NHL owners unanimously approve labor deal

NEW YORK (AP) — NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman felt all the anger directed toward him as the lockout dragged on and threatened to wipe out the entire hockey season.
So when he stood on a podium bearing the league shield on Wednesday and announced that the owners unanimously approved the labor deal reached over the weekend with the players' association, he also took the time to mend badly damaged fences.
"To the players who were very clear they wanted to be on the ice and not negotiating labor contracts, to our partners who support the league financially and personally, and most importantly to our fans, who love and have missed NHL hockey, I am sorry," Bettman said.
The league's board of governors met in a Manhattan hotel Wednesday and overwhelmingly approved the agreement that was hammered out early Sunday on the 113th day of the lockout.
Bettman was well aware of all the negative talk during the four-month dispute that kept hockey off the ice and was contrite in announcing the latest step by the owners. He said he wants to look forward and not back at the mess created by the work stoppage.
"We know that no words of apology or explanation will soften the disappointment," Bettman said. "I read the letters, I followed the tweets, I read the blogs. We have a lot of work to do.
"As commissioner of the National Hockey League it sometimes falls upon me to make tough decisions that disappoint and occasionally anger players and fans. This was a long and extremely difficult negotiation — one that took a lot longer than anybody wanted. I know it caused frustration, disappointment and even suffering to a lot of people who have supported the National Hockey League in many different ways."
In his nearly 20 years as commissioner, Bettman has presided over three lockouts. One caused the cancellation of the 2004-05 season, another led to a 48-game season in 1995 — much like is expected for this season.
The latest lockout forced the cancellation of 510 games. Overall, 2,208 games have been lost by labor disputes during his tenure. But Bettman was quick to call any speculation he might consider stepping down from his post as "unfounded."
"I am looking forward to continuing to grow this game, both on and off the ice, as we have over the last 20 years," he said. "I think the opportunities are great, and I am excited to be a part of them."
Players are expected to vote on the deal Friday and Saturday. If a majority of the more than 700 members in good standing agree to the terms, training camps can open Sunday. A 48-game season is likely to begin Jan. 19.
The NHL and the union are still drafting a memorandum of understanding that must be signed before training camps open. The players' association wants as much of the document as possible to be completed before voting begins.
The union is busy calling players and agents to educate them about the changes and additions to the agreement. The vote will be done electronically.
There will be no more than seven days between the opening of camps and the start of the season, and no preseason games will be played. Teams will be challenged to be ready right from the start.
"It's one thing to skate and check out their conditioning and everything else, but you don't get a chance to experiment much with lineups and lines and combinations," Washington Capitals general manager George McPhee said. "That's the hardest thing for managers right now. A lot of unknowns ... but we're excited nonetheless to get going."
Tampa Bay Lightning general manager Steve Yzerman, who forged a Hall of Fame playing career over 22 seasons with the Detroit Red Wings, isn't concerned about getting adjusted to the new deal because the key issue of the salary cap isn't all that different.
"As things go along, every change you make, every rule you put in whether it's on ice or off ice, generally has unforeseen consequences that come up with it," said Yzerman, who retired one season after the 2004-05 lockout. "I don't see it being terribly difficult.
"Over the next year or two the market will readjust and that will sort itself out."
The agreement is for 10 years, but either side can opt out after eight. The previous deal was in effect for seven seasons.
"It's one that will stand the test of time with a system where all teams can be competitive and have a chance to make the playoffs and even win the Stanley Cup," Bettman said. "It guarantees that our attention from now on will stay where it belongs, on the ice."
After the players vote to ratify, clubs can begin the process of winning back fans. Bettman declined to give specifics because he didn't want to be presumptuous that the union would give its approval.
"The National Hockey League has the responsibility to earn back your trust and support, whether you watch one game or every game," Bettman said. "That effort begins today. The players are ready to play their hearts out for you, the teams are preparing to welcome you back with open arms, the wait is just about over.
"Like all of you, we can't wait to drop the puck."
The NHL won't release the new schedule until players ratify the deal. The regular season was supposed to begin Oct. 11, but the lockout wrecked those plans after it took effect Sept. 16.
The outdoor Winter Classic and the All-Star game won't be played this season.
Last season, the NHL generated $3.3 billion of revenue, and the new deal will lower the players' percentage from 57 to 50.
Players will receive $300 million in transition payments over three years to account for existing contracts, pushing their revenue share over 50 percent at the start of the deal. They also gained a defined benefit pension plan for the first time.
The salary cap for this season will be $70.2 million before prorating to adjust for the shortened season, and the cap will drop to $64.3 million in 2013-14 — the same amount as 2011-12. There will be a salary floor of $44 million in those years.
Free agents will be limited to contracts of seven years (eight for those re-signed with their former club).
Salaries within a contract may not vary by more than 35 percent year to year, and the lowest year must be at least 50 percent of the highest year.
The minimum salary will remain at $525,000, and there were no changes to eligibility for free agency and salary arbitration.
The threshold for teams to release players in salary arbitration will increase from $1.75 million to $3 million.
Each team may use two buyouts to terminate contracts before the 2013-14 or 2014-15 seasons for two-thirds of the remaining guaranteed income. The buyout will be included in the players' revenue share but not the salary cap.
Revenue sharing will increase to $200 million annually and rise with revenue.
An industry growth fund of $60 million will be funded by the sides over three years and be replenished as needed.
Issues such as whether NHL players will participate in the 2014 Olympics and realignment within the league will be addressed with the union down the line.
"Together our collective future is extremely bright," said Boston Bruins owner Jeremy Jacobs, who is also the chairman of the board of governors. "Our only interest now is to look ahead and focus on what this great game can provide to the best sports fans in the world.

Read More..

NHL players to begin voting Thursday

NEW YORK (AP) — NHL players will have 36 hours from Thursday night until Saturday morning to vote on the new labor deal that would end the four-month lockout.
The players' association announced that electronic voting will begin Thursday at 8 p.m. EST and will last until Saturday at 8 a.m. The union said it will announce the result after voting is finished.
If a majority of the more than 700 players choose to accept the deal that NHL owners unanimously ratified on Wednesday, training camps will open Sunday, and a 48-game regular season will begin Jan. 19.
A tentative agreement was reached early Sunday, the 113th day of the lockout, after a 16-hour negotiating session in New York.
The new deal is for 10 years, but either side can opt out after eight. The previous collective bargaining agreement was in effect for seven seasons.
The lockout began on Sept. 16, and forced the cancellation of 510 games, beginning with opening day on Oct. 11. The outdoor Winter Classic and the All-Star game were also wiped out this season.
The NHL says it will release a new schedule once the ratification process is completed.
A memorandum of understanding that has been in the drafting process by the two sides this week must be signed before training camps open.
The players' association wanted as much of the document as possible to be completed before voting began.
Leading up to Thursday's start time for voting, the union has been busy calling players and agents to educate them about the changes and additions to the tentative agreement.
Assuming the deal is approved by the players, as expected, there will be only six days between the opening of camps and the start of the season. No preseason games will be played.

Read More..

Sabres G Miller calls NHL lockout 'waste of time'

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — After rejoining his Buffalo Sabres teammates on the ice for the first time in some nine months, goalie Ryan Miller had a few lingering frustrations to get off his chest regarding the NHL lockout.
"The best thing to do is acknowledge that it was stupid," Miller said Friday, before turning his attention to Sabres fans. "I appreciate their patience. I know it's a hard situation. I still don't even know the right message because it was just a stupid, useless waste of time."
Miller, who played a role in negotiations, called himself "embarrassed" that it took more than six months of negotiations to reach an agreement. At one point during talks, he gave up on the possibility of there being a season this year.
And he laid the blame on owners, specifically singling out Commissioner Gary Bettman, whom he accused of being the reason why the four-month lockout wasn't resolved sooner.
"In my mind, it always had to be January in Gary Bettman's mind," Miller said. "Obviously, he had something in his head and he was going to see how far he could take it. So there's really no going up against Gary, when he has something in his head."
For someone who hasn't played in a competitive game since April 5, the ever-outspoken Miller seems already in midseason form.
"It's exciting to be back. It's the way you that you're supposed to feel," he said. "It's not in the board room, so that's good. It's getting back on the ice, and that's the important part."
Spending much of his offseason in southern California, Miller arrived in Buffalo on Thursday, and was on the ice for what's expected to be the players' final informal practice at a suburban arena. Training camp is tentatively set to open Sunday, and a 48-game regular season to start a week later.
A seven-year veteran, Miller is the face of the franchise, and regarded as a team leader. His arrival was welcomed by the Sabres, and also by numerous fans. About 300 onlookers — the largest turnout this week — lined the boards to watch the open practice.
Aside from his frustrations regarding labor talks, Miller was in an upbeat mood. Walking out of the locker room with his mask perched above his head exposing a familiar patchy beard — "It's my lockout beard" — he then flashed a big smile and waved his glove hand before taking the ice.
Before taking any questions from reporters afterward, Miller first wanted to find out what's been happening in Buffalo, and then shook hands with each member of the media.
"There," he said. "We're reintroduced again, eight months later."
Now it's time to get to work in what will be a shortened season, and for a high-priced Sabres team that was among the NHL's biggest busts after missing the playoffs last season.
Buffalo (39-32-11) finished ninth in the Eastern Conference and was hampered by a rash of injuries, including Miller missing a nine-game stretch because of concussion-like symptoms. On the bright side, Miller hopes the team can pick up where it left off after closing last season on a 15-5-4 roll.
The challenge for Miller is getting himself ready to carry much of the load during a tightly packed stretch of games.
"Hockey-wise, I'm in a pretty good spot," he said. "Mentally, I always kind of knew it was going to be a short sprint kind of situation. It's not a surprise for anyone of us."
Coach Lindy Ruff has already projected that he's targeting Miller to play between 36 and 38 games.
Miller hasn't given any thought to how many games he'll play, but has been accustomed to being the Sabres workhorse.
He's appeared in 59 or more games in each of his past six seasons. That includes 2009-10, when he was the NHL's Vezina Trophy winner after going 41-18-8 in 69 NHL regular-season games, and six more games at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver, where he led the United States to win a silver medal.
"I just want to be that guy, and we'll go by that," Miller said. "I think if I'm playing at a high enough level, I'd like to be in net."
Unlike some NHLers who spent part of the lockout playing overseas, Miller elected to stay home. He said the insurance premiums on his contract proved expensive. He also noted that he wanted to make sure there were no lingering effects from the head injury he sustained last year.
Miller spent much of his time working out in California, where he skated between three and four times a week. He mostly worked out with numerous members of the defending Stanley Cup-champion Los Angeles Kings such as Jarret Stoll, Brad Richardson, Justin Williams and Rob Scuderi. Several other NHLers, including Pittsburgh's Sidney Crosby, spent a few months also working out with them.

Read More..

Patent trolls’ latest gambit: Sue businesses if they dare to use office scanners

We’ve seen a lot of ridiculous claims asserted by patent trolls over the past few years, but this one truly takes the cake: Ars Technica reports that an entity called “Project Paperless LLC” has been sending out letters to small and medium-sized businesses demanding licensing fees for using office scanners capable of sending PDFs via email. Steven Vicinanza, founder of Atlanta-based IT services provider BlueWave Computing, told Ars that both his company and several of its customers had received letters telling them that they needed to buy licenses for “distributed computer architecture” patents that cover basic networked scanning technology. At a cost of $1,000 per employee, Vicinanza said that the licenses would have cost his company a grand total of $130,000 just for the right to scan documents.
[More from BGR: ‘iPhone 5S’ to reportedly launch by June with multiple color options and two different display sizes]
Vicinanza couldn’t believe that he was actually being threatened with a lawsuit for using office scanners, so he decided to contact the attorney for Project Paperless to get some clarification.
[More from BGR: Nokia predicted to abandon mobile business, sell assets to Microsoft and Huawei in 2013]
“[The attorney] said, if you hook up a scanner and e-mail a PDF document — we have a patent that covers that as a process,” Vicinanza told Ars. “So you’re claiming anyone on a network with a scanner owes you a license? He said, ‘Yes, that’s correct.’ And at that point, I just lost it.”
Vicinanza isn’t the only one “losing it” over patent suits, of course. Cisco (CSCO) late last year decided to go on the offense against patent trolls by flat-out accusing them of breaking the law. What’s more, we’ve heard rumblings that the United States Department of Justice’s antitrust division may be ready to do something to limit patent trolls’ ability to extract licensing fees, so there could be some relief for patent suit-stricken firms on the horizon.

Read More..

Typical American without a landline: A 27-year old Latino living in Columbus, Ohio

The statistical study compiled by NHIS about landline and mobile phone usage in American households is a pretty fascinating read. The number of U.S. adults with a mobile phone but no landline rose to 34% in the first half of 2012. That percentage is ticking up roughly two points every six months — a fairly rapid clip. The number of adults with a landline but no mobile phone plunged below 8% according to the study, which was picked up by GigaOm. These numbers may explain why some of the pollsters using landline-only calls in the last election ran off the rails so spectacularly. So many Americans can no longer be reached via a landline phone that polling methods simply must be adjusted.
[More from BGR: ‘iPhone 5S’ to reportedly launch by June with multiple color options and two different display sizes]
Latinos are far more likely to have a mobile-only household (46%) than non-hispanic whites (30%) according to the study; this gap is surprisingly large. The number of 25- to 29-year-old adults living in a mobile-only household hit a remarkable 60% in the beginning of 2012. There is a sharp generational divide here: Fewer than 25% of 45- to 64-year-old Americans have dared to drop the landline.
[More from BGR: Nokia predicted to abandon mobile business, sell assets to Microsoft and Huawei in 2013]
Somewhat surprisingly, the Midwest is the region with the highest level of mobile-only households. Naturally, metropolitan households are more likely to depend solely on mobile phones than suburban or rural households. For the first time ever, women edged out men as the larger group of mobile-only adults.
Back in 2006, only 10% of adults lived in a mobile-only household. Americans are kicking their landline habit with remarkable alacrity considering that many homes with small children still feel that depending solely on a mobile phone is too risky.

Read More..

Microsoft lashes out at Google’s decision to spurn Windows Phone

Dave Heiner, vice president and deputy general counsel for Microsoft (MSFT), took aim at Google (GOOG) and the company’s unwillingness to develop for Windows Phone 8 in a blog post on Wednesday. Heiner claims that, “Google continues to prevent Microsoft from offering consumers a fully featured YouTube app [among other] for the Windows Phone.” Microsoft has been apparently been trying to get a full-feature YouTube app for its Windows Phone operating system for more than two years, however it has been unsuccessful.
[More from BGR: ‘iPhone 5S’ to reportedly launch by June with multiple color options and two different display sizes]
Despite the fact that the Windows Phone Marketplace has doubled in the past year, Google has not yet produced any quality apps for the platform. The company previously said that it will not be launching a native Gmail or Google Drive app for Windows 8 or Windows Phone until people start using the operating systems.

Read More..

British soldier killed in latest 'insider attack' in Afghanistan

• A daily summary of global reports on security issues.
A man wearing an Afghan National Army uniform opened fire on on fellow Afghan troops and British coalition forces in Helmand Province yesterday, killing at least one British soldier in the first insider attack of 2013. The shooting shines the spotlight once again on concerns about the Afghan National Army's ability to assume responsibility for security as international troops begin their drawdown.
A slew of such incidents, as international coalition troops have started shifting responsibility to the Afghan Army, prompted NATO to step up its screening of applicants to the Army, but the attacks have continued – 45 incidents in 2012 alone, up from 21 in 2011, according to the Associated Press.
BBC reports that all six of the British soldiers who have been killed in the past six months died in "green-on-blue" insider incidents, which accounted for the deaths of more than 60 NATO personnel overall in 2012.
Recommended: How well do you know Afghanistan? Take our quiz.
The attack comes just as Afghan President Hamid Karzai has arrived in Washington to talk with President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton about the future of Afghanistan.
Although the Taliban claimed to be behind the attack, Afghan officials are skeptical of the group's involvement, telling the BBC that the Taliban often falsely claim responsibility for such attacks.
Get our FREE 2013 Global Security Forecast now
The Telegraph reports that the another Army soldier said that the attacker joined up a year ago and came from the eastern province of Laghman. The soldier said that the attacker acted as an "imam" for the Afghan troops, leading prayers for them. He was killed after opening fire.
Almost all the British forces have been concentrated in the southern province of Helmand, where the attack took place, according to the Associated Press, which dubs it the country's most violent.
The Monitor's Tom Peter reported in September that the insider attacks – and the "insurgent infiltration they represent" – threaten Afghanistan's longterm stability as international troops prepare for the 2014 withdrawal.
“The issue of green on blue attacks is not only a tragic issue for international forces and Afghan forces right now, but post-2014 this could change into the collapse of one or many of government institutions in various districts and provinces,” says Waliullah Rahmani, executive director of the Kabul Center for Strategic Studies. “There might be a risk of many elements of the Taliban and insurgency or people who are loyal to them who spy for these groups inside the Afghan government.”
Mr. Peter also reported earlier in the year, after an Afghan police officer killed nine of his colleagues while they were sleeping, that the rapid expansion of the Afghan security forces may be partly to blame, as proper vetting fell off in the rush to fill out the Army's ranks.
Waheed Mujhda, an independent analyst in Kabul, says that one of the main problems may stem from the eagerness of the international community and the Afghan government to rapidly expand the size of Afghan security forces, without properly vetting candidates.
“During this process they never pay attention to the background of everyone who comes to the Afghan forces,” he says.
Recommended: How well do you know Afghanistan? Take our quiz.
The Pentagon released a report to Congress last month that indicated only 1 in 23 Afghan Army brigades was ready to operate on its own without support from the US, according to the Washington Post.

Read More..

France's 'boys will be boys' mentality challenges gender equality

The flip side of feminism in France is a very flip attitude that being macho is an excuse that rightly covers many sins.
The French may duly proclaim and agree with gender equality and modern feminist notions. But in practice, those ideas run up against a powerful, culturally sanctioned "old-boy mentality" in Paris – an attitude, often held among power elites of both sexes, that "boys will be boys."
Recommended: Think you know Europe? Take our geography quiz.
When French politician and former International Monetary Fund chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested in 2011 on charges of raping a New York hotel maid, he immediately benefited from a powerful media defense in France, with leading intellectuals like Bernard-Henri Levy speaking out on his behalf.
And the defense of Mr. Strauss-Kahn echoed that which filmmaker Roman Polanski received in 2009. When Mr. Polanski, a French citizen, was detained in Switzerland for possible extradition to California on sexual misconduct charges dating from the 1970s, French elites – including the foreign minister and the minister of culture – took up for him.
Get our FREE 2013 Global Security Forecast now
Such defenses weren't exactly rational. But they were a very French response: an excuse roughly on the grounds that these things will happen and it's best not to make too much of them. Feminism may be fine and admirable in theory, but it isn't how life and nature work in reality.
In Washington, if a White House cabinet member or a major media figure made apologies for rape, that would likely end a career. But in Paris, things are not so cut and dried.
A cultural attitude rising out of French history suggests that taking license with the ladies is a harmless part of the French tradition of gallantry. And there is an instinctive use of a whole arsenal of cultural put-downs and withering comments about those with the temerity to too loudly raise issues of sexual harassment. If someone takes "feminism" too seriously, then maybe there is something irritating about them and they should lighten up!
Sexual harassment laws are on the books. But they are rarely enforced or prosecuted. One rarely hears of hefty fines, and cases don't get attention.

Read More..

Do French women need feminism?

When ex-model and former French first lady Carla Bruni-Sarkozy made comments in the December issue of Paris Vogue declaring, "My generation doesn't need feminism," Anne-Cécile Mailfert, one of many French women catching the news on her iPhone, was aghast.
"What? No way! We have to do something," she characterizes the collective response of the organization she serves as spokesperson for, Osez Le Féminisme or "Dare to be a Feminist." They launched a Twitter barrage with the hashtag "#DearCarlaBruni, we need feminism because…" leaving French women to fill in the "why" for themselves.
Recommended: Think you know Europe? Take our geography quiz.
"#DearCarlaBruni, we need feminism because people always assume I'm the secretary," was one common tweet. The campaign got so much attention that it finally prompted an apology from Ms. Bruni-Sarkozy – and handed a win to French feminists.
From afar, many think French women don't need such victories, at least when it comes to the child/work balance that so eludes American women. When Anne-Marie Slaughter published her polemic article in The Atlantic titled "Why Women Still Can't Have It All," which was devoured and debated by working mothers across the United States, not a few pointed out that French women often can have it all, thanks to social welfare policies that are virtually unmatched around the world. The subhead of a Slate article from November read, "Maybe working moms can have it all – in France."
Get our FREE 2013 Global Security Forecast now
But that's only half the story – the other half having been brought to the fore after Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the former head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and aspirant to the French presidency, was accused of sexually assaulting a New York City hotel maid in May 2011. The case shocked many with its frank discussion of certain commonly held French attitudes toward women.
In fact the Gallic nation, which spawned such strong feminist figures as Simone de Beauvoir, struggles to surpass its European neighbors in terms of gender equality, even as Christine Lagarde now runs the IMF and French President François Hollande introduced gender parity in his cabinet. French women sit in the bottom half of Europe's rankings on a slew of measures from the most recent 2012 World Economic Forum's Global Gender Gap Index – even taking last place on the group's perceived wage-equality survey indicator – while sexism and even sexual harassment have been overlooked or disregarded as the necessary evil of an otherwise lovely cultural relationship between men and women. Just recently all the government's ministers were sent to 45-minute anti-sexism classes.
SIDEBAR: France's 'boys will be boys' mentality challenges gender equality
Marilyn Baldeck, a young feminist and head of the European Association Against Violence Toward Women at Work, says that she butts heads with deeply held social mores.
"There is cheese, bullfighting, and the French way of seduction," she says. "We are being accused of wanting to sanitize the relationships between men and women.... [It] is claimed to be a puritanical feminism ... an American type of feminism."
PRO-CHILDBEARING, NOT-SO-PRO-EQUALITY
On the brisk Parisian streets of winter, mothers dressed in stylish boots and overcoats roll narrow strollers, all covered with rain and wind flaps, down the sidewalks, en route to day-care centers and schools, many of them sponsored by the state. Such programs are one of several policies that help French parents balance work and family. Day-care centers, called crèches, are subsidized by the state. If mothers can't find places in the state-run crèches, they share nannies and receive generous tax refunds that make having a nanny affordable. Preschools are free, and all day, for children as young as 3.
"Having children and working is highly valued in France," says Hélène Périvier, codirector of the gender program at the SciencesPo university in Paris and mother of three young children. In Germany, for example, women are frowned upon – stigmatized as "crows" – for wanting to work, she says. "It has a deep impact on society."
Generous state support for working mothers is widely endorsed by French women, but many argue that, having hailed from a historic pro-childbearing effort, French women haven't really promoted gender or social equality.
"Domestic labor remains women's domain, crèche places are more accessible to those in wealthy urban areas, and career compromise after parenthood remains largely a female sacrifice," says Simon Jackson, an English historian at SciencesPo.
Still, many wouldn't wish it away. Stephanie Lumbers has a toddler and is expecting another child this month. She returned to work in marketing when her first child was 5 months old and now shares a nanny with another family. "We have it better than most mothers," she says. Unlike many American women, who commonly say they struggle to balance home and work, she says no one in her circle of friends – though she concedes she is among a privileged circle – lists that balance as their major concern.
That isn't the only aspect of being a French woman that is worthy of envy. Stereotypes abound in movies and literature about the sense of style and beauty of French women. The bestseller "French Women Don't Get Fat" is a testament to that global fascination.
French professor Anne Deneys-Tunney, at New York University, says that she finds the US, where she has spent the last 20 years, to be a more egalitarian society for gender relations. American women have certain protections such as clear sexual harassment policies that are strictly enforced, yet it comes at a social cost, including a cultural tone that many French would find distasteful and too politically correct. The French want legal equality that doesn't come bound up in the inability to compliment women at work.
"Women are freer here, but on the other hand, it has destroyed a certain charm, an innocence and lightness of life," she says.
But that freedom can, at its worst, have a social cost. In July in the wake of the Strauss-Kahn case, for example, the country's female housing minister, Cécile Duflot, was subject to shouts and wolf whistles from the right-wing opposition as she prepared to address the national Parliament in a flowery but professional dress. The speaker of the chamber had to ask the male representatives to stop hooting at her.
Yet Ms. Duflot didn't shy away from responding. As she began her address to the chamber amid taunting from the opposition, she said, "Ladies and gentlemen representatives, but mostly gentlemen, apparently."
STRAUSS-KAHN AFFAIR A TURNING POINT
These scenarios are not unheard of. Women in France have less access to justice when it comes to sexual harassment. According to the French Ministry of Justice, about 1,000 complaints for sexual harassment are filed every year, but only a few dozen lead to sentencing.
And overall, the World Economic Forum's index puts France at 57 of 135 countries in terms of gender equality, falling in ranking from the year before. It sits well behind the Scandinavian countries, all in the Top 10, as well as behind Germany, Ireland, Spain, and the US.
SIDEBAR: France's 'boys will be boys' mentality challenges gender equality
Yet the fallout from the Strauss-Kahn case, while a nadir, has also been a turning point. In August, the country passed a new sexual harassment law that raises fines to €30,000 (nearly $40,000, double the previous fine) and expands the definition of what constitutes harassment. Before, it was limited to an act "with the goal of obtaining favors of sexual nature."
Today, harassment is defined as "imposing on somebody, in a repeated way, words or behaviors with a sexual connotation that either undermine one's dignity because of their degrading or humiliating nature, or create an intimidating, hostile, or offensive situation."
In one case that Ms. Baldeck's group represented, a female employee accused a male colleague of repeated sexual harassment, including an attempt to tuck a pencil between her buttocks. The judge in the case, in 2008, ruled against her. "Even if the words, actions, and gesture of [the defendant] could be judged as inadmissible, crude, rude, seen as obscene, they do not constitute moral or sexual harassment," the presiding judge wrote. Baldeck won on appeal, but says that she'd never have lost in the first place in today's environment. In fact, she says the number of cases they deal with in any given year – 400 – is up from the average of 300 before the Strauss-Kahn case forced sexual harassment into the public consciousness.
Mr. Hollande, in addition to introducing gender parity in his cabinet, has also reopened a women's rights ministry – after it was shuttered for almost 30 years – and by sending his ministers to sexism-education class, he has underlined his commitment to equality, his administration says.
"It is simply to take some time to think about inequalities between men and women, their origins, the reason that it is sometimes difficult to change mentalities and thus behaviors," writes Najat Vallaud-Belkacem, the minister for women's rights, in an e-mail. "It is about giving them the keys, the tools, for politicians to integrate women's rights as an automatic extension of their political work."
'LA BARBE' STRIKES A FEMINIST BLOW WITH WIT
But feminist groups say there is far more to be done. One group called La Barbe – meaning "The Beard" in English but also a pun as an old French expression that means "bummer" – was founded in 2008 after a French female candidate from a mainstream party was fielded for the 2007 presidential election, leading to a barrage of public chauvinism. "We want to fight men's monopoly in power places," says Clémentine Pirlot, a gender studies student and active member of the group.
While La Barbe's intentions are very serious, it carries out its activism with a dose of humor and sarcasm. In November, Ms. Pirlot attended an economic conference with a group of women, where 14 speakers were scheduled to talk and all 14 were men. As is La Barbe's routine, about 20 minutes into the conference, Pirlot stood up and put on a homemade beard – "always with dignity," she says – and read out sarcastic remarks like, "Congratulations! There are no women here."
Pirlot carries a beard or two in her purse always. "You never know when you'll need it," she says. Often the bearded women are treated with respect, but at times their targets are hostile, even as they become a more common fixture on the Parisian landscape. One waiter at a cafe in downtown Paris sees Pirlot with her beard on and says, "Yeah, La Barbe!"
Baldeck says that these days in Paris one can attend a feminist event any day of the week and that the movement has been renewed by thousands of young women.
At Osez le Féminisme, the group has grown in three years to 1,500 members with 11 committees around the country, taking on everything from sex education to abortion to wage equality. Ms. Mailfert measures success in the reaction her job description generates.
"I think one of our main achievements," she says, "is that it is now not that taboo to say you are a feminist."

Read More..

Armstrong to break silence in Oprah interview

(Reuters) - Lance Armstrong will break his silence about his lifetime ban from cycling and the doping charges made against him in a televised interview with Oprah Winfrey next week, the television presenter announced on Tuesday.
The interview, to be broadcast on the Oprah Winfrey Network on January 17, will be the first the American cyclist has conducted since receiving his ban and being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles.
"Armstrong will address the alleged doping scandal, years of accusations of cheating, and charges of lying about the use of performance-enhancing drugs throughout his storied cycling career," the network said in a statement.
On Saturday, the New York Times reported that Armstrong, 41, had told associates and anti-doping officials he was considering an admission of using banned drugs.
The Times said Armstrong hoped to persuade anti-doping officials to allow him to resume competition in athletic events that adhere to the World Anti-Doping Code, under which the Texan is currently subject to a lifetime ban.
However, Armstrong's lawyer Tim Herman later told USA Today that there had been no talks with anti-doping bodies about any admission.
Armstrong has always vehemently denied charges of doping and has never been proven to have tested positive.
An October 10 report from the U.S. anti-doping body USADA cited Armstrong's involvement in what it characterized as the "most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen," involving anabolic steroids, human growth hormone, blood transfusions and other doping.
Less than two weeks later, Armstrong's seven Tour de France victories were nullified and he was banned from cycling for life after the International Cycling Union ratified the USADA's sanctions against him.
In November, Armstrong, a survivor of testicular cancer, stepped down as a board member of Livestrong, the cancer-support charity he founded in 1997.

Read More..

Oprah Winfrey to interview Lance Armstrong for 'Oprah's Next Chapter'

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - Lance Armstrong has agreed to a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey where he will address allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs during his cycling career.
According to a release posted on Winfrey's website on Tuesday, it's the first interview with Armstrong since his athletic career crumbled under the weight of a massive report by USADA detailing allegations of drug use by the famous cyclist and teammates on his U.S. Postal Service teams.
It's unclear if the interview at Armstrong's home in Austin, Texas, has already been taped. Nicole Nichols, a spokeswoman for Oprah Winfrey Network & Harpo Studios, declined comment.
The show will air on Jan. 17 in the United States.
Armstrong has strongly denied the doping charges that led to him being stripped of his seven Tour de France titles, but The New York Times reported Friday he has told associates he is considering admitting the use of PEDS.
The newspaper report cited anonymous sources, and Armstrong attorney Tim Herman told The Associated Press that night that he had no knowledge of Armstrong considering a confession.
Earlier Tuesday, "60 Minutes Sports" reported the head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency told the show a representative for Armstrong offered the agency a "donation" in excess of $150,000 several years before an investigation by the organization led to the loss of Armstrong's Tour de France titles.
In an interview for the premiere airing on Showtime on Wednesday night, USADA CEO Travis Tygart said he was "stunned" when he received the offer in 2004.
"It was a clear conflict of interest for USADA," Tygart said. "We had no hesitation in rejecting that offer."
Herman denied such an offer was made.
"No truth to that story," Herman wrote Tuesday in an email to the AP. "First Lance heard of it was today. He never made any such contribution or suggestion."
Tygart was travelling and did not respond to requests from the AP for comment. USADA spokeswoman Annie Skinner said Tygart's comments from the interview were accurate. In it, he reiterates what he told the AP last fall: That he was surprised when federal investigators abruptly shut down their two-year probe into Armstrong and his business dealings, then refused to share any of the evidence they had gathered.
"You'll have to ask the feds why they shut down," Tygart told the AP. "They enforce federal criminal laws. We enforce sports anti-doping violations. They're totally separate. We've done our job."

Read More..

Tuesday's Sports in Brief

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Robert Griffin III is having surgery Wednesday on a torn ligament in his right knee - and to see if there's a second ligament that also needs to be repaired.
Baylor coach Art Briles confirmed to USA Today and The Associated Press on Tuesday night that the Washington Redskins rookie has a torn lateral collateral ligament. He said the surgery also will determine whether Griffin has damaged the ACL in that knee.
A person close to Griffin, speaking on condition of anonymity because the Redskins have not made an announcement, also confirmed the details surrounding Griffin's injury to the AP.
A torn LCL requires a rehabilitation of several months, possibly extending into training camp and the start of next season. A torn ACL is a more severe injury, typically requiring nine to 12 months of recovery.
Griffin tore his ACL in the same knee while playing for Baylor in the third game of the 2009 season and missed the rest of the year.
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - The Jacksonville Jaguars hired Atlanta director of player personnel David Caldwell as general manager, charging him with turning around one of the league's worst teams.
ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) - Dallas defensive coordinator Rob Ryan was fired after his injury-depleted unit struggled in a pair of season-ending losses that kept the Cowboys out of the playoffs for a third straight year.
FLORHAM PARK, N.J. (AP) - Tony Sparano was fired as the New York Jets' offensive coordinator after one season in which the offense ranked among the league's worst.
Sparano was hired last March to replace Brian Schottenheimer and take over an offense that struggled mightily. Instead, the former Miami Dolphins head coach wasn't able to jumpstart the running game or figure out a way to use Tim Tebow consistently as the Jets finished 30th in the NFL in total offense.
PHILADELPHIA (AP) - The Philadelphia Eagles added former Bears coach Lovie Smith to their list of candidates.
The Eagles will interview Smith for their coaching vacancy on Thursday, making him just the second former head coach to be considered for the job.
EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. (AP) - Minnesota assistants Mike Singletary and Mike Priefer will interview for the Chicago head coaching vacancy.
NEW YORK (AP) - Bill Cowher added a bit of intrigue to the NFL coaching carousel, telling Newsday he probably will return to the sideline at some point.
The 55-year-old Cowher coached the Pittsburgh Steelers from 1992-2006, winning a Super Bowl after the 2005 season. He is now a TV analyst for CBS.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) - A day after ESPN cameras lingered on her, announcers piled on compliments and at least one pro athlete made an online pass, Twitter was still abuzz about former Miss Alabama Katherine Webb, who is dating Crimson Tide championship quarterback AJ McCarron.
Webb gained tens of thousands of Twitter followers during and after Alabama's 42-14 win over Notre Dame on Monday. For her part, the beauty pageant queen isn't taking it too seriously.
''It's been actually kind of fun,'' the 23-year-old model and Miss Alabama USA 2012 told The Associated Press.
ESPN announcer Brent Musburger remarked that Webb was a beautiful woman as the cameras revisited her. ''Wow, I'm telling you quarterbacks: You get all the good-looking women,'' he said.
Some found Musburger's remarks out of line. On Tuesday, ESPN released this statement: ''We always try to capture interesting story lines and the relationship between an Auburn grad who is Miss Alabama and the current Alabama quarterback certainly met that test. However, we apologize that the commentary in this instance went too far and Brent understands that.''
KEY BISCAYNE, Fla. (AP) - The first semifinal games in the new college football playoff system will be played in the Rose Bowl and the Sugar Bowl on Jan. 1, 2015.
The BCS conference commissioners announced the dates and rotation for all 12 years of the upcoming postseason format after a meeting in Key Biscayne.
COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) - Texas A&M offensive tackle Luke Joeckel is choosing the NFL over a final season of blocking for Heisman Trophy winner Johnny Manziel.
The Outland Trophy winner said he thought it was in his ''best interest'' to enter April's NFL draft. Aggies coach Kevin Sumlin said Joeckel was projected as a high first-round pick
SYRACUSE, N.Y. (AP) - Syracuse will name defensive coordinator Scott Shafer as the Orange's next coach, a person familiar with the selection process told The Associated Press.
PRO HOCKEY
NEW YORK (AP) - All that is left of the NHL lockout are a pair of votes by owners and players.
If both sides approve the tentative deal reached over the weekend - as expected - training camps will open by Sunday.
The league's board of governors will meet Wednesday in New York, and the 30 club owners will vote on the agreement that was reached in the early morning hours of Sunday after a 16-hour negotiating session.
The union was waiting for one document before it scheduled a vote for its more than 700 members.
If there are no snags, ratification could be finished by Saturday and training camps could open Sunday. A 48-game regular season would then be expected to begin on Jan. 19.
PRO BASKETBALL
MILWAUKEE (AP) - Scott Skiles is out as Milwaukee Bucks head coach and the team says assistant Jim Boylan will take over for the rest of the season.
NEW YORK (AP) - Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban was fined $50,000 by the NBA for publicly criticizing the officiating.
Cuban has been fined more than $1.5 million by the league during his 13 years owning the Mavs.
GREENBURGH, N.Y. (AP) - Carmelo Anthony said he lost his cool after Kevin Garnett said things to him that he feels shouldn't be said to ''another man.''
Anthony said he sought out Garnett after the Knicks' loss to Boston on Monday night so they could discuss it. He would not elaborate on what was said.
Anthony went toward the Celtics' locker room and waited for Garnett outside the team bus. He said they have spoken and sorted out the matter.
The All-Star forwards exchanged words during the game and Anthony clearly was affected. He shot 6 of 26, seeming at times in the second half to be most concerned with pushing and shoving Garnett.
The NBA is investigating and has video evidence. It could decide to penalize Anthony, who said he shouldn't be suspended.
CYCLING
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Lance Armstrong agreed to a tell-all interview with Oprah Winfrey where he will address allegations that he used performance-enhancing drugs during his cycling career.
According to a release posted on Oprah's website, it's the first interview with Armstrong since his athletic career crumbled under the weight of a massive report by USADA detailing allegations of drug use by the famous cyclist and his teammates on his U.S. Postal Service teams.
The show will air at 9 p.m. EST on Jan. 17 on OWN and Oprah.com.
Earlier Tuesday, ''60 Minutes Sports'' reported the head of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency told the show a representative for Armstrong offered the agency a ''donation'' in excess of $150,000 several years before an investigation by the organization led to the loss of Armstrong's Tour de France titles.
Armstrong attorney Tim Herman denied any offer was made.
GOLF
KAPALUA, Hawaii (AP) - Dustin Johnson ended a windy week with a wild ride that carried him to the first win of the PGA Tour season.
Despite hitting two drives into native areas that cost him three shots, Johnson never lost the lead at Kapalua. He closed with a 5-under 68 for a four-shot victory in the Tournament of Champions, though it was up for grabs with five holes remaining.
BASEBALL
NEW YORK (AP) - Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez is scheduled for hip surgery on Jan. 16 and could be sidelined until the All-Star break.
A 14-time All-Star and baseball's priciest player at $275 million, Rodriguez has a torn labrum, bone impingement and a cyst. General manager Brian Cashman has said the team anticipates he will be sidelined four to six months after the operation.
WASHINGTON (AP) - Slugging first baseman Adam LaRoche decided to stay with the Nationals, agreeing to a $24 million, two-year deal with a mutual option for a third year.
SOCCER
LONDON (AP) - Fourth-tier Bradford pulled off another major surprise in England's League Cup, beating Aston Villa 3-1 in the first leg of their semifinal to move one step from the club's first major final since 1911.
Bradford had defeated Arsenal on penalty kicks in the quarterfinals.
TENNIS
SYDNEY (AP) - Top-seeded John Isner lost 6-4, 6-4 to fellow American Ryan Harrison in the second round of the Sydney International.
HOBART, Australia (AP) - American qualifier Lauren Davis beat second-seeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-1, 6-3 in a rain-interrupted, second-round match at the Hobart International.
AUCKLAND, New Zealand (AP) - Australian qualifier Greg Jones upset sixth-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria 7-6 (7), 6-2 in the first round of the Heineken Open for his first ATP victory.

Read More..

Maine lobster catch up, value down; glut cited

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The state's lobster catch surged 18 percent last year for another record, but a marketplace glut depressed the value of its signature seafood, causing financial hardship for lobstermen, processing plants and dealers up and down the East Coast, officials said Friday.
The lobster catch topped 100 million pounds for the first time in 2011, and the numbers grew again in 2012 with a preliminary total suggesting a catch of more than 123 million pounds, according to the Maine Department of Marine Resources. Final numbers will be released next month.
Tensions boiled over in August when the huge lobster haul caused a crash in wholesale prices.
Canadian lobstermen blocked truckloads of Maine's lobster from being delivered across the border to processing plants that create lobster products for supermarkets and restaurants, blaming Maine for low prices.
New figures tell the story: The value of the catch was nearly $331 million, a decrease of $3.7 million from the previous year, despite the greater size. The average price was $2.68 per pound, the lowest in 18 years, the Department of Marine Resources said.
Clive Farrin, who fishes from Boothbay Harbor, said the depressed prices made it difficult for lobstermen to cover diesel fuel and bait costs, causing some to put their boats up for sale. Without strong demand and consumer confidence, he said, the boat price paid to lobstermen will continue to be too low.
"I don't think you're going to see the price change appreciably until the economy gets straightened out," he said. "If people can't make their house payments and their car payments and keep groceries on the table, then they're not going to be buying luxury items, things like lobster."
Marine Resources Commissioner Patrick Keliher said Friday that the department and industry officials will hold a series of meetings over the winter to seek potential remedies for those times when supply exceeds demand, as it did during the summer.
"This unprecedented preliminary landings report provides us with both an opportunity and a challenge," Keliher said in a statement.
The catch has continued to grow even though there are fewer lobster license holders and traps. In 2005, Maine lobstermen caught far less lobster, about 70 million pounds, but the value was $320 million, similar to the current level, Keliher said.
In recent years, the abundance of lobster made it possible for lobstermen to make up for the lower value, but that changed last summer.
With the marketplace flooded, fishermen reeled from the low prices and talked about tying up their boats.
Farrin said lobstermen aren't feeling optimistic about next season. He said those with boat payments and house payments will have trouble making ends meet if things don't improve.
"The ones who have their financial house in order will able to ride it out for a while," he said.

Read More..

Rebuilt Dodge Transmissions for Intrepid Cars Now Sold Online at GotTransmissions.com

Rebuilt Dodge transmissions for Intrepid cars are now sold online at the GotTransmissions.com website. This company has added these Chrysler based gearboxes to the growing online inventory to help car owners and B2B companies that purchase reconditioned units for direct replacement.

Beaumont, Texas (PRWEB) January 05, 2013
The GotTransmissions.com company has added a line of rebuilt transmissions for Intrepid cars for sale online. This used and rebuilt dealer has upgraded its Dodge inventory to create an online marketplace for buyers or installers of late model and classic gearboxes. The new Intrepid editions are expected to provide an additional resource online to help buyers save time and money when performing a transmission swap. More information can be found online at http://www.gottransmissions.com/blog/dodge-transmissions-caravan/dodge-intrepid-42le-transmission.
The 42LE series is based on the Ultradrive technology that was created by Chrysler. This series was based on the LH brand vehicles and the Intrepid uses this popular body style. As one of the best sellers of the 1990s, the Intrepid is still in use in the U.S. and Canada. Vehicle owners and mechanics that still use this vehicle can now benefit from the rebuilt editions that are now for sale online.
Apart from an automobile engine, the transmission is one of the integral parts of vehicle operation. The manual and automatic editions that are used help regulate the speed of vehicles. While all transmissions require service for proper functionality, some might require a total rebuild to ensure accuracy. The Got Transmissions company is one of the largest operating online that rebuilds domestic and foreign units for sale. These are offered as OEM replacements for cars, trucks and SUVs.
The addition of the Dodge Ultradrive is part of a larger expansion that has taken place for online and offline sales. The Chevrolet and Ford brands have been increased in stock to provide more variety for buyers. Both the passenger car and pickup truck lines have been increased for buyers. The recent addition of the Ford F-Series units marked the start of these new upgrades. The announcement for recent Ford additions can be found online at http://www.prweb.com/releases/ford-transmissions-sale/rebuilt-transmissions/prweb10243800.htm.
About Got Transmissions
The Got Transmissions company started selling online in 2007 and has built one of the largest inventories for foreign and domestic units online. The purchasing department at this company locates and inspects used automobile, truck and SUV gearboxes and brings these in for rebuilding work. The assemblies that are rebuilt are offered for reduced pricing to help vehicle owners and B2B companies find reliable replacements for a low price. The Got Transmissions company has expanded its services online and now offers shipping of in stock units for no cost. This incentive as well as recent upgrades have helped this company increase its 2012 sales.

Read More..

Voice Activated PDA for Blind and Low Vision Users from LS&S Now Offered by Rehabmart

One of their popular devices for blindness and low vision is the TapMemo Voice Activated PDA, a cutting-edge, handheld, voice activated personal assistant. Battery powered, the TapMemo features only one multi-functional button and two volume buttons, making it easier for most users to operate.

Elberton, GA (PRWEB) January 05, 2013
Rehabmart.com, an online e-commerce company that sells rehabilitation and medical supplies, has joined into a distribution collaboration with LS&S, LLC, to offer their TapMemo Voice Activated PDA to a wider consumer marketplace. Specializing in daily living aids and assistive technology for blindness, low vision, deafness and hearing issues, LS&S (Learning, Sight and Sound Made Easier) offers a wide variety of innovative and easy-to-use products to help the disabled to participate more fully in their day to day life experiences. This professional, family owned business realizes how important a resource they are for those with low vision or hearing loss, as these issues have touched this family personally with the founder's own father developing macular degeneration.
One of their popular devices for blindness and low vision is the TapMemo Voice Activated PDA, a cutting-edge, handheld, voice activated personal assistant. Battery powered, the TapMemo features only one multi-functional button and two volume buttons, making it easier for most users to operate. Since all of the verbal commands are 'speaker independent', the user does not need to 'train' the unit, it will simply work right out of the box. This special PDA comes complete with a charging jack, earphone jack, belt clip, and a hidden reset button in case the user needs to perform a hard or soft reset.
The TapMemo is profuse with features that set it way above the competition because it is powered with a very strong Lithium-Ion based battery that can be fully charged in less than four hours and will supply more than ten working hours and more than eleven months in 'standby' mode between each charging cycle. The main features of this voice activated device include a memo pad, phone book, calendar, and alarm clock. Other capabilities include a locking command to protect against unwanted use and to safeguard personal data, a unit locator that responds to the users' whistling and emits a high volume short phrase that helps the user to find the unit, talking time and date, and an ability to check the battery level along with an alert when it is low.
“We are so pleased to introduce the TapMemo Voice Activated PDA from LS&S to more consumers,” said Hulet Smith, OTR/L, MBA and CEO of Rehabmart. “This feature-rich personal assistant is perfect for those who have blindness or low vision disabilities, helping them to more easily participate, communicate and function in today's modern world. You can even place the unit next to a regular telephone handset and the unit will emit DTMF tones that correspond to the number, and the phone will dial them without having to push any buttons. We are very proud to offer this, and all of the great assistive devices for blindness, low vision, deafness and hard of hearing issues from LS&S to our customers at Rehabmart.com.”
About Rehabmart.com:
As an Occupational Therapist, the founder of Rehabmart, Hulet Smith, has the breadth of knowledge and experience necessary to match the needs of his customers with the very latest innovative products in the field of medical supplies and rehabilitation equipment. As a parent of special needs children, he has a personal interest in finding the best products to improve the lives of those who are disabled and medically challenged. Rehabmart.com is committed to provide superior customer service, competitive pricing and exceptional product offerings.

Read More..

Cricket-Sri Lanka not good enough in Australia, says Jayawardene

SYDNEY, Jan 6 (Reuters) - Mahela Jayawardene signed off his second stint as Sri Lanka captain in disappointment on Sunday after a 3-0 series sweep in Australia and said the bottom line was his team had just not played well enough.
After arriving in Australia confident they could finally win a first test Down Under, Sri Lanka fell to defeat by five wickets in Sydney following an innings and 201 humiliation in Melbourne and an 137-run reverse in Hobart.
"I think Hobart was a good fight, tough conditions, I thought we hung in pretty well there," Jayawardene told reporters. "Melbourne, we never showed any fight in that test match which was pretty disappointing.
"Here, I think we fought really well, but it wasn't good enough. The Australians played some really good cricket, they did give us a few chances but we weren't good enough to take control and push forward.
"When you are competing at this level, I think we need to be much better prepared and show more character to win test matches in these conditions."
The defeat in Sydney was particularly galling because Jayawardene finally got the scenario he wanted, prolific wicket-taking spinner Rangana Herath bowling at an Australian team chasing a victory target on a turning wicket.
"I think this would have the perfect script, bowling on the fourth day in Sydney," he said. "If we had kept them close to our score in the first innings things would have been different. But we let (them) get away from us, dropped a few catches.
"And even second innings we batted well, put some pressure on the Australians, maybe if we'd had another 60, 70 runs... but, we're not good enough to do that."
Injuries forced the Sri Lankans to blood some younger batsmen in Australia and the likes of Dimuth Karunaratne, Lahiru Thirimanne and Dinesh Chandimal showed they had the potential to play at the top level.
Jayawardene, one of a quartet of Sri Lankan batting greats now in their mid-thirties who will be retiring over the next few of years, said they still had a lot of hard work ahead of them.
"I think the more opportunities they have to play in these conditions their game will improve but talent alone will not carry them forward," he said.
"It's much tougher. Thinking processes, you need to identify your weaknesses, you need to know your game better, you need to see what the opposition is doing and build innings and bat for longer.
"They all have talent and that's why they're here. As long as they willing to learn and work hard, they will get big scores and be the future of Sri Lankan cricket.
"But they need to work hard, they need to realise what they need to do and where they need to toughen up. It's not just technical, it's mental too."
Another of the quartet of experienced batsmen, Thilan Samaraweera, had a particularly poor series but Jayawardene was in no mood to start picking out scapegoats.
"Unfortunately he did have a bad series, but that happens. I think it's unfair to pick on individual players after a series defeat like this and say it was their fault," he said.

Read More..

Tennis-Kvitova thrashed in final Australian Open warmup

Jan 6 (Reuters) - World number eight Petra Kvitova's preparations for the Australian Open suffered another setback when she was thrashed by Dominika Cibulkova in the first round of the Sydney International on Sunday.
The fifth-seeded Czech, who had lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round of the Brisbane International last week, was thumped 6-1 6-1 by her Slovak opponent at the Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre.
"I played really badly and I wish I knew what I could say but I don't know," Kvitova, the 2011 Wimbledon champion and a semi-finalist at last year's Australian Open, told reporters.
"I'm not feeling very well right now in my confidence but I'm always looking forward to playing grand slams and I hope everything will be better there than here."
Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki got her preparations for the first grand slam of the season, which starts Jan. 14 in Melbourne, back on track with a confident 6-1 6-2 win over Poland's Urszula Radwanska.
After suffering a shock first-round loss to qualifier Ksenia Pervak in Brisbane, the Dane rediscovered her touch to record a first victory of 2013.
Wozniacki has spent 67 weeks at the top of the rankings in her career but the 22-year-old slipped to number 10 after a poor season in which she suffered first-round exits at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.
With boyfriend and world number one golfer Rory McIlroy cheering her on from the stands, the Dane said she believed she could climb her way back to the top.
"Within myself, I believe I can get back there," Wozniacki said. "But it's a lot of hard work and there are a lot of great players so you never know what's going to happen.
"The most important thing is that you're healthy and I'm going to play as best I can and win as many tournaments as I can and the ranking will come if you play well.

Read More..

Kvitova thrashed in final Australian Open warmup

(Reuters) - World number eight Petra Kvitova's preparations for the Australian Open suffered another setback when she was thrashed by Dominika Cibulkova in the first round of the Sydney International on Sunday.
The fifth-seeded Czech, who had lost to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the second round of the Brisbane International last week, was thumped 6-1 6-1 by her Slovak opponent at the Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Centre.
"I played really badly and I wish I knew what I could say but I don't know," Kvitova, the 2011 Wimbledon champion and a semi-finalist at last year's Australian Open, told reporters.
"I'm not feeling very well right now in my confidence but I'm always looking forward to playing grand slams and I hope everything will be better there than here."
Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki got her preparations for the first grand slam of the season, which starts January 14 in Melbourne, back on track with a confident 6-1 6-2 win over Poland's Urszula Radwanska.
After suffering a shock first-round loss to qualifier Ksenia Pervak in Brisbane, the Dane rediscovered her touch to record a first victory of 2013.
Wozniacki has spent 67 weeks at the top of the rankings in her career but the 22-year-old slipped to number 10 after a poor season in which she suffered first-round exits at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.
With boyfriend and world number one golfer Rory McIlroy cheering her on from the stands, the Dane said she believed she could climb her way back to the top.
"Within myself, I believe I can get back there," Wozniacki said. "But it's a lot of hard work and there are a lot of great players so you never know what's going to happen.
"The most important thing is that you're healthy and I'm going to play as best I can and win as many tournaments as I can and the ranking will come if you play well."
Australian Olivia Rogowska was overwhelmed in a 7-5 6-2 loss to Russian Maria Kirilenko in another first round match while home favorite Samantha Stosur will begin her campaign on Monday against China's world number 26 Zheng Jie.

Read More..

No full talks in NHL labor fight

 Any momentum gained from a long night of negotiations between the NHL and the players' association seemed to have been lost Thursday when the sides remained mostly apart.
A meeting that Commissioner Gary Bettman said would begin at 10 a.m. EST didn't start until several hours later, and then ended quickly.
That one hour of talks centered on the reporting of hockey-related revenues by teams, and both sides signing off on the figures at the end of the fiscal year. The problem was resolved.
An NHL spokesman announced shortly before 9 p.m. that federal mediator Scot Beckenbaugh was still working with the sides, but they would not get back to the bargaining table before Friday morning.
The players' association didn't immediately comment.
The key issues that are still threatening the hockey season weren't addressed early in the day, but a small group of players and other union staff returned to the NHL office shortly before 6 p.m., to hold another meeting regarding the contentious pension plan. That wrapped up about two hours later.
Union head Donald Fehr didn't take part in either of the two sessions Thursday.
The players' association held a conference call at 5 p.m. to discuss starting another vote among union membership that would give the executive board the power to invoke a disclaimer of interest and dissolve the union.
Members gave overwhelmingly approval last month, but the union declined to disclaim before a self-imposed deadline Wednesday night. It wasn't immediately known when a new authorization would expire. Players are expected to have 48 hours to vote, as opposed to the five days they were given the first time.
With the lockout in its 110th day, both sides understand the urgency to save a shortened season. They have several key issues to work out — pensions and salary cap limits, among them.
Bettman has said a deal needs to be in place by next week so a 48-game season can begin Jan. 19. All games through Jan. 14 along with the All-Star game have been canceled, claiming more than 50 percent of the original schedule.
The sides met in small groups throughout the day Wednesday. They held a full bargaining session with a federal mediator at night that lasted nearly five hours and ended about 1 a.m. Thursday.
The biggest detail to emerge was that Fehr remained as union executive director after players passed on their first chance to declare a disclaimer that would turn the union into a trade association. The disclaimer would allow individual players to file antitrust lawsuits against the NHL.
Fehr wouldn't address the issue Wednesday, calling it an "internal matter," but added that the players were keeping all options open.
"The word disclaimer has yet to be uttered to us by the players' association," Bettman said Wednesday. "It's not that it gets filed anywhere with a court or the NLRB. When you disclaim interest as a union, you notify the other side. We have not been notified and it's never been discussed, so there has been no disclaimer."
It was believed the union wouldn't take action Wednesday if it saw progress being made. Neither side would characterize the talks or say if there was any movement toward common ground.
"There's been some progress but we're still apart on a number of issues," Bettman said. "As long as the process continues I am hopeful."
In a related move, the NHLPA filed a motion in federal court in New York on Thursday seeking to dismiss the league's suit to have the lockout declared legal. The NHL sued the union in mid-December, figuring the players were about to submit their own complaint against the league and possibly break up their union to gain an upper hand.
But the union argued that the NHL is using this suit "to force the players to remain in a union. Not only is it virtually unheard of for an employer to insist on the unionization of its employees, it is also directly contradicted by the rights guaranteed to employees under ... the National Labor Relations Act."
The court scheduled a status conference for the sides on Monday morning.
That still gives them time to get back to the table to try to reach a deal. There won't be one, however, if they don't resolve the differences regarding the players' pension.
Bettman called the pension plan a "very complicated issue."
"The number of variables and the number of issues that have to be addressed by people who carry the title actuary or pension lawyer are pretty numerous and it's pretty easy to get off track," Bettman said. "That is something we understand is important to the players."
The union's proposal Wednesday makes four offers between the sides since the NHL restarted negotiations Thursday with a proposal. The league presented the players with a counteroffer Tuesday night in response to one the union made Monday.
Fehr believed an agreement on a players-funded pension had been reached before talks blew up in early December. That apparently wasn't the case, or the NHL has changed its offer regarding the pension in exchange for agreeing to other things the union wanted.
The salary-cap number for the second year of the deal — the 2013-14 season — hasn't been established, and it is another point of contention. The league is pushing for a $60 million cap, while the union wants it to be $65 million.
In return for the higher cap number players would be willing to forgo a cap on escrow.
"We talk about lots of things and we even had some philosophical discussions about why particular issues were important to each of us," Bettman said. "That is part of the process."
The NHL proposed in its first offer Thursday that pension contributions come out of the players' share of revenues, and $50 million of the league's make-whole payment of $300 million will be allocated and set aside to fund potential underfunding liabilities of the plan at the end of the collective bargaining agreement.
Last month, the NHL agreed to raise its make-whole offer of deferred payments from $211 million to $300 million as part of a proposed package that required the union to agree on three nonnegotiable points. Instead, the union accepted the raise in funds, but then made counterproposals on the issues the league stated had no wiggle room.
"As you might expect, the differences between us relate to the core economic issues which don't involve the share," Fehr said of hockey-related revenue, which likely will be split 50-50.
The NHL is the only North American professional sports league to cancel a season because of a labor dispute, losing the 2004-05 campaign to a lockout. A 48-game season was played in 1995 after a lockout stretched into January.

Read More..

Little talking or movement in NHL labor fight

 If there is going to be a hockey season, the NHL and the players' association can't afford many more days like this.
A long night of bargaining Wednesday that stretched into the early morning hours didn't end well and likely kept the sides apart for most of the day Thursday. No new full-scale negotiations took place, and outside of a few relatively brief, small sessions on specific topics, it was basically a lost day.
This is now January, and time is limited to reach a deal that would allow for a shortened hockey season. An agreement this week could have led to a 52-game season. That seems all but lost now.
If the sides can't find common ground within the next week, a 48-game season — the shortest NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman said the league would play — will become impossible, too.
The tenor of the talks appeared to take a downward turn late Wednesday after the players' association passed on declaring a disclaimer of interest that would have dissolved the union and turned it into a trade association.
The discord carried over to Thursday morning, when Bettman had said he expected to resume negotiations at 10 a.m. at the request of a federal mediator, but the union was holding internal meetings then and didn't arrive at the league office until a few hours later.
And when players and staff did get there, they did so without executive director Donald Fehr. The group discussed a problem that arose regarding the reporting by clubs of hockey-related revenue, and how both sides sign off on the figures at the end of the fiscal year. The union felt the language had been changed without proper notification, but the dispute was solved and the meeting ended in about an hour.
The wait for more elaborate talks went on, and didn't end until the players returned — again without Fehr — for a small meeting about the contentious pension plan. That one lasted just under two hours, and again the waiting game ensued.
But this time there wouldn't be any talks, big or little. Neither side issued a statement, and Bettman was seen leaving league headquarters shortly after 9 p.m.
An NHL spokesman said discussions would resume between the NHL, the union and federal mediator Scot Beckenbaugh on Friday morning.
The players' association held a late afternoon conference call to initiate another vote among union membership that would give the executive board the power to invoke a disclaimer of interest.
Members gave overwhelming approval last month, but the union declined to disclaim before a self-imposed deadline Wednesday night. It wasn't immediately known when a new authorization would expire. Players are expected to have 48 hours to vote, as opposed to the five days they were given the first time.
With the lockout in its 110th day, both sides understand the urgency to save a shortened season. They have several key issues to work out — pensions and salary cap limits, among them.
Bettman has said a deal needs to be in place by next week so a 48-game season can begin Jan. 19. All games through Jan. 14 along with the All-Star game have been canceled, claiming more than 50 percent of the original schedule.
It was believed the union wouldn't take action Wednesday if it saw progress being made. Neither side would characterize the talks or say if there was any movement toward common ground.
"There's been some progress but we're still apart on a number of issues," Bettman said Wednesday. "As long as the process continues I am hopeful."
That optimism took a hit on Thursday.
The NHLPA filed a motion in federal court in New York seeking to dismiss the league's suit to have the lockout declared legal. The NHL sued the union in mid-December, figuring the players were about to submit their own complaint against the league and possibly break up their union to gain an upper hand.
But the union argued that the NHL is using this suit "to force the players to remain in a union. Not only is it virtually unheard of for an employer to insist on the unionization of its employees, it is also directly contradicted by the rights guaranteed to employees under ... the National Labor Relations Act."
The court scheduled a status conference for the sides on Monday morning.
That would still give them time to get back to the table and reach a deal. There won't be one, however, if they can't resolve the differences regarding the players' pension.
Bettman called the pension plan a "very complicated issue."
"The number of variables and the number of issues that have to be addressed by people who carry the title actuary or pension lawyer are pretty numerous and it's pretty easy to get off track," Bettman said. "That is something we understand is important to the players."
The union's proposal Wednesday made it four offers between the sides since the NHL restarted negotiations with a proposal a week ago. The league presented the players with a counteroffer Tuesday night in response to one the union made Monday.
Fehr believed an agreement on a players-funded pension had been reached before talks blew up in early December. That apparently wasn't the case, or the NHL has changed its offer regarding the pension in exchange for agreeing to other things the union wanted.
The salary-cap number for the second year of the deal — the 2013-14 season — hasn't been established, and it is another point of contention. The league is pushing for a $60 million cap, while the union wants it to be $65 million.
In return for the higher cap number players would be willing to forgo a cap on escrow.
"We talk about lots of things and we even had some philosophical discussions about why particular issues were important to each of us," Bettman said. "That is part of the process."
Both sides seem content on the deal lasting for 10 years, but they have different opinions on whether an opt-out should be allowed to be exercised after seven years or eight.
The NHL proposed in its first offer on Dec. 27 that pension contributions come out of the players' share of revenues, and $50 million of the league's make-whole payment of $300 million will be allocated and set aside to fund potential underfunded liabilities of the plan at the end of the collective bargaining agreement.
Last month, the NHL agreed to raise its make-whole offer of deferred payments from $211 million to $300 million as part of a proposed package that required the union to agree on three nonnegotiable points. Instead, the union accepted the raise in funds, but then made counterproposals on the issues the league stated had no wiggle room.
"As you might expect, the differences between us relate to the core economic issues which don't involve the share," Fehr said of hockey-related revenue, which likely will be split 50-50.
The NHL is the only North American professional sports league to cancel a season because of a labor dispute, losing the 2004-05 campaign to a lockout. A 48-game season was played in 1995 after a lockout stretched into January.

Read More..

NHL-League and union resume separate mediation sessions

Jan 4 (Reuters) - The National Hockey League (NHL) and the union representing its locked-out players met separately with a U.S. federal mediator on Friday with a week to go before the deadline to reach a deal and salvage a shortened season.
The two sides met with a mediator in New York but there has been no decision on whether the league and union would hold face-to-face negotiations on Friday, according to a report on the NHL's website.
In addition to meeting separately with the mediator on Thursday, officials from the NHL and NHL Players' Association met together Thursday for small-group discussions on some key issues.
With half of the 2012-13 regular season already lost to the labor dispute, the NHL has set a Jan. 11 deadline for a new deal so that a shortened 48-game campaign could begin eight days later.
The lockout, which the league has said is costing it about $18-$20 million a day, began in mid-September when the previous collective bargaining agreement expired with both sides at odds over how to split the NHL's $3.3 billion in revenue.
The dispute, which follows a lockout that wiped out the entire 2004-05 campaign, is now centered around the salary cap number for the 2013-14 season, the pension fund and length of player contracts.

Read More..