British teen gets bionic arm

A Wokingham, England, teenager born without a hand is now the owner of a bionic arm that he says is "amazing" complete with a Mercedes logo on it.

Matthew James, 14, previously had a simple open-and-close grip prosthetic limb in place of his missing hand, Sky News reported. When the teen heard about the new electronic hand, the Formula One fan wrote a letter to the Mercedes GP Petronas racing team for help paying for the $57,298 cost of the i-LIMB Pulse.

In his letter, he explained that the new hand would give him more freedom with a greater range of motion. He asked the team to sponsor the hand and said he would let them put a Mercedes logo on it.

Ross Brawn, team leader of the Mercedes GP Petronas, said he was touched by the letter and eager to help after finding out the device uses similar technologies as used in F1 racing.

A few months later, James was fitted with a bionic hand from Touch Bionics.

"It is just amazing," he said after receiving the new limb. "My old artificial hand had a pretty basic open-close mechanism similar to a clamp. But with this one I can do everything. It also looks really cool -- the outer shell is see-through so you can actually see the mechanics working."

Local govt. debt under control, ministry

Local governments' debt at the end of 2010 totaled $1.7 trillion, but the Chinese finance ministry said it is "controllable" with some risks.

Last year's debt, as reported by the National Audit Office, accounted for 27 percent of China's gross domestic product, but China Daily reported the ministry's announcement calmed fears it could derail the world's second-largest economy.

"Judging from the audit results, local government debt is, generally, controllable, though there are potential risks in some areas," the ministry said on its Web site.

The statement said local governments have enough resources to act as buffers to potential risks such as fiscal income, fixed assets, land, and natural resources.

China's powerful Cabinet or State Council said last month it will continue to clean up local government financing and set up a mechanism to regulate the way local governments raise money, such as borrowing through corporate bodies they create, China Daily reported.

Zhang Shuguang at the Institute of Economics at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences told China Daily while the overall debt risk is under control, there could be a "structural crisis."

"Debt repayment is heavily dependent on land sales," Zhang said, noting nearly 40 percent of all local governments have promised to repay their debt with money raised from land deals.

However, land sales have declined 11 percent year-on-year in the first five months of this year and may drop further due to tightening of real estate policies.

"If land-based finance continues to worsen, a large crisis may loom," Zhang said.

The report said at the end of 2010, there were 78 cities and 99 counties whose governments were on the verge of bankruptcy as their debt to revenue ratio had exceeded 100 percent. Some of these governments have already defaulted.

Another expert said financing vehicles of most local governments are facing a problem of cash flow rather than insolvency.

Google to buy Motorola Mobile for $12.5 billion

U.S. Internet giant Google said Monday it would buy Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc., the resurgent mobile device maker, for $12.5 billion in cash.

Motorola introduced the first mobile phone nearly 30 years ago, but has lately struggled with enormous pressure from competitors, including Apple and Nokia, in a business with swiftly evolving technology.

Motorola Mobility, however, split from the main company eight months ago and has seen revenues rise 28 percent in the second quarter.

Google touted Motorola's commitment to the open platform Android operating system, which it developed and which it says will remain open to other hardware companies.

"Today, more than 150 million Android devices have been activated worldwide," Google's Chief Executive Officer Larry Page said in an online posting.

"Given Android's phenomenal success, we are always looking for ways to supercharge the Android ecosystem," Page said.

Google's purchase price represents a 60 percent premium on Motorola's closing Friday price in the stock market.

Google, which expects the deal to close in 2012, will be beefing up its portfolio of patents just after losing out on a multibillion-dollar patent auction hosted by bankrupt Canadian phonemaker Nortel.

Fashion Inspiration: {Tory Burch}

{...have I mentioned how much I love Tory Burch! ...was recently perusing her blog and came across this cute video: how to tie a bow blouse... and also fell in love with her Fall flat boot!}

♥



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Concert experiments with all-mobile ticketing

A recent concert featuring the dance duo LMFAO and rapper/producer Swizz Beatz seemed like a typical summer concert. But the fans who attended were actually taking part in an experiment in mobile ticketing.

The Billboard Summer Blowout party was billed as the first event for which every ticket distributed was done via mobile phones. Joshua Dziabiak, founder of ShowClix, the company behind the service, said the new MMS ticketing system was the first of its kind to be used in the United States and hopes the system will revolutionize the way ticketing works.

"It's the ability to have your event tickets delivered to your mobile device without having to print anything out," he said before Thursday's free concert. "It's a lot easier for patrons to remember their tickets."

ShowClix has been making mobile ticketing available for concerts for the past three years. When someone buys tickets for an event, instead of getting paper tickets, the purchaser has it sent to their mobile phone via a text message. Once they turn up to the venue and show their phone, another device is used to scan it.

The ecological benefits of the system are a big draw for brands looking to be more eco-friendly. In addition, without having to print paper tickets, the cost to the promoter is less, said Dziabiak, adding that the marketing potential is also endless.

Redfoo of the chart topping LMFAO supports the new system.

"My cell phone is my favorite device that I have, so the fact that people are using this MMS technology to let people know where the concert is the day before is fun. I'm all for anything like that," he said.

"Whether it's Twitter, YouTube, or an AP (Associated Press) on your phone, that's what the exciting thing about this whole movement is, we are so close to the fans. It's just really rewarding that way. ... This definitely is the future," added the "Party Rock Anthem" singer.

Gary Bongiovanni, editor in chief of the touring trade publication Pollstar, said increasingly venues are providing other options than the traditional printed tickets.

"Whether it's paperless tickets or print-at-home technology, instead of the guy ripping tickets at the door, he's sitting there with a hand scanner, and that technology seems to get deployed at a fairly rapid rate," he said. "It's not out there everywhere yet, but I can see much more of that."

He cautioned that an event that sold tickets only via mobile phone had the potential to be exclusionary. However, he noted that most people have a cell phone, and they are "just an extension of their hand."

He also added that it allows the seller to have a great deal of information about the fan, which these days is often invaluable.

"There's a lot potential uses for the technology once you've identified who the people are who are in the audience," he said. "A few years ago artists would play to a full arena and not have a clue who any of those people were, and today (they have) much more information."

Beyonce showcases her dominance at concert

With 16 Grammys, millions of records sold, several defining hits and a superstar husband, Beyonce has nothing to prove.

But sometimes, even queens need to show what it means to be royalty. And on Sunday night, Beyonce arrived at the Roseland Ballroom to give fans and critics alike a reminder that she remains the head diva in the music world. She made her case to a select group of fans one rump-shaking move at a time.

"This show is going to be a little different," Beyonce told the standing-room crowd at the show's outset. "I just want to have a good time."

But she clearly had more on her agenda for Sunday's concert, the first of a four-night run at the famed concert-dance hall. While she usually performs for audiences of around 20,000, Beyonce downsized at Roseland for a sold-out crowd of about 3,000 to promote her new album "4," which has received critical acclaim and has been certified platinum since its June release, but has not dominated sales and radio charts as her previous three solo albums, all multiplatinum successes with multiple hits, did.

The album's release came at a critical time for Beyonce, with the 29-year-old firing her father and longtime manager Matthew Knowles and taking control of her own career, amid the increasing chart pre-eminence of competing acts such as Lady Gaga and Rihanna. With the initial slower-than-usual start for her latest album, there's been discussion about whether her career is heading in the right direction.

Sunday's concert was Beyonce's dazzling rebuttal to all that talk: She put her track record up for display along with her new material and a subtle but undeniable message that she is not to be doubted, or counted against. Dressed in a shimmering gold minidress, she gave fans a history lesson of how Beyonce became Beyonce, from her early days as the star of Destiny's Child to her reign at the top of the charts with such hits as "Crazy in Love" and "Single Ladies."

She kicked things off by reaching deep into the past to do a song by one of her idols — Michael Jackson's "I Wanna Be Where You Are." Like Jackson, Beyonce started singing as a child, and like Jackson, she became the undisputed star of her group. "I Wanna Be Where You Are" was a song Destiny's Child once sang for a recording contract audition that ended unsuccessfully. Beyonce noted that the setback didn't stop them — a recurring theme for her concert, and her career.

Throughout the first half of the show, Beyonce ran through the chart-topping hits that came from her pen such as "Independent Women," and said they were often inspired by her critics. Before launching into "Survivor," she told the crowd about all the jokes lobbed at Destiny's Child and their ever-changing personnel.

"This song was the defining moment of our career," she said, noting the constant criticism she received at the time. "It actually inspired me." Later, she recalled how her record company wasn't a fan of her solo debut, "Dangerously in Love."

"They told me I did not have one hit song on my album," she said of the album that contained such hits as the title track and "Baby Boy."

"I guess they were kind of right: I had five," she boasted, before launching into a smoldering, slow version of the album's biggest hit, "Crazy in Love."

Backed by her all-female band, Beyonce reaffirmed her role as a peerless entertainer with her full-throated, soulful soprano and killer dance moves, in her signature stilettos. While she spent the first half the concert running through her life story (including her romance with husband Jay-Z) and her achievements, the second half was devoted to the future, courtesy of "4."

She said the album was about "being brave, managing myself ... giving myself artistic freedom to make real music for you." That freedom resulted in an album that showcased her romantic, torch-song persona with her bootylicious, dance-groove side. Though she didn't sing every song on the album, she sang most of them, from the Kanye West-produced "Party" to the girl-wronged anthem "Best Thing I Never Had" to the infectious, marching-band inspired "End of Time."

"I searched the world, and found myself," she declared.

She ended the night with the song "I Was Here," a celebration of having left a lasting legacy — a point she underscored at Roseland to perfection.

Pipeline leaks NGL into Missouri River in Iowa

A leak in a natural gas liquids pipeline operated by Enterprise Products Partners spilled fuel into the Missouri River in Iowa, the company said on Monday.

The leak was on the Iowa side of Enterprise's Conway North line in Monona County and the company was recovering products from the shutdown pipeline, company spokesman Rick Rainey said.

This is the latest in a string of pipeline accidents in a year, many of which -- like the leaks on Enbridge's Inc two crude lines last summer and the 1,000 barrels of crude oil spilled from Exxon Mobil's Silvertip pipeline in July -- have raised serious environmental concerns.

Controllers detected a pressure drop early on Saturday in a 10-mile section of the 33,600-barrels-per-day pipeline between Decatur, Nebraska and Onawa, Iowa and immediately shut down the pipeline, Rainey said.

At the time of the leak, the pipeline was carrying 140,000 gallons (3,300 barrels/636,400 liters) of natural gasoline, a volatile liquid hydrocarbon derived from natural gas, but may have spilled fewer gallons, Rainey said.

The pipeline, part of Enterprise's mid-America segment, which has a 2,800-mile network in its northern tier, serves refineries, the petrochemical industry and propane markets in the Midwest region, Rainey added.

The Environmental Protection Agency said it has not responded to the leak since there has not been a visual verification as of Monday morning while the U.S. federal pipeline regulator sent an inspector to Burt County, Nebraska to monitor the leak.

"It is still possible that this was an equipment malfunction," said Chris Whitley with EPA's Region 7 office.

"Our main challenge is that natural gasoline is very difficult to detect even in large amounts," Whitley added.

Rainey said the leak may have sprung in an area that usually is on a dry riverbed but was underwater following severe flooding along the Missouri River this spring and summer.

Enterprise said it had not detected any natural gas liquids on the surface of the river when it conducted a flyover and that most of the products had dissipated quickly.

"So far, the company (Enterprise) has recovered 3,000 gallons of product from the pipeline, and has started a vacuum process looking to recover more mix of gasoline and water," said Kathy Lee, spokeswoman at the Iowa Department Of Natural Resources

The company will need approval from the Department of Transportation to restart the pipeline.

U.S. Midwest natural gasoline markets did not respond to the leak with a significant hike on Monday.

Natural gasoline at the Conway, Kansas, hub rose 3.00 cents a gallon to a bid/offer spread of $2.02-$2.0675 a gallon, brokers said. Natural gasoline at the Enterprise hub near Mont Belvieu, Texas, similarly rose 3.00 cents above Friday levels and traded at $2.27 a gallon.

"It's hard to distinguish today's natural gasoline price rise that is due to crude (rising) or the leak. We think the leak probably further supported prices after an initial jump from stronger crude," said a Texas-based LPG broker who requested anonymity.

FLOODS RESPONSIBLE?

Enterprise has not determined if the leak is related to scouring, damage to pipelines caused by debris and other floating matter carried by floods.

"The portion under the riverbed isn't where the problem is," Rainey told Reuters.

The area near the leaking pipeline was still prone to flooding, according to the Iowa Department of Resources.

Frequent floods in the Midwest region, particularly on the Missouri River basin, have inundated urban regions and farmlands in the Midwest, causing havoc on parts of the region.

The product in the pipeline at the time of the leak has complicated the recovery and spill detection process, according to regional regulators.

"It looks like we've lost a significant amount of product from the pipeline. Because we have not seen it floating on the river, it's possible that a lot of it has volatilized or evaporated," Kathy Lee, with the Iowa Department Of Natural Resources said.

Two dead, four injured in small plane crash in Alaska

Two people were killed and four others injured in a small plane crash near Alaska's Lower Yukon Valley that had rescuers searching for more than 14 hours, authorities said on Sunday.

The four survivors were rescued from the wreckage of the Cessna 207 aircraft on Sunday morning on a mountainous area about 150 miles west of Anchorage, said Beth Ipsen, a spokesman for the Alaska State Troopers.

"The survivors were transported to a hospital in Anchorage where they are receiving treatment for their injuries. I don't have information in their injuries or conditions. Hopefully they'll be okay," Ipsen told Reuters.

Authorities did not release the identities of the victims pending notification of their families, and Ipsen said she did not know if the pilot was among the survivors.

The passengers included all three teachers assigned to the school in the Athabascan village of Anvik, including one married couple and their two children, ages 8 and 10, Karen Ladegard, superintendent for the Iditarod School District that includes Anvik, told the Anchorage Daily News.

Troopers got an emergency call from Inland Aviation, the private company that owns the plane, on Saturday night, she said.

But rescuers could not reach the crash site until Sunday morning due to bad weather, Ipsen said.

Ipsen said the plane was traveling from Anvik, Alaska, to the town of McGrath when it issued an SOS distress call at 8:22 p.m. to the aviation company.

The site was pinpointed by GPS around 37 miles west of McGrath, Ipsen said. The only communication after that was a weak distress transmission on Sunday morning, she said.

Attempts were made to reach the site overnight by the Alaska National Guard, Inland and commercial planes, she said.

The National Weather Service said the temperatures in McGrath overnight hovered around the upper 50s.

An Alaska National Guard helicopter finally reached the site on Sunday, Ipsen said.

She did not have any information on the survivors' conditions or what went wrong with the plane. The National Transportation Safety Board will be investigating, she said.