Wall Street Week Ahead: Attention turns to financial earnings

NEW YORK (Reuters) - After over a month of watching Capitol Hill and Pennsylvania Avenue, Wall Street can get back to what it knows best: Wall Street.


The first full week of earnings season is dominated by the financial sector - big investment banks and commercial banks - just as retail investors, free from the "fiscal cliff" worries, have started to get back into the markets.


Equities have risen in the new year, rallying after the initial resolution of the fiscal cliff in Washington on January 2. The S&P 500 on Friday closed its second straight week of gains, leaving it just fractionally off a five-year closing high hit on Thursday.


An array of financial companies - including Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase - will report on Wednesday. Bank of America and Citigroup will join on Thursday.


"The banks have a read on the economy, on the health of consumers, on the health of demand," said Quincy Krosby, market strategist at Prudential Financial in Newark, New Jersey.


"What we're looking for is demand. Demand from small business owners, from consumers."


EARNINGS AND ECONOMIC EXPECTATIONS


Investors were greeted with a slightly better-than-anticipated first week of earnings, but expectations were low and just a few companies reported results.


Fourth quarter earnings and revenues for S&P 500 companies are both expected to have grown by 1.9 percent in the past quarter, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.


Few large corporations have reported, with Wells Fargo the first bank out of the gate on Friday, posting a record profit. The bank, however, made fewer mortgage loans than in the third quarter and its shares were down 0.8 percent for the day.


The KBW bank index <.bkx>, a gauge of U.S. bank stocks, is up about 30 percent from a low hit in June, rising in six of the last eight months, including January.


Investors will continue to watch earnings on Friday, as General Electric will round out the week after Intel's report on Thursday.


HOUSING, INDUSTRIAL DATA ON TAP


Next week will also feature the release of a wide range of economic data.


Tuesday will see the release of retail sales numbers and the Empire State manufacturing index, followed by CPI data on Wednesday.


Investors and analysts will also focus on the housing starts numbers and the Philadelphia Federal Reserve factory activity index on Thursday. The Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan consumer sentiment numbers are due on Friday.


Jim Paulsen, chief investment officer at Wells Capital Management in Minneapolis, said he expected to see housing numbers continue to climb.


"They won't be that surprising if they're good, they'll be rather eye-catching if they're not good," he said. "The underlying drive of the markets, I think, is economic data. That's been the catalyst."


POLITICAL ANXIETY


Worries about the protracted fiscal cliff negotiations drove the markets in the weeks before the ultimate January 2 resolution, but fear of the debt ceiling fight has yet to command investors' attention to the same extent.


The agreement was likely part of the reason for a rebound in flows to stocks. U.S.-based stock mutual funds gained $7.53 billion after the cliff resolution in the week ending January 9, the most in a week since May 2001, according to Thomson Reuters' Lipper.


Markets are unlikely to move on debt ceiling news unless prominent lawmakers signal that they are taking a surprising position in the debate.


The deal in Washington to avert the cliff set up another debt battle, which will play out in coming months alongside spending debates. But this alarm has been sounded before.


"The market will turn the corner on it when the debate heats up," Prudential Financial's Krosby said.


The CBOE Volatility index <.vix> a gauge of traders' anxiety, is off more than 25 percent so far this month and it recently hit its lowest since June 2007, before the recession began.


"The market doesn't react to the same news twice. It will have to be more brutal than the fiscal cliff," Krosby said. "The market has been conditioned that, at the end, they come up with an agreement."


(Reporting by Gabriel Debenedetti; editing by Rodrigo Campos)



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IHT Rendezvous: Hostages Caught Up in France's African Intervention

LONDON — The widespread satisfaction expressed in France at the government’s decision to intervene militarily against Islamic militants in Mali was tempered on Saturday by news of a failed overnight French hostage rescue mission on the other side of Africa.

After reports emerged from Somalia of a helicopter-borne commando raid in the south of the country, Jean-Yves Le Drian, the French defense minister announced that a hostage was believed to have been killed by his captors in an operation in which a French soldier died and another was missing.

The hostage, identified as Denis Allex, was a French secret service agent who had been held by Somalia’s Islamist Al Shabab militia since 2009. His captors, who may have seized the missing French soldier during the raid, claimed Mr. Allex was still alive and they planned to put him on trial.

Mr. Le Drian said there was no connection between the military operations in Mali and Somalia. The hostage rescue mission would have happened earlier, he told a news conference, if the conditions had been right.

However, news of the Somali raid prompted speculation that the action might have been prompted by France’s concern that its Mali intervention would spur retaliation against its citizens held captive in Africa.

These include eight hostages seized in Mali and neighboring states by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, one of the groups involved in last year’s Islamist takeover of northern Mali.

The decision of President François Hollande to send French forces into action in Mali to counter an offensive by Islamist militias that control the north of the country has been greeted with broad cross-party support at home.

Libération newspaper said it could represent a positive turning point in the presidency of Mr. Hollande, “who did not hesitate in the face of the very real risk of seeing the establishment of a terrorist state in the heart of the dark continent.”

Families of the hostages, however, expressed fears for the fate of their loved ones, with some demanding why military action to free them had not been taken earlier.

Jean-Pierre Verdon, the father of one captive, Philippe Verdon, told France’s RTL broadcaster: “Making war on terrorists is a matter for the state, but our obsession is the hostages.”

A leader of the regional Al Qaeda group last month accused France of blocking negotiations on a deal that would have led to freeing the captives.

Mathieu Guidère, a French academic expert on the region, speculated at the time that the government wanted to send a message to the militants that the capture of French citizens would not affect its foreign policy.

The government was trapped in an “infernal logic,”, according to Mr. Guidère, a professor at the University of Toulouse.

“The more the government declares it will intervene in Mali to support African forces, the more French citizens will be kidnapped,” he told Le Figaro in December. “If you want to fight terrorism, you don’t go about announcing it in advance.”

Before news came through of the abortive overnight raid in Somalia, the intervention in Mali had attracted support across the political spectrum in France.

Jean-François Copé, head of the center-right opposition U.M.P., said: “It was high time to act to prevent the establishment of a narco-terrorist state.”

François Fillon, a former U.M.P. prime minister said: “The fight against terrorism demands national unity beyond partisan differences.”

With Mr. Hollande now facing a second crisis in Africa, it is a political honeymoon that may not last.

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The Worst ‘Wheel of Fortune’ Player Ever






We realize there’s only so much time one can spend in a day watching new trailers, viral video clips, and shaky cell phone footage of people arguing on live television. This is why every day The Atlantic Wire highlights the videos that truly earn your five minutes (or less) of attention. Today:  


RELATED: Movie and Television Characters Need a Lesson in Talking Trash






If we’re ever on Wheel of Fortune we would hope that we were on with the worst players. In part, because deep down, we know we’d be pretty bad at it—all that pressure, all that Sajak, and Vanna staring at you with her vacant eyes… it’s just too much, really. But even we know Johnny Cash never made a song called “I Have the Wine.” 


RELATED: Proof Ceiling Cat Exists; 295 Movies Bring You ‘Baby Got Back’


RELATED: Behold the Power of ‘Gangnam Style’


Movies? We can explain:


RELATED: The Robot That Performs Gangnam Style Better Than You


RELATED: Catching Kangaroos Seems Pretty Easy; ‘The Dark Knight’ Goes Pee-wee


Oh, broadcast journalists, you may never know the pain of an embarrassing typo, but we don’t envy you. Not even one bit:


And, finally, this video makes us think of the time we were first introduced to after-work drinks. Which is where we will now be going. Enjoy!


Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Taylor Swift, Marie Osmond Draw Love, Laughs from Readers This Week















01/12/2013 at 08:30 AM EST







Taylor Swift and Rachael, Gabriel and Marie Osmond


Steve Granitz/Wireimage; Courtesy R&C


What's on the minds of PEOPLE readers this week? We love receiving your feedback, and as always, you weighed in with plenty of reaction!

From Marie Osmond's happy news to pregnant Kim Kardashian's real estate moves to Taylor Swift's love life, check out the stories 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! 

LOLAs she sings about her love life and its mishaps, readers laughed out loud at yet another public break-up for Swift, 23 – this time with One Direction's Harry Styles, 18. The high-profile couple, who connected in November and then were seen cuddling and kissing from New York to the Caribbean to the ski slopes, reportedly called it quits after a Virgin Island trip went sour.

WowBut it wasn't all LOLs for Swift this week. Emerging from her break-up with Styles, she made a bold statement on the People's Choice Awards red carpet. Decked out in a white Ralph Lauren Collection gown, with a plunging bodice, smoky eyes and sensual Christian Louboutin heels, Swift turned heads and signaled that she was not a victim of heartbreak.

LoveFor Marie Osmond, Christmas Day brought a huge present brimming with love. Her daughter Rachael, 23, a costume designer, married fashion designer Gabriel Krueger, 22, in a cabin in Park City, Utah, prompting a joyous Osmond to tell PEOPLE that she'd "never seen Rachael look happier." Readers shared in this Osmond story of love and family.

AngryIf reader's weren't shocked enough by their surprise baby news, Kim Kardashian and Kanye West continued to draw their ire with news that they purchased an extravagant $11 million Bel Air, Calif., mansion. As Kardashian, 32, negotiates her drawn-out divorce from basketball star Kris Humphries, 27, she and West, 35, continue to globe-trot along as they prepare to play house in a 9,000-square-foot Italian-style villa that a source says offers them privacy.

SadThe international fashion world was rocked and readers were saddened by news last week that Vittorio Missoni, 58, the commercial and marketing director of the Missoni fashion house, went missing while on holiday in Venezuela. As the search continues for Missoni's missing twin-engine plane, which went off radar and never arrived at its destination, his family said they remained hopeful that somehow, he and his wife and another couple they were vacationing with, would be found alive.

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

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Flu season puts businesses and employees in a bind


WASHINGTON (AP) — Nearly half the 70 employees at a Ford dealership in Clarksville, Ind., have been out sick at some point in the past month. It didn't have to be that way, the boss says.


"If people had stayed home in the first place, a lot of times that spread wouldn't have happened," says Marty Book, a vice president at Carriage Ford. "But people really want to get out and do their jobs, and sometimes that's a detriment."


The flu season that has struck early and hard across the U.S. is putting businesses and employees alike in a bind. In this shaky economy, many Americans are reluctant to call in sick, something that can backfire for their employers.


Flu was widespread in 47 states last week, up from 41 the week before, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday. The only states without widespread flu were California, Mississippi and Hawaii. And the main strain of the virus circulating tends to make people sicker than usual.


Blake Fleetwood, president of Cook Travel in New York, says his agency is operating with less than 40 percent of its staff of 35 because of the flu and other ailments.


"The people here are working longer hours and it puts a lot of strain on everyone," Fleetwood says. "You don't know whether to ask people with the flu to come in or not." He says the flu is also taking its toll on business as customers cancel their travel plans: "People are getting the flu and they're reduced to a shriveling little mess and don't feel like going anywhere."


Many workers go to the office even when they're sick because they are worried about losing their jobs, says John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, an employer consulting firm. Other employees report for work out of financial necessity, since roughly 40 percent of U.S. workers don't get paid if they are out sick. Some simply have a strong work ethic and feel obligated to show up.


Flu season typically costs employers $10.4 billion for hospitalization and doctor's office visits, according to the CDC. That does not include the costs of lost productivity from absences.


At Carriage Ford, Book says the company plans to make flu shots mandatory for all employees.


Linda Doyle, CEO of the Northcrest Community retirement home in Ames, Iowa, says the company took that step this year for its 120 employees, providing the shots at no cost. It is also supplying face masks for all staff.


And no one is expected to come into work if sick, she says.


So far, the company hasn't seen an outbreak of flu cases.


"You keep your fingers crossed and hope it continues this way," Doyle says. "You see the news and it's frightening. We just want to make sure that we're doing everything possible to keep everyone healthy. Cleanliness is really the key to it. Washing your hands. Wash, wash, wash."


Among other steps employers can take to reduce the spread of the flu on the job: holding meetings via conference calls, staggering shifts so that fewer people are on the job at the same time, and avoiding handshaking.


Newspaper editor Rob Blackwell says he had taken only two sick days in the last two years before coming down with the flu and then pneumonia in the past two weeks. He missed several days the first week of January and has been working from home the past week.


"I kept trying to push myself to get back to work because, generally speaking, when I'm sick I just push through it," says Blackwell, the Washington bureau chief for the daily trade paper American Banker.


Connecticut is the only state that requires some businesses to pay employees when they are out sick. Cities such as San Francisco and Washington have similar laws.


Challenger and others say attitudes are changing, and many companies are rethinking their sick policies to avoid officewide outbreaks of the flu and other infectious diseases.


"I think companies are waking up to the fact right now that you might get a little bit of gain from a person coming into work sick, but especially when you have an epidemic, if 10 or 20 people then get sick, in fact you've lost productivity," Challenger says.


___


Associated Press writers Mike Stobbe in Atlanta, Eileen A.J. Connelly in New York, Paul Wiseman in Washington, Barbara Rodriguez in Des Moines, Iowa, and Jim Salter in St. Louis contributed to this report.


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Stock futures little changed after S&P hit five-year high


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures were little changed on Friday, a day after the S&P 500 hit a five-year high and following higher-than-expected results from Wells Fargo.


Wells Fargo , the first major U.S. bank to post earnings this season, reported a higher fourth-quarter profit on Friday as it set aside less money to cover bad loans and made more fees from mortgages. Still, its shares fell 1.1 percent to $35 in premarket trading.


Basic materials shares could be hurt after China's annual consumer inflation rate picked up to a seven-month high, narrowing the scope for the central bank to boost the economy by easing monetary policy.


"The bigger news lies ahead of us in terms of earnings and also reports on Christmas sales, which seem to be poor so far," said Rick Meckler, president of investment firm LibertyView Capital Management in Jersey City, New Jersey.


Best Buy shares were volatile in premarket trading after it reported flat holiday sales at established U.S. stores. Shares were last up 4.8 percent at $12.80.


Meckler said that in the absence of major news, the market will continue to absorb some of the money that comes in from institutional investors at the start of the year, which could give equities an upside bias.


S&P 500 futures dipped 1 point and were slightly below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 7 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 1 point.


American Express said it would take a $600-million quarterly charge relating to 5,400 job cuts and payment of legal bills, a move likely to halve its net income. Its shares dipped 0.5 percent in premarket trading to $60.51.


Boeing's 787 Dreamliner jet was dogged by further incidents that tested confidence in the new plane. It suffered a cracked cockpit window and an oil leak on separate flights in Japan on Friday. The US Department of Transportation said the jet would be subject to a review of its critical systems by regulators. Boeing shares fell 1.5 percent to $75.90 in premarket trading.


In a move that could support US equities and boost the global economic outlook, the Japanese government approved a massive $117 billion of spending to revive the world's third-largest economy in the biggest stimulus plan since the financial crisis.


(Editing by Bernadette Baum)



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IHT Rendezvous: Top Pirate Quits as Tide Turns Against Somali Raiders

LONDON — A notorious Somali sea raider known as Big Mouth is a pirate with a retirement plan.

He announced this week that he was quitting after an eight-year career in which he and his pirate crews plagued shipping in the Indian Ocean and raised millions of dollars in ransom.

Big Mouth — Mohamed Abdi Hassan — was named in a United Nations report last year as one of the most notorious and influential leaders of a Somali pirate network.

His decision to call it a day may be further evidence that international action, including patrols by European and other navies, is at last succeeding in containing the piracy scourge off the coast of east Africa.

“I have decided to renounce and quit, and from today on I will not be involved in this gang activity,” the pirate leader said in Somalia’s northern region of Adado on Wednesday. (You can watch his valedictory press conference here.)

He said he had also successfully encouraged many of his colleagues to quit.

Mr. Hassan’s decision came in the same week in which Koji Sekimizu of Japan, head of the International Maritime Organization, said 2012 saw a sharp reduction in successful piracy incidents off the coast of Somalia and in the Indian Ocean.

During the course of the year, the sea raiders only succeeded in capturing 13 vessels, as against 49 in 2010 and 28 in 2011, a year that saw a record number of pirate attacks.

The European Union’s naval task force in the region said last April that factors in the decrease included more armed security aboard merchant vessels and the presence of foreign navies.

Timo Lange, the spokesman for the force, said recently that anti-piracy efforts had been enhanced by a European decision to allow navies to destroy pirate supplies on shore, whereas previously that power was limited to the open waters.

In May, the force performed its first shoreline operation, sending an aircraft over the Somali coast to destroy pirate equipment that had been assembled for a mission.

In Big Mouth’s case, an additional factor in his decision to quit might have been the provision of a diplomatic passport by Somalia’s transitional government as an inducement. Last year’s U.N. report said the pirate boss had used it to visit his wife and family abroad.

The biggest anti-piracy victory of the year came last month, when naval police from the breakaway province of Puntland overran a pirate stronghold and liberated the MV Iceberg, a Panama-flagged cargo vessel, and its 22 crew members, who had been held for almost three years.

Mr. Sekimuzu cautioned this week that the scourge was not yet over. Twelve vessels and 159 people were still in the hands of Somali pirates, he said.

There are also concerns that the eventual scaling back of some naval forces might encourage a resurgence.

In Britain, which is facing naval cutbacks, a consortium of business executives has set up the country’s first private navy in 200 years. This year it will start protecting shipping in the Indian Ocean and elsewhere at a daily cost of $10,000 to $12,000 per vessel.

Meanwhile, the maritime authorities are warning seafarers that a decline in piracy off Somalia is being offset by an increase in incidents off West Africa. There were 32 attacks in the Gulf of Guinea in the first half of 2012, as against 25 in the same period the previous year.

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Skype founder browses globe for next tech earner






LONDON (Reuters) – Niklas Zennstrom, co-founder of internet phone service Skype, believes the next hot tech business will just as likely spring from Istanbul or Sao Paolo as from Silicon Valley or the coolest districts of London.


And he is prepared to fly around the world to find it.






“Talent can pop up anywhere in the world, it’s not just one city block,” the Swedish entrepreneur and venture capitalist said at the headquarters of his Atomico fund, based on upmarket New Bond Street in central London.


Zennstrom, who retains faint traces of a Swedish accent despite his years of globetrotting, is looking for start-ups ready to shift up a gear into new markets and has the experience, gained from growing Skype into a service used by millions around the world, to help them.


Skype was sold to eBay Inc in 2005 for roughly $ 3 billion, before being bought back by a consortium including Zennstrom in 2009 and then two years later sold on to Microsoft Corp for $ 8.5 billion, leaving him a multi-millionaire.


“If you have a product that works it’s important to scale (up) the business as quickly as possible,” said Zennstrom, named by Time Magazine in 2006 as one of its 100 most influential people. “As entrepreneurs, usually you may not have that experience; how does Asia work? Europe? Latin America?”


Atomico, founded by Zennstrom in 2006, has invested in companies in northern Europe including Finland-based Rovio, developer of Angry Birds, and Hailo, a London-based startup that has developed an app that connects passengers with taxi drivers and has raised $ 20 million so far.


It also led a $ 105 million funding round for U.S. online retailer Fab in July.


FUTURE PORTFOLIO


The investment fund, whose London office reception is decked out with simple designer furniture and modern art pieces, has opened offices in Turkey and Brazil, emerging markets with growing middle classes eager to shop online and buy internet services.


Zennstrom wants to make these markets a large part of Atomico’s portfolio in future.


The firm in 2011 backed Brazilian online retailers such as car parts supplier Connect Parts and announced a $ 16 million investment in a Russian online travel agency in October.


Atomico is not necessarily looking for the latest gizmo or internet trend, but savvy businesses with talented leaders who can take advantage of growth in nascent sectors such as e-commerce.


And Zennstrom, softly spoken and wearing an open-necked shirt and dark jacket, believes emerging market growth is fuelling a new breed of optimism and ambition.


“It’s a much more of an entrepreneurial spirit (in Turkey and Brazil) compared to southern European where it’s a depressed mindset,” he said.


Zennstrom earned his stripes in the tech world after helping launch file-sharing service Kazaa more than a decade ago, which failed as a business but paved the way for Skype.


He said getting investment today was far easier than when he was starting Skype. It took him a year to secure funding, whereas today the most talented entrepreneurs with the best ideas could take their pick of investors.


There is also increasing recognition that entrepreneurs might want to realize some of the value of their creations, something he said was lacking when Skype became successful.


“There was really no IPO market and it was not really accepted for founders to sell some of their shares to get some money off the table,” he said, adding that before Skype was sold to eBay, he could not even secure a mortgage on an apartment.


“I think we made the right decision for the time in terms of selling (Skype),” he said. “Today as an entrepreneur you have more options.”


(Editing by David Holmes)


Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Kate's Official Portrait Unveiled









01/11/2013 at 08:40 AM EST







From left: artist Paul Emsley, the Duchess and Duke of Cambridge


REX USA


The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge had an art outing early Friday – for the unveiling of her official portrait.

And they were not alone. Kate's parents and siblings also made the breakfast trip to the National Portrait Gallery – the Duchess's first official outing since she handed out awards at a sports honors evening in December.

Her reaction to her portrait? "I thought it was brilliant," Kate, who showed no sign of a baby bump in her burgundy Whistles dress, said at the reception.

She also thanked artist Paul Emsley, a Glasgow-born, South African-raised painter, while William pronounced the canvas – which happens to be located in the same gallery as a rendering of a naked David Beckham (it will soon be moved elsewhere) – "absolutely beautiful"

Kate sat for Emsley in two sittings last May and June, both at his studio in Bradford-upon-Avon, southwest England, and at Kensington Palace. Working from photographs he took, he spent 3½ months to create the painting.

Kate's Official Portrait Unveiled| The British Royals, Kate Middleton, Prince William

Official portrait of Kate, Duchess of Cambridge, by artist Paul Emsley

Sang Tan / AP

He says Kate wanted "to convey her natural self as opposed to her official self. I was always aware of the fact that we would use the hair very much as a kind of a frame for the face, and not too much jewelry apart from the earring, to try to create something of her natural warmth, her natural serenity without too much busyness in the portrait."

He told PEOPLE, "If you are working with someone who has whose face is just a lovely face, it's harder to find something in the portrait that gives it some sort of gravitas. In this case I've tried to do that with the smile and the dimples and the shadows around the face."

Director of the National Portrait Gallery Sandy Nairne, called the painting "very direct, simple. Modern contemporary portrait." As for the subject, "She was really positive about it," and, as he told PEOPLE, "She seemed very well, terrific."

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Flu season strikes early and, in some places, hard


NEW YORK (AP) — From the Rocky Mountains to New England, hospitals are swamped with people with flu symptoms. Some medical centers are turning away visitors or making them wear face masks, and one Pennsylvania hospital set up a tent outside its ER to deal with the feverish patients.


Flu season in the U.S. has struck early and, in many places, hard.


While flu normally doesn't blanket the country until late January or February, it is already widespread in more than 40 states, with about 30 of them reporting some major hot spots. On Thursday, health officials blamed the flu for the deaths of 20 children so far.


Whether this will be considered a bad season by the time it has run its course in the spring remains to be seen.


"Those of us with gray hair have seen worse," said Dr. William Schaffner, a flu expert at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.


The evidence so far points to a moderate season, Schaffner and others say. It looks bad in part because last year was unusually mild and because the main strain of influenza circulating this year tends to make people sicker and really lay them low.


David Smythe of New York City saw it happen to his 50-year-old girlfriend, who has been knocked out for about two weeks. "She's been in bed. She can't even get up," he said.


Also, the flu's early arrival coincided with spikes in a variety of other viruses, including a childhood malady that mimics flu and a new norovirus that causes vomiting and diarrhea, or what is commonly known as "stomach flu." So what people are calling the flu may, in fact, be something else.


"There may be more of an overlap than we normally see," said Dr. Joseph Bresee, who tracks the flu for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.


Most people don't undergo lab tests to confirm flu, and the symptoms are so similar that it can be hard to distinguish flu from other viruses, or even a cold. Over the holidays, 250 people were sickened at a Mormon missionary training center in Utah, but the culprit turned out to be a norovirus, not the flu.


Flu is a major contributor, though, to what's going on.


"I'd say 75 percent," said Dr. Dan Surdam, head of the emergency department at Cheyenne Regional Medical Center, Wyoming's largest hospital. The 17-bed emergency room saw its busiest day ever last week, with 166 visitors.


The early onslaught has resulted in a spike in hospitalizations. To deal with the influx and protect other patients from getting sick, hospitals are restricting visits from children, requiring family members to wear masks and banning anyone with flu symptoms from maternity wards.


One hospital in Allentown, Pa., set up a tent this week for a steady stream of patients with flu symptoms. But so far "what we're seeing is a typical flu season," said Terry Burger, director of infection control and prevention for the hospital, Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest.


On Wednesday, Boston declared a public health emergency, with the city's hospitals counting about 1,500 emergency room visits since December by people with flu-like symptoms.


All the flu activity has led some to question whether this year's flu shot is working. While health officials are still analyzing the vaccine, early indications are that it's about 60 percent effective, which is in line with what's been seen in other years.


The vaccine is reformulated each year, based on experts' best guess of which strains of the virus will predominate. This year's vaccine is well-matched to what's going around. The government estimates that between a third and half of Americans have gotten the vaccine.


In New York City, 57-year-old Judith Quinones skipped getting a flu shot this season and suffered her worst case of flu-like illness in years. She was laid up for nearly a month with fever and body aches. "I just couldn't function," she said.


But her daughter got the vaccine. "And she got sick twice," Quinones said.


Europe is also suffering an early flu season, though a milder strain predominates there. Flu reports are up, too, in China, Japan, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Algeria and the Republic of Congo. Britain has seen a surge in cases of norovirus.


On average, about 24,000 Americans die each flu season, according to the CDC. That's an estimate — the agency does not keep a running tally of adult flu deaths each year, only for children. Some state health departments do keep count, and they've reported dozens of flu deaths so far.


Flu usually peaks in midwinter. Symptoms can include fever, cough, runny nose, head and body aches and fatigue. Some people also suffer vomiting and diarrhea, and some develop pneumonia or other severe complications.


Most people with flu have a mild illness and can help themselves and protect others by staying home and resting. But people with severe symptoms should see a doctor. They may be given antiviral drugs or other medications to ease symptoms.


Flu vaccinations are recommended for everyone 6 months or older. Of the 20 children killed by the flu this season, only two were fully vaccinated.


___


AP Medical Writer Maria Cheng in London contributed to this report.


___


Online:


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


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Stock futures gain as China data spurs growth hopes


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were set to rise at the open on Thursday as stronger-than-expected exports in China, the world's second-biggest economy, raised hopes for a more robust recovery in the global economy this year.


Data showed China's export growth rebounded sharply to a seven-month high in December, a strong finish to the year after seven straight quarters of slowdown, even as demand from Europe and the United States remained subdued.


Ford Motor shares gained 3.1 percent to $13.89 in premarket trading after it doubled its first-quarter dividend to 10 cents a share, despite a recent drop in market share.


Adding to the bullish sentiment, Spanish benchmark government bond yields fell below 5 percent to a 10-month low on the back of a strong bond auction that raised more than the targeted amount.


"The market's more positive and it owes a lot of that to the Chinese economic data," said Art Hogan, managing director of Lazard Capital Markets in New York, adding that the success of the Spanish auction was also of note.


S&P 500 futures rose 7.7 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures rose 45 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures added 18 points.


Data showed new claims for unemployment benefits rose last week, though seasonal volatility made it difficult to get a clear picture of the labor market's health. The market's reaction to the data was muted.


Looking ahead, traders await the release of wholesale inventories data for November by the Commerce Department at 10:00 a.m. ET (1500 GMT). Economists expect inventories to rise 0.3 percent, against a 0.6 percent increase in October.


Several Federal Reserve speakers are due to speak Thursday, including Kansas City Fed President Esther George and St. Louis Fed President James Bullard. Market participants are likely to pay close attention to their remarks following indications, in the minutes of the latest Fed meeting, that the Fed may halt its highly simulative asset purchases this year. The program has been one of the pillars of the strength in the equity market.


Shares of upscale jeweler Tiffany dropped 8 percent to $58.21 in premarket trading after it said earnings for the year through January 31 will be at the lower end of its forecast.


Molycorp shares dropped 13 percent to $9.39 in premarket trading after the company said revenue and cash flow would be lower than expected this year due to lower rare-earth prices.


U.S.-traded Nokia shares jumped 18 percent to $4.43 after the Finnish handset maker said its fourth-quarter results were better than expected and that the mobile phone business achieved underlying profitability.


(Editing by Bernadette Baum)



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IHT Rendezvous: The Last Man Asian Literary Prize

HONG KONG — The five shortlisted novels of what will be the last Man Asian Literary Prize were announced last evening at the Man Group’s offices here. The British investment firm will end its support of Asia’s most prominent literary prize after the final award is given at a black-tie dinner in March.

As usually happens, the shortlist announcement drew about two dozen people from the city’s relatively small English-language literary scene: a few publishers, agents and journalists mostly from the foreign or English-language press. With rather less fanfare than the Man Booker gets, we stood around a screen to watch Maya Jaggi, a literary critic and head of the judging panel, read the list via a video link from London, from what looked like an office cubicle.

Man’s involvement lent clout to the prize when it was introduced in Hong Kong in 2007 — it is often incorrectly referred to as the Asian Booker — and the $30,000 purse is extraordinarily generous in a region without many literary awards. More importantly, it gave global exposure to Asian authors writing in Asian languages. The 2011 winner, “Please Look After Mom” by the South Korean novelist Kyung-sook Shin, went on to sell two million copies worldwide.

Initially, the Man Asia accepted unpublished manuscripts (which it no longer does) and focused on unearthing unknown regional talent, like the Filipino writer Miguel Syjuco in 2008.

But as the prize grew in prominence, so have its recipients, causing more crossover with international awards. The Guardian called this year the “Booker re-match,” as two of the works shortlisted for the Man Asia – “The Garden of Evening Mists” by the Malaysian author Tan Twan Eng and “Narcopolis,” a debut novel by the Indian poet Jeet Thayil – were also shortlisted for the Man Booker.

Another author shortlisted for the Man Asia, Orhan Pamuk, was given the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature. His submission, “Silent House,” is a 30-year-old Turkish-language novel that had only recently been published in English. Rounding out the short list are “Between Clay and Dust” by the Pakistani author Musharraf Ali Farooqi and “The Briefcase” by Hiromi Kawakami of Japan.

All but one – “Between Clay and Dust,” from the Delhi-based Aleph Book Company – are from Western publishers.

The prize’s organizers say that they have been in talks with potential new sponsors for months, after it was announced in October that Man would no longer support it.

“We have decided to concentrate our arts sponsorship on the world-leading Man Booker prize, where our support is about to go into its twelfth year,” David Waller, a Man Group spokesman, said at the time.

A new title sponsor is expected to be announced in April, and most chatter has been over whether it will be an Asian organization this time. It brings up a larger question:

Does Asia’s literary scene still need Western financing, publishing houses and publicity to succeed?

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It's a Girl for Lily Allen




Celebrity Baby Blog





01/10/2013 at 08:30 AM ET



Lily Allen Welcomes Baby
PA Photos/Landov


Cue the lullabies: Lily Allen is a mom — again!


The “Smile” singer and her husband Sam Cooper welcomed her second daughter — and the baby girl shares her special day with rock legends Elvis and David Bowie. Marnie Rose arrived on Jan. 8, according to reports.


The couple — who wed in Gloucestershire, England in June 2011 — are already parents to 1-year-old daughter Ethel Mary.


Her rep declined to confirm the pregnancy in July, but after stepping out several times with a burgeoning belly, no official confirmation was needed when 27-year-old Allen appeared radiant on the red carpet during the British Fashion Awards in November.


On New Year’s Eve, Allen was anxious the tot would emerge soon, Tweeting she was “only planning on spending a few days of [2013] pregnant. Unlike the last 3 years.” And she said she had been sampling curries to try to force labor.


A rep for the singer (who goes by her married name Cooper) didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment or statement, but Allen appeared to acknowledge the news Thursday when she thanked fans, writing, “Quite overwhelmed by all the well wishing going on. THANKYOU everybody x x x”


One of those came from actor friend Charlie Condou, who Tweeted he had a “little cry” when Lily “told me Marnie Rose was born” on his birthday.


– Anya Leon and Simon Perry


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Wall Street set to open higher after Alcoa's positive results


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street was poised to open slightly higher on Wednesday after Alcoa got the earnings season under way with better-than-expected revenue and an encouraging outlook for the year.


Alcoa Inc said it expects global demand for aluminum will continue to grow in 2013, though the company kept a cautious tone as worries lingered over a looming U.S. budget confrontation. Shares of Alcoa, the largest aluminum producer in the United States, rose 1.7 percent to $9.25 in premarket trade.


Still, investors are wary about the outcome of the fourth-quarter earnings season. Profits were expected to beat the previous quarter's lackluster results, but analyst estimates were down sharply from where they were in October. Earnings were expected to grow by 2.7 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.


Equities have pulled back over the last two sessions from last week's rally, which was spurred by the "fiscal cliff" deal in Washington.


"With the euphoria of the fiscal cliff deal wearing off, the market is looking for the next positive theme and the hope is that earning season can fill that need," said Andre Bakhos, director of market analytics at Lek Securities in New York.


"With expectations muted, any semblance of decent numbers could provide a robust upside potential."


Among other earnings, Constellation Brands , whose labels include Robert Mondavi and Ravenswood wines, rose 4 percent to $37.50 after it reported higher profit.


But on the downside, Apollo Group Inc slid more than 10 percent after it reported lower student sign-ups for the third straight quarter and cut its operating profit forecast for 2013. Apollo's shares were indicated at $18.84.


S&P 500 futures rose 1.7 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures added 15 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures gained 1.5 points.


Dish Network Corp late Tuesday announced a bid for Clearwire Corp that trumped Sprint Nextel Corp's $2.2 billion offer, setting the stage for a battle over the wireless service provider.


Clearwire was up 7.2 percent at $3.13, while Sprint lost 2.5 percent to $5.82.


Hard drive maker Seagate Technology rose 2.7 percent to $32.25 after it raised its second-quarter revenue forecast.


Apple Inc is working on a lower-end iPhone, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing sources. The report comes as Apple's chief executive meets with partners and government officials in China.


Goldman Sachs Group Inc and Morgan Stanley are among a group of banks expected to agree as soon as this week to a $1.5 billion settlement with U.S. regulators over botched foreclosure claims, sources told Reuters on Tuesday.


(Editing by Kenneth Barry)



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Iranian Captives Freed in Major Prisoner Exchange in Syria





ISTANBUL — More than 2,000 prisoners incarcerated by the Syrian authorities were being released on Wednesday in return for 48 Iranians freed by rebels after five months in captivity, Turkish and Iranian news reports said, in what appeared to be the biggest prisoner swap since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began almost two years ago.




The exchange, brokered by Turkey and Qatar, came days after Mr. Assad warned on Sunday that he would not abandon the fight against armed adversaries pressing on the approaches to the Syrian capital, Damascus, and brushed aside calls for him to quit.


The swap started in more than one location near Damascus after months of diplomatic efforts that also involved the Humanitarian Relief Foundation, an Islamist-leaning aid organization based in Istanbul and widely known as I.H.H., according to Bulent Yildirim, the head of the foundation.


“Some of our friends are with the opposition groups, and we are heading to the area where the prisoners are to be released,” Mr. Yildirim told Turkey’s semiofficial Anatolian news Agency.


He added, “Efforts under the Turkish and Qatari mediation continue, while the exchange started at several locations where prisoners were kept.”


Mr. Yildirim told Reuters that, after their release, the 48 Iranians were escorted to Damascus by Iranian and Syrian officials.


The aid group has set up an operation center in Damascus to unite 2,130 prisoners, including 73 women, at one base while another aid team remained in Douma, near the Syrian capital, to oversee the return of the 48 Iranians.


The Syrian opposition has claimed that the Iranians are members of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, but Tehran has denied the assertion, saying the captives are Shiite civilian pilgrims. The Iranians were seized in August while traveling on a bus from Damascus International Airport to a Shiite shrine on the outskirts of the capital, Iran’s Press TV said.


Opposition fighters had threatened to kill the Iranians unless Mr. Assad’s forces halted military operations. But since then the fighting around Damascus has intensified.


Iran is Mr. Assad’s main ally in a region where many Arab states and neighboring Turkey have turned against him, seeking his ouster. The Iranian captives offered the rebels holding them a source of pressure on the Syrian leader to push for the release of prisoners.


“We expect the swap to be completed in the next hour,” Huseyin Oruc, a member of the aid group’s executive board said in a telephone interview around midday.


“Among the 2,130 there are Syrians, four Turks, and a Palestinian, names of whom we will announce later in the day.”


Diplomatic efforts to release more prisoners would continue, he added.


“It is the first time that the ‘humanitarian diplomacy’ we initiated succeeded in releasing such a large group of people at once,” Mr. Oruc said. “There are many more held captive and our efforts to free them will continue without delay.”


The aid group gained international attention in 2010 for organizing a flotilla of boats heading to Gaza, ostensibly with relief supplies, that prompted a deadly Israeli commando raid in which nine Turks died. At the time of the raid, the group was reported to have extensive connections with Turkey’s political elite. The episode began an unraveling of Turkey’s once close ties with Israel.


In recent months, the aid group has also been part of negotiations to free smaller numbers of prisoners, including two Turkish journalists held in Syria, Reuters reported. The organization has been active since the early 1990s in charitably works in Middle East and Africa, focusing most recently on Gaza.


Since the start of the uprising against Mr. Assad, the organization has also cast itself as a leading private charitable organization in Syria, delivering food and other basic supplies and pursuing what it calls “humanitarian diplomacy” to help free captive civilians.


While the numbers involved in Wednesday’s exchange seemed dramatic, some rebel commanders said more modest prisoner exchanges have become a feature of the conflict.


The leader of a rebel fighting group in the central city of Hama, reached via Skype, said pro-government militia had captured his uncle and two other relatives in a village in the northern Idlib province more than a month ago.


 “The  only  way  to  release them  is capturing  hostages,” the commander said, adding that negotiations were under way to win the release of his relatives in return for 12 captives held by the rebels. Two months ago, the commander said, nine members of the pro-government shabeeha militia were  exchanged for five captured rebels. Syria’s uprising began in March 2011 with peaceful demonstrations, but a brutal crackdown broadened into civil war with an estimated 60,000 people killed, according to United Nations estimates.


Sebnem Arsu reported from Istanbul and Alan Cowell from London. Hwaida Saad contributed reporting from Beirut, Lebanon.



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European businesses slow to go online: study






BRUSSELS (Reuters) – European businesses are not doing enough to use the internet to grow their customer base and promote products, Belgian database and marketing firm Email-Brokers said after studying 13 million websites.


Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands have the highest proportion of companies online but even in these countries 40 percent of business have no internet presence, it found.






The European Commission has estimated that companies which exploit the full potential of the internet create, on average, more than twice as many jobs.


“It is one of the ways to create employment and economic growth and it is not Star Trek, it exists today,” Email-Brokers head William Vande Wiele said.


Britain and Liechtenstein were the most advanced in terms of e-commerce – defined as being able to process orders and payments, with 16 percent and 17 percent, respectively, of business sites offering it, compared with 6 percent in Belgium and 9 percent in Austria, Germany and the Netherlands.


Vande Wiele said many corporate websites were badly designed, and did not provide basics such as adequate contact information or company details.


In Belgium, 91 percent of all corporate websites did not meet such basic standards, compared with about 20 percent in Luxembourg and France, the study concluded.


“Sites which do not comply with such minimum standards do not inspire confidence and before buying something online a user will need a minimum level of confidence,” Vande Wiele said.


Many websites are not kept up to date, the study also found, with more than 80 percent of business sites in Belgium, Greece, Italy and Spain not updated for more than a year.


(Reporting by Robert-Jan Bartunek; Editing by Dan Lalor)


Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Ryan Gosling: How He Weaves His Magic Spell















01/09/2013 at 08:00 AM EST



Devoted son, quirky leading man – and everyone's favorite fantasy boyfriend.

But how does Ryan Gosling stack up in his real-life romance with actress Eva Mendes?

The "hey girl" Internet obsession, 32, "is an incredibly sweet boyfriend," a Gosling source tells PEOPLE in this week's cover story. He and Mendes, 37, "get along so well because she's not needy or smothering," says another insider. "They just work."

Mendes is hardly the only one to fall under Gosling's spell. The former Mouseketeer – who brought his mom, Donna, as his date to the Jan. 7 Gangster Squad premiere in L.A. – is "funny and charming," says the film's director, Ruben Fleischer.

"When you're with him you feel different. He has a magnetic quality – larger than life."

And yes, he knows how to work his quirks – everything from self-designed tattoos to an enduring Disneyland fascination.

"Women love him because he's just kooky," says the insider. "He's definitely in touch with his childlike side."

For much more on Ryan – including photos of all his sexiest looks – pick up this week's PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday

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Report: Death rates from cancer still inching down


WASHINGTON (AP) — Death rates from cancer are continuing to inch down, researchers reported Monday.


Now the question is how to hold onto those gains, and do even better, even as the population gets older and fatter, both risks for developing cancer.


"There has been clear progress," said Dr. Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society, which compiled the annual cancer report with government and cancer advocacy groups.


But bad diets, lack of physical activity and obesity together wield "incredible forces against this decline in mortality," Brawley said. He warned that over the next decade, that trio could surpass tobacco as the leading cause of cancer in the U.S.


Overall, deaths from cancer began slowly dropping in the 1990s, and Monday's report shows the trend holding. Among men, cancer death rates dropped by 1.8 percent a year between 2000 and 2009, and by 1.4 percent a year among women. The drops are thanks mostly to gains against some of the leading types — lung, colorectal, breast and prostate cancers — because of treatment advances and better screening.


The news isn't all good. Deaths still are rising for certain cancer types including liver, pancreatic and, among men, melanoma, the most serious kind of skin cancer.


Preventing cancer is better than treating it, but when it comes to new cases of cancer, the picture is more complicated.


Cancer incidence is dropping slightly among men, by just over half a percent a year, said the report published by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Prostate, lung and colorectal cancers all saw declines.


But for women, earlier drops have leveled off, the report found. That may be due in part to breast cancer. There were decreases in new breast cancer cases about a decade ago, as many women quit using hormone therapy after menopause. Since then, overall breast cancer incidence has plateaued, and rates have increased among black women.


Another problem area: Oral and anal cancers caused by HPV, the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, are on the rise among both genders. HPV is better known for causing cervical cancer, and a protective vaccine is available. Government figures show just 32 percent of teen girls have received all three doses, fewer than in Canada, Britain and Australia. The vaccine was recommended for U.S. boys about a year ago.


Among children, overall cancer death rates are dropping by 1.8 percent a year, but incidence is continuing to increase by just over half a percent a year. Brawley said it's not clear why.


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Stock futures flat as earnings season begins


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock index futures were little changed in low volume on Tuesday before the unofficial start of the earnings season, which is expected to show sluggish corporate growth.


Profits in the fourth quarter were expected to top the previous quarter's lackluster results, but analysts' current estimates are down sharply from where they were in October. Quarterly earnings are expected to grow by 2.8 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data.


German data showed industrial orders fell more than forecast in November due to a sharp drop in demand from abroad, reinforcing concerns that Europe's largest economy may have contracted in the fourth quarter of 2012.


"I'm surprised futures are holding up, given the relative disappointment that German data showed, but I think all eyes are on the beginning of earnings season," said Kim Forrest, senior equity research analyst at Fort Pitt Capital Group in Pittsburgh.


Monsanto Co , Apollo Group and Dow component Alcoa Inc start the quarterly season.


Monsanto shares rose 3.2 percent to $99 after announcing first-quarter results and the company's outlook.


"Alcoa is not a huge bellwether," Forrest said. Investors are now focused more on companies' performance than on macroeconomic factors, so "we should be kind of flat until we get some company-oriented news," she said.


S&P 500 futures were off 0.8 point and slightly below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures were unchanged, and Nasdaq 100 futures fell half a point.


Shares of Yum Brands Inc fell 5 percent to $64.50 in premarket trading a day after the KFC parent warned sales in China shrank more than expected in the fourth quarter.


Sears Holdings shares rose 5.5 percent to $45.27 in light premarket trading a day after the company said its chief executive will step down for family health reasons. The U.S. retailer also reported a 1.8 percent decline in quarter-to-date sales at stores open at least a year.


ConAgra Foods Inc priced a public offering of 8.1 million common shares at $29.75 per share, the foodmaker said on Monday. ConAgra closed at $30.17 during regular Monday trading.


(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Kenneth Barry)



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Afghan Soldier Kills British Soldier, Wounds 6







KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — An Afghan soldier turned his weapon against foreign and Afghan troops in a southern province, killing one British soldier, another attack by a member of Afghanistan's military against its foreign allies, officials said Tuesday.




The Taliban claimed responsibility for the shooting, the first insider attack of 2013. Several British soldiers were also reported wounded.


Such "insider attacks" by Afghan soldiers and police, or men wearing their uniforms, rose dramatically last year. The attacks come as NATO and Afghan forces are in closer contact, as foreign troops hand over security to the Afghans and train them before an almost total withdrawal by the end of 2014.


NATO command spokesman Brig. Gen. Gunter Katz identified the dead soldier in Monday's shooting as British, but his name was not released.


"Yesterday, a suspected member of the Afghan national army shot and killed a British (NATO) soldier," Katz told a news conference. He said the shooting occurred at a patrol base in Nahri Sarraj district of Helmand province and that the shooter fired at both Afghan and British troops. He said the incident is under investigation.


An Afghan Defense Ministry official said the shooter was an enlisted soldier, and six British soldiers were wounded. The official spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to brief reporters.


A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmadi, said in an email that "an infiltrator" staged the attack and managed to escape from the scene but was then shot and killed after opening fire on a checkpoint. The Taliban have used the term "infiltrator" in the past to refer to members who have enlisted in the military to conduct such an attack. They identified the assailant as Mohammad Qasim Faroq.


In London, the Ministry of Defense said the soldier, who was attached to the 21 Engineer Regiment, was killed by small arms fire at Patrol Base Hazrat.


Several similar attacks have occurred in Helmand, the country's most violent province, where almost all British forces have been concentrated. Capt. Walter Reid Barrie was shot and killed in Nad Ali district of Helmand Nov. 11, the last British soldier to die before Monday's incident. Two British soldiers were killed by an Afghan policeman last October, and the same month a police officer and militants poisoned their colleagues and shot others, leaving six Afghans dead.


British Prime Minister David Cameron's spokesman said Tuesday that in light of the increase in insider attacks, measures have been taken to increase security in Afghanistan — including better vetting and screening of recruits and bolstering counterterrorism efforts.


"These are clearly very, very serious incidents," spokesman Jean-Christophe Gray said. "We have taken a number of measures, and the military always keeps force protection measures under review."


Insider attacks killed 61 people in 45 incidents last year, compared to 35 killed in 21 attacks a year earlier, according to NATO. This tally does not include the Dec. 24 killing of an American civilian adviser by a female member of the Afghan police, because an investigation of the reportedly mentally unstable woman is continuing.


In some cases, militants have donned Afghan army or police uniforms to attack foreign troops. A number of attacks have also been carried out by members of Afghan security forces against their own comrades.


A total of 439 British forces personnel and Ministry of Defense civilians have died during the 11-year war, the second highest toll in the NATO-led coalition after the United States. Of these, 396 were killed as a result of hostile action, according to official British death tolls.


___


Associated Press writers Cassandra Vinograd in London and Amir Shah in Kabul contributed.


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Conn. lawmaker apologizes over Facebook post






HARTFORD, Conn. (AP) — A Connecticut lawmaker has apologized after saying in a Facebook post that shooting victim and former Arizona U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords should “stay out of my towns.”


Giffords last week visited Newtown, Conn., where a gunman killed 20 young children and six adults at an elementary school last month. The Democrat, who met with families of the victims, was critically wounded two years ago in a deadly mass shooting in Tucson, Ariz.






The Hartford Courant posted images Sunday showing Republican state Rep. DebraLee Hovey‘s Facebook comments. In one dated Friday she says, “Gabby Giffords stay out of my towns!!”


Hovey released a statement Monday saying her comments were insensitive and that she apologizes if she offended anyone.


Hovey had said in another post that the visit was political.


Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Jessica Alba: Cash Warren and I Are 'Kindred Spirits'

Jack Osbourne Respectfully Declines More Baby Gifts
Courtesy InStyle


Love may not have struck at first sight for Jessica Alba and Cash Warren, but the pair’s instant connection was enough to last a lifetime.


“I just knew when I met him that I was going to know him forever. It was weird; He instantly felt like family,” the actress, 31, says in InStyle‘s February issue.


“I’d never felt like that with anyone. We got each other. We’re kindred spirits.”


Following their “very, very, very short” run as friends, the couple began dating and eventually tied the knot in 2008 before welcoming daughters Honor Marie, 4½, and Haven Garner, 16 months.

The spark between the sweethearts is still going strong, although Alba admits their idea of romance has certainly undergone changes over the years.


“On a weekend Cash might say, ‘Go get your nails done with a girlfriend. Haven is down for a nap and Honor and I will play. I know you work hard. You deserve some time for yourself,’” she says.


“That, to me, is romantic. He’s saying, ‘You matter,’ and that I’m more than just the mother of the kids or the wife who goes out to events with him.”


Blending their ethnically diverse backgrounds under one roof, the parents have made their home a true family affair, highlighting — and celebrating! — their ancestral roots.


“When Cash and I moved into our family house, we collected hundreds of pictures of our aunties, great aunties, moms and dads, grandmas and grandpas, and sisters and brothers,” Alba shares. “Then we mounted them in the foyer of our home, covering the wall from top to bottom. Our daughters are continually reminded of where they come from.”


Life’s not all play for the mom-of-two; In addition to her acting career and taking care of her girls, the multi-talented mama is also the mastermind behind The Honest Company, her eco-friendly line of home goods she cofounded with Christopher Gavigan.


With such a full plate to balance, the actress has been known to take on a bit more than she can handle.


“Sometimes I can take multitasking to a level of insanity,” Alba explains. “Then all of a sudden the bath is too high and I’ve forgotten to give my daughter the thing she needs for school.”


Fortunately, her family of four has taught Alba how to worry less about the mess-making and more about making the memories.


“Before I had kids, I was very responsible and serious. I used to be all about controlling my environment; Everything had to be just so,” she says. ”Now my idea of perfection is different. You can label bins and have a place for stuff, but when the kids go into the playroom, you’re not going to say, ‘We can’t paint because how are we going to clean it up?’”


– Anya Leon


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Report: Death rates from cancer still inching down


WASHINGTON (AP) — Death rates from cancer are continuing to inch down, researchers reported Monday.


Now the question is how to hold onto those gains, and do even better, even as the population gets older and fatter, both risks for developing cancer.


"There has been clear progress," said Dr. Otis Brawley of the American Cancer Society, which compiled the annual cancer report with government and cancer advocacy groups.


But bad diets, lack of physical activity and obesity together wield "incredible forces against this decline in mortality," Brawley said. He warned that over the next decade, that trio could surpass tobacco as the leading cause of cancer in the U.S.


Overall, deaths from cancer began slowly dropping in the 1990s, and Monday's report shows the trend holding. Among men, cancer death rates dropped by 1.8 percent a year between 2000 and 2009, and by 1.4 percent a year among women. The drops are thanks mostly to gains against some of the leading types — lung, colorectal, breast and prostate cancers — because of treatment advances and better screening.


The news isn't all good. Deaths still are rising for certain cancer types including liver, pancreatic and, among men, melanoma, the most serious kind of skin cancer.


Preventing cancer is better than treating it, but when it comes to new cases of cancer, the picture is more complicated.


Cancer incidence is dropping slightly among men, by just over half a percent a year, said the report published by the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Prostate, lung and colorectal cancers all saw declines.


But for women, earlier drops have leveled off, the report found. That may be due in part to breast cancer. There were decreases in new breast cancer cases about a decade ago, as many women quit using hormone therapy after menopause. Since then, overall breast cancer incidence has plateaued, and rates have increased among black women.


Another problem area: Oral and anal cancers caused by HPV, the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, are on the rise among both genders. HPV is better known for causing cervical cancer, and a protective vaccine is available. Government figures show just 32 percent of teen girls have received all three doses, fewer than in Canada, Britain and Australia. The vaccine was recommended for U.S. boys about a year ago.


Among children, overall cancer death rates are dropping by 1.8 percent a year, but incidence is continuing to increase by just over half a percent a year. Brawley said it's not clear why.


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Wall Street set to slip after five-year high, before earnings


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were set to fall at the open on Monday as markets are seen consolidating after the S&P 500 closed Friday at a five-year high and before this week's start of earnings season.


Last week was the best for U.S. stocks in more than a year as a budget deal and economic data boosted investor confidence.


Investors will likely turn their attention to the fourth-quarter earnings season that kicks off this week. Earnings are expected to be only slightly better than the third-quarter's lackluster results and analysts' current estimates are down sharply from what they were in October.


"We have a cautious market entering fourth-quarter earnings season," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York. "I think it's going to be a disappointing one this time around."


Financial shares will be in focus a day after global regulators known as the Basel Committee gave banks four more years and greater flexibility to build up cash buffers, scaling back moves that aimed to help prevent another financial crisis.


By spurring credit, the easing of the bank rules may help support growth, potentially boosting investments in equities and other relatively risky assets.


"Basel giving banks four more years to get their act together will be good" for stocks, Cardillo said.


Separately, Bank of America shares added more than 2 percent before the market opened after it reached a settlement with Fannie Mae to resolve agency mortgage repurchase claims.


S&P 500 futures dipped 2.5 points and were below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures fell 17 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures fell 4 points.


Walt Disney Co started an internal cost cutting review several weeks ago that may include layoffs at its studio and other units, three people with knowledge of the effort told Reuters.


Video-streaming service Netflix Inc said it will carry previous seasons of some popular shows produced by Time Warner's Warner Bros Television.


Major U.S. technology companies could miss estimates for fourth-quarter earnings as budget worries likely led some corporate clients to tighten their belts last month.


Amazon shares rose 1.8 percent $263.70 in premarket trading after Morgan Stanley raised its rating on the stock to "overweight" from "equal weight."


Roche's chairman was quoted saying the Swiss pharmaceutical group is no longer considering a bid for the U.S. gene-sequencing company Illumina . Illumina shares were off 8 percent at $50.20 in premarket trading.


(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Kenneth Barry)



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Tehran Is Choked by Annual Buildup of Air Pollution





TEHRAN — Already battered by international threats against their nation’s nuclear program, sanctions and a broken economy, Iranians living here in the capital are now trying to cope with what has become an annual pollution peril: a yellowish haze that engulfs Tehran this time of year.




For nearly a week, officials here and in other large cities have been calling on residents to remain indoors or avoid downtown areas, saying that with air pollution at such high levels, venturing outside could be tantamount to “suicide,” state radio reported Saturday.


On Sunday, government offices, schools, universities and banks reopened after the government had ordered them to shut down for five days to help ease the chronic pollution. Tehran’s normally bustling streets were largely deserted.


Residents who dare to go outside cover their mouths and noses with scarves or surgical masks, but their eyes tear up and their throats sting from the mist of pollutants, which a report by the municipality of Tehran says is made up of a mixture of particles containing lead, sulfur dioxins and benzene.


“It feels as if even God has turned against us,” Azadeh, a 32-year-old artist, said on a recent day as she looked out a window in her apartment that often offers a clear view of Tehran, a sprawling city that is home to millions. But on this day, Azadeh, who did not want her full name used, saw only the blurred outlines of high-rise buildings and the Milad communications tower in the distance. The setting sun was reduced to a yellowish coin by the thick blanket of smog.


The haze of pollution occurs every year when cold air and windless days trap fumes belched out by millions of cars and hundreds of old factories between the peaks of the majestic Alborz mountain range, which embraces Tehran like a crescent moon.


Iran is prominently represented in the World Health Organization’s 2011 report on air quality and health, with three of its provincial towns among the organization’s list of the world’s 10 most-polluted cities. According to the report, Tehran has roughly four times as many polluting particles per cubic meter as Los Angeles. Many cities known for their poor air quality, like Mexico City, Shanghai and Bangkok, are cleaner than Tehran.


But since 2010, when American sanctions on Iranian imports of refined gasoline began to bite, the situation has grown worse, according to the report by the municipality of Tehran.


Faced with possible fuel shortages, Iran surprised outsiders by quickly making up for the loss of imports by producing its own brew of gasoline. While the emergency fuel kept vehicles running, local experts warned that it was creating much more pollution.


A recently released report by Tehran’s department of air quality control contained blank spaces where there should have been information about levels of benzene and lead — components of gasoline — in the capital’s air. But the report did state that while Tehran experienced more than 300 “healthy days” in 2009, in 2011 there were fewer than 150.


Iran’s Health Ministry has reported a rise in respiratory and heart diseases, as well as an increase in a variety of cancers that it says are related to pollution.


The state newspaper Resalat on Saturday called the pollution a continuing crisis, and it urged the authorities to act. “Why is it that when the winds pick up, this problem is again quickly forgotten?” an editorial asked. Another newspaper, Donya-e-Eqtesad, which is critical of the government, pressed for an improvement in gasoline standards.


The pollution caused by the use of the emergency fuel concoction has been a taboo subject here, as officials try to portray each measure to counter the economic sanctions as a success that should not to be criticized by the local news media.


On state television, several officials have denied that the yellow haze has anything to do with the locally produced gasoline.


In an interview on Saturday, Ali Mohammad Sha’eri, the deputy director of Iran’s Environmental Protection Organization, strongly denied that the pollution was linked to gasoline. However, he said that only 20 percent of the emergency fuel was up to modern standards. “Hopefully in three months that level will be 50 percent,” he said.


Meanwhile, the government has imposed strict traffic regulations in Tehran, Isfahan and other major population centers. An odd-even traffic-control plan based on the last digit of vehicle license plates keeps about half of the approximately three and a half million cars in Tehran off the streets on a daily basis.


Other plans to combat the pollution have been less realistic, analysts say. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has long advocated a plan to move civil servants from Tehran to reduce overpopulation in the capital. In 2010, the governor of Tehran Province ordered crop-dusters to dump water on the smog in an effort to dissipate it. There have also been plans for placing air purifiers in the city, but experts say they will not work in open spaces.


For those living in Tehran and unable to leave town for a vacation home on the Caspian Sea, waiting for the winds to pick up seems to be the only option.


“My head hurts, and I’m constantly dead tired,” said Niloufar Mohammadi, a university student. “I try not to go out, but I can smell the pollution in my room as I am trying to study.”


Azadeh, the artist, said the pollution forced her to stay indoors, adding to her sense of isolation. Step by step her world was being curtailed, she said. The Western sanctions imposed on Iran make her feel like a pariah, she explained. The government’s mismanagement of the economy and the resulting inflation have left her with little purchasing power, she said; she has stopped shopping for everything but essential items. And last week, security officers removed her illegal satellite dish from her roof.


“The pollution is the last straw for me,” she said. “We should wait helpless for winds to pick up and clean the air before we can safely leave our houses. It shows we have lost all power to control our lives.”


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Alcatel One Touch readies U.S. invasion with world’s thinnest smartphone and a colorful 5-inch phablet






TCL Communication’s (2618) Alcatel One Touch brand is ostensibly unknown in the United States, but the company is looking to make a name for itself at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show. Alcatel One Touch has a number of new devices debuting at CES 2013 and to start things off, the China-based firm has unveiled a trio of intriguing new Android phones.


[More from BGR: ‘iPhone 5S’ to reportedly launch by June with multiple color options and two different display sizes]






While the show doesn’t officially begin until Tuesday, Alcatel One Touch got an early start on Monday — likely in order to ensure that it can lay claim to “the world’s thinnest smartphone” for at least a few hours.


[More from BGR: Next-generation LTE chips to reduce power consumption by 50%]


The first of three smartphones debuting at CES 2013 is the One Touch Idol Ultra, a sleek Android-powered handset that is just 6.45 millimeters thick. To put that dimension in perspective, the phone is 15% thinner than Apple’s (AAPL) iPhone 5.


Other notable specs include a 4.7-inch HD AMOLED display, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, an 8-megapixel camera, 1GB of RAM and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean.


Next up is the One Touch Idol, an entry-level version of the Idol Ultra. Measuring a slightly thicker 8.15 millimeters, the One Touch Idol includes a 4.7-inch qHD IPS display, a 1.2GHz dual-core processor, an 8-megapixel camera, 512MB of RAM and the same Jelly Bean OS as the Ultra model.


Finally, Alcatel One Touch has unveiled its first entry into the “phablet” market with the One Touch Scribe HD. This stylus-ready device features a 5-inch HD IPS display, the 1.2GHz quad-core MediaTek MT6589 chipset, an 8-megapixel camera, 1GB of RAM, a microSD slot and Android 4.1. The One Touch Scribe HD also comes in a variety of colors including black, white, red and yellow.


Each of the three smartphones Alcatel One Touch debuted on Monday will launch in China later this month. The One Touch Scribe HD will then be released in the U.S. some time in the second quarter for a surprisingly affordable $ 397 before taxes and subsidies, and both the One Touch Idol and One Touch Idol Ultra will launch at a later point in time. The latter will cost $ 444 before taxes and subsidies, while pricing for the One Touch Idol has not yet been announced.


No carrier partners have been revealed at this point in the U.S. or in China.


This article was originally published by BGR


Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News




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Prince Charles Wants a Better Environment for His Grandchild









01/07/2013 at 07:40 AM EST







Prince Charles (foreground), with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge


Allpix/Splash News Online


With his son and daughter-in-law the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge expecting a baby in early summer, grandfather-to-be Prince Charles says he's determined to be greener than ever – and deliver his future descendant a healthier world, not "a poison chalice."

Long a champion of environment causes, the heir to the throne, 64, told ITV’s This Morning show on Monday: "I've gone on for years about the importance of thinking about the long term in relation to environmental damage, climate change and everything else. We don't, in a sensible world, want to hand on an increasingly dysfunctional world to our grandchildren, to leave them with the real problem."

Saying "I don’t want to be confronted by my future grandchild and have them say, 'Why didn’t you do something?' " Charles went on to state, "So clearly now that we will have a grandchild, it makes it even more obvious to try and make sure we leave them something that isn't a total poisoned chalice."

Charles – recently named among the U.K.'s best-dressed gents – also spoke of his concern for son Prince Harry, 27, currently serving in Afghanistan.

"If you are a parent or relation to a loved one and that person is away in incredibly dangerous and challenging circumstances, I know you worry all the time," he said. "Certainly every night I worry. But he loves what he is doing and he's brilliant at it."

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Your medical chart could include exercise minutes


CHICAGO (AP) — Roll up a sleeve for the blood pressure cuff. Stick out a wrist for the pulse-taking. Lift your tongue for the thermometer. Report how many minutes you are active or getting exercise.


Wait, what?


If the last item isn't part of the usual drill at your doctor's office, a movement is afoot to change that. One recent national survey indicated only a third of Americans said their doctors asked about or prescribed physical activity.


Kaiser Permanente, one of the nation's largest nonprofit health insurance plans, made a big push a few years ago to get its southern California doctors to ask patients about exercise. Since then, Kaiser has expanded the program across California and to several other states. Now almost 9 million patients are asked at every visit, and some other medical systems are doing it, too.


Here's how it works: During any routine check of vital signs, a nurse or medical assistant asks how many days a week the patient exercises and for how long. The number of minutes per week is posted along with other vitals at the top the medical chart. So it's among the first things the doctor sees.


"All we ask our physicians to do is to make a comment on it, like, 'Hey, good job,' or 'I noticed today that your blood pressure is too high and you're not doing any exercise. There's a connection there. We really need to start you walking 30 minutes a day,'" said Dr. Robert Sallis, a Kaiser family doctor. He hatched the vital sign idea as part of a larger initiative by doctors groups.


He said Kaiser doctors generally prescribe exercise first, instead of medication, and for many patients who follow through that's often all it takes.


It's a challenge to make progress. A study looking at the first year of Kaiser's effort showed more than a third of patients said they never exercise.


Sallis said some patients may not be aware that research shows physical inactivity is riskier than high blood pressure, obesity and other health risks people know they should avoid. As recently as November a government-led study concluded that people who routinely exercise live longer than others, even if they're overweight.


Zendi Solano, who works for Kaiser as a research assistant in Pasadena, Calif., says she always knew exercise was a good thing. But until about a year ago, when her Kaiser doctor started routinely measuring it, she "really didn't take it seriously."


She was obese, and in a family of diabetics, had elevated blood sugar. She sometimes did push-ups and other strength training but not anything very sustained or strenuous.


Solano, 34, decided to take up running and after a couple of months she was doing three miles. Then she began training for a half marathon — and ran that 13-mile race in May in less than three hours. She formed a running club with co-workers and now runs several miles a week. She also started eating smaller portions and buying more fruits and vegetables.


She is still overweight but has lost 30 pounds and her blood sugar is normal.


Her doctor praised the improvement at her last physical in June and Solano says the routine exercise checks are "a great reminder."


Kaiser began the program about three years ago after 2008 government guidelines recommended at least 2 1/2 hours of moderately vigorous exercise each week. That includes brisk walking, cycling, lawn-mowing — anything that gets you breathing a little harder than normal for at least 10 minutes at a time.


A recently published study of nearly 2 million people in Kaiser's southern California network found that less than a third met physical activity guidelines during the program's first year ending in March 2011. That's worse than results from national studies. But promoters of the vital signs effort think Kaiser's numbers are more realistic because people are more likely to tell their own doctors the truth.


Dr. Elizabeth Joy of Salt Lake City has created a nearly identical program and she expects 300 physicians in her Intermountain Healthcare network to be involved early this year.


"There are some real opportunities there to kind of shift patients' expectations about the value of physical activity on health," Joy said.


NorthShore University HealthSystem in Chicago's northern suburbs plans to start an exercise vital sign program this month, eventually involving about 200 primary care doctors.


Dr. Carrie Jaworski, a NorthShore family and sports medicine specialist, already asks patients about exercise. She said some of her diabetic patients have been able to cut back on their medicines after getting active.


Dr. William Dietz, an obesity expert who retired last year from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said measuring a patient's exercise regardless of method is essential, but that "naming it as a vital sign kind of elevates it."


Figuring out how to get people to be more active is the important next step, he said, and could have a big effect in reducing medical costs.


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Online:


Exercise: http://1.usa.gov/b6AkMa


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AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner


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