San Francisco and Seattle have been included in a list of seven urban centers with "at risk"

belinda69000 :

In a stunning turnaround, Furcal spurned the A's for a three-year deal with the Braves worth approximately $30 million, according to major-league sources.

The deal, which will require Furcal to pass a physical, includes a vesting option for a fourth year that likely will push the potential value to $40 million.

"They're in deep," Furcal's agent, Paul Kinzer, told FOXSports.com on Monday night, before a decision had been reached. "He's seriously considering it."

The A's are believed to have made the high offer for Furcal — four years guaranteed in the $40 million range, according to major-league sources.

The Braves, however, made a late, rapid push for Furcal, who owns homes in Atlanta and Los Angeles and preferred to rejoin the Braves or stay with the Dodgers.

One rival executive said Monday night, "he will do whatever he can not to go to Oakland," citing Furcal's preference to be with one of his prior teams.

Furcal, 31, left the Braves for the Dodgers after the 2005 season, signing a three-year, $39 million free-agent contract.

His return to Atlanta gives the Braves stunning flexibility in their middle infield, perhaps enabling them to revive their trade talks for Padres right-hander Jake Peavy.

Furcal could switch to second base, a position he has played in winter ball, if the Braves move Kelly Johnson to left field or trade Johnson for an outfielder or pitching help.

Or, Furcal could remain at shortstop if the Braves trade Yunel Escobar, either as part of a Peavy package or in a separate deal.

The availability of Peavy, however, is unclear, and Braves officials have not even discussed him in recent weeks, one source said.

"We are no longer actively pursuing any trade for Jake, which is not to say someone won't approach us," Padres president Sandy Alderson told the San Diego Union-Tribune on Monday.

"We said from the very beginning . . . that we would not make a trade unless it made baseball sense."

The Braves began the offseason intent on landing two quality starting pitchers. They acquired right-hander Javier Vazquez from the White Sox, but failed in attempts to land Peavy and sign free-agent right-hander A.J. Burnett.

The addition of Furcal could lead the Braves to continue their pursuits of less prominent free-agent pitchers such as left-hander Randy Wolf and Japanese right-hander Kenshin Kawakami. But it also would give them the option to explore bigger deals.

Kinzer said last week that the A's, Dodgers, Blue Jays and Royals were the four finalists for Furcal. The Blue Jays and Royals, however, fell out of the running due to economic reasons, according to major-league sources. The Dodgers apparently were not willing to offer Furcal more than two years.

Orlando Cabrera would become the top shortstop on the free-agent market if the Braves complete their deal with Furcal, becoming a prime candidate for the Dodgers.

Other options for the Dodgers would include re-signing Angel Berroa, a lesser free agent, or trading for the Pirates' Jack Wilson.

The Abu Dhabi Awards are under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces. The ceremony will be attended by members of the Royal family and VIP guests from the Abu Dhabi community.

Award recipients are not determined by number of votes, but rather on a case-by-case basis according to the merits of their nominations.

All of the 42,536 nominations for the 2008 Abu Dhabi Awards were assessed individually by a nomination panel of senior government officials, whose work was then reviewed by a judging committee.

Members of the public will also be able to enjoy the Abu Dhabi Awards Ceremony thanks to the support of Abu Dhabi Media Company which will broadcast the whole ceremony on the 22nd of December on Emarat Channel at 8:00 pm. A half hour edited version will also be aired on Olum Al Dar on Abu Dhabi TV at 8:30 pm the same day

For more information on the Abu Dhabi Awards, residents can visit the website

The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department (ADJD) has launched an ambitious plan to develop a high-tech Performance Management System. The new system, on par with latest international best practices, will be designed by Microsoft Consulting Services and is specifically tailored to meet the requirements of the department. This is in line with ADJD’s five-year strategic plan and it aims at accelerating its pace towards a 21st century judicial system in the Emirate.

H.E Sultan Al Badi, Undersecretary of ADJD, said: "The new PM system will enhance ADJD's ability to track and monitor key initiatives based on performance measures. Moreover, it will provide a tool for measuring initiatives against ADJD’s strategic goals and objectives to better understand and analyze the progress ADJD is achieving."

Al Badi added: "PM System will analyze and extract data from many layers of sources for accountability, decision support, and performance reporting. It will be designed to translate raw data into insightful information to track progress and most importantly improve ADJD staffs' ability to embrace change . Training courses will be conducted for PM System users on the tools used to track progress and identify achievements".
Being a key driver in the modernization and restructuring effort of the ADJD, the proposed performance management system will help ADJD define performance measures, monitor, evaluate and make recommendations.
Al Badi added: "The ADJD is engaged in a restructuring effort that aims to create a more efficient, open and modern judiciary for the Emirate. Under the leadership of His Highness Sheikh Mansour Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Presidential Affairs and Chairman of ADJD, we want to deliver best in class services to court users while creating a productive, merit-based and rewarding work environment for ADJD employees."

"The Abu Dhabi Government has been a visionary in the development of technology infrastructure across various government entities. Microsoft is pleased to partner with the Abu Dhabi Judicial Department to design a performance management system that will increase efficiency and effectiveness across the organization, said Ihab Foudeh, Enterprise Group Director, Microsoft Gulf. In addition, the new solution will be   designed to provide all the functionality that is needed for performance management including scorecards, dashboards, management reporting, analytics, planning, and consolidation. Microsoft is committed to work with governments to promote innovation and growth through technology solutions that provide an environment for collaboration thereby empowering them to make better informed business decisions."
The new system will be designed in accordance with ADJD's operational action plans. The Performance Management system will help ADJD achieve its target operational environment by developing a flexible and adaptable architecture to collect and analyze information from various data sources, within the department. It will also help identify trends and the Department’s key areas of success, gaps and challenges.
The Performance Management System will support a rich graphical user interface and provide a “one stop” central location to view the ADJD’s performance progress. It will provide aggregated performance results in a customized, streamlined and user friendly web-enabled application.

© 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)

CLEAN vs. DIRTY: It's important to be the former and not the latter when within 50 yards of PEBO, otherwise a Secret Service agent may take you down. "Clean" means you've been "swept" (had your belongings sniffed by a dog and been "wanded"—um, personally—by an agent) and haven't come into contact with anybody or anything that is "dirty." Foul language does not make one dirty, a good thing for chief of staff-to-be Rahm Emanuel.

VITALS: This is what you have to provide in advance whenever you're going to be near PEBO or FLEMO in an official setting. If you plan to be seeing them on a regular basis in Washington, expect your friends and neighbors to be interviewed by agents with pointed questions about comings and goings from your house, what kinds of packages you receive and whether you rake your leaves on time.

POOLSPRAY: The brief opportunity at the beginning of a closed-door event in which a few photographers in the "pool" representing the press corps take a "spray" of pictures. Shows PEOTUS looking presidential without him having to actually say anything.

PRO-BAMAS: These are the people who line the streets where PEBO is expected to pass. For the protective service, they're a concern because of the FOE-BAMAS who could be lurking among them. This is why PEBO doesn't shake hands with random crowds much lately.

LID: When PEBO is done for the day and isn't going out again, the pool declares: "We have a lid." Distinct from daily pool advisory about which hat PEBO wore to the gym.

POST-LID: After the lid is called, the weary traveler is ready for the crew's drink of choice (Honest Tea), preferred wind-down game (basketball) and, of course, the RON. That's entourage-speak for rest overnight. —Christi Parsons

FOX's popular "American Idol" will see some format changes in the coming season, according to a company memo that was reportedly leaked to a fan's online site.

The alleged memo revealed that the show's producers plan to reduce the number of audition episodes but up the number of selected contestants to 36 from the previous 24, reported a separate site, Contactmusic.com.

A wild-card round will allow eliminated contestants a chance to make it back into the top 12 finalists.

Among other changes: Songwriter Kara DioGuardi is set become a fourth judge along with current judges Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson and Simon Cowell, and the "Idol Gives Back" charity telethon has been canceled, according to Contactmusic.com.

The star-studded "Idol Gives Back" special has aired for two years, soliciting donations to benefit impoverished children in the United States and Africa. Last April's broadcast raised more than $64 million and boasted a lineup including Bono, Brad Pitt, Miley Cyrus, Fergie, Chris Daughtry and Carrie Underwood.

The "Idol" singing competition series returns for a new round Jan. 20.

(S02E11) "This store has a very strict 'no bravery' policy." Chuck to Ned, gun-toting lunatic

Were you expecting a cameo by Bruce Willis on Chuck tonight? I was. The moment I saw Reginald VelJohnson in cop blues as Al, I just expected that John McClane might turn up at the Buy More looking to buy an iPod for his daughter or maybe a toaster for ex-wife Holly.

Yes, the connection to Die Hard was a major theme, especially with the Buy More staff (and Chuck's family) being held hostage by Ned, a supposed down-on-his-luck schlub who ends a high speed chase through L.A. by driving his compact through the entrance of the store.

All that might have been an exciting enough episode, but no, the Intersect had to be activated. And that led to some pretty major developments in Chuck's relationship with Sarah.

Sarah was all set to have a blue Christmas, intensified by last week's appearance and subsequent abandonment (yet again) of her father. As she told Chuck, Christmas memories for Sarah involved a Salvation Army con job, not the happy, heartwarming invitation Chuck extends.

Then when Bing Crosby was singing "I'll Be Home for Christmas" and everyone was calling loved ones (Jeff called someone in State Prison; Lester called a phone sex line), Sarah had nothing...until Chuck called her. And he gave her his mother's charm bracelet as a Christmas gift.

You got to love Chuck's puppy-dog sweetness, his willingness to please. But did his seeing Sarah in action spoil his love for her forever? That would seem to be the question posed at the finale. Of course, once Chuck revealed to Mauser that he's the Intersect, he said too much.

For me, the answer is no way. Sarah did the right thing -- her duty -- by killing Michael Rooker's character, Mauser, the Fulcrum agent. He's apparently not just any Fulcrum guy; he claims that every other agent will be out to get him and when he's found, he'll tell them all about Chuck and seal his fate, as in KILL HIM.

Now, Sarah has a license to kill -- just like James Bond. Sure, her first moral move is to apprehend the bad guy and bring him to justice. However, in this instance, she had to kill Mauser. Her objective as stated over and over is to protect the Intersect. Mauser had to die. Whether Chuck can accept Sarah the way she is and what she's done, however, remains to be seen. I have more confidence in Morgan and Anna reconciling. What do you think?

Interesting points of interest:
-- It's been 20 years since Die Hard was released. Seems like yesterday.

-- Did you catch the Twinkies connection? In Die Hard, Al buys Twinkies at a 7-11 before the Nakamura building crisis. In Chuck, before the car crashes into the store, Big Mike (Al's cousin) takes a big bite of a Twinkie and so does Al.

-- Last week's show featured a high rise L.A. office building that some commentators thought was as homage to Die Hard's Nakatomi building. You guys were right about that connection.

-- Final Die Hard reference: the Christmas music and Beethoven's Ode to Joy.

-- Christmas at the Bartowskis includes a Twilight Zone marathon. I'm in!

-- Did you recognize Ned, played Jed Rees? He was one of the main aliens in Galaxy Quest.

-- Casey is never going to forgive Chuck to his little toe. Although did Ned, who was in fact a skilled marksman, mean to shoot John in the foot?

-- Drinking game: if you took a shot every time they used the phrase "friends and family," you were plastered after 20 minutes.

-- Poor Morgan: he finally does something brave and Anna comforts Lester. Of course, he missed her reaction after Lester kissed her