Orioles beat Boston, gain tie for AL East lead

BALTIMORE (AP) ? The Baltimore Orioles tied atop the AL East with the New York Yankees with four games left, a scenario that might cause a team unaccustomed to being in a pennant race to stumble under pressure.

Not these guys.

After Baltimore beat the Boston Red Sox 4-3 Saturday night to earn a share of first place, Orioles first baseman Mark Reynolds described the mood of the team as "a quiet confidence."

"Calmness," Reynolds said. "We're playing with house money. We're not supposed to be here. We're just a bunch of kids having fun. We go out every night believing we're going to win the game, no matter what the situation and no matter who we're facing. It's just fun to be a part of."

Chris Davis hit his 30th home run and rookie Manny Machado lined a go-ahead shot in the seventh inning for the Orioles. After finishing in the division cellar in each of the previous four seasons, Baltimore (91-67) is tied with a team very much accustomed to finishing in first place.

The Yankees lost to Toronto before this game started, so the Orioles knew they would earn a share of the lead with a win. Baltimore went ahead 3-0 in the fourth, then let Boston pull even before Machado homered, a liner into the second row of the left-field seats off Felix Doubront (11-10).

Machado has been a major leaguer for all of 47 games after being summoned from Double-A Bowie on Aug. 9.

"I'm just trying to play the game," he said. "Obviously, it's bigger than any other games I've played before. I'm just going to try and go out there and give everything I can to help this team win."

It was another tight victory for the Orioles, their trademark in this unimaginable season. Baltimore is 28-9 in one-run games and 72-0 when leading after seven innings.

"It's an honor to sit there and watch it and marvel at what these guys can do, especially when certain things start snowballing," manager Buck Showalter said. "And you create your karma. These guys have done a good job of doing that, and they're expecting good things to happen."

Tommy Hunter (7-8) pitched two innings, Brian Matusz and Darren O'Day shared the eighth and Jim Johnson got three outs for his 49th save.

A sellout crowd of 46,311, a majority of them clad in Oriole orange, brought Camden Yards back to a time when the home team was a force in the AL East and the ballpark was packed on a nightly basis.

The fans got to cheer a Baltimore great before the first pitch, too. A statue of Hall of Fame third baseman Brooks Robinson was unveiled during a ceremony in the flag court beyond the center-field wall.

The Orioles' goal is to capture the division, but if they win two more games they are at least assured of their first trip to the playoffs since 1997 ? their last winning season before this year. Baltimore now is 41-27 in the division and New York is 37-31, so if Baltimore wins one more game, it will have home-field advantage if there's a playoff to decide the AL East title.

"The pressure's on both of us," Reynolds said. "Four games left, dead heat. I guess there's a possibility of two playoff games. It's what we play for, and it's fun."

In addition to hitting two homers and limiting Boston to five hits, Baltimore also played well defensively. Machado, the third baseman, ranged far to his right in the fourth inning to start a double play, and Reynolds tumbled over the tarp roll and got wedged behind it after catching a foul pop. Endy Chavez, who entered as a defensive replacement in the ninth, made a sparking diving catch of a sinking liner to right field.

"They just keeping doing what they have to do," Red Sox manager Bobby Valentine said of the Orioles. "Buck knows what he's doing. He puts in a defensive replacement and he makes a diving catch. They've done a great job with that young third baseman. He beat us tonight. He played excellent defense all year."

Jarrod Saltalamacchia homered for the Red Sox, who fell into last place with their 15th loss in 21 games. Boston has not finished in the cellar since 1992.

Doubront allowed four runs, three earned, and seven hits in seven innings. He struck out 10, walked one and hit a batter.

Red Sox leadoff hitter Jacoby Ellsbury went 1 for 4 after being sidelined since Sept. 20 with an unspecified injury. Ellsbury has only four homers and 26 RBIs after finishing second in AL MVP voting last season.

"I didn't see him play that way this year," Valentine said before the game. "He did not quite hit his stride this year."

Orioles rookie Steve Johnson took a three-hitter and a 3-2 lead into the sixth inning but was lifted after giving up a single and a walk. Hunter got Dustin Pedroia to hit a force at second, but a run came home when Cody Ross hit a sacrifice fly to right field that Davis dropped after Adam Jones drifted over from center and called for the ball. Hunter avoided further damage by getting Mauro Gomez to bounce into a double play.

Baltimore went up 1-0 in the second when Machado singled in a run after Doubront hit Davis with a pitch and Reynolds reached on a slow roller to third.

In the fourth, after Jones reached on a throwing error by shortstop Mike Aviles, Davis drove a 1-0 pitch far over the right-field wall for a 3-0 lead.

Saltalamacchia hit his 25th homer in the fifth after Gomez drew a leadoff walk.

NOTES: The Robinson statue stands alongside the team's five other Hall of Fame members, all of whom were in attendance: Earl Weaver, Frank Robinson, Jim Palmer, Eddie Murray and Cal Ripken Jr. ... Joe Saunders will pitch for the Orioles in the series finale Sunday. Zach Stewart will pitch for Boston. ... Baltimore claimed OF Steve Pearce off waivers from the Yankees. He will join the team in Tampa Bay on Monday. ... Boston has lost 17 of 24 to Baltimore since September 2011.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/orioles-beat-boston-gain-tie-al-east-lead-020501937--mlb.html

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Funding Coordinator Jobs at Finn Church Aid in Kenya 2012 - Jobs ...

Funding Coordinator Jobs at Finn Church Aid in Kenya 2012

Job title: Regional Funding Coordinator in East and Southern Africa Regional Office, Nairobi, Kenya
Closing Date: Friday, 05 October 2012

Finn Church Aid is Finland?s biggest development co-operation organisation and the second biggest organisation in Finland working in humanitarian aid. Finn Church Aid is a member of the ACT Alliance (ACT), an alliance of faith-based development and humanitarian aid organisations forming one of the world?s largest aid organisations.

Finn Church Aid (FCA) is looking for a

Regional Funding Coordinator in the East and Southern Africa Regional Office ? based in Nairobi, Kenya

Duties and responsibilities:

Active responsibility for broadening FCA regional funding mix from international donors in close coordination with the Regional Representative, operational units and the Global Grants unit at FCA Headquarters. Tasks include proactively soliciting and cultivating donor relations, funding proposals, grants management, project monitoring, reporting and quality controlling.
Monitor international grant opportunities from institutional donors including EuropeAID, ECHO, UN agencies, USG, Diplomatic Mission/embassies, private sector, trusts & foundations. Identify and coordinate opportunities for funding in line with FCA?s strategic priorities and country programmes in the region.
Build the capacity of expatriate and local staff in the field office to meet various donor requirements.
Build relationships with (I)NGOs, institutional donors, and other national or regional organizations and potential donors in Haiti, including ECHO, EU Commission, and UN Agencies,
Fundraising and advocacy coordination with the sister organizations of FCA and ACT Alliance members and others,
Provide strategic input as a FCA representative on various networks (APRODEV, CONCORD),
Undertake other duties as designated.

Competence and Personal Requirements:
Demonstrable experience in fundraising for international development NGOs with specific expertise in institutional funding instruments.
Relevant experience working in developing countries including experience in capacity building or training
At least 3 years professional experience in development and fundraising
Advanced university degree in Business Management, International Relations, Development Studies or related fields;
Good knowledge or proven experience in project management, including project financial management,
Good understanding of humanitarian aid and development cooperation approaches and standards,
Willingness to travel to project implementation sites,
Excellent oral and written communications skills in English.

We also appreciate that you:
Are flexible and capable of working in challenging circumstances in a multicultural environment,
Are an excellent communicator and active networker,
Have good problem-solving skills.
Excellent inter-personal skills, and proven ability to build and maintain strong relationships, negotiate, and
Strong cross-cultural skills and versatility in dealing with different types of partnerships;
Personal integrity with an honest and open personal demeanor;

This is a National post and potential candidates must be Kenyan Nationals or have a valid work permit for Kenya. For more information please contact Scolastica Ndurungi, +254 787807660 or Scolastica.ndurungi@kua.fi.

How to apply:

Interested candidates should submit a cover letter and CV to recruitment.esaro@kua.fi and mark e-mail ?FC Kenya / candidate?s surname?. Deadline for applications is 5 October 2012

Deadline:5th Oct 2012

Source: http://www.jobsinkenya254.com/2012/09/29/funding-coordinator-jobs-at-finn-church-aid-in-kenya-2012/

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Another big Supreme Court term kicks off Monday

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia speaks during a ceremony naming a courtroom at The John Marshall Law School after former Supreme Court Justice Arthur J. Goldberg Friday, Sept. 28, 2012 in Chicago. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia speaks during a ceremony naming a courtroom at The John Marshall Law School after former Supreme Court Justice Arthur J. Goldberg Friday, Sept. 28, 2012 in Chicago. (AP Photo/M. Spencer Green)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? When last we saw the chief justice of the United States on the bench, John Roberts was joining with the Supreme Court's liberals in an unlikely lineup that upheld President Barack Obama's health care overhaul.

Progressives applauded Roberts' statesmanship. Conservatives uttered cries of betrayal.

Now, the Supreme Court is embarking on a new term beginning Monday that could be as consequential as the last one, with the prospect for major rulings about affirmative action, gay marriage and voting rights.

Many people on both the left and right expect Roberts to return to the fold and side with the conservative justices in the new term's big cases. If they're right, the spotlight will be back on Justice Anthony Kennedy, whose vote typically is decisive in cases that otherwise split the court's liberals and conservatives.

But Roberts will be watched closely, following his health care vote, for fresh signs that he's becoming less ideologically predictable.

It may be that the dramatic health care decision presages "some shift in his tenure as chief justice," said Steve Shapiro, the American Civil Liberties Union's national legal director. "Or does it give him cover to continue to pursue a conservative agenda?"

The first piece of evidence could be in the court's consideration of the University of Texas' already limited use of race to help fill its incoming freshman classes, which comes before the court Oct. 10. The outcome could further limit or even end the use of racial preferences in college admissions.

Roberts has expressed contempt for the use of race in drawing legislative districts, calling it "a sordid business, this divvying us up by race," and in assigning students to public schools, saying that "the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race."

The written arguments submitted by both sides in the Texas case leave little doubt that Kennedy, not Roberts, holds the prized vote. The challengers of the Texas program and the university itself cite Kennedy's prior writings on affirmative action a combined 50 times.

The court also is expected to confront gay marriage in some form. Several cases seek to guarantee federal benefits for legally married same-sex couples. A provision of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act deprives same-sex couples of a range of federal benefits available to heterosexual couples.

Several federal courts have agreed that the provision of the law is unconstitutional, a situation that practically ensures that the high court will step in.

A separate appeal asks the justices to sustain California's Proposition 8, the amendment to the state constitution that outlawed gay marriage in the nation's largest state. Federal courts in California have struck down the amendment.

Once again, many legal analysts expect Roberts essentially to be against gay marriage. "The outcome clearly turns on how Anthony Kennedy votes," said Georgetown University law professor Michael Seidman.

The justices may not even consider whether to hear the gay marriage issue until November.

Another hot topic with appeals pending before the high court, and more soon to follow, is the future of a cornerstone law of the civil rights movement.

In 2006, Congress overwhelmingly approved, and President George W. Bush signed, legislation extending for 25 more years a critical piece of the Voting Rights Act. It requires states and local governments with a history of racial and ethnic discrimination, mainly in the South, to get advance approval either from the Justice Department or the federal court in Washington before making any changes that affect elections.

The requirement currently applies to the states of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia. It also covers certain counties in California, Florida, New York, North Carolina and South Dakota, and some local jurisdictions in Michigan and New Hampshire. Coverage has been triggered by past discrimination not only against blacks, but also against American Indians, Asian-Americans, Alaskan Natives and Hispanics.

The court spoke skeptically about the provision in a 2009 decision, but left it mostly unchanged. Now, however, cases from Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas could prompt the court to deal head on with the issue of advance approval. The South Carolina and Texas cases involve voter identification laws; a similar Indiana law was previously upheld by the court.

It is unclear when the justices will decide whether to hear arguments in those cases. Arguments themselves would not take place until next year.

Yet there still is a chance that the court could become enmeshed in election disputes, even before the ballots are counted. Suits in Ohio over early voting and provisional ballots appear the most likely to find their way to the justices before the Nov. 6 election, said Richard Hasen, an election law expert at the University of California at Irvine law school.

Among other important cases already on the court's docket:

? A high-stakes dispute, to be argued first thing Monday, between the business community and human rights advocates over the reach of a 1789 law. The issue is whether businesses can be sued in U.S. courts for human rights violations that take place on foreign soil and have foreign victims.

? A challenge to the use of drug-sniffing dogs in two situations. Florida police used a marijuana-sniffing dog's alert at the door of a private home to obtain a search warrant to look inside the house. The question is whether the dog's sniff itself was a search. A separate case looks at the reliability of animals trained to pick up the scent of illegal drugs.

? A challenge to the detention of a man who police picked up a mile away from an apartment they had a warrant to search. Occupants of a home may be detained during the search for the safety of officers, but this case tests how far that authority extends away from the place to be searched.

? Environmental disputes involving runoff from logging roads in Oregon and water pollution in Los Angeles.

Paul Clement, the Republican lawyer who lost the health care case and could be before the justices on gay marriage and voting rights, said last term punctured the notion that in close cases, the court goes where Kennedy wants.

"We've all been reminded that's not always the case," he said.

The idea that could be tested this term is whether Roberts' concern for the court as an institution that is apart from politics will influence his votes, or at least his reasoning, in the year's biggest cases.

___

Online:

Supreme Court: http://www.supremecourt.gov

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-09-29-Supreme%20Court-New%20Term/id-f2a777accaad4e35b6f38f6ad48bcdaf

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Ancient market burns as fighting rages in Syria's Aleppo

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Hundreds of shops were burning in the ancient covered market in Aleppo on Saturday as fighting between rebels and state forces in Syria's largest city threatened to destroy a UNESCO world heritage site.

The uprising-turned-civil war that is now raging across Syria has killed more than 30,000 people, according to activist groups such as the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.

But beyond the dramatic human cost, many of Syria's historic treasures have also fallen victim to an 18-month-old conflict that has reduced parts of some cities to ruins.

Rebels fighting to topple President Bashar al-Assad announced a new offensive in Aleppo, Syria's commercial hub of 2.5 million people, on Thursday, but neither side has appeared to make significant gains.

In Aleppo, activists speaking via Skype said army snipers were making it difficult to approach the Souk al-Madina, the medieval market of vaulted stone alleyways and carved wooden facades in the Old City, once a major tourist attraction.

Videos uploaded to YouTube showed dark black clouds hanging over the city skyline.

Activists said the fire might have been started by shelling and gunfire on Friday and estimated that between 700 and 1,000 shops had been destroyed so far. The accounts were difficult to verify because of government restricts on foreign media.

Aleppo's Old City is one of several locations in Syria declared world heritage sites by UNESCO, the United Nations cultural agency, that are now at risk from the fighting.

UNESCO believes five of Syria's six heritage sites - which also include the ancient desert city of Palmyra, the Crac des Chevaliers crusader fortress and parts of old Damascus - have been affected.

The British-based Observatory for Human Rights, which has a network of activists across Syria, said Assad's forces and rebels blamed each other for the blaze.

NO ONE MAKING GAINS

Heavy clashes erupted outside several military sites in Aleppo on Saturday evening. Activists said rebels were battling government forces outside the Neirab military air base.

The Observatory said clashes outside a base used for artillery training had set a nearby building alight and killed three people.

Fighting was also reported outside Bab Antakya, a stone gateway to Aleppo's Old City, which sits on ancient trade routes and survived a parade of rulers throughout its construction between the 12th and 17th century.

Rebels said they had taken the gate, but some activists said the fighting continued and neither side was truly in control.

"No one is actually making gains here, it is just fighting and more fighting, and terrified people are fleeing," said an activist contacted by telephone who declined to be identified.

He said in some districts, bodies were lying in the streets and residents would not collect them, fearing snipers.

More than 40 people had been killed in fighting across Syria, according to the Observatory.

Syria's military deadlock is also reflected diplomatically, with foreign powers stalemated over how to act. Western states and Gulf Arab countries back the opposition but most seem reluctant to interfere, while Russia, China and Iran back Assad.

The revolt against four decades of Assad family, which began in March 2011 as peaceful protests, has become an armed insurgency, with rebels holding ground in Aleppo and rural towns of northern Syria.

The fighting has crept closer to Syria's border zones, and some bullets and rockets have hit neighboring Lebanon, Iraq and Turkey. Ankara warned it would take action if its territory was again hit - a mortar bomb hit a town on its southeastern frontier on Friday.

GOVERNMENT VICTORY "CERTAIN"

An advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he was confident Syria's government would beat the rebels.

"The victory of the government of Syria against internal opponents, America, and their other Western and Arab supporters, is counted as a victory of the Islamic Republic of Iran," said Ali Akbar Velayati, according to state news agency IRNA.

"The victory of the Syrian government is certain.

Activists reported fresh clashes in the capital Damascus and its suburbs and said security forces were torching homes as helicopters buzzed overhead.

The bloodied bodies of at least 12 men were found in Damascus's northwestern suburb of Qudsaya. A video published by showed rows of men, some of them apparently shot, laid in a room whose walls were spattered with blood.

Some Damascus residents have accused government forces of summary executions in rebel districts.

"They can't arrest everyone, so they are using elimination tactics. They enter area that was held by rebels, look for people that are wanted and kill them all," one activist said.

Assad has long defended the fierce crackdown, arguing that he has been fighting Islamist militants funded from abroad.

Text messages attributed to the army were sent to all Syrian mobiles since Aleppo rebels announced their new offensive.

"To those who have implicated themselves against the state: Those who have offered you money have left you with two options: You will be killed fighting the state or it will kill you to get rid of you," one message read.

"The state is more merciful than you. Think and decide. The Syrian Army."

(Editing by Kevin Liffey and Robin Pomeroy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ancient-souk-burns-fighting-rages-syrias-aleppo-122301221.html

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Video: Maria's Market Insight: Weak US GDP

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/49202392/

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Peering Though the Kaleidoscope - Higher Education

by William J. Ford

Andy Herrera of Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, is known as a strong advocate for underrepresented students.

Irish dancers entertained students and faculty at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, as part of the school?s monthly Rhythm of Life series. Upperclassmen discussed race relations, harassment and other serious topics in the Circle of Oppression. These are among the programs Andy Herrera either helped create or established during his tenure as the school?s director of educational equity and diversity programs within the school?s student services division.

Herrera, who enters his 10th year at the Penn State campus, also known as Penn State Behrend, helps Ariana Rosario-Fuste ?stay busy? by taking notes for disabled students and giving campus tours for international students.

?He really respects the eagerness to learn about all the cultures in the world and in the student body,? said the 19-year-old sophomore biology major who transferred to Penn State Behrend last semester from the University of Puerto Rico. ?It is definitely nice to have a faculty member at Penn State [Behrend] who speaks Spanish. Andy understands what students go through coming from a different nation and with a different culture.?

Under his leadership, Herrera wants to ensure diversity is presented on a campus with an 11-percent minority population that also had the third largest student population last year among all 20 Penn State campuses.

Herrera coordinates the school?s Minority College Experience and Women in Science and Engineering Program (MCE/WISE). For six weeks in the summer, high school students from the Erie region take a class on campus with an emphasis on science and engineering. The students receive a stipend for lunch, free books and chat with professionals in those fields.

The best part, Herrera says, is that a student obtaining a ?B? or better will obtain a full scholarship.

New students who attend Penn State Behrend receive a diversity card that describes the university?s commitment ?to [creating] an environment that promotes respect for differences while fostering caring relationships and cross-cultural understanding and appreciation.?

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender students are now aided by the school?s three-year-old Safe Zone program. It incorporates workshops, training and panel discussions where students can ?speak out? about their lifestyle. Some staff members post rainbow stickers on their office doors and windows to let students know it is a ?safe zone.?

?Students from a LGBT background at time s? have been harassed. We must provide a safe and diverse campus so all students get a good education,? Herrera said. ?Students should have some fun, too. That makes a great campus environment.?

Herrera was born in Venezuela and moved to Florida in the 1980s. He graduated from Western Michigan University in 2000 with a bachelor?s degree in Spanish and minor in history. He then got his master?s degree in education law from NOVA Southeastern University in 2010.

Herrera has received numerous awards, including the Outstanding Diversity Award in May for assisting Penn State Behrend senior Jinghua Liu to create a website where photos of Chinese and Americans hold signs asking questions about the other?s culture. The ?photo-question exchange project? aims to enhance knowledge and friendship between both nations. He was chosen among three other employees and a group affiliated with student services from all 20 Penn State campuses to receive the award.

Semantic Tags: Bisexual & Transgender Campus Management Community Colleges Diversity Education Faculty Gay/Lesbian Gays Lesbians Minorities on Campus Public Colleges & Universities Student Athletes Technology

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Source: http://diverseeducation.com/article/48387/

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Romney, Obama descend on battleground Ohio

WESTERVILLE, Ohio (AP) ? Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney said Wednesday that he understands the struggles of working families and has the know-how to fix them as he sought to counteract fallout from a secret video that President Barack Obama won't let him live down.

With polls showing the president ahead in key swing states that will decide the race, the White House expressed confidence. "As time progresses, you know, the field is looking like it's narrowing for them," campaign spokeswoman Jen Psaki told reporters aboard Air Force One as Obama headed for his own rallies in Ohio. "And so in that sense we'd rather be us than them."

Obama was stopping at two college campuses in the hunt for the state's 18 electoral votes, while Romney was here for a second straight day on a bus emblazoned with, "More Jobs, More Take-Home Pay." Losing the state would dramatically narrow Romney's path to the 270 Electoral College votes it takes to win the White House ? and no Republican has ever lost Ohio and won the presidency.

Romney's pitch for working-class men was far from subtle. He campaigned at a factory that makes commercial spring wire, touring the noisy plant floor in goggles and rolled-up shirt sleeves alongside television's king of macho, Discovery Channel's "Dirty Jobs" host Mike Rowe. The pair spoke later from a stage set with hard hat-wearing workers, giant coils of steel wire, open metal cross beams and yellow caution signs in the background.

The economy during Obama's presidency has been especially hard on male blue-collar workers. But secretly recorded video of Romney telling donors he doesn't need to worry about the 47 percent of Americans who don't pay income taxes and "believe that they are victims" has distracted from his argument that blue-collar men should throw Obama out over his fiscal record.

Obama continued to remind voters of Romney's secretly recorded remarks in television ads and a speech at Bowling Green State University.

"Look, I don't believe we can get very far with leaders who write off half the nation as a bunch of victims who never take responsibility for their own lives," Obama said. "I've got to tell you, as I travel around Ohio and as I look out on this crowd, I don't see a lot of victims. I see hard working Ohioans."

At an earlier stop outside Columbus, Romney touted his business experience as reason he can do better. "I care about the people of America. The difference between me and President Obama is I know what to do and I will do what it takes to get this economy going," Romney said to a standing ovation from supporters.

Romney also released a 60-second television ad with a new, softer approach than the negative ads dominating the airways. It's unclear how much ? if at all ? the commercial will air on television, but it echoed Romney's compassionate pitch from the campaign trial. The candidate, in an open-collar shirt, speaks into the camera about the struggles of living paycheck to paycheck and trying to pay for necessities like food and gas on falling incomes.

"President Obama and I both care about poor and middle-class families," Romney says. "The difference is my policies will make things better for them."

And Romney's new insistence that he's the better candidate to help middle-class families comes after his campaign's recent announcement that he'll do more to describe what he would do as president. At his morning rally, Romney stood in front of a running national debt clock and focused on Obama's handling of the debt and the interest piling up.

Romney's comments follow a Washington Post poll that shows the federal debt and deficit are the one set of issues on which he has an advantage over Obama with likely voters. In recent weeks, Romney has lost his polling edge on the economy generally, with more people saying they now trust Obama to fix the nation's economic woes.

The gym couldn't hold all the people who came to see Romney at Alum Creek Park, and he stopped by an overflow room to shake hands with those who couldn't get in to see him in person. As he was leaving, one supporter told him: "Please get us out of this mess."

Introducing Romney was golfing great Jack Nicklaus, an Ohio native. Romney's campaign produced signs that read, "The Golden Bear for Romney/Ryan," featuring the campaign logo and a silhouette of Nicklaus swinging a club. "I certainly didn't apologize for my success," Nicklaus told the audience to cheers.

Obama planned to campaign later Wednesday at Kent State University, hoping to generate the kind of enthusiasm among young voters that helped fuel his victory four years ago. Romney focused on major metropolitan areas of the state where large numbers of voters live.

Buoyed by signs of an improving economy, Obama has the edge in polls in Ohio six weeks from Election Day. The president has led Romney in a series of recent surveys in the state, with a Washington Post poll on Tuesday showing Obama with a lead that was outside the poll's margin of error. A CBS/New York Times poll also showed Obama ahead here. Even on handling of the economy, where Romney until recently had an advantage, Obama now leads.

___

Pickler reported from Washington. Associated Press writer Steve Peoples in Bowling Green, Ohio, contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/romney-obama-descend-battleground-ohio-070917150--election.html

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RIM posts big loss but not as bad as expected

FILE - In a Thursday June 21, 2012 file photo, Tim Neil, Research In Motion Ltd.'s Canadian Operating Director of Operations, Platforms and Tools, speaks about the Blackberry 10 architecture during the RIM Blackberry 10 Jam World Tour in Toronto. Struggling BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion said Friday, Sept. 21, 2012 it resolved an outage affecting users in Europe, Middle East and Africa that had interrupted service for customers on the very day Apple Inc. unveiled its new iPhone 5. Jefferies analyst Peter Misek said he thinks the transition to the BlackBerry 10 software intended to run their new line of smartphones, could be a cause of the outage. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Aaron Vincent Elkaim, File)

FILE - In a Thursday June 21, 2012 file photo, Tim Neil, Research In Motion Ltd.'s Canadian Operating Director of Operations, Platforms and Tools, speaks about the Blackberry 10 architecture during the RIM Blackberry 10 Jam World Tour in Toronto. Struggling BlackBerry-maker Research in Motion said Friday, Sept. 21, 2012 it resolved an outage affecting users in Europe, Middle East and Africa that had interrupted service for customers on the very day Apple Inc. unveiled its new iPhone 5. Jefferies analyst Peter Misek said he thinks the transition to the BlackBerry 10 software intended to run their new line of smartphones, could be a cause of the outage. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Aaron Vincent Elkaim, File)

FILE-In this Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2012, file photo, Thorsten Heins, President and CEO of Research in Motion, speaks during a demonstration of the new BlackBerry 10 at the BlackBerry Jam Americas conference in San Jose, Calif. BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion posted another large loss in the second quarter but not as bad as analysts expected. Shares surged nearly 18 percent in after-hours trading. The Canadian company reported Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012, that it lost $235 million, or 45 cents a share, in its fiscal second quarter, which ended Sept 1. That compares with a profit of $419 million, or 80 cents per share, a year ago. (AP Photo/Eric Risberg, File)

TORONTO (AP) ? BlackBerry-maker Research In Motion posted another large quarterly loss on Thursday, but the hemorrhaging was not as bad expected.

The Canadian company is still losing market share in North America, where it struggles to compete with Apple's iPhone and phones that run Google's Android software. But it has stepped up sales in developing markets and actually increased its subscriber base and cash position.

RIM's stock surged more than 20 percent in after-market trading on the news.

The company reported Thursday that it lost $235 million, or 45 cents a share, in its fiscal second quarter, which ended Sept 1. That compares with a profit of $419 million, or 80 cents per share, a year ago.

RIM reported revenue of $2.9 billion.

Analysts polled by FactSet expected a loss of 47 cents on revenue of $2.49 billion.

RIM said it shipped 7.4 million BlackBerry smartphones in the quarter, down from 10.6 million in the same period last year. Some analysts predicted RIM would ship only 6.4 million devices as the company prepares to launch much-delayed new BlackBerrys that have been deemed critical to its survival.

RIM pioneered the smartphone in 1999 but North American consumers have been abandoning BlackBerrys for flashier, touchscreen phones in recent years. RIM is banking its future on its much-delayed BlackBerry 10 platform, which is meant to offer the multimedia, Internet browsing and apps experience that users now demand.

Chief Executive Thorsten Heins said on a conference call with analysts that BlackBerry 10 is still on track to be released in the first quarter of 2013 ? several months after the release of Apple's iPhone 5, which came out earlier this month. Heins said competitors have released strong products recently but vowed BlackBerry 10 "will advance the operating system environment to a whole new level."

Heins replaced co-CEOs Jim Balsillie and Mike Lazaridis in January after the company lost tens of billions in market value. He surprised many this week when he said at a conference for mobile applications developers that RIM has 80 million subscribers, up from 78 million in early June. Many analysts had expected RIM to start losing subscribers in the second quarter.

The results show that RIM is making progress as it transitions to its next generation of BlackBerry smartphones and completes its cost reduction plan, Heins said.

Jefferies analyst Peter Misek said RIM did a great job in the quarter, considering the challenges it faced. He noted, however, that doesn't account for much because its new smartphones are not out yet.

"They are driving sales in emerging markets and we think they will continue to lose subscribers in developed markets," Misek said. "It doesn't tell you anything about the long-term success of the platform or the company."

RIM's sales outside the United States, United Kingdom and Canada were about 58 percent of total revenue, said Brian Bidulka, the company's chief financial officer. He noted sales were strong in Indonesia, South Africa and Venezuela, but declined in the U.S.

Sales in the U.S. represented 22 percent of revenue, down from 25 percent in the first quarter and 27 percent in the second quarter last year. Bidulka said RIM's business will continue to be challenged until the new BlackBerrys are launched.

Research firm IDC says BlackBerry's U.S. market share has plummeted from 45.8 percent in 2008 to 2.7 percent in 2012.

RIM has been laying off thousands of workers to offset the losses.

Heins noted RIM's cash position stood at $2.3 billion at Sept. 1, up from $2.2 billion at the end of the previous quarter. The company is very focused on maintaining a strong financial position as it transitions to the new platform, he said.

Colin Gillis, an analyst with BGC Financial, said RIM's ability to grow the subscriber base while not hurting its cash position is encouraging.

"It does give them more time. The talk of bankruptcy has probably dissipated right now," Gillis said. "These are all the right moves, but does it change that their position is still bleak?"

RIM's stock rose $1.46 cents to $8.60 in extended U.S. trading Thursday. It had ended the regular trading session up 14 cents at $7.14. RIM's struggles have wiped out some $80 billion in shareholder wealth since 2008, a drop of over 90 percent.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2012-09-27-Earns-Research%20In%20Motion/id-afda6d93d4a7485e997f60c033201bb0

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