14.04.2011
UConn's Kemba Walker to enter NBA draft
"I think from that point out it did, because it was like coach just kicked me out," the junior All-American said. "It says 2008 to 2011 (on the banner), so it was like he's (saying), 'Let's get him out of here.'"
Walker announced Tuesday he will enter the June draft. He said he has not hired an agent, but has been talking to them.
"There's no chance that I'm coming back," Walker said before joking: "Coach, like he said, he doesn't have a scholarship for me."
The 6-foot-1 guard led the Huskies to a 32-9 record, including an 11-0 postseason run that ended with a national championship. Walker is expected to be a first-round pick, and perhaps the second guard chosen behind Duke's Kyrie Irving.
Walker said he's been motivated by criticism that he's too short and won't be able to guard players in the NBA.
"Hopefully, I can go into the NBA and once again prove all the doubters wrong, like I've been doing my whole life" he said.
Walker averaged 23.5 points, 5.4 rebounds and 4.5 assists during his junior season. He scored a school record 965 points, accounting for 45 percent of the Huskies' offense.
Walker on Tuesday thanked coach Jim Calhoun "for turning me into a man." Calhoun had advised Walker to leave.
"He's ready to move on as a basketball player, both emotionally and physically," Calhoun said. "He just completed the finest basketball season in the history of this university — in 111 years I believe it is. He' done everything humanly possible in my opinion that he possibly can do, including winning a national championship."
Walker came into the season averaging just under 12 points, but quickly established himself as the team's unquestioned leader, scoring 31, 30 and 29 points in powering the Huskies to the Maui Invitational title in November.
He scored 30 or more points 11 times during the season, and 20 or more points 27 times, winning the Bob Cousy award as the nation's top point guard.
Last week, Walker became the 14th Connecticut player to have his name and number placed on the "Huskies of Honor" wall in Gampel Pavilion — the first to receive the honor while he was still in school. The honor means any future Huskies will have to ask Walker for permission if they want to wear his No. 15.
Walker was on track to graduate by the end of this summer, and said completing his degree is still a priority, though it may not happen that quickly.
"I'm going to take all the time I need to graduate," he said.
Walker is the 13th Connecticut player to leave school early. Center Hasheem Thabeet was the last in 2009.
Walker finishes his career in seventh place on the school's scoring list with 1,783 points in 111 games.
His departure means Connecticut will return four starters and nine players from its national championship team next season. The Huskies also will add another point guard in Ryan Boatright, a blue chip recruit from Illinois.
Walker said he wished he could stay to see how much that team improves, "but like I said, it's just time."
Calhoun said no matter what they accomplish next season, the Huskies will miss Walker, as a player and a leader.
"I'm starting to miss him now, actually," Calhoun said. "So I'll probably start yelling at him just to feel at home."
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US capital city a 'pawn' in federal budget battle: mayor
"We think we were a bargaining chip in this political game played around the budget," Gray told CNN television.
The mayor, along with several members of the city council was arrested Monday during a protest over an 11th hour deal struck late Friday between Congress and the White House that narrowly averted a federal government shutdown.
Among the most controversial provisions is a clause that would prohibit the city from using its own revenues to finance abortions for low-income women.
"To impose upon us this restriction with respect to abortions -- those decisions ought to be between women and their doctors," said Gray, who was released from police custody overnight.
"Frankly, there's no other jurisdiction in America that would be told they can't spend their own local tax dollars," he added.
"We have become a political pawn in the game around this budget," the mayor said.
All told, some 41 of the roughly 150 demonstrators protesting the budget deal were arrested, news reports said.
He added that the budget accord points to long festering sore point among Washington residents over the District of Columbia's peculiar status as the federal capital, but without a vote in the US legislature.
"The District has no voting representation in the house. We have no senators. So we are an easy target. Folks in Congress, frankly, will do things to the District of Columbia that they wouldn't even do in their own home districts and this is an example of it," said Gray.
The accord between congressional negotiators and the White House also would extend federal funding for a controversial private school voucher program in Washington, a move also decried by city leaders as meddling into the city's affairs.
The moves to restrict funding for abortion and expand the school voucher program were Republican conditions for a deal on a long overdue budget funding, without which the federal government faced a temporary shutdown.
Even as Washington regroups from last week's political tug-of-war, bigger battles over the US debt ceiling and the 2012 federal budget loom on the horizon.
President Barack Obama on Wednesday is to lay out his plans to reduce the soaring US budget deficit, setting the stage for a major battle that could define his reelection campaign.
At the heart of the ideological debate is the broad disagreement between Democrats and Republicans over the size and scope of the government's role in American life.
Opposition Republicans have put pressure on Obama in the long-term budget debate by last week unveiling their own spending blueprint that would cut government expenditures by $6 trillion over the next decade.
Republicans want to slash funds for Medicare, benefits for the elderly, and Medicaid, a health program for people with low income, but Democrats would prefer to make up much of the deficit by raising taxes on the wealthy.
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China's Baidu Extracts E-commerce From Youa in Overhaul
, launched in 2008, has been the company's effort to combine its search engine service with e-commerce. Part of the site operates as an online retail business, allowing users to buy a range of different products.
But even as Baidu has 75.5 percent of China's search engine market, the company's Youa site has not taken a major share of the country's e-commerce market, according to Beijing-based research firm Analysys International. Baidu Youa only has 0.1 percent share of the online retail market, with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group's Taobao site sits firmly in the lead with a 73.8 percent share.
Baidu is transferring the merchants to its new , a joint venture between the search giant and Japanese Internet company Rakuten that launched in October. Merchants will also be moved to the Chinese e-commerce site Yaodian100.com, which Baidu has invested in.
Baidu believes that Youa's existing merchants will be better served by migrating to the two sites, said company spokeswoman Betty Tian. Rakuten is designed to be a comprehensive shopping mall, while Yaodian100.com mainly focuses on selling womens' products.
Baidu Youa, however, will still operate. The site already works as a , offering users information on restaurants, karaoke venues and even where to take wedding photos.
The company says its Youa team is also developing a new platform combining both search and e-commerce elements. But Baidu declined to comment how the new platform would operate and when it would launch.
"We are still going to have a strong presence in e-commerce," Tian said. "We don't intend to retreat at all."
Cao Junbo, chief analyst at iResearch, said Baidu Youa did not have more success in the online retail market partly because it was launched fairly late. Alibaba's Taobao site was launched five years earlier.
"Even with Baidu's investment in this area, it would have been very hard for them to see a major return," Cao said.
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