Under the settlement, which states are currently
reviewing to decide whether they will join, the
states and a separate “monitoring committee” will
have the authority to go to court to enforce the
terms and seek penalties of up to $5 million per
violation.

A strong enforcement mechanism could help the
states and the Obama administration sell the deal to
the public, after left-leaning activist groups have
questioned whether the negotiations were too
lenient on the banks.

Negotiations between state and federal officials to
resolve allegations of misconduct in servicing home
loans have stretched into their second year.

The delay is partly due to some states trying to
extract a bigger settlement from the banks and to
reserve their ability to file more mortgage-related
suits in the future.

However, the deal now looks imminent.
States have just a few more days to make a
decision on whether they will sign on. And U.S.

Housing and Urban Development Secretary Shaun
Donovan said during a White House briefing on
Wednesday that a final legal settlement will be
reached “in the coming days.”

The settlement, expected to be filed as a consent
judgment in federal court in Washington, D.C., will
last for 3-1/2 years, according to documents laying
out the pending deal’s enforcement terms.

Joseph Smith, the banking commissioner in North
Carolina, is expected to serve as the monitor on the
settlement, people familiar with the matter told
Reuters on Monday.

In exchange for up to $25 billion, much in the form
of cutting mortgage debt for distressed
homeowners, the banks will resolve state and
federal lawsuits about servicing misconduct and
faulty foreclosures, and some lawsuits about how
they made the loans.

Banks have been accused of robo-signing
documents and other sloppy paperwork in unlawfully rushing to deal with a flood of foreclosures triggered by the 2007-2009 financial
crisis.

The core group of banks involved in settlement talks
are Bank of America Corp, Wells Fargo & Co,
JPMorgan Chase & Co, Citigroup Inc. and Ally
Financial Inc.

The final value of the settlement will depend on
which states it includes, and could drop sharply if
states like California, one of the hardest hit by the
foreclosure crisis, do not join.

On Wednesday, Oregon Attorney General John
Kroger said his state will join the settlement.

He said Oregon can expect to receive around $30
million from the settlement, and its distressed
homeowners can expect around $100 million to
$200 million in relief.

The mortgage settlement is just one piece of a
larger plan that the Obama administration hopes
will get relief to home buyers and help boost the
economy.

Also on Wednesday, the Obama
administration introduced a $5 billion to $10 billion
package to help homeowners refinance their loans.

GIVING THE STATES SOME MUSCLE

Some states have raised concerns that banks have
not adequately followed through on prior settlements, a concern that has pushed government
negotiators to establish more forceful enforcement
mechanisms in this deal than have been used in the
past.

“I’d like to see very detailed, specific regulations on
mortgage servicers and what they can and cannot
do,” said Max Gardner, a nationally known consumer
bankruptcy attorney in Shelby, North Carolina.

“Not
just the proverbial ‘we will obey the law from now
on.’”

The enforcement terms mark progress in states’
ability to directly monitor mortgage servicing at national banks.

For decades, big banks fought state
efforts to enforce consumer protection laws by
arguing that national banking laws pre-empted their
authority.

Under the settlement, the banks will set up internal
quality control groups to assess their mortgage
servicing units’ compliance with the terms of the
agreement, and turn over quarterly reports to the
monitor about servicing complaints.

If the monitor concludes the group “did not correctly
implement” the reviews, the monitor can have a third party review the work.

If the monitor finds information that a servicer “may
be engaged in a pattern of noncompliance,” he can undertake a more thorough review, and impose even tougher standards.

Servicer compliance will be measured through
detailed information about unlawful foreclosure
sales and incorrect denials of loan modifications, according to the documents.

If the servicer continues to violate any of the terms,
any of the states or a monitoring committee can go to court and seek penalties of up to $1 million for the first “uncured” violation and up to $5 million for a second.

Servicers will pick up the tab for the monitor, the documents said.

The monitoring committee is comprised of representatives of state attorneys general, the U.S. Justice Department, and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, who will review the work of the monitor.

The document says that all the terms are subject to approval by federal banking regulators.

- Facebook memiliki lebih dari 800 juta pengguna aktif. Jika itu adalah sebuah negara akan menjadi yang terbesar ketiga di dunia setelah China (berpenduduk 1,34 miliar) dan India (berpenduduk 1,17 miliar).

- Dengan 152,5 juta anggota, Amerika Serikat memiliki sebagian besar pengguna Facebook diikuti oleh India dengan 43,5 juta, Indonesia dengan 4,31 juta, Brasil dengan 37,9 juta dan Meksiko dengan 32 juta. (Sumber: socialbakers.com)

- Facebook adalah jejaringan sosial paling populer
di setiap negara di dunia dengan pengecualian dari China, Jepang, Polandia, Rusia, Korea Selatan dan Vietnam. (Sumber: comScore)

- Facebook telah mencetak empat miliarder: Mark
Zuckerberg, Dustin Moskovitz, Eduardo Saverin dan Sean Parker.
Kekayaan bersih Zuckerberg yang berusia 27 tahun diperkirakan 17,5 miliar dolar AS pada daftar orang Amerika terkaya 2011 menurut Majalah Forbes.

Moskovitz memiliki kekayaan bersih sebesar 3,5 miliar dolar AS, namun mengalahkan Zuckerberg untuk gelar miliarder termuda di dunia, karena lahir delapan hari setelah dia. Saverin yang kelahiran Brazil, yang meninggalkan Facebook lebih awal setelah bertengkar dengan Zuckerberg, memiliki kekayaan bersih sebesar dua miliar dolar AS.

Parker, salah satu pendiri Napster yang sempat menjabat sebagai presiden Facebook, memiliki kekayaan bersih sebesar 2,1 miliar dolar AS.

- Chris Hughes, salah satu dari empat pendiri Facebook, menjabat sebagai Direktur Pengorganisasian Online untuk kampanye Presiden Barack Obama pada 2008.

- Halaman yang paling populer di Facebook adalah halaman Facebook sendiri dengan 60,2 juta fans diikuti oleh sebuah halaman poker Texas HoldEm Poker dengan 56,6 juta penggemar, sebuah halaman Eminem dengan 52 juta penggemar, sebuah halaman YouTube dengan 51,3 juta penggemar dan sebuah halaman Rihanna dengan 50,3 juta penggemar.

- 50 persen dari pengguna Facebook aktif “log in” pada setiap hari tertentu dan rata-rata pengguna Facebook memiliki 130 teman.

- Lebih dari 250 juta foto diunggah ke dalam Facebook per hari dan lebih dari 350 juta pengguna aktif mengakses Facebook menggunakan perangkat mobile.

- “The Social Network,” film 2010 tentang asal-usul dari Facebook memenangkan empat Golden Globes

- termasuk untuk film terbaik dan sutradara terbaik

– tetapi gagal pada Oscar dengan penghargaan hanya untuk “best adapted screenplay, original score dan film editing”.

- Facebook, yang saat ini mempekerjakan 3.000 orang, telah mengumumkan rencana untuk mempekerjakan “ribuan” lebih selama tahun depan.

You say good morning
When it’s midnight
Going out of my head
Alone in this bed
I wake up to your sunset
It’s drivin me mad
I miss you so bad
and my heart heart heart is so jetlagged
heart heart heart is so jetlagged
heart heart heart is so jetlagged
is so jetlagged

What time is it where you are?
5 more days and i’ll be home
I keep your picture in my car
I hate the thought of you alone
I’ve been keepin busy all the time
Just to try to keep you off my mind
Tryin to figure out the time zones makin me crazy

You say good morning
When it’s midnight
Going out of my head
Alone in this bed
I wake up to your sunset
It’s drivin me mad
I miss you so bad
and my heart heart heart is so jetlagged
heart heart heart is so jetlagged
heart heart heart is so jetlagged
is so jetlagged

I miss you so bad
I miss you so bad
I miss you so bad
I miss you so bad
I miss you so bad
I wanna share your horizon
I miss you so bad
and see the same sunrising
I miss you so bad
Turn the hour hand back to when you were holding me.

You say good morning
When it’s midnight
Going out of my head
Alone in this bed
I wake up to your sunset
It’s drivin me mad
I miss you when you say
good morning
But it’s midnight
Going out of my head
Alone in this bed
I wake up to your sunset
It’s drivin me mad
I miss you so bad
and my heart heart heart is so jetlagged
heart heart heart is so jetlagged
heart heart heart is so jetlagged
is so jetlagged
is so jetlagged

On Tuesday, the online retailer warned that it may post an operating loss for the first quarter, as it spends heavily on new categories like tablets and on infrastructure for digital media and cloud computing services.

“While we had suspected Amazon’s first-quarter margin guidance would underscore its ongoing investment spend, we were surprised by its lower-than-expected first-quarter revenue guide,” Barclays Capital analyst Anthony DiClemente, who cut his price target on the stock 16 percent to $190, said in a note.

However, several analysts said the company’s recent shift to more third-party sales and strong growth of digital media and services would continue to lift margins even as it slows revenue growth.

“Third party margins are considerably higher than those of direct (sales) as there are essentially no costs of goods and only limited fees overall for credit cards and bad debt,” J.P. Morgan analyst Doug Anmuth noted.

Amazon gets about 5-15 percent commission on transactions done by other sellers on its website, as opposed to recognizing the full retail price as revenue on items it sells, according to Canaccord Genuity analyst Michael Graham.

The company had to rely more on third-party sales last year as theThailand floods dented supply in such segments as disk drives, cameras and peripherals.

Amazon also said it saw a jump in sales of higher-margin digital content such as e-books, video, music and apps.

Of the 40 analysts covering the stock, 13 rate it a “strong buy,” 12 a “buy,” and 14 a “hold,” with a mean price target of $233.90, according to Thomson Reuters’s Starmine data. Only one analyst rates it a “strong sell.”

Amazon shares have fallen more than 20 percent since hitting a record high in October, partly on concern about how much the company is investing.

They were down 10 percent at $174.94 in early trade on Wednesday on the Nasdaq.

“We think we could see some further weakness in Amazon shares in the very near term, but we’d view further pull-backs as buying opportunities,” analyst Anmuth, who maintained his ‘overweight’ rating on the stock, said.

The private sector added 170,000 jobs last month, the ADP National Employment Report showed, shy of economists’ expectations for a gain of 185,000 jobs.

It was the smallest gain in three months and inline with economists’ forecasts for private job gains in the more comprehensive labor market report on Friday.

ADP also revised down December’s private payrolls to an increase of 292,000 from the previously reported 325,000. The report is jointly developed with Macroeconomic Advisers LLC.

“The previous two months (ADP) has been well above consensus. With this month, we had a bit of disappointment. The ADP (number) kind of says it’s the right number for the Friday’s payroll report,” said John Canally, economist and investment strategist at LPL Financial in Boston.

U.S. stock index futures held on to gains immediately following the data.

Economists often refer to the ADP report to fine-tune their expectations for the payrolls numbers, though it is not always accurate in predicting the outcome.

The ADP figures have had a tendency to overshoot the government report lately. The ADP report has come in stronger than the private payrolls component of the nonfarm jobs report for three straight months, averaging a 62,000 overshoot in the fourth quarter of last year, according to Jonathan Basile, director of U.S. economics at Credit Suisse.

Friday’s report is expected to show the economy created 150,000 jobs, and a gain in private payrolls of 170,000, according to Reuters data.

Despite the expected increase, prospects for a third round of quantitative easing from the Federal Reserve remain good as long as unemployment stays above 8 percent, Michael Woolfolk, a senior currency strategist at BNY Mellon, wrote in a note.

The unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 8.5 percent.

She’s 0-3 so far, but Jennifer Lopez won’t rule out
another trip down the aisle.
“I don’t know. I don’t know.

I don’t know,” the singer
told Matt Lauer this morning on The Today Show,
responding to whether or not she’d ever get married
again. “It’s not time to think about that yet. It’s still fresh.”

That’s certainly a fair response, although J. Lo has
been getting super cozy over the last few weeks with
24-year old Casper Smart, dining with him and others
at Casa Tua in Miami on Saturday and even jumping
on the table to perform a dance for her man, sources say.

Over the weekend, Univision premiered ¡Q’Viva! The
Chosen, a talent search competition that actually
stars Lopez and ex-husband Marc Anthony.

Isn’t that
a bit weird, Lauer asked?
“Marc and I were friends before we got married,”
Jennifer said.

“And we always worked together, so it
wasn’t an unnatural thing for us to continue working together.

And, obviously, we have children together,
so it’s not going to be like he’s not in my life.

He’s always going to be in my life.

“There is real love there.”

Anda masih pusing memikirkan
tempat untuk berakhir pekan nanti? Bandung masih
menjadi pilihan alternatif buat Anda.

Selain
jaraknya lebih dekat dengan Jakarta, Kota ini
mempunyai banyak destinasi pilihan yang menarik
untuk dikunjungi salah satunya adalah Sapu Lidi.

Sapu Lidi adalah sebuah tempat makan yang
menarik untuk dikunjungi pada akhir pekan nanti
lengkap dengan resort untuk menginap.

Sapu Lidi
sendiri terletak di Jl Sersan Bajuri, Kompleks Graha
Puspa, Cihideung, Bandung. Tempat ini
menyuguhkan tempat makan dengan suasana
pedesaan khas Sunda.

Disini Anda bisa menyantap berbagai hidangan yang
ada di saung-saung yang dikelilingi area
persawahan lengkap dengan orang-orangan sawah.

Selain area persawahan, Sapu Lidi juga menyiapkan
saung makan di tengah danau.

Anda bisa menikmati
kuliner sambil memandangi keindahan alam
persawahan dan danau khas tatar Sunda.

Sapu Lidi menawarkan berbagai makanan khas
Sunda mulai dari gurame bakar, gurame goreng,
ayam kahaseupan, ayam bakar warisan, ayam bakar daun, dan karedok.

Tak lupa juga ada lalapan
sebagai teman Anda bersantap, untuk lebih meresapi nikmatnya kuliner khas Sunda.

Karakteristik khas Sunda tak hanya terlihat lewat
masakan dan suasana sekitar tempat ini.

Pertama kali menginjakkan kaki di tempat ini Anda
akan disambut oleh para pelayan yang
menggunakan pakaian tradisional Sunda lengkap dengan alunan musik Sunda.

Puas menyantap
hidangan, Anda bisa menginap di resor dengan nama yang sama, Sapu Lidi Resort.

Resor ini menyajikan suasana pedesaan khas Sunda.

Di resort ini terdapat sekitar 25 rumah yang berbentuk joglo.

Rumah Joglo ini berada di sekitar danau, jadi Anda
tidak hanya bisa bermalam tapi juga berwisata danau menggunakan sampan.

Waktu terbaik untuk
berwisata danau adalah pada malam hari, sambil
menikmati suasana malam pedesaan dan menyaksikan langit Bandung.

Di sini, Anda benar-benar diajak untuk menikmati suasana pedesaan
dan melupakan segala rutinitas pekerjaan selama di ibukota.

Tak cuma berpengaruh
ke wilayah musik, ternyata dari dandanan sampai
ke bentuk tubuh mereka diperbincangkan di
kalangan artis lokal sampai media internasional.

Dalam hal dandanan, boyband SM*SH terlihat
mengadaptasi gaya dari pendahulunya di Korea dan
Jepang.
Konsep dandanan girlband lokal pun banyak
mengadaptasi gaya oriental modern ini.
Bermain
dengan mood yang ceria lewat warna-warna terang
banyak dilakukan anggota girlband lokal, seperti
yang sebelumnya pernah Anda lihat pada aksi-aksi
grup sejenis dari Jepang dan Korea.

• JKT48
Disebut sebagai “grup idola” oleh pendirinya,
Yasushi Akimoto, karena menyajikan aksi menarik
lagu dan koreografi.

Istilah idola yang dipopulerkan
ternyata berdampak bagus sampai ke negeri asal
sister group-nya di Jepang. Seperti grup pusatnya,
AKB48, grup yang pada tahap pertamanya ini diisi
oleh 28 wanita muda yang cantik ini memiliki basis
fans yang solid di Jepang.

• Cherry Belle
Grup asal Bandung dengan sembilan anggota ini
dibentuk karena terinspirasi dari video-video
penampilan Girls’ Generation atau yang akrab disebut SNSD.

Tak hanya mengadaptasi gaya
pendahulunya, Cherry Belle juga menyanyikan
lagu-lagu berirama pop yang ceria dengan lirik
ringan.

• Supergirlies
Terbilang baru hadir di industri musik, tanpa diduga
Supergirlies langsung memenangkan penghargaan
Dahsyatnya Awards 202 kategori Girl Band Terdahsyat.

Pada KapanLagi, para personil
Supergirlies mengakui bahwa mereka memang
mengambil gaya eksentriknya Harajuku sebagai identitas fashion.

• Tina Toon with D’Girls
Mantan penyanyi cilik, Tina Toon, membuat
girlband dengan teman-temannya setelah lama
menjalani kariernya sendirian.

Grup yang langsung
dipimpinnya ini sering tampil dengan fashion yang
memikat mata, segar, dan penuh warna.

7 Icons
Video “Playboy”-nya di YouTube meraih statistik
tinggi, reff lagunya pun disenandungkan banyak orang dari dewasa sampai anak kecil. Hadirnya
girlband satu ini menjadi salah satu pemicu bermunculannya fenomena grup sejenis di tanah air.

Kalau di boyband, nama SM*SH yang paling diingat orang, di girlband hal serupa terjadi pada 7 Icons.