Eric Gordon led all scorers with 30 points and rookie Blake Griffin registered his franchise-record 26th straight double- double with 18 points and 15 rebounds before getting ejected late in the fourth quarter, air max as the Los Angeles Clippers snapped the Lakers' seven-game winning streak with a 99-92 decision at Staples Center. With the Clippers up 99-90 and 5.7 seconds remaining, Griffin got tangled up with Lamar Odom after Randy Foye's three throw. Odom grabbed the power forward by the jersey and push him out of bounds. After other players got involved, order was quickly restored with no punches being thrown. Odom, Griffin, in addition to the Lakers' Ron Artest and Clippers' Baron Davis were all ejected. Nike Davis chipped in with 14 points and eight assists, while DeAndre Jordan finished with 15 rebounds to go with eight points for the Clippers, who earned only their third win in the last 14 meetings versus the Lakers. The Clips have won four of five overall. Kobe Bryant ended with a team-best 27 points and nine rebounds for the Lakers, who were serving as the visitor and had won nine of 10 coming into the contest. Andrew Bynum had 18 points and 13 boards in defeat. Coach Store

Please respect FT.com's ts&cs and copyright policy which allow you to: share links; copy content for personal use; & redistribute limited extracts. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights or use this link to reference the article - Please respect FT.com's ts&cs and copyright policy which allow you to: share links; copy content for personal use; & redistribute limited extracts. Email ftsales.support@ft.com to buy additional rights or use this link to reference the article - Now, with the share swap and joint venture plans announced on Friday night, the two companies have formed a pioneering alliance between national and international oil, and are looking at some very attractive exploration prospects in the icy waters off Russia’s northern coastline. It is also a personal success for Bob Dudley – the first in his tenure as chief executive of the UK oil group. He was last seen in Russia as the embattled chief executive of TNK-BP, the joint venture 50 per cent owned by BP, fleeing the country after a bitter dispute with the venture’s Russian shareholders. Cheap Nike Shoes Today, relations with BP’s Russian partners seem amicable, and Mr Dudley was being praised by Vladimir Putin, Russia’s prime minister, for BP’s “professionalism” and “very serious attitude to business”. Mr Dudley, for his part, said the “alliance is based on mutual advantage and the recognition of great strengths”. He added: “It defines a new template for how business can be done in this industry.” Yet for all the warm words, the deal does not wipe away the problems the two sides face. BP and Russia have embraced each other like two drunks leaning together for support. The Gulf of Mexico spill has created two strategic problems for BP, dealing a blow both to its hopes of making the US its principal source of growth, and to its financial resources. The US is too important to BP for it to walk away, but if it wants to grow, it will probably have to look elsewhere, and Russia fits the bill. Chris Weafer of Uralsib Capital, a Moscow-based bank, said: “This is a very clear statement from BP that it sees its future in Russia rather than the US following the Deepwater Horizon disaster.” Russia has the world’s largest reserves of hydrocarbons (oil plus gas) and has attracted western companies since the break-up of the Soviet Union, and BP will be by far the most significant foreign oil group in the country. Doing business there has not been easy, as was demonstrated by the dispute over TNK-BP. Conoco-Phillips, the third-largest US oil group, had a 20 per cent stake in Lukoil, Russia’s largest private sector oil company, but is now selling it after the hoped-for benefits of co-operation failed to materialise. BP is likely to fare better than Conoco. As one of two state-controlled national energy champions, Rosneft has been granted preferential access to developing major new strategic deposits, including on the Arctic shelf, while it is likely to win an extension of tax breaks for its big new Vankor field in east Siberia. In contrast, private companies, including Lukoil, have been blocked from access to big new strategic deposits and are battling against a heavy tax burden and decline at existing fields in west Siberia. Coach Sale However, BP was warning on Friday against expectations of an immediate return from its plans for drilling in the Russian Arctic. The water in the licence areas that it plans to explore with Rosneft is 200 metres deep, and can only be worked 100 days a year because the rest of the time the weather conditions make it unnavigable. The concerns over Arctic drilling that caused President Barack Obama’s National Commission into the BP spill to recommend a moratorium pending improved scientific data are unlikely to restrain Russia, but BP says it could still be three years before the first well is drilled. The Rosneft deal also does not address BP’s other problem: the constraint on its finances created by the costs of the spill. It is a big company, and even if it faces costs and civil and criminal penalties of the more than $40bn or so that it expects, it can survive, but the drain on resources will limit its investment and curb its growth. Facing financial pressures of their own, Rosneft and the Russian state are in no position to inject cash into BP. Indeed, one of the next moves from Rosneft is likely to be a sale of part of the government’s stake on the market, to raise funds for the budget deficit. With the BP deal, Rosneft gets access to western expertise and techniques from a company that, in spite of the deficiencies exposed by the Deepwater Horizon disaster, is still a world leader in offshore oil exploration. It also gets to raise its profile in an alliance with one of the biggest names in global business. What it does not get is an immediate payback. One other issue for BP shareholders to consider is that Rosneft’s holding, described as a long-term strategic stake, will make a takeover more difficult. Talk of bids from Exxon- Mobil and Royal Dutch Shell has often been overstated, the idea has been looked at many times, but the benefits have not yet been found to outweigh the drawbacks. But, with Rosneft as an important strategic partner with 5 per cent, there will be another significant obstacle to a deal. .Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2011. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web. Air Yeezy One of the unexpected consequences of last year’s oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is that it has enhanced the prospects for drilling in one of the world’s most environmentally sensitive areas. BP and Rosneft have had a long-standing relationship, going back to the Russian state-controlled company’s float in 2006, and had been talking about further co-operation for a couple of years, but before the Deepwater Horizon disaster they were not making much progress.

Wikipedia is the most widely used reference work in the world. That statement is both ordinary and astonishing: it's a simple reflection of its enormous readership; and yet, by any traditional view about how the world works, Wikipedia shouldn't even exist, much less have succeeded so dramatically in the space of a single decade. air yeezy The cumulative effort of Wikipedia's millions of contributors means you are a click away from figuring out what a myocardial infarction is, or the cause of the Agacher Strip war, or who Spangles Muldoon was. This is an unplanned miracle, like "the market" deciding how much bread goes in the store. Wikipedia, though, is even odder than the market: not only is all that material contributed for free, it is available to you free; even the servers and system administrators are funded through donations. That it would become such a miracle was not obvious at its inception and so, on the occasion of its 10th birthday, it's worth retelling the improbable story of its genesis. Ten years ago today, Jimmy Wales and Larry Sanger were stuck trying to create Nupedia, an online encyclopedia with a seven-step publishing process. Unfortunately, that also meant seven places where things could grind to a halt. However, after nearly a year of work, almost no articles had actually been published. So, 10 years ago tomorrow, Wales and Sanger decided to try a wiki, as a way of cutting through some of that process. Sanger sent an email to Nupedia collaborators about this new way of working, saying: "Humour me. Go there and add a little article. It will take all of five or ten minutes." The "Humour me" bit was necessary because the wiki is social media at its most radical. Invented in the mid-90s by Ward Cunningham, a wiki has at its core only one technical function: edit. You don't need permission to add, alter, or delete text, and when you are done, you don't need permission to publish. More remarkably, though, a wiki also has at its core only one social operation: I care. The people who edit pages are the ones who care enough to edit them. Putting the people who care in charge, rather than anointing experts or authorities, was so radical that Wales and Sanger didn't propose replacing Nupedia with a wiki. Instead, they proposed using the wiki to generate raw material for Nupedia. The participants, however, had other ideas. The ability to create an article in five minutes, and to make an existing article a little better in less, was so infectious that in a matter of days there were more articles on the nascent wiki than on Nupedia. The wiki was so good, and so different from Nupedia, it was soon moved to its own site. Wikipedia was born. (Nupedia was shut down a few months later; Sanger also left the project.) That process continues today, making Wikipedia an ordinary miracle for more than 250 million people a month. Every single day for the last 10 years Wikipedia has got better because someone – several million someones in all – decided to make it better. Sometimes that meant starting a new article. Mostly it meant editing an existing one. Occasionally it meant defending Wikipedia against vandalism. Always it meant caring. Gucci bags sale Most participants care a little, editing only one article. A handful care a lot, contributing hundreds of thousands of edits, across thousands of articles, over years. Most importantly, taken together, all of us have contributed enough to make Wikipedia what we have today. What looks like a stable thing is in fact a result of ceaseless attempts to preserve what is good, and to improve what isn't. Wikipedia is best understood not as a product with an organisation behind it, but as an activity that happens to leave an encyclopedia in its wake. That shift, from product to activity, has involved the most amazing expansion of peer review ever: Wikipedia's editor-in-chief is a rotating quorum of whoever is paying attention. Many of Wikipedia's critics have focused on the fact that the software lets anyone edit anything; what they miss is that the social constraints of the committed editors keep that capability in check. As easy as the software makes it to do damage, it makes it even easier to undo damage. Imagine a wall where it was easier to remove graffiti than add it: the amount of graffiti on such a wall would depend on the commitment of its defenders. So with Wikipedia; if all its passionate participants were to stop caring, the whole thing would be gone by next Thursday, overrun by vandals and spammers. If you can see Wikipedia right now, it means that again, today, the good guys won. Wikipedia isn't perfect, of course. Many mediocre articles need improvement. The editors are not diverse enough in age, gender or ethnicity. Biographies of the living remain a persistent site of mischief. Defences erected against vandals and spammers also see off novices and exhaust old-timers. But Wikipedia isn't just an activity at the level of the articles; from the individual edits all the way up to the culture of the whole, Wikipedia is a public good created by the public, so it falls to the people who care to try to take on these problems as well. As long as that culture continues to embrace "be bold" as a core value, its status as one of the largest cumulative acts of generosity in history will persist. So happy 10th birthday to Wikipedia, and ardent thanks to the millions of people who have added and altered and argued and amended, the people who have created the most widely used reference work in the world. Thanks for telling us the story of the Stonewall riots and how Pluto got demoted to "dwarf planet"; about the Great Rift Valley and the Indian Ocean tsunami; about lion fish and tiger teams and bear markets. And along with the birthday wishes, here's hoping enough of us keep caring enough to be able to greet you again, in rude good health, for your 20th. longchamp outlet

The president sees the critically wounded congresswoman in the hospital before his address speech at the University of Arizona, in which he will seek unify the nation in the wake of tragedy.Reporting from Tucson and Los Angeles — President Obama visited critically injured Rep. Gabrielle Giffords on Wednesday after arriving in Tucson to deliver a speech designed to heal the nation while paying tribute to the 19 victims of a weekend shooting spree. longchamp sale The president visited with Giffords and her astronaut husband, Mark E Kelly, for nine minutes in the intensive care unit of University Medical Center, where the congresswoman has been treated since Saturday's attack. "The president wanted to begin this solemn trip by stopping first at the hospital where congresswoman Giffords and others continue to recuperate," White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said. With his wife and a bipartisan delegation, the president landed in Arizona aboard Air Force One and visited the hospital before going to the University of Arizona in Tucson for a memorial service, called "Together We Thrive: Tucson and America." "The president will devote a significant portion of his remarks to the memory of the victims," said Gibbs, who estimated that the speech would run from 16 to 18 minutes. "He'll also reflect on how all of us might best honor their memory in our own lives." The president and First Lady Michelle Obama will visit families of the victims before the memorial service begins, Gibbs said. Many in the crowd wore black-and-white ribbons to show solidarity with the families. Thousands had waited in line to enter the McKale Memorial Center. The university set up an area to handle the overflow of students and other attendees who camped out on the sidewalk under the desert sun. "This is a hopeful moment, a historic moment, that all of us can come together and mourn. Nobody is a Democrat, a Republican, a 'tea party' member. We are all Americans," said Mike Wilson, 61, a Native American activist from Tucson. It is that kind of bipartisan harmony that the president is hoping to achieve in his speech, which many believe will be crucial in his effort to set a tone for the next two years of divided government in Washington. Earlier, the president left a Washington still in mourning over the weekend attack. The House adopted a resolution paying tribute to Giffords, who was meeting with constituents outside a Tucson supermarket Saturday morning when a gunman opened fire, killing six and injuring the congresswoman and 12 other people. "We are called here to mourn an unspeakable act of violence," an emotional House Speaker John A. Boehner (R- Ohio) said, opening a day of reflection and prayer. "Look at Tucson right now and you will be reminded that America's most plentiful source of strength is her people," said Boehner, wiping away tears. "No act, no matter how heinous, will stop us from doing our duty and being among the people we serve." In addition to honoring the dead and wounded, the resolution also thanks those who apprehended the suspect, Jared Lee Loughner, who faces five counts of murder and attempted murder of federal employees. The resolution calls for an open society in which "the threats of violence cannot silence the voices of any American." Air Max 2011 House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D- San Francisco) sounded a similar note. "May this resolution remind us of the urgent need to uphold our democratic values to treat one another with courtesy and respect," she said. Investigators have said that they believe Loughner acted alone. Even though he posted anti-government materials on the Web, any motive he might have had is unknown. Nevertheless, the shooting has become a sounding board for the debate on whether political rhetoric has become too inflamed. Having the president in town was a comfort to many of those outside the McKale Center, said Mai-Ling Lem, 35. She said she had gotten a babysitter and staked out a spot in line at 8 p.m. Tuesday. She was disturbed by the shooting, she said, and came looking for peace. She found it before she even made her way inside.Gucci handbags "One person does not define Tucson. The people that have come here today to show their support for the victims and Obama, that speaks volumes," she said. "This is who we are." In his speech, Obama will draw on his experience following the deadly 2009 shootings at the Ft. Hood Army Base in Texas, an attack blamed on a soldier. At the time the president focused his comments on how the victims had led their lives.

America’s stockpiles of corn and soybeans will be drawn down to thin levels this year, the government said in a reporton Wednesday that sent grain and oilseed prices soaring and added to concerns over surging world food prices. Coach Outlet Dwindling stocks in the United States, the world’s biggest food exporter, and poor outlooks from other major exporting countries are combining to make the year the toughest since 2008, when tight supplies led to rising prices and food riots in some countries. By the time next year’s crop is ready for harvest in September, the Agriculture Department forecast that stocks of soybeans will be 140 million bushels, 10 percent below analysts’ expectations. Corn stocks will probably be 745 million bushels, 4 percent below forecasts and the smallest supply since 1995. Both corn and soybeans rose to 30-month highs on the Chicago Board of Trade after the report. The department said the stocks-to-use ratio — an important indicator of supply and demand — for corn was projected at 5.5 percent, the lowest since 1995-96 when it dropped to 5 percent. The ratio reflected a decline in the yield estimates for last fall’s harvest and an increase in its outlook for ethanol use. Cheap Nike Shoes The stocks-to-use ratio for soybeans was 4.2 percent, the lowest level since soybeans became a major crop for American farmers, said Keith Menzie, an oilseeds analyst for the department’s World Agricultural Outlook Board. Stocks of soybeans in the United States totaled 2.28 billion bushels as of Dec. 1, or 3 percent less than traders had expected, while production was forecast at 1.3 percent less than expected by the market, at 3.329 billion bushels. The agency said Dec. 1 corn stocks also came in slightly lower than expected at 10.04 billion bushels, down 8 percent from a year ago and just below the 10.067 billion bushels on average expected by traders. Wheat inventories at Dec. 1 came in closer to expectations at 1.93 billion bushels, up 8 percent from a year ago. The agency also increased wheat exports because of brisk sales to date and reduced competition from flood-hit Australia. Included in Wednesday’s statement was the first estimate of winter wheat plantings. Coach Sale At 40.99 million acres, it represented a 10 percent increase over last year and reflected strong prices and good planting conditions. The agency has not yet forecast how many acres of corn and soybeans American producers will plant this spring. But this year is off to a bad start in other parts of the world, with searing heat in Argentina and floods in Australia darkening the outlook for their harvests.

Galaxy fans' reaction to Monday's news that leading scorer Edson Buddle is leaving for a second-tier German club and oft-absent midfielder David Beckham still is dickering over the terms of his temporary tenure at England's Tottenham, said much about each player's perceived value to the club. Indeed, Cheap Jordans Monday was a busy day for Galaxy news with Westlake Village's Cobi Jones announcing he was leaving the club where he spent 12 years as a player and the past three as an assistant coach for a post with the newly emergent New York Cosmos. A regular commenter on the blog I write for this newspaper summed up the prevailing view of the flurry of activity with the succinct comment, "Sad about Cobi leaving, angry about Buddle leaving, annoyed with the other guy." Jones' departure from the only MLS club to have employed him severs one of the last links with the Galaxy's inaugural season. But it is understandable he sees his new job as associate director of soccer for the Cosmos as an opportunity to progress from under his own considerable shadow at the Galaxy. And there appeared little opportunity for managerial advancement here anyway. Buddle's desire to cash in on the best season of his MLS career - he finished last season as club MVP and top scorer with a career-high 17 goals - is a similarly valid, if not somewhat alarming,Coach Bags move from the Galaxy's perspective. Valid because who is going to begrudge a loyal 10-year servant of MLS like Buddle, who last year made all of $188,000, for the chance of a big payday? Even if it is at a struggling German second-division outfit like FC Ingolstadt. Buddle, who turns 30 in May, reportedly will make double what MLS offered for a new deal. That's an indication of just how big the divide is between MLS and even modest European teams, especially a desperate one seeking to avoid relegation to Germany's third division. He leaves without burning any bridges and saying all the right things. "While I have decided to leave the Galaxy, I do so with fond memories of my four years with the club," Buddle said in a statement. "I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Los Angeles and will miss my teammates, coaches, staff and everyone who works for the club as they helped make me the player that I am today. I also want to thank all of the great Galaxy fans who have supported me ever since I arrived at the club and I am hopeful that one day I will be able to return to the Galaxy and help lead them to an MLS Cup championship." Nice guy, that Buddle. longchamp outlet Which is more you can say about head coach Bruce Arena, who declined to even release a statement Monday, let alone consent to a brief telephone interview while he scouts at the MLS Combine in Florida ahead of this week's draft, and address how he plans to fill the void of losing the Galaxy's only pure scoring threat. Alarmingly there are few other options. Veteran Jovan Kirovski quite likely is entering the final season of his career and never was much of a consistent scorer anyway. Lightweight Mike Magee has proved consistently ineffective. And promising young Van Nuys striker Tristan Bowen followed forward Alan Gordon to Chivas USA That leaves Landon Donovan, who performs better in midfield than fending off the close attention of defenders up front, and re-entry draft pickup Juan Pablo Angel. Negotiations continue with the former Red Bulls striker who scored only four fewer goals than Buddle last season, but Angel is 35 years old and it's obvious even if he does sign the Galaxy needs another starter up front. Which brings us to "the other guy," who has shown he is far more adept at selling shirts than doing anything of note on the field.

Stale. That was the feel, the smell, the atmosphere around the Detroit Pistons Monday night on their trip into United Center to face the Chicago Bulls. The offense? Stale. Sixteen turnovers turned into 23 too-easy points by the Bulls. Thirty-eight-point-eight percent field-goal shooting. Just 82 points, sending Detroit the wrong way from its 95.5 average and 23rd place ranking among NBA teams. longchamp handbags sale The defense? Stale. The Pistons gave up 44 points in the paint and 18 off fast breaks, right in line with their 28th place in defensive field-goal percentage and 25th in scoring differential. The result? Stale. A 93-82 loss that the Bulls seemed to know could be theirs with just a little effort, for a brief time. It was Detroit's 15th defeat of 10 points or more, back-of-the-hand treatment that only Cleveland (18) has endured more frequently. The roster? Stale. A mix of used-to-bes and still-waiting-fors. Old and young at the same time. Caught in the switches between Detroit's tremendous run of six consecutive Eastern Conference finals from 2003 to 2008 (two Finals and one championship) and the ratcheting downward since, from 59 victories in 2008 to 39, 27 and so far this season, just 12. Stale. A team past its expiration date, giving off a serious whiff of been there, no longer capable of that. Was it just a coincidence that, not long after he left the visitors' dressing room following his team's sixth loss in seven games, forward Charlie Villanueva Tweeted: "Need help twitterland, what's the definition of insanity?" As in, doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. Richard Hamilton is the latest Pistons player, apparently, who has overstayed his shelf life. Detroit management is said to be addressing that, willing to serve as a facilitator of a massive transaction to move Denver Nuggets dilettante Carmelo Anthony to the New Jersey Nets with the appropriate pieces and to the available roster openings. By shedding Hamilton in the possibly percolating deal, the Pistons would free themselves of the $25.3 million owed him for the next seasons, while taking back parts (Troy Murphy's expiring contract, Johan Petro) in which they have little long-term interest. "You have all different types of reasons for making trades," said Tracy McGrady, leaning back and sounding world-weary as he iced after the game. "Opening up cap space for the future. Making a team feel like they can make a push for the playoffs. With us, I don't know what it is." McGrady laughed heartily. longchamp bags on sale It's been that sort of season for Detroit -- laugh so you do not cry -- and Hamilton is the latest once-noble Pistons performer to be awaiting his exit. Chauncey Billups and Rasheed Wallace went first, more pink slips than gold watches, and Tayshaun Prince figures to follow Hamilton out the door. Ben Wallace is a special case, leaving as a player in 2006 and returning three years later as a, what, mascot? Hamilton was more the latter than the former against the Bulls on Monday. He subbed in for the start of the second quarter and stuck around till halftime, missing a couple of shots. He was back with the B team to start the fourth, then yielded with 2:30 left to Ben Gordon, the fellow who has replaced him in the starting lineup. With 47.8 seconds left, sitting in warmups on the Detroit bench, he snapped off his headband, something to toss to a kid on his way out. Out of United Center. Out of Detroit? Hamilton wound up 0-for-5, made a couple of free throws, passed for three assists and committed two turnovers, including a blind, looping pass out of the corner that sent the Bulls rushing downcourt. He is averaging 13.2 points on 41 percent shooting and 26 minutes, all at or near the numbers he posted as a rookie in Washington 11 years ago. longchamp handbags Later, Hamilton kept the trade talk at bay by keeping his media session short. "That's part of the game," he said. "You hear stuff like that all the time. It's not the first time I've heard it in my career since I've been here. It's just one of those things ... You just come out and try to play basketball. It's out there. But it's nothing that I think about or anything like that." Given coach John Kuester's rotation, given the 12-25 record, given the report in December in which an anonymous Pistons source accused Hamilton of quitting on the club, might he welcome a trade? "I'm a Piston," he said. "That's what I signed up for. You know what I'm saying? That's what I love. I love putting that jersey on. Fans have been great to me. That's it."

Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the second-biggest seller of processors for personal computers, said Chief Executive Officer Dirk Meyer resigned and will be replaced by finance chief Thomas Seifert as interim CEO. Air Max 2011 A search committee has been formed to find a new leader, Sunnyvale, California-based AMD said today in a statement. Seifert, who doesn’t wish to become permanent CEO, will retain his duties as chief financial officer, the company said. “The board believes we have the opportunity to create increased shareholder value over time,” AMD said in the statement. “This will require the company to have significant growth, establish market leadership and generate superior financial returns. We believe a change in leadership at this time will accelerate the company’s ability to accomplish these objectives.” Gucci handbags At a board meeting several months ago, Meyer and his team presented a strategic plan that the directors decided wasn’t going to bring the changes needed fast enough, said people familiar with the deliberations. Board members are frustrated with AMD’s failure to regain server market share from Intel Corp. and the lack of an AMD chip for tablet computers, said the people, who asked to remain anonymous because the board meetings are private. Raises Questions AMD fell 39 cents, or 4.3 percent, to $8.80 in late trading after the announcement. The shares, down 2.5 percent over the past year, closed at $9.19 on the New York Stock Exchange. AMD’s board should have conducted a search for a replacement and put a succession plan in place before removing Meyer, said Doug Freedman, an analyst at Gleacher & Co. in San Francisco. “Discontinuity in the business is not good,” said Freedman, who has a “buy” rating on the stock. “It raises more questions than it answers.” nike air max Under Meyer, who succeeded Hector Ruiz as CEO in 2008, AMD had reduced debt and stemmed losses. The company also resumed delivering chips on schedule after earlier product delays cost AMD orders. Still, it hasn’t made much headway gaining market share or tapping new growth areas. Meyer, 49, cited the acquisition of ATI Technologies Inc. and the debut of the recent Fusion processor among the highlights of his time at AMD. “My blood will always be green,” Meyer said in an e- mailed statement, referring to the color of AMD’s logo. “I wish the company well as AMD focuses successfully on the road ahead.” Early Results AMD also released preliminary results for the fourth quarter today. Revenue rose 2 percent to about $1.65 billion from the previous quarter, and the gross margin was about 45 percent. Analysts had projected sales of $1.62 billion on average, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. The company said it’s maintaining its previous forecasts. Coach Store AMD posted declining sales in three out of the previous four years. Analysts estimate that revenue climbed about 20 percent in 2010. Meyer also will resign from the board, effective immediately. He joined AMD in 1995 after stints at Intel and Digital Equipment Corp. “This action wasn’t taken over specific financial, execution or legal matters,” Drew Prairie, an AMD spokesman, said in a phone call. The board’s decision was made recently, he said. Meyer represented AMD at a press conference at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on Jan. 5. Seifert, 47, joined AMD in 2009 after a career at German chipmaker Infineon Technologies AG and its spinoff, Qimonda AG, which went bankrupt. Cheap Jordans

The American and Chinese militaries took microsteps on Monday toward smoothing over years of conflict and suspicion, but China’s defense minister sharply defended his country’s arms buildup, pointed to American military sales to Taiwan as a continuing obstacle and deflected an American request for “in-depth strategic dialogue” on nuclear missile defense, space and cyberwarfare. longchamp bags online Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates had set low expectations for his three-day trip, likely his last visit to Beijing as defense secretary, which he undertook after President Obama and President Hu Jintao of China ordered their militaries to begin working out their differences ahead of Mr. Hu’s visit next week to the White House. The first meeting here bore out that caution, as well as predictions by Pentagon officials that the visit would be difficult and provide no breakthroughs. But it did provide a clear reflection of the Chinese military’s growing confidence in its dealings with the United States. longchamp bags sale Regarding American concerns over China’s new weaponry, including a radar-evading jet fighter and an antiship ballistic missile potentially capable of hitting an American aircraft carrier, the Chinese defense minister, Gen. Liang Guanglie, suggested that the United States was overreacting to an effort to modernize. “We can by no means call ourselves an advanced military force,” General Liang said at a joint news conference with Mr. Gates, held at the enormous Chinese Ministry of Defense after an elaborate welcoming ceremony of goose-stepping Chinese troops. “The gap between us and that of advanced countries is at least two to three decades.” He added that China was interested only in its own security and that “there are some people always in the world who want to label China’s military development a so-called threat to the world.” On Taiwan, the general implied that any further sale of arms would disrupt relations and prompt China to cut off military ties with Washington, as it has repeatedly in the past. longchamp handbags sale “We do not want to see that happen again,” General Liang said. He concluded, “Neither do we hope that U.S. arms sales to Taiwan will disrupt our military-to-military relationship.” Mr. Gates and General Liang did announce minor developments, among them a commitment to talk about future talks and the visit to Washington by the chief of the People’s Liberation Army’s general staff sometime in the first half of this year. But the American request for a more specific date was frustrated. General Liang responded to Mr. Gates’s proposal for an “in-depth strategic dialogue” between the United States and China on nuclear missile defense, space and cyberwarfare only by saying “we are studying it.” Still, Mr. Gates took a positive tone on the contacts with the Chinese military, the People’s Liberation Army. “I come away from these meetings convinced that the P.L.A. leadership is as committed to fulfilling the mandate of our two presidents as I am,” he said at the news conference. longchamp bags on sale China’s military has grown increasingly forceful with the country’s political leadership, a fact Mr. Gates acknowledged obliquely to reporters en route to Beijing. Asked if he thought China’s political leaders were pressing for improved military relations with the United States even though the Chinese military did not necessarily want them, Mr. Gates replied, “I don’t know the answer to that question.” American military officials say there is a growing danger of a confrontation between American and Chinese forces in the Pacific Ocean, where Chinese ships have begun to challenge the United States Navy. China’s next generation of antiship missiles, American officials say, could force the United States to keep its warships a long way from Chinese shores, and from Taiwan. Ultimately, they say, the new technologies could give China an ability to operate hundreds of miles beyond its shores with a freedom it has never before enjoyed. Later on Monday, Mr. Gates met at the Great Hall with Vice President Xi Jinping, the heir apparent to Mr. Hu. “I believe the two sides should jointly and earnestly implement the consensus of our heads of state and make sure that our bilateral relations progress on the right track,” Mr. Xi said, shortly before reporters were pushed out of the room while Mr. Gates was speaking. longchamp handbags Beyond a commitment to continue talking, the meeting between Mr. Gates and General Liang on Monday appeared to produce little of substance, said Huang Jing, a visiting professor and expert on China’s military and leadership at the National University of Singapore. “The Chinese are playing tai chi with the Americans,” Dr. Huang said, referring to the Chinese martial art of self-defense. “Gates is going out; there are a lot of uncertainties about the Obama administration, its policy and the likelihood that there is going to be a second term. They want to wait until the dust settles down in Washington.” Nor, Dr. Huang said, is the relationship likely to change much in the near future. China’s military sees Beijing as a rising power and Washington as a declining one, he said, and so it has little incentive to accede to the Pentagon’s requests for more transparency and a more responsible approach toward regional peace and security. Cheap Jordans

Analysts predict Apple's expansion of the iPhone to Verizon in the US will net 9 to 12 million iPhone subscribers this year, nearly as many as AT&T attracted in 2010. Air Max 24-7 A new report filed by the Wall Street Journal said that analysts are closely watching the iPhone's expansion, with "many" agreeing that Apple "will likely sell 9 to 12 million iPhones on Verizon's network this year." It contrasted that with estimates from Piper Jaffray & Co., which said AT&T sold 11.1 million iPhones in the first three calendar quarters of 2010, and around 14.5 million in the full year. AT&T's iPhone sales account for 12 percent of Apple's revenue and 30 percent of its iPhone unit sales, the report noted. Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster expects Verizon to add 5 percent to Apple's overall sales with 9 million new units this year, but said the new deal could be twice as sweet if Verizon pursues attracting new iPhone subscribers rather than just trying to woo AT&T subscribers into switching. Analyst Brian Marshall of Gleacher & Co. said Apple's new deal with Verizon could upgrade 5 percent of the carriers' existing customers to iPhones in its initial launch quarter, a transition that would be faster paced than AT&T's iPhone launch, which began in 2007 with a far more expensive model. Marshall estimates that AT&T has around 17 million iPhone subscribers, but said "over time Verizon could be even bigger than that," setting an initial estimate of 12 million new iPhone users on Verizon this year. Cheap Jordans The smartphone race Verizon had 93.2 million subscribers at the end of September, making 12 million new iPhone users nearly 13 percent of its subscriber base. AT&T has 92.8 million subscribers, so its estimated 17 million iPhone users represent more than 18 percent of all users on its network. AT&T and Verizon, along with the smaller Sprint and T-Mobile, have been long been battling for new subscribers and to retain their existing ones. However, since smartphones began to emerge over the past few years, the goal has shifted from new subscribers (who are harder to find) to upgrading existing subscribers to more expensive data contracts. The iPhone was the first mass market smartphone in the US to successfully (and rapidly) encourage millions of users to sign up for more expensive plans, propping up AT&T's weaker network. Despite having slightly fewer overall subscribers than Verizon, AT&T has a larger mix of smartphone users, thanks in large part to the iPhone. Air Jordan 13 Verizon's smartphone mix was almost entirely represented by RIM's BlackBerry users through the end of 2009, but after RIM's attempts to deliver the Storm as an iPhone alternative flopped in 2008 and again in 2009, Verizon turned to Android licensees to deliver a credible alternative to the iPhone, which has been exclusive to AT&T in the US since it launched in 2007. Verizon's "Droid" branded marketing blitz, which began in late 2009 with Motorola's Droid and HTC's Droid Eris, helped to nudge Motorola back into profitability and induced HTC to focus more resources on Android than the slow selling Windows Mobile phones it had been making. However, with the launch of iPhone 4, growth in Verizon's Android sales appears to have leveled off, sending the carrier back into negotiations with Apple. Verizon picked up the iPad last fall, and is expected to heavily promote the iPhone this year. Its next new wave of Android devices supporting the company's LTE data network and promoted and last week's CES even, aren't expected to hit until the second half of the year. Air Jordan 12