Marriott's worries rattle hotel sector stocks

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/marriotts-worries-rattle-hotel-sector-stocks-195442976--finance.html

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Skip a stone on a mountain lake from your desk

5 hrs.

John Roach

Stuck in a cubicle but wish you were in the mountains skipping stones? So do I. And now we can, sort of, thanks to a promotional robot sitting on the side of a lake in Sun Valley, Idaho, waiting for you to play with it.

To do so, surf over to www.stoneskippingrobot.com?and?tell Skippy how hard and what angle to fling the stone.?Skippy will do the rest. Just sit back and watch your stone skip across an idyllic mountain?lake.

Skippy was built by Eleven Inc., a San Francisco-based marketing firm hired?to help the resort town attract visitors.

"This place truly sells itself if you're here," Daniel Murphy, director of interactive production for Eleven, told me today via satellite phone from Sun Valley?where he is managing the Skip Town campaign.

"It is everything you imagined about the great American wilderness ... we just needed to bring it to the people."

That's how the idea for?Skippy was born.

The robot is "a heavily modified clay pigeon thrower," said?M David Low, a creative technologist for Eleven, who is also in Sun Valley.

Instead of clay pigeons, it throws stones, for one. Skippy is controlled by the Arduino platform. Users set the angle and power for their stone toss. Given the remoteness of Skippy's location (a private lake outside of Sun Valley), there's a slight lag in communications, Low noted.

The skips are all recorded in real time. As soon as your stone is skipped, you get kicked to a results page where you can relive and share the the video of your skip.

So far, "thousands" of people have skipped stones, Murphy said, and tens of thousands have visited the campaign website. Some of those visitors may not be skipping their own stones given the long line.

For those city folk too impatient to wait in line, you can watch Skippy skip the?stones of others or view the video below to learn more about the campaign.

The folks in Sun Valley, of course, want this experience to whet your appetite for a real mountain vacation. You can register to win a trip as you wait for your turn to skip. Having spent nearly a decade of my life there, I can say it's certainly worth a visit.

--Via Technabob?

John Roach is a contributing writer for msnbc.com. To learn more about him, check out his website. For more of our Future of Technology series, watch the featured video below.

Source: http://www.futureoftech.msnbc.msn.com/technology/futureoftech/skip-stone-mountain-lake-your-desk-876348

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1 chimp dead, 1 tranquilized after Vegas escape

LAS VEGAS (AP) ? Two chimpanzees escaped a Las Vegas backyard Thursday, with at least one of them jumping on a police car before officers killed one primate and tranquilized the other, authorities said.

Police say they had no choice but to kill after the agitated animals escaped their backyard enclosure about 10 a.m. and started running through a residential area.

The loose chimps caused a stir in northwest Las Vegas for nearly two hours, with police warning residents through Twitter not to leave their vehicles or homes and to avoid the area where the "dangerous" primates were roaming free.

By noon, the chimps were both stopped. Helicopter video showed one of the animals lying face down in the middle of a road, surrounded by animal control and police cars.

"They got out and the police did what they had to do," said Tony Paolone, who lives on the same street as the chimps.

Landscaper David Plunkett, 36, said he watched a male chimpanzee jumping on top of a police car with its lights on shortly before officers shot the animal dead and tranquilized its companion in the neighborhood.

Plunkett had the day off and heard a police helicopter overhead before he went outside and witnessed the takedown. He said the male chimp approached officers before they shot at it three times, but the female didn't seem to be aggressive.

Clark County spokesman Dan Kulin said the female has been returned to a new enclosure at her owner's home. Kulin said the owner had the proper permits to keep the animals outside Las Vegas city limits, as well as a license from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Officer Marcus Martin told KLAS-TV the chimps were very large and estimated they weighed 170 pounds or more. Fully grown chimps can be as much as 5 1/2 feet tall when standing upright.

Chimpanzees have been known to attack people. Two adult chimpanzees viciously attacked a U.S. student last month after he entered their enclosure at a primate sanctuary in South Africa.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-07-12-Chimps%20on%20the%20Loose/id-a9cc8ad94fec467886e64b662a613990

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Correction: South Africa-Protecting Children story

JOHANNESBURG (AP) ? In stories July 5 and July 6 about accusations a Hall of Fame tennis player sexually abused children, The Associated Press erroneously reported a South African woman accused the player of raping her when she was nine. The woman says the rapes started when she was 12, not 9.

Source: http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Correction-South-Africa-Protecting-Children-story-3688076.php

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Data in Asia signal drop in global demand, Fed officials eye QE3

BEIJING/TOKYO (Reuters) - Asia's two biggest exporters showed further signs of slowing down in data published on Monday, signaling risks of a fresh slide in global demand, as a top Federal Reserve official said he was downbeat on the prospects of the U.S. economy.

Japan's core machinery orders in May plunged 14.8 percent from April, with the key gauge of capital spending sinking far below analyst expectations of a 3.3 percent decline. That raised the risk that growth momentum in the world's No. 3 economy will stall if firms start to scale back investment.

Meanwhile Chinese consumer inflation eased more than expected in June, with producer prices in outright deflation for a fourth month, signaling that demand for goods from China's vast factory sector - especially from foreign customers - is declining as the global economy weakens.

Both data points underscored a downbeat assessment of growth prospects in the world's biggest economy by Boston Federal Reserve President Eric Rosengren in a speech in the Thai capital Bangkok on Monday.

"My pessimism is rooted in an expectation of weakness in investment, net exports, and government spending," including "concerns about economic and financial conditions in Europe," said Rosengren, who described himself as more pessimistic than policy-setting colleagues on the Federal Open Market Committee.

He's not alone in feeling grim about near-term U.S. economic prospects, with Wall Street economists more convinced than ever that the Fed will embark on a so-called QE3 program - a third round of quantitative easing via large-scale bond purchases.

A Reuters poll on Friday revealed that primary dealers, the large financial institutions that deal directly with the Fed, expect a 70 percent chance of the $2.3 trillion QE program being expanded.

The poll was conducted after the U.S. Labor Department reported that employers created only 80,000 jobs in June, far fewer than needed to bring down the 8.2 percent unemployment rate and adding to evidence that Europe's debt crisis was weighing on global growth.

Rosengren, who does not have a vote on Fed policy this year but will next year, told reporters after his speech that it was "appropriate to have more quantitative easing" from the Fed.

His comments were echoed by fellow Fed official, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, also speaking in Bangkok.

"Additional monetary accommodation is need to more quickly boost output to its full potential level," said Evans, one of the Fed's most dovish voices. "The economic circumstances warrant extremely strong accommodation.

RISKS GROWING IN JAPAN

Analysts also believe the Bank of Japan might be compelled to expand its own asset purchase program on Thursday at the conclusion of its monthly policy-setting meeting.

"The BOJ looked like it would be on hold this week, but given weak U.S. economic data and monetary easing by central banks in China and Europe, there is now a 50 percent chance that the BOJ could ease this week," said Hiroaki Muto, senior economist at Sumitomo Mitsui Asset Management Co.

A surprise interest rate cut from the People's Bank of China last week - the second in a month - on the same day that the European Central Bank also cut rates and the Bank of England expanded its quantitative easing program - has only served to deepen the downside risks being priced into asset markets.

Asian shares and the euro slumped on Monday as sluggish U.S. jobs data and cooling inflation in China deepened worries about slowing global growth.

"What investors are most sensitive to right now is the risk of an economic deceleration around the world," said Tetsuro Ii, president of Commons Asset Management.

A raft of recent profit warnings from Chinese firms covering a swathe of sectors from sportswear to steel production and property development clearly demonstrate the downturn in prospects for the real economy - not just in the aggregate data.

But the signals from the two big Asian economies and the still precarious position of debt-ridden Europe - on which much of the downside risks to global demand and economic growth are focused - do raise the likelihood of policy action, coordinated or not, in major economies across the globe.

Euro zone finance chiefs meet in Brussels later on Monday for talks focused on plans to reinforce the single currency, but they may end up doing little more than highlighting limitations of last month's deal to help indebted states and banks.

CHINA READY TO ACT

There's more chance of action from China, the biggest marginal generator of growth in the global economy, where politics are shifting policy into pro-growth high gear ahead of a once-a-decade handover of power scheduled for the autumn.

The showpiece event means the government is determined to ensure it takes place against a backdrop of social stability and economic prosperity, the delivery of which the Communist Party says justifies its one-party rule.

Premier Wen Jiabao was quoted by the official Xinhua news agency on Sunday as saying more aggressive efforts were needed to support growth in the face of substantial downward pressures.

China has been easing monetary and fiscal policy since the autumn of last year, during which time growth has continued to slow, with data scheduled for release on Friday expected to show that the second quarter of 2012 was the weakest three months of growth since Q1 2009.

The benchmark Reuters poll forecasts China's economic output in the second quarter grew 7.6 percent from the year-ago period. Chinese GDP grew 8.1 percent in the first quarter of this year versus the first quarter of 2011.

China's central bank unexpectedly cut benchmark interest rates last week for the second time in a month in a bid to bolster growth. It has also lowered banks' required reserves ratios (RRR) in three 50 basis point steps since November 2011, freeing an estimated 1.2 trillion yuan ($190 billion) to lend.

Meanwhile the Yiwu "Prosperity Index" - based on data from wholesalers in the eastern city in Zhejiang province that is a bellwether of low-cost exports - has dipped below the level separating expansion from contraction for the first time since its launch in 2006.

Published by China's Commerce Ministry, the index stayed above its current level even when China's exports cratered during the global financial crisis in 2009.

China's June trade data is scheduled for release on Tuesday - the next in a series of major economic indicator releases for the Chinese economy - and is likely to reinforce market expectations for action.

"The looming risk of deflation highlights weak aggregate demand, and not just softening global commodities prices," economists at HSBC said in a client note.

"We see plenty of ammunition left and expect more quantitative easing in the form of additional 200 bp RRR cuts for the rest of this year and further fiscal easing measures. Get ready for the next RRR cut."

(Reporting by Beijing, Tokyo and Bangkok bureaux; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/data-asia-signal-drop-global-demand-fed-officials-062723071--business.html

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Boy killed by falling tombstone was helping dad

This undated photo provided by the family via Park City Medical Center shows Carson Dean Cheney, 4, who died July 5, 2012 after a large tombstone fell and hit the boy while he and his family were visiting a historic cemetery in the Utah ski resort town of Park City. (AP Photo/Park City Medical Center)

This undated photo provided by the family via Park City Medical Center shows Carson Dean Cheney, 4, who died July 5, 2012 after a large tombstone fell and hit the boy while he and his family were visiting a historic cemetery in the Utah ski resort town of Park City. (AP Photo/Park City Medical Center)

A 4-year-old Utah boy was helping his father by trying to make other children smile for a picture when a 6-foot-tall tombstone that weighed hundreds of pounds fell on the boy and killed him at a historic cemetery, family members and friends said.

Carson Dean Cheney was with his family in the resort town of Park City on Thursday evening when the headstone toppled onto him after some metal connecting it to its pedestal broke, his grandmother Geri Gibbs told The Associated Press.

The boy's father, Zac Cheney, does photography in his spare time and was taking portraits of another family at the Glenwood Cemetery, said Curtis Morley, a co-worker and family friend. They chose the old cemetery because of its extensive landscaping, he said.

Morley said some of the children being photographed were not being responsive, so Carson tried to help his dad by pretending to be leprechaun and making them laugh. The boy went behind a tombstone and was poking his head out from behind it when it fell on him.

"Carson passed away while trying to make others smile," said Morley, who works with Zac Cheney at a professional services firm in Salt Lake City.

Gibbs said it took three men to pull the heavy slab off the boy, and rescuers "did everything they could possibly do."

The child suffered injuries to his head, chest and abdomen and was taken to the nearby Park City Medical Center, where he died a short time later.

Gibbs said the boy and his family were visiting from Lehi, about an hour away.

She said Carson was just about to enter kindergarten, loved to ride his bike and was "full of life."

"There's still so much disbelief and sorrow and anguish," Gibbs said. "We just keep waiting for the door to open up and Carson to come through, a happy little boy."

Park City police Capt. Phil Kirk said Friday an investigator was at the cemetery probing the incident. Kirk did not immediately return phone calls Saturday.

Police Chief Wade Carpenter said the coarse headstone that fell on the boy marked the grave of someone who died in the 1800s.

Bruce Erickson, president of the Glenwood Cemetery Association, said the private, five-acre cemetery around the corner from the Park City Mountain Resort was founded by a society of silver miners in 1885, and many of the tombstones are at least 100 years old.

The cemetery is open to the public and still accepts burials of people connected to the mining society. No funerals were held there Thursday.

Erickson said new burials happen maybe once a year, and families are responsible for maintaining the headstones.

A funeral for the boy is set for Tuesday. Morley said a memorial fund has been established at Zions Bank.

___

Associated Press writer Lynn DeBruin in Salt Lake City contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-07-07-Falling%20Tombstone%20Death/id-185f5936340746d0b38e625f1cefd464

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Annan in Syria hoping to save peace plan

International envoy Kofi Annan arrived in Syria on Sunday, his spokesman said, after admitting that his peace plan has so far failed to end nearly 16 months of carnage.

"The Joint Special Envoy for Syria, Kofi Annan, arrived in Damascus this evening for talks with President Bashar Al-Assad," his spokesman Ahmad Fawzi said of Annan's third trip to Syria since the outbreak of the conflict.

Earlier, Syrian foreign ministry spokesman Jihad Makdissi had told AFP Annan would visit for talks on his six-point plan for peace with the Syrian leadership.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned on Sunday that time was running out to save Syria from a "catastrophic assault," and as dozens more people were reportedly killed in the unrest-swept country.

Annan himself has said his UN-backed mission has so far failed to halt the bloodshed, while stressing that Russia and Iran must not be sidelined from peace efforts.

"Russia wields influence but I am not sure that the events will be determined by Russia alone... Iran is an actor. It has to be part of the solution. It has influence and we cannot ignore it," Annan told France's Le Monde daily.

He also expressed irritation that while Russia and Iran were mentioned by some as stumbling blocks to peace, "little is said about other countries which send arms, money, and have a presence on the ground."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has accused the United States and its allies of opposing Assad's regime with the goal of dominating the Middle East and propping up Israel.

Iran's deputy foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian said on Sunday in Jordan that any attack on Syria would be "stupid" and "catastrophic."

"Military action in Syria is unlikely and if this happens it would be stupid. Syria can defend itself without Iran's help. Any non-political solution would bring catastrophe to the entire region," he said.

Syria's state news agency SANA said on Sunday that the country's navy staged live fire exercises to "simulate the scenario of repelling a sudden attack from the sea."

Earlier, Clinton acknowledged in Tokyo that efforts led by Annan to get Assad's regime to halt its crackdown were proving difficult.

"The sooner there can be an end to the violence and a begetting of a political transition process, not only will fewer people die, but there's a chance to save the Syrian state from a catastrophic assault that would be dangerous not only to the country, but the region," she told reporters.

"It should be abundantly clear to those who support the Assad regime their days are numbered."

Clinton was speaking after talks in Paris on Friday where countries pledged to increase pressure on Assad to step down by seeking a tough UN resolution backed by a threat of sanctions.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, also speaking in Tokyo, renewed his call on the Security Council for collective action to pressure Syria to stop the violence.

"President Assad must understand that things cannot continue as they are. Fundamental change is needed," Ban said.

-- Assad defiant --

-------------------

But Assad remained defiant.

The United States is "part of the conflict. They offer the umbrella and political support to those gangs to... destabilise Syria," he told German public broadcaster ARD in an interview to be broadcast later on Sunday.

Assad said the Annan plan had failed to stop bloodshed because "many countries don't want it to succeed."

"So they offer political support and they still send armaments and send money to terrorists in Syria. They want it to fail in this way," he said.

Republican US Senator John McCain on Sunday took President Barack Obama's administration to task for what he called its "shameful and disgraceful" response to the carnage in Syria.

"The fact is that the United States has played no leadership role," McCain told CBS television, referring to efforts to halt Syria's crackdown.

"The United States of America's performance so far has been shameful and disgraceful."

More than 17,000 people have now died since the uprising began in March last year, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

On Sunday at least 85 people, including 42 civilians, were killed in violence across Syria, said the Observatory, which gathers its information from a network of activists and witnesses.

Syrian forces attempted to storm the rebel strongholds of Qusayr and Rastan in the central province of Homs, the watchdog said.

Both towns have been outside regime control for months and are rebel strongholds.

Regime forces also shelled villages in the eastern province of Deir Ezzor, killing three people including two children, as well as Aazaz town in the northern province of Aleppo, where three people were wounded, the Observatory said.

The highest casualties were reported in the central province of Hama, where six people were killed in the village of Sahel al-Ghab, it added.

Sunday's violence followed a bloody day in which 77 people were killed, mostly civilians, the watchdog said.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton's office released a statement saying she "strongly condemns the recent shelling of the Lebanese border area by Syrian artillery, causing several deaths and injuries."

Rocket fire along the border on Saturday left two girls dead and 10 other people wounded in northern Lebanon.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/annan-syria-hoping-save-peace-plan-164324248.html

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