next decade by ending or reducing tax breaks, particularly on the wealthy. The Republican plan would cut spending by $1.4 trillion, including by trimming annual increases in Social Security payments and raising the eligibility age for Medicare from 65 to 67.

"When is he going to take a step toward us?" Boehner asked of Obama.

At the White House, officials used Friday's mixed jobs report, with its modest growth in hiring, as an argument to embrace Obama's plans to avoid the fiscal cliff with a package of rate hikes for the rich, public works spending and refinancing help for struggling homeowners.

"Most pressing, President Obama has proposed, and the Senate has passed, an extension of middle-class income tax cuts that would prevent the typical middle-class family from facing a $2,200 tax increase at the beginning of next year," said Alan Krueger, chairman of Obama's Council of Economic Advisers.

Obama met at the White House on Friday with top House Democrat Nancy Pelosi, discussing a number of issues, including the fiscal cliff, a White House official said.

Tax cuts enacted during President George W. Bush's first term are scheduled to expire Dec. 31, automatically boosting tax rates to levels in place under President Bill Clinton. Obama wants those increases only to affect households with earnings of more than $250,000.

Obama is insisting that rates for upper income taxpayers rise and also wants permanent authority to prevent Congress from blocking increases in the nation's borrowing limit. The government is on track to hit its $16.4 trillion debt ceiling later this month, though the Treasury could extend the day of reckoning to February.

Separately, Pelosi, D-Calif., called on GOP leaders to schedule a vote on Senate-passed legislation to hike the top two tax rates for individual income exceeding $200,000 and family income over $250,000.

"Why are you not bringing this to the floor?" Pelosi said. "Is this a forever, forever protection of the wealthiest people in the country at the expense of the middle class?"

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/boehner-no-progress-fiscal-cliff-talks-161736461--finance.html

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UN talks nearing weak deal on climate

Local and international activists march inside a conference center under a giant statue of a spider to demand urgent action to address climate change at the U.N. climate talks in Doha, Qatar, Friday, Dec. 7, 2012. A dispute over money clouded U.N. climate talks Friday, as rich and poor countries sparred over funds meant to help the developing world cover the rising costs of mitigating global warming and adapting to it. (AP Photo/Osama Faisal)

Local and international activists march inside a conference center under a giant statue of a spider to demand urgent action to address climate change at the U.N. climate talks in Doha, Qatar, Friday, Dec. 7, 2012. A dispute over money clouded U.N. climate talks Friday, as rich and poor countries sparred over funds meant to help the developing world cover the rising costs of mitigating global warming and adapting to it. (AP Photo/Osama Faisal)

(AP) ? Bleary-eyed negotiators from nearly 200 countries haggled through the night over new draft agreements on emissions cuts by rich countries and aid for poor as United Nations climate talks spilled into Saturday.

The two-week conference was set to finish Friday, but as so often in the annual U.N.-led talks, negotiators struggled to reach an agreement, especially on money matters.

After all-night wrangling, the latest drafts Saturday lacked the strong commitments on climate action and financing by rich countries that poor countries had hoped for. But they did include a text on "loss and damage," a relatively new concept which relates to damages from climate-related disasters.

Island nations under threat from rising sea levels have been pushing for some mechanism to help them cope with such natural catastrophes, but the United States has pushed back over concerns it might be held liable for the cleanup bill since it is the world's second-biggest emitter behind China.

A final agreement from the talks was expected Saturday.

Countries plan to adopt a new climate pact by 2015. The Doha conference focused on side issues such as extending an existing emissions treaty for rich countries and increasing financing to help poor countries deal with global warming.

Poor countries came into the talks demanding a timetable on how rich countries would scale up climate change aid for them to $100 billion annually by 2020 ? a general pledge that was made three years ago.

But rich nations, including the United States, members of the European Union and Japan are still grappling with the effects of a financial crisis and were not interested in detailed talks on aid in Doha.

The latest texts included no reference to any mid-term financing targets, just a general pledge to "identify pathways for mobilizing the scaling up of climate finance."

Quamrul Chowdhury of Bangladesh, lead negotiator for the group of least developed countries, said it was the "weakest outcome" he had seen since the U.N. climate talks started two decades ago.

"We are reluctant to accept it. But anyhow we have to look at it. Most of our delegation has already left," he said.

The goal of the U.N. talks is to keep temperatures from rising more than 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit (2 Celsius), compared to preindustrial times. Temperatures have already risen about 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit (0.8 Celsius) above that level, according to the latest report by the U.N.'s top climate body.

A recent projection by the World Bank showed temperatures are on track to rise by up to 7.2 Fahrenheit (4 Celsius) by the year 2100.

___

Karl Ritter can be reached at www.twitter.com/karl_ritter and Michael Casey Casey at www.twitter.com/mcasey1

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-12-08-Climate%20Talks/id-27256b0926ee4199bfc3ad25f5850bc0

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Philippines finds elderly survivor after typhoon kills 332

NEW BATAAN, Philippines (Reuters) - Rescue workers found a 77-year-old man alive on Thursday who had survived on coconuts for two days after a powerful typhoon ravaged the south of the Philippines killing 332 people, with hundreds missing.

A group of rescue volunteers lifted Carlos Agang to safety after they found him, in a tattered shirt with a fractured leg and bruises, clinging to a boulder by a river in New Bataan town in Compostela Valley, the province worst hit by typhoon Botha.

"I can't believe it. I didn't expect to see people survive two days after they were swept by flood and mud," fire volunteer Mark Roman Jumilla told Reuters.

"For two days, he survived on coconut and water. He lost his family when floodwaters swept a temporary shelter area where he and his family sought refuge," Jumilla said.

Rescuers also found a pregnant woman on the other side of the river with her one-year son after escaping floods that swamped their house after typhoon Bopha hit land on Tuesday.

"It happened so fast. Water came rushing to us while we were leaving our house to move to safer grounds," Lenlen Medrano, 23, told Reuters as she was being carried by soldiers in a stretcher.

"I prayed hard over and over until we found ourselves on the riverbank," she added.

A Reuters photographer saw four bodies near the spot where Agang was rescued. The river's current was strong, making it hard for rescue teams to reach other survivors.

Typhoon Bopha, with central winds of up to 115 kph (71 mph) and gusts of up to 145 kph (90 mph), was moving west-northwest of the central Philippines and was expected to be over the South China Sea on Friday.

HUNDREDS MISSING

The head of the national disaster agency said 332 people were killed and 379 were missing after Bopha triggered landslides and floods along the coast and in farming and mining towns inland in the southern Mindanao region.

The death toll could rise further, with local government officials reporting higher numbers of missing and dead.

About 20 typhoons hit the Philippines every year, often causing death and destruction. Almost exactly a year ago, Typhoon Washi killed 1,500 people in Mindanao.

Arturo "Arthur" Uy, governor of Compostela Valley, said the latest estimates show 200 died and almost 600 remained missing in his province. Official tally by the disaster agency earlier on Thursday show 184 died and 356 missing in Compostela Valley.

Uy said search and rescue operations were continuing, particularly in far-flung areas in New Bataan town, where a three-year old child was plucked from under a crumpled house on Wednesday, more than 24 hours after the typhoon made landfall. The child's mother and a sibling are missing.

"I believe we can rescue more people," Uy told Reuters.

"This is the first time a typhoon with signal number 3 crossed our province. We evacuated people from riverbanks and shorelines. But the floods and strong winds battered not just the riverbanks but also places where residents where supposed to be safe."

Uy said a village hall, health centre and covered court in New Bataan, where residents took shelter ahead of the typhoon, were completely washed away by floods and mud.

Nearly 200,000 people remained in shelters in more than a dozen provinces in the southern Philippines, as officials appealed for food, water and clothing.

A few residents in Compostela Valley started repairing their houses, while housewives washed mud-drenched clothes and used fallen trees for cooking in makeshift stoves outside homes. But for majority, rebuilding will not be easy.

"I don't know what to do now," coconut farmer Roger Calarian told Reuters while queuing for a rice ration at the center of New Bataan town. "I lost my house, I lost my livelihood. I want to rebuild my hut but I don't think I have the energy to do that now."

Calarian said he and his wife were lucky to have survived when coconut trees crashed on their house on Tuesday. "We prayed, hugged each other until the winds calmed down, and then we crawled out to safety," he added.

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said small-scale mining is partly to blame for the disaster, adding officials of Compostela Valley gave out mining permits even if the national government has not allowed small scale mining in the area.

(Additional reporting by Rosemarie Francisco and Manny Mogato, Editing by Jonathan Thatcher)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/philippines-hopes-survivors-strongest-typhoon-kills-325-015340834.html

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GOP Senate group aided Akin despite disavowal (The Arizona Republic)

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Israel still committed to Palestinian peace deal: Netanyahu

PRAGUE (Reuters) - Israel remains committed to a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday, despite worries among the Jewish state's European allies over its plans to build more settlements.

"We remain committed to a negotiated settlement between us and our Palestinian neighbors," Netanyahu said during a visit to Prague. "That solution is a two-state solution for two peoples, a peace in which a demilitarized Palestinian state recognize the one and only Jewish state of Israel."

Netanyahu's comments came ahead of a visit to Germany, where he was expected to face a dressing down from Chancellor Angela Merkel for the settlement plans that his government is pursuing following a vote in the United Nations last week granting the Palestinian Authority limited statehood status.

(Reporting by Jason Hovet and Robert Muller; Writing by Michael Winfrey; Editing by Jon Boyle)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/israel-still-committed-palestinian-peace-deal-netanyahu-140907951.html

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Amazon Kindle FreeTime Unlimited launches, bundles kid-friendly media, menu for a fee

Amazon Kindle FreeTime Unlimited subscription launches, bundles kidfriendly apps and media

We got a peek at Amazon's Kindle FreeTime during its press conference back in September, but now it's making the family-friendly feature part of a subscription package available across the family of Kindle Fire devices. More than just a submenu of video like the ones offered by Netflix and Hulu Plus, it resembles the Kid's Corner launcher in Windows Phone 8 by password locking children out of the rest of the device, but with a preselected package of content to fill it.

Available to Prime subscribers for $2.99 per month, per child or for $6.99 for a family-wide license of up to six kids (don't have Prime? you can pick it up for $4.99/$9.99 a month), kids can browse through the selection of educational apps, games, books, movies and TV shows. It also throws in other features parents will dig, with a personalized login and bookmarks for the kids, plus the ability to set time limits on use that can be specifically tailored by category.

All of this happens with them seeing any ads or racking up a bill for video on-demand or in-app purchases, since those hooks have been removed and there's specific content ratings built in from Common Sense Media. Big names like Disney, Nickelodeon, DC Comics and PBS are all on the list, with the promise of a store of content to keep the little ones distracted/learning as long as necessary. To set it up on your device, you'll only need to create a FreeTime account if you haven't already, and hit the free trial button.

Want to see it for yourself? The feature is available in an OTA software update rolling out over "the coming weeks" to the new Kindle Fire, Kindle Fire HD and Kindle Fire HD 8.9, with a free month of trial access available to owners. There are more details in the press release after the break, or beyond the source link.

Continue reading Amazon Kindle FreeTime Unlimited launches, bundles kid-friendly media, menu for a fee

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Source: Amazon Kindle FreeTime Unlimited

Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/05/amazon-kindle-freetime-unlimited/

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Texas mayor whose tenure spanned six decades dies at 92

SAN ANTONIO (Reuters) - A rancher who served as mayor of a Texas town for 63 years and was thought to be the longest-serving mayor in the United States has died in office at age 92, city officials said on Wednesday.

Hilmar Moore died on Tuesday night at a local hospital of complications from a fall last month, said Garry Gillen, a city commissioner in Richmond, located southwest of Houston.

"He had a real sense for the history of Texas," Gillen said. "He embodied that Texas cowboy tradition. I think that's what kept him in office, was his sense of loyalty to the land and service to the people."

Moore served in office for more than one-third of the time that Texas has been a state. When he was appointed to fill an unexpired term as mayor of Richmond in 1949, one of his first meetings was with the state's new U.S. senator: Lyndon Johnson.

"He was so likeable. He was very forceful. Even though he was 92, he was still the rooster, he was still an active man," said Thomas Crayton, an accountant who heads the Richmond Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club.

Moore had not faced an opponent for re-election in the town of 12,000 since the mid-1990s, Crayton said.

Richmond City Manager Terri Vela said officials have been documenting Moore's tenure for the past several years, and all records they can find indicate he was the longest-serving mayor in the country.

"Sometimes, smaller communities don't document the mayor's tenure," she said.

A life-sized bronze statue of Moore sits in the lobby of city hall, Vela said.

"One thing's for certain," Gillen said. "Richmond will be a very different city tomorrow."

(Editing by Corrie MacLaggan and Xavier Briand)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-mayor-whose-tenure-spanned-six-decades-dies-230340780.html

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Irish Childcare ? is it among the most expensive in Europe? ? Three ...

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Cross posted from Facts Are Sacred

Today (7 August) Tom Molloy wrote in the Irish Independent ?Our child benefit might be relatively high, but the cost of raising children is staggering?. In it Tom Molloy says Ireland is a country with high childcare costs, citing the OECD and adds:

High childcare costs are not some random act of God or set at will by creches. They are the direct result of Government policies which have been implemented by all the major parties over the past few decades.

Are Irish childcare costs really much higher than other countries?

In parallel with Tom Molloy?s piece, the Irish Independant also published the results of a survey, commissioned by them, into the costs of childcare (?Childcare costing more than mortgage bills, survey finds?). In that survey, childcare for one child was found to cost ?up to ?1,100 a month to have just one child minded?, and for ?families with two or more children, the bill for fulltime care can easily top ?2,000, whether you use a creche or a childminder?. Also mentioned is an OECD report from 2010, which they say suggests between 20% and 41% of family income is being paid out for child care.

childcare-OECD-2010-net-cost This report is Gender Brief (March 2010), which looks at family structures, women?s employment and income and public policy towards children. More detail is also available here. The report finds that, for a dual earner family earning 167% of the average wage, Ireland has the highest child care costs, once childcare benefits, rebates, tax benefits and other benefits are taken into account. The cost comes to 45% of the average wage (p. 21). If reckoned as a percentage of net family income, Ireland is third highest (29%), after the UK and Switzerland.

A subsequent OECD report, Doing Better for Families, also noted the effects of high childcare costs. A report by the Guardian (UK are third in terms of payouts for children, but outcomes are poorer ) commenting on the UK results said,
?A second [UK] earner, once childcare costs are taken into account, takes home only 32 pence in a pound, compared to 48% on average across OECD countries. The only countries where the childcare costs reduced earning further were Ireland, New Zealand and Switzerland.?

In terms of raw cost, the last CSO Quarterly National Household Survey focusing on Childcare (Q4 2007) found that the average weekly expenditure on any type of paid childcare was ?123.20 (highest costs were in Dublin where 30 hours creche childcare cost averaged ?198 a week). Average costs for school aged children were lower at ?72.40 per week. In 2011, the National Consumer Agency Childcare Price Survey found the cost of creche childcare for a 6 month baby ranged from ?155 to ?233 a week. So a top figure of ?1,100 today, as found by the Irish Independent, would not be surprising.

As the Independent noted, cr?ches have set standards to meet to ensure good quality care. Much of the cost is related to staff costs. There is some suggestion that creches have little scope to reduce prices. Loosening regulation in an attempt to lower prices would be knock-on effects: as the OECD notes:

Some evidence suggests that low-quality care, long hours in care, and enrolment before age one is associated with behavioural problems in children. By contrast, high-quality formal childcare is linked with cognitive and developmental gains, particularly for children from more disadvantaged home environments.

In 2007, Ireland had one of the lowest public expenditures on childcare and early education provision ? 0.4% of GDP (OECD Family Facts). In discussing family policy in an ?era of fiscal consolidation?, the OECD says, ?Countries that do well on family outcomes devote about half of public spending on family benefits to in-kind services, including quality early childhood care and education services, so it makes sense to sustain this investment.? They also point out that ?A coherent policy approach for the early years would ensure that childcare services are available when leave benefits run out and that there is little difference in investments for children attending preschools or compulsory education.? Ireland fails to achieve either; successive governments have chosen to focus nearly all public spending for families on cash benefits rather than services and have invested little in early childhood.

So in summary, Ireland is in the top three for childcare costs in the OECD countries studied. Childcare costs have a substantial impact on family incomes. In addition, not only would a network of cr?ches Tom Molloy speaks of be less amenable to cuts now, they would probably have given better outcomes for the public money spent.

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Source: http://3milelimit.wordpress.com/2012/12/04/irish-childcare-is-it-among-the-most-expensive-in-europe/

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