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GM challenges German brands with small CadillacBy Deepa Seetharaman and Ben Klayman DETROIT | Mon Jan 9, 2012 7:55am EST (Reuters) - General Motors Co proved with the Chevrolet Cruze it can build a top-selling compact car, cracking a market long dominated by Japanese brands. Now the No.1 U.S. automaker is targeting the entrenched German luxury brands with a more nimble compact Cadillac. The 2013 ATS is central to GM chief executive Dan Akerson's mission to refashion Cadillac into a global luxury brand by winning over younger buyers with a sportier image. From the start, GM took aim at BMW's...

Compact Disc death foretold for 2012Major record labels to kill format? By Caleb Cox 7th November 2011 15:45 GMT The major record labels are planning to kill off the CD format by the end of next year to make way for digital downloads only. That's the claim made by music site Side-Line which says it heard whispers that the end of the CD is nigh from music industry insiders. That said, it has failed to get any official confirmation from the labels, though that's not perhaps surprising. The notion is that, by the end of 2012, the majors will focus...

State Rep. Tom McMillin (R-Rochester Hills) has sent a memo to House colleagues inviting them to co-sponsor a multistate Health Care Compact he plans to introduce shortly. The measure has been introduced in 14 states, adopted by legislative bodies in several, signed into law in Georgia and Oklahoma, and submitted for governors' signatures in Missouri and Montana. If approved by Congress, it would make the federal “Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act” optional in the states that join the compact — and theoretically, the president’s signature is not required on that congressional approval. Importantly, the Health Care Compact is much...

United Nations Global Compact Farooq Sobhan The United Nations Global Compact was first proposed by the then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in an address to the World Economic Forum on January 31, 1999. The Global Compact's operational phase was launched at the UN headquarters in New York on 26 July 2000. Mr. Annan urged the business leaders to join an international initiative -- the Global Compact -- that would bring companies together with UN agencies, labour and civil society to support the ten principles in the areas of human rights, labour standard, environment and anti-corruption. Through the power of...

Obama asks businesses to get behind climate bill WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama wants business leaders to push Congress to pass long-stalled climate legislation. Obama made the plug during a meeting Friday with his Economic Recovery Advisory Board, which includes the heads of General Electric, Caterpillar and Oracle, along with labor leaders and economists. He told the group that the climate bill - which would cap global warming emissions - is good for business. Obama said that individual members of Congress may be worried about the short-term implications of voting for the bill and that hearing from businesses would...

NCPA: Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs Not Worth Cost and Trouble Report Says Government Should Not Force CFLs on Consumers DALLAS (Dec. 10, 2008) - Although touted by many as the smart energy choice, compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs are not suitable for many common uses and should not be required by the government, according to a new report by the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA). The Environmental Protection Agency states that CFLs will reduce energy use and will last longer than standard bulbs. However, NCPA Senior Fellow and report co-author Sterling Burnett argues: "For many uses, compact fluorescent bulbs...

(CNET) Researchers have come up with a microscopic microscope, tiny enough to fit on a fingertip, that can be cheaply mass-produced and used to scan blood and water for pathogens. The high-resolution microscope functions without the large and expensive lenses usually associated with such imaging devices. Instead, it combines the chip technology found in digital cameras with "microfluidics," the science of channeling liquid at scales far smaller than a common droplet. "The whole thing is truly compact -- it could be put in a cell phone -- and it can use just sunlight for illumination, which makes it very appealing...

SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans to announce a deal Tuesday to permit one of the state's richest tribes to open a third casino in the Palm Springs area, a pact that could open a new round of gambling expansion in California. Top Schwarzenegger administration officials said today that the governor and the Agua Caliente Band of Cahuilla Indians are expected to sign a deal that would permit the tribe to have up to 5,000 slot machines. The tribe, which in recent years has been one of the governor's main antagonists, is currently authorized to have 2,000 slot machines in...

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Coca-Cola Co. (KO.N: Quote, Profile, Research), the world's largest beverage company, on Wednesday joined the Global Compact, a six-year-old U.N. program intended to help businesses become better world citizens. Coca-Cola Chairman and Chief Executive E. Neville Isdell told U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan of the firm's decision to join the compact during a meeting at U.N. headquarters. The compact is the world's largest voluntary corporate responsibility network with 2,900 participating organizations in 90 countries. The Atlanta-based company has annual sales of $23 billion and markets beverages in more than 200 countries. Isdell said the decision showed the...

The purpose of FreeRepublic.com's multiple message boards is to limit the topics for each board to particular topics. Posting the same message on all the boards defeats the purpose of multiple-boards for special topics. It is very annoying to see the same message on every bulletin board. PLEASE! DO THE READERS A FAVOR. STOP CROSS-POSTING YOUR MESSAGES!

United Nations wages war on capitalism As if our nation's free-market ideal isn't damaged enough -- witness, if you will, the generally lengthy permitting process for businesses and the prevalence of zoning laws, environmental mandates, eminent domain abuses and hefty tax burdens that plague our would-be entrepreneurs and developers in nearly every county, city and state across America. Now comes the United Nations, with its Global Compact Center and its Responsible Investment Initiative. Announced in July at the four-month-long "Universal Forum of Cultures in Barcelona 2004," both these programs are thinly veiled attacks against capitalism that, left unchecked, will result...

Okay, I'm going to take the plunge and get a handgun for concealed carry. I want a weapon with good knockdown power, I'm thinking .40 SW or .45. It needs to have a small frame since I live in San Antonio and the weather is warm most of the year so I won't be wearing heavy clothes. I also want single/double action. I'd also like advice on a holster as well. Weapon must be reliable and able to fire hollow point ammo without jamming. Thanks in advance for the help.

<p>Technology not taxation!</p> <p>That's the battle cry of the Canadian computer industry in a war of words being waged among groups representing the nation's music, technology and retail industries.</p> <p>The dispute centers around fees collected from technology companies to reimburse the music industry for losses incurred by music copying and swapping.</p>

Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer. 2002 November 29 Open Star Clusters M35 and NGC 2158 Credit & Copyright: N. A. Sharp (NOAO), AURA, NSF Explanation: Open clusters of stars can be near or far, young or old, and diffuse or compact. Open clusters may contain from 100 to 10,000 stars, all of which formed at nearly the same time. Bright blue stars frequently distinguish younger open clusters. M35, pictured above on the upper...

Iowa man hoping to moooove into tiny cow business   The Associated Press ROCKWELL, Iowa (June 17, 2002 10:09 a.m. EDT) - Dustin Pillard is betting his farm on compact cows. Pillard has 50 tiny cows on his northern Iowa farm, all about 3 feet tall. He's hoping they'll catch on as pets, and so far inquiries have come in from as far as Europe, Mexico and Argentina. "I like them," said Pillard, 30. "If nobody else does, that doesn't really bother me. We're breeding just for the novelty end of it." The smallest full-grown animal is a 3-year-old...