Symantec, Lookout Mobile Security debate latest Android ?malware? attack (Appolicious)

If you have an Android device, malware threats are nothing new, just something with which you?ve learned to deal. Mobile security companies usually alert the public when any major malware or Trojan threat is discovered in the Android Market, but rarely do they disagree over what?s actually considered malware. This question?s been raised in regards to the latest string of Android Market botnets uncovered by Symantec, in what could be the largest botnet setup in Android?s history with as many as 5 million victims.

Dubbed ?Android.Counterclank? (or ?Apperhand SDK?) by Symantec, the malware was packaged across 13 different Android apps from different publishers, with titles ranging from Sexy Girls Puzzle to Counter Strike Ground Force. ?They don't appear to be real publishers,? Kevin Haley, a director with Symantec's security response team, said in an interview today. ?These aren't rebundled apps, as we've seen so many times before.?

But Lookout Mobile Security doesn?t think that this differentiated behavior means it?s a malware attack. They posted a blog over the weekend explaining their reasons for disagreeing with Symantec?s assessment, saying Android.Counterclank isn?t malware at all. It?s certainly not something most Android users want on their devices, but Lookout finds no evidence of outright malicious behavior, saying their capabilities are more like aggressive ad networks that put search icons on your home screen and run ads through your notifications bar.

?Malware is defined as software that is designed to engage in malicious behavior on a device. Malware can also be used to steal personal information from a mobile device that could result in identity theft or financial fraud,? reads Lookout?s blog. ?Apperhand doesn?t appear to be malicious, and at this point in our investigation, this is an aggressive form of an ad network ? not malware.?

Money-hungry ads or malicious malware? It seems the industry experts can?t agree, and such disparity could significantly shake up the consumer market. The debate over malware?s core definition came up a few weeks back with the Carrier IQ debacle, leading to a massive consumer backlash as privacy advocates blasted the carrier-supported software. When it comes to Android.Counterclank we have yet another example of how the Android ecosystem is being exploited, and how little this market is controlled. The debate over Android.Counterclank could ultimately circle back to Google, which is increasingly being held accountable for the Android Market experience.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/appolicious_rss/rss_appolicious_tc/http___www_androidapps_com_articles10904_symantec_lookout_mobile_security_debate_latest_android_malware_attack/44353985/SIG=13m9m6kf0/*http%3A//www.androidapps.com/tech/articles/10904-symantec-lookout-mobile-security-debate-latest-android-malware-attack

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The Week in iPhone and iPad News

While our editors Rene and Leanna hit the road to check out what MacWorld 2012 had in store for us, tons of other news was flowing through the iMore Nation

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheIphoneBlog/~3/VY3JT9mtLYM/story01.htm

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Siri Eating Up All of U.S. Bandwidth?

The iPhone 4S, with its much-hyped Siri feature, is awesome.

Siri will get you directions, let you make hands-free mobile calls, fetch answers to trivia questions, you name it. You can even goof on Siri for fun, asking if she'll marry you, pretending you're going to kill yourself, argue with your wife (below), etc.

And she plays along!

There is a downside to this genius innovation, however: Requiring far more data than other smartphones, Siri is bandwidth guzzler, the digital equivalent of a Hummer, and could prose problems for the entire U.S. cellular network.

Siri Argument

A study by Arieso, an Atlanta firm that specializes in mobile networks, said the iPhone 4S “appears to unleash data consumption behaviors that have no precedent.”

Under most circumstances, this would be someone else’s problem - contracts are “tiered” so that those who use a network more than others pay more for that.

Except with data, it’s not that simple.

Cell networks are like any common resource; they have limits. Once they hit their limit, there’s no more to go around, meaning Siri could be everyone's problem.

As networks become congested, service deteriorates across the board. Private desire becomes a public issue as more calls are dropped and Internet access lags.

In short, expect interrupted service and higher bills to be standard in the next few years, unless cellular providers can innovate even faster than Apple.

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/siri-eating-up-all-of-us-bandwidth/

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Migrant trash piles up at remote U.S.-Mexico border areas (Reuters)

RIO RICO, Ariz (Reuters) ? Picking her way into the desert brush, Raquel Martinez gathered scores of plastic water bottles tossed in an Arizona desert valley near the Mexico border, often by migrants making a risky trek into the United States across increasingly remote terrain.

"We need more bags ... there's so much trash," said Martinez, one of scores of volunteers helping clean up the dry bed of the Santa Cruz River about 10 miles north of the Mexico border on Saturday.

Trash tossed by thousands of illegal immigrants as they chase the American Dream has been a persistent problem for years in the rugged Arizona borderlands that lie on a main migration and smuggling route from Mexico.

The problem was compounded as immigrants and drug traffickers responded to ramped up vigilance on the U.S.-Mexico border by taking increasingly remote routes, leaving more waste behind in out-of-the way and hard-to-clean areas, authorities say.

"Migants used to follow the washes or follow the roads or utility poles," said Robin Hoover, founder of the Tucson-based non-profit Humane Borders.

"Now they're having to move farther and farther from the middle of the valleys," he added. "They end making more camp sites and cutting more trails when they do that, and, unfortunately ... leave more trash."

Those making the punishing march carry food, water and often a change of clothes on the trek through remote desert areas that can take several days.

Most is tossed before they pile into vehicles at pickup sites like the one getting attention on the outskirts of Rio Rico, from where they head on to the U.S. interior.

"One of the problems that we are facing is that these sites are becoming more and more remote as law enforcement steps up its efforts," Henry Darwin, director of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, said of the flourishing borderland garbage dumps.

"There's probably sites out there that we haven't encountered yet or don't know about because there's a lot of people out in those areas," added Darwin, who gave testimony on the issue to state lawmakers earlier this month.

BACKPACKS AND WATER BOTTLES

There are no numbers to show exactly how many would-be migrants or smugglers take the illegal and surreptitious trek across the border into Arizona from Mexico each year.

But in an indication of the scale of the migration, federal border police made nearly 130,000 arrests last year in Arizona, where hundreds of Border Patrol agents, miles of fencing and several unmanned surveillance drones have been added in recent years to tighten security along the porous border.

With limited funding for clean up, Arizona environmental authorities draw on volunteers to help in drives like the one near Rio Rico, where an estimated 140 volunteers including residents, community and youth groups took part on Saturday.

Clean up efforts since 2008 by the department of environmental quality have included pulling 42 tons of trash from 160 acres of Cocopah tribal lands in far western Arizona, and clean ups at least seven sites on ranches and public land in areas south of Tucson.

Signs of illegal immigrants and even drug traffickers making the circuitous foot journey abound in the mesquite-studded riverbed near Rio Rico, a vigorous day's walk north of the border.

"I've found about a trillion water bottles," said David Burkett, a lawyer from Scottsdale, who worked up a sweat as he filled his fourth 50-pound trash bag. Nearby are tossed backpacks, food containers, a blanket and a pair of shoes.

He points out that alongside the apparent migrant trash is a large amount of other waste including a couch, kitchen countertops and yard debris, likely tossed by residents and contractors. Still, it is a shock to those living locally.

"We don't realize how bad it is until we come down and see it," said Candy Lamar, a volunteer who lives in sprawling, low density Rio Rico, as she works to pick up trash.

HAZARDOUS CLEANUP

The area getting attention on Saturday lies a few miles from a remote spot where the bodies of three suspected drug traffickers were found shot to death "execution style" last November.

The area is not far from another out-of-the-way spot where Border Patrol agent Brian Terry was shot dead by suspected border bandits in December 2010. Volunteers working on Saturday were aware of the potential hazards.

As she stuffed a blue garbage sack with trash, retiree Sharon Christensen eyed discarded burlap sacking, blankets and cord -- the remains of a makeshift backpack of the type often used by drug traffickers walking marijuana loads up from Mexico.

"It would make me hesitant to come out here on my own, knowing that this kind of activity is going on ... It is a concern, and we need to be mindful," said Christensen, a retiree and hiking enthusiast.

Clean-up organizers liaise with Border Patrol and local police on security, in addition to warning volunteers of potential danger from snakes, scorpions or even bees that can swarm in discarded vehicle tires, and of potential hazards including medical waste and human excrement.

Equipped with gloves, volunteers such as Burkett, the Scottsdale lawyer, were glad to take part on Saturday.

"As an avid outdoors person in Arizona, I spend a lot of time using the desert," he said. "It's important to me personally to take the time to give back."

(Editing by Cynthia Johnston and Greg McCune)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/mexico/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120129/us_nm/us_immigration_usa_trash

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Teens send 'Lego Man' above the clouds

By Alan Boyle

It's very cool that two 17-year-old Canadians sent a flag-toting Lego figurine into the sky on a weather balloon, as part of a weekend project that cost less than $500. It's cooler still that they got back some fantastic video of the toy silhouetted against the backdrop of a curving Earth beneath a black sky. But let's not call it putting a "Lego man in space." Even though the balloon ascended to around 80,000 feet, that's only a quarter of the way to the boundary of outer space.

That distinction doesn't take anything away from the feat that Toronto teens Mathew Ho and Asad Muhammad pullled off this month: The high-school students worked during four months' worth of free Saturdays to put together their balloon-borne experimental package, including four cameras, a cell phone with a GPS app, a home-sewn parachute and a Lego "minifig" holding a Canadian flag.

---

When the wind conditions were right, as determined by a website that calculates balloon trajectories, the teens headed out to a soccer? field in Newmarket and sent their rig up on an $85 weather balloon. The data suggest that the balloon rose to somewhere around 80,000 feet over the course of 65 minutes, then blew apart. The Lego man and the cameras came back down to Earth, buoyed by the parachute and protected within a plastic-foam box during the half-hour descent. Eventually, the cell phone guided the kids to a field about 75 miles away from the launch point.

The cameras recorded two videos and 1,500 photos, documenting the Lego man's amazing trip up through the clouds. "We never knew it would be this good," Ho told the Toronto Star.

But it got even better: After the Star published the teens' story, they were swamped with media attention. Canon, the company that made the cameras used on the Lego man's trip, said it would give Ho and Muhammad top-of-the-line cameras so they could continue their "creativity and inspiration." Lego sent its congratulations. A Toronto couple offered to reimburse the kids for their costs. Reports about the feat filtered out to The Guardian, the Daily Mail, the Huffington Post and elsewhere. The YouTube video has been viewed more than 600,000 times, and there's even a Facebook fan page.

Most of the reports refer to the Lego man as being "in space" ? which makes for a nice headline but is unfortunately wrong. The issue may not seem like a biggie, but over the past year there have been all sorts of things sent up on balloons to stratospheric heights ? including a chair, an iPad (sans parachute), a vibrator and iPhones galore. Heck, a 7-year-old and his dad sent up an iPhone a couple of years ago, and the Toronto teens said they took their inspiration from the MIT students who kicked off the craze with a $150 balloon mission in 2009.

This is all great, but it could give folks the impression that sending things into space is so easy a kid can do it ? so why are we spending millions or billions of dollars to put things into orbit?

Lofting payloads on suborbital trips beyond the internationally accepted boundary of outer space ? 100 kilometers or 62 miles or more than 328,000 feet in altitude ? is devilishly hard. Just ask Virgin Galactic. or XCOR Aerospace, or Blue Origin, or Armadillo Aerospace, or Masten Space Systems, or all the other ventures that are trying to open the suborbital frontier.

Putting payloads in orbit is much, much harder. Just ask SpaceX, which burned through three launches and millions of dollars before achieving its first success.

Ho and Muhammad haven't reached those heights ... yet. But someday, they may well be putting real men and women into space. The teens are off to a good start, and they deserve all the accolades they're receiving this week for their near-space adventure.

More about near space:

---

Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the Cosmic Log community by "liking" the log's Facebook page, following @b0yle on Twitter or adding Cosmic Log's Google+ page to your circle. You can also check out "The Case for Pluto," my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.

Source: http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/01/27/10253843-teens-send-toy-above-the-clouds

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Newt Gingrich's Big Idea On Judges May Be Defeated By Florida Primary

WASHINGTON -- Newt Gingrich's lackluster performance in Thursday night's debate darkened the already dim chances of seeing Justice Anthony Kennedy hauled before a congressional committee to account for his occasional left-leaning fifth votes in politically charged Supreme Court cases.

But in Gingrich's view, that may be just the kind of tough oversight the judiciary demands -- and the kind of big, albeit constitutionally dicey, thinking the country needs. Unfortunately for Gingrich, no one except his most committed supporters seems to agree.

In October, appearing before the Values Voter Summit, he railed against "judges who don't understand the Constitution" -- or, at least, his interpretation of the Constitution. The chief problem, he said, is the concept of judicial supremacy, under which the legislative and executive branches must acquiesce to the courts' interpretations of the Constitution.

The speech was drawn largely from a Gingrich campaign white paper titled "Bringing the Courts Back Under the Constitution." In the paper, Gingrich lays out his case against judicial supremacy with supportive citations to the Federalist Papers, contemporary scholarship, and curiously aberrant opinions by two of the Supreme Court's most notoriously activist justices. As Gingrich makes clear, denunciations of judicial supremacy have a long history of support, from presidents Jefferson and Jackson to Lincoln and FDR. Each of them, in various ways, fought a Supreme Court that obstinately opposed his political agenda.

A President Gingrich, on the other hand, would enjoy perhaps the most conservative Court in 75 years. Further, he might have the chance to replace the 78-year-old liberal Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg or the 75-year-old moderate Justice Kennedy with a rock-solid right-wing jurist, who would create a conservative majority on the few issues that have not yet fallen into the Republicans' win column.

Although the white paper nods to this time-honored means of swinging the courts in a given direction, Gingrich's focus is clearly on sending a broader message to the judiciary that it will not be the boss of a Gingrich administration, even if judges must be intimidated into submission.

To do so, Gingrich would abolish troublesome judgeships and lower federal courts, a move that the white paper describes as "a blunt tool and one whose use is warranted only in the most extreme of circumstances." Although Gingrich does not explicitly define those circumstances, he has heavily criticized the Supreme Court's decision allowing Guantanamo detainees to challenge their detentions in federal court as well as the prospect of a pro-gay marriage ruling.

Meanwhile, conservative commentators have condemned Gingrich's proposal to abolish judgeships as, in the words of National Review's Ed Whelan, "awful."

Gingrich has reserved particular ire for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. Chief Judge Alex Kozinski, a Reagan appointee, told the Wall Street Journal that the campaign attacks are a "topic of amusement," while another 9th Circuit judge laughed off the idea of breaking up the court before finding it "a little depressing."

In December, Gingrich said that he would encourage Congress to subpoena judges for accountability hearings, even if that meant sending the U.S. Capitol Police or U.S. marshals to round up the judges. Michael Mukasey, who served as attorney general under George W. Bush, told Fox News that Gingrich's threats to the independent judiciary were "dangerous, ridiculous, totally irresponsible, outrageous, off-the-wall and would reduce the entire judicial system to a spectacle."

And what a spectacle it would be. The 2012-2013 Supreme Court term might very well rule on abortion, affirmative action, gay marriage and Guantanamo. Any of those issues could divide the justices 5-4 to the delighted "chagrin" of a President Gingrich itching for a fight.

In recent weeks, attention to Gingrich's judicial views has subsided as more sensational matters, from his super PAC ads to his second wife to his space colonies, have arisen. Still, Gingrich has not disavowed the plan, however much it has been hammered. His win in the South Carolina primary raised the possibility that confrontation with the courts could become an official policy of the Republican presidential nominee.

But a Mitt Romney victory over Gingrich in Tuesday's Florida primary could kill the idea. Romney has gone on the record as opposing the more extreme elements of Gingrich's plan, warning of the uncertainty that congressional power over the courts would bring to the rule of law.

"Every few years, you'd have elected congresspeople changing the rulings of the Supreme Court," Romney said last month in New Hampshire, according to the Boston Globe. Instead, he would stick with the tried-and-true method of appointing conservative judges and go no further.

And that may reflect the deciding difference between Gingrich and Romney in Florida. While some voters don't like Romney for playing his politics so safe, more may be turned off by Gingrich's willingness to upend everything.

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/27/newt-gingrich-judges-florida-primary_n_1237620.html

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Nintendo sees first annual loss, cuts 3DS forecast (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Nintendo Co Ltd posted a sharp drop in quarterly profit and forecast a bigger-than-expected full-year loss, its first at an operating level, as it battles a strong yen and its games devices lose ground to gadgets such as Apple's iPhone.

The creator of the Super Mario franchise dominated the video games industry for years with its DS handheld players and Wii home consoles, but is now struggling to keep up as more versatile smartphone and tablet sales boom.

"To say that (the days of consoles) are over is likely an overstatement, but social network and Internet delivered games are growing and structurally changing the future of the industry, which is a strong wind against Nintendo," said Shigeo Sugawara, senior investment manager at Sompo Japan Nipponkoa Asset Management.

Nintendo now expects an annual operating loss of 45 billion yen ($575 million), dwarfing expectations of a 4.2 billion yen loss, based on the average of 21 analyst forecasts.

"Their time of growth (from consoles) is over, and, while I don't think the company will cease to exist, if they don't move into new categories, they will no doubt lose the great scale they've amassed," said Mitsushige Akino, chief fund manager at Ichiyoshi Investment Management in Tokyo.

Nintendo cut its forecast for annual sales of its ageing Wii console to 10 million devices from 12 million, and for the 3DS handheld games device to 14 million from 16 million.

"We had higher expectations for the year-end season, but failed to meet them," President Satoru Iwata told reporters in Osaka.

Poor sales forced Nintendo to slash the price of its much-anticipated 3DS handheld games device in August, just six months after its launch.

The move halted its record of making profits on games hardware as well as software, a business model that took operating income to a high of 555 billion yen in 2008/09.

Nintendo also faces tougher competition in the home console market from Sony Corp's Move and Microsoft Corp's Kinect, and Iwata said consumers were more eager than ever to seek out bargains in the harsh economic environment.

The company plans to launch the Wii's successor, the Wii U, in Japan, the United States, Europe and Australia in the year-end season, Iwata told reporters.

But with cloud-based gaming emerging as a potential threat, Nintendo may have trouble generating excitement about its new product, some analysts say. Google is taking steps into gaming with Google TV, while Apple is thought to be preparing a new iPad and possibly a smart TV that could be game-changers for the industry.

"We think we need to consider the possibility that home consoles could become a thing of the past," Citigroup analyst Soichiro Fukuda wrote in a recent report.

"We think the direction taken by marketing trendsetter Apple will be very important and we will be watching the company's announcements at future events with interest."

PROFIT FALLS

Nintendo's profit slumped to 40.9 billion yen for the traditionally strong October-December period, compared with a consensus estimate for 52 billion yen, based on a survey of three analysts by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The results came a day after Apple blew away Wall Street's expectations with its own quarterly earnings.

Shares in Nintendo have halved to below 11,000 yen since the beginning of the financial year in April, hit by weak 3DS sales and market disappointment with the Wii U next-generation home console, unveiled at the E3 games show in June and set to go on sale late this year. At their peak, in late 2007, the shares traded at 73,200 yen.

Last week, the stock dipped to 10,020 yen, the lowest since April 2004, before either the DS or Wii were launched.

($1 = 77.58)

(Reporting by Yoshiyuki Osada in OSAKA and Isabel Reynolds in TOKYO; Editing by Edwina Gibbs and Ian Geoghegan)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/earnings/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120126/tc_nm/us_nintendo_results

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Research: South Africans most active tweeters (AP)

JOHANNESBURG ? Young people tweeting from BlackBerrys and iPhones are driving the growth of Twitter in Africa, with South Africans by far the most vociferous, according to new research published Thursday.

Kenya-based Portland Communications and Tweetminster published findings indicating Twitter in Africa is widely used for social conversation and is fast becoming an important source of information. More than 80 percent of those polled said they mainly used it for communicating with friends, 68 percent said they use it to monitor news and 22 percent to search for jobs, the companies said.

The research analyzed more than 11.5 million geographically pinpointed tweets originating on the continent during the last three months of 2011. That was complemented by a survey of 500 of Africa's most active tweeters.

South Africans, with the continent's biggest economy, were the most prolific with over twice as many tweets at 5,030,226 than the next most active country of Kenya with 2,476,800 tweets. Surprisingly, Africa's most populous nation, Nigeria, had only 1,646,212 tweets from its more than 160 million people. It was followed by Egypt with 1,214,062 and Morocco with 745,620 tweets.

African tweeters are young, averaging 20 to 29 years, compared to 39 worldwide, the report said. And some 57 percent of analyzed tweets were sent from mobile phones, mainly BlackBerrys and iPhones.

The researchers noted how few African business and political leaders were joining Africa's burgeoning Twittersphere.

"With some notable exceptions, we found that business and political leaders were largely absent from the debates playing out on Twitter across the continent," they said. "As Twitter lifts off in Africa, governments, businesses and development agencies can really no longer afford to stay out of a new space where dialogue will increasingly be taking place."

Among noted Twitter users are President Paul Kagame of Rwanda and Kenya's Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Kagame got into an infamous Twitterspat last year with journalist Ian Birrell of The Guardian of London, with the two trading tweets about human rights and repression in the central African nation. The cyber-conversation first was joined by Kagame's foreign minister, and then went global.

While Kenyan soldiers and fighters of an extremist Somali Islamist group have been fighting each other, their spokesman have taken the battle onto Twitter, with taunts, accusations and insults being directly traded in a rare engagement on the Internet.

On Thursday, South Africa's new Corruption Watch campaign launched, including a Twitter account where tweeters encouraged each other to make it "the No. 1 followed Twitter account in South Africa."

The research, called "How Africa Tweets," found Twitter is helping form new links within Africa. The majority of those surveyed said at least half of the Twitter accounts they followed were based on the continent.

Beatrice Karanja, head of Portland Nairobi, said: "We saw the pivotal role of Twitter in the events in North Africa last year, but it is clear that Africa's Twitter revolution is really just beginning."

---

Online:

Rwanda's President Paul Kagame: http://twitter.com/paulkagame

Kenyan Prime Minister Raila Odinga: http://twitter.com/odinga_raila

Kenyan military spokesman Emmanuel Chirchir: http://twitter.com/Major_chirchir

Corruption Watch: http://twitter.com/Corruption_SA

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tech/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120126/ap_on_hi_te/af_how_africa_tweets

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Durables orders up, job market still healing (Reuters)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? New orders for manufactured goods rose in December and a gauge of future business investment rebounded, while new claims for jobless benefits rose only moderately last week, suggesting the labor market was still healing.

Durable goods orders climbed 3.0 percent, the Commerce Department said on Thursday. Economists had forecast orders rising 2.0 percent.

Durable goods range from toasters to big-ticket items like aircraft which are meant to last three years and more.

Orders last month were buoyed by 5.5 percent increase in bookings for transportation equipment as orders for civilian aircraft surged 18.9 percent. Boeing received 287 orders for aircraft during the month, according to the plane maker's website, up from 96 in November.

Non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, a closely watched proxy for business spending plans, advanced 2.9 percent.

Business spending, which has helped the economy to recover from the 2007-09 recession, had been showing signs of cooling but December's rebound in new orders suggested corporations might be growing more willing to invest.

"What it does tell you about going into the new year is that there's some momentum here," said Jacob Oubina, an economist at RBC Capital Markets in New York.

Also, shipments of non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, which go into the calculation of gross domestic product, rose 2.9 percent after declining 1.0 percent in November.

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Graphic on jobless claims:

http://link.reuters.com/xah36s

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Investors in U.S. stock futures appeared to take little notice of the data, with prices slightly higher. U.S. Treasury debt prices pared gains modestly.

Increased consumer spending and efforts by companies to restock their shelves likely led the U.S. economy to accelerate at the end of 2011 although many economists expect some of that strength to wane early this year.

A report due Friday is expected to show the economy grew at a 3.0 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, up from 1.8 percent in the previous period.

The proxy for business spending plans had dropped 1.2 percent in November and 0.9 percent in October. Economists' had expected a 1.0 percent gain last month.

Orders for motor vehicles edged up 0.6 percent. Excluding transportation, orders rose 2.1 percent.

In a separate report, Labor Department data showed new U.S. claims for unemployment benefits rising last week but the underlying trend continued to point to improving labor market conditions.

Initial claims for state unemployment benefits increased 21,000 to a seasonally adjusted 377,000, the Labor Department said. The prior week's figure was revised up to 356,000 from the previously reported 352,000.

On Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the U.S. central bank could do more to help growth if the economy falters, after policymakers said interest rates would remain near zero until late 2014.

Among the darker clouds looming over the U.S. economy, Europe is still racing to contain a sovereign debt crisis that is widely seen triggering a recession in the euro zone.

Greece resumes tortuous negotiations on a debt swap with private creditors in Athens on Thursday, with the European Central Bank thrown into the mix after IMF chief Christine Lagarde said public sector holders of Greek debt may need to take losses too.

(Reporting by Jason Lange; Additional reporting by Lucia Mutikani in Washington and Emily Flitter in New York; Editing by Andrea Ricci)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120126/bs_nm/us_economy

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Celeb birthdays for the week of Jan. 29-Feb. 4 (omg!)

Jan. 29: Actor-singer Noel Harrison is 78. Actress Katharine Ross is 72. Actor Tom Selleck is 67. Singer Bettye LaVette is 66. Actor Marc Singer is 64. Actress Ann Jillian is 62. Drummer Tommy Ramone of The Ramones is 60. Drummer Louie Perez of Los Lobos is 59. Singer Charlie Wilson of The Gap Band is 59. Talk-show host Oprah Winfrey is 58. Country singer Irlene Mandrell is 56. Actress Diane Delano ("The Ellen Show," ''Northern Exposure") is 55. Actress Judy Norton Taylor ("The Waltons") is 54. Guitarist Johnny Spampinato (NRBQ) is 53. Drummer David Baynton-Power of James is 51. Bassist Eddie Jackson of Queensryche is 51. Actor Nicholas Turturro is 50. Singer-guitarist Roddy Frame of Aztec Camera is 48. Director-actor Ed Burns is 44. Actress Heather Graham is 42. Actor Sharif Atkins is 37. Actress Sara Gilbert is 37. Actor Andrew Keegan ("Party of Five") is 33. Guitarist Jonny Lang is 31.

Jan. 30: Actor Gene Hackman is 82. Actress Tammy Grimes is 78. Actress Vanessa Redgrave is 75. Country singer Jeanne Pruett is 75. Country singer Norma Jean is 74. Singer Marty Balin of Jefferson Airplane/Jefferson Starship is 70. Horn player William King of The Commodores is 63. Musician Phil Collins is 61. Actor Charles S. Dutton ("Roc") is 61. Comedian Brett Butler ("Grace Under Fire") is 54. Singer Jody Watley is 53. Country singer Tammy Cochran is 40. Actor Christian Bale is 38. Singer Josh Kelley is 32. Actor Wilmer Valderrama is 32. Actor Jake Thomas ("Lizzie McGuire," ''AI") is 22.

Jan. 31: Actress Carol Channing is 91. Actor Stuart Margolin ("The Rockford Files") is 72. Actress Jessica Walter ("Arrested Development") is 71. Actor Glynn Turman ("The Wire," ''A Different World") is 66. Singer Harry Wayne Casey of KC and the Sunshine Band is 61. Singer Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols is 56. Actor Anthony LaPaglia is 53. Actress Kelly Lynch is 53. Singer-guitarist Lloyd Cole is 51. Guitarist Jeff Hanneman of Slayer is 48. Bassist Al Jaworski of Jesus Jones is 46. Actress Minnie Driver is 42. Actress Portia de Rossi is 39. Actress Kerry Washington ("Ray") is 35. Singer Justin Timberlake is 31.

Feb. 1: Actor Stuart Whitman is 84. Actor-comedian Garrett Morris is 75. Singer Don Everly of The Everly Brothers is 75. Singer Ray Sawyer of Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show is 75. Actor Sherman Hemsley is 74. Jazz pianist Joe Sample is 73. Bluegrass singer Del McCoury is 73. Actor-writer-director Terry Jones (Monty Python) is 70. Guitarist Mike Campbell of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers is 62. Actor-writer-producer Billy Mumy ("Lost in Space") is 58. Singer Exene Cervenka of X is 56. Keyboardist Dwayne Dupuy of Ricochet is 47. Actress Sherilyn Fenn is 47. Singer Lisa Marie Presley is 44. Comedian Pauly Shore is 44. Drummer Patrick Wilson of Weezer is 43. Actor Michael C. Hall is 41. Rapper Big Boi of Outkast is 37. TV personality Lauren Conrad is 26.

Feb. 2: Actress Elaine Stritch is 87. Actor Robert Mandan ("Soap," ''Three's a Crowd") is 80. Comedian Tom Smothers is 75. Singer Graham Nash is 70. Actor Bo Hopkins is 70. Singer Howard Bellamy of the Bellamy Brothers is 66. TV chef Ina Garten ("Barefoot Contessa") is 64. Actor Brent Spiner ("Star Trek: The Next Generation") is 63. Bassist Ross Valory of Journey is 63. Model Christie Brinkley is 58. Actor Michael Talbott ("Miami Vice") is 57. Actress Kim Zimmer ("Guiding Light") is 57. Bassist Robert DeLeo of Stone Temple Pilots is 46. Actress Jennifer Westfeldt ("Kissing Jessica Stein") is 42. Rapper T-Mo (Goodie Mob) is 40. Actress Marissa Jaret Winokur is 39. Singer Shakira is 35.

Feb. 3: Comedian Shelley Berman is 87. Actress Blythe Danner is 69. Singer Dennis Edwards (The Temptations) is 69. Guitarist Dave Davies of The Kinks is 65. Singer Melanie is 65. Actress Morgan Fairchild is 62. Actor Nathan Lane is 56. Guitarist Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth is 56. Actor Thomas Calabro ("Melrose Place") is 53. Actress Michele Greene ("L.A. Law") is 50. Country singer Matraca Berg is 48. Actress Maura Tierney ("ER," ''NewsRadio") is 47. Singer Daddy Yankee is 36. Singer Jessica Harp (The Wreckers) is 30. Rapper Sean Kingston is 22.

Feb. 4: Actor Conrad Bain ("Diff'rent Strokes") is 89. Comedian David Brenner is 76. Actor Gary Conway ("Burke's Law") is 76. Drummer John Steel of The Animals is 71. Singer Florence LaRue of the Fifth Dimension is 68. Singer Alice Cooper is 64. Actor Michael Beck is 63. Actress Lisa Eichhorn is 60. Singer Tim Booth of James is 52. Country singer Clint Black is 50. Guitarist Noodles of The Offspring is 49. Country bassist Dave Buchanan of Yankee Grey is 46. Bassist Rick Burch of Jimmy Eat World is 37. Singer Natalie Imbruglia is 37. Rapper Cam'ron is 36. Singer Gavin DeGraw is 35.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_celeb_birthdays_week_jan29_feb_4_060214720/44309930/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/celeb-birthdays-week-jan-29-feb-4-060214720.html

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Bernanke: Interest rate hike in 2014 "best guess" (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The Federal Reserve's announcement that it is unlikely to raise its benchmark interest rate until late 2014 is simply its "best guess," Ben Bernanke said Wednesday.

The Fed chairman made clear during a news conference Wednesday that the decision to leave interest rates unchanged for three more years was not ironclad.

The central bank's ability to forecast that far out is limited, Bernanke says, and the Fed could adjust the timetable for when it will raise rates if economic conditions change.

Still, he said the U.S. economy remains weak and all signs suggest the Fed won't change its record-low rate for another three years.

"We have to make a best guess," Bernanke said after the Fed concluded its two-day policy meeting. "Unless there is a substantial strengthening of the economy in the near term, I would think that it's a pretty good guess that we will be keeping rates low for some time from now."

The central bank has kept its key rate at a record low near zero for three years.

Bernanke also said the Fed has not ruled out bolder steps to boost economic growth, such as a third round of bond purchases.

"If inflation is going to remain below target for an extended period and unemployment progress is very slow ... there is a case for additional policy action," he said.

"I would not say we are out of ammunition. We still have tools."

Prior to the news conference, the Fed slightly reduced its outlook for U.S. economic growth this year. It forecasts the economy to grow between 2.2 percent and 2.7 percent in 2012, according to its updated economic forecasts. That's down from November's forecast of between 2.5 percent and 2.9 percent.

Many economists expect Europe will suffer a recession this year, which will slow U.S. growth.

Still, the Fed said it expects unemployment to fall as low as 8.2 percent. That's an improvement from November's forecast of 8.5 percent. The unemployment rate fell to 8.5 percent in December after the sixth straight month of solid hiring.

Inflation has been relatively tame and the Fed doesn't see that changing over the next three years.

The Fed's policies have made Bernanke a popular target for Republican presidential hopefuls. Several have criticized Bernanke for raising the risk of higher inflation.

Bernanke refused to answer a question asking whether he would resign if one of his critics wins the November election.

"I'm not going to get involved in political rhetoric," Bernanke said. "I have a job to do and as long as I'm here I will do everything I can to help the Federal Reserve. ... That's my answer."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/economy/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_bi_ge/us_bernanke_news_conference

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Jagger says UK's Cameron can't get what he wants (omg!)

LONDON (Reuters) - Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger has decided British Prime Minister David Cameron can't get what he wants after all.

Britain's Sun tabloid reported Tuesday that Jagger would be the star attraction at an event organized by Cameron's office to promote Britain at a gathering of the world's rich and powerful in Davos this week.

But after news of his appearance leaked out, Jagger, who received a knighthood from Queen Elizabeth in 2003, revealed he had had second thoughts.

"During my career I have always eschewed party politics and came to Davos as a guest, as I thought it would be stimulating...I have always been interested in economics and world events," he said in a statement.

"I now find myself being used as a political football and there has been a lot of comment about my political allegiances which are inaccurate. I think it's best I decline the invitation to the key event and curtail my visit."

Some Rolling Stones fans might have been surprised to see the singer, the former rock'n'roll rebel with a drugs conviction in 1967, appearing alongside a prime minister from the Conservative Party - a bastion of traditionalists.

Others might have thought it suited the leader of a band that for the past few decades has been a slick, multi-million dollar enterprise run along corporate lines.

Downing Street had earlier confirmed that Sir Mick, as he has been known since he was knighted, would be appearing at the Great British Tea Party event and Cameron's office was said by the Sun to be "tickled pink" with the publicity coup.

His appearance with Cameron would also have been a blow to former Prime Minister Tony Blair, a life-long Jagger fan who led the Labor Party to three electoral victories over the Conservatives.

The guitar-playing Blair, who dreamed of being a rock star before turning to politics, told Jagger at a dinner in the 1990s that "I just want to say how much you've always meant to me."

It was Blair who recommended the singer for his knighthood.

(Reporting by Estelle Shirbon and Michael Holden; editing by Paul Casciato and Angus MacSwan)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/entertainment/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/omg_rss/rss_omg_en/news_jagger_says_uks_cameron_cant_wants210438701/44290373/*http%3A//omg.yahoo.com/news/jagger-says-uks-cameron-cant-wants-210438701.html

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Monday Candidate Schedule (TIME)

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INFLUENCE GAME: Online companies win piracy fight (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Outspent but hardly outgunned, online and high-tech companies triggered an avalanche of Internet clicks to force Congress to shelve legislation that would curb online piracy. They outmaneuvered the entertainment industry and other old guard business interests, leaving them bitter and befuddled.

Before Senate and House leaders set aside the legislation Friday, the movie and music lobbies and other Washington fixtures, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, had put in play their usually reliable tactics to rally support for the bills.

There were email campaigns, television and print ads in important states, a Times Square billboard, and uncounted phone calls and visits to congressional offices in Washington and around the country. That included about 20 trips to the Capitol by leaders of the National Songwriters Association International, often accompanied by songwriters who performed their hits for lawmakers and their staffs.

"We bring our guitars on our backs," said songwriter Steve Bogard, the association's president.

Such campaigns are often music to the ears of lawmakers. This time, however, it was smothered by an online outpouring against the legislation that culminated Wednesday. According to organizers, at least 75,000 websites temporarily went dark that day, including the English-language online encyclopedia Wikipedia, joined by 25,000 blogs.

"The U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet," said a message on Wikipedia's home page, which was shrouded in shadows and provided links to help visitors reach their members of Congress.

Thousands of other sites posted messages protesting the bills and urging people to contact lawmakers. Protest leaders say that resulted in 3 million emails.

Google, its logo hidden beneath a stark black rectangle, solicited 7 million signatures on a petition opposing the bills. Craigslist counted 30,000 phone calls to lawmakers and there were 3.9 million tweets on Twitter about the bills, according to NetCoalition, which represents leading Internet and high tech companies.

"It's still something we're trying to comprehend," said Google spokeswoman Samantha Smith. "We had such an overwhelming response to our petition that it honestly far exceeded our expectations."

As co-sponsors of the bills peeled away, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., on Friday postponed a vote that had been set for this Tuesday on moving to the legislation. The vote seemed doomed well beforehand. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, also put off further work. "I have heard from the critics," he said.

Just weeks ago, the bills seemed headed toward quiet approval with bipartisan backing that ranging from liberals such as Rep. Howard Berman, D-Calif., to conservatives such as Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla. The turnabout was so unexpected that some think the online world's triumph signals a pivotal moment marking its arrival as Washington's newest power broker.

"This does serve as a watershed moment," said Jennifer Stromer-Galley, a communications professor at the State University of New York at Albany who studies how political groups use high technology. "Certain channels for communication that people routinely use have the power to get their users to become political activists on their behalf."

Both bills are aimed at thwarting illegal downloads and sales of thousands of American movies, songs and books, as well as counterfeit pharmaceuticals, software and other copyrighted products. They would do so by making it easier to stop American websites and search engines from steering visitors to largely foreign websites that pirate the items.

Supporters estimate that online piracy costs the U.S. at least $100 billion annually and thousands of jobs; even the bills' critics say sales of pirated products must be stopped. But foes say the legislation goes too far, threatening to curb Internet free speech, stifle online innovation and burden online businesses with damaging regulations.

"People love their Internet. They use it every day, they don't want it to change and they don't want Washington messing with it," said Maura Corbett, spokeswoman for NetCoalition.

Claims that "big brother" would oversee the Internet infuriate bill supporters, who say their opponents employed fear-mongering and distortion to foment an online frenzy.

"They've misidentified this issue as an issue about your Internet, your Internet is being jeopardized," said Mike Nugent, executive director of Creative America, a coalition of entertainment unions, movie studios and television networks. "In fact their business model is being asked to be subjected to regulation. They're misleading their huge base."

Misleading or not, the online community had a huge impact on members of Congress, with many saying they heard little from the entertainment industry but plenty from Internet users.

"Everyone's online, and a lot of people online are very inclined to complain about" new fees and other problems, said Rep. Gerald Connolly, D-Va. "It's a culture of fairly quick mobilization."

The bills' champions said they purposely avoided hauling entertainment celebrities to Washington, saying they preferred to focus on how the measure would help the entire economy.

"If we brought in Hollywood stars, that would play into the other side's narrative that this is all about Hollywood," said Steven Tepp, who helped guide the campaign for the Chamber of Commerce. "We want to keep the focus on the reality that this is much, much broader."

In the end, the outcome showed the lobbying world is changing, said Kathy Garmezy, an official with the Directors Guild of America, which supports the bills.

"Of course you say to yourself, `What can you change?'" she said. "I don't think we've come to conclusions or closure."

Participants say last week's online protests were spawned last fall, as Congress was writing the bills and Internet users started chatting and emailing about them.

The blogging service Tumblr called attention to the measures on its website in November. Other efforts also garnered attention, including a drive by owners to remove their domain names from GoDaddy.com, which sells domain names and was a supporter of the anti-piracy legislation.

Among the first to publicly say they would darken their sites on Wednesday were Reddit and Wikipedia.

"Like most things on the Internet, it was very unorganized and chaotic," said Erik Martin, Reddit's general manager.

In terms of their Washington presence, online businesses are adolescents compared to the well-established industries they are battling.

According to Maplight, a nonpartisan group that analyzes money's role in politics, current senators have received $14.4 million over the past six years from entertainment interest groups supporting the online piracy bills, seven times the $2 million they got from Internet groups opposing the legislation.

The differences are also stark when it comes to lobbying.

Google, one of the Internet world's largest players in Washington, spent $5.9 million lobbying on all issues during the first nine months of 2011, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics, which tracks money in politics. The Chamber of Commerce spent $46 million, the most in town.

Even so, online businesses have been beefing up their representation in Washington, the center's figures show.

Google's $5.9 million paid for 112 lobbyists last year, more than double the $2.8 million it spent for 54 lobbyists in 2008. Facebook's $910,000 for lobbying during the first three quarters of 2011 paid for 21 lobbyists, compared with two lobbyists and $351,000 it spent a year earlier.

High tech companies are also learning the value of big names. One Google lobbyist is former Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt, a House Democratic leader and presidential candidate. Last year, Facebook hired Joe Lockhart, a press secretary for President Bill Clinton, as vice president of global communications.

Bill supporters lost one advantage because former Democratic Sen. Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, could not personally lobby senators. The Capitol Hill veteran retired from the Senate last year and is legally barred from lobbying his former colleagues for two years.

___

Online:

Senate's Protect Intellectual Property Act: http://tinyurl.com/7lqbgzh

House's Stop Online Piracy Act: http://tinyurl.com/75vtcxg

NetCoalition: http://www.netcoalition.com

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/us/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_hi_te/us_online_piracy_lobbying

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Romney lowers expectations in South Carolina (Reuters)

GILBERT, South Carolina (Reuters) ? With the crucial Republican presidential primary in South Carolina just hours away, longtime front-runner Mitt Romney is acknowledging what some opinion polls are suggesting: He could lose Saturday.

The idea that the former governor of liberal Massachusetts may not win the primary in a state where conservative evangelical Christians make up about 60 percent of Republican voters isn't that surprising.

But Romney's path to a neck-and-neck finish with former House of Representatives Speaker Newt Gingrich has begun to look like a lost opportunity, defined by Romney's reluctance to reveal more about his vast wealth and his repeated inability to explain why.

The former private equity executive's discomfort in discussing such personal matters was again evident in Thursday night's debate in Charleston.

When asked whether he would release 12 years of tax returns as his father, George, had done while running for president in 1968, Romney said through a thin smile, "Maybe."

The answer drew a few catcalls from the conservative audience, and contrasted sharply with how Gingrich deftly turned a question about cheating on his second wife into an attack on the media that drew a standing ovation.

It may have been the defining moment of the campaign in South Carolina, the third contest in the state-by-state race to determine who will face Democratic President Barack Obama in the November 6 elections.

As Romney tried to pump up supporters' enthusiasm Friday and launched new attacks on Gingrich, a question hung over Romney's campaign: Why does he have such difficulty answering questions about his money?

His wealth, now an estimated $270 million, has been an issue during his previous runs for office -- notably in 1994, when he lost a U.S. Senate race to incumbent Democrat Ted Kennedy.

Romney said Friday that he has been more focused on campaign issues such as jobs and the economy, and acknowledged that he may not have handled questions about his finances as well as he could have.

"I can't possibly tell you that everything I do in the campaign is perfect," he told reporters here.

Voters, pundits and others offered other theories about his problems dealing the issue of his finances.

Like Gingrich, some questioned whether Romney has something to hide.

Perhaps the most intriguing theory came from Michael Kranish and Scott Helman, co-authors of a new book on Romney called "The Real Romney."

During an interview on CNN, Kranish said a Romney family member told the authors that Romney's cautious manner while campaigning -- which can make him seem distant and stiff -- partly reflects a lesson he learned from his father.

George Romney was a chairman of American Motors and a Michigan governor. As a presidential candidate in 1968, he supported the Vietnam War but became an opponent of it after visiting Vietnam with several congressmen.

George Romney later said during a TV interview that his earlier position was the product of "brainwashing" by generals and others who backed the war.

The comment sunk his bid for the Republican nomination, which was won by Richard Nixon.

"That one sentence pretty much exploded his presidential ambitions," Kranish said. "And Mitt Romney has taken a lesson from that. ... As a result, Mitt is more careful, more scripted in what he says because one sentence could perhaps end (his) campaign as it did his father's."

Kranish added that within his circle of trusted advisers, Romney is "very warm."

With the general public, however, "it could be a hard connection to make, especially given his great wealth ... and trying to make that connection to the average person."

Kranish added that Romney could use more of the "free-flowing nature that his father had."

'A LONG SLOG'

Just a few days ago, Romney appeared to be in position to take a big step toward wrapping up the Republican nomination by sailing to victory in South Carolina, having won in New Hampshire.

But on Friday, amid signs that what had been a 15- to 20-point lead over Gingrich was shrinking rapidly, Romney and his surrogates were casting the race as a months-long marathon.

"This is a long slog," said former New Hampshire Governor John Sununu, a Romney supporter. "Mitt Romney's strength has been clearly defined as being ready for a long campaign."

On a rainy Friday, Romney also sought to lower expectations for Saturday, and noted that Gingrich is from neighboring Georgia.

"Speaker Gingrich is from a neighboring state, well-known, popular in the state, so I knew we'd have a long road ahead of us" in South Carolina, Romney said. "Frankly, to be in a neck-and-neck race at this last moment is kind of exciting."

As disappointing as it would be for Romney's campaign to finish in any place but first in South Carolina, he remains the best positioned of the four Republican candidates remaining in the race.

He has more campaign funds and a stronger organization than Gingrich and the two other Republican contenders, former Pennsylvania senator Rick Santorum and Texas congressman Ron Paul.

Such advantages for Romney could be key in the next primary, in Florida on January 31.

Florida is one of the largest states in the nation with several major media markets. Maintaining a traveling campaign and covering the state with TV ads is more expensive in Florida than most other states.

"I'm still hoping and planning to win here" in South Carolina, Romney said. "I'm sure the speaker feels the same way I do, but we're going to go on for a long race and I think I've got the staying power and a message that I believe connects with people."

Romney has held big leads in many South Carolina polls, but one survey released Friday by Clemson University showed Gingrich leading Romney 32 percent to 26 percent. Another poll, by American Research Group, showed the race in a virtual tie.

"HONESTY, CHARACTER"

Romney's campaign has been scrambling since Monday, when his finances became a particularly hot issue.

That was the day Romney acknowledged that his income tax rate is 15 percent. That's well below what most wage-earning Americans pay, and suggests that much of Romney's income is capital gains from investments.

On Friday, Romney's campaign tried to take some of the air out of Gingrich's ascent.

In an apparent dig at Gingrich, Romney said the Republican nominee needs to have "vision, trust, honesty, character, integrity."

Santorum, who performed well in Thursday's debate with several jabs at Romney and Gingrich, also has tried to cast Gingrich as "erratic."

Romney's campaign called for Gingrich to release documents involving an ethics investigation of him when he was speaker in 1997.

Gingrich scoffed at the suggestion, saying that the documents already were public.

Gingrich's standing in recent polls suggest that his efforts to win support among evangelical Christian voters have not been damaged much by questions about his personal life.

On Thursday, however, a former wife, Marianne, said in an ABC interview that Gingrich had sought an "open marriage" when he was having an affair in the 1990s with Callista Bisek, who later became Gingrich's third wife.

Gingrich's denial of his former wife's allegation was his shining moment during Thursday's debate.

(Additional reporting by Sam Youngman and Colleen Jenkins; Editing by David Lindsey and Doina Chiacu)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120121/ts_nm/us_usa_campaign

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Yemeni president departs for Oman (AP)

SANAA, Yemen ? A spokesman for Yemen's embattled president says Ali Abdullah Saleh has left the country for the Persian Gulf country of Oman.

Ahmed al-Soufi said Saleh flew out of Yemen's capital Sanaa late Sunday.

Saleh's departure follows a farewell speech in which he passed power to his deputy, slated to be rubber-stamped as the country's new leader on Feb. 21. The move could help push forward a U.S.-backed deal brokered by Yemen's neighbors that seeks to end the country's political crisis.

For nearly a year, Yemeni protesters have called for the end of Saleh's 33-year rule. Protesters and human rights groups have criticized the power transfer deal for granting Saleh immunity from prosecution. They want to see him tried for his alleged role in protester deaths.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.

SANAA, Yemen (AP) ? Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh said Sunday he will travel to Washington for medical treatment and he asked Yemenis for forgiveness, saying it is time to hand over power in a farewell speech, state media reported.

The mercurial president told Yemeni TV networks that he had formally handed power to his vice president but would return to his homeland before early presidential elections scheduled for next month as the head of the General People's Congress Party.

An official at Sanaa airport said that a presidential plane had left the country Sunday morning, but he declined to say who was on board. Two other airport officials said that Saleh had already left the country, but the claims could not be confirmed.

The reports come a day after Yemeni parliament approved a law that gives Saleh immunity from prosecution and is in line with the timetable set in a U.S.-backed power-transfer deal aimed at ending months of political stalemate and violence.

Facing continued protests demanding his ouster, Saleh in November agreed to step down. A unity government between his party and the opposition has since been created. However, Saleh ? still formally the president ? has continued to influence politics from behind the scenes through his family and loyalists in power positions.

The deal was widely rejected by millions of street protesters who have staged anti-Saleh demonstrations inspired by the Arab of revolutions that have successfully led to the ouster of autocratic leaders in Tunisia, Egypt and Libya. Protesters reject the immunity clause, insisting Saleh should be prosecuted for the alleged killings of protesters and corruption.

The president, who has ruled for more than 33 years, left the country once before, traveling to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment after coming under attack and he has repeatedly gone back and forth on whether he would leave again.

His remarks, reported by the official Yemeni news agency, were the strongest indication that he was preparing to leave as he said Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi "is the one responsible now" and urged rival political parties and youth to unite and achieve "reconciliation."

Saleh gave no date for his departure, and it was not clear if he would go directly to Washington. Yemeni officials said Saturday that the president planned to travel to Oman first.

Washington has been trying for weeks to find a country where Saleh could live in exile to allow a peaceful transition from his rule of more than 33 years, since it does not want him to settle permanently in the United States.

Aides to the president told The Associated Press that Saleh gathered top political, military and security officials and announced Hadi to the rank of marshal. He is set to replace Saleh.

"I appeal to you to forgive my past mistakes," one top ruling party official who was there quoted Saleh as saying. "Today, I leave the country in your hands," he was quoted as saying.

Another aide who attended the meeting quoted Saleh as saying, "I am leaving this good country, today. I want to bid you farewell from this place. I thank each one of you and offer my apology to the people and ask for forgiveness."

A third official said that Saleh declined to hold a public departure ceremony and preferred to offer his farewell behind closed doors.

All the officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.

After signing the deal in November, civil servants and employees have staged almost daily protests, each in front of their institution and agency demanding uprooting Saleh's regime members from the top government positions.

Among the latest protests, army forces used armored vehicles to briefly close runways at the military air base, which is attached to Sanaa airport, early Sunday, demanding that the commander of the country's air force be replaced. The commander is Saleh's brother, Maj. Gen. Mohammed Saleh.

Later Sunday, Republican Guard forces, which are commanded by Saleh's son, Ahmed, stormed the airport, fired rubber bullets and water cannons, dispersing the protesters and reopening the airport.

In the southern city of Taiz, security officers staged similar protests demanding the ouster of their commander.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120122/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_yemen

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The GOP debate: 6 takeaways (Politico)

In less than 48 hours, Newt Gingrich will know if his good night was good enough.

The former House speaker was the standout ? and early ? star of Thursday?s CNN-hosted Republican debate in South Carolina, the last before voting begins in the first-in-the-South primary.

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Below are POLITICO?s six takeaways on the crackling debate:

1) Newt Gingrich saw the pitch coming

Gingrich was looking for a fastball and proceeded to knock it out of the park. Yes, it?s a sports cliche, but it?s a fitting one here. Gingrich knew full well that CNN moderator John King would ask him about his ex-wife?s claims that the former House Speaker had sought an ?open marriage? over a decade ago. And CNN made a clear choice to open with it, knowing that would make the network a part of the news story.

Gingrich came prepared.

The former Georgia congressman, who stoked debate hall crowds at several of these forums, had the audience on its feet applauding him as he bashed King, his network and ABC News for the ?despicable? move to make his messy marital past part of the discussion.

The crowd ate up the red meat about the ?elite media,? and the tone of the debate was immediately set. Nothing that happened after those first five minutes were anywhere near as memorable. Gingrich had the type of moment that GOP strategist Alex Castellanos has described as a critical ?moment of strength.?

This is, of course, Gingrich?s specialty - whipping up the GOP base?s distrust of the mainstream media. He himself has said on the trail that it?s perfectly appropriate for voters to ask him about his personal history, a statement at odds with his indignation Thursday evening.

Still, the crowd?s strong response inoculated him over the ex-wives issue and made it all but impossible for other candidates to attack him. Rick Santorum came the closest to touching it, but veered away just before he crossed the line into booing territory.

It was, simply put, Gingrich?s best single moment in any 2012 debate, and he?s had many good ones. His overall performance in Monday?s debate was better, but coming so close to the primary election, last night was exactly what he needed.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/external/politico_rss/rss_politico_mostpop/http___www_politico_com_news_stories0112_71708_html/44240644/SIG=11mm3suij/*http%3A//www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71708.html

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Video: Romney, Super PAC spends $7.3 million in Florida ads

>> next up for the presidential candidates , florida , where early voting is under way right now in the critical state . the primary is not until i should say january 3 1st. but mitt romney and the super pac supporting him have spent $73 million on ads. in fact, this ad where romney is praising his family and work ethic has already run in iowa and new hampshire. joining me now live is florida congressman. congressman, thank you for your time.

>> it's good to be with you.

>> so you are supporting mitt romney . let me talk to you about south carolina and how it may or may not set the stage for you state if he doesn't pull out a victory. you see the polls showing newt gingrich closing the gap or ahead of romney .

>> well, i think we're getting to the end of the nomination process. thank goodness. i think people have probably heard enough. but last week i made a decision to for for governor romney . if you look at all the the people with all the political rhetoric , what it boils down to is we want someone that can get our economy out of the ditch and provide some opportunity for our children and for the future, and somebody who has had elected executive experience. and when you go through them all, we have great candidates. south carolina and floridians and the rest of the nation will settle on mitt romney .

>> i'm intrigue that had you think it's wrapping up. iowa went to rick santorum . new hampshire went to governor romney . and today south carolina could go to newt gingrich . that would be the first time that all three -- the caucus and the two primaries went to a different candidate. why does that make you feel this is wrapping up? many people see that as being quite the opposite. rick santorum says win or lose, which it appears he probably won't eke out a victory. he says he's still in it.

>> some people have left the race. i've served with them. they have wonderful people. we all share a very similar political philosophy . but when this boils down to who are we going to get to give our children and the future of america back you want somebody who has had some business experience. i think you just look at the romney experience. he's a self made man. he has the experience, not only as far as business -- i mean, again if you're going to get unique experience, he has it taking businesses that were going down the tubes and making them work. you can't make everyone work in a free market society , but he did it. and then, again, and again, i love to hear the rhetoric and the debate and all the cliches. we need an elected executive.

>> i think people will debate whether or not he's self made, but i'll move onto that and ask you this, does mitt romney need to release his tax returns , and how soon? he wants to wait until april. chris christie says he needs to do it now. what do you say?

>> well, i think that's a nonissue.

>> really? why?

>> because, we know he has substantial income. we know he's made money.

>> so why not release it?

>> he can release them, i think, any time he feels it's appropriate. if he becomes the nominee, he should release them. he said he would in april. and i feel pretty confident he'll be the nominee by then and he'll do that. but the issues i hear when i'm home. we had president obama come to florida this week, and he's desperate in florida trying to make it look like he's doing something, we have 10% unemployment in florida . people aren't interested in tax returns , they want the opportunity --

>> yeah, those people unemployed -- we're almost out of time. on the last point, you say people aren't interested. they are --

>> not one person are talking about tax returns .

>> if they believe that the nominee is for the so called 1% who would greatly benefit from a 15% tax rate , that is a part of the narrative. it is a part of the have and the have not, and what kind of people would the president if it is mitt romney , who would he look out for? would he look out for the corporations that he refers to as people or would he look out for the people of south carolina who make an average income of $30,000 and many of the people i have spoken with and spent time with in your state of florida , desperately trying to find work. they did not lose their jobs under the obama administration. they were out of work under the prior administration, which was president bush .

>> you know, everything starts pretty close to home here. i look at newt gingrich , we have some fine people and they talk good political games. but again you start with the family and then you look at how people conduct themselves, then you look at business. and you look at have they run a business? have they gotten a business out of the ditch?

>> congressman --

>> the other thing, do you have elected executive experience to get this country moving.

>> i get your point. we'll see what they get. thank you so much, congressman. this monday, by the way, don't miss the nbc news presidential debate moderated by brian williams live from the university of

Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/newsnation/46083265/

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UniCredit set to succeed with share sale (Reuters)

MILAN (Reuters) ? The 7.5 billion euro ($9.7 billion) rights issue by UniCredit SpA (CRDI.MI) looks set to be almost entirely taken up, allowing it to meet tougher capital requirements being imposed on the euro zone's beleaguered banks.

"Take-up could be around 97 to 98 percent," a source close to the banking consortium handling the issue told Reuters. Subscriptions are expected to be at least 95 percent, another consortium source said.

Friday is the last day of trading in rights to the heavily discounted new shares.

Some 31 European banks must tell their national regulators by Friday how they plan to fill the 115 billion euro collective hole in their balance sheets as part of moves to tackle the continent's sovereign debt crisis.

UniCredit's cash call will allow the Italian lender's core Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio to rise above the target of 9 percent of risk-adjusted assets required by the European Banking Authority and almost entirely plug the second biggest capital shortfall in the region after Spain's Santander (SAN.MC).

The two-for-one share offer ends on January 27 and will dilute 2012 earnings per share by around 65 percent, according to analysts' estimates.

The bank's chief executive Federico Ghizzoni said on Wednesday he was confident the sale would be successful, although the company's share price has fallen by around 70 percent in the past year.

The existing shares were trading ex-rights down over 2 percent at 3.29 euros by 1140 GMT, with the right to buy two of the new shares at 1.943 euros trading down 5 percent at 2.59 euros (CRDI_r.MI).

"They seem to have pulled it off, but for the historic shareholders it's a killer," said Alessandro Capeccia, who manages 500 million euros at fund Azimut sgr and said he preferred UniCredit's high-yielding bonds to its shares.

According to other sources close to the underwriting consortium, the rights issue has drawn interest from U.S. institutional investors and from Nordic countries.

Some core shareholders have indicated they will not take up their rights including the Libyan central bank and the Libyan Investment Authority.

DEBT JITTERS

Looking ahead, Italy's largest bank by assets remains vulnerable to the country's sovereign debt woes, analysts say, with already low profitability further dented by the dilutive cash call and question marks hanging over its strategy.

Despite having the biggest international reach among Italian lenders, with operations in 22 countries and 950 billion euros in assets, UniCredit makes 42 percent of its revenues in its home market, compared with 25 percent in Germany, its second biggest cash earner.

It also has 40 billion euros of Italian government bonds on its books, accounting for 43 percent of its total exposure to sovereign debt.

"This is an international lender whose core market happens to be Italy and whose exposure to Italian government debt is considerable," said Nicholas Spiro, managing director of consultant Spiro Sovereign Strategy.

"Italy remains a proxy for euro zone risk and is likely to experience a severe recession this year; this has implications for the bank's plan to improve its profitability," he said.

UniCredit's shares have also borne the brunt of a market sell-off in Italian assets, with its theoretical ex-rights market capitalization now below 20 billion euros, a far cry from the 75 billion euros former chief executive Alessandro Profumo could boast of just four years ago after a buying spree in central and eastern Europe.

That acquisition drive turned UniCredit into the biggest lender in Austria and in several central and eastern European countries, and gave it the third spot in Germany. But at a price.

As Italy and its banks got sucked ever deeper into the debt crisis Ghizzoni revealed a 10.6 billion euro third-quarter loss in November due to big writedowns on the book value of those deals.

Ghizzoni has come under heavy criticism for waiting too long to launch the rights issue on January 9, and the initial market reaction to the steep discount offered was a disaster -- the stock plunged 45 percent in the space of four days.

But the shares then partially recovered. Analysts have said a 90-95 percent take-up by shareholders would be a good result, given current market conditions.

Analysts at DZ Bank, which has a "sell" recommendation on the stock, estimated UniCredit's return on equity after tax in 2012 would be 2.6 percent, compared with a median of 7.4 percent for its European peers.

And with Italy's economy likely to slide into a recession several analysts say the 3.8 billion-euro profit target for 2013 is too ambitious.

($1 = 0.7757 euros)

(Writing by Lisa Jucca and Stephen Jewkes; Editing by Will Waterman)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/bs_nm/us_unicredit

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