That feeling lasted about two minutes. That's how long it took for her to get on the phone and spread the news to everyone she could think of.

This was two years ago and, after repeatedly asking her to stop, she continues to tell. Two days ago, I caught her spilling the beans to an acquaintance she hadn't spoken to in more than a decade. We got into a heated argument, and she told me she will say what she wants, whenever she wants, to whomever she wants.

My feelings are not considered, even though I was the victim in all of this. I feel she tells my story to gain sympathy for herself.

Abby, I'm ready to end my relationship with my mother. How can I make her stop flapping her lips? -- THE GOSSIP'S DAUGHTER

DEAR DAUGHTER: I suspect you are correct about your mother's motives, and you have my sympathy. Because you can't "make her stop flapping her lips," you will have to accept that she can't be trusted with any confidential information.

As I see it, you have two choices. The first would be to cut her out of your life (for which I wouldn't blame you), and the other is to avoid sharing any personal information with her in the future.

DEAR ABBY: My 21-year-old daughter, "Shannon," has moved back home and has a part-time job. We pay for her health and car insurance. Because her funds are limited, I asked her to make me a list of things she might want for Christmas. The two things she wants are a tattoo and a piercing.

I told her that while I respect her wish to express herself, I do not want to pay for something like that. I said if she wants a tattoo and a piercing, she will have to save her money and get them. She became upset with me and said I should give her what she wants instead of something I prefer.

I know there are things Shannon needs. Am I selfish for not wanting to give her a tattoo or piercing when I'd rather spend my money on something more practical like shoes, clothing or incidentals? -- SENSIBLE MOM IN LONGVIEW, TEXAS

DEAR SENSIBLE MOM: If you are uncomfortable paying for a body modification for your daughter, then don't do it. However, you should take into consideration that Shannon is an adult now and reconsider imposing your values on her.

If she were my daughter, I would give her a check for Christmas along with a note expressing holiday wishes and the thought that you gave her a healthy body, and with it, a nice complexion. It is now hers to do with as she wishes. Then cross your fingers and hope she'll have second thoughts.

DEAR ABBY: One of my neighbors insisted on giving me some handcrafted Christmas decorations that are hideous. I have never been big on decorating the outside of my home for the holidays, but when I do, I have my own that I like much better.

I know she expects me to display her items and will be all bent out of shape when she sees I haven't. Is there a diplomatic way to avoid hurt feelings? -- FLORIDA READER

DEAR READER: Not really. So hang one or two of them in an inconspicuous place when you decorate for the holidays, so they will be "lost" among the items you prefer to display, or refrain from decorating this year.

Abby shares more than 100 of her favorite recipes in two booklets: "Abby's Favorite Recipes" and "More Favorite Recipes by Dear Abby." Send your name and mailing address, plus check or money order for $14 (U.S. funds) to: Dear Abby, Cookbooklet Set, P.O. Box 447, Mount Morris, IL 61054-0447. (Shipping and handling are included in the price.)

The audit by the EPA inspector general will determine whether EPA officials, including Jackson, followed federal laws and regulations when using secondary email accounts the public didn't know about. The EPA has said such accounts are standard practice, but their use raised concerns that the accounts could be used to skirt record-keeping and transparency requirements.

Republicans on the House Science Committee, led by Chairman Ralph Hall of Texas, requested a review in November following reports that Jackson used a secondary account under the name "Richard Windsor" to conduct EPA business. In letters to Jackson and to the inspector general, who is independent of the EPA, Hall questioned whether EPA's practices violated the Obama administration's commitment to unprecedented transparency.

GOP scrutiny of the practice grew last week, when House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Fred Upton, R-Mich., wrote to the EPA requesting detailed information about its internal practices for electronic records and alias emails.

An EPA spokeswoman said Wednesday that the agency welcomes the audit and has nothing to hide.

In a letter to Hall, EPA Associate Administrator Arvin Ganesan said the agency's administrators have been using secondary accounts for more than a decade. Jackson's primary account, which uses her actual name, is posted to the agency's website, resulting in hundreds of thousands of emails per year from members of the public. So Jackson uses the alias account for communications with other officials, Ganesan said.

"This practice of maintaining one staff-managed public email address and another secondary address for use by a high-profile individual is commonly employed in both the public and private sector," Ganesan wrote.

All emails sent and received through the secondary account are treated the same as those from the public account when it comes to records requests from Congress and the public, the EPA said.

But Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-Fla., who chairs the energy panel's investigative subcommittee, said he wasn't yet convinced.

"We have concerns these email aliases may compromise the agency's transparency," Stearns said. "While we welcome this investigation from the (inspector general), the committee is still awaiting direct answers from EPA."

of the company's international business to the group's cash flows and assets

increases significantly, such that it becomes the key rating driver. This

could be due to SingPower's material expansion in markets and businesses that

we view as being of lesser quality than the T&D business in Singapore. The

Australian business currently contributes about 60% of SingPower's total

EBITDA and the Singapore business contributes the rest. We assess the credit

profile of the group's Australian business to be in the 'bbb' category and

that of the Singapore business to be in the 'a' category.

We believe that there is a "high" likelihood that the government of Singapore

(AAA/Stable/A-1+; axAAA/axA-1+), through SingPower's parent, Temasek Holdings

(Private) Limited (AAA/Stable/A-1+; axAAA/axA-1+), would provide timely and

sufficient extraordinary support to SingPower in the event of financial

distress. However, we believe that government and shareholder support is not

absolute.

We assess the stand-alone credit profile of SingPower to be 'a-'. In

accordance with our criteria for government-related entities, our view of a

"high" likelihood of extraordinary government support is based on our

assessment of the following SingPower characteristics:

-- Its "important" role as the holding company for SPPA, which owns and

maintains Singapore's electricity T&D assets, and SP PowerGrid Ltd., which

manages SPPA's assets; and

-- Its "very strong" link with the government.

We expect SingPower's cash flow adequacy measures to weaken in the next one to

two years as the company undertakes a tunnel project in Singapore to replace

aging underground transmission cables and lay new cables to support the growth

in electricity demand. The project is estimated to cost about Singapore dollar

(S$) 2 billion, and we expect SingPower to fund about 70% of the cost through

borrowings. We estimate SingPower's ratio of funds from operations (FFO) to

debt to drop to 11%-12% for the next two years, compared with about 13% for

the fiscal year ended March 31, 2012.

Nevertheless, SingPower's diverse high-quality cash flow, liability management

efforts, and solid access to financial markets mitigate the impact of the

company's weaker cash flow and profitability measures.

Liquidity

SingPower's liquidity is "adequate," as defined in our criteria. We expect the

company's liquidity sources (including cash, FFO, and credit facilities) to

exceed its uses by at least 1.2x over the next 12 months. Our liquidity

assessment is based on the following factors and assumptions:

-- Cash and cash equivalents and available lines under committed bank

facilities fully cover debt maturities over the next 12 months.

-- EBITDA is predictable, which is supported by a favorable regulatory

framework.

-- We believe net liquidity sources will remain above cash requirements

even if EBITDA declines by 20%.

SingPower has supportive banking relationships and has good access to debt

capital markets in Singapore and Australia.

Outlook

The stable outlook reflects our expectation that SingPower will continue to

have stable cash flows and will pro-actively manage its liabilities in the

next couple of years while pursuing growth investments.

We may lower the rating on SingPower if we lower the likelihood of

extraordinary government support by one category to "moderately high." We

could also downgrade SingPower if its stand-alone credit profile weakens by

one notch to 'bbb+' due to either of the following:

-- SingPower departs significantly from its strategy of staying in its

core T&D business in a stable regulatory environment; or

-- The contribution of SingPower's international businesses to the

group's cash flows and assets increases materially, such that it becomes the

key driver of the rating; or

-- SingPower's cash flow adequacy and liquidity deteriorate, or the

company's tunnel project faces material delays and cost overruns, such that

its FFO-to-debt ratio heads toward 10% or below.

Conversely, while the probability of an upgrade is low, we could raise the

rating if we raise the likelihood of extraordinary support by one category to

"very high" or SingPower's stand-alone credit profile improves by three

notches.

Related Criteria And Research

-- Methodology: Business Risk/Financial Risk Matrix Expanded, Sept. 18,

2012

-- Rating Government-Related Entities: Methodology And Assumptions, Dec.

9, 2010

-- Stand-Alone Credit Profiles: One Component Of A Rating, Oct. 1, 2010

-- Business And Financial Risks In The Investor-Owned Utilities Industry,

Nov. 26, 2008

-- 2008 Corporate Criteria: Analytical Methodology, April 15, 2008

Indie-pop band fun and rapper Frank Ocean led the 2013 nominations, tying with The Black Keys, Mumford & Sons, Jay-Z and Kanye West for six nods. But The Recording Academy overlooked some of the year's biggest and most commercially successful artists in Wednesday's nominations.

While Bieber, 18, who won three American Music Awards in November, stayed quiet on his omission, his manager Scooter Braun took to Twitter.

"Grammy board u blew it on this one. the hardest thing to do is transition, keep the train moving. The kid delivered. Huge successful album, sold out tour, and won people over. ... This time he deserved to be recognized," Braun posted in a series of tweets.

Many of Bieber's 31 million Twitter fans quickly followed suit, with hashtags such as #BieberForGrammys trending on the micro-blogging service.

The Canadian singer, who has never won a Grammy, in June released album "Believe," showcasing a more grown-up image. The album, which produced top 10 hits "Boyfriend" and "As Long As You Love Me," has sold more than 1.1 million copies.

British boy band One Direction was also left empty-handed despite their debut album "Up All Night" having topped the Billboard 200 album chart.

The quintet has performed sold-out shows across the world and won three MTV video music awards earlier this year.

The Grammy Awards are voted on by members of The Recording Academy and recognize achievement in 81 categories.

Lady Gaga, rapper Nicki Minaj and Korea's Psy also failed to snag any nominations.

While Gaga hasn't released new music this year, focusing on her global tour, Minaj released "Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded," which topped the Billboard 200 chart and spawned singles such as "Starships."

Psy may have YouTube's most watched video ever with "Gangnam Style," - over 897 million views - but he missed out on becoming the first Korean artist to receive a Grammy nod.

The Grammy Awards will be handed out at a live performance show and ceremony on February 10 in Los Angeles.

(Reporting By Piya Sinha-Roy; editing by Jill Serjeant and Todd Eastham)

The MVNO announced on Wednesday that it has begunfulfilling orders and shipping its version of theDEFYXT complete with tweaked software that bounces calls and databetween Wi-Fi networks and() cellularnetwork, favoring the former to keep costs low. The -powered DEFYXT is just $249 with no commitment and it is the only handsetRepublic Wireless offers. Republics press release follows below.

Low Cost WiFi Smartphone fromRepublic Wireless With Unlimited Data, Text and Voice ShippingNow Just in time for the holidays,Republic Wireless now shipping WiFi smartphones nationwide thatoffer unlimited data, text and voice service for $19 per month,well below prevailing market rates. Raleigh, NC (PRWEB)December 12, 2012 A much-anticipated Wi-Fi smartphone plan thatcosts just $19 per month became widely available today as RepublicWireless began nationwide shipments of a new breed of smartphones.The service is already a hit with holiday shoppers looking forno-contract service that delivers value and performance. The planoffers unlimited data, text and voice for $19 per month, a smallfraction of the average monthly wireless phone bill. RepublicWireless keeps rates low with a Hybrid Wi-Fi cellular Callingnetwork that uses a combination of home, office and public hot spotWi-Fi as its primary network and the nationwide network of Sprintwhen Wi-Fi is not available. Republic Wireless CEO David Morkensaid the launch follows a year of intensive work by his team, whichincluded beta testing with thousands of subscribers. He said thepast years work has provided strong validation that the companysWi-Fi-first approach is a winner. Market data supports Wi-FiSmartphone for talking and texting as well as data We saw Wi-Fibecoming ubiquitous and cheap, while cellular spectrum has becomeincreasingly expensive and controlled from the top, Morken said.So we set out to invert the status quo, by routing as much aspossible voice, text, and of course data, over Wi-Fi wheneverpossible. When Wi-Fi is not available, our smart phone works justlike a regular phone on the nationwide network of Sprint. The WiFismartphone is poised to be a disruptive force in the wirelessindustry. The Wireless Broadband Alliance reports worldwide publichotspots continue to increase rapidly, and an April 2012 reportfrom industry analyst firm Strategy Analytics estimates 61% of allUS households currently have Wi-Fi networks installed at home.This is a story about the way smartphones should be a smartphone with a smarter phone plan. Republic Wireless is all aboutproviding great benefits and returning value to consumers with aWi-Fi smartphone, Morken adds Republic Wireless is shipping theMotorola DEFY XT, available for $249 on the companys website, plusa $10 start-up fee and applicable taxes. The plan is pay-as-you-go,with unlimited data, text and voice calls, backed up by a 30-daymoney back guarantee. The dual-band Android CDMA handset features a3.7-inch Corning Gorilla Glass display, VGA webcam, and 4xdigital zoom camera with auto-focus and LED flash. It is compactand lightweight and delivers rugged, water-resistant performance.Republic Wireless offers quick and simple signup for thegame-changing WiFi smartphone on its website, where purchasersclick on buttons to select the phone, set up their phone number andproceed to checkout.

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