Russian Protest Leader Put Under House Arrest





MOSCOW — A Moscow district court ordered Sergei Udaltsov, a prominent opposition leader, to be placed under house arrest on Saturday, in one of the most assertive legal measures to date against a leader of the anti-Kremlin protests that began more than a year ago.




Mr. Udaltsov, the leader of the radical socialist Left Front movement, faces a charge of conspiracy to incite mass disorder, under a statute that can bring a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison. According to Saturday’s ruling, he may not leave his house, use the Internet, receive letters or communicate with anyone outside his family and legal team until April 6, the current date for the end of the investigation of his case.


The ruling seemed to signal a new stage in the government’s effort to bring criminal cases against well-known critics of President Vladimir V. Putin. Though most of the well-known protest leaders have served short sentences for administrative violations, and several are the subject of criminal inquiries, none had yet been held on criminal charges.


Mr. Udaltsov, a passionate public speaker and the great-grandson of a prominent Bolshevik, has stood out among the Moscow protesters, many of them middle-class Russians who distance themselves from calls for revolution. He was also one of the few to focus early on economic issues relevant to Russians outside large cities.


Speaking with journalists outside the courtroom, Mr. Udaltsov said he had broken no laws and called the decision “a political order against me because my public actions anger the government.”


“All the reasons being offered as evidence were already perfectly clear to them in October, when I was first placed under a travel ban,” Mr. Udaltsov said. “Nothing has changed.”


During Saturday’s hearing, prosecutors also claimed that Mr. Udaltsov had threatened to attack his wife, Anastasia, and that she at one point had fled to Ukraine with their children. A judge refused to allow Ms. Udaltsova to testify in court on Saturday, but she told the Novaya Gazeta daily newspaper that the accusation was “a total lie.”


Mr. Udaltsov has been accused of attacking the police and rioting at an anti-Putin demonstration that ended in clashes last May, and of attempting to organize anti-government riots in cities across Russia.


He has been under a travel ban since October, but prosecutors said that he had gone outside Moscow and continued to lead public rallies while under investigation. A statement from investigators charged that Mr. Udaltsov “has not lived at his registered address for a long time, his mobile telephone is often switched off, making it difficult to summon the accused to investigators.”


The statement also said Mr. Udaltsov “does not inform the investigation of his factual location.”


Saturday’s ruling came at the request of Russia’s powerful Investigative Committee, which has recently revived several stalled criminal investigations against Russian opposition leaders including Aleksei Navalny, a popular blogger and corruption whistle-blower accused in December of stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars in a business swindle.


Mr. Udaltsov, in his closing arguments, told the judge that if he was placed under house arrest, he would like the state to afford him a 13-room apartment, a cook and a maid — a reference to the house-arrest conditions reportedly granted to a Defense Ministry official currently facing corruption charges.


This article has been revised to reflect the following correction:

Correction: February 9, 2013

An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated Sergei Udaltsov’s family ties. He is the great-grandson of a prominent Bolshevik, not the grandson.



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Mama June's Weight Loss Wows Readers, While Kate's Baby Bump Draws Love















02/09/2013 at 01:35 PM EST







Mama June (left) and mama-to-be Kate


Pacific Coast News; TOP STAR PICTURES


What's on the minds of PEOPLE readers this week? We love seeing your responses, and as always, you weighed in with plenty of angry, sad and LOL feedback to all of our stories.

From Here Comes Honey Boo Boo's Mama June, who lost 100 lbs. by simply running around filming her show, she says, to Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Brandi Glanville's admission that she charged her vaginal reconstruction surgery to her ex-husband's credit card, readers responded.

Check out the articles with the top reactions on the site this week, and keep clicking on the emoticons at the bottom of every story to tell us what you think!

Love Yes, a royal baby is indeed on the way, and the world watched this week as photos emerged of pregnant Kate stepping out with a small bump. Although the stylish Duchess of Cambridge covered up with a Tartan-print cape over black leggings and riding boots, it was clear that her figure was changing as her pregnancy continued after early weeks of severe morning sickness that had sent her to the hospital. She is due in July.

Angry Our readers expressed anger over Kim Kardashian's ongoing divorce fight with estranged husband Kris Humphries as she pleaded with a judge to declare her marriage over because she is pregnant with another man's baby and doesn't want to be wed when her child arrives. She also told the judge she feared financial entanglement if the case lingered, including purchase of a new residence. Humphries is seeking an annulment of their 72-day marriage based on claims of fraud.

Wow Readers were wowed by a much-smaller Mama June. The Here Comes Honey Boo Boo matriarch says she's dropped more than 100 lbs., as she dashes from place to place shooting her popular TV show – and not through diet or exercise. "They have me running around and going different places ... I guess it's paying off," she told TMZ of her weight-loss strategy.

LOL Oh no she didn't! Her husband Eddie Cibrian may have cheated on her and left her for another woman, but outspoken The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Brandi Glanville, 40, opened up in her new book, Drinking & Tweeting that she got him back in an usual way: using his credit card to charge a $12,000 vaginal rejuvenation surgery. Readers laughed out loud at Glanville, who dishes plenty of other family dirt in her book. She and Cibrian have two children, Mason, 9 and Jake, 5. He is now married to country star LeAnn Rimes.

SadReaders felt sadness for Emma Bunton, who lost her beloved chocolate Labrador Phoebe after the dog went missing on a daily walk. The Spice Girl, 37, Tweeted that she and fiancé Jade Jones were "devastated," by the loss of their pet, who had been microchipped. "To all the amazing people who supported us at this horrible time, our precious Phoebe has been found and it's terrible news," Bunton Tweeted Wednesday. Bunton and Jones, who are parents to two sons, also thanked those who helped them in their search, including Dog Lost, a database for lost and found dogs in the U.K.

Check back next week for another must-read roundup, and see what readers are reacting to every day here.


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After early start, worst of flu season may be over


NEW YORK (AP) — The worst of the flu season appears to be over.


The number of states reporting intense or widespread illnesses dropped again last week, and in a few states there was very little flu going around, U.S. health officials said Friday.


The season started earlier than normal, first in the Southeast and then spreading. But now, by some measures, flu activity has been ebbing for at least four weeks in much of the country. Flu and pneumonia deaths also dropped the last two weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.


"It's likely that the worst of the current flu season is over," CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said.


But flu is hard to predict, he and others stressed, and there have been spikes late in the season in the past.


For now, states like Georgia and New York — where doctor's offices were jammed a few weeks ago — are reporting low flu activity. The hot spots are now the West Coast and the Southwest.


Among the places that have seen a drop: Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Allentown, Pa., which put up a tent outside its emergency room last month to help deal with the steady stream of patients. There were about 100 patients each day back then. Now it's down to 25 and the hospital may pack up its tent next week, said Terry Burger, director of infection control and prevention for the hospital.


"There's no question that we're seeing a decline," she said.


In early December, CDC officials announced flu season had arrived, a month earlier than usual. They were worried, saying it had been nine years since a winter flu season started like this one. That was 2003-04 — one of the deadliest seasons in the past 35 years, with more than 48,000 deaths.


Like this year, the major flu strain was one that tends to make people sicker, especially the elderly, who are most vulnerable to flu and its complications


But back then, that year's flu vaccine wasn't made to protect against that bug, and fewer people got flu shots. The vaccine is reformulated almost every year, and the CDC has said this year's vaccine is a good match to the types that are circulating. A preliminary CDC study showed it is about 60 percent effective, which is close to the average.


So far, the season has been labeled moderately severe.


Like others, Lehigh Valley's Burger was cautious about making predictions. "I'm not certain we're completely out of the woods," with more wintry weather ahead and people likely to be packed indoors where flu can spread around, she said.


The government does not keep a running tally of flu-related deaths in adults, but has received reports of 59 deaths in children. The most — nine — were in Texas, where flu activity was still high last week. Roughly 100 children die in an average flu season, the CDC says


On average, about 24,000 Americans die each flu season, according to the CDC.


According to the CDC report, the number of states with intense activity is down to 19, from 24 the previous week, and flu is widespread in 38 states, down from 42.


Flu is now minimal in Florida, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire and South Carolina.


___


Online:


CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/


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China Denies Directing Radar at Japanese Military





HONG KONG — China on Friday denied Japanese accusations that its ships directed a radar capable of aiding weapon strikes at a Japanese naval vessel and helicopter near disputed islands recently, then lobbed its own accusation: that Japan was trying to fan tensions. The latest exchange underscored the depth of a festering discord between the two countries, and trading partners, over the territorial dispute.




The tit-for-tat accusations started on Tuesday, when Japan’s Ministry of Defense announced that a Chinese military vessel had trained a radar on a Japanese naval destroyer near the islands in the East China Sea on Jan. 30. The ministry said a Chinese frigate had directed the same kind of radar at one of its military helicopters on Jan. 19.


Because using such “fire-control” radar can precede an attack, the Japanese defense minister, Itsunori Onodera, said that a misstep “could have pushed things into a dangerous situation.”


China did not respond at the time, but on Friday the Defense Ministry Web site said that the naval vessels’ radar had “maintained normal observational alertness, and there was no use of fire-control radar.” It did not explain what it meant by “normal observational alertness,” though the ministry added that the Japanese claims were “out of step with the facts.”


For all China’s vehemence, the statement by its defense ministry suggested that senior officials in Beijing want to avoid an escalating quarrel, said Denny Roy, a senior fellow at the East-West Center in Honolulu who researches security issues.


“I think it’s a positive development that the Chinese would deny doing this, as opposed to saying, ‘Yes we did it, and we’ll do it again,’ ” said Mr. Roy. “For the Chinese to not want to be portrayed as an aggressor, I think, is a good sign.”


By contrast, when Japan complained in early January that Chinese ships had entered Japanese-controlled waters near the islands for 13 hours the ambassador responded that the islands belong to China and the Japanese ships that had no right to be there, according to Japanese officials. That incursion was particularly long, but it came amid weeks of cat-and-mouse games between ships and occasionally planes from both countries.


This time, the Chinese defense ministry accompanied its denial with accusations that Japan was to blame for any unnervingly close encounters between their ships and aircraft near the islands known as the Diaoyu in China and the Senkaku in Japan, which has controlled them for decades.


Japan was “deliberately creating a tense atmosphere and misleading international opinion,” the defense ministry said.


Later on Friday, the Chinese Foreign Ministry also dismissed Japan’s assertions as “spun out of thin air.”


“We have no choice but to stay highly vigilant about Japan’s true intentions,” Hua Chunying, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman, told reporters.


Long-standing tensions over the islands flared in September, when the Japanese government bought three of the five islands from a private owner in what it said was an effort to keep them out of the hands of a Japanese nationalist. China, however, said the purchase amounted to a provocative denial of its territorial claims, and sometimes violent protests broke out in dozens of Chinese cities.


In the months since, the Chinese government has underscored its claim to the islands by sending government vessels and military ships and aircraft to the waters near the islands which are patrolled by Japanese Coast Guard ships.


In Tokyo, Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga responded Friday to China’s denial about the radar, saying, “We cannot accept China’s explanation.”


“We urge China to take sincere measures to prevent dangerous actions which could cause a contingency situation,” he said.


Japan earlier said that Russian fighter planes had briefly entered its airspace on Thursday, raising tensions in a separate dispute between those two countries over another set of islands. Russia denied any incursion.


Bree Feng and Patrick Zuo contributed research from Beijing.



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Britney Spears Gets Another Dog















02/08/2013 at 01:40 PM EST







Britney Spears and her new dog


Courtesy Britney Spears


It's a furbaby one more time for Britney Spears.

After bringing home pooch Hannah in November, Spears introduced her newest furry family member on her Facebook page Friday.

"Say good morning to my new baby people," she wrote, sharing an adorable photo of her and the little white pup snuggling.

And if this new addition is anything like its big sister, the dog will surely become as famous as its Mom soon. Hannah Spears (@HannahSpears) is already a Twitter phenomenon, with close to 40,000 followers and a devoted fan base that loves her quirky Tweets.

The start of the New Year has been an eventful one for Spears, who in addition to expanding her pet family, also split with fiancé Jason Trawick and left her post as a judge on The X Factor. She is currently mulling over a deal to set up a residency in Las Vegas.

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Health officials: Worst of flu season may be over


NEW YORK (AP) — Health officials say the worst of the flu season appears to be over.


The number of states reporting intense or widespread flu dropped again last week. By some measures, flu activity has been ebbing for at least four weeks. Deaths from the flu or pneumonia have been dropping for two weeks.


The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the latest flu numbers on Friday.


This flu season started about a month earlier than normal. Outbreaks began in the late fall, and the dominant flu strain is one that tends to make people sicker.


It's been nine years since a flu season started like this one, and that proved to be one of the deadliest. So far, this season has been labeled moderately severe.


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Equities climb in wake of positive data

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks edged higher on Friday, with the benchmark S&P index hitting a five-year high, in the wake of a batch of encouraging domestic and international economic reports.


Data showing stronger international trade in China and Germany, and a report indicating the U.S. trade deficit had narrowed in December, pointed to improving global demand.


The U.S. technology sector rose, boosted by gains in LinkedIn Corp and AOL Inc following their quarterly results, and in turn, lifting the Nasdaq.


Shares of LinkedIn jumped 22 percent to $151.81 after announcing quarterly profits and giving a bullish forecast for the year.


AOL Inc shares rose 7.1 percent to $33.62 after the online company reported higher quarterly profit, boosted by a 13 percent rise in advertising sales.


The benchmark S&P 500 <.spx>, up more than 6 percent for the year, is on track for six straight weeks of gains for the first time since August 2012.


But an advance has been tougher in recent days as investors await strong trading incentives to drive the index further upward.


"The rally is definitely slowing down. We might see a record high this year but we do need a bit of correction before going there," said Randy Frederick, director of trading and derivatives at Charles Schwab.


"We've been in this 1,516 level (for the S&P 500) for the sixth straight session and need break above to really move higher."


The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 44.79 points, or 0.32 percent, at 13,988.84. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 7.13 points, or 0.47 percent, at 1,516.52. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 29.51 points, or 0.93 percent, at 3,194.64.


The CBOE Volatility index <.vix>, Wall Street's so-called fear gauge, was down 4.2 percent at 12.94. The gauge, a key measure of market expectations of short-term volatility, generally moves inversely to the S&P 500.


Some analysts wondered if the market would convincingly stride higher.


"I'm watching the 14 level closely" on the CBOE Volatility index, said Bryan Sapp, senior trading analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research. "The break below it at the beginning of the year signaled the sharp rally in January, and a rally back above it could be a sign to exercise some caution."


Healthcare stocks climbed, with the Morgan Stanley healthcare payor index <.hmo> up 2.3 percent. Molina Healthcare Inc surged 9.7 percent to $31.67 as the biggest boost to the index after posting fourth-quarter earnings.


McDonald's Corp said January sales at established hamburger restaurants around the world fell 1.9 percent, a steeper decline than analysts had expected. Still, shares edged up 0.7 percent to $95.33.


Data showed Chinese exports grew more than expected in January, while imports climbed 28.8 percent, highlighting robust domestic demand, while German data showed a 2012 surplus that was the nation's second highest in more than 60 years, an indication of the underlying strength of Europe's biggest economy.


Separately, U.S. economic data showed the trade deficit shrank in December to $38.5 billion, its narrowest in nearly three years, indicating the economy did much better in the fourth quarter than initially estimated.


"The reason why this is so important is because the trade deficit was a major contributor to the negative GDP report we had in Q4. With today's number, we could see a reversal of this in the next GDP report, going from negative to positive," Frederick said.


On the earnings front, many companies beat estimates as their profits grew.


According to Thomson Reuters data through Friday morning, of 339 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings, 69.9 percent have exceeded analysts' expectations, above a 62 percent average since 1994 and 65 percent over the past four quarters.


Fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies grew 5.2 percent, according to the data, above a 1.9 percent forecast at the start of the earnings season.


(Editing by Bernadette Baum)



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The Lede: Video Broadcast on State Television Was Downloaded From U.S. Drone, Iran Says

As The Associated Press reports from Tehran, late Wednesday Iran’s state television broadcast what it described as video recorded by the American surveillance drone that crash-landed about 140 miles from the country’s border with Afghanistan in late 2011.

Video broadcast by Iranian state television Wednesday included what was described as footage recorded by an American surveillance drone that crash-landed in Iran in 2011.

The state television report includes aerial views of what the narration describes as the American air base in Kandahar, Afghanistan, mixed in with still photographs of an RQ-170 Sentinel stealth drone at that base made public in 2011, and images of the craft being recovered in 2011 by Iran’s military.

The report features an interview with Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh, identified as the head of the aerospace division of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps, who denied that the drone had simply crashed because of a computer malfunction, as American officials have claimed. “We were able to definitively access the data of the drone, once we brought it down,” General Hajizadeh said.

More footage said to have been recorded by the drone can be seen in a copy of the 24-minute Iranian report posted on YouTube on Wednesday by Lenziran, a site that monitors Iranian media.

In an analysis of the footage for Foreign Policy, the national security reporter John Reed observes that in one segment of the Iranian report, “the camera on this aircraft is positioned behind a rather complex nose landing gear assembly — a layout that matches grainy Web images of the Sentinel that show what looks like a compartment that could contain a camera positioned on the bottom of the airplane, just behind the front landing gear.”

A copy of an Iranian television report on a captured United States drone posted on YouTube late Wednesday.

The report, Mr. Reed adds, also features what appear to be authentic images of an American air base, “right down to C-130s parked on the ramp,” and “what looks like an MQ-9 Reaper drone (or possibly two) parked in an enclosed ramp — a drone pen if you will — complete with a walled perimeter and those tent hangars that are seen at expeditionary drone bases around the world.”

As The A.P. notes, on Thursday Iran’s Fars News Agency, which is close to the Revolutionary Guards, claimed that Iran had also started to produce functional copies of the smaller, American ScanEagle surveillance drone it displayed on state television in December. The Fars report quoted Iran’s deputy defense minister, Mohammad Eslami, saying that the country had also established a “production line for the drones in foreign countries.”

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Shirley MacLaine's Only Daughter Pens a Shocking New Tell-All



Seeing her mom, Shirley MacLaine, play a saucy septuagenarian on Downton Abbey, Sachi Parker couldn't help but smile.

"She was true to form," Parker says of MacLaine, 78, whose zinger-slinging turn as Lady Grantham's American mom shook up the big house this season. "It certainly hit home."

Hearing about Parker's relationship with MacLaine makes it easy to understand why.

Raised mostly by her dad, Parker grew up feeling distanced from her movie-star mother. She yearned for MacLaine's attention – so much so that when Parker, 56, also an actress, became a mom herself (to Frank Jr., 16, and Arin, 14, her kids with ex-husband Frank Murray), "I overcompensated," she tells PEOPLE. "But being a great mom is healing for me."

In her memoir Lucky Me, excerpted below, she shares her painful story (a story her mother, in a statement to PEOPLE, calls "virtually all fiction. I'm sorry to see such a dishonest, opportunistic effort from my daughter").

For all their ups and downs, she and her mom "love each other dearly," Parker says. "I've accepted who she is."

At age 2, Sachi was sent to live in Japan with her dad, producer Steve Parker. In the summers she visited MacLaine. "My visits in L.A. started at the airport, with Mom rushing up and giving me an all-encompassing hug. Once we got into the car she'd say, 'Let's have fun!'

"Sometimes we'd head down to the Piggly Wiggly and eat cookies from the bakery. They weren't supposed to be free, but Mom had no qualms about grabbing one. No one stopped her; she was a celebrity, after all."

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Southern diet, fried foods, may raise stroke risk


Deep-fried foods may be causing trouble in the Deep South. People whose diets are heavy on them and sugary drinks like sweet tea and soda were more likely to suffer a stroke, a new study finds.


It's the first big look at diet and strokes, and researchers say it might help explain why blacks in the Southeast — the nation's "stroke belt" — suffer more of them.


Blacks were five times more likely than whites to have the Southern dietary pattern linked with the highest stroke risk. And blacks and whites who live in the South were more likely to eat this way than people in other parts of the country were. Diet might explain as much as two-thirds of the excess stroke risk seen in blacks versus whites, researchers concluded.


"We're talking about fried foods, french fries, hamburgers, processed meats, hot dogs," bacon, ham, liver, gizzards and sugary drinks, said the study's leader, Suzanne Judd of the University of Alabama in Birmingham.


People who ate about six meals a week featuring these sorts of foods had a 41 percent higher stroke risk than people who ate that way about once a month, researchers found.


In contrast, people whose diets were high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fish had a 29 percent lower stroke risk.


"It's a very big difference," Judd said. "The message for people in the middle is there's a graded risk" — the likelihood of suffering a stroke rises in proportion to each Southern meal in a week.


Results were reported Thursday at an American Stroke Association conference in Honolulu.


The federally funded study was launched in 2002 to explore regional variations in stroke risks and reasons for them. More than 20,000 people 45 or older — half of them black — from all 48 mainland states filled out food surveys and were sorted into one of five diet styles:


Southern: Fried foods, processed meats (lunchmeat, jerky), red meat, eggs, sweet drinks and whole milk.


—Convenience: Mexican and Chinese food, pizza, pasta.


—Plant-based: Fruits, vegetables, juice, cereal, fish, poultry, yogurt, nuts and whole-grain bread.


—Sweets: Added fats, breads, chocolate, desserts, sweet breakfast foods.


—Alcohol: Beer, wine, liquor, green leafy vegetables, salad dressings, nuts and seeds, coffee.


"They're not mutually exclusive" — for example, hamburgers fall into both convenience and Southern diets, Judd said. Each person got a score for each diet, depending on how many meals leaned that way.


Over more than five years of follow-up, nearly 500 strokes occurred. Researchers saw clear patterns with the Southern and plant-based diets; the other three didn't seem to affect stroke risk.


There were 138 strokes among the 4,977 who ate the most Southern food, compared to 109 strokes among the 5,156 people eating the least of it.


There were 122 strokes among the 5,076 who ate the most plant-based meals, compared to 135 strokes among the 5,056 people who seldom ate that way.


The trends held up after researchers took into account other factors such as age, income, smoking, education, exercise and total calories consumed.


Fried foods tend to be eaten with lots of salt, which raises blood pressure — a known stroke risk factor, Judd said. And sweet drinks can contribute to diabetes, the disease that celebrity chef Paula Deen — the queen of Southern cuisine — revealed she had a year ago.


The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, drugmaker Amgen Inc. and General Mills Inc. funded the study.


"This study does strongly suggest that food does have an influence and people should be trying to avoid these kinds of fatty foods and high sugar content," said an independent expert, Dr. Brian Silver, a Brown University neurologist and stroke center director at Rhode Island Hospital.


"I don't mean to sound like an ogre. I know when I'm in New Orleans I certainly enjoy the food there. But you don't have to make a regular habit of eating all this stuff."


___


Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP


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Wall Street dips on renewed euro zone concerns

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Shares fell on Thursday after the euro currency dropped against the safe-haven dollar and yen, raising worries about Europe's outlook and curbing investors' appetite for risky assets such as stocks.


The euro sank after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the exchange rate was important to growth and price stability, which investors took as a sign the bank is concerned about the euro's advance in recent days.


U.S. stocks have been in an uninterrupted uptrend for most of the year, with the S&P 500 gaining more than 5 percent for 2013.


"The market is a bit shaky on the back of some of the Draghi comments" amid worry the strength of the euro might hamper economic recovery, said Andre Bakhos, director of market analytics at LEK Securities in New York.


"Whether this ignites renewed concerns about the euro debt struggles and Europe in general is yet to be seen, but the market is looking for any reason to take a profit. It is just consolidating near multi-year highs, taking a respite before we advance higher."


The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was down 92.05 points, or 0.66 percent, at 13,894.47. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was down 7.93 points, or 0.52 percent, at 1,504.19. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was down 14.95 points, or 0.47 percent, at 3,153.52.


Housing and retail stocks were the day's biggest decliners. The housing sector index <.hgx> was off 1 percent and the S&P housing index <.spxrt> was off 0.5 percent.


Top U.S. retailers reported strong January sales after offering compelling merchandise that drew in shoppers facing a hit to their take-home pay from higher payroll taxes.


Macy's Inc rose 1.3 percent to $40.01 after reporting January same store sales rose 11.7 percent.


But Ann Inc dropped 6.6 percent to $30.63 after forecasting fourth-quarter sales below analysts' expectations.


Fund manager David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital on Thursday said it has sued Apple Inc and said the company needs to do more to unlock value for shareholders. Apple shares gained 1.2 percent at $460.16.


Akamai Technologies Inc lost 15.6 percent to $35.06 as the worst performer on the S&P 500 after the Internet content delivery company forecast current-quarter revenue below analysts' expectations.


Initial jobless claims dipped last week, with the four-week moving average falling to its lowest level since March 2008, signaling the economy continues to recover slowly.


A separate report said fourth-quarter productivity registered its biggest drop in nearly two years, while unit labor costs jumped 4.5 percent, more than economists expected.


According to Thomson Reuters data through Thursday morning, of 317 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings, 69 percent have exceeded analysts' expectations, above a 62 percent average since 1994 and 65 percent over the past four quarters.


Fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies rose 5 percent, according to the data, above a 1.9 percent forecast at the start of the earnings season.


(Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Kenneth Barry and Nick Zieminski)



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Clashes Erupt in Damascus, Shattering Lull, as Prospects for Talks Dim


Goran Tomasevic/Reuters


A building in the Damascus suburb of Zamalka was hit by a mortar shell fired by the Syrian Army on Wednesday.







BEIRUT, Lebanon — Syrian insurgents attacked military checkpoints and other targets in parts of central Damascus on Wednesday, antigovernment activist groups reported. The fighting shattered a lull there as prospects for any talks between the antagonists appeared to dim, a week after the opposition coalition leader first proposed the surprise idea of a dialogue aimed at ending the war.




Some antigovernment activists described the resumption of fighting, which had lapsed for the past few weeks, as part of a renewed effort by rebels to seize control of central Damascus, the Syrian capital, although that depiction seemed highly exaggerated. Witness accounts said many people were going about their business, while others noted that previous rebel claims of territorial gains in Damascus had almost always turned out to be embellished or unfounded.


Representatives of the Military Council of Damascus, an insurgent group, said that at least 33 members of President Bashar al-Assad’s security forces in Damascus had surrendered, while others had fled central Al Abasiyeen Square, and that other forces had erected roadblocks on all access streets to the area to thwart the movement of rebel fighters.


Salam Mohammed, an activist in Damascus, described Al Abasiyeen Square as “on fire,” and a video clip uploaded on YouTube showed a thick column of black smoke spiraling over the area while the sound of shelling could be heard. A voice is heard saying the shelling had started a fire. The Local Coordination Committees, an anti-Assad activist network in Syria, also reported gunfire in nearby streets.


Firas al-Horani, a military council spokesman, said fighters of the Free Syrian Army, the main armed opposition group, were in control of Al Abasiyeen Square. He also said, “The capital, Damascus, is in a state of paralysis at the moment, and clashes are in full force in the streets.”


It was impossible to confirm Mr. Horani’s assertions or the extent of the fighting because of Syrian government restrictions on foreign news organizations. But Syria’s state-run media said insurgent claims of combat success in Damascus were false. “Those are miserable attempts to raise the morale of terrorists who are fleeing our valiant armed forces,” said SANA, the official news agency.


Deadly violence also was reported in the Homs Province town of Palmyra, the site of a notorious prison where Mr. Assad’s father, Hafez, ordered the summary execution of about 1,000 prisoners during an uprising against his family’s grip on power in the 1980s.


The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based group with a network of contacts inside Syria, said two booby-trapped cars exploded near the military intelligence and state security branches, killing at least 12 members of the security forces and wounding more than 20. The observatory said government forces deployed throughout Palmyra afterward, engaging in gun battles with insurgents that left at least eight civilians wounded in the cross-fire.


SANA also reported an attack but said it was caused by two suicide bombers who had targeted a residential part of the town, killing an unspecified number of civilians.


The new mayhem came as discord appeared to grow within the National Coalition of Syrian Revolutionary and Opposition Forces, the umbrella anti-Assad group, over a proposal made on Jan. 30 by Sheik Ahmad Moaz al-Khatib, its leader, to engage in talks with Mr. Assad’s government aimed at ending the nearly two-year-old conflict, which has left more than 60,000 people dead. Although Sheik Khatib’s proposal contained a number of conditions, it broke a longstanding principle that Mr. Assad must relinquish power before any talks can begin.


Many of Sheik Khatib’s colleagues grudgingly agreed to go along with the proposal after it had been made, but critical voices have been rising, especially among the coalition’s more militant elements.


In a new video uploaded on YouTube, a cleric from the Nusra Front, an anti-Assad Islamist militant group that the Obama administration has classified as a terrorist organization, said in a prayer speech that brute force against Mr. Assad and his disciples was the only solution.


“We will cut their heads, we swear to kill them all, and they will see our worst war,” said the cleric, who spoke in Libyan-accented Arabic at a mosque in the contested northern city of Aleppo, holding a sword in his right hand. “No for the negotiations, no for the talks, no retreat in a jihad for God’s sake.”


Hania Mourtada reported from Beirut, and Rick Gladstone from New York. Karam Shoumali contributed reporting from Antakya, Turkey.



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Harley Pasternak Blogs About the Surprising Ways Alcohol Can Hurt Your Diet






Celebrity Blog










02/06/2013 at 02:00 PM EST







Harley Pasternak


Courtesy Harley Pasternak


Last week, country singer Tim McGraw made a splash when PEOPLE magazine featured an article about his complete physique transformation.

What I found most interesting about Tim's turn around was his revelation that drinking had been the primary roadblock. Tim realized that his alcohol intake not only added more girth to his gut, but it led to his poor dietary decisions, and sapped his desire to work out.

Tim also went on to explain how his family was the main reason behind his decision to give up drinking, get healthy, and be a positive/healthy role model. And he looks better than he ever has at 45!

There is a lot of conflicting information and opinion out there about alcohol and its role in weight gain. If I had a penny for every person who's told me about all the research showing how a glass of wine a day can actually be heart healthy (but that same person goes on to drink four beers with their glass of wine a day), I'd have a lot of pennies!

Believe it or not, the extra calories from alcohol is not the primary reason people gain weight when the drink too much or too often. In fact, it's a distant third.

I don't want to be a total killjoy and say that you can never have a drink again, but I don't want you to sabotage all your hard work to be healthier with alcohol, either. Let's take a look at how alcohol can undermine your weight-loss efforts.

1. ALCOHOL DIMINISHES YOUR BODY'S ABILITY TO BURN FAT
When you drink alcohol, it's broken down into acetate, which your body burns for energy first – before any other calorie source or stored fat. So the energy that we expend when we have alcohol in our system is coming from the alcohol, not the other carbohydrates or fats which have to be stored if they're not burned.

In plain English? Alcohol squashes our ability to burn fat. In fact, a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found subjects who consumed less than an ounce of alcohol over a 30-minute time period decreased their body's ability to burn fat by 73 percent!

2. ALCOHOL WEAKENS OUR INHIBITIONS
Many of my clients tell me that they find themselves straying from their healthy eating habits when they've had a couple of drinks. When we drink alcohol, the functions our bodies use to tell us when we're full and when to stop eating are dulled. So not only are we more likely to give into temptation, we're also less likely to be able to tell when we've had enough.

In a UK Study that looked at alcohol's effect on calorie consumption, those who had the equivalent of two drinks ate up to 30% more. Building on that same principle, a Dutch study found that it took subjects longer to feel full when they drank alcohol before a meal, when compared to those who had a non-alcoholic beverage prior to eating. To put it simply, when we drink alcohol, we're more likely to eat too much of the wrong things.

3. ALCOHOL IS LOADED WITH CALORIES
Alcohol has nearly twice as many calories per gram as protein or carbohydrates. We've all read about the surprising calorie counts of our favorite alcoholic beverages – 740 calories in a margarita! 210 in a cosmopolitan! But even if you cut out the sugary mixers and liqueurs used in your favorite cocktails, you're still consuming a lot of empty calories. Remember: alcohol is not an essential nutrient. Any calorie we consume from alcohol is completely valueless.

4. ALCOHOL PREVENTS ABSORPTION OF VITAL NUTRIENTS
When we drink alcohol, the body shifts gears and focuses its energies on expelling the alcohol, which leaves little time for it to perform its other necessary functions, like processing vitamins and minerals and maintaining blood glucose levels, which are integral to maintaining a healthy metabolism. So not only does alcohol not have any nutrient value of its own, it also makes your body less able absorb and process nutrients that are valuable to you. So when we drink, those superfoods that we're trying to include in our diets become a whole lot less super.

5. ALCOHOL PREVENTS US FROM GETTING A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP
If you read my blog post on sleep's impact on our weight and bodies as a whole, you understand how important sleep is to our weight and overall health. Alcohol affects the quality of our sleep in a number of ways, from increased waking to shallower sleep, to pain due to heartburn caused by inflammation of your digestive system.

Not only that, but you can develop a dependence on alcohol to fall asleep, which actually works against you because it may help you fall asleep, but it won't help you get good quality sleep.

Has alcohol affected your diet efforts? Tweet me @harleypasternak – and let me know.

Check back every Wednesday for more insider tips from celebrity trainer Harley Pasternak on Hollywood's hottest bodies – and learn how to get one yourself! Plus: Follow Harley on Twitter at @harleypasternak

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Critics seek to delay NYC sugary drinks size limit


NEW YORK (AP) — Opponents are pressing to delay enforcement of the city's novel plan to crack down on supersized, sugary drinks, saying businesses shouldn't have to spend millions of dollars to comply until a court rules on whether the measure is legal.


With the rule set to take effect March 12, beverage industry, restaurant and other business groups have asked a judge to put it on hold at least until there's a ruling on their lawsuit seeking to block it altogether. The measure would bar many eateries from selling high-sugar drinks in cups or containers bigger than 16 ounces.


"It would be a tremendous waste of expense, time, and effort for our members to incur all of the harm and costs associated with the ban if this court decides that the ban is illegal," Chong Sik Le, president of the New York Korean-American Grocers Association, said in court papers filed Friday.


City lawyers are fighting the lawsuit and oppose postponing the restriction, which the city Board of Health approved in September. They said Tuesday they expect to prevail.


"The obesity epidemic kills nearly 6,000 New Yorkers each year. We see no reason to delay the Board of Health's reasonable and legal actions to combat this major, growing problem," Mark Muschenheim, a city attorney, said in a statement.


Another city lawyer, Thomas Merrill, has said officials believe businesses have had enough time to get ready for the new rule. He has noted that the city doesn't plan to seek fines until June.


Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other city officials see the first-of-its-kind limit as a coup for public health. The city's obesity rate is rising, and studies have linked sugary drinks to weight gain, they note.


"This is the biggest step a city has taken to curb obesity," Bloomberg said when the measure passed.


Soda makers and other critics view the rule as an unwarranted intrusion into people's dietary choices and an unfair, uneven burden on business. The restriction won't apply at supermarkets and many convenience stores because the city doesn't regulate them.


While the dispute plays out in court, "the impacted businesses would like some more certainty on when and how they might need to adjust operations," American Beverage Industry spokesman Christopher Gindlesperger said Tuesday.


Those adjustments are expected to cost the association's members about $600,000 in labeling and other expenses for bottles, Vice President Mike Redman said in court papers. Reconfiguring "16-ounce" cups that are actually made slightly bigger, to leave room at the top, is expected to take cup manufacturers three months to a year and cost them anywhere from more than $100,000 to several millions of dollars, Foodservice Packaging Institute President Lynn Dyer said in court documents.


Movie theaters, meanwhile, are concerned because beverages account for more than 20 percent of their overall profits and about 98 percent of soda sales are in containers greater than 16 ounces, according to Robert Sunshine, executive director of the National Association of Theatre Owners of New York State.


___


Follow Jennifer Peltz at http://twitter.com/jennpeltz


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Wall Street stymied as investors lack catalysts to trade

NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks were little changed on Wednesday as investors, without any major economic reports to guide them, awaited fresh incentives to trade after rallies took the S&P 500 to five-year highs.


Transportation stocks were among the worst performers, weighed down by a 10 percent drop in CH Robinson Worldwide to $60.40 after the freight transport company posted a lower-than-expected adjusted quarterly profit.


The Dow Jones Transportation index <.djt> shed 0.3 percent after closing at a record high Tuesday for a gain of more than 10 percent in 2013.


The benchmark S&P 500 index has advanced 6 percent this year, climbing to its highest since December 2007. The Dow industrials <.dji> have risen above 14,000 recently, making it a challenge for investors to push stocks higher in the absence of strong positive catalysts.


"Overall, we believe that the next near-term market dip should provide an opportunity to buy stocks ahead of rallies higher in the coming months, but we are skeptical about the long-term sustainability of these gains due to the maturing age of the bull market," said Ari Wald, equity research analyst at C&Co\PrinceRidge in New York.


The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 5.28 points, or 0.04 percent, at 13,984.58. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 0.56 point, or 0.04 percent, at 1,511.85. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 1.67 points, or 0.05 percent, at 3,173.25.


The tech-heavy Nasdaq index was supported by Apple Inc , which rose 1.1 percent to $462.62.


Walt Disney Co was among the bright spots, up 1.1 percent at $60.31, after the company beat estimates for quarterly adjusted earnings and gave an optimistic outlook for the next few quarters.


According to Thomson Reuters data through Wednesday morning, of 301 companies in the S&P 500 <.spx> that have reported earnings, 68.1 percent have exceeded analysts' expectations, above a 62 percent average since 1994 and 65 percent over the past four quarters. In terms of revenue, 65.8 percent of companies have topped forecasts.


Looking ahead, fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are expected to grow 4.7 percent, according to the data, above a 1.9 percent forecast at the start of the earnings season.


The benchmark S&P index rose 1.04 percent Tuesday, its biggest percentage gain since a 2.5-percent advance on January 2 after lawmakers agreed on a temporary delay of the "fiscal cliff."


Ralph Lauren Corp climbed 8 percent to $178.15 as the best performer on the S&P 500 after reporting renewed momentum in its holiday-quarter sales and profits.


Time Warner Inc jumped 4.4 percent to $52.15 after reporting higher fourth-quarter profit that beat Wall Street estimates, as growth in its cable networks offset declines in its film, TV entertainment and publishing units.


Visa , the world's largest credit and debit card network, is expected to report earnings per share of $1.79 for its first quarter, up from $1.49 a year earlier. Smaller rival MasterCard MA.N recently reported better-than-expected results but said its revenue growth could slow in the first half of the year due to economic uncertainty.


(Editing by Bernadette Baum and Kenneth Barry)



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The Lede Blog: North Korean Propaganda Video Uses 'Call of Duty' and 'We Are the World' to Imagine a Brighter World, Without Manhattan

When aliens strike, the climate goes berserk, the Russians invade, an asteroid threatens the Earth, New York City is often the first place to be destroyed. Hollywood has long used the city’s skyline to demonstrate what destruction looks like in action movies and video games. It seems as if North Korea, in seeking to show how an assault on America would play out, also has Manhattan squarely in its cross hairs.

A new propaganda video, posted Sunday on a Web site and a YouTube channel that serve as outlets for North Korean state media, shows a computer-animated representation of Lower Manhattan in flames as bombs rain down.

A video posted on a North Korean YouTube channel this week features images of Manhattan in flames.

As a blogger for Kotaku reports, the attack on Manhattan is lifted straight from the video game “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3,” and unfolds as a sweeping instrumental version of “We Are the World” plays in the background.

The cartoonish propaganda clip is one of a slew of recent videos that have been released by North Korea to promote the country’s missile program. Although the video might make some observers laugh, the tension over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and missile program is deadly serious.

The United Nations Security Council voted on Jan. 22 to tighten sanctions against North Korea as punishment for a Dec. 12 rocket launch. In response, the North vowed to expand its nuclear program “both quantitatively and qualitatively” and conduct a third nuclear test at a “higher level.”

As our colleagues David Sanger and William Broad reported after December’s successful missile launch by North Korea, there is no evidence that the country currently has technology that can threaten the continental United States – much less New York.

Administration officials said that while the launching was successful — and advanced the North’s missile program — it was hardly a threat to the United States, despite a warning by Robert M. Gates in 2011, when he was secretary of defense, that the North would have a missile capable of reaching the United States by 2016.

The video begins with an image of a man in blue pajamas sleeping. He recounts a dream in words that appear on the screen. “I had a dream last night, a dream of soaring into space on board our Unha-9 rocket,” the man says.

Unha, Korean for galaxy, is the name of the North Korean rocket series. The latest one, launched in December, was the Unha-3. So the dreamer is imagining a future, more advanced version of the rocket. After first showing footage of a real rocket launch, the video shifts to animation.

“Our Kwangmyongsong-21 spacecraft got separated from the rocket and traveled through space,” he says.

Once again, the dream appears to show the advances North Korea hopes to make in the years to come. In December, the satellite launched by the North was rocket number 3. By the time the series reaches 21 in the man’s dream, the rocket looks like the American space shuttle. The animation at that point shows the spacecraft circling the globe in search of its target, the music from “We are the World” building as it moves closer to the United States.

“I see stars and the green Earth. I also see a unified Korea.” These words appear on screen as the video moves from animation back to real footage of people waving flags, in particular, a “Korea-is-one” flag. The video shows a unified, not divided, Korean Peninsula in blue, a symbol of Korean reunification.

Then the video shows an overhead image of New York draped in the American flag. “Meanwhile, I see black smoke rising somewhere in America,” the dreaming man says. “It appears that the headquarters of evil, which has had a habit of using force and unilateralism and committing wars of aggression, is going up in flames it itself has ignited.”

At this point in the video, the computer-animated scene copied from “Call of Duty” show Lower Manhattan in flames.

“Just imagine riding in a Korean spaceship. One day, my dream will come true,” the narrator says. “No matter how hard the imperialists try to isolate and stifle us, they will not stop our people’s path toward our final victory of achieving a unified, strong and prosperous Korea.”

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Tim McGraw Visits The Ellen DeGeneres Show - Sans Underwear!















02/05/2013 at 01:45 PM EST



TMI, Tim McGraw!

Ellen DeGeneres has been known to hand out underwear with her show's name on it to her famous guests. And McGraw, who makes an appearance on Tuesday's episode, is seen wearing them in a photo taken while he was out for a jog.

"Are you wearing them right now?" DeGeneres asked the sexy country star, 45, who appeared on the latest issue of PEOPLE.

"No," McGraw answered.

"Why not?" DeGeneres asked.

"These pants were too tight to put underwear on," he explained. "Now I've really embarrassed my daughters ... what was I supposed to say?"

"It's always good to be honest around here," DeGeneres said. "Well, you look good."

McGraw – who has three daughters (Gracie Katherine, 15, Maggie Elizabeth, 14, and Audrey Caroline, 11) with wife Faith Hill – also spoke on his decision to get sober.

"When it gets to the point where you think it’s affecting you adversely and it’s affecting your relationships adversely, it’s time to make a change and I thought it was," he said. "I also thought my girls are getting older and I certainly wanted to have some good solid ground to stand on when I started talking to them about their situations."

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Critics seek to delay NYC sugary drinks size limit


NEW YORK (AP) — Opponents are pressing to delay enforcement of the city's novel plan to crack down on supersized, sugary drinks, saying businesses shouldn't have to spend millions of dollars to comply until a court rules on whether the measure is legal.


With the rule set to take effect March 12, beverage industry, restaurant and other business groups have asked a judge to put it on hold at least until there's a ruling on their lawsuit seeking to block it altogether. The measure would bar many eateries from selling high-sugar drinks in cups or containers bigger than 16 ounces.


"It would be a tremendous waste of expense, time, and effort for our members to incur all of the harm and costs associated with the ban if this court decides that the ban is illegal," Chong Sik Le, president of the New York Korean-American Grocers Association, said in court papers filed Friday.


City lawyers are fighting the lawsuit and oppose postponing the restriction, which the city Board of Health approved in September. They said Tuesday they expect to prevail.


"The obesity epidemic kills nearly 6,000 New Yorkers each year. We see no reason to delay the Board of Health's reasonable and legal actions to combat this major, growing problem," Mark Muschenheim, a city attorney, said in a statement.


Another city lawyer, Thomas Merrill, has said officials believe businesses have had enough time to get ready for the new rule. He has noted that the city doesn't plan to seek fines until June.


Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other city officials see the first-of-its-kind limit as a coup for public health. The city's obesity rate is rising, and studies have linked sugary drinks to weight gain, they note.


"This is the biggest step a city has taken to curb obesity," Bloomberg said when the measure passed.


Soda makers and other critics view the rule as an unwarranted intrusion into people's dietary choices and an unfair, uneven burden on business. The restriction won't apply at supermarkets and many convenience stores because the city doesn't regulate them.


While the dispute plays out in court, "the impacted businesses would like some more certainty on when and how they might need to adjust operations," American Beverage Industry spokesman Christopher Gindlesperger said Tuesday.


Those adjustments are expected to cost the association's members about $600,000 in labeling and other expenses for bottles, Vice President Mike Redman said in court papers. Reconfiguring "16-ounce" cups that are actually made slightly bigger, to leave room at the top, is expected to take cup manufacturers three months to a year and cost them anywhere from more than $100,000 to several millions of dollars, Foodservice Packaging Institute President Lynn Dyer said in court documents.


Movie theaters, meanwhile, are concerned because beverages account for more than 20 percent of their overall profits and about 98 percent of soda sales are in containers greater than 16 ounces, according to Robert Sunshine, executive director of the National Association of Theatre Owners of New York State.


___


Follow Jennifer Peltz at http://twitter.com/jennpeltz


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S&P 500 gains more than 1 percent


NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 rose more than 1 percent on Tuesday as stronger-than-expected earnings helped the outlook for profit growth while the Nasdaq also traded more than 1 percent higher.


The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 121.55 points, or 0.88 percent, at 14,001.63. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 16.25 points, or 1.09 percent, at 1,511.96. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 38.08 points, or 1.22 percent, at 3,169.25.


(Reporting By Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama)



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Europol Investigation Shows Fixing Is Suspected in 680 Soccer Matches





Soccer is known throughout much of the world as the beautiful game. But the sport’s ugliest side — the scourge of match-fixing — will not go away.




With next summer’s World Cup in Brazil drawing closer, a European police intelligence agency said Monday that a 19-month investigation revealed widespread occurrences of match-fixing in recent years, with nearly 700 games globally deemed suspicious. The list of matches is staggering and encompasses about 380 games in Europe, covering World Cup and European championship qualifiers, as well as Champions League games, including one match played in England.


Officials of Europol, an agency that works with countries across the continent, offered details that strike at the sport’s core: nearly $11 million in profits and nearly $3 million in bribes were discovered during the investigation, which uncovered “match-fixing activity on a scale we have not seen before,” said Rob Wainwright, the director of Europol.


Fixers typically seek to dictate a game’s result by corrupting the players or the on-field officials, and officials said Monday that roughly 425 people were under suspicion because of the investigation, with 50 people having been arrested. The scope of the investigation covered games from 2008 to 2011.


An organized crime syndicate based in Asia is believed to be the driving force behind the fixing activity, which stretches across at least 15 countries, officials said. Individual bribes were, in some instances, upward of $136,000, and fixers would place bets on the tainted matches through bookmakers in Asia. Various matches in Africa, Asia and South and Central America were identified as suspicious, though the European element of the investigation is the most significant.


“This is a sad day for European football,” Wainwright said at a news conference in the Netherlands, adding: “It is clear to us this is the biggest-ever investigation into suspected match-fixing in Europe. It has yielded major results, which we think have uncovered a big problem for the integrity of football in Europe.”


But officials at the news conference repeatedly dodged questions from reporters on how many of the 680 matches cited were previously known and how many were newly discovered.


Nor would they identify any of the teams and individuals newly linked to match-fixing, citing the need to guard the confidentiality of police procedures.


Still, the breadth of the investigation was significant, and it inspired strong reactions from global fans. Even as the news conference continued, fans took to social media to speculate on which matches might have been fixed, with a particular fascination as to what English Champions League contest drew the investigators’ scrutiny. Indeed, the notion that corruption has been identified in British soccer, home of the English Premier League, the world’s most popular grouping, will reverberate globally.


“It would be naïve and complacent of those in the U.K. to think such a criminal conspiracy does not involve the English game and all the football in Europe,” Wainwright said.


Europol and Interpol officials said an international arrest warrant had been issued for the ringleader of the Asian syndicate so that he can be extradited to Europe to face fraud and bribery charges.


Europol did not publicly identify the ringleader, but several knowledgeable law enforcement officials later said on condition of anonymity that it was a man based in Singapore known as Dan Tan. They said Tan had been implicated in match-fixing cases dating to 1999.


The conclusion of Europol’s investigation comes after a slew of high-profile incidents. Last month FIFA, the sport’s governing body, barred 41 players for fixing matches in South Korea; in December 2012 the president of the South African Football Association was suspended after FIFA determined that four exhibition matches before the 2010 World Cup had been fixed; and last summer a complex match-fixing network was discovered in Italy, rocking that country’s high-profile professional leagues.


David Jolly contributed reporting from The Hague.



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BlackBerry shares jump after Bernstein upgrades stock






TORONTO (Reuters) – Shares of BlackBerry rose more than 8 percent in on Monday after Bernstein Research said it was upgrading the stock to “outperform” after last week’s launch of the company’s new line of BlackBerry 10 smartphones.


The brokerage firm, which has not had an “outperform” rating on the stock for more than three years, also lifted its price target to $ 22 from $ 12, saying it has grown much more confident about the success of the smartphones, powered by the new BlackBerry 10 operating system.






Shares of BlackBerry, which is in the process of changing its legal name from Research In Motion, rose 8.9 percent to $ 14.18 in early Nasdaq trading. BlackBerry’s Toronto-listed shares were up 9.1 percent at C$ 14.21 at 10:30 EST.


The stock began trading under the “BBRY” symbol on Nasdaq on Monday and under the “BB” symbol on the Toronto Stock Exchange. The stock used to trade as “RIMM” on the Nasdaq and “RIM” on the TSX.


“We upgrade BlackBerry to outperform today as we believe BB 10 is set for a strong launch,” Bernstein analyst Pierre Ferragu said in a note to clients. “Even if the long-term prospects for the platform are very uncertain, we believe all is in place for BlackBerry 10 to enjoy a great debut.”


BlackBerry, a one-time pioneer in the smartphone industry, has ceded market share in recent years to the likes of Apple’s iPhone, Samsung’s Galaxy line and a slew of devices powered by Google Inc’s market-leading Android operating system.


In a make-or-break move to regain market share and return to profit, BlackBerry introduced its new line of smartphones to much fanfare on Wednesday. However, its stock fell more than 10 percent following the launch as investors were disappointed that the new smartphones will only go on sale in mid-March in the crucial U.S. market.


“The strength of this launch is overlooked by investors, creating strong opportunity to buy BlackBerry,” said Ferragu, adding that he expects strong initial corporate demand for the new devices.


“We believe BlackBerry should trade in the $ 20-$ 25 range once a decent launch for Blackberry 10 and a stabilized trajectory for fiscal year 2014 are priced in,” he said.


BlackBerry unveiled both a touch-screen device and a physical-keyboard device last week. While the traditional keyboard model only goes on sale in April, the touch-screen device is already on sale in the United Kingdom and hits store shelves in Canada this week.


Waterloo, Ontario-based BlackBerry said the U.S. launch was delayed until mid-March because U.S. wireless carriers have a longer testing phase than carriers in other countries. The devices, which are set to retail for C$ 599 ($ 600) in Canada, are currently attracting bids of more than $ 1,000 each on auction site ebay.com.


(Reporting by Euan Rocha; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn; and Peter Galloway)


Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Baby Girl on the Way for Kathryn Fiore




Celebrity Baby Blog





02/04/2013 at 01:00 PM ET



Kathryn Fiore Pregnant Expecting First Child
Courtesy Katheryn Fiore


Cue the lullaby: The Wedding Band is prepping for its littlest fan yet.


Actress Kathryn Fiore, 33, and her husband, actor Gabriel Tigerman, 32, are expecting a daughter in late May, her rep confirms to PEOPLE exclusively.


“We are expecting a baby girl!” the couple tell PEOPLE. “This is our first and we are over the moon excited!”


Fiore — who is also known for her sketch comedy on MADtv — and Tigerman, who has had roles on Supernatural and Journeyman, tied the knot at Malibu’s Pepperdine University in October 2008.


Her godfather, movie critic Rex Reed, served as their officiant.


– Anya Leon


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APNewsBreak: Catholic hospital acknowledges error


DENVER (AP) — A Catholic hospital on Monday acknowledged it was "morally wrong" for its attorneys to argue in court that a fetus is not a human being under Colorado law.


The admission comes after executives of Catholic Healthcare Initiatives met with Colorado's Roman Catholic bishops to discuss its defense in a wrongful death lawsuit filed after a mother and her unborn twins died in the emergency room of St Thomas More Medical Center in Canon City in 2006.


Disclosure of the hospital's successful legal arguments last month drew sharp criticism because they appeared to contradict church doctrine that life begins at conception. Colorado's bishops vowed to review the case. Catholic Healthcare Initiatives operates Thomas More and dozens of other Catholic hospitals.


In joint statements released Monday morning, the Bishops and CHI said the operation was "unaware" of the lawyers' legal arguments. They said that CHI executives acknowledged "it was morally wrong" to make that contention because it "directly contradicts the moral teachings of the Church."


The statements also noted that, while the legal status of the fetus was key to getting the case dismissed before trial, the hospital also won on appeal by arguing there was no proof that medical error caused the fetuses' deaths. The father of the unborn children is asking the Colorado Supreme Court to hear the case.


The Bishops and CHI extended their condolences to the family. They also pledged to pursue stronger legal protections for unborn children.


"Catholic healthcare institutions are, and should, be held to the high standard of Jesus Christ himself, who is our divine and eternal healer," said the Bishops' statement.


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Wall Street retreats from five-year high

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell on Monday after a disappointing report on factory orders, retreating from gains in the prior session that left the S&P 500 at a five-year high and the Dow above 14,000.


Investors also grew wary on political uncertainty in the euro zone, leading to a sharp rise in Spanish government bond yields.


Chevron and Wal-Mart were among the biggest drags on the Dow after analyst downgrades.


"S&P technicals are at overbought levels, and risk-off harbingers, such as Spanish 10-year yields, which are much more difficult for central bankers to tame, have bounced off recent lows," said Peter Cecchini, managing director at New York-based Cantor Fitzgerald & Co.


Spanish and Italian bond yields rose, renewing worries about the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis. Spain's prime minister faced calls to resign over a corruption scandal, while a probe of alleged misconduct involving an Italian bank was expected to widen three weeks before a national election.


The benchmark S&P 500 rose on Friday, leaving it roughly 60 points away from its all-time intraday high of 1,576.09, while the Dow's march above 14,000 was the highest for the index since October 2007.


The S&P index <.spx> is up 5.5 percent for the year, with nearly half of the gains coming after U.S. legislators temporarily sidestepped the "fiscal cliff" of automatic tax increases and spending cuts.


Data from the Commerce Department showed overall factory orders rose 1.8 percent in December, below economists' expectations. The report said capital goods orders outside of the defense and aircraft industries, edged 0.3 percent lower. The category is seen as a gauge of U.S. business investment plans.


Economic data has pointed to a modest U.S. recovery, but the data have not been strong enough to upset investor expectations the Federal Reserve will continue its stimulus policy that has buoyed stocks.


The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was down 117.19 points, or 0.84 percent, at 13,892.60. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was down 13.72 points, or 0.91 percent, at 1,499.45. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was down 37.77 points, or 1.19 percent, at 3,141.33.


The CBOE Volatility index VIX <.vix>, Wall Street's so-called fear gauge, jumped more than 10 percent to 14.48 by afternoon trade.


Chevron Corp dipped 1 percent to $115.34 after UBS cut its rating to neutral, while Wal-Mart Stores Inc shed 1.5 percent to $69.46 after JP Morgan lowered its rating on the world's largest retailer and reduced its price target.


Oracle Corp lost 2.6 percent to $35.28 after the company agreed to buy network gear maker Acme Packet Inc for about $1.9 billion. Acme Packet shares surged 22 percent to $29.20.


Shares of household products company Clorox rose 1.3 percent to $80.23 after quarterly profit beat analysts' estimates as a severe flu season boosted sales of disinfecting wipes.


Earnings are due from Anadarko Petroleum Corp and Yum! Brands Inc , owner of fast-food chains, after the closing bell.


According to Thomson Reuters data, of the 256 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings through Monday morning, 68.4 percent have reported earnings above analyst expectations compared with the 62 percent average since 1994 and the 65 percent average over the past four quarters.


S&P 500 fourth-quarter earnings are expected to rise 4.4 percent, according to the data. That estimate is above the 1.9 percent forecast at the start of earnings season, but well below the 9.9 percent fourth-quarter earnings forecast on October 1.


Herbalife Ltd slumped 3 percent to $34.03 after the New York Post newspaper reported the seller of weight loss products is facing a probe by the Federal Trade Commission.


(Reporting By Angela Moon; Editing by Kenneth Barry and Nick Zieminski)



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Lino Oviedo, Candidate in Paraguay, Dies in Crash





RIO DE JANEIRO — Lino Oviedo, a candidate in Paraguay’s presidential elections and one of the country’s most polarizing political figures, was killed in a helicopter crash on Saturday night while returning from a political rally in northern Paraguay, government officials said Sunday.




The fiery crash, which killed Mr. Oviedo, 69, an aide and the pilot of the helicopter, opens a new phase of uncertainty in Paraguay, one of Latin America’s most politically unstable countries. After authorities confirmed his death and called it an accident, officials in his party, the National Union of Ethical Citizens, immediately questioned whether Mr. Oviedo had been assassinated.


The death of Mr. Oviedo, a retired general who had led Paraguay’s army, brought an end to a tumultuous political career.


He initially gained prominence in 1989, when he helped topple Gen. Alfredo Stroessner, the dictator who ruled Paraguay for 35 years.


Mr. Oviedo fled the country in 1996, seeking exile first in Argentina then in Brazil, after being charged of organizing an aborted coup attempt against Juan Carlos Wasmosy, then Paraguay’s president.


The authorities also indicted Mr. Oviedo on charges of masterminding the assassination of Luis María Argaña, the vice president who was killed by gunmen outside Asunción in March 1999. But after Mr. Oviedo returned to Paraguay in 2004 and served time in prison in connection to the coup-plotting conviction, Paraguay’s Supreme Court absolved him of the various charges.


He then took up a hard-charging political career, campaigning as a populist who nimbly used Guaraní, Paraguay’s widely-spoken indigenous language, in his speeches. He became known as the “bonsai horseman,” in a nod to his short stature, and came in third in the country’s last presidential vote, in 2008.


Paraguay was officially commemorating Stroessner’s overthrow on Sunday, making the timing of the helicopter crash questionable for some of Mr. Oviedo’s political supporters. Paraguayan aviation authorities, while claiming that the helicopter went down in an area of northern Paraguay with stormy weather on Saturday night, said they would investigate the causes of the crash.


“Twenty-four years ago today General Oviedo overthrew the dictatorship,” César Durand, a spokesman for Mr. Oviedo’s party, told Radio Ñanduti. “This is a message from the mafia,” he said, employing a blanket term often used by Paraguayans to refer to shadowy organizations involved in drug trafficking and the contraband of pirated goods into neighboring Brazil.


Mr. Oviedo’s chances of winning Paraguay’s presidential election, scheduled for April, appeared to be slim, political analysts said. According to recent polls, support for Mr. Oviedo remained in the single digits, placing him far behind the front-runner in the race, Horacio Cartes, a banking and tobacco magnate.


The election comes after a stretch of political turmoil in Paraguay in which Paraguay’s Senate hastily ousted the president, Fernando Lugo, from office in June. Mr. Lugo, a former Roman Catholic bishop, had ended six decades of one-party rule when he was elected, but faced fierce opposition from lawmakers to his attempts to reduce Paraguay’s disparity in landholdings.


If Mr. Cartes, 56, holds his lead, the presidency will return to the Colorado Party which long dominated Paraguay. Still, his campaign is facing questions over his business dealings. State Department diplomatic cables obtained by WikiLeaks revealed claims in 2007 that a bank under Mr. Cartes’s control was involved in a great deal of Paraguay’s money-laundering activities.


Mr. Cartes has rejected the money-laundering claims, calling them “laughable rubbish.”


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Innovative Ways the Autism Community Uses iPads






The iPad has proven to be an especially useful communication tool for young people with autism. It provides a way to express themselves through words and images; it can be used to teach them about everyday scenarios and give them more independence. It’s also far less bulky than some communication devices of the past.


Autism Spectrum Disorders are developmental disabilities that affect about one in every 88 children, and one in 54 boys.






[More from Mashable: 10 Essential Tools for the Lean Web Developer]


Jonathan Izak‘s 12-year-old autistic brother inspired him to develop the AutisMate app for iPad. His brother, Oriel, is mostly nonverbal and used to struggle to communicate, sometimes throwing tantrums when he was unable to get his point across, Izak tells Mashable.


At 7 years old, Oriel had to wear a heavy communication device around his neck, which further set him apart from other children at school. Now, Oriel carries an iPad and uses the app his brother developed to communicate and learn new behaviors like how to act in specific social situations.


[More from Mashable: Tablet Shipments Hit Record Levels While Apple’s Market Share Declines]


With AutisMate, parents or caretakers take and upload photos of their child’s bedroom, the kitchen, his or her school to the app. When the app launches, the iPad’s GPS will know where the user is and allows them to tap pictures of their surrounding environment. The child can tap the refrigerator, for instance, to express that he or she is hungry.


Izak says these visual tools for communication don’t become a permanent crutch but rather promote speech and communication.


It’s not uncommon for children with autism to be nonverbal and need the iPad to communicate. AutismSpeaks.org says it’s estimated that 25% of people with autism are completely nonverbal.


Izak explains that, for someone with autism, the unknowns in life can be scary, so to prepare that person for the world, apps like AutisMate show scenes of how to do everyday things like go to a restaurant or the doctor’s office.


Parents, caretakers and doctors know early intervention with autism is a key factor to increasing their child’s likelihood of communicating, which is probably why most autism apps focus on children. iPad apps to help children with autism develop their communication skills are part of a rapidly growing market and have proved to be effective tools. Check out some of the apps we found and others recommended to us. Let us know if you know of any other useful apps for people with autism.


Click here to view the gallery: Autism Apps


Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, UrsaHoogle


This story originally published on Mashable here.


Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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The Duchess of Cambridge Reveals Royal Baby Bump









02/03/2013 at 01:20 PM EST



Royal baby-watchers, rejoice: Here's comes the bump!

Although she was wearing an oversize, tartan-print cape, Kate stepped out on Wednesday in West London revealing a new curve – and we're not just talking about her smile!

With her hair back in a ponytail, the Duchess of Cambridge, 30, pulled her look together with a black scarf, black leggings and riding boots.

The mother-to-be was also recently spotted in London's Chelsea neighborhood shopping for jeggings at the Gap.

The public outings show that Kate's health is on the upswing after being hospitalized with severe morning sickness in the early days of her pregnancy.

The baby is due in July.

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