Barbara Walters, Oprah Winfrey in Bidding War For Pippa Middleton Interview?

Duchess Catherine's sister Pippa Middleton has given exactly no interviews since the Royal Wedding in April. Are Barbara Walters and Oprah angling to change that?

British tabloids are reporting that Walters and Oprah are engaged in a bidding war to book the 28-year-old party planner for a TV special - potentially for big bucks.

Walters, 82, denied on The View Monday. "It's not true," the journalist said.

"ABC News does not pay for interviews. I have no idea what Oprah does, but ABC does not pay. She's not a news program, so maybe they have a different policy."

That doesn't mean Walters wouldn't be up for interviewing Pippa Middleton, who was one of her most fascinating people of 2011, as unveiled in late December.

"To make it clear: Would I like to do the interview? Yes, I would like to I think she's a charming, beautiful girl," Walters said. "Will we pay to do the interview? No."

They could make a major donation to a charity of Kate Middleton's choice in exchange for an interview, though. That's not technically paying. Loopholes, people.

[Photos: WENN.com]

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/01/barbara-walters-oprah-in-bidding-war-for-pippa-middleton-intervi/

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RBS chief waives bonus after UK political storm (Reuters)

LONDON (Reuters) ? The chief executive of Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS.L) has decided to waive a bonus worth almost one million pounds ($1.6 million), the bank said on Sunday, after the handout angered Britons bearing the brunt of government austerity measures.

A spokesman for the partly state-owned bank said CEO Stephen Hester would no longer be taking the bonus, which was awarded at a time when most British workers are suffering wage freezes or sub-inflation rises.

"He's waived the bonus," said the spokesman for RBS, which is 83 percent owned by the British government following a state bailout during the 2008 credit crisis.

Hester had been due for the stock bonus, worth roughly 998,640 pounds based on Friday's closing price of RBS shares, on top of his basic salary of 1.2 million pounds. His decision followed a similar move by RBS Chairman Philip Hampton.

The deal provoked a row across Britain's political spectrum, with the opposition Labor Party leading the attack.

The Liberal Democrat party, junior partner in the coalition government, also criticized the decision and even some members of Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives joined the assault.

RBS made its announcement shortly after Labor stepped up the pressure by saying it would force a parliamentary debate when it would have called on the government to use its 83 percent stake in RBS to cancel Hester's bonus.

Salaries at RBS and Lloyds (LLOY.L) are particularly controversial as both banks were bailed out with 66 billion pounds of taxpayers' money during the crisis. The British government owns 40 percent of Lloyds, along with its RBS stake.

DEFLECTED ATTENTION

Throughout the past week the Conservatives - the senior coalition party - had sought to deflect criticism over the government's handling of the affair by saying it was up to Hester to decide whether or not to take up his bonus.

The government had said overruling the RBS board would risk destabilizing a bank whose balance sheet is as large as Britain's entire economy. It also pointed out that the bonus scheme had been drawn up under the previous Labor government.

Hester, a former Abbey National and Credit Suisse (CSGN.VX) banker, joined RBS in October 2008 from property company British Land (BLND.L) as RBS was reeling from its disastrous acquisition of Dutch bank ABN AMRO and the effects of the credit crisis.

Britain used about 45 billion pounds of taxpayers' money to rescue RBS, leading to the eventual resignation of former head Sir Fred Goodwin, who was replaced by Hester.

Hester was given a brief to restructure RBS and restore its fortunes, and the bank has cut more than 30,000 jobs under him.

Like many banks, RBS's share price has fallen sharply over the last year, which again made Hester's bonus hard to justify.

Britain aims to sell its state holdings in RBS and Lloyds back to the private sector, although volatile markets have meant the timing of any disposal is uncertain.

(Editing by David Stamp)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120130/bs_nm/us_rbs_ceo

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Gogurt Slurp Saber ? Buy you must?

“Just in time for Star Wars Episode 1 in 3D” ?- Gogurt glow-in-the-dark yogurt lightsabers. I’m just hoping that it’s not actually the yoghrt that glows in the dark. ?More money spinners for the never ending Lucas franchise. Check out the video after the jump.

Source: http://the-gadgeteer.com/2012/01/30/gogurt-slurp-saber-buy-you-must/

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Video: Couture designers now in discount stores

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Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/46173885#46173885

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Golden Globes trial exposes misleading negotiating tactics (Reuters)

LOS ANGELES, Jan 27 (TheWrap.com) ? Dick Clark Productions Chief Executive Officer Mark Shapiro had to admit in Los Angeles District Court late this week that he employed bluffs and half-truths to get NBC to agree to an $150 million deal to air the Golden Globes.

The practice is likely standard operating procedure in Hollywood, but copping to the ploys can not have been pleasant for Shapiro.

The deal is at the center of a legal scuffle between DCP and the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, the non-profit group behind the Globes, over who controls the rights to the broadcast of the highly-rated awards show. Marc Graboff, NBC's former business affairs chief, took the stand Friday morning, with testimony from CBS CEO Les Moonves expected next week.

The HFPA sued DCP and its parent company Red Zone Capital in November 2010, alleging that the company negotiated a new contract with NBC without their consent and that by failing to put the rights out for bidding by other networks, potentially cost them millions of dollars.

DCP claims that thanks to an amendment in its contract, the production company retains the rights to the broadcast every time it reaches a new deal with NBC. It also claims that it did not need the approval of the HFPA to extend the pact with the network.

Under questioning by HFPA attorney Linda Smith this week, Shapiro shied away from using the word "lie" or "mislead," but he did acknowledge that he led NBC executives to believe that he had HFPA's approval for the extension agreement.

Asked directly by Judge A. Howard Matz, at one point, if he had made false statements during negotiations with NBC, Shapiro said, "right."

He also claimed that he could hammer out a deal with NBC to air the awards pre-show, but said that he would need HFPA's approval before an agreement could be reached. He acknowledged that he told network executives that the HFPA was primarily interested in working out an extension of their deal before they tackled the issue of the pre-show.

Graboff told the court that NBC would not have done a deal for broadcast rights to the show if it had known that the HFPA was not being kept in the loop. But he also said if he had known that the organization was shopping the show to other networks -- as they apparently were trying to do with Moonves and CBS -- he would have tried to block a deal from taking place.

Moonves will likely emerge again during the course of the trial. The CBS chief is scheduled to testify next week -- although whether that testimony is given remotely via video conferencing or in-person is still the source of some debate.

HFPA Chairman Philip Berk met with Moonves in summer of 2010 to discuss the possibility of the Globes migrating to CBS, but DCP attorneys plan to argue that the lunch was in violation of its agreement with NBC. Under that pact, the HFPA was not allowed to talk to any third party about distributing the show until its deal with the network had expired.

The uncertainty around who would control the broadcast of the red carpet arrivals caused some friction. In a note, Graboff told Shapiro that DCP's reluctance to negotiate terms around the pre-show, while insisting that NBC immediately sign the extension agreement, "raises red flags for us."

As part of its justification for its "extensions clause," attorneys for DCP have argued that the HFPA was willing to give the production company broad rights to the program because its reputation was in tatters. The Golden Globes had been pushed off of the major broadcast networks for decades following a series of scandals involving their voting practices and allegations that Pia Zadora's husband had bought his wife an award by giving the group's members gifts.

Private correspondence that surfaced during the trial revealed Shapiro's unvarnished opinion of the controversial organization. In an email to William Morris Endeavor partner Ari Emanuel, Shapiro said that former NBCUniversal Chief Executive Officer Jeff Zucker understood the difficulty in dealing with the HFPA.

Wrote Shapiro: "Jeff knows these people are crazy."

(Editing By Zorianna Kit)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120128/tv_nm/us_goldenglobes_trial

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Columbus to host NHL All-Star game in 2013

BC-HKN--All-Star Game-2013, 1st Ld-Writethru,254Columbus to host NHL All-Star game in 2013Eds: Adds details, quotes.

OTTAWA (AP) ? The Columbus Blue Jackets will host the 2013 edition of the NHL All-Star game.

Commissioner Gary Bettman made the announcement Saturday at the NHL Board of Governors meetings.

The Blue Jackets, who play in Nationwide Arena, had applied for hosting rights in 2013, 2014 or 2015. Next year's All-Star weekend will be Jan. 26-27 and will mark the third straight year a city has hosted the game for the first time. Raleigh, N.C., home of the Carolina Hurricanes, hosted the game last year and this year's game is Sunday in Ottawa.

"We're looking forward to bringing our All-Star celebration to Columbus," Bettman said. "The Blue Jackets did a great job of hosting the NHL Draft in 2007, and I have no doubt they will raise the bar even higher when they welcome our All-Star celebration next January."

It was welcome news for a team that is struggling this season. The Blue Jackets are 13-30-6 with a league-low 32 points. Only the Tampa Bay Lightning (165) have allowed more goals this season than Columbus (163).

''The Blue Jackets are honored to host the 2013 All-Star celebration in Columbus as we believe our city offers a truly unique setting for this special event," said Blue Jackets majority owner John P. McConnell. "As much as it is a showcase for the NHL's best players, it is also a celebration of hockey fans and having it in Columbus is a testament to the fantastic support of our fans and the strength of Central Ohio as a hockey market."

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-01-28-All-Star%20Game-2013/id-85710fc70d5648a1ac56378b16ed7f47

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Kidnapped Norwegian in Yemen released (AP)

OSLO, Norway ? Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere says a U.N. worker has been released in Yemen after being kidnapped by armed tribesmen two weeks ago.

Stoere says the 34-year-old Norwegian man was freed unharmed earlier Friday. Stoere gave no details about the operation or possible demands, but thanked Yemeni officials for negotiating his release.

The U.N. worker, who was not identified, was abducted by armed tribesmen in Yemen's capital Sanaa on Jan. 15 and then transferred to the central Marib province.

At the time of the kidnapping a Yemeni official said the abductors had demanded the release of a comrade who was arrested after the bombing of an oil pipelines in Marib.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_re_eu/yemen_kidnapping

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Book Talk: The fall and rise of a North Korean Everyman (Reuters)

TOKYO (Reuters) ? Pak Jun Do is a dutiful North Korean. Raised in an orphanage, he follows orders to become a soldier, a kidnapper of Japanese citizens and an intelligence officer, once submitting to being bitten by a shark to prove his loyalty.

But after Jun Do, hero of the novel "The Orphan Master's Son," is sent to a brutal labor camp, he returns to life by impersonating a powerful member of late leader Kim Jong-il's inner circle, trying to claw out an identity of his own in a world of propaganda where only the state can win -- or does it?

To write the book, his first novel, Adam Johnson immersed himself for years in information about the secretive totalitarian state and visited the capital, Pyongyang, fascinated and saddened by North Korea's brutal absurdities.

Johnson spoke of who gets to write the stories and the indomitable Jun Do, whose name echoes "John Doe" and whose adventures take him both to Texas and meetings with Kim Jong-il.

Q: What got this story going?

A: "First I became interested just as a general reader. Once I started reading the testimonials of defectors, I went from being kind of fascinated with the absurdity of Kim Jong-il and the North Korean thought experiments, to really feeling profoundly moved and saddened by the fates of all those people.

"I also tried to find books by North Korean writers, but there was just a complete void there... Even the Russions got their novels out of the gulag, but as far as I know, no one has dared to write a literary novel that has made it out of the country without government approval in 60 years. That means it's a nation without literary art as we would imagine it, to investigate the human tradition. That means no one has read a real book about a real person in North Korea for generations.

"A lot of the non-fiction I turned to was about geopolitical things and military things, the human dimension seemed really lacking. I think that's what literary fiction can do, fill in that emotional, human core that non-fiction can't get to."

Q: How did you make the leap to the book?

A: "I didn't know I was writing a book for a long time, until I realized how much time I was investing in research and sketches and voices. I think it's the most difficult place on Earth to be fully human. That's my job, to make people human.

"Before I went to Pyongyang, I researched Koryo Airlines, (said to be) the most dangerous airline in the world...They said it wasn't because of the ageing fleet. It wasn't because of the bad maintenance. It was that several accidents occurred because the co-pilot didn't feel able to point out an error that a pilot had made. They couldn't break ranks to call attention to a mistake and instead silently went down with the plane...This is a world in which it is dangerous to point out anything, in which it is dangerous to do anything spontaneous.

"Who are you in a land where to reveal your heart is dangerous, makes you vulnerable? Who are you when you are trained not to communicate your own personal thoughts and feelings? How do you risk important things to communicate to your family? Those ideas were central."

Q: How did you come up with Jun Do?

A: "One of the things that fascinated me about North Korea as a writer is the idea that the stories that we tell in the West -- and I'll say America specifically, because I have greater knowledge of that -- are stories in which there's a central character, and he or she is the main character in their own lives and stories. I think in our Western narratives, people have yearnings and desires, and they're encouraged to cultivate them and to follow them forward, towards attaining something that will complete them. To do this, people must overcome obstacles and face conflict, they must look inward or into the past to overcome these challenges and move forward to the end, where they've probably changed, or grown, or come to some deep understanding.

"When I studied North Korea, it was just the opposite. There was one national story, it was written by the Kims, Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il, and those two respectively were the central character. There were 23 or 24 million secondary characters.

"My character Jun Do starts off as the perfect model citizen. But along the way, he meets Americans in the Sea of Japan, and starts to see there's a different life. Because of his post as a listening operator he begins to hear narratives from other people in the world and starts to think life could be different. But it's not until North Korea proves they don't care about him, that he's utterly disposable, that he seeks to rewrite his story. In the second half, he becomes a Western character. I'm biased, I think that's a better character, because you're allowed to find your own humanity, form your own identity."

Q: How much of your North Korea is factual?

A: "There's a ton of fact in it, but the truth of the place is much more elusive....One of the problems was that the true absurdities of North Korea I couldn't even put in, because it was unbelievable. Non-fiction can be non-believable because it's true, but fiction must be believable. I had to leave the darkness out of the book.

"You'll notice that my character goes into prison and it goes blank. You flip the page and it says 'one year later.' I don't think the Western reader can handle a real portrait of life there. I read a narrative of abortion day in Camp 14, in which all the unauthorized pregnancies in the camp were ended ... That's an image in my head forever, but it's too much to put in the book. It would keep people from moving forward...

"It ended up being a very challenging and satisfying book to write. I don't know that I told the truth of the lives of North Koreans, I don't know if that was my aim, but I think it's given a lot of people the occasion to reconsider their own realities, their own identities, and the unfortunate fates of others who live in countries where they can't be themselves."

(Reporting by Elaine Lies, editing by Paul Casciato)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/tv/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120126/stage_nm/us_books_authors_johnson

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Dow approaches highest level since 2008 crisis

In this Jan. 25, 2012 photo, traders Thomas Kay, left, Marshall Ryan, center, and Robert McQuade work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. World stock markets rose on Thursday, Jan. 26, after the U.S. Federal Reserve pledged to keep interest rates low until late 2014 to nurture the country's stubbornly slow economic recovery. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

In this Jan. 25, 2012 photo, traders Thomas Kay, left, Marshall Ryan, center, and Robert McQuade work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. World stock markets rose on Thursday, Jan. 26, after the U.S. Federal Reserve pledged to keep interest rates low until late 2014 to nurture the country's stubbornly slow economic recovery. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

The Dow Jones industrial average was trading near its highest close since the 2008 financial crisis Thursday afternoon after solid news on factory orders and strong earnings from U.S. manufacturers highlighted the economy's growing momentum.

Broader market indexes edged lower, though they are also sharply higher this year. Traders appear less afraid of spillover damage from the European debt crisis, and data on jobs and manufacturing have been consistently strong.

"With global risk off center stage and attention going back to the fundamentals, this market was ready to explode, which is exactly what it is doing," said Doug Cote, chief market strategist with ING Investment Management.

Before the market opened, the government reported that unemployment claims rose only modestly last week after a steep decline the week before. The long-term trend still indicates an improving job market.

Orders to factories for long-lasting manufactured goods increased in December for the second straight month, and a key measure of business investment rose solidly.

That strong demand was apparent in quarterly earnings reports from U.S. manufacturers. 3M stock rose 1.1 percent after its fourth-quarter profit beat Wall Street's estimates.

Caterpillar, the world's biggest heavy equipment maker, soared 3 percent, the most of the 30 companies in the Dow, after beating analysts' estimates last quarter. The company expects to do the same this year as global demand remains high.

The Dow Jones industrial average was up 14 points, or 0.1 percent, at 12,771 shortly after noon. 3M and Caterpillar led the gains.

The Dow is within reach of its post-financial crisis high of 12,810, reached in April 2011. The last time it closed higher than that was on May 20, 2008, when it settled at 12,826. The Dow's post-crisis high during the trading day was 12,928, reached in May 2011.

The Dow is up nearly 5 percent so far this year. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq have gained even more.

The Dow would need to rise another 11 percent to get to its record high close of 14,164, reached on Oct. 9, 2007.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell three points to 1,322. It was dragged lower by volatile financial companies and telecommunications firms. The Nasdaq composite index shed seven points to 2,811.

AT&T fell 2 percent, by far the most of the 30 companies in the Dow, after its earnings missed Wall Street's forecasts. The company remains heavily dependent on the Apple iPhone, which it pays to subsidize, but recently lost its exclusive rights to sell the phone in the U.S.

Stocks had their highest close in eight months Wednesday after the Federal Reserve said it plans to keep interest rates extremely low until late 2014 to encourage lending and investment and support the economic recovery.

The announcement lifted investments across many markets and continents. Bond prices rose in the U.S. and Europe. So did commodities, the euro, emerging market currencies and European stocks.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.95 percent from 1.99 percent late Wednesday. The prospect of more bond-buying by the Fed helped make Treasurys more attractive. A bond's yield falls as demand for it increases.

A strong bond auction by Italy also brightened Europe's outlook, signaling to investors that lenders believe Italy will not be dragged into the debt crisis. And Greece resumed talks with its lenders over writing off some of its crushing debt.

Benchmark indexes in France, England, Germany and Italy closed up 1 to 2 percent.

Among the other U.S. companies making big moves after reporting quarterly earnings:

? Time Warner Cable Inc. rose 7 percent after the company reported earnings that were far above analysts' estimates. The national cable TV provider also raised its dividend 17 percent to 56 cents per share and announced plans to buy back more of its own stock.

? United Continental Holdings, the parent company of United and Continental airlines, surged 7.4 percent. The company's fourth-quarter loss narrowed, its adjusted earnings were more than double what analysts had expected and the cost of integrating the two companies fell.

? Netflix soared 21.5 percent, the most of any stock in the S&P 500, after the video streaming and DVD-by-mail company reported a huge gain in customers and a bigger fourth-quarter profit than analysts had expected.

? Colgate-Palmolive rose 1.3 percent after saying it will raise prices in the U.S. for the first time in years to cover higher costs for materials. The company's profit declined last quarter, but core sales in emerging markets were much stronger.

___

Follow Daniel Wagner at www.twitter.com/wagnerreports.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-26-Wall%20Street/id-8d84624652e146a9bcfc28e53a2ebfac

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Stocks lowered by mixed economic data

?A brief morning rally pushed the Dow Jones industrial average above its highest closing price since the financial crisis, the Dow closed down 22 points at 12734.?

A brief morning rally pushed the Dow Jones industrial average above its highest closing price since the financial crisis Thursday, but stocks closed lower after mixed economic data tempered traders' optimism.

Skip to next paragraph

Solid news on factory orders and strong earnings from U.S. manufacturers highlighted one of the economy's bright spots before the market opened. The Dow and broader indexes turned negative after weaker reports on home sales and future economic growth were released in the late morning.

The Dow and other indexes are still up sharply for the year, and the Dow is near its highest level since May 2008. Traders appear less afraid of spillover damage from the European debt crisis, and data on jobs and manufacturing have been consistently strong.

"With global risk off center stage and attention going back to the fundamentals, this market was ready to explode, which is exactly what it is doing," said Doug Cote, chief market strategist with ING Investment Management.

The government reported early Thursday orders to factories for long-lasting manufactured goods increased in December for the second straight month, and a key measure of business investment rose solidly.

That strong demand was apparent in quarterly earnings reports from U.S. manufacturers. 3M stock closed 1.3 percent higher after its fourth-quarter profit beat Wall Street's estimates.

Caterpillar, the world's biggest heavy equipment maker, rose 2.1 percent, the most of the 30 companies in the Dow, after beating analysts' estimates last quarter. The company expects to do the same this year as global demand remains high.

Stocks traded broadly higher until mid-morning, when the government reported an unexpected drop in new home sales in December, capping the worst year for home sales on records dating to 1963. The decline underscored the housing market's continued drag on the economy.

A private gauge of future economic activity also grew more slowly than expected.

The Dow closed down 22.33 points, or 0.2 percent, at 12,734.63. It had traded up as much as 84.99 points early Thursday. 3M and Caterpillar led the gains.

AT&T dragged the Dow lower, falling 2.5 percent after its earnings missed Wall Street's forecasts. The company remains heavily dependent on Apple's iPhone, which it pays to subsidize, but recently lost its exclusive rights to sell the phone in the U.S.

The Dow is within reach of its post-financial crisis high of 12,810.54, reached in April 2011. The last time it closed higher than that was on May 20, 2008, when it settled at 12,828.68. The Dow's post-crisis high during the trading day was 12,928.45, reached on May 2, 2011.

The Dow is up 4.2 percent so far this year. The Standard & Poor's 500 index and Nasdaq composite average have gained even more.

The Dow would need to rise another 11 percent to get to its record high close of 14,164.53, reached on Oct. 9, 2007.

The S&P 500 closed down 7.63 points, or 0.6 percent, at 1,318.43. It was dragged lower by volatile financial companies and telecommunications firms including AT&T. The Nasdaq shed 13.03 points, or 0.5 percent, to close at 2,805.28.

Stocks had their highest close in eight months Wednesday after the Federal Reserve said it plans to keep interest rates extremely low until late 2014 to encourage lending and investment and support the economic recovery.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell to 1.93 percent from 1.99 percent late Wednesday. The prospect of more bond-buying by the Fed helped make Treasurys more attractive. A bond's yield falls as demand for it increases.

Among the other U.S. companies making big moves after reporting quarterly earnings:

? Time Warner Cable Inc. rose 7.8 percent after the company reported earnings that were far above analysts' estimates. The national cable TV provider also raised its dividend 17 percent to 56 cents per share and announced plans to buy back more of its own stock.

? United Continental Holdings, the parent company of United and Continental airlines, surged 6.3 percent. The company's fourth-quarter loss narrowed, its adjusted earnings were more than double what analysts had expected and the cost of integrating the two companies fell.

? Netflix soared 22.1 percent, the most of any stock in the S&P 500, after the video streaming and DVD-by-mail company reported a huge gain in customers and a bigger fourth-quarter profit than analysts had expected.

? Colgate-Palmolive rose 1.9 percent after saying it will raise prices in the U.S. for the first time in years to cover higher costs for materials. The company's profit declined last quarter, but core sales in emerging markets were much stronger.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/s5rCQ3MbkWI/Stocks-lowered-by-mixed-economic-data

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Video: Soldier dad?s undercover mission: Surprise daughter

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Palestinian leader: Talks with Israel over (AP)

RAMALLAH, West Bank ? A low-level dialogue between Israelis and Palestinians about a future border has ended without any breakthrough, the Palestinian president said Wednesday, reflecting the impasse plaguing the negotiations for at least three years.

President Mahmoud Abbas said he would consult with Arab allies next week to figure out how to proceed now. While frustrated with the lack of progress, Abbas is under pressure to extend the Jordanian-mediated exploratory talks, which the international community hopes will lead to a resumption of long-stalled formal negotiations on establishing a Palestinian state.

Israel said Wednesday it's willing to continue the dialogue. Abbas didn't close the door to continued meetings, saying he'll decide after consultations with the Arab League on Feb. 4.

A Palestinian walkout could cost Abbas international sympathy at a time when he seeks global recognition of a state of Palestine in the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem, the territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.

The gaps between the leaders are vast, and Abbas believes there is no point in returning to formal negotiations without assurances, such as marking the pre-1967 war lines as a basis for border talks and halting Israeli settlement building on occupied lands. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says everything should be discussed in negotiations and insists he is serious about reaching a deal by year's end.

Though there have been talks off and on, the last substantive round was in late 2008, when Israel informally proposed a deal and the Palestinians did not respond. When Netanyahu took office the next year, he took the proposal, including a state in most of the territories the Palestinians claim, off the table.

A round started in late 2010 by President Barack Obama quickly sputtered over the settlement issue.

Visiting EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton is scheduled to meet separately over the next two days with Abbas and Netanyahu to try to salvage the exploratory talks. Two officials involved in the contacts said she is trying to put together a package of Israeli incentives that would keep the Palestinians from walking away.

"We need to keep talks going and increase the potential of these talks to become genuine negotiations," Ashton said.

Before his meeting with Ashton, Netanyahu said, "We've been trying to make sure that the talks between us and the Palestinians will continue. That is our desire."

Under Jordanian mediation, Israeli and Palestinian envoys have met several times over the past month, including on Wednesday. The Quartet of international mediators ? the U.S., the U.N., the EU and Russia ? said last fall that it expected both sides to submit detailed proposals on borders and security arrangements in these meetings.

Palestinian officials said they submitted their proposals, but that Israel did not. Abbas suggested that exploratory talks could continue if Israel presented a detailed border plan.

"If we demarcate the borders, we can return to negotiations, but Israel does not want to do that," Abbas said Wednesday, after talks in Jordan with Jordan's King Abdullah II. His remarks were carried by the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The Palestinians are flexible on security arrangements, but would object to any Israeli presence in a Palestinian state, he said.

Netanyahu has said he would not give up east Jerusalem, the Palestinians' hoped-for capital, but has never outlined where he would draw a border.

Such a demarcation could set off a political firestorm in his governing coalition, particular among pro-settler parties, because it would spell out how many settlements would have to be dismantled at a minimum.

In the exploratory talks, Israel submitted a list of 21 issues that would need to be discussed, but didn't present positions.

The Palestinians have accused Netanyahu ? a reluctant latecomer to the idea of Palestinian statehood ? of seeking negotiations as a diplomatic shield, with no real intention of reaching an agreement.

An Israeli government official said Israel is committed to reaching a full accord before the end of the year. "We hope that the Palestinians aren't looking for an excuse to walk away from the table," the official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to brief reporters.

The two sides even disagree on how much time was set aside for these talks. The Palestinians said the deadline is Thursday, or three months after the Quartet issued its marching orders, while Israel believes it has until early April, or three months after the start of meetings.

In other developments Wednesday, the Geneva-based Interparliamentary Union protested the arrest of Hamas lawmakers by Israel in recent days. Five legislators have been arrested since last week, including Speaker Abdel Aziz Dwaik. The IPU, which represents 159 parliaments worldwide, said it is "extremely concerned" and demanded that the lawmakers be released.

Currently, 24 of 45 Hamas legislators from the West Bank are in Israeli detention on charges of membership in an illegal organization. Hamas lawmakers have been subject to arrest by Israel since the group defeated Abbas' Fatah movement in the 2006 parliament election.

Hamas alleged that the arrests are meant to sabotage presidential and parliamentary elections, tentatively set for late spring. Hamas has said it would only participate in elections if its candidates are safe from arrest by Israel.

Israel says the arrests are not politically motivated.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/topstories/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_israel_palestinians

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Environmentalists see reason for alarm in GOP race

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, campaigns at Allstar Building Materials in Ormond Beach, Fla., Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Republican presidential candidate, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, campaigns at Allstar Building Materials in Ormond Beach, Fla., Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Republican presidential candidate, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, speaks at a campaign rally in Coral Springs, Fla., Sunday, Jan. 22, 2012. (AP Photo/Steve Mitchell)

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) ? Four years after the GOP's rallying cry became "drill, baby, drill," environmental issues have barely registered a blip in this Republican presidential primary.

That's likely to change as the race turns to Florida.

The candidates' positions on environmental regulation, global warming as well as clean air and water are all but certain to get attention ahead of the Jan. 31 primary in a state where the twin issues of offshore oil drilling and Everglades restoration are considered mandatory topics for discussion.

"It's almost like eating fried cheese in Iowa," said Jerry Karnas of the Everglades Foundation. Drilling has long been banned off Florida's coasts because of fears that a spill would foul its beaches, wrecking the tourism industry, while the federal and state governments are spending billions to clean the Everglades.

Though most expect the candidates to express support for Everglades restoration ? as Mitt Romney did in his 2008 campaign ? environmentalists are noting a further rightward shift overall among the GOP field. The candidates have called for fewer environmental regulations, questioned whether global warming is a hoax and criticized the agency that implements and enforces clean air and water regulations.

"A cycle ago, there were people who actually believed in solving some of these problems," said Navin Nayak of the League of Conservation Voters. "Now we're faced with a slate that doesn't even believe in basic science."

The candidates, of course, dispute such a characterization. But their stances have generally grown more conservative. And even when they haven't, they often offer positions that aren't in line with conservationists.

?Romney heralded the passage of stricter limits on carbon emissions in 2005 when he was governor of Massachusetts but last year said it was a mistake. He previously agreed with the scientific consensus on global warming and humans' contribution to it but now says "we don't know what's causing climate change."

?Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich supported tougher environmental regulation early in his congressional career and appeared in a 2008 TV spot with then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi pleading for action on climate change. Now he's says appearing with the San Francisco liberal was "the dumbest thing I've done in the last couple of years" and is calling for lifting restrictions on offshore drilling and branding the Environmental Protection Agency a "job killer" that must be replaced.

?Texas Rep. Ron Paul said during his 2008 campaign that "human activity probably does play a role" in global warming. Now he calls the science on manmade global warming a "hoax."

?Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum shows fewer signs of a shift on such issues. He has called for more drilling, including in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and doubts research that points to a human role in global warming, calling it "junk science."

An analysis by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics found about $2.8 million in campaign donations were made by those in the energy and natural resources sector, according to Federal Elections Commission data, with about 84 percent of it going to Republicans.

Meantime, the EPA, which is responsible for policing environmental rules, has been singled out for Republican criticism this campaign season. Paul has called for its outright elimination as part of his plan to drastically curtail the federal government. Romney has said it's "out of control." Santorum has railed against the EPA's limits on mercury from coal-fired power plants. And Gingrich has called for overhauling the EPA, saying it should be converted to an "environmental solutions agency."

Nayak says: "There's no doubt that this kind of slate of presidential candidates is one of the most regressive and most closely tied to polluters that we've seen at least in decades."

Some Republican presidents and nominees have been strong environmentalists. Teddy Roosevelt was seen as a role model to environmentalists, using his presidency to establish wildlife refuges, preserve forests, and conserve water. Richard Nixon helped create the EPA that has been vilified by his successors on the campaign trail today. And the last Republican nominee, Sen. John McCain, was the chief co-sponsor of a bill that sought mandatory caps on greenhouse gas emissions.

Michelle Pautz, a political science professor at the University of Dayton who focuses on environmental policy, said the current slate of Republicans may not be giving much reason to applaud their environmental stances, but it may not matter much overall with the economy taking center stage.

"The bottom line is both with the GOP primary and looking to Obama and the general election, the green vote is a non-issue," Pautz said. "There are too many other issues crowding out the environmental ones."

But Tony Cani, the national political director for the Sierra Club, said taking what he calls "extreme" views on the environment won't play well come Nov. 6.

"They're going to be hurt with young voters, women, families, Latino voters," Cani said.

Jim DiPeso, of Republicans for Environmental Protection, said he hopes to see a shift as Election Day draws closer, but that the state of politics right now has made ecological issues untouchable.

"A lot of the more pragmatic mainstream Republicans just are trying to steer clear of the issue because it's become so politically fraught," he said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2012-01-23-GOP%20Campaign-Environment/id-59dba918a30b4a638ce64120d011156e

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CBB's Karissa Shannon Threatens Legal Action Against Big Brother ...

Photo: WENN.com/Endemol

Furious Playboy model Karissa Shannon has threatened legal action against Celebrity Big Brother bosses after Denise Welch playfully pulled down her trousers during a dance.

After speaking of her frustration to other housemates, she stormed to the diary room and demanded to leave the compound immediately.

"I want to leave. I'm ready to go now, I wanna go home," she said. "I'm done with Frankie's sexual harassment, he sexually harasses me every day, and I want to go home.

"Denise just tried to pull down my pants for no reason. She knows I'm one of the most reserved people in the house, I'm the classy woman of the house. I do not do that type of stuff."

Working up a temper, she threatened: "You're gonna show my ass on TV, that's for sure. I'm not cool with that so I'm going to sue you guys. My management's not gonna be OK with this, and I know you guys roll your cameras 24 hours a day, and I know you got that shot. You're going to show that, and I'm going to sue you for it, so I want to leave now.

"I'm serious. This isn't some stupid s**t. I'm p***ed off."

No kidding!

Karissa and her sister Kristina had previously vowed to nominate Denise.

Big Brother: A week in pictures

Week 2 in the CBB house and Michael and Denise have their first big bust up!

Source: http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news/68077/CBBs-Karissa-Shannon-Threatens-Legal-Action-Against-Big-Brother

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Attempt to return from exile is thwarted midair

JOHANNESBURG?? The spokesman for Madagascar's toppled president said the leader's attempt to end his exile in South Africa was thwarted in the air when his plane was forced to turn back after authorities on the Indian Ocean island closed their airspace to prevent his return.

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The commercial plane carrying Marc Ravalomanana landed back in Johannesburg Saturday just after 2 p.m. (6 a.m. ET), about the time it had been expected to reach Madagascar's capital.

"Madagascar civil aviation has turned the plane around and it's been diverted to Pemba in Mozambique. It doesn't have enough fuel to return all the way. It will refuel there and then return to Johannesburg," a spokesman for the ousted president told Reuters earlier Saturday in Johannesburg.

But reporters on board later said it did not stop to refuel in Mozambique, as Peter Mann, the spokesman, had said would happen.

Ravalomanana has been exiled in South Africa since being toppled in 2009.

In Madagascar, a government minister said Ravalomanana's rival had closed the country's main airports to prevent Ravalomanana's return.

The minister said the reasons were unknown.

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Advertise | AdChoices Advertise | AdChoices Advertise | AdChoices

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46081336/ns/world_news-africa/

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Europe should boost bailout fund, consider euro bonds: Lagarde (Reuters)

BERLIN (Reuters) ? The head of the IMF called on European governments to boost the size of their rescue fund and consider financial risk-sharing steps like common euro zone bonds as a way out of their sovereign debt crisis.

In a speech at the German Council on Foreign Relations in Berlin on Monday, International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the world economy faced a "defining moment" that required quick, collective action.

To help meet the challenge, she urged leading powers to back an increase in resources for the Washington-based lender to help fill a global financing hole that the IMF believes could reach $1 trillion over the coming years.

"The longer we wait, the worse it will get. The only solution is to move forward together," Lagarde said, according to an embargoed copy of her remarks provided by the IMF before delivery.

"We must all understand that this is a defining moment. It is not about saving any one country or region. It is about saving the world from a downward economic spiral."

The IMF has helped fund a series of euro zone bailouts over the past two years, but with big European countries like Italy now under threat, it wants to boost its lending capacity, currently estimated at around $380 billion.

Members of the single currency bloc have agreed to inject close to $200 billion, but countries like the United States, Canada, China and Japan have been cool on channeling more funds to the IMF. Many are keen for Europe to take more decisive steps to resolve its debt crisis first.

Lagarde said the IMF was seeking to increase its lending resources by up to $500 billion, including the funds already pledged by Europe. The Fund estimates that up to $1 trillion in global financing could be needed over the coming years.

"I am convinced that we must step up the Fund's lending capacity," Lagarde said.

SOLVENCY CRISIS RISK

She praised decisions by euro zone governments to enforce stricter fiscal discipline and a move by the European Central Bank to provide long-term liquidity to banks, but said these steps formed mere "pieces" of a comprehensive crisis solution.

Lagarde warned specifically about the risks that higher funding costs for Italy and Spain lead to a solvency crisis, saying this would have disastrous consequences for systemic stability.

"Adding substantial real resources to what is currently available by folding the EFSF into the ESM, increasing the size of the ESM, and identifying a clear and credible timetable for making it operational would help greatly," Lagarde said, referring to the euro zone's current and future rescue funds.

She urged European leaders to complement the "fiscal compact" they agreed last month with some form of financial risk-sharing, mentioning euro zone bonds or bills, or a debt redemption fund as possible options.

Lagarde also called for bolder steps from countries outside of Europe, saying the United States had a special responsibility as the world's largest economy.

She said emerging and advanced countries with large current account surpluses should take steps to encourage domestic demand as a way to support global growth.

In an apparent reference to Germany, she said there was a "large core" in Europe where fiscal consolidation could be more gradual. Lagarde also stressed the need for timely easing of monetary policy as euro zone economies and inflation fall.

(Reporting by Noah Barkin)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/eurobiz/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120123/bs_nm/us_imf_europe_lagarde

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Crews face test on Italian ship as weather worsens (Reuters)

GIGLIO, Italy (Reuters) ? The vast wreck of the cruise ship Costa Concordia shifted on its undersea ledge on Friday, forcing a new suspension of rescue work and threatening plans to pump oil out to prevent environmental disaster.

Firefighters' spokesman Luca Cari said rescue squads hoped to resume operations and carry on their search throughout the night after the liner appeared to stabilize.

A week after the 114,500-tonne ship ran aground and capsized off the Tuscan coast, hopes of finding anyone alive have all but disappeared and the cold waters around the vessel have become rougher, with worse weather expected at the weekend.

"We decided to allow the search to restart because all the movement was slowing very quickly," said Nicola Castagli, a University of Florence geophysics professor who is supervising the delicate instruments that measure movements on the wreck.

The movement was only of a few millimeters an hour, but had complicated the work of divers already hampered by poor visibility, floating objects and underwater debris.

The government declared a state of emergency for the area, a technical move that would release special funds.

Attention is now turning to how to remove some 2,400 tones of fuel from the vessel, which lies on its side on a rocky shelf in about 20 meters of water off the little island of Giglio and which could slide off its resting place.

Salvage crews are waiting until the search for survivors and bodies is called off before they can begin pumping the fuel out of the wreck, a process expected to take at least two weeks.

Environment experts warn that if the ship tanks rupture and the fuel leaks, Italy could face its worst environmental disaster in more than 20 years.

"If the Costa Concordia slides further down and the fuel begins seeping into the water, we could be talking years and dozens of millions of euros before it can be cleared up," Luigi Alcaro, head of maritime emergencies at the government's environment agency ISPRA, told Reuters.

Environment Minister Corrado Clini told parliament on Thursday he had instructed the liner's operator, Costa Cruises, to take all possible measures to anchor the ship.

He said there was a risk that the ship could sink to 50 to 90 meters below the rock ledge on which it is caught, creating a major hazard to the environment in one of Europe's largest natural marine parks.

Eleven people are known to have died out of more than 4,200 passengers and crew aboard when the ship struck a rock just meters from the shoreline, tearing a large gash in the side of the hull. Twenty-one are still unaccounted for.

Rescue workers are still looking for a missing five-year-old girl and her father.

CAPTAIN ACCUSED

The ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, has been placed under house arrest, accused of causing the disaster and then abandoning ship before the evacuation was complete.

His lawyer says he has admitted bringing the ship too close to shore but denies sole responsibility and says other factors may have played a role in the accident.

The ship's operators have suspended him and said they considered themselves an injured party in the accident, which industry experts say could turn out to be the biggest maritime insurance claim in history.

But in his hometown of Meta di Sorrento, near Naples, the captain won some sympathy.

"I know him by sight and by reputation. He's always been serious and capable," said 27-year-old Giovanni Barbato, an orthodontist, who said many in the town had been deeply offended at the way Schettino had been portrayed in the press.

On Thursday, SkyTG24 broadcast a tape of what was described as a conversation between coastguard officials and the bridge of the Concordia which appeared to show officers telling authorities they had suffered only a power cut, more than 30 minutes after the ship's impact with the seabed.

In an interview with the daily Corriere della Sera, the chief executive of Costa Cruises criticized Schettino for delaying the order to evacuate and denied he had been pressured to wait because of the potential cost to the company.

"I assure you absolutely that no one thought in financial terms. That would be a choice that would violate our ethics," he said. He denied knowledge of captains sailing dangerously close to shore to provide a spectacle for passengers.

The Italian government is considering new regulations to prevent big cruise ships from taking risky routes and passing too close to islands or shorelines.

(Additional reporting by Laura Viggiano in Meta di Sorrento and Silvia Ognibene in Grosseto; Editing by Philip Pullella and Andrew Roche)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/europe/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120120/wl_nm/us_italy_ship

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Hill's three-point play lifts Pacers over Warriors (AP)

OAKLAND, Calif. ? George Hill scored on a three-point play with 1.8 seconds remaining and the Indiana Pacers held off a late charge by Golden State to beat the Warriors 94-91 on Friday night.

Hill stole the ball from Monta Ellis, who had beaten the Pacers exactly one year and one day ago with a last-second shot, then raced the length of the floor for a layup. Hill was fouled by Stephen Curry and made the free throw for the final margin.

Golden State called a quick timeout and got the ball to Curry coming out of the break, but his 29-footer at the buzzer bounced off the back of the rim.

Danny Granger had 26 points, and Roy Hibbert added 10 points and a career-high 16 rebounds for Indiana, which has won four of five. The Pacers (10-4) are off to their best start since opening the 2003-04 season 13-1.

Ellis finished with 25 points and six assists, while Curry had 12 points in his first game in more than two weeks for Golden State.

Indiana had dropped four straight games on the road at Oracle Arena before Hill's late heroics. Hill, who also blocked a 3-point attempt by Ellis at the end of the first quarter, finished with 14 points.

David West added 18 points and seven rebounds for the Pacers.

It was a nice bounceback win for Indiana, which blew a 14-point lead and was held to eight points in a 92-88 loss to Sacramento on Wednesday.

This one almost slipped through the Pacers' hands, too.

Ellis scored six consecutive points to tie it at 91 after the Warriors had trailed by four earlier in the quarter. Darren Collison then missed a long 3-point attempt for Indiana with 25.8 seconds left, giving Golden State a chance to pull out the win.

Ellis sat out near midcourt letting the clock wind down then went to drive past Hill before the Pacers' backup guard knocked the ball out of his hands and sped away for the winning score.

Dorrel Wright added 18 points and five rebounds for the Warriors (5-10), who have dropped nine of 12.

Granger went into the night averaging 30.5 points over his previous eight games against Golden State and picked up where he left off in the first of two matchups with the Warriors this season.

Indiana's leading scorer, Granger made five of his first seven shots and had 12 points and two assists in the first quarter when the Pacers repeatedly set up shop inside the paint.

Hill added five points and also blocked Ellis' long range shot at the buzzer to keep Indiana's lead at 27-23.

Curry, who played with a heavily taped ankle, showed obvious rust after not playing for 16 days and missed his first four shots before knocking down a pair of long jumpers as part of a 13-4 surge ? while four Golden State starters were on the bench.

Wright followed by scoring the Warriors' final seven points in the period, including a tying 3-pointer with 53 seconds left.

The two teams traded leads for much of the third quarter until Golden State's big came up big again and outscored Indiana 8-2 over the final 1:27 to give the Warriors a 69-67 lead heading into the fourth.

The Pacers tried to pull away and led by four with 2 minutes remaining but let it slip away before Hill's big play.

Notes: The crowd of 17,621 was the lowest at Oracle Arena this season. ... Warriors C Andres Biedrins had one block to tie George Johnson for seventh-most (507) in franchise history.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/sports/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120121/ap_on_sp_bk_ga_su/bkn_pacers_warriors

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Romney is so rich, he has no idea how much he?s worth. But the margin of error is $90m. (Americablog)

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The Nike+ FuelBand measures activity in NikeFuel, ready for your NikeLife

While Nike might have beat competitors like the MotoACTV and Jawbone Up to the active bracelet market over two years ago, its original endeavor, the Nike+ SportBand, was getting long in the tooth. That changes today with the introduction of the far sleeker Nike+ FuelBand. It's much in the vein of the original, except boasts a more attractive 20 LED dot-matrix display and can measure activity in a new unit the company calls NikeFuel. That latter bit is a normalized score that unlike calories "awards equal points for the same activity regardless of physical makeup." We'll have to see about that, but we're definitively smitten with its design and that row of colorful LEDs that progressively fills as one gets closer to reaching their intended goal. The $149 pre-orders go live on the company's online store at 5PM ET, but those interested ought to peep the PR and video after the break.

Continue reading The Nike+ FuelBand measures activity in NikeFuel, ready for your NikeLife

The Nike+ FuelBand measures activity in NikeFuel, ready for your NikeLife originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Jan 2012 12:57:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2012/01/19/nike-introduces-nikefuel-wristband/

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Syria ready to let monitors stay, Obama ups pressure (Reuters)

BEIRUT/WASHINGTON (Reuters) ? Syria is ready to let Arab monitors extend their mission beyond this week, an Arab League source said, but U.S. President Barack Obama said he was looking to increase international pressure on Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad to step aside.

Damascus opposes broadening the scope of the Arab League observer mission, the source at the League said, but would accept a one-month extension of its mandate which expires on Thursday.

U.N. officials say more than 5,000 people have been killed in the violence across Syria, where pro-Assad forces are trying to crush peaceful protests and armed rebels.

The government says 2,000 members of its security forces have died.

"Unfortunately we're continuing to see unacceptable levels of violence inside that country," Obama said in Washington after meeting Jordan's King Abdullah.

"We will continue to consult very closely with Jordan to create the kind of international pressure and environment that encourages the current Syrian regime to step aside," he added.

The Arab League must decide whether to withdraw its 165 monitors or keep them in Syria, even though they are expected to report that Damascus has not fully implemented a peace plan agreed on November 2. Arab foreign ministers are set to discuss the team's future on January 22.

"The outcome of the contacts that have taken place over the past week between the Arab League and Syria have affirmed that Syria will not reject the renewal of the Arab monitoring mission for another month ... if the Arab foreign ministers call for this at the coming meeting," the Arab League source said.

The Arab plan required Syria to halt the bloodshed, withdraw troops from cities, free detainees, provide access for the monitors and the media and open talks with opposition forces.

A senior opposition leader said Syrian troops fighting rebels in the town of Zabadani near Lebanon agreed to a ceasefire on Tuesday.

Pro-Assad troops backed by tanks attacked the town on Friday in the biggest military offensive since the Arab monitors entered the country last month.

"FAILED MONITORS"

A rebel army chief said on Tuesday the Arab League monitors should go as they had failed to curb a crackdown on protesters seeking President Bashar al-Assad's overthrow.

"Though we respect and appreciate our Arab brothers for their efforts, we think they are incapable of improving conditions in Syria or resisting this regime," Riad al-Asaad, the Turkish-based commander of the rebel Free Syrian Army told Reuters.

"For that reason we call on them to turn the issue over to the U.N. Security Council and we ask that the international community intervene because they are more capable of protecting Syrians at this stage than our Arab brothers," Asaad said.

The Arab League source said Beijing and Moscow had urged President Assad to accept an extension of the monitoring mission to avert an escalation at the international level.

Syria would agree to an increase in the number of monitors, he said, but would not allow them to be given formal fact-finding duties or be allowed into "military zones" that are not included in the existing Arab peace plan.

Any change in the scope of the mission, whether to militarize it or let it investigate human rights abuses and potentially assign blame, would require a new agreement with Syria, the source said.

Qatar has proposed sending in Arab troops, a bold idea for the often sluggish League and one likely to be resisted by Arab rulers close to Assad and those worried about unrest at home.

Syria's foreign ministry said on Tuesday it was "astonished" at Qatar's suggestion, which it "absolutely rejected."

AN OLD ALLY

The League could ask the U.N. Security Council to act, but until now opposition from Russia and China has prevented the world body from even criticizing Syria, an old ally of Moscow.

Few Western powers favor any Libyan-style military action in Syria, which lies in the heart of the conflict-prone Middle East. Bordering Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan, Iraq and Israel, it is allied to Iran and the armed Lebanese Shi'ite Hezbollah group.

Assad, while offering reform, has vowed to crush his opponents with an "iron fist," but Syrians braving bullets and torture chambers appear equally determined to add him to the list of the past year's toppled Arab leaders.

Army deserters and other rebels have taken up arms against security forces dominated by Assad's minority Alawite sect, pushing Sunni Muslim-majority Syria closer to civil war.

Syria's state news agency SANA reported on Tuesday that what it called terrorists had fired rockets, killing an officer and five of his men at a rural checkpoint near Damascus. Seven others were wounded in the incident, a day after gunmen assassinated a brigadier general near the capital.

Eight people were killed when a bomb hit a minibus on the Aleppo-Idlib road, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

In Homs, tank fire crashed into the Khalidiya district after a night rally against Assad there, activists said. YouTube footage showed a crowd dancing at the rally and waving the old Syrian flag used before the Baath Party seized power in 1963.

The British-based Observatory said eight people were killed in violence in Homs, a flashpoint city of one million racked by unrest, crackdowns and Sunni-Alawite sectarian killings.

(Additional reporting by Ayman Samir in Cairo, Khaled Yacoub Oweis in Amman, and Mariam Karouny and Dominic Evans in Beirut; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by David Stamp)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/obama/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120118/wl_nm/us_syria

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Should RIM Abandon Ship?

Peter Rojas published a thought-provoking piece about RIM and BlackBerry 10. He said, in short, that the Canadian company should wipe out Blackberry OS and run Android or Windows or, barring that, sell out completely and offer a software package running on another OS. While both of those are logical positions, I think RIM will end up in far worse shape than those options allow. RIM is popular for three reasons: the keyboard, BBM, and the back-end software. For most of this decade, IT shops have been able to send out fleets of BlackBerry products without concern simply because there was nothing better for email and messaging. Over the past three years, however, that claim has gone completely out the window. I would reckon that a nice IMAP server install is far easier and cheaper than any BB Enterprise Server ever was and, given this screenshot from the actual BBES "purchase" page, there is a lot of sales pressure involved.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/SjmgR-Ndgwg/

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