Do I Owe A Real Estate Commission If The Contract Has Expired ...

Q: I live in Tennessee and placed my house on the market with an agent for six months. I did not receive any offers. I lowered the price three times, made improvements and extended the contract for two more months and still not one offer. My contract expires today and I want to take the house off the market and start all over with a new agent. Do I owe the original agent a commission?
?Leonan, Franklin, TN

A: Dear Franklin, TN

If a buyer who had looked at your home during the period of the first agent listing makes an offer during the protection period, if it is on your listing contract, you may be liable for commissions; however, since you are listing with a new agent that protection period, if it exists, is terminated and you have no further obligations to the first agent.

It is a tough market out there and, though it might seem like the lack of offers must be the fault of the agent, may I recommend that you discuss the situation fully with your first agent before moving on, as he/she may have invested considerably in marketing it on your behalf. It could very well be that the second agent in today?s market cannot do much differently.

Good luck to you on the prompt sale of your home!

JoyceM
Joyce Mitchell is a Realtor? with Mitchell & Associates Real Estate in Bigfork, MT.

A: It depends on your listing agreement. Remember, always look to that (specifically the termination clause) to see what it says. Sometimes agents put automatic renewals or if not if they found a potential buyer and are working on a prospect and that prospect doesnt buy immediately but later on (say after your listing agreement expires) you may be liable as the agent may claim ?procuring cause.? In my book REO BOOM i discuss how real estate agents operate especially with bank owned properties (REOs). Remember, the letter of the law always prevails. good luck.
Aram Shah is a Realtor? with Florida Capital Realty in Doral, FL.

A: You may if one of those buyers that were brought to you by the first real estate agent during your contractual period comes back to buy your home. You will have to read carefully the listing agreement that you had with your first real estate agent and if you have any questions about it, contact a real estate attorney and get his/her opinion. Good selling! The market is starting to pick up dramatically in many areas of the country and inventories are low in many which is a formula for better prices and selling success if your home is priced right. That all depends upon your specific area, my comments are about Brevard County Florida in particular.
David Congdon is a Realtor? with Islands International Realty in Satellite Beach, FL.

A: It depends on what your contract states and the laws that are specific to your state, but typically the way that commission works, is that you do not owe any commission to the agent if your property does not sell. Please be sure and check your contract or have another agent that is familiar with your state laws to review your contract to find the information that you need. I hope this has helped you. Good luck to you!
Misty Perkins is a Realtor? with CENTURY 21 Gail Roe & Associates in Temple, TX.

A: When you find a new listing agent, discuss your concerns with him, before you agree to list. Also, read your original listing agreement and check for an agent?s protection period clause that would protect the agent in case a buyer that saw the property while listed originally, decided to purchase the home while listed with your new listing agent. Typically, the protection clauses do not exist in listing agreements and you would not have to pay the previous agent a commission. However, it is always best to be safe now than sorry later. Do your due diligence and check your current listing agreement and you could also have your New listing agent double check for you as well.
Ed Corbett is a Realtor? with Keller Williams Realty, First Atlanta in Atlanta, GA.

A: This would be entirely decided by the contract you signed. But many listing agreements say that if a buyer goes through the home while you have a contract with agent A and later buys the house, you might owe a commission. Discuss this with the new agent and see what they suggest. You should never have to pay twice.
Linda Walters is a Realtor? with Sage Realty LLC in Wayne, PA.

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Source: http://rock-n-rollrealestateagent.com/do-i-owe-a-real-estate-commission-if-the-contract-has-expired/

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Mitt Romney Confirms What His Critics Assumed All Along (ContributorNetwork)

COMMENTARY | The media have been doing backflips since Mitt Romney said on February 1 that "I'm not concerned about the very poor because they have a social safety net in place." Now, I am a fairly liberal person so this may sound coarse, but weren't we already aware of this? A party that became increasingly enthralled with the flat tax early in the nominating process, the party that claims wealth trickles down, and the party of big business doesn't really have any ties to the very poor. During an interview with the New York Times Rick Perry explained his flat tax proposal and when asked about how it might affect income inequality he said he didn't care about income inequality as long as people had jobs.

Now I'm not assigning a value judgement to what Romney said because he didn't say that he hates poor people and he didn't say that all poor people are lazy, as Newt Gingrich seemed to allude to earlier in the campaign. He just said he wasn't concerned about poor people. Now of course there are no shortage of studies that have found poverty to be a bigger problem then Mitt Romney seems to think it is, including the reports from Bloomberg that more than 20 million Americans live in a household with income of less than half the federal and that the portion of the population in that category which is the highest in at least 35 years and has almost doubled since 1975, from 3.7 percent then to 6.7 percent in 2010. Yet the Republican Party as a whole seems to continue to cling on to this belief that the free market, if it were freed from the painful burden that is government oversight and regulation, will be able to sort out these issues.

Capitalism is the greatest system ever devised of creating and spreading wealth, but it is also a system that has winners and losers, which is why it woks so well. It's a kill or be killed system, but in a system where people can benefit so much off of the takeover and downsizing of companies just as Bain Capital and many other do, shouldn't there be a larger support for the unfortunate who have ended up losing? Shouldn't the beneficiaries of this system feel some obligation to the government and economic system that has allowed them to amass such great wealth by paying a slightly higher tax rate and allowing for a larger safety net for the casualties of our Darwinian economic system? I certainly believe so, and I sense there will be a growing support for that idea in the near future as economic inequality continues to expand exponentially.

John Harwood, http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/10/25/10-questions-for-rick-perry/, The New York Times

Mike Dorning, http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-02-03/romney-s-very-poor-at-highest-percentage-in-35-years-as-safety-gaps-grow.html, Bloomberg

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120203/us_ac/10923526_mitt_romney_confirms_what_his_critics_assumed_all_along

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Breastfeeding tied to stronger lungs, less asthma (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) ? Kids who were breastfed as babies may have better lung function, and a lower risk of asthma, than those who were formula-fed, two new reports suggest.

Researchers said that past studies have found conflicting results when it comes to the effects of breastfeeding on kids' lungs, with some research suggesting that moms with asthma who breastfeed may be putting their kids at risk as well.

But the new research hints that's not the case, and that babies with asthmatic moms may get just as much benefit from breastfeeding, if not more, compared to those with asthma-free mothers.

"I think the evidence is that breastfeeding increases lung volume, independent of if the mother is asthmatic or not," said Dr. Wilfried Karmaus, who studies asthma at the University of South Carolina in Columbia and wasn't involved in the new work.

"If the lung volume is increased, then you are less susceptible to get asthma," he told Reuters Health. "It's important even to tell asthmatic mothers to breastfeed their children."

In one study, published Friday in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, about 1,500 UK kids were followed from their birth in the mid-1990s.

Families responded to surveys related to breastfeeding as well as secondhand smoke exposures and other known asthma risks starting when kids were babies. At age eight to 14, the kids came into the lab for a range of lung function and allergy tests.

Dr. Claudia Kuehni from the University of Bern, Switzerland and her colleagues found that the longer kids were breastfed, the better they performed on one test, measuring the speed of air coming out of the lungs.

On two other tests, which also assess how much air the lungs can hold, breastfeeding for four months or longer was linked to better scores only in kids whose moms had asthma.

The researchers reported that the better lung function did not seem to be related to a history of fewer childhood respiratory infections -- a known benefit of breastfeeding.

Kuehni's team said that the lung boost attributed to breastfeeding might not make a difference for a healthy kid, but on a wider scale, it could mean that breastfeeding would protect more kids from breathing problems.

One limitation of their study, the researchers noted, is that only about one-third of the kids they followed from birth and invited to do lung tests -- more than 4,000 in total -- actually participated, which could skew the results if certain types of kids were more likely to come in than others.

In the other study, from New Zealand, a second group of researchers also followed babies from birth, but instead of testing lung function they asked parents of six-year-olds if their kids had ever been diagnosed with asthma or had used an inhaler or wheezed in the last year.

With data on more than 1,000 kids, including about 200 with asthma at their last visit, a team led by Karen Silvers found that each month of exclusive breastfeeding (without any formula mixed in) was tied to a nine-percent drop in asthma risk.

Silvers, from the University of Otago in Christchurch, and her colleagues reported their findings Sunday in the Journal of Pediatrics.

Karmaus said that researchers have questioned whether breast milk might carry immune cells related to allergies and asthma from mother to baby, putting infants of asthmatic moms at risk of breathing problems -- and that some concerned mothers with asthma may avoid breastfeeding as a result.

But the new findings suggest they shouldn't worry, he said.

He hypothesized that babies' suckling during breastfeeding may strengthen their lungs and help protect them against asthma later -- but that hasn't been proven.

The World Health Organization recommends breastfeeding exclusively for the first six months of life, continued for two years or longer.

Dr. Theresa Guilbert, a pediatric pulmonologist from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health in Madison, said that despite the new findings, it's still "controversial" whether or not asthmatic moms pass on any risk to their babies by breastfeeding.

None of the studies that have been done can prove cause-and-effect one way or the other, she said, and conflicting results might be due to different samples of moms, from areas with different diets and environmental exposures.

"There's a lot of things that breastfeeding is very, very good for," Guilbert, who wasn't involved in the new research, told Reuters Health. "I think the jury's still out on the risk of breastfeeding from mothers that are asthmatic."

But, she concluded, "I don't think any of that (evidence) is now strong enough to tell moms they should stop breastfeeding... because of all the other important benefits that breastfeeding conveys to the child."

SOURCES: http://bit.ly/yCsmfY American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, online February 3, 2012 and http://bit.ly/wVKRCQ Journal of Pediatrics, online January 29, 2012.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/diseases/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120203/hl_nm/us_breastfeeding_lungs

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Archery Bows: Some Information

Archery had a large role in human daily life for thousands of years from prehistoric times until about 1750, when the gun began to supplant it for hunting and warfare very rapidly. Societies all over Europe, north Africa, like Egypt, Persia (Iran), India, China and Japan remember their most skillful archers. I am sure that other countries do too.

Wales produced Twm Sion Catty; England created Robin Hood and Switzerland had William Tell. Greek and Trojan archers are mentioned by name in Homer?s ?Iliad?. Archers all over the world were considered popular heroes like footballers are these days.

It seems that bows were first developed in different parts of the world practically at the same time in the late Paleolithic Age or the early Mesolithic Age. It is interesting that different forms of bows were invented by the different societies around the world and each type of bow was invented to suit the style of warfare that that people conducted and to the environment in which they hunted.

There are too many varieties of bows to explain them all here, but some of the most conventional archery bows are: the longbow, flatbow, shortbow, recurve bow, compound bow and crossbow.

The longbow and the flatbow are similar in size, both can be six feet or more in length, but the cross section of the longbow is ?D? shaped, whereas that of a flatbow is rectangular. A flatbow is usually wider than a longbow. Both can shoot heavy 36 inch arrows long distances with great force ? enough to pierce the armour of the Middle Ages from 250-300 yards.

The shortbow is shorter, as you might gather from its name. It is a short distance bow, used for hunting small animals in regions where a long bow would be too cumbersome such as in woods or forests.

The compound bow is also a shorter bow, but it is extremely powerful because the limbs are not very supple. In order to flex the limbs, use is made of a system of pulleys or cams.

This gives the compound bow enough power (more than 50 pound draw weight) to enable it to be used to hunt bigger game such as deer or bear. The compound bow is a new style, which was only invented in 1966.

Recurve bows have tips that ?point the wrong way? when the bow is unstrung. This gives the recurve more power inch for inch than the long or flatbow, enabling it to be used as an effective weapon for warfare or hunting from horseback.

Crossbows are specialized bows, which can be pre-loaded similar to a gun and shot later. In general, it takes less skill and physical strength to shoot a crossbow.

The arrows are very important too. Arrows can be interchangeable between the bows to a certain extent, but the length should match the draw of the bow. Crossbow bolts are usually very short.

There are two kinds or shooting: instinctive and sight shooting. Sight shooting means using sights of some kind to aim, either by looking down the arrow or using optical fibre sights. Instinctive shooting is more demanding because it is intuitive. It cannot be learned, you have either got it or you ain?t.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece writes on several subjects, but is presently involved with compound hunting bows. If you would like to know more or for special offers, please go to our website at Kids Archery Set.

Tagged as: archery, buddhism, education, government, history, hobbies, hunting, martial arts, other, outdoors, politics, recreation, sports, Uncategorized, war

Source: http://www.thirdagemedia.com/?p=14529

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The Communications Network ? Communications Director-Mountain ...

Location:
Berea, KY

The Organization:
The Mountain Association for Community Economic Development (MACED) is a 35 year-old multi-strategy sustainable economic development organization that seeks to create economic alternatives that work for people and places in need in Central Appalachia and Kentucky. MACED?s long-term goals are a strong and diverse economy; increased family well-being, particularly for low-income people; healthy and protected land, air and water; and an effective and accountable democracy.

MACED is a fast-paced, dynamic and growing organization with a 32-person staff that manages $21 million in total assets. The organization focuses its efforts on sustainable development and change strategies that generate economic and environmental benefits to people and places. These strategies include: 1) providing financial capital and expertise to individuals, businesses and communities, 2) conducting research and engaging in effective communications to support good public policy, and 3) demonstrating effective community economic development efforts that make a difference. MACED has recently completed a new strategic plan that focuses on two sectors (new energy and sustainable forestry), deepens our commitment to entrepreneur and enterprise development, and promotes the development of a new economic vision in Appalachia and Kentucky.

Position Description:
MACED is looking for a highly motivated and experienced communications professional to join its staff as the communications director. This senior position will lead MACED?s efforts to more effectively communicate about our work; increase our ability to influence thinking about development and policy in our region, state and beyond; and market our programs more successfully. Central to this position are a commitment to MACED?s vision and long-term goals along with experience and expertise in the communications field. The communications director will coordinate our communications team and staff; lead the development and management of a communications strategy; oversee MACED-wide communications; and support communications at the program level. The communications director serves on MACED?s management team and is supervised by the president.

Progress toward MACED?s long-term goals requires effective communications. MACED must be able to tell the story of our work, engage in public education and debate about important issues, and reach people and businesses to involve them in MACED?s programs. This new position will provide additional capacity needed to develop a clearer and more coherent communication strategy and increase the volume of effective communications carried out by the organization and its programs.

For MACED as a whole, additional communications capacity and leadership will help strengthen our brand and enhance existing communications vehicles while developing new ways to reach our audiences. The Kentucky Center for Economic Policy (KCEP) will receive a special focus from this position. KCEP is a state-wide MACED initiative that conducts research and advocacy around state fiscal and economic policy issues. The initiative relies heavily on communications to get the word out about research and influence public and decision maker opinions on policy issues. MACED?s demonstration and enterprise development programs rely on effective marketing to generate demand for products including financing and technical assistance. The Appalachian Transition Initiative is a communications effort aimed at fostering public conversation about the region?s evolving future. The communications director will add value to these diverse efforts by helping make our communications clearer, louder and more compelling.

Approximately fifty percent of the communications director?s time will be devoted to the overall MACED communications strategy and organization-wide efforts. Thirty percent will involve program level support and twenty percent will be committed to communications support for the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy. The communications director will coordinate a communications team and will supervise one staff member along with communications contractors.

The duties and responsibilities of the communications director include but are not limited to the following:

Develop and Manage Communications Strategy:

• Facilitate development of MACED communications goals, approach and strategy.Ensure alignment of communications with MACED?s overall mission, vision, goals and five-year plan.
• Coordinate brand development and facilitate brand coherence and flexibility as appropriate across the organization.
• Coordinate the MACED communications team.
• Supervise communications staff and contractors.
• Build the communications capacity and skills of other MACED staff.
• Serve on the MACED management team.

Oversee MACED-wide Communications:

• Manage website design, development and maintenance and increase web audience.
• Oversee expanded social media presence.
• Cultivate relationships with media and develop stories to pitch to media outlets.
• Strengthen contact management systems.
• Develop systems to capture stories of our work in order to document impact and communicate impact to others.
• Oversee design and production of organizational materials including newsletter, impact report and collateral materials.
• Engage in content development including copywriting, layout and production.
• Work with development staff to integrate communications and fundraising.

Support Program Communications Efforts:

• Provide communications support to the Kentucky Center for Economic Policy.
• Provide communications assistance to research and policy team?s other issue campaigns.
• Work with programs to develop and implement marketing plans.
• Support documentation of program work to assist in evaluation and promotion efforts.
• Cooperatively engage in content development and production of program materials including copywriting, editing and design of publications and materials.

Minimum Qualifications and Characteristics:

Knowledge and experience:

• Commitment to sustainable development and to economic, environmental and social justice; five to seven years of work experience in communications, public relations, marketing, journalism and/or advocacy; minimum of a four-year college degree in journalism, communications or a related field; strong design skills and aesthetic sensibilities; broad knowledge of the communications field and experience in production using a variety of media; understanding of marketing; successful experience in supervision and group facilitation; able to work successfully on a team with diverse members.

Personal characteristics:

• Highly self-motivated; highly creative; commitment to strategic thinking and innovative action; ability to both lead and collaborate effectively; well-organized, attentive to detail, and able to work on multiple projects at once; keen sense of humor
• Technology and software: Strong computer skills and strong knowledge of communications-related software.

Communications:

• Strong writing skills; strong interpersonal communication skills.

Physical:

• Close vision with or without corrective lenses necessary for computer work; manual dexterity needed to operate computer; ability to perform assigned duties in a time-efficient manner; valid driver?s license.

Preferred Qualifications and Characteristics:

• Graduate degree in journalism, communications or a related field; experience working in non-profit organizations and in advocacy efforts; knowledge of the Appalachian region and Kentucky; knowledge of economic development and development finance; knowledge of contact management systems.

How to Apply:

Please e-mail your resume, three references and a cover letter specifically explaining why you are a good fit for this position to commdirector@maced.org. Application review will be on-going and continue until the position is filled. For more information about MACED visit www.maced.org.

The position offers a competitive salary, based on experience, plus a generous benefits package. Position is based in Berea, Kentucky. Berea is a beautiful, small college town, an hour south of Lexington, on the edge of the Appalachian region. MACED is an equal opportunity employer.

Source: http://www.comnetwork.org/communications-director-mountain-association-for-community-economic-development/

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What You Should Understand About Bodybuilding Supplements ...

Sports enthusiasts aren?t the only ones stepping into bodybuilding but furthermore ordinary folks. Every single day increasingly more people do bodybuilding because they recognize the numerous wellness positive aspects of weight training and exercise. Hence, what was once considered a recreation turned out to be a big sporting market with commercial endeavors not just in sporting products but in bodybuilding supplements in the process.

Numerous folks considered that muscle growth and development are boosted by the use of bodybuilding supplements. Given that of this, a lot of individuals collect huge amounts and kinds of bodybuilding supplements as well as vitamins in order to own the extra edge that would carry them popularity and wealth. What many folks don?t know is the efficiency and effectiveness of some of these bodybuilding supplements are certainly not proven yet or while others are proven not powerful.

One have to recognize that numerous components of bodybuilding supplements truly develop naturally in the body. This is a primary reason why there aren?t many identified negative effects of bodybuilding supplements. The most common complications are digestive problems and looseness of the bowels. Commonly these side effects vanish immediately after a few weeks. Various supplements have different negative effects ? some are critical, mild and even many of them don?t have.

Should you like bodybuilding, you must have known that protein is an essential element. Protein is vital especially for bodybuilders as it?s required to build up and repair muscles. You could obtain far more protein in your diet in some ways. Whey protein is among the ways you can supplement protein in your diet. It?s quite functional ? it can be included in several other foods. This protein supplement can be effortlessly used by the body. Soy protein, egg whites, along with milk protein casein are furthermore the various other protein supplements. Even though meat is also loaded with protein, it is not a superb choice simply because it furthermore features high quantities of fat. Nonetheless, protein continues to one of the most critical and very best bodybuilding supplements you could take. It is necessary to decide on the appropriate protein supplement; one that can be without difficulty absorbed and low in fat.

As food enhancer, bodybuilding supplements stimulate the muscle development through pressure. Simply because it is effective in achieving excellent lean muscles, bodybuilding supplements are crucial part of a bodybuilder?s diet. You ought to opt for the appropriate bodybuilding supplements that match your requirements as you?ll find a whole lot of firms providing various kinds of supplements. Moreover, most of these supplements may have unwanted side effects, which could be mild to serious. For that reason, care and proper study are needed in choosing the appropriate supplement for your needs.

It is vital for the purchaser to learn that bodybuilding supplements are big company. There is likewise some type of marketing hype associated with bodybuilding supplements even though some are truly reliable in building muscles and minimizing fat in the body. Advertising campaigns ought to be considered with a bit of criticism and men and women mustn?t consider everything it states. It is therefore crucial that you ingest bodybuilding supplements that are helpful to your body?s wellness, not just building muscles. You need to speak to your doctor or wellness professional about the usage of these supplements to prevent any side effects later.

Source: http://www.strattonforsupremecourt.com/2012/02/01/what-you-should-understand-about-bodybuilding-supplements/

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Sudan, Egypt abductions highlight risks to Chinese (AP)

BEIJING ? A group of Chinese workers was freed Wednesday, a day after being taken hostage in Egypt, while another group of workers remained captive for a fifth day in Sudan, in separate incidents that show the dangers China faces as its worldwide presence grows.

China has developed strong economic ties in volatile nations in Africa and elsewhere, in large part to meet its growing needs for energy and other raw materials. At the same time it is facing growing pressure at home to protect citizens who fall into harm's way abroad.

In Egypt, 25 cement factory workers were grabbed Tuesday on their way to work in the northern Sinai city of Arish but were freed in good condition, China's official Xinhua News Agency reported. Their captors, Xinhua said, were Egyptians who had blocked the road outside Arish for days to demand the release of relatives detained for attacks in the Sinai years ago and to demand an end to natural gas sales to Israel.

In contrast to the quick resolution of the Egypt hostage-taking, the ordeal of 29 Chinese workers from dam and engineering firm Sinohydro Group has dragged on since their kidnapping by rebels in the Sudan's South Kordofan region on Saturday.

Their plight has drawn heavy media attention in China, and Beijing has sent a crisis team to Sudan, where Chinese companies have investments in oil and construction projects.

"As far as we know, the Chinese workers are safe. They are safe. They are not hurt," the head of the security team, Qiu Xuejun, told Chinese state television in Khartoum.

China also is pressuring Sudan, a diplomatic partner. A senior Chinese Foreign Ministry official summoned the Sudanese Embassy's top diplomat on Tuesday to stress Beijing's concern.

"The Chinese government attaches great importance to protecting overseas Chinese nationals," Vice Foreign Minister Xie Hangsheng was quoted as saying in a statement posted on the ministry's website.

China hopes Sudan will "keep in mind the overall situation of bilateral friendship" and ensure their swift release, Xie told Sudanese Charge d'Affaires Omer Eisa Ahmed, according to the statement.

The kidnappings and Beijing's energetic response highlight what tempting targets Chinese have become as they grow richer and travel the world for work and for pleasure. Ensuring the safety of Chinese lives and assets has become a litmus test for the authoritarian government, which wants to prove to the public that China is powerful and respected around the world.

The public has increasingly expected an effective and at times muscular defense of Chinese rights, and social media have given vent to these expectations. In recent months, scuffles between Chinese fishermen and South Korean coastal patrols and the killing of Chinese boat crews along the Mekong River in Southeast Asia have brought calls for retaliation.

"Saved in Sudan, detained in Egypt, beaten in South Korea and murdered on the Mekong. How can this be?" race car driver Wei Daofu said Wednesday on a posting on Sina Corporation's Twitter-like Weibo service.

An estimated 60 million Chinese went abroad in 2010 and a projected 75 million likely did so in 2011, putting a strain on China's diplomatic corps to track them and provide protection, the state-run Guangzhou Daily reported this week on its website. The report quoted a scholar with a Foreign Ministry think tank who listed five potential trouble spots where China has significant investments: Sudan, Iran, Central Asia, Pakistan and Myanmar.

Many commentators say Chinese workers are vulnerable because Chinese companies searching for energy and other natural resources are often forced to operate in volatile parts of the world because safer areas are monopolized by Western firms.

"The issue of Chinese workers being abducted overseas is not a new one, especially in countries in Africa and Asia. The question is that China is widely engaged in a whole range of businesses overseas," said Zhu Feng, an international affairs expert at Peking University. "More often than not, Chinese workers in politically unstable countries would become subject for exploitation by local militant groups and illegal armed forces, who want to make deals with or stage protests against the local governments."

When Libya began splintering in the civil war that eventually overthrew Moammar Gadhafi last year, some 30,000 Chinese were working in the country. The Chinese military orchestrated a large-scale evacuation, sending ships and planes.

Xinhua said the 29 people kidnapped in Sudan were among 47 Chinese workers were caught in an attack in South Kordofan. The other 18 workers fled, and one of them remains missing, the agency said. The attack took place near Abbasiya town, 390 miles (630 kilometers) south of Khartoum.

Sudanese officials have blamed the attack on the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North, a branch of a guerrilla movement that has fought various regimes in Khartoum for decades. Its members come from a minority ethnic group now in control of much of South Sudan, which became the world's newest country six months ago in a breakaway from Sudan.

Sudan has accused South Sudan of arming pro-South Sudan groups in South Kordofan. The government of South Sudan says the accusations are a smoke screen intended to justify a future invasion of the South.

Beijing has tried to maneuver through the dispute, building ties with South Sudan, where many of the oil fields are located, while maintaining its long-standing relations with Sudan, through which pipelines run for export.

___

Associated Press researcher Zhao Liang contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/china/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120201/ap_on_bi_ge/as_china_sudan

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