--BHP estimates that seaborne iron-ore demand will grow at single-digit rate but will remain strong

--Rio Tinto confident of a soft landing for China's economy

--Both BHP and Rio reaffirm plans to continue investing in iron ore businesses

By Alex MacDonald

Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

Iron ore miners are predicting slower growth in iron ore demand this year as China, the world's second-largest economy, cools but the long-term iron ore outlook remains upbeat, buttressed in part by generally robust Asian demand.

Ian Ashby, president of BHP's (BHP) iron ore division, told reporters in Perth Tuesday that growth in China's demand for steelmaking's raw ingredient will drop "to single digits, if it is not already there." But he noted in a presentation that seaborne iron ore demand is "expected to grow strongly" in the years ahead.

China earlier this year cut its 2012 growth target for gross domestic product, or GDP, to an eight-year low of 7.5% while its trade deficit ballooned to a record $31.48 billion in February.

These figures, combined with a raft of weak survey data that point to deteriorating activity and confidence in manufacturing, have stoked fears that China is slowing at a faster rate than Beijing and many economists thought.

Despite the slower growth, BHP and Rio Tinto (RIO) both said they are pushing ahead with plans to sharply increase their production of iron ore, as well as other commodities. Rio and BHP are the second- and third-largest seaborne iron- ore producers after Brazilian miner Vale SA (VALE).

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Iron Ore Miners Eye Slower China Growth; Upbeat Long-Term

On strikes, Samaras, Venizelos, corruption, Athens center

Re: Seamen's strike

We know so many friends who are not coming to Greece for holidays this year. They are not prepared to risk disruptions such as these.

David Wardle Selia, Crete

Elections

So slithering Adonis has welcomed back five of the MPs he expelled for voting against the second bailout; and just in time for the upcoming elections. Think Tony would have welcomed them back if he was polling at 40%? Of course the much publicised act of voting against the second bailout was offset by the much quieter act of voting for the laws that implement that very bailout. Seems like business as usual in Greek politics. Adonis and the honourable five must really believe the people are that dumb! The upcoming election will show us if they are correct in their assumptions. If charlatans like these get re-elected then the situation is truly futile and there is no hope of salvation for suffering Hellas.

On a positive note, cheers to Olympiakos for a fine run in the Europa.

John Dimitropoulos

Re: Interview with Juncker

I would advise against believing a word this gentleman says. He himself has admitted in an interview once that sometimes it becomes necessary for a politician to lie. He then went on to deny that a secret meeting would take place at a Luxembourg castle only to be later photographed at his arrival there. The saying goes One who lies once will lie again. So, there is no reason to believe him.

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On strikes, Samaras, Venizelos, corruption, Athens center

March 20, 2012 - Northwoods League (Northwoods) Green Bay Bullfrogs FrogVille, Wi- The Green Bay Bullfrogs have announced the roster additions of David Armendariz and Chris Hoo to the 2012 roster. Both players are sophomores at Cal Poly. The Mustangs are off to one of their best starts in recent years at 12-7 and are ranked #33 in the USA Today Division I baseball poll. Both players played significantly as freshman and this year have stepped into prominent roles for Cal Poly. During Head Coach Larry Lee's first nine years at the helm, Cal Poly has had 17 players drafted in the top ten rounds of the Major League Baseball Draft and has qualified for the program's first ever Division I baseball regional.

David Armendariz currently has settled into the middle of the Cal Poly order as their everyday left fielder. Armendariz, a native of Granada Hills, Calif, has appeared in each of Cal Poly's first 19 games, starting 18. In 70 at-bats, Armendariz is currently hitting .271 with one double, one triple and one home run. He leads the Mustangs with six stolen bases. While he has not appeared in any games on the mound for the Mustangs, Armendariz is expected to be a contributor out of the Bullfrog bullpen this summer.

Like many players that have suited up in Green Bay, Armendariz spent the summer following his freshman year playing in the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League (WCCBL). A member of the league champion Corvallis Knights, the 6'1" Armendariz was named his team's Most Valuable Player and was named first-team all WCCBL on his way to leading the team with 23 RBI and 10 stolen bases. He was rated the 17th best prospect in the WCCBL by Perfect Game following the season and recently was named the 283rd best propect nationally for the 2013 draft by the same source.

Chris Hoo has been Cal Poly's starting catcher in 14 of the team's first 19 games. Hoo is quickly becoming known as one of the top defensive catchers in college baseball. While Hoo is hitting just .184 (9/49) thus far this spring, he is second on the team with four doubles. The Cupertino, Calif. native has thrown out an impressive seven of twelve baserunners attempting to steal as well as already picking off four baserunners. Hoo has been the anchor of a Cal Poly staff with an impressive 3.42 team ERA.

"Cal Poly sent us one of the most talented players in Bullfrogs history last summer in Mitch Haniger," Bullfrogs Field Manager Jordan Bischel said. "Coach Lee and his staff have made a priority of sending some of their very best players to Green Bay for the upcoming summer. We know David and Chris will be extremely talented and well-coached. David will provide a great combination of power and speed in the middle of our order while also being able to give us a low 90's fastball out of the bullpen. Top tier catching is getting harder and harder to find and Chris has proven to be one of the finest catchers on the West Coast. We fully expect him to be one of the very best catchers in the Northwoods League this summer."

The Bullfrogs open up their 6th season in FrogVille, Wisconsin on May 30 at 6:35 against the expansion Lakeshore Chinooks. Please call 920-497-7225or log on to http://www.greenbaybullfrogs.comfor more information. The Green Bay Bullfrogs are a part of the 16-team Northwoods League. The Northwoods League has more teams, plays more games, and draws more fans than any other Summer Collegiate League in North America .

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Originally posted here:
Bullfrogs Sign Pair from Nationally Ranked Cal-Poly

PEORIA, Ariz. -- Over the course of his 24 years, Dustin Ackley has played every position on a baseball field. He was a catcher when he was 11 and 12. He pitched as a kid as well, enough so that by the time he reached college at North Carolina, he needed Tommy John surgery to repair an elbow that never recovered from his high school glory days.

Ackley played first base his final year at North Carolina in deference to the recovering elbow, but he was drafted by the Mariners as an outfielder, given his athleticism and success there earlier in his college career.

As the star athlete on his youth teams, he'd been asked to play shortstop and third base over the years as well.

The one position he'd never tried? That would be second base, of course, the spot where the Mariners shifted him shortly after he entered the organization as the No. 2 overall pick in the 2009 Draft.

But the versatile Ackley is finally feeling at home in his new home. So much so that he says he's hitting the ball much better this spring because he's had more time to focus on that part of his game, rather than worrying about learning a new defensive position.

And, yeah, it's reached the point where if you ask Ackley where he belongs on the field, he'd list second base.

"I definitely feel more comfortable there now than I would playing any other position," he said. "Second base was the last spot I hadn't played, but I've never played any one long enough to where I felt like, 'OK, that is my position.' But I've been playing second base going on three years now, and that feels natural to me now."

That is good news for the Mariners, because a comfortable Ackley could be a more productive Ackley. And without question, the youngster from Winston-Salem, N.C., is a huge part of the club's offensive hopes as a smooth-hitting left-hander who can hit for average and be a run producer as well.

"I'm real excited for this season," Ackley said. "I feel real confident this year, just how my body and my swing and defense feel. This is the best I've felt in a long time, so I'm hoping to continue that for the start of the season and just kind of carry it through the whole year."

Last season, Ackley was called up from Triple-A Tacoma in mid-June and immediately became one of the Mariners' best hitters. Despite a final-month slump when he was battling a sore leg, he hit .273 with 16 doubles, seven triples and six home runs in 90 games.

Read more:
Safe at second: Ackley comfortable at keystone

The collapsed ceiling is seen through a second floor window of the house where a floor collapsed Saturday in Queens. / By Robert Mecea, AP

NEW YORK (AP) The buildings department says the three-story house in New York City where a third floor collapsed during a party was issued five violations in 2004.

According to the New York Post, the agency said the violations ranged from not having the proper permits for construction to failure to fence off the work.

Neighbors say additions were made to the house in the Queens section of the city in 2004 and 2005.

The agency says about 100 teens were attending a party at the house Saturday night when the floor collapsed. Two people were hospitalized, one with serious injuries.

The cause of the collapse is under investigation.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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NYC house where floor collapsed had been cited before

Apple seeded the latest version on its developer preview of Mountain Lion on Friday, and the newest additions to the OS have been detailed. There have been three new notable features added to Beta 2: Twitter integration in the Notification Center, iCloud support for tabbed browsing, and a permission request when apps access contact information.

Apple included a Notification Center in Mountain Lion, offering similar functionality to what services like Growl provide. In the first developer preview, only Apple built apps were able to make use of notifications, but now 9to5Mac have discovered that you can receive Twitter notifications for mentions and direct messages.

The second new feature is iCloud support for tabs. Mountain Lion will keep track of what tabs you have open in Safari, then upload that data to iCloud so the same tabs will be synced across other Mac machines and iOS devices. Right now you manually activate the feature with the iCloud button added to Safari.

Finally, Apple have added a warning notification when an app is trying to access user and contact information. This is most likely in response to the way iOS app Path accessed and uploaded contact information to their servers without asking permission first.

At its core, Mountain Lion has been designed to bring features from iOS over to OS X in order to unify both operating systems. Features that have been worked into Mountain Lion include tight iCloud integration, iMessage support, the Notifications Center, and Twitter integration. Check out our full Mountain Lion preview here.

[via Cult of Mac]

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Mountain Lion Preview 2 adds Twitter notifications and iCloud tab support

JUPITER, Fla. -- The sound off the bat is completely different from a year ago.

It's loud and it's forceful and it has a familiar ring to it. It's a sign that Hanley Ramirez seems to be back in a big way.

The Marlins' three-time All-Star once again is stinging the ball. On Saturday, he blistered his second home run of the Grapefruit League season, connecting on a two-run shot to left off Twins right-hander Carl Pavano in the fifth inning.

A ripped 227 pounds, Ramirez is off to a blazing Spring Training start, going 9-for-19 (.474) in his first eight games. If you count his opposite-field drive against the University of Miami on March 6 at Marlins Park, the newly converted third baseman has three blasts in the exhibition season.

"It's a big year for him," hitting coach Eduardo Perez said. "I think he's going to be again one of the top players in the league, and maybe the top player in the league. Health is huge. Environment is great, and he's being put into a situation to succeed. I've got to give him a lot of credit. He's learning a new position. He's embracing it. He's not letting that affect at all his offense, and we're seeing it now. Hopefully he can carry it into the season."

After an injury-plagued 2011, Ramirez is striving to return to the form that made him one of the elite players in the National League.

"That's what I'm aiming for, that's what we're doing in Spring Training, to get ready for the season," the 28-year-old slugger said.

What Ramirez didn't talk about much a year ago is the pain he experienced on a daily basis. He doesn't want to make any excuses for his worst pro season, in which he finished with a .243 batting average, 10 home runs and 45 RBIs in 92 games.

In assessing his down year, much was made over the fact he missed the final two months due to a left shoulder injury, which required surgery in September.

Before the shoulder dislodged against the Mets at Citi Field in early August, Ramirez previously was dealing with some back issues.

The rest is here:
Healthy Hanley looking like his old self again

Monte Stewart VANCOUVER The Canadian Press Published Friday, Mar. 16, 2012 9:39PM EDT Last updated Saturday, Mar. 17, 2012 11:17AM EDT

The Vancouver Whitecaps are in their second MLS season, but have yet to achieve something that teams usually earn much sooner their first road win.

The Whitecaps will try to make amends for going winless on the road in 2011 when they meets Chivas USA on Saturday in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, Calif. Captain Jay DeMerit said the Whitecaps have to build on the momentum they developed while blanking the Montreal Impact 2-0 in their season opener last weekend.

We had a tough time getting that away monkey off our back last year, DeMerit said. So the mentality is to get that off our back as early as possible this year, so we can just get on with it and focus on one game at a time. If we can continue to keep the same attitude and do the things we did right last week, it should come fairly quickly.

The Whitecaps went 0-12-5 on the road last season and finished last overall with a 6-18-10 mark.

DeMerit and other returnees hoping the new attitude brought by first-year coach Martin Rennie will carry over away from home.

It's a fresh season, so you don't worry about those things too much, but as those things go on, then the pressure seems to mount, DeMerit said.

He said the Whitecaps allowed too many easy goals on the road in last season. Away from home, teams have to play a more compact, defensive-oriented style.

We have to get guys behind the ball and make sure we're solid at the back and as an 11 and then use our quality up front, he said after practice Friday. We know we can, but there's a formula that goes into that, and we didn't get that formula right enough last year.

The Whitecaps squandered leads at times on the road last season, when few of their players had MLS experience. DeMerit the core unit now experienced in the league's intricacies, but the club still has to play smarter.

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Whitecaps still looking for first road win

Nunley Custom Homes, a design-build general contracting firm, shares remodeling ideas for multigenerational living in the San Francisco Bay Area.

San Francisco, CA (PRWEB) March 16, 2012

Were definitely seeing more home remodeling projects involving in-law suites, says Joe Nunley, owner of Nunley Custom Homes. For example, were currently in the process of designing a new pool cabana to accommodate an adult child. Other areas that can be utilized to accommodate multigenerational living include second story additions, basement renovations, garage conversions, and remodeling large attic spaces.

If designed properly, remodeling a home can provide much needed privacy, enhance a blended household, and bring families closer together. Here are three tips that can make a big difference when multiple generations live together:

Separate entries, in-suite bathrooms and/or kitchen areas can add privacy and independence for family members. In addition, a separate sitting area in a bedroom or on-suite can create a valuable retreat from a busy, noisy household for an aging parent.

Decisions about remodeling a home must be weighed carefully including selecting the team of professionals to design and build the space of a homeowners dreams. With 35 years experience, Nunley Custom Homes design team takes the time to learn about a customers lifestyle and expectations to create a space specific to their individual needs. Their one-stop shop approach to remodeling allows homeowners to make a single phone call to handle the entire construction project including conceptual design, architectural drawings, drafting, engineering, permits, and construction.

For more information about this company, please visit their updated website http://www.nunleyremodeling.com.

About Nunley Remodeling

For more than 35 years, discriminating homeowners in the San Francisco Bay Area have turned to Nunley Remodeling for a complete range of design build and home improvement services including room additions, kitchen remodeling, bathroom remodeling, and permits. They serve the San Francisco Peninsula area including Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Palo Alto, Mountain View, Saratoga, Cupertino, Santa Clara, Menlo Park, Atherton, Redwood City, and Sunnyvale.

Joe Nunley Nunley Custom Homes (650) 390-9545 Email Information

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Los Altos Home Remodeling Contractor Nunley Custom Homes Announces Renovation Tips for the “Sandwich” Generation

JUPITER, Fla. (USA TODAY) So much is new this year for the Miami Marlins beginning with the name that some of the most crucial factors in turning the team back into a contender can get overlooked.

"New uniforms, new stadium, new personalities, new TV show, new everything," says right fielder Giancarlo Stanton, who you might remember as Mike Stanton the last two seasons.

See, everything is new, even one of the most talented returning players wanting to be identified by his given first name. That TV show is The Franchise, a season-long no-holds-barred inside look at the team and colorful manager (new, of course) Ozzie Guillen.

All of the hoopla about the additions of Guillen, shortstop Jose Reyes, closer Heath Bell and starting pitchers Mark Buehrle and Carlos Zambrano is warranted and creates expectations far above 2011's last-place finish team President David Samson says a .500 season would be "a complete failure."

But .500 or better isn't likely to happen without significant contributions from players who were Florida Marlins a season ago.

Start with Stanton, the powerful man-child who has plenty of long-distance shots among his 56 home runs in his first 875 big-league at-bats.

But leave it to straightforward Guillen to sum up his expectations for Stanton, 22.

"I don't want a long one," Guillen says. "I want a lot of homers. Don't give me a 500-foot homer. Give me 40 390s."

He has similar goals on the other side of the ball.

"I've got this man throwing 200 innings and winning 21 games," Guillen says of No. 1 starter Josh Johnson, who had a 1.64 ERA last season, but in only 60 innings. "Is he going to do it? That's what everybody wants."

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Preview: Marlins hope makeover is more than fish story