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Crosby’s OT Goal Gives Canada Hockey Gold

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Sade Performing Soldier Of Love Live on BBC’s Friday Night With Jonathan Ross

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This year, celebrities attending the 2010 NAACP Image Awards were treated to a “new paradigm in hospitality” with the “Backstage Experience.” Produced by Idesigns and Headline Entertainment, Shrine… Backstage at NAACP Image Awards With Chris Rock, Jamie Foxx, Wyclef Jean, John Legend & More.

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Duel citizen Dannii Minogue heaps praise on the UK and blushes about her pregnancy

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50 Cent – BISD Tour (Live In Paris, France)

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Author: Dorothy Kosich
Posted by WoodlawnPost.com

Nevada legislators say the state’s mining industry has agreed to pay up to $100 million in taxes and fees to the state.

RENO, NV – Nevada gold miners have reportedly agreed to make a deal with the Nevada Legislature to pay from $75 million to $100 million to the state.

Assembly Majority Leader John Oceguera, D-Las Vegas, told the news media that the deal would involve mainly fees with a little from pre-payment of net proceeds of mines taxes.

State Budget Director Andrew Clinger told the Las Vegas Review Journal that if miners agree to poay $60 million in additional taxes, Gov. Jim Gibbons would withdraw his proposal to change and cap state mining tax deductions.

Sen. Dean Rhoads, R-Tuscarora, told the Review Journal mining company executives are willing to give the state $30 million to $40 million to help with the $900 million state budget deficit. He said mining is also willing to pay $60 million more to the state when they make their net proceeds of mines payments on March 1.

However, Nevada miners are still facing an initiative process that seeks to remove mining taxation limits from the state’s constitution.

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By Andrew Frye and Jamie McGee

Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) — Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway Inc. said fourth-quarter profit jumped on the recovery of derivative bets tied to the world’s stock markets.

Net income rose to $3.06 billion, or $1,969 a share, from $117 million, or $76, in the same period a year earlier, the Omaha, Nebraska-based company said today in its annual report.

The profit increase, Berkshire’s third straight, helps rebuild a cash pile that diminished since 2007 as Buffett invested in financial firms bruised by the recession. Companies including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. that turned to Buffett for funding are paying Berkshire interest of 10 percent or more. The shopping spree culminated with the November agreement to buy railroad Burlington Northern Santa Fe for $27 billion.

“We’ve put a lot of money to work during the chaos of the last two years,” Buffett said in his letter to shareholders today. “It’s been an ideal period for investors: A climate of fear is their best friend.”

Berkshire had net income of $8.06 billion for all of 2009, a 61 percent gain from the year before. Rising stock prices helped boost book value to $131.1 billion, a 4 percent increase since Sept. 30. The figure climbed about 20 percent from the end of 2008. Buffett typically highlights book value, the measure of assets minus liabilities, in the first sentence of his annual letter to shareholders.

Derivative Gains

Derivatives added $1.05 billion to earnings in the quarter, compared with a loss of $4.61 billion a year earlier after the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. Liabilities on Buffett’s so-called equity-index puts narrow when four stock indexes, including the Standard & Poor’s 500, climb closer to the levels they were at when Buffett made the deals near the market’s peak in 2006 and 2007.

Berkshire’s own stock has gained 52 percent in the past year as derivatives rebounded and the value of the firm’s top stocks rose. The Class A shares closed yesterday at $119,800, their highest since Oct. 21, 2008.

The 20 largest holdings in its U.S. portfolio all increased in value in the past 12 months. Coca-Cola Co., Berkshire’s top holding, climbed 29 percent on the New York Stock Exchange. Wells Fargo & Co. doubled and American Express Co. tripled. The U.S. portfolio was valued at $57.9 billion at Dec. 31, a 12 percent rise from a year earlier.

NetJets Loss

The NetJets unit, which leases planes to corporate customers and individuals, posted a $180 million pretax loss for the quarter, bringing the full-year deficit to $711 million on asset writedowns and the cost of cutting staff.

“NetJets is likely to operate at a profit in 2010, assuming there is no further deterioration in the U.S. economy or negative actions directed at the ownership of private aircraft,” Berkshire said in today’s report. The unit earned $213 million in 2008.

Buffett cut jobs and reshuffled managers at Berkshire’s operating companies last year as retail and industrial demand suffered in the recession. He replaced the CEOs of NetJets and jeweler Helzberg Diamond Shops Inc. Earlier this month, Berkshire reported its workforce fell by 9.8 percent since the end of 2008 to 222,000 employees. The total is about 257,000 with the addition of railroad staff.

Buffett’s firm joined the S&P this month after completing the takeover of Fort Worth, Texas-based Burlington Northern and splitting Class B shares 50-for-1 to facilitate the deal. The move prompted managers of funds that attempt to recreate the returns of the index to add Berkshire to their portfolios.

Berkshire had $30.6 billion in cash as of Dec. 31, compared with $26.9 billion three months earlier. Buffett used about $8 billion of that cash this month to help fund the rail deal.

‘We Sleep Well’

“We pay a steep price to maintain our premier financial strength,” Buffett said in the letter. “The $20 billion-plus of cash-equivalent assets that we customarily hold is earning a pittance at present. But we sleep well.”

Buffett spent $1.86 billion on fixed-maturity securities and $1.37 billion on equities in the quarter. Berkshire sold $1.12 billion in fixed maturities and $3.5 billion in equities to help fund the rail deal. In 2009, the company bought $10.8 billion in fixed-income maturities, compared with a $35.6 billion purchase in the previous year.

Buffett added a $2.6 billion investment in Swiss Reinsurance Co., completed in March, to a portfolio of financing deals that he struck during the credit freeze as other investors were withholding funds. The Swiss Re transaction pays a 12 percent coupon, while Berkshire gets 10 percent annually on its $5 billion injection in Goldman Sachs and its $3 billion of preferred shares in General Electric Co., investments from 2008.

Reinsurance

Investment income, which includes stock dividends and the interest payments from GE, Swiss Re and others, fell about 4 percent to $1.7 billion at Berkshire’s insurance and finance operations.

Berkshire, which owns National Indemnity, General Re and Geico, said profit from underwriting insurance policies fell 71 percent to $535 million. Net income from Berkshire Hathaway Reinsurance Group fell 80 percent to $270 million in the fourth quarter as Buffett scaled back sales.

Profit at Shaw, the world’s largest carpet manufacturer, fell 65 percent to $8 million as sales to residential customers declined in the fourth quarter. Profit at furniture stores, jewelry shops and the candy business advanced 24 percent to $113 million.

Marmon Holdings Inc., the collection of more than 100 businesses purchased by Berkshire from the Pritzker family last year, reported that profit declined 19 percent to $160 million. The unit’s operations include manufacturing, leasing railroad tank cars and making wire and cable products.

Derivative Bets

Buffett sold the equity derivatives to undisclosed buyers for $4.9 billion, according to the 2008 letter to shareholders, and can invest the cash and keep any profit even if he loses the bet. If the four indexes covered by the contracts are at zero when the agreements expire, the losses would be $38 billion, the firm said today, a figure that can change as currencies fluctuate. The total was $38.6 billion on Sept. 30.

The four indexes — the S&P, the U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index, the Dow Jones Euro Stoxx 50 Index and Japan’s Nikkei 225 Stock Average — rose in the fourth quarter.

Berkshire has also sold credit-default swaps on individual companies, and contracts that require the firm to pay when credit losses occur at borrowers included in high-yield bond indexes. The maximum Berkshire would still have to pay on agreements tied to the indexes is about $5.5 billion, the firm said today.

Sanofi-Aventis, Tesco

Buffett disclosed increased stakes in drugmaker Sanofi- Aventis SA and Tesco Plc, Britain’s largest retailer in the regulatory filing. Berkshire’s holdings of Sanofi-Aventis rose about 14 percent to 25.1 million shares and the stake in Tesco rose 3.1 percent to 234.2 million shares. Berkshire owned 1.9 percent of Sanofi and 3 percent of Tesco, as of Dec. 31.

Berkshire was stripped of its last remaining AAA credit grade from a major rating firm this month when Standard & Poor’s downgraded Berkshire. The cut, which followed reductions last year by Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Investors Service, came as Berkshire neared the completion of the Burlington Northern takeover.

To contact the reporters on this story: Andrew Frye in New York at afrye@bloomberg.net; Jamie McGee in New York at jmcgee8@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: February 27, 2010 12:51 EST

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KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — J.P. Prince and his Tennessee teammates watched No. 2 Kentucky erase a 19-point lead and knew they might also be watching a shot at a second major upset slip away.

But, the Vols’ senior leader wouldn’t let that happen. With 90 seconds left, he scored on a broken play and added four clutch free throws down the stretch to lift Tennessee (No. 17 ESPN/USA Today, No. 19 AP) past the surging Wildcats 74-65 on Saturday.

Forde: ‘Big Game Bruce’

Bruce Pearl’s Volunteers are making Knoxville a tough place for elite teams, Pat Forde writes. Story

“That was a mature win,” Prince said. “We had a big lead, let them come back, but didn’t panic.”

No, in fact the Vols (21-7, 9-5 Southeastern Conference) seem to be growing accustomed to knocking off the giants of college basketball this year. Last month, they also handed top-ranked Kansas its only loss.

The Wildcats (27-2, 12-2), who had won eight in a row since their only other loss last month to South Carolina, had trailed by 19 early in the second half but managed to tie the game at 65 with just over two minutes left.

“When they tied it up, I’m saying to myself, ‘We worked too hard,’ ” said Tennessee guard Bobby Maze. “We believed in ourselves.”

Fast Facts

• After being tied 65-65, Tennessee scored the final nine points to end a three-game losing streak to Kentucky, winning its 11th of its last 12 home games against ranked opponents.

• This is the first time since the 1976-77 season Tennessee has defeated two top-five teams in the same season.

• Out of the 10 Volunteers that played, nine scored, including a game-high 20 points from J.P. Prince.

• Kentucky lost for the second time this season and had its eight-game win streak and a six-game win streak against ranked opponents stopped.

• The Wildcats trailed by as many as 19 points in the first half, the largest deficit Kentucky has faced this season.

• Kentucky set season-lows in field-goal shooting at 35 percent and 3-pointers made with two.

• John Wall finished with 19 points and DeMarcus Cousins recorded his 18th double-double (15 points, 14 rebounds) in the loss.

– ESPN Stats & Information

That’s when Prince went to work, scoring six of his 20 points in the final 90 seconds. Add in a 3-pointer by Scotty Hopson — his only one in six attempts — and the Vols finished with nine straight points to ice it. Hopson had 15.

“When I caught the ball, I just shot and I knew it was going to go in from there,” Hopson said.

Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl said that Kentucky provided plenty of help in the upset. The Wildcats couldn’t have been much colder from long range, connecting on just two of 22 attempts, contributing to season-worst 35 percent field goal shooting.

Kentucky coach John Calipari said, considering that, he was surprised the game was as close as it was.

“You shoot two for 22 and it’s 65-65? Wow,” he said.

The Wildcats got their usual solid games from freshman superstars John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, but it wasn’t enough.

Wall had 19 points, while Cousins added 15 points and 14 rebounds. Six of those points came on successive trips down the court as he made two free throws, then scored on two straight fastbreak dunks, both off passes from Wall. That tied the game at 65 before the Vols pulled away at the end.

“Every time we were down I was always thinking we were going to win,” Cousins said. “I just knew we had to make plays down the stretch.”

This time, though, Tennessee always seemed to have an answer.

Tennessee missed its first six shots and was down 4-0 early, but the Vols got back-to-back 3-pointers from Prince and Maze, igniting an 18-0 run. Eight different Tennessee players scored during the streak, including Skylar McBee on a closely-guarded 3.

Maze praised how his team spread the ball around and was particularly complimentary of Hopson for the clutch late 3 off a Maze assist.

“He’s growing up so fast,” Maze said. “Scotty, he’s hard on himself, but I feel like if I make him take that shot, he’ll make it.”

Kentucky went more than five minutes without a point before Wall added two free throws to make it 18-6. The Wildcats connected on just two of 14 early shots from the floor — both by Cousins, who opened the game by dunking an alley-oop pass from Darius Miller, then grabbed an offensive rebound and heaved the follow through the net.

The much bigger Wildcats were outscored in the paint 42-36 and barely won the rebounding game 40-36. Prince said the key was showing that the Vols could go toe-to-toe with Kentucky.

“I knew that running with them was never a problem,” he said. “It’s just rebounding is where they get up on people.”

After a jumper by Cameron Tatum gave Tennessee its biggest lead at 54-35, the Wildcats scored the next 11 points to cut it to single digits.

Wall got five of them on acrobatic layups on consecutive trips down the floor. The first was particularly impressive, as he was about to hit the deck after drawing a foul when he flipped the ball through the hoop using just his outstretched palm. He added the free throw to make it a three-point play.

The Wildcats have outperformed last year’s NIT team in virtually every way except one. That team knocked off Tennessee in Knoxville, behind Jodie Meeks’ UK-record 54 points.

“I think our team and our program was on display today,” Pearl said.

Kentucky beat Tennessee in its previous matchup in Lexington, when center Wayne Chism didn’t start due to injury. Chism, who also was slammed to the ground in the team’s last game against Florida, was relatively ineffective in this one, scoring just eight points and missing all seven 3-point attempts.

Wall said he was disappointed the comeback attempt fell short but said the stakes would be much higher next month in the NCAA tournament.

“Just imagine two weeks from now, if we lost this game, our season’s over with,” he said.

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Aston Martin One-77

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The Love & War MasterPeace by Raheem DeVaughn

Raheem DeVaughn is giving his fans a chance to sample his upcoming third album, The Love & War MasterPeace, before it is released March 2. The album comes in two versions: a standard one-disc 16-track album and a deluxe edition with 27 total tracks. LISTEN HERE

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NEW SONG 2010: Rihanna – Teach Me How to Say Goodbye

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Gatorade Drops Tiger Woods

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Raw Video: Quake-Stricken Chile in Ruins

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Associated Press

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — He has been called the NBA’s greatest player and one of the country’s top pitchmen.

Jordan

Now Michael Jordan is ready for a new title: NBA owner.

With minutes to go until his exclusive negotiating window was to expire, Jordan struck a deal late Friday night to buy controlling interest of the Charlotte Bobcats, putting the six-time NBA champion in charge of the money-losing team in his home state.

Owner Bob Johnson announced in a statement that he’s agreed to sell the Bobcats to Jordan, who has been a part-owner of the team since 2006. Jordan has been running the team’s basketball operations.

The purchase price and details of Jordan’s ownership group — called MJ Basketball Holdings LLC — weren’t immediately available. A spokeswoman for Johnson and a spokesman for Jordan said neither was available for comment early Saturday.

Read the rest of the story here: http://sports.espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=4951410

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The Olympic Canadian women’s hockey team, after winning the gold medal against the USA in a 2-0 game, took the ice to party like it was 1999.  And now because their behaviour, they might be getting into some trouble.  If Scotty Lago was sent home cause he had some girl bite his medal, we wonder what will happen to the Canadien’s finest females on ice.  Gotta say though, it was pretty funny…may not to be too Olympic-like…but they really got down on the ice.  Check out the flicks:

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Source:www.globalgrind.com

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Cash Is King for Apple’s Jobs; NBC’s Olympic Loss: Video

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Tracy Morgan on The Daily Show w/Jon Stewart

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Jordan Brand 2010 Silver Anniversary Collection

By Aron Phillips

Tags: Air Jordan 2010, Cal, Georgetown, North Carolina

Source: www.dimemag.com

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