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To help boost its short-term profits and its stock price, Yahoo is widely expected to form a long-term advertising partnership with Google.
Although the final details are still being ironed out, Yahoo wants to hire Google to place some of the text-based ads that appear alongside the search results on its Web site. It's a task that Google already handles for scores of Web sites, including AOL and Ask.com.
Both Yahoo and Google have said they were encouraged with the results of a two-week trial run completed last month.
But turning to Google for help would be a humbling step for Yahoo after spending more than $2 billion to acquire and build its own technology.
An alliance between Google and Yahoo also would face antitrust hurdles because the two companies combined control more than 80 percent of the U.S. search advertising market.
Although Google's superior technology would help boost Yahoo's profits in the short term, some analysts worry it could be a mistake for Yahoo to surrender any control over such a lucrative piece of the online ad market.
Yahoo also has been exploring a possible merger with AOL's Internet operations but may now have to contend with a competing offer from Microsoft.
Yahoo also might attempt to placate shareholders by buying back stock.
Kessler believes Yang should use some of his estimated $1.9 billion fortune to personally buy more Yahoo stock even though he already owns 54.1 million shares, or 3.9 percent of the company.
"Jerry Yang really needs to put his money where his mouth is," Kessler said. "If he really thinks Yahoo is worth $37 (per share), then he needs to step up and buy some shares when they are in the low $20."
May 04 14:56
By DUDLEY BROWN
(Spartanburg) Herald-Journal
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SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) -- They were in their early 20s when they came here and have lived in Spartanburg ever since.
"We love Spartanburg," said Ofelia Lopez, staff nurse in the hospital's mother and baby unit. "It's our home. People opened their arms and welcomed us, even though we didn't know what they were saying at first," because of the Southern accents and slang.
The Philippines is a popular destination for U.S. hospitals looking to hire nurses because of the shortage of people pursuing medical professions in the United States. Zerno Martin, former senior vice president of the hospital, recruited in the Philippines twice and recruited those nurses in 1975.
"Their eagerness to come here kind of surprised me," said Martin, who estimates he interviewed at least 50 nursing students from morning to night for three or four days.
Martin said many people in the Philippines speak English and nursing students follow a curriculum similar to those in the United States.
It was an intense process for the nurses, who spent six months taking exams and being interviewed by recruiters. Filipino nurses are still heavily recruited across the world. Some Filipino doctors attend nursing school so they can make more money abroad as nurses.
"People want to leave the country to go other places and make money, and nursing is always in demand everywhere," Lopez said.
Nelda Hope, educational coordinator; Maria Bernardi, staff nurse in Neuro ICU; Victoria Baumann, staff nurse in the labor and delivery department; and Macaria Bandigas, staff nurse in the pulmonary department, are the other nurses still in Spartanburg after what they remember being a chilly February day when they arrived.
In all, 23 nurses came to Spartanburg from the Philippines that February. Sixteen came to work at Spartanburg General Hospital, Spartanburg Regional's previous name, and seven went to Mary Black Memorial Hospital. Lopez and Bandigas were originally at Mary Black before moving to Spartanburg General a couple of years later.
Temperatures were in the 90s when they left the Philippines. They remember their lips cracking and skin getting dry once they arrived in Spartanburg.
"It was probably 50 degrees, but we were freezing," Hope said.
In 1987, Hope helped the hospital recruit nurses in the Philippines. Baumann returned to the Philippines in 1977, and Hope recruited her to come back to Spartanburg. Hope now has a niece leaving the Philippines for a nursing job in Rockingham, N.C.
The women usually get together monthly. All are U.S. citizens and married with children. Their families celebrate holidays together and enjoy Filipino meals. They also keep in touch with many of the nurses who left Spartanburg. Many went to California, and three of the Spartanburg nurses are planning a vacation this summer with some of those nurses.
Two men were part of that original group of nurses, including one who is a Catholic priest in Florence now.
Lopez said grocery shopping was one of their favorite things to do shortly after arriving in Spartanburg.
"There was an abundance of food that I'd never seen before," Lopez said.
Doctors and others at the hospital hosted parties to welcome them, and they were invited to have dinner with families. Lopez also remembers people staring at them wherever they went and being asked where they were from.
Bernardi has photo albums with pictures from her arrival, and she still has her flight itinerary and airline ticket stub. There also are photos of the dormitory they stayed in, which is now the location of the hospital's outpatient center.
Nurses at both Spartanburg General and Mary Black had men they considered "big brothers."
Ken Hollifield was a surgical technician at Spartanburg General when the nurses came and met them at a reception.
"I knew they wouldn't have transportation and I volunteered to take them shopping and to do chores," said Hollifield, who still works at the hospital.
Hollifield said he visited New York, Washington, D.C., and Texas with the nurses. He still keeps in touch with some of the nurses who left for California.
"We were friends then and truly remained friends throughout the years," Hollifield said.
He remembers them joking about how the nurses heard so much about the skyscrapers in New York and Los Angeles and they were looking for tall buildings when they landed in Spartanburg.
"We were young and foolish," Lopez said.
"And pretty," Bandigas added.
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Information from: Herald-Journal, http://www.goupstate.com/
May 04 22:52
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SEATTLE (AP) -- The University of Washington is planning to issue honorary degrees to Japanese Americans who were students at the school, but were forced to leave campus in the months after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
A ceremony to honor the former students is scheduled for May 18 at Kane Hall on the university's Seattle campus.
In the fall of 1941, about 450 Japanese Americans signed up to study at the University of Washington.
But Pearl Harbor was attacked in December that year, and in February 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt gave the military broad powers over anyone considered a security threat.
The military banned Japanese Americans from the West Coast, forcing most of the Japanese American UW students into out-of-state internment camps.
Many of the surviving students, most of whom are now in their late 80s, tell The Seattle Times they are excited about finally being recognized as Huskies -- although others remain ambivalent, or wonder what has taken the UW so long.
Some finished their degrees after the war -- at the UW or elsewhere -- while others never did.
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Information from: The Seattle Times, http://www.seattletimes.com
May 04 14:01
By DIRK LAMMERS
Associated Press Writer
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SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- A Maryland-based hotel franchiser has responded to a federal lawsuit accusing a Mitchell couple of subjecting four Filipino immigrants to conditions of peonage, slavery, forced labor and trafficking in persons.
Choice Hotels International Inc. in its written response denied that it is liable for any injuries to the workers caused by Robert John Farrell and Angelita Magat Farrell, who owned a Comfort Inn and Suites in Oacoma.
The franchiser requested that the portion of the complaint against Choice Hotels be dismissed.
Sioux Falls attorney Brendan Johnson last month filed a 21-page complaint on behalf of Gina Agulto, Grace Pineda, Ronilo Pangan and Ruby Pangan, all of Worthington, Minn.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified punitive, compensatory, general and special damages against the Farrells and Silver Spring, Md.-based Choice Hotels.
A federal jury in November convicted the Farrells on 18 charges of conspiracy to commit peonage, four counts of peonage, document servitude, visa fraud and two counts of false statements.
In February, U.S. District Judge Charles Kornmann gave Robert Farrell a term of 4 years and 2 months in federal prison and Angelita Farrell a 3-year sentence.
The Farrells are incarcerated but have appealed the verdicts and sentences.
The civil suit alleges that the Farrells promised the workers employment at their hotel for 40 hours a week at a lawful wage, but then confiscated their visas and changed the deal.
The suit alleges that the Farrells forced the plaintiffs to work long hours without overtime pay, subjected them to mandatory unpaid late-night meetings and forced them to sign debt contracts.
May 05 03:32
By MIKE CRANSTON
AP Sports Writer
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CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) -- There was a familiar sense of helplessness for many golfers in the final round at the Wachovia Championship on Sunday. They marveled at the swing, the skills and the mental toughness of the leader, while acknowledging they were "playing for second place."
No, Tiger Woods didn't make a miraculous recovery from knee surgery to defend his title at Quail Hollow Club. The players were talking about 22-year-old Anthony Kim, whose domination in a star-studded field made for Tiger-like comparisons.
Kim became the youngest winner on the PGA Tour in six years, showing off all parts of his well-honed game during a 3-under 69 to cruise to a five-shot win over Ben Curtis.
Kim broke Woods' 72-hole tournament record by three shots with a 16-under 272 total despite two late bogeys on the difficult, tree-lined course with tricky greens.
"I looked on the 17th tee and said, 'He's 18-under par? Holy cow!"' said Jason Bohn, who finished alone in third place at 10 under after a 71. "I really had to ask, 'Am I reading that wrong?' But I mean, take your hat off, that's outstanding golf right there."
The former NCAA freshman of the year at Oklahoma won't turn 23 until next month. In a payoff from a decision to get serious about his game after a winless rookie year in 2007, Kim soaked it all in as he walked up the 18th fairway with the largest margin of victory in the tournament's six-year history.
"That walk up 18 was the best feeling of my entire life," Kim said. "I'll never forget that feeling. I had chills going up and down my spine. I want to recreate that as many times as possible now, so I'm really going to work hard."
Kim earned $1,134,000 and became the youngest winner since Sergio Garcia's third PGA Tour title in the 2002 Mercedes Championship.
"I feel like an old man compared to him, and I'm only 36, but I'm still a lot older than him," said Robert Allenby, whose 66 was good for only fourth place at 9 under. "But yeah, he has a lot of talent. He's got a great swing. That's the thing, when you're that young, you've got to make the most of it because once you get a little bit older, that's when the brain starts thinking too much, and that's when you get in the way of yourself."
Kim said he wasn't as nervous as he thought he'd be when he walked to the first tee Sunday with a four-shot lead after Saturday's 66. Unlike Garcia, who blew a six-shot lead here in 2005 and lost in a playoff to Vijay Singh, Kim got off to a great start.
He birdied the first and fifth holes to pull away from playing partner Heath Slocum, who shot a 73 and finished at 8 under.
"From the get-go he put his foot on the gas and never let off," Slocum said. "That was very, very impressive."
Kim reached 18 under after a birdie at 15, as his giant belt buckle reading "AK" sparkled in the bright sunshine.
He finished bogey-bogey-par, pumping his fist as his last putt dropped while lapping a field that included 18 of the world's top 25 golfers.
"I knew my life was changing on the 18th green when I was lining that putt up," said Kim, while wearing the winner's blue jacket. "It was just so special. I'll never forget that feeling. All these emotions were starting to run through and I realized what I had done and all the hard work had paid off."
Curtis' 65 was the best round of the day and the best final round in the tournament's six years. None of the big names lurking near the top of the leaderboard could make Kim look over his shoulder.
Jim Furyk (7 under) and Phil Mickelson (5 under) shot 72s. Singh was out of it before he hit two tee shots in the water on No. 17 and chipped in for triple bogey. His 74 left him at 4 under.
After leaving Oklahoma following his junior year, Kim tied for second in his PGA Tour debut at the 2006 Texas Open. He earned his tour card that winter and was the youngest rookie in 2007 when he had four top-10s finishes.
But Kim didn't come close to winning and struggled with his temper and his decision-making. He decided he had to practice more and not take as many unnecessary gambles on the course.
"I think if I had won last year my practicing would have gone down even less -- and there wasn't much to go down," Kim joked. "I might have been playing on the Hooters Tour. It might have been the best thing for me, just to get slapped in the face and realize that I can't win out here without practicing, giving it my all on every golf shot, every practice round."
After three missed cuts earlier in the year, Kim played in the final group at the Verizon Heritage two weeks ago, but never threatened for the win. Things changed at Quail Hollow, where Kim finished tied for seventh behind Woods last year.
"I was an immature kid last year," Kim said. "I feel like I've grown up quite a bit and I think that helped me so much this week, so much this year and hopefully in the future."
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