ClockworkMod touch recovery released as beta

Just weeks after we saw our first "unofficial" release of a touch version of the popular ClockworkMod custom recovery, developer Koush has put forth a beta version of his own, available for download now. 

For you new folks, a custom recovery is an indispensable way to back up your device as well as install new custom ROMs and updates, among other little hacky things. Until recently, it's been controlled by using the volume up/down buttons to scroll through the menus, and (usually) the power button to select. 

This touch recovery still has volume select, but now the touchscreen works, and works well. We've got some hands-on video after the break, and you can snag it from the download links below.

Download CWM Touch beta: Galaxy Nexus (GSM and CDMA), Nexus S (GSM)
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/qOEUzIFa5mk/story01.htm

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Jury finds Afghan family guilty in honor killings

Mohammad Shafia, centre, Tooba Yahya, right, and Hamed Shafia, left, arrive at the Frontenac County courthouse in Kingston, Ontario, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. A jury took 15 hours to find Shafia, 58, his wife Tooba Yahya, 42, and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in a case so shocking it has riveted Canadians from coast to coast. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Graham Hughes)

Mohammad Shafia, centre, Tooba Yahya, right, and Hamed Shafia, left, arrive at the Frontenac County courthouse in Kingston, Ontario, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. A jury took 15 hours to find Shafia, 58, his wife Tooba Yahya, 42, and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in a case so shocking it has riveted Canadians from coast to coast. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Graham Hughes)

Mohammad Shafia, center, Tooba Yahya, right, and Hamed Shafia, left, arrive at the Frontenac County courthouse in Kingston, Ontario, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. A jury took 15 hours to find each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in a case so shocking it has riveted Canadians from coast to coast. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Graham Hughes)

Tooba Yahya is led away from the Frontenac County courthouse in Kingston, Ontario, Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, after being found guilty of first degree murder. A jury took 15 hours to find Shafia, 58, his wife Tooba Yahya, 42, and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in a case so shocking it has riveted Canadians from coast to coast. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Graham Hughes)

Mohammad Shafia, front,Tooba Yahya, center and Hamed Shafia arrive at the Frontenac County courthouse in Kingston, Ont., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012. A jury took 15 hours to find Shafia, 58, his wife Tooba Yahya, 42, and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder of Mohammad Shafia's three daughters and childless first wife. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Graham Hughes)

Mohammad Shafia reacts as he his led away from the Frontenac County courthouse in Kingston, Ont., Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012, after being found guilty of first degree murder of his three daughters and childless first wife. A jury took 15 hours to find Shafia, 58, his wife Tooba Yahya, 42, and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in a case so shocking it has riveted Canadians from coast to coast. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Graham Hughes)

KINGSTON, Ontario (AP) ? A jury on Sunday found three members of an Afghan family guilty of killing three teenage sisters and another woman in what the judge described as "cold-blooded, shameful murders" resulting from a "twisted concept of honor," ending a case that shocked and riveted Canadians.

Prosecutors said the defendants allegedly killed the three teenage sisters because they dishonored the family by defying its disciplinarian rules on dress, dating, socializing and using the Internet.

The jury took 15 hours to find Mohammad Shafia, 58; his wife Tooba Yahya, 42; and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder. First-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.

After the verdict was read, the three defendants again declared their innocence in the killings of sisters Zainab, 19, Sahar 17, and Geeti, 13, as well as Rona Amir Mohammad, 52, Shafia's childless first wife in a polygamous marriage.

Their bodies were found June 30, 2009, in a car submerged in a canal in Kingston, Ontario, where the family had stopped for the night on their way home to Montreal from Niagara Falls, Ontario.

The prosecution alleged it was a case of premeditated murder, staged to look like an accident after it was carried out. Prosecutors said the defendants drowned their victims elsewhere on the site, placed their bodies in the car and pushed it into the canal.

Ontario Superior Court Judge Robert Maranger said the evidence clearly supported the conviction.

"It is difficult to conceive of a more heinous, more despicable, more honorless crime," Maranger said. "The apparent reason behind these cold-blooded, shameful murders was that the four completely innocent victims offended your completely twisted concept of honor ... that has absolutely no place in any civilized society."

In a statement following the verdict, Canadian Justice Minister Rob Nicholson called honor killings a practice that is "barbaric and unacceptable in Canada."

Defense lawyers said the deaths were accidental. They said the Nissan car accidentally plunged into the canal after the eldest daughter, Zainab, took it for a joy ride with her sisters and her father's first wife. Hamed said he watched the accident, although he didn't call police from the scene.

After the jury returned the verdicts, Mohammad Shafia, speaking through a translator, said, "We are not criminal, we are not murderer, we didn't commit the murder and this is unjust."

His weeping wife, Tooba, also declared the verdict unjust, saying, "I am not a murderer, and I am a mother, a mother."

Their son, Hamed, speaking in English said, "I did not drown my sisters anywhere."

Hamed's lawyer, Patrick McCann, said he was disappointed with the verdict, but said his client will appeal and he believes the other two defendants will as well.

But prosecutor Gerard Laarhuis welcomed the verdict.

"This jury found that four strong, vivacious and freedom-loving women were murdered by their own family in the most troubling of circumstances," Laarhuis said outside court.

"This verdict sends a very clear message about our Canadian values and the core principles in a free and democratic society that all Canadians enjoy and even visitors to Canada enjoy," he said to cheers of approval from onlookers.

The family had left Afghanistan in 1992 and lived in Pakistan, Australia and Dubai before settling in Canada in 2007. Shafia, a wealthy businessman, married Yahya because his first wife could not have children.

Shafia's first wife was living with him and his second wife. The polygamous relationship, if revealed, could have resulted in their deportation.

The prosecution painted a picture of a household controlled by a domineering Shafia, with Hamed keeping his sisters in line and doling out discipline when his father was away on frequent business trips to Dubai.

The months leading up to the deaths were not happy ones in the Shafia household, according to evidence presented at trial. Zainab, the oldest daughter, was forbidden to attend school for a year because she had a young Pakistani-Canadian boyfriend, and she fled to a shelter, terrified of her father, the court was told.

The prosecution said her parents found condoms in Sahar's room as well as photos of her wearing short skirts and hugging her Christian boyfriend, a relationship she had kept secret. Geeti was becoming almost impossible to control: skipping school, failing classes, being sent home for wearing revealing clothes and stealing, while declaring to authority figures that she wanted to be placed in foster care, according to the prosecution.

Shafia's first wife wrote in a diary that her husband beat her and "made life a torture," while his second wife called her a servant.

The prosecution presented wire taps and mobile phone records from the Shafia family in court to support their honor killing allegation. The wiretaps, which capture Shafia spewing vitriol about his dead daughters, calling them treacherous and whores and invoking the devil to defecate on their graves, were a focal point of the trial.

"There can be no betrayal, no treachery, no violation more than this," Shafia said on one recording. "Even if they hoist me up onto the gallows ... nothing is more dear to me than my honor."

Defense lawyers argued that at no point in the intercepts do the accused say they drowned the victims.

Shafia's lawyer, Peter Kemp, said after the verdicts that he believes the comments his client made on the wiretaps may have weighed more heavily on the jury's minds than the physical evidence in the case.

"He wasn't convicted for what he did," Kemp said. "He was convicted for what he said."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-29-CN-Canada-Honor-Killing/id-68aad2c2f7dc45ea84364cfc8cbba084

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Iran says to stop some oil sales, inspectors visit (Reuters)

TEHRAN (Reuters) ? Iran sent conflicting signals in a dispute with the West over its nuclear ambitions on Sunday, vowing to stop oil exports soon to "some" countries but postponing a parliamentary debate on a proposed halt to such sales to the European Union.

The Islamic Republic declared itself optimistic about a visit by U.N. nuclear experts that began on Sunday but also warned the inspectors to be "professional" or see Tehran reducing cooperation with the world body on atomic matters.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) inspection delegation will seek to advance efforts to resolve a row about nuclear work which Iran says is for making electricity but the West suspects is aimed at seeking a nuclear weapon.

Tensions with the West rose this month when Washington and the European Union (EU) imposed the toughest sanctions yet in a drive to force Tehran to provide more information on its nuclear program. The measures take direct aim at the ability of OPEC's second biggest oil exporter to sell its crude.

In a remark suggesting Iran would fight sanctions with sanctions, Iran's oil minister said the Islamic state would soon stop exporting crude to "some" countries.

Rostam Qasemi did not identify the countries but was speaking less than a week after the EU's 27 member states agreed to stop importing crude from Iran from July 1.

"Soon we will cut exporting oil to some countries," the state news agency IRNA quoted Qasemi as saying.

Iranian lawmakers had been due to debate a bill on Sunday that could have cut off oil supplies to the EU in days, in a move calculated to hit ailing European economies before the EU-wide ban on took effect.

But Iranian MPs postponed discussing the measure.

"No such draft bill has yet been drawn up and nothing has been submitted to the parliament. What exists is a notion by the deputies which is being seriously pursued to bring it to a conclusive end," Emad Hosseini, spokesman for parliament's Energy Committee, told Mehr.

Iranian officials say sanctions have had no impact on the country.

"Iranian oil has its own market, even if we cut our exports to Europe," oil minister Qasemi said.

Another lawmaker, Mohammad Karim Abedi, said the bill would oblige the government to cut Iran's oil supplies to the European Union for five to 15 years, the semi-official Fars news agency reported.

REFINERS

By turning the sanctions back on the EU, lawmakers hope to deny the bloc a six-month window it had planned to give those of its members most dependent on Iranian oil - including some of the most economically fragile in southern Europe - to adapt.

The Mehr news agency quoted Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi as saying during a trip to Ethiopia: "We are very optimistic about the outcome of the IAEA delegation's visit to Iran ... Their questions will be answered during this visit."

"We have nothing to hide and Iran has no clandestine (nuclear) activities."

Striking a sterner tone, Iran's parliament speaker, Ali Larijani, warned the IAEA team to carry out a "logical, professional and technical" job or suffer the consequences.

"This visit is a test for the IAEA. The route for further cooperation will be open if the team carries out its duties professionally," said Larijani, state media reported.

"Otherwise, if the IAEA turns into a tool (for major powers to pressure Iran), then Iran will have no choice but to consider a new framework in its ties with the agency."

Iran's parliament in the past has approved bills to oblige the government to review its level of cooperation with the IAEA. However, Iran's top officials have always underlined the importance of preserving ties with the watchdog body.

Before departing from Vienna, IAEA Deputy Director General Herman Nackaerts said he hoped the Islamic state would tackle the watchdog's concerns "regarding the possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program."

PARLIAMENT DEBATE

The head of the state-run National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) said late on Saturday that the export embargo would hit European refiners, such as Italy's Eni, that are owed oil from Iran as part of long-standing buy-back contracts under which they take payment for past oilfield projects in crude.

"The European companies will have to abide by the provisions of the buyback contracts," Ahmad Qalebani told the ISNA news agency. "If they act otherwise, they will be the parties to incur the relevant losses and will subject the repatriation of their capital to problems."

Italy's Eni is owed $1.4-1.5 billion in oil for contracts it executed in Iran in 2000 and 2001 and has been assured by EU policymakers its buyback contracts will not be part of the European embargo, but the prospect of Iran acting first may put that into doubt.

Eni declined to comment on Sunday.

The EU accounted for 25 percent of Iranian crude oil sales in the third quarter of 2011. However, analysts say the global oil market will not be overly disrupted if parliament votes for the bill that would turn off the oil tap for Europe.

Potentially more disruptive to the world oil market and global security is the risk of Iran's standoff with the West escalating into military conflict.

Iran has repeatedly said it could close the vital Strait of Hormuz shipping lane if sanctions succeed in preventing it from exporting crude, a move Washington said it would not tolerate.

"CONSTRUCTIVE SPIRIT"

The IAEA's visit may be an opportunity to defuse some of the tension. Director General Yukiya Amano has called on Iran to show a "constructive spirit" and Tehran has said it is willing to discuss "any issues" of interest to the U.N. agency, including the military-linked concerns.

But Western diplomats, who have often accused Iran of using such offers of dialogue as a stalling tactic while it presses ahead with its nuclear program, say they doubt Tehran will show the kind of concrete cooperation the IAEA wants.

They say Iran may offer limited concessions and transparency to try to ease intensifying international pressure, but that this is unlikely to amount to the full cooperation required.

The outcome could determine whether Iran will face further isolation or whether there are prospects for resuming wider talks between Tehran and the major powers on the nuclear row.

Salehi said Iran "soon" would write a letter to the E.U.'s foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton to discuss "a date and venue" for fresh nuclear talks.

"Iran's top nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili in this letter, which may be sent in the coming days, also may mention other issues as well," Salehi said, without elaborating.

The last round of talks in January 2011 between Jalili and Ashton, who represents major powers, failed over Iran's refusal to halt its sensitive nuclear work.

"The talks will be successful as the other party seems interested in finding a way out of this deadlock," Salehi said.

(Additional reporting by Hashem Kalantari, Robin Pomeroy and Hossein Jaseb in Tehran, Svetlana Kovalyova in Milan and Fredrik Dahl in Vienna; Writing by Parisa Hafezi and Robin Pomeroy; Editing by William Maclean)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120129/wl_nm/us_iran

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Source: http://www.riverbendhumane.org/ca-insurance-and-insurance-brokers.html

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Communities to 'appraise' nature

27 January 2012 Last updated at 19:59 ET

Communities could be encouraged to make their own assessments of the direct benefits they get from nature.

A toolkit has been developed as a guide to understanding the landscape and what are called ecosystem services and how they are affected by climate change.

"Services" include natural processes that provide food and fuel, purify air, enrich soils and prevent floods.

Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) and Highland Council plan to run pilots in the Highlands using the toolkit.

The move follows two years of research work which involved communities in Nairn and Dumfries and Galloway and examined their attitudes to climate change.

In a report, SNH has proposed running the pilots between April and July this year.

The agency said this would allow "maximum engagement" around school holidays, changing weather patterns and the tourist season.

Ecosystem services also include recreational benefits that can be drawn from landscapes.

Drier summers

Earlier this week, an SNH-commissioned report warned that some of the landscapes people seek to enjoy could change markedly over a short space of time as a result of increased rainfall and storms.

The report said forests, moors and peat bogs could be among habitats under the greatest pressure.

Trees in towns and cities could also be lost to extreme weather conditions.

The report, An assessment of the impacts of climate change on Scottish landscapes and their contribution to quality of life: Final report, has been published by SNH.

The public agency commissioned Land Use Consultants to carry out the research.

In the report's executive summary, the consultants summed up the positive and negative impacts of warmer and drier summers.

Landmark historic trees could also be lost to storms.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/go/rss/int/news/-/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-16757237

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Paul braves snowy Maine in hunt for GOP delegates (AP)

BANGOR, Maine ? Presidential hopeful Ron Paul wants other Republicans to know that he and his supporters plan to hang around for a while longer.

The Texas congressman is on a two-day campaign swing through Maine, which holds caucuses starting Feb. 4.

Paul addressed a packed town hall meeting in Bangor on Friday and said he was braving the snowy weather to pick up delegates.

He is skipping Tuesday's presidential primary in Florida to focus on caucus states like Maine. Such states helped Barack Obama accumulate enough delegates to win the Democratic nomination in 2008.

Maine will award 24 delegates this year, compared to 12 four years ago.

Paul placed a weak fourth in South Carolina's primary last Saturday.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_el_pr/us_paul

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Govt failed to keep records of key nuke meetings (AP)

TOKYO ? Japan's deputy prime minister acknowledged Friday that the government failed to take minutes of 10 meetings last year on the response to the country's disasters and nuclear crisis and called for officials to compile reports on the meetings retroactively.

The missing minutes have become a hot political debate, with opposition lawmakers saying they are necessary to provide a transparent record of the government's discussion after the March 11 earthquake and tsunami touched off the worst nuclear accident since Chernobyl in 1986.

Deputy Prime Minister Katsuya Okada confirmed Friday at a news conference that the minutes were not fully recorded at the time and called for them to be written up, retroactively, by the end of February. Three of the meetings during the chaotic period had no record at all, not even an agenda, including a government nuclear crisis meeting headed by the prime minister.

Okada has set up a panel to investigate the extent of the problem and its cause.

The missing minutes are the latest example of the government missteps in disclosing information.

Japanese authorities and regulators already have been repeatedly criticized for how they handled information amid the unfolding nuclear crisis. Officials initially denied that the reactors had melted down, and have been accused of playing down the health risks of exposure to radiation.

The government also kept secret a worst-case scenario that tens of millions of people, including Tokyo residents, might need to leave their homes, according to a report obtained recently by The Associated Press.

An outside panel investigating the government response to the nuclear crisis has been critical, calling for more transparency in relaying information to the public.

"Needless to say, keeping records at these meetings is extremely important," Okada said. "Each minister should keep that in mind."

Okada rejected speculation that the nuclear crisis meetings may have intentionally left unrecorded to avoid responsibility. He said the oversights were "unfortunate" developments during the chaotic time when the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant rapidly deteriorated and three of its reactors spiraled into meltdowns.

He said reconstruction of the minutes would be possible through notes and recordings kept by officials who attended the meetings.

Japan's public records law requires minutes or summaries at key government meetings, but not all of them.

___

Associated Press writer Eric Talmadge contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/japan/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_re_as/as_japan_nuclear_crisis

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World stocks slide as US growth data disappoint (AP)

LONDON ? World stocks turned lower on Friday after official data showed the U.S. economic recovery was not as fast as many had hoped.

The Commerce Department said that the U.S. economy, the world's largest, grew at a modest 2.8 percent in the final three months of last year. While that is the fastest growth in 2011, economists had expected growth of 3 percent.

A cut in government spending was offset partly by a rise in inventories, which are expected to slow back down in the early months of 2012, hurting growth. After that, "growth will pick up again by late spring," said Harm Bandholz, chief U.S. economist at UniCredit Bank.

With the data suggesting the U.S. recovery would continue to be a slow process, investors sold off stocks to cash in on gains made so far this month.

Britain's FTSE 100 was down 1.1 percent to 5,733 while Germany's DAX fell 0.4 percent at 6,511.98 and France's CAC-40 lost 1.3 percent to 3,318.76. The euro was up 0.83 percent at $1.3189.

Wall Street edged lower on the open ? the Dow Jones industrial average fell 94 points to 12,639 and the S&P 500 5.8 points to 1,312.

Other economic and corporate news released Friday contributed to sour market sentiment.

Consumer products maker Procter & Gamble Co. cut its earnings outlook and Ford Motor Co. fell short of Wall Street expectations, while Japanese games and electronics companies Nintendo and NEC issued profit warnings.

In Europe, traders digested grim statistics from Spain showing more than 5 million people without jobs. The National Statistics Institute said the jobless rate shot up from 21.5 percent ? already the highest in the eurozone ? to 22.8 percent in the fourth quarter.

Attention was also focused on the resumption of talks to reach a deal on how Greece can avoid a catastrophic default on its debt. Greece and its bailout rescuers ? other countries that use the euro and the International Monetary Fund ? are asking private creditors to swap their Greek bonds for new ones with a lower value, interest rate and much longer maturity.

The two sides have so far disagreed over what interest rate the new bonds should take. Some negotiators have said they hope to have a deal this weekend, in time for a European leaders' meeting on Monday.

While investors appear to expect a deal at some point ? the euro was up and eurozone borrowing rates were down, suggesting a steady increase in confidence ? some worried that the crisis was far from over.

Portugal's markets have worsened in recent days on fears that its austerity efforts will not be enough to achieve its deficit-reduction targets and that it may end up like Greece, needing a second bailout effort and possibly a debt writedown.

Getting economies like Portugal to grow is fast becoming a priority and is expected to be one of the main topics of discussion at the European leaders' summit in Brussels on Monday.

Earlier in the day, Asian markets showed little momentum ahead of the weekend.

Japan's Nikkei 225 index fell 0.1 percent to close at 8,841.22 while South Korea's Kospi rose 0.4 percent to 1,964.83. Hong Kong's Hang Seng rose 0.3 percent to 20,501.67 and Australia's S&P/ASX 200 gained 0.4 percent to 4,288.40.

Japanese exporters continued to be hit by a strong yen, which reduces the value of repatriated profits. The dollar fell to 76.81 yen from 77.49 yen.

Nintendo Corp., the Japanese gaming giant behind the Super Mario and Pokemon games, plummeted 4.1 percent, a day after it lowered its annual earnings forecast to a 65 billion yen ($844 million) loss. The company blamed the strong yen for much of the loss.

Japanese electronics company NEC Corp. plummeted 7.1 percent after announcing Thursday that it was slashing 10,000 jobs worldwide and would slide into the red for the full year.

Benchmark oil for March delivery was up 5 cents at $99.75 per barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract rose 30 cents to finish at $99.70 per barrel on the Nymex on Thursday.

___

Pamela Sampson in Bangkok contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/japan/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_bi_ge/world_markets

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Pharma's niche focus spurs US aid for antibiotics (AP)

WASHINGTON ? The pharmaceutical industry won approval to market a record number of new drugs for rare diseases last year, as a combination of scientific innovation and business opportunity spurred new treatments for diseases long-ignored by drug companies.

Drug companies are increasingly taking advantage of the commercial benefits of developing so-called orphan drugs, which include extra patent protections, higher pricing and a streamlined review process by FDA. Among the innovative treatments approved in the past year were the first new drug for lupus in 50 years and the first new drug for Hodgkin's lymphoma in 30 years.

But the focus on specialty drugs has put pressure on the U.S. government to ramp up its own spending on vaccines, antibiotics and drugs for more widespread health threats, which are less profitable for companies.

Since 2006, government spending on research for familiar diseases like staph infections, smallpox and botulism has increased more than 660 percent, from $54 million to $415 million last year

"Many of these are everyday, general diseases that we thought we had conquered decades ago, but we've seen some of them pop up again," said Dr. Robin Robinson, director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, which is tasked with acquiring vaccines, drugs and other necessities for public health emergencies.

Since 2005, BARDA has awarded $3.5 billion to outside companies to encourage research and production of antibiotics, flu vaccines and other products that are seen as less profitable than specialty drugs.

"We have pushed the envelope more toward diminishing the risk for companies so that they'll be more interested in getting involved with us and developing things like vaccines and antivirals," said Dr. Anthony Fauci, infectious diseases chief at the National Institutes of Health, which funds research into bird flu, tuberculosis and other potential pandemics. The government's role in developing new therapies goes beyond awarding contracts and includes offering assistance in designing trials and recruiting test subjects.

The need for such assistance stems in part from a new focus among pharmaceutical companies on drugs for rare diseases or unusual strains of common diseases.

Eleven of the 30 new drugs approved last year, or 37 percent, were for rare medical conditions, the highest percentage on record since the FDA began offering incentives to develop such therapies, known as orphan drugs, about 30 years ago. Additionally, nearly half of the 30 drugs were cleared under FDA's "fast track" program reserved for drugs that fill an unmet medical need.

"The companies are saying `this is actually a viable model.' Whereas back in the nineties they were skeptical, now they seem convinced," said Mark Schoenebaum, an analyst with International Strategy & Investment.

Analysts credit scientific advances and looming patent expirations with the spate of innovative products. Drugs worth a mammoth $255 billion in global annual sales are set to go off patent before 2016, according to EvaluatePharma Ltd., a London research firm.

The pharmaceutical industry reached its peak of profitability in the 1990s with heavily marketed drugs for common afflictions, like AstraZeneca PLC's Nexium pill for heart burn and Pfizer Inc.'s Lipitor for high cholesterol. In the last decade drugmakers managed to extend the patents on those drugs by tweaking their formulations, resulting in so-called `follow-on' drugs. But with most of those products on the cusp of losing patent protection, drugmakers have finally been forced to innovate, often turning to hard-to-treat diseases for which there are few existing therapies.

The FDA grants companies seven years of exclusive, competition-free marketing for each newly approved orphan drug, as well as tax breaks on the costs of developing the drugs. Orphan drugs also typically command much higher prices than other drugs. Last year French drugmaker Sanofi paid $20 billion to acquire specialty drugmaker Genzyme, whose products range from $100,000 to $300,000 for one year's supply.

One side effect of the focus on developing drugs for rare diseases is increased investment by the government to spur research into more common public health threats with the potential to cause mass outbreaks of illness. One such threat comes from so-called superbugs, or bacteria that have grown resistant to antibiotic drugs.

Robinson says government support is needed to spur antibiotic development because of how sparingly the products are used in medical practice. After decades of routine use, many first-generation antibiotics like penicillin are no longer effective against common bacterial strains, such as the staphylococcus aureaus, which causes staph infections. Physicians are encouraged to use newer antibiotics only in critical situations so that superbugs have less chance to build a resistance to them. As a result, drugmakers do not see a large commercial market for new antibiotics. Now the federal government is providing an incentive.

BARDA has awarded a series of contracts to encourage development of new antibiotics that can be stockpiled for use in a natural outbreak or during a bioterrorism attack.

? The agency has allocated up to $64 million to Achaogen, a San Francisco startup, for development of a new antibiotic against tularemia, a bacterium that can cause pneumonia and urinary tract infections. Public health officials are especially focused on Tularemia because it could also be used in a potential bioterrorism attack. Robinson says the contract is an example a new strategy of encouraging companies to produce therapies with dual uses: as federal preparatory measures and as commercial medical products.

Achaogen has received $155 million in research contracts and has several antibiotics in early and mid-stage, though none are currently available for sale.

? Under a $38.5 million contract awarded in September, BARDA will help GlaxoSmithKline PLC test an experimental antibiotic against both bioterrorism agents and infections like hospital-acquired pneumonia.

The U.S. government has used a similar pump priming strategy to encourage investment in flu vaccines. The Department of Health and Human Services wants to be able to provide enough vaccine for the entire U.S. population within six months of a flu pandemic. To meet that goal the government has tried to boost vaccine production by encouraging more Americans to get the standard flu vaccine each year. The government's hope is that by making the shots routine for more Americans, companies will invest in larger vaccine facilities that can ramp up production in the event of a pandemic.

Last month Swiss drugmaker Novartis AG opened the first U.S. vaccine facility equipped with cell culture technology, a faster method for producing vaccines than the traditional technique using chicken eggs. The U.S. government provided half of the $1 billion investment for the facility, as part of its preparations for a potential flu pandemic.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/health/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_he_me/us_dread_disease_aid

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O2 data breach potentially shares your cellphone number with the world (Updated)

There's an alarming rumor circulating that suggests that UK network O2 forwards your phone number to any website visited on a smartphone. Lewis Peckover built a site that displays the header data sent to sites you visit, finding a network-specific field called "x-up-calling-line-id" which displayed his number. Angry users who tested the site have flooded the company's official Twitter, which is currently responding with:

"Security is our top most priority, we're investigating this at the moment & will come back with more info as soon as we can."

The Next Web confirmed that Orange, T-Mobile and Vodafone numbers are unaffected by the issue, but GiffGaff and Tesco Mobile (both MVNOs that operate on the same network) do. TNW's sources say it's most likely an internal testing setup, while Mr. Peckover suggests it's because the network transparently proxies HTTP traffic, using the number as a UID.

Update: We received confirmation from O2, who said that it was "investigating with internal teams and it's our top priority." Slashgear and Think Broadband were unable to replicate the problem, but in our tests (pictured) it was sharing our data with the site.

Update 2: Consumer magazine Which? contacted UK privacy watchdog, the Information Commissioner's Office which offered the following:

"Keeping people's personal information secure is a fundamental principle that sits at the heart of the Data Protection Act and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations. When people visit a website via their mobile phone they would not expect their number to be made available to that website.

We will now speak to O2 to remind them of their data breach notification obligations, and to better understand what has happened, before we decide how to proceed."

We'll let you draw your own conclusions from that one, but it's not shaping up to be a good day for the company (or its users).

Update 3: Our tests have stopped working now, as it looks like the network is hurriedly trying to close the hole, but we've had no official word that it's over just yet.

Update 4: O2 has issued a full statement and Q&A which we've embedded after the jump. Long story short, it's fixed the issue -- caused by accidental routine maintenance. 3G / WAP users will have shared your number with any site you visited since January 10th. The network has promised it will co-operate fully with the ICO and has reported itself to Ofcom.

Continue reading O2 data breach potentially shares your cellphone number with the world (Updated)

O2 data breach potentially shares your cellphone number with the world (Updated) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Jan 2012 10:50:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/25/o2-data-breach/

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Time Warner leads funding for second social TV company (Reuters)

(Reuters) ? Media conglomerate Time Warner Inc is leading a $12 million round of funding into a start-up company that analyzes tweets and Facebook posts as people watch their favorite TV programs.

Social TV analytics company Bluefin Labs is also backed in its second round of funding by another new investor, SoftBank Capital, as well as existing backers Redpoint Ventures and Lerer Ventures.

Time Warner, whose networks include Turner, CNN and HBO, has previously backed GetGlue, a social entertainment company that allows U.S. TV viewers to "check-in" when they are watching their favorite shows.

Time Warner investments executive Rachel Lam said the latest investment in Bluefin showed that the company sees engaging and understanding TV viewers as important to its future as more viewers share their opinions and experiences about TV through social media.

"For Time Warner it's pretty important to understand where the social data might take us and how it impacts television programming as well as the advertising," said Lam, who will join Bluefin's board.

Boston-based Bluefin launched its flagship analytics service Bluefin Signals last July for clients to analyze and organize social media conversations about U.S. national television.

The company said clients use the social data about TV shows and commercials to help make buying and selling decisions. Bluefin's clients include TV networks, marketers and agencies including CBS Corp, Discovery Communications Turner Networks, Starcom MediaVest, MediaCom and MTV.

To date it has collected data from more than 11,000 shows and analyzes more than 5 billion pieces of social media commentary every month.

Bluefin Chief Executive Deb Roy said his company will focus on expanding its sales efforts to get the service to more clients who want to better understand the viewers as consumers of programming as well as advertising.

"You can use understanding of social media to better optimize your advertising to consumers," Roy said.

(Reporting By Yinka Adegoke; Editing by Maureen Bavdek)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120124/tv_nm/us_timewarner_bluefin

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Iran oil embargo: How tough are the EU sanctions? (The Christian Science Monitor)

Paris ? The European Union's unprecedented sanctions on Iranian oil exports are aimed at seriously punishing Iran over questions about the nature of its nuclear program, delaying military action, and, however likely or unlikely, spurring talks.

The sanctions, agreed upon yesterday in Brussels but not to be implemented until July, comes with possible unintended consequences ranging from oil market disarray at a time of economic crisis to further brinkmanship by the Islamic Republic. Yet some experts feel that the EU's advertised toughness is less than meets the eye, and that the EU may have quietly kicked the can down the road, or at least left open the door for changes that could decrease pressure on Tehran.

?With delays of six months [to implement the sanctions] it seems a bit of a fudge,? says Paul Stevens of Chatham House, a London think tank, who argues that financial sanctions on Iran?s central bank, part of the EU approach, will have a greater effect. ?I?m not sure that we?ve thought sanctions through. EU policymakers advocate sanctions, but oil people are not as convinced. The variables on sanctions are hard to gauge, and it is unclear if Saudi Arabia or Libya can supply the shortfall.

RELATED: Getting the Strait of Hormuz straight: FAQ

"Over decades," he argues, "oil sanctions have proven too complicated and they?ve never actually worked.?

Iran internally sells its nuclear program as part of its rise as a great nation, and claims that its ?right for uranium enrichment is nonnegotiable,? as one lawmaker, Ali Aghazadeh, said this week. ?There is no reason for Iran to compromise over its rights. But Iran is open to discussions over concerns about its nuclear program.?

Iran is allowed to enrich uranium as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT). But the United Nations Security Council has forbid that enrichment until Iran clears up remaining concerns raised by the UN nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

French Foreign Minister Alain Juppé said EU nations no longer believe Iran???s assertion that its program is for civilian use, and said that sanctions are an alternative to military action.

According to OPEC figures, the EU took 890,000 barrels per day from Iran in 2010. Making up for this shortfall will be a challenge. Currently, Saudi Arabia produces roughly 10 million barrels per day, but says its maximum capacity is 12.5 million barrels.

?Whether they can reach this figure is unclear,? says Mr. Stevens, author of a recent Chatham House study, ?An Embargo on Iranian Crude Oil Exports: How Likely and with What Impact??

The sanctions mean no new contracts will be signed with Iran, and that existing contracts must cease by July 1. Yet with a May 1 review to examine the effect of sanctions on EU economies, particularly beleaguered Greece, which takes 30 percent of its oil from Iran, there is what Stevens terms ?wiggle room.?

Slow buildup to sanctionsThe EU buildup to sanctions took place over several months. In October, EU External Affairs Minister Catherine Ashton called on Iran in a letter to join negotiations that would restore ?international confidence in the exclusively peaceful nature of Iran's nuclear program," but got no reply.

A November report by the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report on Tehran?s nuclear program seized EU attention, because it spelled out weapons related work that Iran conducted "systematically" until 2003, with sporadic development as recently as 2009. Iran in February 2010 began enriching uranium to 20 percent ? which is technically much closer to the 90 percent necessary for a bomb ? to make its own fuel plates for a Tehran reactor that makes medical isotopes. Iran and world powers have so far been unable to strike a deal on supplying Iran with the fuel for that reactor. 

Still, British Foreign Secretary William Hague argued yesterday there is ?no possible civilian explanation? for Iran to be enriching to 20 percent.

Skepticism over effectOne problem with sanctions, says Rouzbeh Parsi of the EU Institute of Strategic Studies in Paris, is that while ?everyone agrees it will hurt the Iranian economy, whether they will hurt enough to bring negotiation is a more open question that I?m skeptical about.

?Ms. Ashton says the sanctions are to bring pressure for Iran to negotiate,? Mr. Parsi continues. ?If your red line is to stop enrichment, well, Iran is enriching every day. They?ve been doing it for years. So there?s nothing to negotiate about. So sanctions are a substitute for finding what would bring Iran to the table.?

Two Iranian lawmakers yesterday said that sanctions would lead Tehran to forcibly close of the Strait of Hormuz, through which roughly one-fifth of the world?s oil supply is shipped.

Stevens doubts that Iran will go through with the threat, arguing that the impact on Iran?s economy would be catastrophic, and that closing the strait is Iran?s ultimate card to play, and ?why would they play it at this point in the game?"

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RELATED: Getting the Strait of Hormuz straight: FAQ

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/iran/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/csm/20120124/wl_csm/455018

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Yemen's leader allowed to come to US

FILE - In this Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011 file photo, Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh speaks to reporters during a press conference at the Presidential Palace in Sanaa, Yemen. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the U.S. regrets that Yemen's president has not complied with agreements to leave the country and allow elections for a successor. Her comments came as Yemen's foreign minister suggested next month's presidential vote could be delayed because of security concerns _ something that would violate the the U.S.-backed agreement that President Ali Abdullah Saleh signed recently. (AP Photo/Mohammed Hamoud, File)

FILE - In this Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011 file photo, Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh speaks to reporters during a press conference at the Presidential Palace in Sanaa, Yemen. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the U.S. regrets that Yemen's president has not complied with agreements to leave the country and allow elections for a successor. Her comments came as Yemen's foreign minister suggested next month's presidential vote could be delayed because of security concerns _ something that would violate the the U.S.-backed agreement that President Ali Abdullah Saleh signed recently. (AP Photo/Mohammed Hamoud, File)

Protestors react after receiving the news of the departure of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh from Sanaa to Oman in Sanaa, Yemen, Jan. 22, 2012. A spokesman for Yemen's embattled president says Ali Abdullah Saleh has left the country for the Persian Gulf country of Oman. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)

Protestors react after receiving the news of the departure of Yemen's President Ali Abdullah Saleh from Sanaa to Oman in Sanaa, Yemen, Jan. 22, 2012. A spokesman for Yemen's embattled president says Ali Abdullah Saleh has left the country for the Persian Gulf country of Oman. (AP Photo/Hani Mohammed)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? The Obama administration will allow Yemen's outgoing president to come to the U.S. temporarily for medical treatment, a move aimed at easing the political transition in Yemen, a key counterterrorism partner.

A senior administration official said Ali Abdullah Saleh would travel to New York this week, and probably stay in the U.S. until no later than the end of February. U.S. officials believe Saleh's exit from Yemen could lower the risk of disruptions in the lead-up to presidential elections planned there on Feb. 21.

A presidential spokesman in Yemen said Saleh had left the capital of Sanaa earlier Sunday on a jet headed for the Persian Gulf sultanate of Oman. An official close to Saleh, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the trip, said the president would undergo medical exams in Oman before heading to the U.S.

The U.S. official did not say whether Saleh planned to return to Yemen, Oman or elsewhere after finishing his treatment in the U.S. The official was not authorized to discuss details about Saleh and spoke on condition of anonymity.

The Yemeni embassy in Washington said Saleh planned to return home in February to attend a swearing-in ceremony for the country's newly elected president.

The mercurial Saleh, who ruled Yemen for more than three decades, agreed to transfer power to his vice president late last year in exchange for immunity from prosecution. He had faced months of protests calling for his ouster, to which the Yemeni government responded with a bloody crackdown, leaving hundreds of protesters dead and sparking wider violence in the capital with rival militia.

Even after agreeing to leave power, Saleh continued to wield his influence behind the scenes, and U.S. officials believed getting him out of Yemen was necessary in order to ensure the February elections took place. The U.S. also worried about instability in a nation grappling with growing extremism, including the dangerous al-Qaida branch known as al-Qaida in the Arabian Peninsula.

Still, Saleh's request last month for a U.S. visa put the Obama administration in the awkward position of either having to bar a friendly president from U.S. soil or risking appearing to harbor an autocrat with blood on his hands.

As U.S. officials weighed Saleh's request, they sought assurances that he would not seek political asylum or any type of permanent relocation in the U.S.

"We wanted to make sure that there was an understanding that it would be for medical purposes and that's what it is for," John Brennan, President Barack Obama's top counterterrorism adviser, said Sunday.

Saleh was badly burned and wounded during a June rocket attack on his compound in Yemen. He sought medical treatment in neighboring Saudi Arabia for three months. American officials had hoped he would remain there, but the Yemeni leader returned and violence worsened anew.

Protesters and human rights groups have criticized Saleh's immunity clause and insisted he stand trial for his alleged role in protester deaths.

Brennan said there was a divide in Yemen over Saleh's future, with some Yemenis supporting Saleh's decision to seek medical treatment in the U.S. In the short-term, he said, it was imperative to ensure that the February elections take place.

"We thought it was important, given where Yemen is right now as far as moving forward with its political transition, to do what we can to support the government and the elections that are scheduled for the 21st of February, and that seems to be on track," he said.

Yemeni Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi is expected to be rubber-stamped as the country's new leader in the elections, in which he is expected to be the only candidate.

Brennan spoke with Hadi on Sunday, and told him the U.S. was encouraged by his leadership during a difficult period of transition. With fresh demonstrations likely in the weeks leading up to the elections, Brennan urged Hadi to ensure that Yemeni security forces exercise restraint.

The Obama administration's approval of Saleh's visa brought back memories from three decades ago, when President Jimmy Carter allowed the exiled shah of Iran into the U.S. for medical treatment. The decision contributed to rapidly worsening relations between Washington and Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's revolution in Tehran, with Iranian students occupying the U.S. Embassy in Iran a month later.

Fifty-two American hostages were held for 444 days in response to Carter's refusal to send the shah back to Iran for trial.

___

Associated Press writers Ahmed al-Haj and Ben Hubbard in Sanaa, Yemen, contributed to this report.

___

Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-22-US-Yemen/id-1743a780c1c34396a4b26e5f4f438d9b

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Mozambique: Storms, floods kill 22 (AP)

MAPUTO, Mozambique ? Storms have forced tens of thousands of people from their homes and killed 22 in the southern African nation of Mozambique, disaster relief officials said Monday.

State TV on Monday reported that 12 people died Sunday in the central province of Zambezia. Ten deaths in southern areas had been reported earlier in the aftermath of a tropical depression that brought fierce rains and wind last week.

Storms have abated, but Dulce Chilundo, director of the national emergency office, told Radio Mozambique the government is feeding and housing more than 56,000 people whose homes and belongings were swept away.

The governor of Gaza, Raimundo Diomba, said several schools in his southern province were destroyed. Elsewhere, flooding has made stretches of highway impassable.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/africa/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120123/ap_on_re_af/af_mozambique_flooding

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Storm blankets Northeast with a few inches of snow

Matt Redmond, age 3, and his father, Mike, ride a sled down a hill after an overnight snowfall in Baltimore, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

Matt Redmond, age 3, and his father, Mike, ride a sled down a hill after an overnight snowfall in Baltimore, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)

A worker clears snow from the sidewalk of Public School 140 on the Lower East Side neighborhood of New York on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. New Yorkers awoke Saturday morning to find an inch or two of snow on the ground, with more on the way as a storm that had been in the Midwest on Friday moved east. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

A postal worker walks through falling snow to deliver mail in the Chinatown neighborhood of New York on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. New Yorkers awoke Saturday morning to find an inch or two of snow on the ground, with more on the way as a storm that had been in the Midwest on Friday moved east. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Pedestrians make their way across a slushy intersection during a snow storm in the Chinatown neighborhood of New York on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. New Yorkers awoke Saturday morning to find an inch or two of snow on the ground, with more on the way as a storm that had been in the Midwest on Friday moved east. (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)

Snow plows drive on I-93 over the Zakim Bridge into Boston, Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. A weekend snowstorm is blanketing the Northeast, creating treacherous travel conditions and some delays at airports. (AP Photo/Michael Dwyer)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? A few inches of snow coated the Northeast on Saturday in a storm so rare this season in the East that some welcomed it.

"We've been very lucky, so we can't complain," said Gloria Fernandez of New York City, as she shoveled the sidewalk outside her workplace. "It's nice, it's fluffy and it's on the weekend," she said of the snow, which hadn't fallen in the city since a rare October storm that that dumped more than 2 feet of snow in parts and knocked out power to nearly 3 million homes and businesses in the region.

By midafternoon, 4.3 inches of snow had fallen in Central Park and 3.4 inches at LaGuardia Airport in New York. Most of eastern Pennsylvania, including Philadelphia, and central New Jersey saw about 4 inches of snow, with a few places reporting up to 6 inches. Flurries and freezing rain fell around Washington, D.C.

Up to 10 inches was predicted for southeastern Massachusetts, noteworthy in a season marked by a lack of snow throughout the Northeast. The quick-moving storm was expected to move out to sea overnight.

Road conditions were fair Saturday, officials said. Crews in Pennsylvania and New Jersey began salting roads around midnight and plowing soon after. By midmorning, the snow had turned to sleet in Philadelphia north through central New Jersey and had stopped falling altogether by early afternoon.

"It's a fairly moderate snowstorm, at best," said weather service forecaster Bruce Sullivan.

Few accidents were reported on the roads, helped by the weekend's lack of rush hour traffic, but New Jersey transportation spokesman Joe Dee cautioned drivers to build in more time for trips. Though temperatures will warm up this afternoon he said, forecasters expect the wet ground to freeze again overnight.

Flights arriving at Philadelphia Airport were delayed up to two hours because of snow and ice accumulation and about 35 flights had been canceled, but most departing flights were leaving on time, airport spokeswoman Victoria Lupica said.

New York City had 1,500 snow plows at the ready, each equipped with global positioning systems that will allow supervisors to see their approximate location on command maps updated every 30 seconds, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said at a morning news conference.

The equipment was installed last year following a post-Christmas storm in 2010 that left plows stuck and stranded in drifts and left swaths of the city unplowed for days. Bloomberg said the GPS system has already led to "vastly improved communication" between supervisors and plow operators.

In Connecticut, where the October storm did the most damage and some lost power for more than a week, about 6 inches of snow was forecast. State police had responded to dozens of accidents by midmorning but said none appeared to be serious.

As always, some benefited from the snow. Enough accumulated through the week for snowmobiling and ice fishing in New Hampshire, where cross-country ski trails and snowshoeing were open at Bretton Woods and other places.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2012-01-21-Winter%20Weather/id-1bd1f89a34cc4d03924598a893918e1e

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Romney tries to change the subject from his taxes (AP)

GILBERT, S.C. ? Working to fend off a surging Newt Gingrich in what's become an unexpectedly tight race, presidential candidate Mitt Romney on Friday tried to change the subject from his unreleased tax returns to the ethics investigation Gingrich faced 15 years ago.

Romney's campaign appeared visibly rattled the day before the South Carolina primary, his standing in polls having tumbled after a week of constant attack ads and self-made problems. The former Massachusetts governor faced a potentially difficult day Saturday, and senior aides acknowledged they wouldn't be surprised if he lost the primary.

Romney came to South Carolina after twin victories in Iowa and New Hampshire, only to see his Iowa victory thrown into question because of problems with the count. He's spent a week trying to answer questions about his personal wealth and when he will release his tax returns.

Gingrich's House reprimand in 1997 presented an opportunity to talk about something else. When asked if Gingrich should release the Ethics Committee report that resulted in the first such action against a House speaker, Romney replied, "Of course he should."

"Nancy Pelosi has the full record of that ethics investigation," he said. "You know it's going to get out ahead of the general election."

In fact, the 1,280-page committee report on Gingrich is already public. Campaign officials said Romney was referring to other documents that Gingrich has referenced and that Pelosi has also mentioned.

"Given Speaker Gingrich's newfound interest in disclosure and transparency, and his concern about an `October surprise,' he should authorize the release of the complete record of the ethics proceedings against him," Romney spokeswoman Gail Gitcho said.

Romney's campaign is calling South Carolina voters with a recording attacking Gingrich's ethics record and calling on him to release any documents related to the inquiry.

In December, Pelosi told Talking Points Memo that she had served on the committee that conducted the investigation and implied that more information about the investigation could come to light. At the time Gingrich said the House should retaliate against Pelosi if she released any additional information.

"We turned over 1 million pages of material," Gingrich said then. "We had a huge report."

Gingrich's campaign said Romney's criticism represented a "panic attack" on the part of his campaign.

Romney on Friday said again that he wouldn't release his tax returns until April, which would probably be after Republicans choose their nominee.

"I realize that I had a lot of ground to make up and Speaker Gingrich is from a neighboring state, well-known, popular in the state," Romney said as he campaigned in Gilbert. "Frankly, to be in a neck-and-neck race at this last moment is kind of exciting."

Romney's campaign has rolled out endorsement after endorsement this week as he has tried to build a case that he is the most electable nominee. Ohio Sen. Rob Portman joined him on Thursday and Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell campaigned with him Friday.

McDonnell said Friday he had been in touch with Romney's campaign for several weeks as they discussed the timing for the endorsement ? and decided it was most needed now, even as Romney looks ahead to a long campaign.

"It's the first Southern primary. I'm a Southern governor. I thought I could help," McDonnell said.

But the campaign's attack message has jumped from rival to rival and topic to topic as Romney's fought to stay afloat here.

At the beginning of the week, Romney was attacking rival Rick Santorum over voting rights for felons. Then he went after Gingrich's claims that he created jobs under President Ronald Reagan, saying Gingrich was living in "fantasyland." Meanwhile, his surrogates held a series of conference calls attacking his rivals, first calling Gingrich an unreliable leader and then pivoting to attack his ethics record.

In Thursday night's GOP debate, Romney continued his string of off-message remarks about his wealth, saying he has lived "in the real streets of America." A multimillionaire, he has three homes, one each in Massachusetts, California and New Hampshire.

Romney held three campaign events Friday in his last-ditch push to stem Gingrich's momentum. After stopping in Gilbert, he held a rally in North Charleston and flew to Greenville in the conservative upstate for a nighttime rally and a stop at his campaign headquarters before an evening event in Columbia, the state capital.

On a plane between events Friday night, Romney was outwardly cheerful in spite of a difficult day ahead, gamely bantering with reporters as he served pastries from Panera Bread.

"Pain au chocolat, smart move!" he said to one, proferring the box and a pair of tongs to take the desserts.

As he moved farther back into the plane, though, he dispensed with the tongs.

"Just use your fingers," he said. "To heck with it!"

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_el_pr/us_romney

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Dow and S&P 500 post best week since Christmas (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Stocks posted their best week since Christmas, even with a mixed finish on Friday after strong earnings from tech bellwethers IBM (IBM.N) and Intel (INTC.O) contrasted with Google's (GOOG.O) disappointing report.

The market heads into the most hectic week so far in this earnings season after a mixed start, with some worries over revenue and growth offset by sharp cost-cutting to protect the bottom line.

For the week, the Dow rose 2.4 percent and the S&P 500 gained 2 percent as investors showed some relief that earnings didn't reflect the worst elements that battered the market in the last year, especially given the problems in the euro zone that have been weighing on investor sentiment.

"For the time being, investors are pretty much taking earnings in stride. They knocked Google down this morning, but the general feeling in the marketplace is (stocks) are very undervalued at these levels, even given the marginal misses they're making in earnings," said Paul Mendelsohn, chief investment strategist at Windham Financial Services in Charlotte, Vermont.

Indeed, investors in recent weeks have been heartened by improving economic data, even though progress has been uneven. Reflecting improved economic sentiment, the Dow Jones Transportation Average, an indicator of the economy's strength (.DJT) has gained about 2 percent in each of the last two weeks.

IBM (IBM.N) lifted the Dow a day after it offered a strong outlook and results from several big-tech names signaled they were shaking off nervousness about economic growth and boosting technology spending. IBM's stock rose 4.4 percent to $188.52.

On the flip side, Google Inc (GOOG.O) slid 8.4 percent to $585.99. The Internet search giant's quarterly profit and revenue missed expectations on declining search advertising rates.

The Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) gained 96.50 points, or 0.76 percent, to 12,720.48 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) inched up just 0.88 of a point, or 0.07 percent, to 1,315.38. But the Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) dipped 1.63 points, or 0.06 percent, to close at 2,786.70.

NASDAQ UP ALMOST 3 PCT FOR WEEK

For the week, the Nasdaq climbed 2.8 percent, making this its best week in seven.

General Electric Co (GE.N) was unchanged at $19.15 after the conglomerate's revenues missed consensus forecasts. Fellow Dow component American Express Co (AXP.N) fell 1.8 percent to $50.04 as it set aside more money to cover bad loans.

Intel Corp (INTC.O) rose 2.9 percent to $26.38, while Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O) advanced 5.7 percent to $29.71. Both reported results late Thursday.

Still, in what could be seen as a more bearish sign for the earnings period, 60 percent of the S&P 500 companies that have reported results so far this earnings season have beaten profit expectations, below the 68 percent that beat estimates at this point in the reporting cycle for the third quarter and well below the 78 percent that exceeded estimates in the second quarter, according to Thomson Reuters data.

That's based on results from just 14 percent of the S&P 500 companies. But strategists say it could be a sign of what's in store for the rest of this earnings season and perhaps future quarters.

During the session, investors also kept an eye on Greece, where a bond-swap deal between the cash-strapped country and its private bondholders appeared to be close, according to sources. An agreement was deemed possible heading into the weekend. Creditors could lose up to 70 percent of the loans given to the fiscally troubled nation.

Hopes are an agreement would prevent the nation from spiraling into bankruptcy and bring some stability to the debt-strained euro zone.

Volume totaled about 7 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the NYSE Amex and the Nasdaq, above the daily average of 6.68 billion.

Advancing stocks outnumbered declining ones on the NYSE by a ratio of not quite 3 to 2 while on the Nasdaq, about three stocks rose for every two that fell.

(Reporting By Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Jan Paschal)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120121/bs_nm/us_markets_stocks

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Senate Minority leader speaks out against anti-piracy bill (Reuters)

NEW YORK (TheWrap.com) ? Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell spoke out against his own body's anti-piracy legislation Thursday, urging the Democratic majority (and its Republican supporters) to shelve the proposed bill for the foreseeable future.

McConnell wants opponents and proponents of the Protect IP Act -- the Senate's counterpart to the House's Stop Online Piracy Act -- to resolve some of the "serious issues" with the legislation before moving forward with any kind of vote.

"While we must combat the on-line theft of intellectual property, current proposals in Congress raise serious legal, policy and operational concerns," the Kentucky Republican said. "Rather than prematurely bringing the Protect IP Act to the Senate floor, we should first study and resolve the serious issues with this legislation.

He said that considering the bill without first doing so could be counterproductive to the shared goal of combating intellectual property theft.

"I encourage the Senate Majority to reconsider its decision to proceed to this bill," he said.

He becomes the latest and most senior Congressional official to publicly criticize the two primary anti-piracy bills - PIPA and SOPA.

A vote to close debate on PIPA is still scheduled for January 24, but just within the past few days five Senators have withdrawn their support as public scrutiny of the legislation intensifies.

Thousands of websites, including Wikipedia and Reddit, shut down on Wednesday in protest while the likes of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg expressed their displeasure with the bills as currently written.

On the House side, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith has said he has every intention of moving forward with SOPA, but that will not begin until February at the earliest.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/enindustry/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/media_nm/us_sopa_mitchmcconnell

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Italy's "Get back on board, damn it!" T-shirts a hit (Reuters)

ROME (Reuters) ? A coast guard officer's "Get back on board damn it!" order to the fleeing captain of the capsized Costa Concordia liner is being printed on T-shirts by a company hoping to inspire Italians to rescue their country from economic crisis.

Italians have made a hero of coast guard officer Gregorio De Falco for his angry exchange with skipper Francesco Schettino -- who has been blamed for the accident and is now under house arrest accused of manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship.

Stefano Ramponi, owner of the Lipsiasoft web agency that is producing the T-shirts and selling them on the Internet for 12.9 euros ($16.63), said they had become an instant hit both in Italy and abroad.

"We have had a lot of requests from all over the world, from Brazil, Hong Kong, also from Germany and France, the UK. Everyone is asking us for it," he said.

He said he had been criticised by some people for making money out of the January 13 disaster, in which 11 people died and 21 are still missing.

But he hoped the slogan would become a rallying cry for all Italians to shoulder their responsibilities and work together to navigate through recession and get the euro zone's third largest economy back on course.

"We liked this phrase a lot because it was said by Captain De Falco in an extremely difficult situation, it really impressed us," Ramponi said.

"We wanted to... distribute it en-masse...particularly to all the people in Italy who don't concentrate on their jobs, who don't give their all and do harm to Italy in this time of crisis, difficulty and economic hardship."

The furious telephone exchange between De Falco and Schettino, in which Costa Concordia captain was ordered in vain to return to his ship and oversee the rescue operations, has been played over the media to millions.

The Italian word De Falco used, "cazzo" in Italian, literally is slang for penis but it is also commonly used to emphasize something.

De Falco has since been called a national hero while newspapers have branded Schettino a coward for fleeing in the face of adversity.

(Reporting By Hanna Rantala, editing by Paul Casciato)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/oddlyenough/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/od_nm/us_italy_ship_tshirt

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