'Serious problems' with Russia vote, monitors say

Vladimir Putin easily wins a third-term presidency despite massive street protests and allegations of fraud. NBC's Jim Maceda reports.?

By msnbc.com news services

Updated at 5:41 a.m. ET: MOSCOW --?Russia's presidential election was clearly skewed in favor of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, international vote monitors said in a report on Monday.

"There was no real competition and abuse of government resources ensured that the ultimate winner of the election was never in doubt," Tonino Picula, one of the vote monitors from the Organization for Security and Co-Operation in Europe, said in a statement.

Monitors?cited "serious problems" with the vote and called for alleged electoral violations in Sunday's election to be thoroughly investigated.

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Golos, Russia's leading independent elections watchdog, earlier said it had registered at least 3,100 reports of violations nationwide.

Golos cited received numerous reports of "carousel voting," in which busloads of voters are driven around to cast ballots multiple times.

The Central Elections Commission said Putin got more than 63 percent of the nationwide vote. However, Golos?said that?incomplete reports from its observers of individual polling station counts indicate Putin hovered perilously close to the 50-percent mark needed for a first-round victory.

Accounts of extensive vote-rigging looked set to strengthen the resolve of opposition forces whose unprecedented protests in recent months have posed the first serious challenge to Putin's heavy-handed rule.

Anti-Putin activists pay high price

Putin said the presidential election had prevented Russia from falling into the hands of enemies. Complaining of widespread fraud, his?opponents said they would rally near the Kremlin on Monday night.

His eyes brimming with tears,?the former KGB spy defiantly proclaimed to a sea of supporters that they had triumphed over opponents intent on "destroying Russia's statehood and usurping power."

Putin's win was never in doubt as many across the vast country still see him as a guarantor of stability and the defender of a strong Russia against a hostile world, an image he has carefully cultivated during 12 years in power.

'Honest struggle'
Putin claimed victory Sunday night when fewer than a quarter of the votes had been counted. He spoke to a rally just outside the Kremlin walls of tens of thousands of supporters, many of them government workers or employees of state-owned companies who had been ordered to attend.

"I promised that we would win and we have won!" Putin shouted to the flag-waving crowd. "We have won in an open and honest struggle."

He ended his speech with the triumphant declaration: "Glory to Russia!"

Putin was president?from 2000 until 2008, before moving into the prime minister's office due to term limits.

Putin, 59, is on collision course with the mainly middle-class protesters who have staged rallies in the capital and other big cities since since December.

Corruption
The wave of protests began after a parliamentary election in which observers produced evidence of widespread vote fraud. Protest rallies in Moscow drew tens of thousands in the largest outburst of public anger in post-Soviet Russia, demonstrating growing exasperation with the pervasive corruption and tight controls over political life under Putin.

The protest organizers, who see Putin as an autocratic leader whose return to power will stymie hope of economic and political reforms, said their demonstrations would now grow.

Russia's presidential election takes place on Sunday, Mar. 4. Rock Center Correspondent Harry Smith journeyed to Moscow where he met blogger Alexei Navalny, a vocal opponent of Vladimir Putin and his party United Russia. Navalny has galvanized protesters through social media and uses his website to expose alleged political corruption. The prospect of Putin returning to the presidency has generated protests in Russia not seen since the fall of Communism. The surging public outrage has left some wondering if a movement is afoot in Russia similar to that of last year's Arab Spring.?

"He is forcing things to breaking point. He is declaring war on us. As a result the base of aversion to him is growing," said journalist Sergei Parkhomenko, one of the leaders of the opposition protest movement.

"These elections are not free. ... That's why we'll have protests (Monday)," said Mikhail Kasyanov, who was Putin's first prime minister before going into opposition. "We will not recognize the president as legitimate."

Putin's campaign chief, Stanislav Govorukhin, rejected the claims of violations, calling them "ridiculous."

Putin in power until 2024? 10 key questions about the Russian election

Partial results, with nearly 100 percent of the votes counted, put Putin on almost 64 percent of the votes.

His?nearest rival, Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov, was on about 17 percent of votes, and nationalist Vladimir Zhirinovsky, former parliamentary speaker Sergei Mironov and billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov were below 10 percent.

Ivan Sekretarev / AP

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who claimed victory in Sunday's presidential election, gets emotional during a rally in Moscow on Sunday.

Prokhorov, the owner of the NBA's New Jersey?Nets,?won plaudits for his campaign.?He said on Channel One television after the vote that his observers had been kept away from some polling stations and were beaten on two occasions.

Zyuganov said his party would not recognize the result and called the election "illegitimate, dishonest and not transparent".

Despite the opposition, mainly among well-educated and relatively well-off young professionals, Putin's support remains high in the provinces and his victory had not been in doubt.

Putin got more than 90 percent of the vote in several Caucasus provinces, including 99.8 percent in Chechnya.

Economic boom
The initial challenge for the man credited by many Russians with rebuilding the country's image and overseeing an economic boom in his first presidency, had been to win more than half the votes on Sunday and avoid a second-round runoff.

His clear victory will enable him to portray his return to the presidency as a strong sign of public support against the protesters, whom he has portrayed as a destabilizing minority and pawns of foreign governments.

But the mood has shifted in the country of 143 million and the urban protest movement portrays him as an obstacle to change and the guardian of a corrupt system of power.

Putin, who will be inaugurated in May, is likely to revert to the fighting talk against the West that was the hallmark of his first presidency and his election campaign.

The West can expect Putin to continue the tough policies he has pursued even as prime minister, including opposing U.S. plans to build a missile shield in Europe and resisting international military intervention in Syria.

"Putin is a brave and persistent man who can resist the U.S. and EU pressure," said Anastasia Lushnikova, a 20-year-old student who voted for Putin in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

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Source: http://worldnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/05/10580145-serious-problems-with-vote-that-kept-vladimir-putin-in-power-monitors-say

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Beginners Guide To Music Mastering.

The process of making music can be complicated to understand, there are 3 distinct phases in the production of a musical end product. Recording is where the musicians gather together in a music recording studio or other suitable place and record their performances. The musicians will play and each of the instruments or voices will be recorded to a discrete track of it's own.Then next stage is mixing which is balancing these recording tracks to make a pleasing mix for the listeners. Mixing is performed on a mixing console or within a digital environment known as a digital audio workstation. (or DAW for short). DAW's are usually based on either a PC or Apple mac computer. The final stage of production is mastering where the stereo 2 track mix files are further adjusted to ensure they translate on the worlds many different types of sound play back systems.

The last stage is audio mastering, this stage is? very important as it is the final stage before the music is released. During? audio mastering the final decisions regarding the tone, perceived volume and fades will be decided upon.? Audio mastering for musical performance offers a final opportunity for a skilled engineer to resolve any missed problems. The mixing session is often time and budget pressured and as such it is not beyond the realms of possibility that small details can be missed. The focus of the mixing session is to achieve a pleasant balance for the listener and so in some instances sonic defects can be missed. These defects can range in nature from? microphone vocal pops, low frequency rumbles, clicks, bad editing and other unwanted environmental sounds that are undesirable.? These issues can be spotted and rectified during mastering.

As well as this important stage of quality control, a music mastering engineer will be listening on audio equipment that is very revealing.

The acoustics of the room will be tuned to perfection so that accurate judgments on the tonal response of the tracks can be made. If required the music can be equalized. Equalization is a powerful tool that the music mastering engineer can use to correct imbalances in the tonal response of the tracks. He may add some? bass, reduce some high frequencies and a subtle adjustment to the mid range. It will all depend on the mix down, the acoustics, the quality of speakers and skill of the mastering engineer as to what action is taken. The music mastering studio can also adjust the dynamics of the music, making the perceived volume louder to the ear. In addition the tracks will be balanced in volume so there are no awkward jumps in level between previous and subsequent tracks.
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These days music mastering also seeks to subjectively enhance the music, making it smoother, warmer, punchier, deeper, wider and more exciting for the listener. A music mastering studio will have various tools to ensure that this can be achieved. These tools will be equalizers, compressors, limiters, de-essers, and stereo width enhancers. These types of tools can be either digital tools or analog tools. It is very common to find a mastering studio uses both types of tool as this produces the most effective audio enhancing results.
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Most mastering sessions used to require the artists or band to attend the mastering studio.Online mastering has made the audio mastering experience much easier and yet the musicians remain in complete control of the final sound. The mastering engineer will send short preview files to the band or producer to listen to and approve. Sometimes adjustments are called for and these are made and then approval can occur.When seeking a music mastering studio online you should do so with care. It is important to check the mastering engineers credentials, recent client portfolio, equipment photographs, before and after website examples and also obtain a free mastering test file. This will ensure that you choose a reputable online mastering engineer. Mastering adds significant value and quality control to a musical artists releases.
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Source: http://leisure.ezinemark.com/beginners-guide-to-music-mastering-7d33f8ade50a.html

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Ideal Foods For Barefoot Runners | New Health and Fitness

New Health And Fitness.Org - Health Information You Can Use

The ideal foods for barefoot runners boost energy, prevent soreness, provide all the essential nutrients and taste good too. Oranges are a great food for runners. They are full of two antioxidants, Vitamin C and herperidin. Vitamin C can reduce muscle soreness when consumed before physical exertion such as running. This is best demonstrated in a study conducted by the University of North Carolina Greensboro, which compared muscle soreness with and without ample Vitamin C stores. Other studies show that the herperidin found in orange zest works well to reduce cholesterol and blood pressure.

One of the most nutrient dense foods for runners is mixed greens. Consuming a wide range of iron-rich leafy greens is great because your body is able to take in a nice variety of phytonutrients. These essential plant-based nutrients are said to prevent aging, but that?s not all. They also ward off some scary ailments such as heart disease, cancer, and Alzheimer?s. Most importantly, phytonutrients keep your muscles safe from thedamage often attributed to extended workouts such as barefoot running.

Salmon is often praised by nutrition professionals, and for good cause. Not only is it full of quality protein, but salmon also carries lots of healthful omega-3s. These are very important because they help prevent inflammation. Improper inflammation can cause a wide range of problems including runner?s asthma. Barefoot runners need strong lungs to provide plenty of oxygen during physical exertion. Fortunately, studies indicate that a diet rich in omega-3?s can help prevent this form of asthma.

One of the most popular power foods is whole grain pasta. As a barefoot runner you will appreciate how easy whole grain pasta is to prepare. It provides lots of glycogen to create great energy stores to fuel your runs. Whole grain pasta has plenty of fiber to soothe the digestive system and prevent metabolic disorders. Finally, it is full of B vitamins which help maintain a healthy immune system.

A little surprise for barefoot runners is a food that provides lots of benefits in a tiny decadent package. Dark chocolate actually contains lots of healthy antioxidants. Choose a little dark chocolate to improve heart health and lower high blood pressure. The antioxidant flavonol, found in this tasty treat even reduces overall cholesterol, including those undesirable low density lipoproteins (LDLs). Studies have proven that eating chocolate can also protect the circulatory system and prevent blood clots.

Looking to find the best deal on Barefoot Running Shoes, then visit www.bestbarefootrunningshoes.net to find the best advice on Barefoot Running for you.

Source: http://newhealthandfitness.org/2012/03/05/ideal-foods-for-barefoot-runners/

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Weighing In On Outsourcing Corporate Business? | Articles For ...

Any company starts off fairly easily, but keeping it that way while aiming to expand bit by bit along the way is another concern altogether. Like any company owner is aware of, keeping a company?s daily operations relatively normal while trying to make headways into company growth may get too demanding or costly, sometimes simultaneously, that they have to rethink the paths that their company is taking.

But various companies have found a sound answer to this dilemma, and this is outsourcing. Tapping a niche company to look after a part of your operations is in fact fast transforming into a worldwide practice. But advantageous as it appears, outsourcing isn?t for every single part of your company you wish to let go of.

Accounting is one of the best areas of a business that is safe and practical to outsource, and this already comes with related corporate business processes like payroll, auditing, taxation and corporate secretarial. Far from an insignificant business element, accounting is a non-core duty that anyone with extensive related training can carry out, including those who are not in-house personnel.

Outsourcing will enable you to reallocate your capital without sacrificing the tasks you have outsourced in the first place. Because although these are non-core operations, these are still governed by state laws, which penalise organizations which fail to comply with deadlines, such as the submission of income tax returns. The submission of annual revenues is a particularly important aspect in any business, failure to comply with such results in serious state-imposed penalties, not to mention a big shake-up in the company?s otherwise normal daily operations.

Outsourcing thus keeps you in control of your operations, even the non-core ones, even without needing to worry about the nitty-gritty everyday. You also do away with the normal operational expenses associated with maintaining an in-house accounting division, such as salaries and bonuses, which you can spend instead on new projects. To put it in simpler terms, outsourcing lets you have more resources at your disposal which you can use for your company?s actual development.

Click for further information on payroll singapore or accounting in singapore.. This article, Weighing In On Outsourcing Corporate Business? is available for free reprint.

Source: http://www.articlesforcanada.ca/weighing-in-on-outsourcing-corporate-business.html

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Here?s Another Delusional Right-Wing Liar (Balloon Juice)

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Profitable and Prosperous Business Even in Recession ? Top 7 Tips ...

In 14 years of working with SMEs around North West England in the capacity of an Advertising and Marketing Consultant one thing that really stood out to me was the number of business owners who had no goals, no real plan, some had never even given a second thought to what their business would look like in the future. It may be rude but a wake up call can sometimes be helpful so I will tell you that some of our people used to refer to many of them as the self-employed unemployable. However, over the years I found that anyone, with a little guidance and a bit more organisation can certainly do better, and many can go from mediocre to highly successful with just a few well thought out changes.

So lets get started. Lets have an out of the business experience. Be honest and look at your own business objectively but from someone else?s perspective. Perhaps someone who might be evaluating the business with a view to buying it. One of the best ways to riches can be to start a business and then build it up to the point where it is a desirable asset to a prospective business owner. Lets examine your business. Be dead honest, after all no-one else needs to know the answers but it might change your life if we can hit on only one or two points that can together make a huge difference. Do ten things one percent better and you will have an exponential improvement far in excess of 10%.

Tip 1 Define your business goals.
Someone once said, and I can?t remember who, ?What will it look like when it?s done?? Well another good question might be ?When will it be done?? Now if you are just pottering along owning your own job this article is probably not for you, but if you are building something that you can leave to your children or sell as a going concern to produce money for retirement then those two questions are really important.

A deadline and a result has to be the place to start. Maybe it could be purely time based, say 5 years or 10 years from now or maybe it would suit you better if it was event based, when I am 50 or 65 or when my daughter is 21. It doesn?t matter but that time is important and then the time line between now and then can be broken into manageable steps. What will it look like, maybe in terms of turnover, or better still, in terms of profitability? What other things are important to me when I get there? It may be that you can run the business from your laptop and only call in on a Friday afternoon to see how much money you have made. Money is not the only measure but it is a good measure and one that any prospective buyer will look at first and last.

When you put your heart and soul and years of your life into something it will have a certain softer benefits. There will be things about your business that may mean a lot to you and your family and carry great sentimental value but they will mean nothing to a buyer. Sorry but that?s just the way it is. That aside, think it through, where do I want the business to be at the chosen date. Then take a good long look at where it is now. What would be the various ways that you could there and then, with what you have or what you can quickly get your hands on in the way of finance, resource, technology, education, what is the best way for you right now?

Tip 2 Cash flow is King
A huge percentage of small businesses cease trading in the first year of business because they are under capitalized. Having the money to pay your suppliers, to pay the VAT when its due, to pay the wages if you have employees is as important to your business as the blood traveling through your veins carrying oxygen to your muscles. When the cash runs out the business is dead. Now that doesn?t mean that you can?t use your overdraft or a good line of credit but the front page of the Daily Mail on Feb 16th 2010 says that 60% of UK firms applying for bank loans during 2009 were refused.

Assuming you could get the loans you asked for, credit interest has to be serviced and when all the income goes to paying bills, taxes and bank interest it is really hard to figure out who you are actually working for. I have often heard the complaint from customers that they didn?t know if they were working for the taxman, the bank or the advertising directories. They usually agreed that it was Thursday afternoon or Friday morning when they actually started working for themselves. I know they were joking but there?s many a true word spoken in jest.

If your work is divided between business to business and domestic customers, ask yourself which ones pay quicker? Even if the commercial job looks more lucrative, think about how long they will take to pay. I am not going to name names but I know of some really big companies who are household names taking so long to pay their smaller suppliers and hauliers that the small companies have folded whilst waiting for their money. Getting a job is one thing, getting paid is something else again. Never be so desperate for work that you put manpower and stock on the job without getting written assurances of when and how you will be paid.

Tip 3 Get new customers.
Every business likes it?s loyal customers but every customer was new once. Without a fresh supply of customers the very least you will do is stand still but with people moving, businesses winding up and people retiring and dieing in reality it doesn?t take long to start going backwards.

The old advertising methods may still have some value but are definitely not as reliable as they once were. Once almost everyone would pick up the Yellow Pages for anything from a signal box to a book on fly fishing but now it might be more for the emergencies in life. Ask yourself what you do when you need a service or a product, I know I am on the internet so much more these days I can?t even tell you where the directory is. I am 53 so its not just the teens and twenties that are surfing for what they need.

There are ways to generate inquiries on the internet that don?t cost much money but there is no free lunch. You will have to learn your craft and it will mean spending time getting an education. Having said that though, suppose you wrote an article like this one but about your particular business it might take a couple of hours to write and publish but it could be working for you, helping and educating your prospective customers, for years to come. Pay for an advert in tonight?s newspaper and you will need to pay again tomorrow.

One way or another you need new customers and the cheapest way to get them has to be the best way provided the quality is right. On that subject, please take this little piece of advice, don?t work for anyone you don?t want to work for, you are not obliged and you did not go into business to work for people you don?t like. You?re not desperate, so work with people who will appreciate you and gladly pay your rates.

Tip 4 Increase your value to the customers you already have.
If you look after them, they will look after you. Its so much easier to use a supplier or service you have used before and have come to trust than it is to look for a new one. Relationships have always been important and they are becoming more so as we live further apart in our virtual worlds. The best customer is a returning customer and the next best customer is a referral. Word of mouth advertising is more powerful than anything else.

Think about what other products are closely related to your core product that you could supply to your existing customers. I know a business that was selling vitamins at ?15-?40 a month for years when suddenly the bright idea came of selling the same customers massage therapy beds and chairs at between ?4K and ?6K. You have to sell a lot of vitamins to produce the cash flow that one of them chairs brings in but it also works the other way round, a customer who spends ?6k on a chair might add to the monthly income of that company for years to come. Take that idea and think about how you can apply it to your business.

Tip 5 Control the overheads
Every business has its costs. Premises, Wages, Insurance, Taxation, Utilities, Advertising, Transport etc. In these times it is prudent to look at all these areas more often just to see if it might be possible to tighten the belt here and there. But do be sensible. If your advertising program is bringing in much needed extra business it might be possible to revamp it and get more business but don?t make changes here just to save money. Better to let the cleaner go and sweep up yourself than cut off the lifeblood of the business.

Do you need that particular car though and would a different premises help the cash flow. Can you have home based workers or can modern technology replace wages or could outsourcing get the job done just as well and save the business thousands. I know loyalty to staff is important and many business owners are taking a lot of the load themselves to support their workers but that can only go on for so long and the business must survive for the benefit of the owners and the majority. Could you use less rooms used to save heating, lighting etc and if you have the ability to do that maybe you could sublet the extra space to another business that might ideally complement yours. That would not simply save money but would provide another source of income.

Tip 6 The Mastermind Group
Surround yourself with other business people and create an environment of encouragement and support. I will say that again in a different way. Do not tolerate other business people who come and sit in your premises and drink your coffee and drone on about the state of the economy, the inefficiency of the government, the way things used to be etc. etc. Fortunes that last are made in tough economic times, its when the going gets tough the tough get going. Sympathy is not helpful when you are looking for solutions because it tends to focus on the problem. Whatever the situation looks like now your focus needs to be on how you want it to be. You can lift others and they can lift you. A good idea that worked for someone else might be easy to adapt into your own business. What looks like a hopeless situation to one person might just spark an idea in another that will change things for everyone. Everyone thinks that their business is unique and that their particular problems are special but that is really not the case.

How about sharing technology. Sharing education. There is a lot to learn for instance about the new ways to create business online. It?s a minefield to the uninitiated. How about sharing a new media worker between 2 or more businesses and developing internet solutions that can work for everyone. How it all works can take up a lot of your time and energy when really all you want is the end product. How about setting up affiliate alliances between carefully matched firms. How about selling leads on when you have too many instead of just turning work away. Join a lead swapping breakfast club or the local Chamber and always keep an open mind. It only takes a little sideways thinking to fit somebody else?s good idea into our business. You will have heard it before but try to think outside of the box.

Tip 7 Only Believe
If your business can?t be the best in your industry, in your locality then why bother. Most people are not willing to put in the effort. They are not willing to do whatever it takes to be the best. If you will commit just to do all the basics right you will automatically be in the top 10%. Follow the rest of the tips above. Read everything you can regarding your industry and the important ideas that surround it, for example marketing, closing sales, customer service etc. be willing to risk trying some of the ideas you get as a result and you will be the best. I believe you want to be the best or you would have not read this far, and if you really want to, I believe you will.

So many Small Business Owners live in their own bubble working so hard in the business they forget to do work on actually making the business work better. So to come full full circle, how about deciding now to take a full day out say once a quarter, gather everyone concerned together, just to have an out of the business experience to brainstorm the way forward.

I have been in sales and marketing for 32 years. Have worked at some of the best known names in the corporate world and have a successful track record at each of them. Today I specialize in helping other businesses to generate leads and sales inquiries. We can be hands on or simply introduce them into a community of like minded entrepreneurs where they will learn new skills and become master marketers for themselves. Go to [http://www.abundantsalesleads.com/?site=Corporate]

Author: Rob Channings
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Source: http://makingmoneypoint.com/2012/03/profitable-and-prosperous-business-even-in-recession-top-7-tips/

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Fannie Mae Reports Fourth-Quarter and Full-Year 2011 Results ...

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Fannie Mae recently reported a net loss of $2.4 billion in the fourth quarter of 2011, compared with a net loss of $5.1 billion in the third quarter of the year. For the full year of 2011, Fannie Mae reported a net loss of $16.9 billion, compared with a loss of $14.0 billion for 2010. The company says the increase in the net loss for the year was due primarily to a $6.1 billion increase in net fair value losses in 2011. ?While economic factors such as falling home prices and high unemployment produced strong headwinds for our business again in 2011, we continued to grow a very strong new book of business as we have since 2009. During the year, Fannie Mae funded the market with more than $650 billion in liquidity and maintained its focus on strengthening Fannie Mae?s ability to support and improve the housing industry,? said Michael J. Williams, president and chief executive officer. Williams continues saying the company has recently set industry standards for underwriting that promotes sustainable homeownership and affordable rental housing.

(Image Credit: Eric Miller)

Source: http://www.mhmarketingsalesmanagement.com/blogs/daily-business-news/fannie-mae-reports-fourth-quarter-and-full-year-2011-results/

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