| N. Korea funds impasse resolved
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Negotiators have agreed on a method to release $25 million (euro18.7 million) in North Korean funds that are frozen in an Asian bank, clearing up a hitch that has stalled nuclear disarmament efforts. After two weeks of talks in Beijing, banking officials from the United States, China, North and South Korea and the Bank of China have agreed on a "pathway" for the money to be returned to Pyongyang, the State Department said Friday. "We support the release of all the funds. It is now a matter of technical implementation," spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters, adding that the actual return of the money would be up to China and North Korea. Previously, U.S. officials had suggested privately that some of the $25 million held in the blacklisted and now-shuttered Banco Delta Asia in the Chinese territory of Macau might be tainted and not released.
Visitor center repairs not costly, but Shaw wants out
Foursquare Properties, the company developing the Cabela's-anchored shopping center next door, appears to be content with the 70 acres it already has. At least for now.The Black Hills, Badlands & Lakes Association operates the VIC and houses its offices inside the building. Under the arrangement, BHB&L pays no rent but it does pay the operating and maintenance expenses of the building. Profits from a small gift shop inside the VIC cover most of those costs.If the visitor center moves inside Cabela's, BHB&L would probably operate it. However, the tourism group would likely have to find a new place for its offices.Brian Boyer, chairman of the BHB&L, said the group is waiting to see what kind of offer Cabela's will make."We're just waiting to see. We haven't seen any formalized agreements, so we're just kind of on hold," Boyer said.
Artist in Residence gallery brings benefits of art to Enosburg
ENOSBURG FALLS: Art is often created in isolation, the solitary work of an individual. But it also promises to bring people together, not only artists themselves, but their neighbors, friends and communities, or even those from farther afield.
.
Making it easier to say goodbye to a pet
When Jo Ann Davis of Cortlandt Manor euthanized her 18-year-old cat, "Lovey," after a diagnosis of lymphoma, she was devastated. "She was as close to a child as I ever had. When she passed, I thought I'd be prepared, and I wasn't," Davis said. Arranging all the details, from the final veterinarian visit to the cremation, was excruciating. "I thought, this is a horrible thing, and there was no one to help me through this horrible time," she said. A year later, Davis is helping other animal lovers by offering counseling and bereavement services through a new business called Cherished Pets Inc. She takes pets to the vet and comforts them while they die, arranges for the cremations and delivers the remains to their families. A certified therapeutic recreation specialist who has worked with emotionally troubled children and senior citizens as well as prisoners dying of AIDS, Davis uses her counseling skills to help pet owners grieve.
ANTHONY KEANE, SMART MONEY EDITOR
Overseas travellers returning home after years abroad, thirty-somethings who spent their twenties partying, immigrants, even people in their 40s and 50s with little in superannuation, can all find themselves behind the pack in the asset accumulation game. Promises of fast money should be looked upon with caution, but there are strategies people can employ to boost investment growth. Smart Money examines five ways to potentially put your investments in the fast lane. 1. OTHER PEOPLE'S MONEY Borrowing to invest, or gearing, can be the most powerful tool for building wealth quickly. Using their home or shares as equity, people can dramatically increase the size of their asset base, and claim a tax deduction on interest they pay on an investment loan.
The Hidden Fortune Inside Your Paycheck
What would it feel like to open your wallet and find hundreds of dollars you didn't know you had? What if your money multiplied like that month after month? It's not magic, marketing hype, or off-season Santa -- it's simple money physics. Like a slow leak in your tire, a pinprick in your finances can turn into massive money blowouts if ignored. Patching these holes while they're still manageable is the key to wealth (not to mention safe highway driving). Hey, the little things actually do make a big difference ...Life is busy -- there's the mortgage, credit cards, insurance, college savings, carpools, vacation plans, retirement accounts, work benefits, the kids, the cat, the guinea pig. So that rip in your hem and that little crack in your nest egg get shoved onto the back burner time and time again.
Abate v. ICM, Day Two: Laying Out the Timeline
If there's one thing yesterday's proceedings in Judge Peter Leisure's courtroom demonstrated, it's the extreme disconnect between legal relevance and true-blue drama. From a legal standpoint, all the preliminary injunction hearing (which wrapped up by 4 PM yesterday) accomplished was to show whether there was enough standing to hold Richard Abate to the terms of his ICM contract until the last day of 2007, or whether ICM's contract, forbidding Abate to even discuss options with Endeavor, was anticompetitive according to New York law. That will be decided fairly quickly - likely within the week - as Leisure, testier and more impatient than he'd been on Thursday, remarked once more that he'd "never seen such a delay on proceedings for a preliminary injunction" as well as the scuttled TRO. From a contractual standpoint, either Abate left - thus violating his existing contract - or he was fired in passive-aggressive fashion because turning down a new offer imperiled his future and so he needed backup in case that happened.
The Top 5 Sequels We'd Like to See
We've spent the last two weeks talking about the best and worst sequels out there, so naturally there's only thing left to do, right? Talk about sequels that don't even exist! That's right, because as much as movie fans love to bitch about unnecessary sequels, and the poor quality of most follow-ups in general, the fact remains that there is always going to be that small part of our film-loving brains that is just dying to see the further adventures of our favorite characters. Of course, in most cases, when our wish is granted and we finally get a sequel we proceed to bitch about it and complain about it ever being made in the first place. And yet there we are next week, in line at the theater for yet another sequel. It will never end, so, with that in mind, I figured if we're going to willingly submit to so many of these sequels, we might as well let Hollywood know which ones we actually want to pay money to see.
|
