Facebook IPO Hasn't Hit Nasdaq Volumes

BY JACOB BUNGE

Nasdaq OMX Group Inc.'s core U.S. stock-trading business has retained market share despite some of its largest customers suffering heavy losses in the bungled debut of Facebook Inc.

Officials at some of Nasdaq OMX's largest customers said they had considered moving trades to other exchanges, but business has held steady at Nasdaq OMX in the weeks following the IPO on May 18. The three U.S. stock markets run by Nasdaq OMX had about 22% of all U.S. stock trades in June, generally in line with the last three months, according to data from BATS Global Markets Inc.

That compares with ...

BY JACOB BUNGE

Nasdaq OMX Group Inc.'s core U.S. stock-trading business has retained market share despite some of its largest customers suffering heavy losses in the bungled debut of Facebook Inc.

Officials at some of Nasdaq OMX's largest customers said they had considered moving trades to other exchanges, but business has held steady at Nasdaq OMX in the weeks following the IPO on May 18. The three U.S. stock markets run by Nasdaq OMX had about 22% of all U.S. stock trades in June, generally in line with the last three months, according to data from BATS Global Markets Inc.

That compares with ...

Source: http://feeds.wsjonline.com/~r/wsj/xml/rss/3_7011/~3/9FWE84YUtsk/SB10001424052702304058404577496911207290698.html

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Baseball: Miners finish sweep of Slammers

By Tim Tierney For Sun-Times Media June 29, 2012 11:18PM

Three games out of first place for the Joliet Slammers in early June grew to seven games out Friday. Now they have to keep ?out of first place? from becoming ?out of contention? in the Frontier League.

Schaumburg, Windy City, River City and Gateway are ahead of the Slammers in the Frontier League?s West Division, and only two division champs and two teams with the next-best records make the playoffs.

The Slammers failed to restart their climb in the standings with a storm-shortened 7-4 loss Friday night at Silver Cross Field that completed a three-game sweep by the Southern Illinois Miners.

The game was stopped because of lightning with one out in the top of the seventh before a wind-swept rainstorm moved in, blowing the tarp off the infield and scattering workers trying to re-cover the field.

The Slammers (17-22) fell to five games under .500 for the first time this season.

After facing just four batters in the first inning, Slammers starter Wander Alvino gave up five runs on five hits over the next two innings, the biggest hit a three-run, opposite-field home run by Jason Ganek, the Miners? No. 8 hitter.

Joliet rallied with two runs in the third and fourth innings to close the gap to 5-4, including RBI doubles by Hector Pellot and David Fox and a sacrifice fly by Kyle Maunus, but the Miners added two runs in the fifth off reliever Dustin Quattrocchi.

A play that epitomizes the season so far for the Slammers came in the bottom of the fifth with two runners on and Southern Illinois leading 7-4. Abel Nieves, the team?s best hitter and the potential tying run, was at the plate when Pellot, who had walked, was picked off first base to end the inning.

Both Nieves and manager Bart Zeller, who was coaching third base, didn?t move for a few seconds after the play, almost in disbelief at what happened.

Next for the Slammers are road games Saturday through Monday against the Rockford RiverHawks, followed by a six-game homestand before the July 9 to 12 All-Star break.

?We?re trying to set the tone for going into the All-Star break on a real positive note,?? Zeller said.

Statistically, the Slammers have compiled some good numbers in a few categories.

Nieves? .362 batting average led the team and ranked third in the league entering Friday. He also tops the Slammers in hits, total bases, on-base percentage and slugging percentage.

Defensively, Joliet?s .975 fielding percentage is among the league leaders, trailing only the Washington Wild Things.

On the mound, Amalio Diaz?s eight saves is tied for third in the league and opponents are hitting just .158 against him. Reliever Chase Doremus has the team?s lowest ERA, 1.54 over 231/3 innings.

Source: http://heraldnews.suntimes.com/sports/13499389-419/baseball-miners-finish-sweep-of-slammers.html

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Run Saturday to benefit brain cancer research | Wichita Eagle

Wichita?s first Head for the Cure 5K race will take place Saturday at Sedgwick County Park.

The race begins at 8 a.m. and is a fundraiser for Head for the Cure, a nonprofit dedicated to raising awareness and providing funding in the fight against brain cancer. Proceeds from the Wichita race, which organizers hope to make an annual event, will benefit the Brain Tumor Trials Collaborative through the University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center.

For information about how to register or volunteer, visit www.headforthecure.org.

Source: http://www.kansas.com/2012/06/29/2391981/run-saturday-to-benefit-brain.html

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BREATHEcast: BC News: Luke of for KING & COUNTRY Celebrates 2nd Wedding Anniversary by Sharing an Ultrasound Scan... http://t.co/ixtDOlXb

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European leaders seek roadmap for future growth

German Chancellor Angela Merkel reacts during the debate after her speech for the upcoming EU summit at the German parliament Bundestag in Berlin, Wednesday, June 27, 2012. Germany faces increasing pressure to relent on its resistance to jointly issued eurobonds and other forms of debt-pooling ahead of a European Union summit Thursday. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

German Chancellor Angela Merkel reacts during the debate after her speech for the upcoming EU summit at the German parliament Bundestag in Berlin, Wednesday, June 27, 2012. Germany faces increasing pressure to relent on its resistance to jointly issued eurobonds and other forms of debt-pooling ahead of a European Union summit Thursday. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)

French President Francois Hollande, left, welcomes German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Elysee Palace, Wednesday, June 27, 2012. Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel says she hopes European leaders adopt a ?130 billion ($162 billion) stimulus package this week, in a gesture to French President Francois Hollande despite their differences over how to end Europe's spiraling debt crisis. The two leaders went into talks Wednesday night sharply opposed over whether to share debt among the 17 nations that use the euro, and how much sovereignty to surrender over national budgets. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

French President Francois Hollande, left, welcomes German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the Elysee Palace, Wednesday, June 27, 2012. Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel says she hopes European leaders adopt a ?130 billion ($162 billion) stimulus package this week, in a gesture to French President Francois Hollande despite their differences over how to end Europe's spiraling debt crisis. The two leaders went into talks Wednesday night sharply opposed over whether to share debt among the 17 nations that use the euro, and how much sovereignty to surrender over national budgets. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)

BRUSSELS (AP) ? Economic growth was the mantra among European leaders as they began a crucial summit on Thursday, though expectations of a breakthrough on the explosive issue of pooling government debt appeared to have fallen by the wayside.

European Commissioner for Economic Affairs Olli Rehn said he expected leaders would agree on new growth measures, as well as on action to reduce borrowing rates for Spain and Italy, which are approaching unmanageable levels.

"I expect that there will be a decision on a further step toward rebuilding the economic and monetary union," Rehn said shortly before the summit began. "We also need concrete decisions on a short-term stabilization of financial markets, especially sovereign debt markets."

But German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has resolutely opposed the issuing of mutual debt ? known as eurobonds ? has only stiffened her position.

Many leaders have backed the idea of eurobonds because they would spread debt risk, lowering indebted countries' borrowing rates. But Merkel has been reluctant to expose her country to new costs, and is concerned eurobonds would ease the pressure on countries like Greece and Spain to reform their economies.

"I think we should stop talking about eurobonds now because, with the German government's 'no,' with this definitive 'no' from Mrs. Merkel, eurobonds are now a non-issue," the president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, said Thursday.

"I personally continue to see it as a good solution, a sensible one, but there is no sense in conducting theoretical debates when the house is on fire," Schulz told Germany's ZDF television.

While pressure on Merkel has been building, she is not alone in her opposition to have EU countries accrue joint debt. Swedish Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfelt said Thursday that what was needed was not mutual debt but more financial reforms by Europe's trouble countries ? measures he said would make them more competitive.

Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte, too, spoke forcefully Thursday against mutual debt.

"We only solve Europe's problems by respecting past agreements and by making markets function better. The only way out of this crisis is to help southern European nations, provided they accept responsibility and strict criteria," Rutte said.

Investors are looking for signs of a clear strategy to deal with the debt crisis. They are not hopeful, though, and sold off stocks across Europe on Thursday as European leaders prepared for the summit.

"The good news is that this time around expectations are very low; the bad news is that the main players seem to be diametrically opposed when it comes to a strategy for ending the crisis," said Gary Jenkins, managing director of Swordfish Research, a London-based consulting firm.

The French plan to stimulate growth, and thereby increase government tax revenues, is relatively modest. Although worth ?130 billion ($162 billion), it is expected to consist mostly of European funds already earmarked for development.

Far more urgent is finding a way to keep the cost of borrowing money sustainable for weaker EU countries.

The leaders of Italy, France and Spain have been pressing Germany to agree to share debts before markets push the 17-nation Eurozone closer to collapse. The EU's top officials and the International Monetary Fund have argued the same.

But Merkel isn't budging. She has argued repeatedly that short-term solutions such as pooled debt or a more active European Central Bank are useless unless some form of central control is established over national budgets.

While they may not change Merkel's mind, leaders who avoided confronting her in the past may not hold back now.

Italy's Prime Minister Mario Monti, at risk of losing his job because of voter frustration with budget cutbacks, said Wednesday in Brussels that Italians have made great sacrifices and gotten their country's deficit under control but the yields on Italian debt have soared to one-year highs anyway.

If Italians become discouraged, Monti warned, of the possible rise of "political forces which say 'let European integration, let the euro, let this or that large country go to hell', which would be a disaster for the whole of the European Union."

Monti said he's ready to work until Sunday night ? instead of the scheduled Friday end of the summit ? to ensure that leaders produce a growth package convincing enough to calm financial markets.

Spain's prime minister is sounding especially desperate.

"The most urgent issue is financing," Mariano Rajoy said. "We can't continue for a long time to finance ourselves with these prices; there are many institutions and financial entities that don't have access to financial markets."

Simon Tilford of the Center for Economic Reform said, "We're seeing the French, Italians and Spanish showing a greater readiness to act as one."

In the past, they were reluctant to isolate Merkel, he said.

"But that flexible approach ... has delivered very little. They have grown alarmed and frustrated," he said. "If anyone is to lead the charge, it may be Monti, he is the one who has the most credibility on the European stage" ? and the most to lose if pressure on Merkel fails.

While France has been the traditional partner ? and counterweight ? to Germany in European dealings in the past, President Francois Hollande has just seven weeks of governing under his belt, and built his career as a consensus-builder. And his country's economy is weaker, with growth forecast at just 0.4 percent this year.

Hollande was grinning broadly Wednesday night at the one concession he has been able to wring from Merkel so far, an agreement to put growth on the European agenda alongside austerity measures.

Merkel, standing stiffly at Hollande's side ahead of bilateral talks in Paris, agreed to push for the ?130 billion ($162 billion) stimulus package that Hollande has vaunted, even though it is largely just a re-packaging of existing EU funds.

Even if leaders of all 26 other EU nations line up against Merkel, she cannot bend very far.

She needs the German Parliament to approve the eurozone's permanent rescue fund, the European Stability Mechanism, and a European budget-discipline pact, both expected to happen Friday. And many measures floated as possible solutions could require changes to Germany's constitution.

Amid calls for Greece or other Mediterranean states ? and even Germany ? to pull out of the euro, Merkel argued Wednesday for greater unity.

"We need more Europe. Markets are waiting for that."

___

Charlton reported from Paris. Geir Moulson in Berlin and Toby Sterling in Brussels contributed to this report. Don Melvin can be reached at http://twitter.com/Don_Melvin

New York Post

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Why Is Nobody Listening to Jimmy Carter's Searing Critique of America? (Atlantic Politics Channel)

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Video: Global Markets Update: EU Summit Eyed

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Mothers 'miss out' on career advice ? This Is Guernsey

Most mothers looking for work have not had any career advice since leaving education, according to new research.

A study among 1,200 members of the Women Like Us social enterprise group found that 71% have either never received career advice or last had it at school or university

Nearly half said the last career advice they received was now ?out of kilter? with their life, and most believed their work decisions had changed since having children.

The group?s founder, Emma Stewart, said: ?It is short sighted that as a society we target the national careers service primarily towards school and college leavers, whilst jobcentres are primarily geared towards guiding the unemployed back to work.

?It means women returning to work after having children are falling through the gap for professional careers support. Being neither students nor unemployed where do these women go?

?Returning to work after having children is probably the only time in adult life, when a woman might contemplate changing career or looking for a new kind of job, and yet most feel like there?s a black hole in place of advice or support.?

Only a third of the women polled had returned, or intended to go back to the job they had before having children.

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Volatile Spirits: Tasting Wine!!!

I still remember the first day I tasted wine ever. My cousin had taken our gang out, and red wine was ordered. I remember wincing at the first sip... but there was something in that sour taste blended with a quaint sweet flavour. I not only finished that glass, but although I am an essentially non alcoholic person, I would love to have a glass or two of wine occassionally. Oops, that's a secret let out!!!

So, when my blogger-and-more buddy, Sushmita?invited me for a Wine Tasting?event organised by ?Four Seasons, I readily agreed ignoring the fact that it was on a Thursday afternoon. The venue was near my office, Fresco Restaurant in Connaught Place, which is famous for exotic Italian food. I was joined by seven fellow bloggers, (left to right in the picture): Rituparna, Pratik, Purba, Deeba, Sushita, Sangeeta and Rekha.

The bright face you see behind our group is Shamita Singha, Miss Earth Universe. She came across as the girl next door and told us about wines, about Four Seasons and interacted with us freely. Never for once, did she sound like a celebrity. But she sure knew a lot about wines!

I mean, I have consumed wine on various occasions at different restaurants in a?number of cities, and used to think myself as?quite a? connoisseur. But never had I bothered to think how wine was made, where it got its colour from, etc. Shamita told us all this,and gave us ideas about pairing different types of?wine with the type of cuisine. Yes, dont be surprised if I serve you wine with Baingan-ka-bharta (Roasted brinjal, a delicacy from the Indian cuisine)?now!?We tasted five types of wines over enthralling converstation, and were quite tipsy and gay by the end of the session. Two smart representatives from Four Seasons, Jyoti and a handsome young man (sorry, I forgot to ask his name) kept us company enthusiastically over the food and drinks.

We were gifted a complimentary bottle of wine for our friends and family. So come over, if you want to share my newly gained knowledge and taste the wine.

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Is the Retina Display on Your New MacBook Pro Suffering from Ghosting? [Apple]

Owners of Apple's latest and greatest laptop, the MacBook Pro with Retina Display, say that they're having issues with image persistence, where screen ghosts are popping up on white backgrounds for as long as five minutes after the image initially appeared. Cnet says that Apple has exchanged a few laptops already, but is this a case of early manufacturing issues, or is it a larger engineering flaw? [Apple via Apple Insider via Cnet] More »

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Fit Of Passion Lets You Buy Jeans Online? That Fit

Back at the Startup Alley at TechCrunch Disrupt New York this year, we discovered an awesome Israel-based startup called Brayola, which uses bras that ladies already own to help them find perfect-fitting bras online. But it would appear that a similar idea has been executed in a much more gender-blind and mainstream form. Fit Of Passion, a company we met at the Philly TechCrunch Mini Meetup, uses information you put in about jeans you already own to help you find and buy jeans online that actually fit.

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Colbert: Pot Legalization Initiatives Are 'the Ultimate Grassroots Campaign' (Rolling Stone)

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Asia stocks rise amid hopes for central bank help

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Gupta found guilty of insider trading

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Chinese officials apologize to woman in forced abortion

Family photo

Photos of Feng Jianmei on her hospital bed after a forced abortion have been circulating on the web. The photos were taken by her sister who in turn contacted the media about the story. The photos originally appeared in a local newspaper report online and then they were picked by netizens and distributed online.

By Bo Gu, NBC News

Updated at 10:33 p.m. ET: China state media says city officials have apologized to Feng Jiamei and suspended three officials, the BBC reported.

Xinhua news said the Ankang city government will urge the county government to review its family planning operations, according to the BBC report.

BEIJING ? Feng Jianmei? says she was manhandled by seven people, some of them local family planning officials, some of whom she didn?t know.?

Feng, 22 years old and seven months pregnant, was dragged out of her relative?s home, carried and shoved into a van that headed straight to a hospital on June 2, she told NBC News in phone interview.

She was blindfolded, thrown on a bed, and forced to sign a document that she couldn?t read with the blindfold still on her eyes. Then two shots were injected into her belly. Thirty hours later, on the morning June 4, she gave birth to a dead baby girl.

Feng is one of the many Chinese women who have been forced to have abortions under China?s strict one-child-only policy started in late 1970s to contain the country?s fast growing population, which has now topped 1.3 billion people.

---

One-child policy
China?s long time Communist leader Chairman Mao Zedong originally encouraged women to have as many children as possible during the Cold War-era when human power was believed to be an important force if war broke out. But the country?s rulers soon found it too difficult to feed the huge population ? so they adopted a harsh policy that allows urban citizens to have only one child, and rural couples to have two, if the first child is a girl. ?

The policy has been carried out for more than three decades despite public opposition, from human rights activists to ordinary people. Thousands of years of Chinese culture fostered the belief that ?more children is more blessing,? especially in remote and rural areas where the elderly lack adequate social benefits and depend on children as they grow old.

Government family planning officials are also under pressure to make sure their constituencies follow the quota of babies allowed. When there?s no clear law telling them what they can and cannot do, forced abortions, often on late-terms pregnancies, have become the norm, particularly for the poor who are unable to pay the hefty fines to have additional children. ??

Advocates on behalf of these women are usually ignored or face government repression. For example, Chen Guangcheng, the famous blind lawyer and human rights activist, represented victims of family planning abuse in Shandong Province. Chen was jailed for four years for his advocacy and put under house arrest until he recently escaped illegal detainment and fled to the U.S. last?month.

More on Chen Guangcheng

There are no official figures of how many women in China unwillingly terminate pregnancies every year. ?All Girls Allowed,? an organized founded by former 1989 student protest leader Chai Ling, claims there are 1.3 million forced abortions annually.?

?How can I agree to do that, as a mother??
Feng Jianmei didn?t realize she wasn?t allowed to have a second child (her first daughter was born in 2007) since everyone else around her was permitted to have a second child. Both she and her husband Deng Jiyuan took for granted that they would have the same right.? But the family planning office in Zengjiazhen, a small town in Shaanxi province in the heart of China, thought differently. ?

Through a rigorous and rigid household registration system designed to control population movement, the central government classifies all its citizens as either city dwellers or rural peasants.? The registration, also known in Chinese as hukou, determines not only a citizen?s residence but also what kind of?social services individuals are eligible for.

It is very difficult to change one?s hukou although there are many ways, including marrying a person with a different registration status, applying for a new status through one?s job, or paying an enormous sum of money.?

The local family planning office decided that Feng wasn?t allowed to have a second child because she didn?t have the necessary permit ? apparently she had failed to relocate her hukou to Zengjiazhen when she moved from her original province of Inner Mongolia.

But the couple says they had no idea their plan to have a second child was connected with Feng?s hukou.

They were given another option that would solve the problem: pay a fine of $6,400. But that was an impossible amount for the couple to afford ? Deng is a migrant worker and Feng is a farmer.?

?I told you, $6,400, not even a penny less. I told your dad that and he said he has no money,? the family planning official wrote to Deng in a text message that has been made public. ?You were too careless, you didn?t think this was a big deal.?

Feng?s sister received the same warning;? if they couldn?t afford to help pay the fine, it was only a matter of time before her sister had to get rid of the baby, whether she wanted to or not.

Things came to a head on June 2, but according to the local government, Feng agreed to the abortion.

The Zhenping Population and Family Planning Bureau released on June 11 an official stamped document, which says ?that ?after government cadre?s repeated persuasion, Feng Jianmei agreed to have an abortion at 15:40 on June 2.??

?No, I didn?t agree to do it,? Feng told NBC News. ?How can I agree to do that, as a mother??

She sobbed when asked what happened next, and said she was too upset to think about it. She said all those officials who kidnapped her disappeared after the abortion, and she?s still suffering from a constant headache.

Two appalling photos of her were taken and posted online that show her lying in bed, looking weak and helpless, with a dead and bloody baby next to her. The photos were taken by her sister who in turn contacted the media about the story. The photos originally appeared in a local newspaper report online and then they were picked by netizens and distributed online.

?If this evil policy is not stopped, this country will have no humanity?
Forced abortions in China are not new, but Feng?s story spread rapidly via social media, and outrage was immediate and unanimous. On Weibo, China?s Twitter-like microblogging site, netizens left thousands of angry comments, although many of the posts were quickly deleted by government censors.???

?The purpose of family planning was to control population, but now it has become murder population,? wrote Li Chengpeng, a well-known Chinese writer. ?It was a method to contain population, but now it is a way to make money. When you can make money by killing, what else are you afraid to do? A seven-month baby can think already. I want to ask the murderer, how do you face your own mother when you go home? If this evil policy is not stopped, this country will have no humanity.?

Zhao Chu, another writer, called it pure murder. ?This is not about enforcing the policy, it is about depriving someone?s right to live. We avoid the nature of it by using a medical word ?enforced abortion.? For so long family planning seems like something completely irrelevant of human life. It?s like coal mining or digging mushrooms. Human life has become lifeless indexes, some cold, meaningless numbers.

?Also, pushed by heavy fines, the controversial policy has become profit-oriented activities that everyone hates. The worst victims are those of low-class rural people who have no power to fight. Their tears and cries are not heard by so called mainstream society and the victims become worse than the untouchables,? said Zhao.

Many called for the one-child policy to be outlawed. ?We feel so sorry for the dead baby girl, we criticize those so-called law enforcers. But we should rethink the 30-year-long family planning policy. It?d be worth it if this could help to change the policy! We keep our eyes open!? commented user A-Kun on his Weibo page.

Even Hu Xijin, chief editor of Global Times, one of China?s most pro-government newspapers, criticized the forced abortion on his Weibo account.

?I strongly oppose the barbarous forced abortion to this 7-month-pregnant mother. Time has changed and the intensity of enforcing family planning has changed. We should promote civilized family planning,? Hu wrote.

But he added that he didn?t think the whole policy should be abolished. ?Don?t use Hong Kong and Japan as an argument to deny China?s population policy. Those places are small and developed early, fed by the whole world?s resources. But the world resources cannot afford to feed a China with billions of people.?

?This has damaged the image of family planning work?
NBC News tried to contact both town and city level family planning offices in Zengjiazhen and Ankang, but the calls went unanswered. ?

A report from Xinhua, China?s official government news agency, released on Thursday said that the Shaanxi Provincial Family Planning Committee has sent an investigation team to Zengjiazhen and requested local government to have the responsible parties held accountable.

?This has damaged the image of family planning work, and had an adverse effect on the society. The committee will resolutely prevent such things from happening again,? the Xinhua news report said.

Feng?s conversation with NBC News was interrupted three times by what she said were government cadres entering her hospital ward to talk.

When asked what she would do next or whether they will seek legal help, she uttered an answer in a very low voice: ?I have no idea.??

More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:

Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world

?

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Banks offered minicamp tryout with Seahawks

RENTON, Wash. (AP) ? Walking into the massive indoor practice facility, looking up at the championship banners hanging from the ceiling and feeling the turf under his feet, Brian Banks allowed himself a moment to reflect on whether the reality matched the dream that helped get him through five years of wrongful incarceration.

"This is by far the second-best day of my life ? May 24, my day of exoneration, and today," Banks said Thursday after getting a tryout with the Seattle Seahawks. "Just being out here on the field and work out with the Seahawks and to be given an opportunity to have a tryout, I don't really have words for it. It's a dream come true. I know a lot of people work hard to get to this point. I've worked hard myself and I'm just thankful for this opportunity."

And it may continue beyond just a one-day visit to the rainy Pacific Northwest. Banks, 26, impressed Seattle coach Pete Carroll enough that he received an invitation to participate in a formal tryout next week during Seattle's mandatory offseason minicamp.

All Banks needs to do is accept and he can turn another page on his remarkable feel-good story.

"This is a great illustration for us why people deserve a second chance," Carroll said. "Because of what he has overcome and because of what lies ahead for him in his life. This is just one step but it's a step he's been dreaming about for a long time. And it's just such a great illustration about not giving up and competing for what you want and not let your circumstances or surroundings dictate what is going to happen in your life."

When he was 17 and a star high school linebacker in California, a teenage girl Banks had known since childhood claimed he had raped her. He was arrested and, on advice of counsel, pleaded no contest to rape and an enhancement of kidnapping 10 years ago in order to avoid a possible life sentence if tried by a jury.

Banks served five years and two months in prison, but in a strange turn of events, the woman later recanted her claim and offered to help Banks clear his name after he was out of prison. Banks was on probation and wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet at the hearing late last month where he was completely exonerated.

Gone were the restrictions and the stigma, replaced by a clear record.

"He is a living testament to if you keep hanging and you're tough and you don't give up in what you believe in and your dreams, that you can make those come to life," Carroll said.

The little things most of society takes for granted, Banks has come to appreciate in his short period since his case was resolved. When he walked into the airport on Wednesday night to make the late flight to Seattle and endured the hassle of airport security, Banks didn't blink at emptying his pockets or removing his shoes.

"I know a lot of people complain about that, but I was thrilled about it," he said.

It was just the second time he'd ever been on a commercial airplane and his first flight in more than 15 years. Oh, and it came after an appearance on "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno."

In just 14 days, Banks has become a spokesman and a celebrity.

"I served five years in prison. The last two weeks feels like a breeze," Banks said.

From a football perspective, there is still plenty left for Banks to prove. He first must decide whether to accept the Seahawks' minicamp offer. Banks' agent, Bruce Tollner, said Thursday afternoon that he had yet to speak with Banks about the offer, but that Banks tentatively has visits scheduled with five other teams.

"An invitation back to Seattle is a very positive thing that he'll want to consider, we just need to check his schedule," Tollner said.

While impressed with his raw athleticism, Carroll freely acknowledged that Banks is not refined to the level of an NFL linebacker and whatever expectations are placed on Banks need to reflect his lack of football schooling during the last 10 years.

Banks said Thursday that after his release from prison, he played one season of football at Long Beach City College in 2007, but changes in his probation that went into effect in 2008 kept him from continuing to play junior college football.

The fact Seattle was first up in Banks' NFL tour was not a surprise. Carroll and Banks first developed a relationship when Banks was a top high school prospect and Carroll was in the beginning stages of turning USC into a college powerhouse. Banks was offered a scholarship and made a verbal commitment to play football at USC during his junior year at Long Beach Poly.

More than a decade later, the pair was reunited on a rainy Thursday morning. Carroll watched Seattle linebackers coach Ken Norton Jr. put Banks through a basic workout. He measured at 6-foot-2, 239 pounds. He ran a 40-yard dash, but didn't know his time. He did bag drills. He showed off the athleticism that first attracted Carroll to Banks when he was a prep star.

And he lived out a dream that seemed so unlikely while he was incarcerated. Banks, wearing a sweat shirt with "XONR8" on the front, said he was extremely appreciative that the Seahawks and Carroll are giving him a chance.

"I told the coaches today coming out here, and I absolutely mean it, I feel more appreciative for the opportunity than I feel deserving," Banks said. "I'm honored to have all of these people and all of these coaches of these different teams give me this opportunity."

___

Follow Tim Booth on Twitter: http://twitter.com/ByTimBooth

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Spain's ailing banks threaten country's finances

MADRID (AP) ? Spain is under rising pressure to find a lifeline for its deeply troubled banks.

Politicians in Europe and investors around the world are worried that the recession-hit country can't come up with the money needed to save its banks without bankrupting the government. Expectations are rising that Spain's leaders will have to seek an international bailout for banks crumbling under the weight of bad real estate loans.

As Spain's leaders struggle for a solution to their banking crisis, the country's borrowing costs have soared close to the level that forced the governments of Greece, Portugal and Ireland to seek financial rescues.

As much as ?100 billion ($126 billion) may be needed to bolster Spanish banks, the credit rating agency Fitch said Thursday. Fitch, which had previously said ?30 billion was needed, downgraded the country's debt rating to two notches above junk and warned that further downgrades were possible.

Spain sold ?2 billion ($2.52 billion) in bonds Thursday, but had to pay investors much higher rates than in previous bond sales. There is a growing sense that time is running out for Spain's government and banks to continue muddling through.

The bond sale came after Spain's economy minister traveled Wednesday to Brussels to huddle with key decision makers in the capital of the European Union.

And on Thursday, Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy hosted his counterpart from the Netherlands, one of the 17 countries that uses the euro that would have to approve outside help if Spain can't save its banks on its own.

Rajoy said this week that Europe "needs to support those that are in difficulty."

Here are some questions and answers about Spain's banking crisis:

WHY DO SPANISH BANKS NEED A BAILOUT?

Spain's financial problems are not due to Greek-style government over-spending. The country's banks got caught up in the collapse of a real estate bubble.

Spain's banks, particularly its savings banks or "cajas," have enormous amounts of bad loans. And as the second recession in three years hits Spain, the number of bad loans is expected to surge. Spain's unemployment has risen to nearly 25 percent, making it increasingly difficult for many Spaniards to pay their mortgages.

The country's central bank, the Bank of Spain, says banks are still burdened with about ?184 billion ($231 billion) in "problematic" real estate holdings, including loans and repossessed homes.

Spain's government debt stood at a relatively low 68.5 percent of its gross domestic product at the end of 2011. It is predicted to hit 78 percent by the end of the year. But even that higher figure would still be below the 2011 debt-to-GDP ratios of countries like Italy, Belgium, France and even Germany.

SO WHY IS SPAIN'S BANKING CRISIS SO WORRISOME TO EVERYONE ELSE?

Spain is the fourth-largest economy in the 17-country eurozone, behind Germany, France and Italy. Its economy is nearly five times bigger than Greece's, making its financial and economic problems much more worrisome for leaders in Europe.

The rising cost of rescuing failed banks risks bankrupting the Spanish government. And since Spanish banks own huge amounts of their country's debt, any threat to the government's finances could boomerang back to the banks and make them even weaker.

A widening recession and financial crisis in one of Europe's largest economies would drag down neighboring countries and hurt companies and investors around the world.

An international bailout of Spanish banks could relieve some of the pressure on the Spanish government, and decrease anxieties across Europe and the rest of the world.

HOW MUCH WILL IT COST TO BAIL OUT SPAIN'S BANKS?

Bankia S.A., the country's most stricken lender, announced last month that it needed ?19 billion ($23.63 billion) in government aid. Spain only has ?5 billion left in a fund that it established in 2009 to help banks. The government has promised to help Bankia but has not mapped out a plan.

At least four other Spanish banks also need help.

The overall cost of bailing out Spain's troubled banks is somewhere between ?40 billion and ?100 billion. The International Monetary Fund is scheduled to weigh in with an evaluation of Spain's banking industry Monday. And the Spanish government has commissioned independent audits to determine the banks' recapitalization needs.

The Spanish government has pushed lenders to strengthen their finances by merging, and has told banks to set aside an additional ?84 billion by the end of 2012 to cover assets that have gone bad, plus those that could turn sour. Spain's two largest banks ? Banco Santander SA and Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria SA ? are expected to meet the stiffer requirements. But investors are fearful that some smaller banks won't be able to.

WHERE COULD THE BAILOUT MONEY COME FROM?

Spain has yet to map out how its banks ? in particular Bankia ? will be saved.

Spain could finance a bank bailout by selling bonds. But it's reluctant to take on a huge amount of debt when the interest rate investors would demand is perilously close to the 7 percent level that forced Greece, Ireland and Portugal to seek bailouts. That could turn Spain's banking crisis into a government-debt crisis, which so far it has been able to avoid.

Spain would like to get European aid for its banks but is reluctant to ask for it because under current rules the aid would have to be funneled through the government. That would also increase the country's public debt load and potentially send interest rates on its bonds higher.

Spain is trying to convince European leaders to let it have a "light" form of a bailout without directly asking for it. It hopes to find a little wiggle room in a measure approved by European Union leaders last July. That measure allows the EU to lend money for the purpose of recapitalizing banks in countries not already receiving bailouts.

The rules say the money would have to be funneled through the government. However, the conditions attached to the bailout would not have to be as over-arching as those attached to government bailouts, such as in Greece and Ireland.

"There is talk on the start of different solutions, but there's still nothing concrete," said Antonio Barroso, an analyst with the Eurasia Group political risk consulting group.

___

Daniel Woolls and Ciaran Giles in Madrid, David McHugh in Frankfurt and Shawn Pogatchnik in Dublin contributed to this report.

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Today in History

Today is Thursday, June 7, the 159th day of 2012. There are 207 days left in the year.

Today's Highlights in History:

On June 7, 1892, Homer Plessy, a "Creole of color," was arrested and fined for refusing to leave a whites-only car of the East Louisiana Railroad; his case went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, which at the time upheld "separate but equal" racial segregation, a concept overturned in 1954 by Brown v. Board of Education.

On this date:

In 1654, King Louis XIV, age 15, was crowned in Rheims, 11 years after the start of his reign.

In 1712, Pennsylvania's colonial assembly voted to ban the further importation of slaves.

In 1769, frontiersman Daniel Boone first began to explore present-day Kentucky.

In 1776, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia proposed to the Continental Congress a resolution stating "That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent States, that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown."

In 1862, William Bruce Mumford, a Confederate loyalist, was hanged at the order of Union military authorities for tearing down a U.S. flag that had been flying over the New Orleans mint shortly before the city was occupied by the North.

In 1929, the sovereign state of Vatican City came into existence as copies of the Lateran Treaty were exchanged in Rome.

In 1937, actress Jean Harlow died in Los Angeles at age 26.

In 1942, the World War II Battle of Midway ended in a decisive victory for American forces over the Imperial Japanese.

In 1967, the Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic opened in San Francisco.

In 1972, the musical "Grease" opened on Broadway, having already been performed in lower Manhattan.

In 1981, Israeli military planes destroyed a nuclear power plant in Iraq, a facility the Israelis charged could have been used to make nuclear weapons.

In 1998, in a crime that shocked the nation, James Byrd Jr., a 49-year-old black man, was hooked by a chain to a pickup truck and dragged to his death in Jasper, Texas. (Two white men were later sentenced to death for the crime; a third received life with the possibility of parole.)

Ten years ago: A yearlong hostage crisis in the Philippines involving a U.S. missionary couple came to a bloody end as Filipino commandos managed to save only one of three captives, American Gracia Burnham. Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel was convicted in Norwalk, Conn., of beating Greenwich (GREH'-nihch) neighbor Martha Moxley to death when they were 15 in 1975. (Skakel, who continues to maintain his innocence, was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.)

Five years ago: At the G-8 summit in Germany, Russian President Vladimir Putin, bitterly opposed to a U.S. missile shield in Europe, presented President George W. Bush with a surprise counterproposal built around a Soviet-era radar system in Azerbaijan (ah-zur-by-JAHN'); Bush promised to consider the idea, but ended up essentially rejecting it. After three days in jail for a reckless-driving probation violation, Paris Hilton was released by Los Angeles County sheriff's officials to be sent home under house arrest. (The next day, a judge ordered Hilton back to jail, where she spent 2? weeks.)

One year ago: Moammar Gadhafi stood defiant in the face of the heaviest and most punishing NATO airstrikes to date, declaring in an audio address carried on Libyan state television, "We will not kneel!" Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, the al-Qaida mastermind behind the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, was killed at a security checkpoint in Mogadishu by Somali forces. NBC retained its hold on U.S. Olympic television rights in a four-games deal through 2020 worth nearly $4.4 billion, defeating rival bids from ESPN and Fox.

Today's Birthdays: Movie director James Ivory is 84. Actress Virginia McKenna is 81. Singer Tom Jones is 72. Poet Nikki Giovanni is 69. Actor Ken Osmond ("Leave It to Beaver") is 69. Former talk show host Jenny Jones is 66. Actress Anne Twomey is 61. Actor Liam Neeson is 60. Actress Colleen Camp is 59. Singer-songwriter Johnny Clegg is 59. Author Louise Erdrich (UR'-drihk) is 58. Actor William Forsythe is 57. Record producer L.A. Reid is 56. Latin pop singer Juan Luis Guerra is 55. Singer-songwriter Prince is 54. Rock singer-musician Gordon Gano (The Violent Femmes) is 49. Rapper Ecstasy (Whodini) is 48. Rock musician Eric Kretz (Stone Temple Pilots) is 46. Rock musician Dave Navarro is 45. Actress Helen Baxendale is 42. Actor Karl Urban is 40. TV personality Bear Grylls is 38. Rock musician Eric Johnson (The Shins) is 36. Actress Adrienne Frantz is 34. Actor-comedian Bill Hader is 34. Actress Anna Torv is 33. Actress Larisa Oleynik (oh-LAY'-nihk) is 31. Tennis player Anna Kournikova is 31. Actor Michael Cera is 24. Actress Shelley Buckner is 23.

Thought for Today: "Two men look out through the same bars: One sees the mud and one the stars." ? Frederick Langbridge, English clergyman and author (1849-1922).

(Above Advance for Use Thursday, June 7)

Copyright 2012, The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

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