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Tuesday, February 8, 2011 – Daily News – 5A WORLD BRIEFING AOLsteps up news, online ads; to buy Huffington Post news site AOL Inc., once the king of dial-up Internet access known for its ubiquitous CDs and ‘‘You’ve got mail’’ greeting in its inboxes, is stepping up its efforts in news and online advertising with a $315 million deal to buy news hub Huffington Post. The acquisition announced Monday is among the most aggressive strategic moves engineered by AOL CEO Tim Arm- strong in an effort to reshape a fallen Internet icon. Perhaps just as important as picking up a news site that ranks as one of the top 10 current events and global news sites, AOL will be adding Huffington Post co- founder and media star Ari- anna Huffington to its man- agement team. After the acquisition closes later this year, Huffin- gton will run AOL’s grow- ing array of content, which includes popular technology sites Engadget and TechCrunch, local news sites Patch.com and online mapping service Mapquest. The price that AOL is paying is ‘‘really just the hir- ing fee to get Arianna,’’ said technology analyst Rob Enderle. ‘‘This is one of those out-of-left-field moves that actually makes a lot of sense. This could put AOL back on the map.’’ Federal tax bills dip to historic lows WASHINGTON (AP) — Taxes too high? Actually, as a share of the nation’s economy, Uncle Sam’s take this year will be the lowest since 1950, when the Korean War was just getting under way. And for the third straight year, American families and businesses will pay less in federal taxes than they did under former President George W. Bush, thanks to a weak economy and a grow- ing number of tax breaks for the wealthy and poor alike. Income tax payments this year will be nearly 13 percent lower than they were in 2008, the last full year of the Bush presidency. Corporate taxes will be lower by a third, according to projections by the nonpar- tisan Congressional Budget Office. The poor economy is largely to blame, with cor- porate profits down and unemployment up. But so is a tax code that grows each year with new deductions, credits and exemptions. The result is that families mak- ing as much as $50,000 can avoid paying federal income taxes, if they have at least BOOK BARN Used Books Tues-Fri 10-5 Sat 10-2 Serving Tehama County since 1994 619 Oak St., Red Bluff (530) 528-2665 Respecting People. Impacting Business Call us. And get back to work. Call us any time for: • An extensive network of recruiting sources • Testing and training • Experienced recruiters • Full-time employees • HR expertise and support services • Temporary Workers • Evaluation hire • Carefully screened candidates • Dedicated service two dependent children. Low-income families can actually make a profit from the income tax, and the wealthy can significantly cut their payments. Fire in Rio destroys thousands of Carnival costumes RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A fire Monday gutted warehouses holding many of the elaborate, feather- and-sequin costumes and extravagant floats for Rio’s Carnival parade, destroying the dreams and hard work of thousands of mostly poor Brazilians who toil year- round to stage one of world’s most spectacular celebrations. Seamstresses, set design- ers and musicians watched in tears as firefighters strug- gled to control the blaze that raged through four ware- houses. The fire devoured about 8,400 outfits and the ornate sets built each year in the battle to be the city’s top samba group. Three hours into the early-morning blaze, the flames were controlled and 10 warehouses were unscathed, but some of the top contenders and up-and- comers in next month’s Car- nival parade were knocked out of the competition. ‘‘Do you know what it feels like to work all day, into the night, to make this happen, and then this?’’ asked Graziela Goncalves Carvalho, a seamstress with Uniao da Ilha do Gover- nador, one of the groups that appeared to have suffered heavy losses. ‘‘It’s over. There’s nothing. This Carni- val is over for us.’’ Carnival is a time when Rio’s residents and more than 700,000 visitors pour into the streets for a cathar- tic, nearly weeklong party where order is subverted and the poorest climb the highest floats dressed scantily in glitter and feathers, parading before the eyes of the world. The revelry culminates in the two-day competitive parade of the elite groups, and ends on Ash Wednes- day, when order is restored. Consumers step up credit- card use for the first time in 2 years WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans are putting more money on their credit cards after more than two years of cutting back, a sign that they are gaining confi- dence in the economy. The first increase in cred- it-card debt since the finan- cial crisis hit helped to boost overall consumer borrowing 3 percent in December, to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $2.41 trillion, the Federal Reserve said Mon- day. It was the third straight monthly gain. Borrowing in the catego- ry that includes credit cards rose 3.5 percent, the first rise since August 2008. Borrow- ing on auto loans increased 2.8 percent. Mark Zandi, chief econ- omist at Moody’s Analytics, viewed the gain as an encouraging sign that households are becoming more confidence about the economy and jobs. He also said banks are loosening some lending restrictions put in place after the finan- cial crisis. ‘‘The credit spigot is opening,’’ said Mark Zandi, Simon Cowell says ’X Factor’ judging panel yet to be set LOS ANGELES (AP) — The judging panel for Simon Cowell’s U.S. ver- sion of ‘‘The X Factor’’ has yet to be set and he suggest- ed Paula Abdul is in the run- ning. During a teleconference Monday, Cowell reaffirmed that he’s a ‘‘massive fan’’ of Paula Abdul, his former ‘‘American Idol’’ colleague. But he’s still deciding who will join him in judging his new talent contest and the panel won’t be announced for several weeks. ‘‘The X Factor’’ is set to debut next fall on Fox. Cow- ell exited the network’s ‘‘American Idol’’ in part to focus on the new show, which has been a successful format in several countries since its debut in Britain in 2004. The winner of ‘‘X Fac- tor’’ will get a $5 million record deal, which Cowell said won’t be a ‘‘dressed up’’ sum: The top contestant will get $1 million a year for five years, separate from the costs involved in recording and promotion. ‘‘It’s a massive, massive risk but it’s also an incredi- ble incentive. It puts every- body, rightly, under an enor- mous amount of pressure,’’ Cowell said, adding, ‘‘I believe I can find a star.’’ California lawmaker set to resign from House WASHINGTON (AP) — Longtime Democratic Rep. Jane Harman plans to resign from the House to become the next president of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. In an e-mail to con- stituents on Monday, Har- man said she filed paper- work notifying House offi- cials that she was in discus- sions to succeed former Rep. Lee Hamilton, D-Ind., as the head of the center. “I send this note because a decision is imminent and I wanted you to hear the news from me first,” Harman wrote. “This is an excruciat- ing decision because the dis- tinction of representing the smartest constituents on earth will never be sur- passed — nor will my rela- tionships with my excep- tional staff and colleagues in Congress. But shaping and leading the Wilson Center is Ashley Stever Financial Advisor COMPLETE AUTO REPAIR All makes and models. We perform dealer recommened 30K, 60K, 90K SERVICES AT LOWER PRICES Smog Check starting at $ (most cars and pick-ups) 2595 + cert. Pass or FREE retest 527-9841 • 195 S. 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Super Bowl ad sends shivers through beleaguered Motor City DETROIT (AP) — To a pulsating beat, hip-hop star Eminem drives a sleek Chrysler through the streets of Detroit, proudly cruising by the city’s landmarks, towering skyscrapers and the hopeful faces of its peo- ple. His journey ends with an unapologetic message: ‘‘This is the Motor City, and this is what we do.’’ A day after it aired, one of the most-talked about Super Bowl ads sent shivers of pride through the battered city, which hopes car buyers are willing to look past Chrysler’s billion-dollar bailout and embrace the idea that if a vehicle is ‘‘Imported from Detroit,’’ that’s reason enough to buy it. The two-minute ad was unusual for its length, airing during a broadcast in which a 30-second spot costs $3 million. And it framed the gritty urban images, includ- ing vacant factories, with an attitude that embraced the city’s past and its survival instinct. The Chrysler ad was ‘‘the big story of the night,’’ according to NM Incite, a Nielsen/McKinsey Co. that tracks online buzz. Con- sumers repeated the ‘‘Imported from Detroit’’ slogan in online comments, the company said. For Chrysler, which emerged from bankruptcy in June 2009, right before Gen- eral Motors, the commercial kicked off an advertising campaign that it hopes draws buyers back to show- rooms and revives the brand. Of course, the tagline is not without some irony: Ital- ian automaker Fiat Group SpA now owns 25 percent of Chrysler, and the ad was produced by Wieden + Kennedy, a Portland, Ore.- based agency known for its work with Nike. Alan Wylie Inspector *NOW OPEN* Bareroot Trees and Berries are in! 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