Gomez shares some behind-the-scenes photos while working on her 2013 album release.
By Jocelyn Vena
Selena Gomez
Photo: Selena Gomez
Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1701063/selena-gomez-studio-photos.jhtml
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Republican Chuck Hagel, President Obama's choice for defense secretary, testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Republican Chuck Hagel, President Obama's choice for defense secretary, testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
A protestor holds a sign as former Nebraska Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel, President Barack Obama's choice for defense secretary, arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013, to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on his nomination. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Republican Chuck Hagel, President Obama's choice for defense secretary, testifies before the Senate Armed Services Committee during his confirmation hearing, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Former Republican Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, President Barack Obama's choice for defense secretary, arrives on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Jan. 31, 2013, to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on his nomination. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
The odds should favor Senate confirmation of Chuck Hagel as President Barack Obama's next defense secretary despite strong Republican criticism at Thursday's Senate confirmation hearing.
For one thing, Senate rejections of Cabinet nominations are rare. It hasn't happened since March 1989, when President George H.W. Bush's nomination of former Sen. John Tower, R-Texas, for the top Pentagon job was killed 53-47. Tower faced allegations of private misconduct.
One week ago, Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., drew bipartisan praise at his hearing to be secretary of state. He was later confirmed 94-3.
If Hagel prevails, it will be by a much slimmer margin.
But the numbers don't say everything.
When a nomination becomes toxic, it is often withdrawn well before a vote.
President Bill Clinton withdrew his first two attorney general nominations ? first attorney Zoe Baird and then New York federal Judge Kimba Wood, both for hiring illegal immigrants as nannies.
President George W. Bush withdrew his nomination of Bernard Kerik, a former New York City police commissioner, to be Homeland Security Secretary for various reasons.
Obama backed away from New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson as commerce secretary because of an investigation ? later dropped ? into his business dealings. Richardson had been Clinton's U.N. ambassador and energy secretary.
Obama also withdrew nominations of former Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle to be health and human services secretary and Sen. Judd Gregg, R-N.H., to be commerce secretary. Daschle was embroiled in an income tax dispute, and Gregg said he disagreed with Obama on stimulus legislation and other policies.
Right now, Hagel's nomination seems far from being in such peril.
The nominee rejected GOP charges he was insufficiently supportive of Israel, soft on Iran and too eager to cut defense spending. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., told him his views were "deeply troubling and out of the mainstream."
But former Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, R-Va., backed his former colleague, praising him with a glowing introduction.
Then Warner told Hagel: "You're on your own. Good luck."
___
Follow Tom Raum on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tomraum
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* TORNADO WARNING FOR...
NORTHWESTERN FRANKLIN COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS...
SOUTHWESTERN JEFFERSON COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS...
NORTHEASTERN PERRY COUNTY IN SOUTH CENTRAL ILLINOIS...
* UNTIL 1000 PM CST.
* AT 920 PM CST...RADAR INDICATED A SEVERE THUNDERSTORM CAPABLE OF
PRODUCING A TORNADO. THIS DANGEROUS STORM WAS LOCATED NEAR
TAMAROA...OR 5 MILES NORTH OF DU QUOIN...MOVING NORTHEAST AT 35
MPH.
* LOCATIONS IN THE WARNED AREA INCLUDE...
REND LAKE AREA...SESSER...WALTONVILLE...NASON...INA...EWING AND
BONNIE.
THIS INCLUDES INTERSTATE 57 BETWEEN EXITS 77 AND 83.
PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...
THIS LINE OF THUNDERSTORMS IS CAPABLE OF PRODUCING TORNADOES AND
WIDESPREAD SIGNIFICANT WIND DAMAGE. DO NOT WAIT TO SEE OR HEAR THE
TORNADO. FOR YOUR PROTECTION MOVE TO AN INTERIOR ROOM ON THE LOWEST
FLOOR OF YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS.
HEAVY RAINFALL MAY OBSCURE THIS TORNADO. DO NOT WAIT TO SEE OR HEAR
THE TORNADO. TAKE COVER NOW.
TORNADOES ARE DIFFICULT TO SEE AND CONFIRM AT NIGHT. TAKE COVER NOW.
Source: http://www.facebook.com/wjbdonline/posts/10151189650562693
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STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Hennes & Mauritz
The Swedish group does the bulk of its business in Europe, where the region's debt crisis and rising unemployment have dampened consumer spending.
At the same time, it has been making long-term investments in online shopping and new chains of stores, such as the recently-launched "& Other Stories," in a bid to catch up with the broader offering of Spanish rival Inditex
"These long-term investments have created cost increases and to a great extent have not yet generated any revenue," chief executive Karl-Johan Persson said on Wednesday.
"However, we consider these investments to be both necessary and wise as they aim to secure future expansion and profits and thereby further strengthen H&M's position," he added.
Pretax earnings in the September-November period fell to 6.6 billion Swedish crowns ($1.0 billion) from a year-earlier 6.8 billion, hit also by a strong crown. Analysts had on average forecast an unchanged profit.
WEAK SALES
H&M said a tough economic backdrop led to widespread price promotions and markdowns in the fashion industry, although its own level of markdowns in relation to sales was the same as in the fourth quarter of the year before.
Stocks were somewhat higher than planned at the end of the period, although the group said markdowns in the first quarter would also be around the same level as the year earlier.
Bernstein analysts said this would be a challenge, particularly given the likely disruption to sales from snow.
"These are disappointing results, as management continues to step up investment in both the product and longer term initiatives, yet sales performance has not rebounded," they said.
H&M predicted local-currency sales growth in January, the second month of its fiscal year, of 5 percent, the weakest figure since October, due to cold weather.
Its shares were down 2.8 percent to 228.5 crowns by 0945 GMT, within a European retail index <.sxrp> down 0.2 percent.
H&M, present in 48 markets, said it would open a net 325 stores this year, with most planned in China and the United States. It would also launch online sales in the United States.
It saw expansion opportunities in big European markets like Russia, Germany, Britain, Italy, Poland and France as well.
"For the medium term, they're trying to develop more brands, they're entering five new countries this year, they're laying down 12 percent more space ... So in terms of their own strategy, I actually think that they are sticking to it, and it makes long-term sense," said UBS analyst Adam Cochrane.
H&M said its gross profit margin, which disappointed in the third quarter, shrank to 61.6 percent from 61.9 percent, matching forecasts. It proposed an unchanged dividend, as expected, of 9.50 crowns per share.
($1 = 6.3815 Swedish crowns)
(Reporting by Anna Ringstrom. Editing by Patrick Lannin and Mark Potter)
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/h-m-q4-pretax-lags-consensus-keep-store-072502345--finance.html
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TOKYO (AP) ? Anticipating a boost from stimulus spending and a weakening yen, Japan's government on Monday raised its growth forecast, predicting the economy will emerge from recession and expand 2.5 percent in the coming fiscal year.
The yen has dropped more than 10 percent in recent months, reaching its lowest level since July 2010. Share prices have surged in anticipation that higher stimulus spending will boost economic activity, and that the weaker yen will aid exporters.
The Cabinet office's earlier estimate for growth in the fiscal year that starts April was 1.7 percent. It expects inflation-adjusted growth of 1.0 percent in the current fiscal year.
The consumer price index is forecast to rise 0.5 percent, less than the inflation target of 2 percent announced by the central bank and the government last week after lobbying by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Abe took office a month ago and has made his top priorities reviving the economy and ending a prolonged spell of deflation ? falling prices that can dampen investment and growth.
The revised forecasts assume the yen will average 87.8 yen per U.S. dollar in fiscal 2013, compared with 81.9 yen per dollar for this fiscal year.
The benchmark Nikkei 225 stock index topped 11,000 for the first time since April 2010 early Monday before falling back to close 0.9 percent lower at 10,824.30.
The yen was trading at 90.68 to the dollar late Monday, after briefly hitting 91.06.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/japan-raises-growth-forecast-yen-slides-072134134--finance.html
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CAIRO (AP) ? Egypt's army chief warned Tuesday of the "the collapse of the state" if the political crisis roiling the nation for nearly a week continues.
The warning by Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, who is also defense minister, were the first comments by the powerful military since the country's latest crisis began last week around the second anniversary of Egypt's uprising. They came days after President Mohammed Morsi ordered the army to restore order in the Suez Canal cities of Port Said and Suez ? two of three cities now under a 30-day state of emergency and night curfew.
The attempts by Morsi to stem a wave of political violence appear to have made no headway as the country sinks deeper into chaos and lawlessness. So far, nearly 60 people have been killed in five days of unrest.
"The continuation of the conflict between the different political forces and their differences over how the country should be run could lead to the collapse of the state and threaten future generations," el-Sissi said in an address to military academy cadets. His comments were posted on the armed forces' official Facebook page.
On Sunday night, Morsi slapped a monthlong state of emergency and a night curfew on Port Said, Suez and Ismailiya, another city on the Suez canal.
Nevertheless, troops stood by and watched Monday night as thousands took to the streets chanting against Morsi in all three cities in direct defiance of the curfew just as it came into force for the first night at 9 p.m. The display of contempt for the president's decision was tantamount to an outright rebellion that many worried could spread.
Some of the demonstrators in Port Said waved white-and-green flags they said were the colors of a "new and independent state" in the city. Such a secession would be unthinkable in Egypt, but the move underlined the depth of frustration in the strategic city on the Mediterranean coast at the northern tip of the Suez Canal.
El-Sissi, who was named defense minister in August, acknowledged the difficult challenges facing his troops in the cities where they deployed.
"The deployment of the armed forces poses a grave predicament for us insofar as how we balance avoiding confrontations with Egyptian citizens, their right to protest and the protection and security of vital facilities that impact Egypt's national security," he said.
Morsi is the first freely elected president in Egypt. But since coming to office nearly seven months ago, he has failed to tackle the country's massive political, social and economic problems ranging from an economy in free fall to surging crime, chaos on the streets and lack of political consensus.
The wave of unrest has touched cities across the country since Thursday, including Cairo, the three Suez Canal cities, Alexandria on the Mediterranean in the north and a string of cities in the Nile Delta.
The violence first erupted Thursday and accelerated Friday when protests marking the two-year anniversary of the 2001 uprising turned to clashes around the country that left 11 dead, most of them in Suez.
The next day, riots exploded in Port Said after a court convicted and sentenced to death 21 defendants ? mostly locals ? for a mass soccer riot in the city's main stadium a year ago. Rioters attacked police stations, clashed with security forces in the streets and shots and tear gas were fired at protester funerals in mayhem that left 44 people dead over the weekend.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/egypt-army-chief-warns-state-could-collapse-102521988.html
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Hewlett-Packard didn't have the best 2012, but that's not stopping the US company from getting on the Chromebook bandwagon. The HP Chromebook Pavilion was spotted by Slashgear on HP's own web store, despite the additional information section noting a February 17 "ad embargo" on the information. The little 14-inch Chromebook runs Google's eponymous OS with an Intel Celeron 847 CPU clocked at 1.1GHz, an Intel HD GPU, 2MB of DDR3 SDRAM (expandable up to 4GB), and 16GB of SSD storage space, put to use on the 14-inch HD BrightView LED-backlit display (1366 x 768 resolution). A trio of old-school USB 2.0 slots an HDMI out, and an ethernet jack make up the lion's share of ports, while an SD card slot adds expandable storage options. The 2.55Ah lithium-ion battery included will last up to (approximately) four hours and 15 minutes, though we'd like to put that to the test ourselves before trusting the specs sheet. Of course, it looks like it won't be too long before we hear more and get our hands on the device, given that Feb. 17th date.
Via: Slashgear
Source: Hewlett-Packard (PDF)
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/rnez1HWBYZQ/
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BEIRUT (AP) ? An al-Qaida-linked group fighting alongside Syrian rebels claimed responsibility Monday for a suicide car bombing that reportedly killed dozens of President Bashar Assad's loyalists last week.
Islamic militants have been the most organized fighters battling government troops in the 22-month-old conflict in which more than 60,000 people have been killed. Their growing prominence has fueled fears that Muslim radicals might try to hijack the revolt, and has contributed to the West's hesitance to equip the opposition with sophisticated weapons.
Jabhat al-Nusra, which the U.S. says has ties to al-Qaida and has declared a terrorist organization, said in a statement posted online that one of its suicide bombers detonated a car bomb last Monday at the headquarters of a pro-government militia in the central province of Hama. It said the bomber drove a truck packed with explosives to the militia's complex in the town of Salamiya and blew himself up "to give the tyrannical regime a taste" of violence it has been inflicting on the Syrian people.
Activists said at least 42 people, mostly pro-Assad militiamen, were killed in the blast. The government did not say how many people were killed, although state-run SANA news agency published photographs of what it said was a funeral procession for the blast's victims on Wednesday. In one of the photographs, a dozen men are seen standing behind 11 caskets, wrapped into a Syrian flag.
Jabhat al-Nusra has previously targeted government institutions in Damascus with suicide bombers and has led successful attacks on military bases and strategic territory in the country's north.
The suicide bombings are part of relentless violence that has engulfed Syria since the uprising against Assad began in March 2011.
On Monday, activists said troops battled rebels in several towns and villages around Damascus, including in Daraya, Arbeen and Zabadani. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said the regime's forces also shelled several of the capital's suburbs.
The areas outside of Damascus have been rebel strongholds since the uprising began. In recent months, the rebels have used them as a base from which they have been trying to push into central Damascus, the seat of Assad's power.
In the north, troops clashed with rebels in al-Hasaka province along Syria's border with Turkey, the Observatory said, adding that at least 10 rebels were killed in the fighting that erupted Sunday after the opposition fighters attacked a government checkpoint.
International efforts to stop the bloodshed in Syria have repeatedly failed and both sides fighting in the civil war are convinced they can defeat the other on the battlefield.
In Paris, French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius pleaded for countries to keep their promises of funding and other aid to the Syrian opposition or risk compromising the legitimacy of the Syrian National Coalition in the eyes of the people fighting the Assad regime.
The opposition coalition was formed in November. More than 100 countries have back the umbrella group, decreeing it the sole legitimate representative of the Syrian people. France was the first to confer such recognition.
"We have to give the Syrian people a clear signal: We are at your side," Fabius told representatives of some 50 nations.
Not all the promises of funding and other aid made at the Friends of Syria group's conference in December in Marrakech, Morocco, have materialized. France, which has spearheaded the formation of a viable opposition in exile, wants to make sure that backing that has been promised actually comes through.
More than $100 million was promised in Marrakech, but it's unclear how much has been sent.
Three Syrian National Coalition's vice-presidents attended the Paris gathering, which comes two days before a donor conference in Kuwait.
_____
Associated Press writer Elaine Ganley in Paris contributed to this report.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/al-qaida-linked-group-claims-deadly-syria-blast-104123839.html
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A protester part of the Black Bloc, holds the Egyptian national flag during clashes with riot police near Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Jan. 28, 2013. An unpredictable new element has entered Egypt?s wave of political unrest, a mysterious group of black-masked young men calling themselves the Black Bloc. They present themselves as the defenders of protesters against the rule of President Mohammed Morsi, but Islamists have used them to depict the opposition as a violent force wrecking the nation. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
A protester part of the Black Bloc, holds the Egyptian national flag during clashes with riot police near Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Jan. 28, 2013. An unpredictable new element has entered Egypt?s wave of political unrest, a mysterious group of black-masked young men calling themselves the Black Bloc. They present themselves as the defenders of protesters against the rule of President Mohammed Morsi, but Islamists have used them to depict the opposition as a violent force wrecking the nation. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
An Egyptian protester covers his face during clashes with riot police, not seen, near Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Jan. 28, 2013. Health and security officials say a protester has been killed in clashes between rock-throwing demonstrators and police near Tahrir Square in central Cairo. The officials say the protester died Monday on the way to the hospital after being shot. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Egyptian protesters run for cover during clashes with riot police near Tahrir Square, Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Jan. 28, 2013. Health and security officials say a protester has been killed in clashes between rock-throwing demonstrators and police near Tahrir Square in central Cairo. The officials say the protester died Monday on the way to the hospital after being shot. (AP Photo/Khalil Hamra)
Former Egyptian presidential candidate, Hamdeen Sabahi, left, speaks during a press conference following the meeting of the National Salvation Front as former director of the U.N.'s nuclear agency and Nobel peace laureate, Mohamed El Baradei, right, listens in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Jan. 28, 2013. Egypt?s main opposition coalition has rejected the Islamist president?s call for dialogue to resolve the country?s political crisis, unless their conditions are met. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
Former director of the U.N.'s nuclear agency and Nobel peace laureate, Mohamed El Baradei speaks during a press conference following the meeting of the National Salvation Front in Cairo, Egypt, Monday, Jan. 28, 2013. Egypt?s main opposition coalition has rejected the Islamist president?s call for dialogue to resolve the country?s political crisis, unless their conditions are met. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
CAIRO (AP) ? Protesters battled police for hours in Cairo on Monday and thousands marched through Egypt's three Suez Canal cities in direct defiance of a night-time curfew and state of emergency, handing a blow to the Islamist President Mohammed Morsi's attempts to contain five days of spiraling political violence.
Nearly 60 people have been killed in the wave of unrest, clashes, rioting and protests that have touched cities across the country but have hit the hardest in the canal cities, where residents have virtually risen up in outright revolt.
The latest death came on Monday in Cairo, where a protester died of gunshot wounds as youths hurling stones battled all day and into the night with police firing tear gas near Qasr el-Nil Bridge, a landmark over the Nile next to major hotels. In nearby Tahrir Square, protesters set fire to a police armored personnel carrier, celebrating as it burned in scenes reminiscent of the 2011 revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak.
"I will be coming back here every day until the blood of our martyrs is avenged," said 19-year-old carpenter Islam Nasser, who wore a Guy Fawkes mask as he battled police near Tahrir square.
Angry and at times screaming and wagging his finger, Morsi on Sunday declared a 30-day state of emergency and a nighttime curfew on the three Suez Canal cities of Suez, Ismailiya and Port Said and their provinces of the same names. He said he had instructed the police to deal "firmly and forcefully" with the unrest and threatened to do more if security was not restored.
But when the 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew began Monday evening, crowds marched through the streets of Port Said, beating drums and chanting, "Erhal, erhal," or "Leave, leave" ? a chant that first rang out during the 18-day uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak in 2011 but is now directed at Morsi.
"We completely reject Morsi's measures. How can we have a curfew in a city whose livelihood depends on commerce and tourism?" said Ahmed Nabil, a schoolteacher in the Mediterranean coastal city.
In Suez and Ismailiya, thousands in the streets after curfew chanted against Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist group from which he hails. In Suez, residents let off fireworks that lit the night sky.
"Oh Morsi, Suez has real men," they chanted.
In Ismailiya, residents organized street games of soccer to emphasize their contempt for the curfew and state of emergency.
On Morsi's orders over the weekend, army troops backed with tanks and armored vehicles have deployed in Port Said and Suez ? the two cities worst hit by the violence ? to restore security, but they did not intervene to enforce the curfew on Monday night.
The commander of the Third Field Army in charge of Suez, Maj. Gen. Osama Askar, said his troops would not use force to ensure compliance. Army troops in Port Said also stood by and watched as residents ignored the curfew.
Adding to Morsi's woes nearly seven months into his turbulent presidency, the main political opposition coalition on Monday rejected his invitation for a dialogue to resolve the crisis, one of the worst and deadliest to hit Egypt in the two years since Mubarak's ouster.
Nevertheless, the dialogue went ahead late Monday afternoon. A list of participants released later by the presidential palace showed that Morsi presided over an inaugural session made up almost entirely of fellow Islamists whose support for him has never been in question.
The violence first erupted Thursday and accelerated Friday when protests marking the two-year- anniversary of the start of the anti-Mubarak uprising turned to clashes around the country that left 11 dead, most of them in Suez.
The next day, riots exploded in Port Said after a court convicted and sentenced to death 21 defendants ? mostly locals ? for a mass soccer riot in the city's main stadium a year ago. Rioters attacked police stations, clashed with security forces in the streets and shots and tear gas were fired at protester funerals in mayhem that left 44 people dead over the weekend.
The official MENA news agency said three more people died on Monday, succumbing to wounds sustained on Saturday, taking to 47 the number of people killed in the city over the past three days.
Earlier Monday, thousands in Port Said turned out for the funerals of some of those killed over the weekend. Witnesses later reported clashes in the city. The armed forces later said troops have repulsed an attack by six gunmen on motorbikes on the city's main prison.
In Cairo, white clouds of tear gas hung over Qasr el-Nil Bridge from early Monday morning and through the evening, wafting into nearby districts. The fighting was reminiscent of scenes two years ago to the day, when police and protesters battered each other on the same bridge in the most violent day of the 2011 uprising.
"People died to gain their freedom, social justice, bread. Now after 29 years of the despotic Mubarak, we're ruled by a worse regime: religious fascist, more dangerous," said Mohammed Saber, a 65-year old engineer who came to watch the clashes with his wife and children.
The clashes intensified in Monday evening. A group of protesters, including black masked youth, flashed the V-for-victory signs as they jubilantly milled around the burning police vehicle in Tahrir.
Outside Cairo, protesters marched, pelted police with rocks or cut off roads and railway lines in nearly a half dozen cities, including the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, the country's second largest.
The geographical spread of the unrest and the tenacity of the protesters have showcased the depth of opposition to Morsi's rule outside the ranks of the Brotherhood and other Islamist groups.
However, it will take the mostly liberal and secular opposition time and effort to translate this popular resentment of the Islamists into electoral power and seriously challenge them at the ballot box. The Islamists have dominated elections for both houses of parliament late in 2011 and early 2012. Morsi narrowly won the presidency with under 52 percent of the vote.
The major opposition parties grouped in the National Salvation Front, led by reform leader and Nobel Peace Laureate Mohamed ElBardei, are seeking to leverage the turmoil roiling the country to break the Islamists' hold on power and force Morsi to make concessions.
ElBardei and other front leaders said they would only accept his invitation to join a national dialogue to resolve the crisis if he agreed first to form a national unity government and a commission to rewrite what they see as contentious parts of an Islamist-backed constitution adopted in a referendum last month.
The rejection of Morsi's offer is likely to lend more weight to ElBaradei and his colleagues in the Salvation Front at a time when protesters on the streets are increasingly showing their independence from politicians, voicing a wide range of non-political grievances.
The Front has painted the explosion of unrest as a backlash against attempts by Morsi, the Muslim Brotherhood and other Islamists to monopolize power in Egypt. It says the instability is proof that Morsi doesn't have enough legitimacy to bring security or achieve reforms alone.
"We support any dialogue if it has a clear agenda that can shepherd the nation to the shores of safety," said ElBaradei, flanked by former Arab league chief Amr Moussa and leftist Hamdeen Sabahi.
The Front later issued a statement in which it said failure by Morsi to meet its conditions should be cause for early presidential elections, now scheduled for 2016.
It also called for mass, nationwide protests on Friday.
___
Associated Press writer Amir Makar contributed to this report.
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SEVARE, Mali (AP) ? French and Malian troops held a strategic bridge and the airport in the northern town of Gao on Sunday as their force also pressed toward Timbuktu, another stronghold of Islamic extremists in northern Mali, officials said.
The advances come as French and African land forces also make their way to Gao from neighboring Niger in a bid to defeat the al-Qaida-linked Islamists who seized control of northern Mali more than nine months ago.
The French military announced late Saturday that it had liberated the town of Gao, though other officials said the fight to control it was still in progress.
Lt. Col. Diarran Kone, a spokesman for Mali's defense minister, said Sunday that the forces were patrolling Gao and had maintained their hold over the bridge and airport overnight.
The advance on Gao marked the biggest achievement yet for the French and Malian troops since they began their operation to oust the Islamist radicals two weeks ago. It remains unclear, though, what kind of resistance the forces will face in the coming days.
The French special forces, which had stormed in by land and by air, had come under fire from "several terrorist elements" that were later "destroyed," the French military said in a statement on its website Saturday.
In a later press release entitled "French and Malian troops liberate Gao" the French ministry of defense said they were bringing back the town's mayor, Sadou Diallo, who had fled to the Malian capital of Bamako far to the west.
However, a city official interviewed by telephone by The Associated Press said late Saturday that coalition forces so far only controlled the airport, the bridge and surrounding neighborhoods.
And in Paris, a defense ministry official clarified that the city had not been fully liberated, and that the process of freeing Gao was continuing.
Both officials insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Swooping in under the cover of darkness, the French and Malian forces faced sporadic "acts of harassment" during the day, said Col. Thierry Burkhard, a French military spokesman in Paris. He had no immediate estimate on casualties.
Gao, the largest city in northern Mali, was seized by a mixture of al-Qaida-linked Islamist fighters more than nine months ago along with the other northern provincial capitals of Kidal and Timbuktu.
The rebel group that turned Gao into a replica of Afghanistan under the Taliban has close ties to Moktar Belmoktar, the Algerian national who has long operated in Mali and who last week claimed responsibility for the terror attack on a BP-operated natural gas plant in Algeria.
His fighters are believed to include Algerians, Egyptians, Mauritanians, Libyans, Tunisians, Pakistanis and even Afghans.
Meanwhile, the Pentagon said late Saturday that Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has told Le Drian the United States will aid the French military with aerial refueling missions.
U.S. aerial refueling planes would be a boost to air support for French ground forces as they enter vast areas of northern Mali, the size of Texas, that are controlled by al-Qaida-linked extremists.
The U.S. was already helping France by transporting French troops and equipment to the West African nation. However, the U.S. government has said it cannot provide direct aid to the Malian military because the country's democratically elected president was overthrown in a coup last March.
The Malian forces, however, are now expected to get more help than initially promised from neighboring nations.
Col. Shehu Usman Abdulkadir told The Associated Press that the African force will be expanded from an anticipated 3,200 troops to some 5,700 ? a figure that does not include the 2,200 soldiers promised by Chad.
Most analysts had said the earlier figure was far too small to confront the Islamists given the huge territory they hold.
"Because they've seen that the area itself, northern Mali is too large for that number of troops so there was a need to increase the number and that's why we arrived at 5,700," said Abdulkadir, the force commander. "I believe that as time goes on it may be necessary to increase the strength again. Because (when) France pulls out we definitely must have to increase the strength."
Since France began its military operation, the Islamists have retreated from three small towns in central Mali: Diabaly, Konna and Douentza.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/french-mali-forces-head-toward-timbuktu-085610699.html
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Guests on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos" included Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.; and Sen. Robert Menendez, D-N.J.; ABC News' George Will; Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz.; Democratic strategist and ABC News contributor Donna Brazile; NPR "Morning Edition" host Steve Inskeep; and New Republic owner and publisher Chris Hughes, who interviewed President Obama for an Oval Office exclusive hitting newsstands next week.
WILL: Let me give you an example. No Child Left Behind said we're going to have 100 percent proficiency by 2014 in reading and math. And the scary thing is we might, because the only way we'll get there is by dumbing down the standards, which is actually underway. The question is, will we change the physical fitness requirements so that we don't have a disparate impact? Are we going to gender-norm the requirements? Give you an example?You're 6'4?, 240-pound Marine, and you're injured, and you need a Marine next to you to carry you back to safety, and the Marine next to you is a 5'4? woman who weighs 115 pounds. It's relevant.
More notable comments made Sunday are below:
Menendez avoids commenting on if Booker 'deserves a spanking' for coveting Sen. Lautenberg's seat
RADDATZ: In your home state between Newark Mayor Cory Booker and 89-year-old Senator Frank Lautenberg, who basically suggested this week that Booker deserved a spanking because he was coveting his seat. Do you agree with that? Should Cory Booker be making moves now?
MENENDEZ: You know, that election is next year. And all of the back-and-forth now is something I'm really not focused on.
RADDATZ: Is Booker being disrespectful?
MENENDEZ: You know, that's a question for Senator Lautenberg and Mayor Booker
Inskeep thinks some Republicans are worried they are on 'the wrong side of history'
INSKEEP: I think there are Republicans who are concerned that they're on the wrong side of history, which is why there is talk about changing immigration laws, for example, and you have Republicans pushing to find new ways to reach new constituencies and deal with the demographic problems that the Republican Party has.
Schweikert labels fellow GOP members as 'accountants' with a storytelling problem
SCHWEIKERT: We may need to change the way we tell our story?The fact of the matter is we have a problem as a party. I believe we tell the truth, I actually believe we're much more analytical. We're accountants. Sometimes though, being an accountant doesn't pull the heartstrings. It doesn't tell a story.
Hughes questions the President's 'capacity to lead the country' on major reform
HUGHES: It was very clear the president thinks that the American people are on his side when it comes to immigration, when it comes to gun control, when it comes to fiscal issues, and he thinks that the Republican Party is increasingly extreme. The question is, is - is his capacity to lead the country and to organize people behind that. And whether or not he's able to do so is a difficult one which we'll only answer in time.
Like "This Week" on Facebook here . You can also follow the show on Twitter here .
Get more pure politics at ABC News.com/Politics and a different take on the news at OTUSNews.com .
Also ReadSource: http://news.yahoo.com/george-women-combat-gender-norm-requirements-201059750--abc-news-politics.html
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ST. LOUIS (AP) -- Stan Musial was remembered during a funeral and memorial outside Busch Stadium on Saturday as a Hall of Famer and a St. Louis icon embraced by generations of fans who never had the privilege of watching him play.
Broadcaster Bob Costas, his voice cracking with emotion at times, pointed out during a two-hour Mass that in 92 years of life, Stan the Man never let anyone down.
Costas noted that even though Musial, who died Jan. 19, was a three-time NL MVP and seven-time batting champion, the pride of Donora, Pa., lacked a singular achievement. Joe DiMaggio had a 56-game hitting streak, Ted Williams was the last major leaguer to hit .400, and Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle soared to stardom in the New York spotlight. Musial didn't quite reach the 500-homer club - he finished with 475 - and played in his final World Series in 1946, ''wouldn't you know it, the year before they started televising the Fall Classic!''
''What was the hook with Stan Musial other than the distinctive stance and the role of one of baseball's best hitters?'' Costas said. ''It seems that all Stan had going for him was more than two decades of sustained excellence as a ballplayer and more than nine decades as a thoroughly decent human being.
''Where is the single person to truthfully say a bad word about him?''
There was enough room in the large Roman Catholic church for a handful of fans. One of them wore a vintage, No. 6 Musial jersey. Another clapped softly as pallbearers carried the casket from the church to the hearse to the tune of bagpipes.
Among those in attendance were baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, former St. Louis standout Albert Pujols and Hall of Famers Bob Gibson, Lou Brock, Ozzie Smith, Bruce Sutter, Whitey Herzog and 90-year-old Red Schoendienst, who once roomed with Musial. Joe Torre, a former MVP and manager in St. Louis, and Tony La Russa, who became close with Musial during his 16 seasons managing the Cardinals, sat near the front along with current manager Mike Matheny.
Pujols, who had been on track to challenge many of Musial's franchise records before signing with the Angels 13 months ago, exchanged hugs with Fred Hanser, a member of the Cardinals ownership team, before taking his seat.
Jim Edmonds, a star center fielder for two World Series teams in the 2000s, has the same last name as one of Musial's sons-in-law. He said Musial informed him that they were distant relatives, and greeted him as ''Hey, Cuz!''
''I thought he was kidding at first,'' Edmonds said. ''That's pretty cool.''
Jack Clark, a slugging first baseman for the Cardinals during the 1980s, said he perhaps respected Musial most for his decency during baseball's sometimes difficult period of integration in the 1940s and 1950s.
''Stan kind of crossed that color barrier. When people were getting on the African-American players, he stuck up for them. It was a time when you could kind of get your finger pointed at you for that stuff,'' Clark said. ''People loved him, and he loved them right back.''
Bishop Richard Stika, pastor at Musial's' church in suburban St. Louis for several years, speculated during the homily about why Musial was never ejected from a game during his career: ''I think deep down, that was because he didn't want to go home and face Lil.''
Musial's wife of nearly 72 years, Lillian, died last year.
Grandson Andrew Edmonds said the public Musial was no different from the private Musial, the grandpa who bought McDonalds for the family every Sunday. He recalled a fan telling him, ''Your grandpa's best attribute is he made nobodies feel like somebodies.''
Pallbearers included Cardinals President Bill DeWitt III, Musial grandsons Andrew Edmonds and Brian Schwarze, and the retired star's longtime business partner in Stan the Man Inc., Dick Zitzmann.
After the service, the hearse and vans filled with the Cardinals' delegation drove to Busch Stadium, where Musial's family laid flowers at the base of one of his statues - the one that made the move across the street from the old Busch - while being serenaded by ''Take Me Out to the Ball Game.'' Color guards from the city's fire and police departments flanked the statue, along with more than a dozen ballpark ushers. A single Clydesdale walked slowly down the street.
Cardinals closer Jason Motte shook his head.
''This is nothing like I've ever seen,'' he said.
During a funeral that was almost entirely upbeat, son-in-law Martin Schwarze got the biggest laugh when he recounted a 1995 radio interview with Jack Buck during which Musial was asked how good of a hitter he'd have been had he played in the modern era. Musial, who finished with a .331 career batting average, replied he probably would have batted about .275, and Buck said ''Whoa, whoa, whoa,'' that's way too low.
Then Musial added with a chuckle, ''Hey, Jack, I'm 75!''
Thousands filed through the Cathedral Basilica at Musial's six-hour public visitation on Thursday, and hundreds more attended the service.
Hundreds more were waiting at the more prominent of the two Musial statues outside Busch Stadium, where fans have gathered since Musial died after several years of declining health. Next to the statues were flowers, balloons, teddy bears, helmets, autographed items and a homemade sign that read ''Thanks for the memories. You live in our hearts, No. 6.''
''He's been a hero to us for four generations,'' Kathy Noorman of Wentzville, Mo., said, speaking near the statue. ''He was such a good man, somebody you can hold up to grandkids and your own kids as an example of who they should be.''
Mark Springman, 57, of Alton, Ill., brought a bottle of champagne to the statue shrine. He saw Musial play in 1963, Stan the Man's final season, and has been a season-ticket holder for about 15 years.
''He was more than a ballplayer,'' Springman said. ''He was the man.''
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Jan. 25, 2013 ? Researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center have found qigong, an ancient mind-body practice, reduces depressive symptoms and improves quality of life in women undergoing radiotherapy for breast cancer.
The study, published in the journal Cancer, is the first to examine qigong in patients actively receiving radiation therapy and include a follow-up period to assess benefits over time. Even though individual mind-body practices such as meditation and guided imagery appear to reduce aspects of distress and improve quality of life, questions remain about their effectiveness when conducted in conjunction with radiation therapy.
"We were also particularly interested to see if qigong would benefit patients experiencing depressive symptoms at the start of treatment," said Lorenzo Cohen, Ph.D., professor in MD Anderson's Departments of General Oncology and Behavioral Science and director of the Integrative Medicine Program. "It is important for cancer patients to manage stress because it can have a profoundly negative effect on biological systems and inflammatory profiles."
For the trial, Cohen, the corresponding author, and his colleagues enrolled 96 women with stage 1-3 breast cancer from Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center in Shanghai, China. Forty-nine patients were randomized to a qigong group consisting of five 40-minute classes each week during their five-to-six week course of radiation therapy, while 47 women comprised a waitlist control group receiving the standard of care.
The program incorporated a modified version of Chinese medical qigong consisting of synchronizing one's breath with various exercises. As a practice, qigong dates back more than 4,000 years when it was used across Asia to support spiritual health and prevent disease.
Participants in both groups completed assessments at the beginning, middle and end of radiation therapy and then one and three months later. Different aspects of quality of life were measured including depressive symptoms, fatigue, sleep disturbances and overall quality of life.
Results show benefits emerged over time
Patients in the qigong group reported a steady decline in depressive symptom scores beginning at the end of radiation therapy with a mean score of 12.3, through the three month post-radiation follow-up with a score of 9.5. No changes were noted in the control group over time.
The study also found qigong was especially helpful for women reporting high baseline depressive symptoms, Cohen said.
"We examined women's depressive symptoms at the start of the study to see if women with higher levels would benefit more," Cohen said. "In fact, women with low levels of depressive symptoms at the start of radiotherapy had good quality of life throughout treatment and three months later regardless of whether they were in the qigong or control group. However, women with high depressive symptoms in the control group reported the worst levels of depressive symptoms, fatigue, and overall quality of life that were significantly improved for the women in the qigong group."
As the benefits of qigong were largely observed after treatment concluded, researchers suggest qigong may prevent a delayed symptom burden, or expedite the recovery process especially for women with elevated depressive symptoms at the start of radiotherapy.
Cohen notes the delayed effect could be explained by the cumulative nature of these modalities, as the benefits often take time to be realized.
Future research needed
The authors note several limitations to the study, including the absence of an active control group making it difficult to rule out whether or not the effects of qigong were influenced by a patient's expectations or simply being a light exercise. Additionally, the homogeneity of the group, Chinese women at a single site, limits the ability of applying the results to other populations.
According to the authors, the findings support other previously reported trials examining qigong benefits, but are too preliminary to offer clinical recommendations. Additional work is needed to understand the possible biological mechanisms involved and further explore the use of qigong in ethnically diverse populations with different forms of disease.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/~3/Yoq1cPikIfA/130125142244.htm
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Hello,
I am writing to apologize to all of the Roots Natural Health clients who have come to classes the past few months and have experienced extreme discombobulation with the class schedule and the lack of notice of cancellation and scheduling changes.
The honest truth: I have worked solo for the past 4 years conducting one-on-one personal training sessions as a primary source of business. I utilized Groupon and LIving social to bring people in the door and to get classes started. The management of the new influx of clients and classes, memberships, and contact information to notify people of attendance remaining, as well as class updates and scheduling is in itself a full time job. We purchased a software to help with those issues, but I am not even sure of how to use the software let alone design it, format it, and integrate it.
We had a series of things happen in the past 6 weeks that have set me back personally, financially, spiritually, physically, and in business. Your complaints and comments are justified and I understand your frustration and anger. The vision and dream is to create a space for health, fitness,and a unique and ?outside the box-gym? experience. I feel as if I have let you down and have pissed more people off then have actually helped.
*We would like to keep the studio going and would like to have a community meeting and involvement from more people to change things back into a successful and enjoyable place to do yoga, and exercise. ?WE? are a group of people who want to transform the current model into a non-profit community with better management, website management, marketing and advertising.
*The studio has outgrown me personally. I have put so much pressure on myself to achieve such a wonderful dream, that I feel as if I have sacrificed my personal health and well being to keep the doors open. You all are what this is about, not me.
I am stepping down as owner and handing the torch over to the folks that have expressed desire to manage and operate the business and turn it into a non-profit center based on community and unity.
I am a skilled trainer, yoga enthusiast and holistic health coach. I am NOT a web tech, office manager, software developer, marketing guru, or cleaner. I have exasperated my personal resources attempting to do all of those things on a shoestring budget and have failed miserably. The current state is that I make a decision to quit, turn the other direction and run, or admit to my failure.
I am admitting to my failure. I am also apologizing from the depth of my heart for the state of disorganization.
?
Please consider joining Roots as a non-profit, and attending a community open house:
Tuesday February 5th at 8pm.
As you know we had a series of events occur all at once that have left a huge burden on my shoulders to figure out.
1) No financial backing. No funding. No money. There was a business partnership opportunity that turned out to be a nightmare. I trippled my over head and took on a heavy financial obligation to remodel the spa side, the garage, and the yoga studio. When the business partnership failed, I made a decision to downsize and am now picking up the pieces financially of a $10,000.00 remodel expense.
2) Website reconstruction: Our previous website was hacked into. I tried to fix it myself, and I ended up deleting it. Now we have to rebuild and remodel this site.
3) Flood and construction: has not been confirmed on when it will be finished, when contractors will be in or out of the studio. We currently have no functional bathroom. We are working on sorting that out but still have no confirmation on the details.
4) Chelah, Owner and founder, has hit a wall and tapped all of her resources with a feeling of total failure and despair over having spent 10+ years in college, over $150,000.00, ?and considerable time and energy to build something for YOU, to experience the joy and glory of health and fitness. There are a few things that should not be compromised in life. Happiness, health and freedom. I have compromised my personal health, happiness and freedom for the sake of building a business to promote those very things.
I am working on my own health right now to regain strength and faith in this ?rainbow? dream.
We have gone through a lot as a new business and I am personally taking the blame, as well as doing everything possible to mend the situation. I will be glad to do what I can to make the studio grow and to keep the space for you to practice yoga and fitness.
Please forgive me.
This is a grass roots organization and I have attempted to go at this alone. ?Hiring people to help carry the load of business management with no financial backing is obviously not the best route. This ?big hairy audacious goal? has turned into a ?big hairy audacious mess?.
*THE GOOD NEWS: I don?t quit that easily. We have been approached by serious supporters who want to promote our company with a $40 MILLION DOLLAR MARKETING AND VIDEO PRODUCTION company BACKING!
Video, music, media, and a new non-profit structure IS UNDERWAY! We would like to run the studio sort of like a church. As a body, we all have hands, feet and voices to work together to make a solid and unique lasting foundation that supports the vision, mission, purpose ?and ?dream. WE need a dream team to go with it.
?
*Please stay tuned as we finish the website, the reconstruction of the studio, and develop the business and planning.
Please email info@rootsstudios.com and RSVP on a community event that will be held on:
Tuesday
February 5th?
AT 8 pm.
We will have a potluck, music with live DJ?s, guitar, class demos, community meditation, ?as well as introductions to the non-profit and it?s new supporters.
PLEASE RSVP and do not hesitate to express your thoughts and feelings. As a way to say thank you, I would like to offer you all extra months of classes.
Please note that your time, money and energy to attend classes is not taken lightly, and I would like to thank you as well as recognize the importance and value you all have added to the start up of this movement, the start-up of something unique. The start-up and foundation of a member supported non-profit center for healing arts and holistic fitness. Lets get together and express our cares, concerns, frustrations, and thoughts in ?a way that solves problems and brings creative solutions.
We need volunteers and helpers, supporters, and finances to keep the doors open. Below is a list and volunteer positions open.
-Cleaners
-Office management
-Web design
-Printing
-Social Media/ bloggers/ facebook/ twitter/ newsletter writer
-Secretary or recpetionist
-Yoga instructors
-Computer/ printer (we lost ours in the flood).
-Funding. We are a 501 C 3 Minnesota based non-profit and can offer tax deductions & benefits for donations and member support.
-Flyers need to be handed out, and people need to be notified of the studio. Creative marketing and your involvement goes a long way.
*The vision: To become a thriving studio that brings health, happiness, harmony, education, economic support to the community, and restoration to your body.
Mission: To provide health and healing services, products and methods that work and take the guess work out.
Purpose: To provide holistic health and fitness services and to teach and train others to live life to the fullest in health, happiness and harmony.
?
Source: http://www.rootsstudios.com/?p=224
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Trader Peter Tuchman, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street ahead of what is expected to be more upbeat data on housing from the government. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Trader Peter Tuchman, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street ahead of what is expected to be more upbeat data on housing from the government. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Trader Michael Zicchinolfi, center, works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street ahead of what is expected to be more upbeat data on housing from the government. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange, Friday, Jan. 25, 2013. Stocks are opening higher on Wall Street ahead of what is expected to be more upbeat data on housing from the government. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
NEW YORK (AP) ? Passing another milestone on the nation's long journey back from the Great Recession, the Standard and Poor's 500 index closed above 1,500 for the first time in more than five years Friday after a wave of good earnings reports.
It took scores of incremental gains, several stalled rallies and a few sickening falls, but the widely watched S&P, one of the broadest measures of the American stock market, finished at 1,502.96, up 8.14 points. The index had not closed above 1,500 since December 2007, the start of the worst economic downturn since the 1930s.
The news came on top of other hopeful signs that the economy is slowly recovering. Housing is rebounding. Companies are hiring again, albeit slowly, and their earnings, a big driver of stock prices, are at record levels.
"The bottom line is that corporate America is doing exceptionally well," said Joe Tanious, a global market strategist at JPMorgan.
The breakthrough happened on an eighth straight daily gain for stocks, itself a remarkable performance. That is the longest winning streak since November 2004.
Stocks have surged this month, with the S&P advancing 5.4 percent. It jumped at the start of the year when lawmakers reached a last-minute deal to avoid the "fiscal cliff." Signs that Europe has avoided financial collapse also helped.
Stocks fell sharply during the Great Recession. By March 2009, the S&P was 57 percent below its October 2007 peak, a harrowing plunge that scarred a generation of small investors and, some Wall Street experts believe, will keep them away from stocks for years to come.
Since that fall, the market has climbed sharply, though it has endured several big declines. In May 2010, a trading glitch set off a so-called flash crash that sent stocks plummeting. And in August 2011, stocks gyrated like a roller coaster for several days as fears mounted that the U.S. would default on its debts.
On Friday, stocks were helped by earnings from two big companies. Procter & Gamble, the world's largest consumer products maker, rose $2.83 to $73.25 after reporting that its quarterly income more than doubled. P&G also raised its profit forecast for its full fiscal year. Starbucks climbed $2.24 to $56.81 after reporting a 13 percent increase in profits.
The Dow Jones industrial average closed at 13,895.98, up 70.65 points. The Dow is up 6 percent on the year.
The Nasdaq composite gained 19.33 points to 3,149.71.
The Dow is now just 268 points below its record high of 14,165, reached on Oct. 9, 2007, two month before the recession began. The Dow has more than doubled since its recession low of 6,547 on March 9, 2009.
The S&P 500 is 62 points shy of its record of 1,565, reached on the same day the Dow hit its peak. The S&P has also more than doubled from its low of 676, which happened on the same day the Dow bottomed out in 2009.
JPMorgan's Tanious expects stocks to go even higher. He says corporate earnings should grow at about 5 percent over the next year or two, and stock valuations will rise. Currently, the S&P 500 is trading at an average price-to-earnings ratio of 14, below an average of 15.1 for the last decade, according to FactSet data.
On Friday, Apple continued to decline, allowing Exxon Mobil to once again surpass the electronics giant as the world's most valuable publicly traded company. Apple fell 2.4 percent to $439.88, following a 12 percent drop on Thursday, the biggest one-day percentage decline for the company since 2008, after Apple forecast slower sales. The stock is now 37 percent below the record high of $702.10 it reached Sept. 19.
Apple first surpassed Exxon in market value in the summer of 2011, grabbing a title Exxon had held since 2005. The two traded places through that fall, until Apple surpassed Exxon in early 2012.
Not everyone on Wall Street thought the S&P milestone was worth celebrating. Some noted the stock market is more a reflection of how traders feel than a reflection of underlying fundamentals.
"It's not a landmark that we really follow or that we really care about," said Derrick Irwin, portfolio manager for Wells Fargo Advantage Funds. "Focusing on the benchmarks can end up shooting you in the foot, as we've seen."
Some of the rise may also be due to investing stock market momentum. A rule of thumb is that when a stock price or an overall index gets tantalizingly close to a milestone, as the S&P has been for days now, it's almost certain to cross that milestone, at least temporarily.
"Sure, it's a good thing," said Christian Bertelsen, chief investment officer of Global Financial Private Capital in Sarasota, Fla. "But I wouldn't read too much into it."
Still, Deutsche Bank analysts raised their year-end target for the index to 1,600 from 1,575.
Companies will be able to maintain their earnings even if lawmakers in Washington decide to implement wide-ranging spending cuts to narrow the budget deficit, the analysts said in a note sent to clients late Thursday.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury note, which moves inversely to its price, climbed 11 basis points to 1.95 percent.
Among other stocks making big moves.
? Halliburton gained $1.91 to $39.72 after posting a loss that was smaller than analysts had expected. The oilfield-services company said fourth-quarter profits declined 26 percent to $669 million on increasing pricing pressure in the North American market and one-time charges from the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Wall Street had expected worse.
? Hasbro fell $1.14 to $37.31 after the toy maker said its fourth-quarter revenue failed to meet expectations because of poor demand over the holidays. The company plans to cut about 10 percent of its workforce and consolidate facilities to cut expenses.
? Green Mountain Coffee Roasters rose $2.53 to $46.31 after an analyst noted that sales of a competing coffee brewer introduced by Starbucks were getting off to a weak start.
__
AP Business Writer Christina Rexrode contributed to this report.
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Field upgrade allows existing PRC-155 Manpack radios to communicate with MUOS satellite communications system for on-orbit testing.
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Jan. 24, 2013 /PRNewswire/ ? The U.S. Army ordered kits in December to upgrade 100 Handheld, Manpack, Small Form Fit (HMS) AN/PRC-155 two-channel Manpack radios to enable them to communicate with the military?s Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellite communications system. This MUOS channel upgrade, comprising a field-replaceable power amplifier and supporting software, will allow secure voice and data communication with the MUOS system. The order is valued at $5 million; the kits will be delivered in the fall of 2013.
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Firetrench Directory
?By upgrading fielded PRC-155 radios, the Army will greatly enhance soldier effectiveness by providing a tenfold increase in SATCOM capacity for secure, over-the-horizon military communications,? said Chris Marzilli, president of General Dynamics C4 Systems. ?MUOS access on the two-channel PRC-155 will also allow current Army networks to be bridged and extended far beyond their current reach.?
The two-channel PRC-155 Manpack radio also runs the essential waveforms from the defense department library. They include the Soldier Radio Waveform (SRW) that connects dismounted soldiers to the network, the Wideband Networking Waveform (WNW) that seamlessly transports large amounts of data and the legacy SINCGARS waveform for communication with existing radios. Using the PRC-155?s two-channel capability, soldiers operating on any one of these waveforms on one channel, can interconnect with soldiers using another waveform on the second channel. With the MUOS capability in the PRC-155, a network of soldiers can be interconnected with others in a far distant location.
The MUOS waveform, based on the communications interface found in commercial cellular networks, will deliver high-speed voice and data communications and 10-times greater capacity than the military?s current Ultra High Frequency (UHF) satellite communications system. With a smartphone-like flow of information, the upgraded PRC-155 radios will allow soldiers to access the MUOS communications system wherever they are deployed, on foot or from land vehicles, ships, submarines and aircraft.
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24Jan
Home improvement loans are good investments for banks, because real estate is a good form of financial risk for creditors. Understand why banks find real estate to be a good risk and why good credit matters less when a loan is for property with tips from anexperienced financial adviser in this free video. Expert: Patrick Munro Contact: www.northstarnavigator.com Bio: Patrick Munro is a registered financial consultant (RFC) with outstanding sales volume of progressive financial products and solutions to the senior and boomer marketplace. Filmmaker: Reel Media LLC
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Source: http://www.cohocton.org/764-personal-finance-money-management-tips-home-improvement-loans-bad-credit
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