Ron Johnson Concedes: J.C. Penney Isn’t Apple






Okay, so Ron Johnson is not the god of retail.


Even with his reputation for retail wizardry at Apple (AAPL) and Target (TGT), everyone knew it would be hard for him to work his magic at J. C. Penney (JCP). Instead of hawking cool, high-margin tech products for the hipster fan base of Apple, Johnson has to deal with busy moms, screaming kids, and the the broad swath of humanity that just wants a cheap pair of pants. Now, Johnson has been forced to reverse field, announcing that he’ll start holding sales again to boost the struggling department-store chain. It’s a bow to reality: Nobody goes to a J. C. Penney to drink in the ambience or check out what’s new with Joe Fresh. They’ve surfed the Web or seen an ad that tells them the store has Joe Fresh on sale.






Johnson has now displaced J.Crew’s Mickey Drexler as the most watched man in mass-market fashion. And with J. C. Penney’s stock price down about 40 percent since his appointment was announced in June 2011 (though it’s up almost 8 percent today, on the pricing strategy shift), he has plenty of critics on Wall Street. But it’s too soon to write off his tenure as a failure.


In late 2011, Johnson rode in from his heady success at Apple, promising to transform a ho-hum chain into the hub for a 21st century shopping experience. He has widened aisles, offered haircuts, set up jean bars, and brought in colorful newbies like Joe Fresh. As he told me in July, his goal is to have J. C. Penney look less like a merchandise mart than a retail street fair with “all the kinds of things that would entertain the kids while mom shops”—creating a relaxed social experience that brings families together and is “high touch.” Sounds good so far. That’s what Apple did, after all, with its Genius Bars and in-store events.


And what did he miss? That consumers want their coupons and sales, too. Unlike, say, the latest version of the iPhone, there’s nothing in a J. C. Penney that most ordinary people would classify as a “must have.” Even in July, Johnson was starting to realize his disregard for sales was perhaps misplaced. “I thought people were just tired of coupons and all this stuff,” he told me. “The reality is all of the couponing we did, there were a certain part of the customers that loved that. They gravitated to stores that competed that way. So our core customer, I think, was much more dependent and enjoyed coupons more than I understood.”


Back then, his answer was to reform the customer. The challenge, as he saw it, was to get people to understand they can get a good deal every day at J. C. Penney. Then he discovered they already have a place to do that. It’s called Wal-Mart (WMT). If cheap was the defining motivation for most shoppers, they’d never stray beyond Dollar Tree (DLTR) or Wal-Mart for most of their purchases. It’s not. Discounts and sales are just part of the game. It whets the appetite, gets people motivated to look twice at a pair of boots in the knowledge that someone else paid twice as much.


But that doesn’t change the real challenge for Johnson, which is to delight customers once they’re in his stores and motivate them to spend more. The reason J. C. Penney floundered in recent years was because it was boring: ho-hum merchadise, ho-hum layout, a lack of distinctive branding. That’s what has to transform if Johnson is going to move the needle on sales.


The mistake he made was in thinking people would simply visit out of curiosity or because they heard it’s a good deal every day. Wrong! Now he’s stepping up to bring back that sense of urgency. While spokeswoman Daphne Avila stressed in an e-mail this afternoon that “our return to sales in no way signifies a change to our pricing strategy, but rather an evolution of it,” the move feels like a reversal, of course. Good thing. As Johnson himself said, “We’ve got to earn traffic through merchandise and content and experiences.”


At Apple, even with the seamless experience, Johnson knew the products and brand essentially sold themselves. At J. C. Penney, he’s now discovered, customers need a reason to show up. If sales help, more power to him. The chain’s turnaround will ultimately be decided by what people find once they walk through the door.


Businessweek.com — Top News





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Military Surgeon Selected as Co-Editor of the Canadian Journal of Surgery






OTTAWA, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – Feb 2, 2013) – The Canadian Journal of Surgery has appointed Major Vivian McAlister, a Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) surgeon, as co-editor, highlighting the high esteem in which CAF doctors are held in the medical community.


When not engaged in military duties, Major McAlister works at Western University in London, Ontario as a Professor of Surgery. He is also a member of the Council of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada.






“Major McAlister”s appointment as co-editor of the Canadian Journal of Surgery illustrates the very high quality of health professionals within the Canadian Armed Forces,” said the Honourable Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence. “The health of Canadian Armed Forces personnel is a top priority for this government and medical officers such as Major McAlister represent the finest doctors in our country and abroad. I congratulate him on behalf of the Government of Canada.”


The mission of the Canadian Journal of Surgery, a publication of the Canadian Medical Association, is to contribute to the effective continuing medical education of Canadian surgical specialists, using innovative techniques when feasible, and to provide surgeons with an effective vehicle for the dissemination of observations in the areas of clinical and basic science research.


“As a professor of surgery who has completed six tours in combat, mentorship, and humanitarian assistance operations in Afghanistan and Haiti, Major McAlister brings a superb international reputation and an extraordinary wealth of experience to the Canadian Journal of Surgery,” said Brigadier-General Jean-Robert Bernier, the Surgeon General. “His contributions to the journal”s educational mission, his work at Western University, and his service on the Royal College”s council all exemplify the close collaboration and mutual support between the civilian and military medical communities. This close relationship has existed since before Confederation and benefits all Canadians.”


Major McAlister fills this position on a voluntary basis for a renewable five-year term. “I am eager to fill the position of co-editor for this esteemed journal,” said Major McAlister. “I look to this opportunity as a new challenge in my career as a medical officer in the Canadian Armed Forces, and my military experience will certainly enhance my effectiveness as co-editor.”


Notes to editor / news director: For more information on Canadian Forces Health Services please visit: http://www.forces.gc.ca/health-sante/default-eng.asp.


For more information on the Canadian Journal of Surgery, please visit www.cma.ca/cjs.


Marketwire News Archive – Yahoo! Finance





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"Great Rotation"- A Wall Street fairy tale?

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Wall Street's current jubilant narrative is that a rush into stocks by small investors has sparked a "great rotation" out of bonds and into equities that will power the bull market to new heights.


That sounds good, but there's a snag: The evidence for this is a few weeks of bullish fund flows that are hardly unusual for January.


Late-stage bull markets are typically marked by an influx of small investors coming late to the party - such as when your waiter starts giving you stock tips. For that to happen you need a good story. The "great rotation," with its monumental tone, is the perfect narrative to make you feel like you're missing out.


Even if something approaching a "great rotation" has begun, it is not necessarily bullish for markets. Those who think they are coming early to the party may actually be arriving late.


Investors pumped $20.7 billion into stocks in the first four weeks of the year, the strongest four-week run since April 2000, according to Lipper. But that pales in comparison with the $410 billion yanked from those funds since the start of 2008.


"I'm not sure you want to take a couple of weeks and extrapolate it into whatever trend you want," said Tobias Levkovich, chief U.S. equity strategist at Citigroup. "We have had instances where equity flows have picked up in the last two, three, four years when markets have picked up. They've generally not been signals of a continuation of that trend."


The S&P 500 rose 5 percent in January, its best month since October 2011 and its best January since 1997, driving speculation that retail investors were flooding back into the stock market.


Heading into another busy week of earnings, the equity market is knocking on the door of all-time highs due to positive sentiment in stocks, and that can't be ignored entirely. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> ended the week about 4 percent from an all-time high touched in October 2007.


Next week will bring results from insurers Allstate and The Hartford , as well as from Walt Disney , Coca-Cola Enterprises and Visa .


But a comparison of flows in January, a seasonal strong month for the stock market, shows that this January, while strong, is not that unusual. In January 2011 investors moved $23.9 billion into stock funds and $28.6 billion in 2006, but neither foreshadowed massive inflows the rest of that year. Furthermore, in 2006 the market gained more than 13 percent while in 2011 it was flat.


Strong inflows in January can happen for a number of reasons. There were a lot of special dividends issued in December that need reinvesting, and some of the funds raised in December tax-selling also find their way back into the market.


During the height of the tech bubble in 2000, when retail investors were really embracing stocks, a staggering $42.7 billion flowed into equities in January of that year, double the amount that flowed in this January. That didn't end well, as stocks peaked in March of that year before dropping over the next two-plus years.


MOM AND POP STILL WARY


Arguing against a 'great rotation' is not necessarily a bearish argument against stocks. The stock market has done well since the crisis. Despite the huge outflows, the S&P 500 has risen more than 120 percent since March 2009 on a slowly improving economy and corporate earnings.


This earnings season, a majority of S&P 500 companies are beating earnings forecast. That's also the case for revenue, which is a departure from the previous two reporting periods where less than 50 percent of companies beat revenue expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data.


Meanwhile, those on the front lines say mom and pop investors are still wary of equities after the financial crisis.


"A lot of people I talk to are very reluctant to make an emotional commitment to the stock market and regardless of income activity in January, I think that's still the case," said David Joy, chief market strategist at Columbia Management Advisors in Boston, where he helps oversee $571 billion.


Joy, speaking from a conference in Phoenix, says most of the people asking him about the "great rotation" are fund management industry insiders who are interested in the extra business a flood of stock investors would bring.


He also pointed out that flows into bond funds were positive in the month of January, hardly an indication of a rotation.


Citi's Levkovich also argues that bond investors are unlikely to give up a 30-year rally in bonds so quickly. He said stocks only began to see consistent outflows 26 months after the tech bubble burst in March 2000. By that reading it could be another year before a serious rotation begins.


On top of that, substantial flows continue to make their way into bonds, even if it isn't low-yielding government debt. January 2013 was the second best January on record for the issuance of U.S. high-grade debt, with $111.725 billion issued during the month, according to International Finance Review.


Bill Gross, who runs the $285 billion Pimco Total Return Fund, the world's largest bond fund, commented on Twitter on Thursday that "January flows at Pimco show few signs of bond/stock rotation," adding that cash and money markets may be the source of inflows into stocks.


Indeed, the evidence suggests some of the money that went into stock funds in January came from money markets after a period in December when investors, worried about the budget uncertainty in Washington, started parking money in late 2012.


Data from iMoneyNet shows investors placed $123 billion in money market funds in the last two months of the year. In two weeks in January investors withdrew $31.45 billion of that, the most since March 2012. But later in the month money actually started flowing back.


(Additional reporting by Caroline Valetkevitch; Editing by Kenneth Barry)



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NFL's Goodell aims to share blame on player safety


NEW ORLEANS (AP) — NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wants to share the blame.


"Safety," he said at his annual Super Bowl news conference, "is all of our responsibilities."


Not surprisingly, given that thousands of former players are suing the league about its handling of concussions, the topics of player health and improved safety dominated Goodell's 45-minute session Friday. And he often sounded like someone seeking to point out that players or others are at fault for some of the sport's problems — and need to help fix them.


"I'll stand up. I'll be accountable. It's part of my responsibility. I'll do everything," Goodell said. "But the players have to do it. The coaches have to do it. Our officials have to do it. Our medical professionals have to do it."


Injuries from hits to the head or to the knees, Goodell noted, can result from improper tackling techniques used by players and taught by coaches. The NFL Players Association needs to allow testing for human growth hormone to go forward so it can finally start next season, which Goodell hopes will happen. He said prices for Super Bowl tickets have soared in part because fans re-sell them above face value.


And asked what he most rues about the New Orleans Saints bounty investigation — a particularly sensitive issue around these parts, of course — Goodell replied: "My biggest regret is that we aren't all recognizing that this is a collective responsibility to get (bounties) out of the game, to make the game safer. Clearly the team, the NFL, the coaching staffs, executives and players, we all share that responsibility. That's what I regret, that I wasn't able to make that point clearly enough with the union."


He addressed other subjects, such as a "new generation of the Rooney Rule" after none of 15 recently open coach or general manager jobs went to a minority candidate, meaning "we didn't have the outcomes we wanted"; using next year's Super Bowl in New Jersey as a test for future cold-weather, outdoor championship games; and saying he welcomed President Barack Obama's recent comments expressing concern about football's violence because "we want to make sure that people understand what we're doing to make our game safer."


Also:


— New Orleans will not get back the second-round draft pick Goodell stripped in his bounty ruling;


— Goodell would not give a time frame for when the NFL could hold a game in Mexico;


— next season's games in London — 49ers-Jaguars and Steelers-Vikings — are sellouts.


Goodell mentioned some upcoming changes, including the plan to add independent neurologists to sidelines to help with concussion care during games — something players have asked for and the league opposed until now.


"The No. 1 issue is: Take the head out of the game," Goodell said. "I think we've seen in the last several decades that players are using their head more than they had when you go back several decades."


He said one tool the league can use to cut down on helmet-to-helmet hits is suspending players who keep doing it.


"We're going to have to continue to see discipline escalate, particularly on repeat offenders," Goodell said. "We're going to have to take them off the field. Suspension gets through to them."


The league will add "expanded physicals at the end of each season ... to review players from a physical, mental and life skills standpoint so that we can support them in a more comprehensive fashion," Goodell said.


With question after question about less-than-light matters, one reporter drew a chuckle from Goodell by asking how he's been treated this week in a city filled with supporters of the Saints who are angry about the way the club was punished for the bounty system the NFL said existed from 2009-11.


"My picture, as you point out, is in every restaurant. I had a float in the Mardi Gras parade. We got a voodoo doll," Goodell said.


But he added that he can "appreciate the passion" of the fans and, actually, "couldn't feel more welcome here."


___


Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich


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Hillary: Secretary of empowerment




Girls hug U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a 2010 tour of a shelter run for sex trafficking victims in Cambodia.




STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • Donna Brazile: Clinton stepping down as Secretary of State. Maybe she'll run for president

  • She says as secretary she expanded foreign policy to include effect on regular people

  • She says she was first secretary of state to focus on empowering women and girls

  • Brazile: Clinton has fought for education and inclusion in politics for women and girls




Editor's note: Donna Brazile, a CNN contributor and a Democratic strategist, is vice chairwoman for voter registration and participation at the Democratic National Committee. She is a nationally syndicated columnist, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and author of "Cooking with Grease." She was manager for the Gore-Lieberman presidential campaign in 2000.


(CNN) -- As Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton steps down from her job Friday, many are assuming she will run for president. And she may. In fact, five of the first eight presidents first served their predecessors as secretary of state.


It hasn't happened in more than a century, though that may change should Clinton decide to run. After all, she has been a game changer her entire life.


But before we look ahead, I think we should appreciate what she's done as secretary of state; it's a high profile, high pressure job. You have to deal with the routine as if it is critical and with crisis as if it's routine. You have to manage egos, protocols, customs and Congress. You have to be rhetorical and blunt, diplomatic and direct.



CNN Contributor Donna Brazile

CNN Contributor Donna Brazile



As secretary of state you are dealing with heads of state and with we the people. And the president of the United States has to trust you -- implicitly.


On the road with Hillary Clinton


Of all Clinton's accomplishments -- and I will mention just a few -- this may be the most underappreciated. During the election, pundits were puzzled and amazed not only at how much energy former President Bill Clinton poured into Obama's campaign, but even more at how genuine and close the friendship was.


Obama was given a lot of well-deserved credit for reaching out to the Clintons by appointing then-Sen. Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state in the first place. But trust is a two-way street and has to be earned. We should not underestimate or forget how much Clinton did and how hard she worked. She deserved that trust, as she deserved to be in the war room when Osama bin Laden was killed.


By the way, is there any other leader in the last 50 years whom we routinely refer to by a first name, and do so more out of respect than familiarity? The last person I can think of was Ike -- the elder family member who we revere with affection. Hillary is Hillary.


It's not surprising that we feel we know her. She has been part of our public life for more than 20 years. She's been a model of dignity, diplomacy, empathy and toughness. She also has done something no other secretary of state has done -- including the two women who preceded her in the Cabinet post.


Rothkopf: President Hillary Clinton? If she wants it



Hillary has transformed our understanding -- no, our definition -- of foreign affairs. Diplomacy is no longer just the skill of managing relations with other countries. The big issues -- war and peace, terror, economic stability, etc. -- remain, and she has handled them with firmness and authority, with poise and confidence, and with good will, when appropriate.


But it is not the praise of diplomats or dictators that will be her legacy. She dealt with plenipotentiaries, but her focus was on people. Foreign affairs isn't just about treaties, she taught us, it's about the suffering and aspirations of those affected by the treaties, made or unmade.








Most of all, diplomacy should refocus attention on the powerless.


Of course, Hillary wasn't the first secretary of state to advocate for human rights or use the post to raise awareness of abuses or negotiate humanitarian relief or pressure oppressors. But she was the first to focus on empowerment, particularly of women and girls.


She created the first Office of Global Women's Issues. That office fought to highlight the plight of women around the world. Rape of women has been a weapon of war for centuries. Though civilized countries condemn it, the fight against it has in a sense only really begun.


Ghitis: Hillary Clinton's global legacy on gay rights


The office has worked to hold governments accountable for the systematic oppression of girls and women and fought for their education in emerging countries. As Hillary said when the office was established: "When the Security Council passed Resolution 1325, we tried to make a very clear statement, that women are still largely shut out of the negotiations that seek to end conflicts, even though women and children are the primary victims of 21st century conflict."


Hillary also included the United States in the Trafficking in Person report. Human Trafficking, a form of modern, mainly sexual, slavery, victimizes mostly women and girls. The annual report reviews the state of global efforts to eliminate the practice. "We believe it is important to keep the spotlight on ourselves," she said. "Human trafficking is not someone else's problem. Involuntary servitude is not something we can ignore or hope doesn't exist in our own communities."


She also created the office of Global Partnerships. And there is much more.


She has held her own in palaces and held the hands of hungry children in mud-hut villages, pursuing an agenda that empowers women, children, the poor and helpless.


We shouldn't have been surprised. Her book "It Takes a Village" focused on the impact that those outside the family have, for better or worse, on a child's well-being.


As secretary of state, she did all she could to make sure our impact as a nation would be for the better.


Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion


Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion


The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Donna Brazile.






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Amazon unveils exclusive ‘Downton Abbey’ deal with PBS






SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc said on Friday that it struck an exclusive deal to distribute seasons of the hit TV show “Downton Abbey” to members of its subscription-based video streaming service.


Beginning June 18, Amazon‘s Prime Instant Video service will be the exclusive subscription service for streaming Season 3 of “Downton Abbey,” as part of a new content licensing agreement with PBS Distribution, a unit of The Public Broadcasting Service.






The online retailer said that later this year, no digital subscription service other than Prime Instant Video will offer any seasons of “Downton Abbey.”


The phenomenally successful British period drama, now in its third season, has become both a critical success and a cult favorite among its many U.S. fans.


Written by Oscar-winning scriptwriter Julian Fellowes, the series follows the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their servants at an impressive country estate in the early 1900s.


Prime Instant Video will continue to be the exclusive subscription home through Season 4 and, if produced, Season 5 of the show, the company added.


The deal is the latest effort by Amazon, the world’s largest Internet retailer, to expand in digital content and take on Netflix Inc, the leading online video subscription service in the United States.


Amazon is spending heavily on licensing deals for movies and TV shows to attract more viewers to Prime Instant Video. The service is offered free to subscribers of Amazon Prime, the company’s broader online shopping subscription program, which costs $ 79 a year for two-day shipping in the United States.


Netflix and rival Hulu Plus, owned by Comcast Corp, News Corp and Walt Disney Co, currently offer some seasons of “Downton Abbey.”


As of July 1, no “Downton Abbey” seasons will be available on Netflix, according to a person familiar with the agreement between Amazon and PBS.


By obtaining exclusive rights later this year to stream “Downton Abbey” on Prime Instant Video, Amazon is hoping more people will sign up for its broader Prime service. When that happens, shoppers often spend more on Amazon.com, analysts say.


Amazon’s choice of “Downton Abbey” was likely driven by an analysis of buying behavior by existing customers, a strength of Amazon’s.


The company noted that Seasons 1 and 2 of the series are the most-watched TV seasons of all time on the Prime Instant Video service already.


“Our Prime customers have spoken,” Brad Beale, director of digital video content acquisition for Amazon, said in a statement. “The series is consistently in our top most watched TV shows each week.”


(Editing by Matthew Lewis)


TV News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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US economy adds 157,000 new jobs







The US economy added 157,000 jobs last month, which was slightly below forecasts, but the number of new jobs at the end of 2012 was revised up significantly, official data has shown.






In November and December, the Labor Department’s revised figures showed that 127,000 more jobs were created than initially thought.


But the unemployment rate ticked up to 7.9% in January, from 7.8% in December.


In 2012, an average of 181,000 jobs a month were created, the data showed.


The news helped lift shares on Wall Street to levels not seen since before the financial crisis. In early trading the Dow Jones index rose above 14,000 for the first time since October 2007.


The unemployment rate is based on a survey of households, while the job creation figure is taken from a survey of employers.


On Wednesday, government data indicated that the US economy unexpectedly shrank at an annualised rate of 0.1% in the fourth quarter of 2012.


Meanwhile, an industry survey on Friday said that the US manufacturing sector grew in January at the fastest pace for nine months.


The latest purchasing managers’ index from financial data firm Markit rose to 55.8 last month, up from 54 in December. A reading above 50 indicates growth.


Markit said that its latest survey “suggests the underlying health of the industrial sector continues to improve, and rising production will help the economy return to growth in the first quarter, provided there are no set-backs in coming months”.


‘Positives and negatives’


The Labor Department said that in January, jobs were created in retail, construction, healthcare and wholesale trade, but jobs were lost in transportation and warehousing.


Employment in retail rose by 33,000, compared with an average monthly gain of 20,000 in 2012.


Employment in construction rose by 28,000. The Labor Department said that the industry had created 296,000 jobs since falling to a low in January 2011, but added that the current level of employment was still some two million below its previous peak in April 2006.


Healthcare added 23,000 jobs in January, while wholesale trade added 15,000.


There was little change in manufacturing employment, which has been essentially flat since July 2012.


On the downside, couriers and messengers lost 19,000 jobs, after strong seasonal hiring in November and December came to an end.


Darrell Cronk, regional chief investment officer for Wells Fargo Private Bank in New York, said: “Like most of our jobs reports, it seems like every month, there is something for everybody in this one – there are positives and negatives.


“It was certainly below expectations and a slight negative that we saw a tick up in the unemployment rate from 7.8% to 7.9%, especially with the labour force participation rate staying where it is, which suggests there aren’t a vast influx of those unemployed/underemployed coming back being job seekers. That was disappointing.”


BBC News – Business





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Obama offers faith groups new birth control rule






WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration on Friday announced a new accommodation for religious nonprofits that object to providing health insurance that covers birth control.


The new regulation attempts to create a barrier between religious groups and contraception coverage, through insurers or a third party, that would still give women free access to contraception. Whether religious groups will accept this new approach depends in part on the technical details of how it’s paid for.






The new health care law requires most employers, including faith-affiliated hospitals and nonprofits, to provide health insurance that includes artificial contraception, including sterilization, as a free preventive service. The goal, in part, is to help women space out pregnancies to promote health.


Religious groups which primarily employ and serve people of their own faith — such as churches — were exempt. But other religiously affiliated groups, such as church-affiliated universities and Catholic Charities, were told they had to comply.


Roman Catholic bishops, evangelicals and some religious leaders who have generally been supportive of President Barack Obama’s policies lobbied fiercely for a broader exemption. The Catholic Church prohibits the use of artificial contraception. Evangelicals generally permit the use of birth control, but some object to specific methods such as the morning-after contraceptive pill, which they argue is tantamount to abortion.


Obama had promised to change the birth control requirement so insurance companies — and not faith-affiliated employers — would pay for the coverage, but religious leaders said more changes were needed to make the plan work.


Since then, more than 40 lawsuits have been filed by religious nonprofits and secular for-profit businesses claiming the mandate violates their religious beliefs. As expected, this latest regulation does not provide any accommodation for individual business owners who have religious objections to the rule.


The latest version of the mandate is now subject to a 60-day public comment period. The mandate takes effect for religious nonprofits in August.


Policy analyst Sarah Lipton-Lubet of the American Civil Liberties Union said the group was assessing details of the proposal, but that it appeared to meet the ACLU’s goal of providing “seamless coverage” of birth control for the affected women.


Yahoo! Finance – Personal Finance | Insurance





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S&P 500 rises one percent as Wall Street rallies


NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. stocks hit five-year highs with each of the three major indexes up at least 1 percent on Friday, after jobs and manufacturing data showed the economy's sluggish recovery is still on track.


The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> gained 139.22 points, or 1.00 percent, to 13,999.80. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> rose 15.04 points, or 1.00 percent, to 1,513.15. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> advanced 35.47 points, or 1.13 percent, to 3,177.60.


(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Kenneth Barry)



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Goodell says he welcomes Obama's remarks on safety


NEW ORLEANS (AP) — NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says the league will look at eliminating certain low blocks and improve the quality of playing fields as part of a program to improve player safety.


In his annual message on the state of the league two days before Sunday's Super Bowl, Goodell said neurosurgeons will also be added to game day medical staffs.


Goodell pledged to pioneer new approaches to safety and will continue to make it a priority.


He said he welcomed recent comments by President Barack Obama about football safety, and said there are improvements constantly in treating head injuries. He said the game can be made safer while making football better.


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Hillary: Secretary of empowerment




Girls hug U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton during a 2010 tour of a shelter run for sex trafficking victims in Cambodia.




STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • Donna Brazile: Clinton stepping down as Secretary of State. Maybe she'll run for president

  • She says as secretary she expanded foreign policy to include effect on regular people

  • She says she was first secretary of state to focus on empowering women and girls

  • Brazile: Clinton has fought for education and inclusion in politics for women and girls




Editor's note: Donna Brazile, a CNN contributor and a Democratic strategist, is vice chairwoman for voter registration and participation at the Democratic National Committee. She is a nationally syndicated columnist, an adjunct professor at Georgetown University and author of "Cooking with Grease." She was manager for the Gore-Lieberman presidential campaign in 2000.


(CNN) -- As Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton steps down from her job Friday, many are assuming she will run for president. And she may. In fact, five of the first eight presidents first served their predecessors as secretary of state.


It hasn't happened in more than a century, though that may change should Clinton decide to run. After all, she has been a game changer her entire life.


But before we look ahead, I think we should appreciate what she's done as secretary of state; it's a high profile, high pressure job. You have to deal with the routine as if it is critical and with crisis as if it's routine. You have to manage egos, protocols, customs and Congress. You have to be rhetorical and blunt, diplomatic and direct.



CNN Contributor Donna Brazile

CNN Contributor Donna Brazile



As secretary of state you are dealing with heads of state and with we the people. And the president of the United States has to trust you -- implicitly.


On the road with Hillary Clinton


Of all Clinton's accomplishments -- and I will mention just a few -- this may be the most underappreciated. During the election, pundits were puzzled and amazed not only at how much energy former President Bill Clinton poured into Obama's campaign, but even more at how genuine and close the friendship was.


Obama was given a lot of well-deserved credit for reaching out to the Clintons by appointing then-Sen. Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state in the first place. But trust is a two-way street and has to be earned. We should not underestimate or forget how much Clinton did and how hard she worked. She deserved that trust, as she deserved to be in the war room when Osama bin Laden was killed.


By the way, is there any other leader in the last 50 years whom we routinely refer to by a first name, and do so more out of respect than familiarity? The last person I can think of was Ike -- the elder family member who we revere with affection. Hillary is Hillary.


It's not surprising that we feel we know her. She has been part of our public life for more than 20 years. She's been a model of dignity, diplomacy, empathy and toughness. She also has done something no other secretary of state has done -- including the two women who preceded her in the Cabinet post.


Rothkopf: President Hillary Clinton? If she wants it



Hillary has transformed our understanding -- no, our definition -- of foreign affairs. Diplomacy is no longer just the skill of managing relations with other countries. The big issues -- war and peace, terror, economic stability, etc. -- remain, and she has handled them with firmness and authority, with poise and confidence, and with good will, when appropriate.


But it is not the praise of diplomats or dictators that will be her legacy. She dealt with plenipotentiaries, but her focus was on people. Foreign affairs isn't just about treaties, she taught us, it's about the suffering and aspirations of those affected by the treaties, made or unmade.








Most of all, diplomacy should refocus attention on the powerless.


Of course, Hillary wasn't the first secretary of state to advocate for human rights or use the post to raise awareness of abuses or negotiate humanitarian relief or pressure oppressors. But she was the first to focus on empowerment, particularly of women and girls.


She created the first Office of Global Women's Issues. That office fought to highlight the plight of women around the world. Rape of women has been a weapon of war for centuries. Though civilized countries condemn it, the fight against it has in a sense only really begun.


Ghitis: Hillary Clinton's global legacy on gay rights


The office has worked to hold governments accountable for the systematic oppression of girls and women and fought for their education in emerging countries. As Hillary said when the office was established: "When the Security Council passed Resolution 1325, we tried to make a very clear statement, that women are still largely shut out of the negotiations that seek to end conflicts, even though women and children are the primary victims of 21st century conflict."


Hillary also included the United States in the Trafficking in Person report. Human Trafficking, a form of modern, mainly sexual, slavery, victimizes mostly women and girls. The annual report reviews the state of global efforts to eliminate the practice. "We believe it is important to keep the spotlight on ourselves," she said. "Human trafficking is not someone else's problem. Involuntary servitude is not something we can ignore or hope doesn't exist in our own communities."


She also created the office of Global Partnerships. And there is much more.


She has held her own in palaces and held the hands of hungry children in mud-hut villages, pursuing an agenda that empowers women, children, the poor and helpless.


We shouldn't have been surprised. Her book "It Takes a Village" focused on the impact that those outside the family have, for better or worse, on a child's well-being.


As secretary of state, she did all she could to make sure our impact as a nation would be for the better.


Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion


Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion


The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Donna Brazile.






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Geraldo Rivera ”Truly Contemplating” New Jersey Senate Run






LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – Geraldo Rivera said Thursday he is “truly contemplating” running for one of New Jersey‘s U.S. senate seats as a Republican.


The Fox News host said on his radio show that he would run against incumbent Democrat Frank Lautenberg or Newark Mayor Cory Booker, a likely candidate for the seat if the 89-year-old Lautenberg steps down.






“I mention this only briefly, fasten your seatbelt,” Rivera said. “I mentioned this only briefly to my wife … but I am and I’ve been in touch with some people in the Republican Party in New Jersey. I am truly contemplating running for Senate against Frank Lautenberg or Cory Booker.”


The Republican Party of New Jersey did not immediately reply to requests from TheWrap for confirmation.


Lautenberg, currently the oldest sitting senator, has not yet announced whether he will run for another term in 2014. But Booker has said he plans to make a bid for the seat.


Rivera said he is “having a great time” working in media but the 69-year-old said he has reached an age where he must contemplate other moves.


“I’m not going to drill this out, because obviously I’ve got commitments to Fox and to here at the radio program and I’m really having a great time,” Rivera said. “But I figure at my age, if I’m going to do it I’ve got to do it. And there doesn’t seem to be any Republicans ready to work against or run against Corey Booker, the popular Newark mayor.”


TV News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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MasterCard beats on rise in card spend, cautious on 2013






(Reuters) – MasterCard Inc’s fourth-quarter results topped Wall Street estimates as more people chose card payments over cash but the payment network said global economic woes could slow revenue growth in 2013.


Shares of company, which had risen 4 percent in early trade, changed course and were down more than $ 1 at $ 514.35 in late-morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange.






“There is going to be uncertainty in Europe and the US could well be on a path for a slow recovery, but fiscal policy discussions and circumstances have not been completely resolved,” Chief Executive Ajay Banga said on a conference call. “They could affect consumer confidence further.”


U.S. consumer sentiment unexpectedly deteriorated for a second straight month to its lowest in over a year in January, while a weaker economy in the United Kingdom is pushing the country closer to a “triple-dip” recession.


“Given the current economic backdrop, we expect net revenue growth in the first half of 2013 to be below the 10.7 percent currency-adjusted rate that we saw in the second half of 2012,” Chief Financial Officer Martina Hund-Mejean said.


But she backed the company’s long-term earnings objectives. MasterCard expects 20 percent compounded annual growth on an earnings-per-share basis in the 2013 to 2015 period.


BETTING ON AFRICA, MOBILE


MasterCard and larger rival Visa Inc run debit and credit card networks and have been working to spread card payments in parts of the world dominated by cash transactions.


For both companies, business in Africa, Asia and the Middle East has been growing faster than the United States of the last few quarters.


MasterCard customers made $ 727 billion of purchases worldwide on a local currency basis, up 13 percent.


Purchase volumes in Asia-Pacific, the Middle East and Africa grew at 19.5 percent, far outpacing the 7.1 percent rise in the United States.


The company is now focusing on tie-ups with banks in Africa and Brazil, where mobile and card payments are on the rise.


It signed a deal with Equity Bank of Kenya earlier this month to issue five million debit and prepaid cards over the next 18-months. The deal will also be extended to Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda and South Sudan later.


The company has also partnered with TIM, the second-largest mobile network operator in Brazil, to launch a mobile money program for its subscribers.


“I’m trying to put my bets in multiple places in mobile,” Chief Executive Ajay Banga said on the call.


Banga wants the company to be able to offer all kinds of mobile payments, including tap-and-go transactions, transferring money via short messaging services and mobile wallets.


RESULTS BEAT


MasterCard’s emerging markets focus boosted its fourth-quarter results. It earned $ 605 million, or $ 4.86 per share, in the quarter, up from $ 19 million, or 15 cents per share, a year earlier.


The Purchase, New York-based company took a $ 495 million litigation charge in the year-ago quarter.


Fourth-quarter revenue rose 10 percent to $ 1.9 billion – the fastest it has grown in three quarters.


Analysts on average expected the company to earn $ 4.81 per share, excluding items, on revenue of $ 1.89 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.


MasterCard’s results bode well for Visa, which is slated to report earnings next week.


(Reporting by Jochelle Mendonca in Bangalore; Editing by Roshni Menon and Saumyadeb Chakrabarty)


Economy News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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US mortgage rates rise this week near record lows






The average U.S. rate on the 30-year fixed mortgage rose this week to its highest level in four months but remains low by historical standards.


Here’s a look at rates for fixed and adjustable mortgages over the past 52 weeks:
































Current avg.Last week52-week high52-week low
30-year fixed3.533.424.083.31
15-year fixed2.812.713.302.63
5-year adjustable2.702.672.962.67
1-year adjustable2.592.572.842.52
All values in percentage points
Source: Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey

Yahoo! Finance – Personal Finance | Loans





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Wall Street dips on profit taking, Friday data eyed

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks edged lower on Thursday as investors took profit after a mixed bag of economic data, while stellar earnings from Qualcomm helped buoy the Nasdaq.


Even with the retreat, the S&P 500 is on track to post its best month since October 2011 and its best start to a year since 1997.


Investors are expecting a pullback in equities after recent gains, though they have bought on dips over the past four weeks, analysts said. The largest daily decline on the S&P 500 so far in 2013 was Thursday's 0.39 percent drop, after data showed the economy contracted in the last quarter of 2012.


"This is a highly rotational market," said Janelle Nelson, portfolio analyst at RBC Wealth Management in Minneapolis, noting how investors dive into beaten-down sectors on the smallest encouraging news.


Job market data released earlier on Thursday showed mildly positive signs for a still-fragile economy, with jobless claims slightly higher and incomes growing at the best pace since 2004.


Those reports come ahead of Friday's payrolls report, which is expected to show employers added 160,000 jobs in January after an increase of 155,000 in December. Friday will also bring reports on consumer confidence, U.S. manufacturing, construction spending and car sales.


"The market's lack of movement is due in part to the large number of economic releases coming out tomorrow," said Nelson.


Qualcomm Inc gained 4.6 percent to $66.43 as the top boost to the Nasdaq Composite after the world's leading supplier of chips for cellphones beat analysts' expectations for quarterly profit and revenue, and raised its targets for the year.


Facebook Inc lost 2.5 percent to $30.47, a day after the social network company said it doubled its mobile advertising revenue in the fourth quarter. However, growth trailed some of Wall Street's most aggressive estimates.


The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> fell 34.71 points or 0.25 percent, to 13,875.71; the S&P 500 <.spx> lost 4.04 points or 0.27 percent, to 1,497.92 and the Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> dropped 1.74 points or 0.06 percent, to 3,140.57.


The S&P 500 has advanced 5 percent in January after legislators in Washington temporarily sidestepped a "fiscal cliff" of automatic tax increases and spending cuts that could have derailed the economic recovery, and in the wake of better-than-expected corporate earnings.


United Parcel Service Inc lost 2 percent to $79.63 after reporting fourth-quarter earnings that were below analysts' estimates on Thursday and forecasting weaker-than-expected profit for 2013.


Kirby Corp added 6.6 percent to $70.87 and Ryder Systems Inc climbed 2.9 percent to $55.81 after posting quarterly results.


Thomson Reuters data through Thursday morning shows that of the 231 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings this season, 69.3 percent have exceeded expectations, a higher proportion than over the past four quarters and above the average since 1994.


Overall, S&P 500 fourth-quarter earnings are forecast to have risen 3.7 percent. That's above a 1.9 percent forecast at the start of the earnings season, but well below a 9.9 percent profit growth forecast on October 1, the data showed.


WMS Industries Inc surged 52.6 percent to $24.98 after the company agreed to be acquired by Scientific Games Corp for $26 per share in cash. Scientific Games jumped 11.9 percent to $9.99.


(Additional reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Bernadette Baum)



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49ers' Culliver apologizes for anti-gay remarks


NEW ORLEANS (AP) — San Francisco 49ers cornerback Chris Culliver apologized Thursday for anti-gay comments he made to a comedian during Super Bowl media day, saying "that's not what I feel in my heart."


"I'm sorry if I offended anyone. They were very ugly comments," Culliver said during an hour-long media session. "Hopefully I learn and grow from this experience and this situation."


He said he would welcome a gay teammate to the 49ers, a reversal of his remarks to Artie Lange two days earlier during an interview at the Superdome.


"I treat everyone equal," Culliver said. "That's not how I feel."


He added that he realized his comments were especially offensive to many people in San Francisco and the Bay Area, which is home to a large gay community.


"I love San Francisco," Culliver said.


During the interview with Lange, Culliver responded to questions by saying he wouldn't welcome a gay player in the locker room. He also said the 49ers didn't have any gay players, and if they did those players should leave.


San Francisco coach Jim Harbaugh met privately with Culliver to discuss the remarks.


"I reject what he said," Harbaugh said. "That's not something that reflects the way the organization feels, the way the rest of the players feel."


The coach would not discuss if Culliver would face discipline from the team, such as a fine or loss of playing time.


"He pledged to grow from it," Harbaugh said.


The interview began with Lange asking Culliver about his sexual plans with women during Super Bowl week. Lange followed up with a question about whether Culliver would consider pursuing a gay man.


"I don't do the gay guys, man. I don't do that," Culliver said during the one-minute taped interview. "Ain't got no gay people on the team. They gotta get up outta here if they do. Can't be with that sweet stuff."


Lange asked Culliver to reiterate his thoughts, to which the player said, "It's true." He added he wouldn't welcome a gay teammate — no matter how talented.


"Nah. Can't be ... in the locker room, nah," he said. "You've gotta come out 10 years later after that."


The 24-year-old Culliver, a third-round draft pick in 2011 out of South Carolina, made 47 tackles with two interceptions and a forced fumble this season while starting six games for the NFC champion Niners (13-4-1).


He had his first career postseason interception in San Francisco's 28-24 win at Atlanta for the NFC title.


The 49ers participate in the NFL's "It Gets Better" anti-bullying campaign. Three organizations working for LGBT inclusion in sports — Athlete Ally, You Can Play, and GLAAD — reacted to Culliver's remarks and later acknowledged his apology.


"Chris Culliver's comments were disrespectful, discriminatory and dangerous, particularly for the young people who look up to him," said Athlete Ally Executive Director Hudson Taylor. "His words underscore the importance of the athlete ally movement and the key role that professional athletes play in shaping an athletic climate that affirms and includes gay and lesbian players."


Calling Lange's questions "real disrespectful," Culliver said he realized he was speaking to a comedian and not a journalist.


"That was pretty much in a joking manner," the player said. "It's nothing about how I feel."


___


Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963


___


Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL


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Fear and loathing in Egypt's Port Said

























Behind the mask


Scales of justice


Moment of truth


Fans celebrate


Armed and ready


Rally at the club


Portrait of the dead


ACAB


Down with Morsi


Army in control


Port Said women protest


Al Masry ultras


The sound of machine guns


Aftermath


Protest


Shots fired


Empty stands


Harrowing reminder





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STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • Chaos erupted in Egypt after 21 people were sentenced to death following a football riot

  • More than 70 people died after match in Port Said between local club Al Masry and Al Ahly

  • Egyptian league was suspended and has yet to restart due to threats of further violence

  • Verdicts for 52 other defendants who were arrested after riot is expected March 9




(CNN) -- The faces of more than 70 young men and boys bore down on the crowd of thousands outside Al Ahly's training complex in Cairo.


As many as 15,000 members of the Ahlawy, the organized ultras fan group of Egypt's most popular soccer club, had gathered here early for the news they, and the country, had been waiting almost a year to hear.


At 10 a.m. a judge was to deliver a verdict on one of the darkest moments in the history of the game.


It happened on February 1, 2012, when more than 70 -- those young men and boys whose faces now appear on a billboard high above the entrance of the club -- lost their lives after a match in the Mediterranean city of Port Said, against local club Al Masry.


Most of the dead were crushed when the Al Masry fans stormed the pitch.








The players sprinted for their lives, finding sanctuary in the dressing room. And then the floodlights went out.


When the lights came back on 10 minutes later, the dead lay piled in a tunnel, in front of a locked, metal gate that had prevented escape before it collapsed under the weight of bodies.


Direct action


Seventy-three people were arrested, many accused of murder. They were mostly Al Masry fans, but included several members of the security forces.


The man allegedly responsible for cutting the power to the lights was also arrested. The Ahlawy suspected that a hidden hand was at work.


There were conspiracy theories, many asked questions: was this just a football rivalry gone very wrong? Or did police allow the violence as payback against the ultras for their part in the revolution?


Read: Clashes erupt after Egypt court sentences


The Ahlawy had played a crucial role in the revolution. They were an organized group of tens of the thousands of young men willing to fight the police -- as they had both inside and out of Egypt's soccer stadiums for the previous four years -- to make their voices heard.


The authorities denied any collusion. It was a tragic accident, they said. Hooliganism and ineptitude, no more, no less, no hidden hand.


But many of the Ahlawy fans were not convinced. The Egyptian soccer league was canceled and the Ahlawy waged a successful direct action campaign to prevent its restart until justice had been served.


The young men waited for the verdict on Saturday. Several had come armed, in anticipation of a further postponement or, worst still, a not guilty verdict. Some carried clubs, others homemade pistols and double-barreled sawn-off shotguns.


Tear gas


At 10 a.m. the judge rose on national television and delivered his verdict. Twenty-one of the accused were sentenced to death. The verdicts for the remaining defendants are expected March 9.


The news swept through the crowd, reducing those in its path to tears of joy; teenagers who had lost friends, mothers who had lost sons, wives who had lost husbands.











Scores dead in Egypt soccer riot














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"It's a very good decision by the court," said Mihai, a member of the Ahlawy who had come to hear the verdict. As with all the ultras, he declined to give his last name.


The guns that had been brought in anticipation of violence were fired into the sky in celebration.


One fan fired an automatic pistol until it jammed. He inspected the piece of failing, unfamiliar equipment. Unable to fix it, he tucked it into his belt and jumped into the sea of celebrating men.


"We hope it will be a perfect ending for this story. We have been waiting for this for so long. For 21 to get executed is a very good decision. So now we wait for the police decision. For sure it wasn't just them that made this," Mihai said.


Back in February, with the raw memories of Port Said just a few weeks old, the Ahlawy had demanded that those responsible should be put to death.


With the court verdict, they received their wish. Justice, they believed, had been served. At least partially.


"The police will be (put to) trial on March 9," said Mohamed, a founding member of the Ahlawy.


The previous night -- on the Egyptian revolution's anniversary -- Cairo was blanketed in tear gas as protesters roamed the streets surrounding Tahrir Square, venting their anger at President Mohamed Morsy and what they see as a lack of any real reforms.


Many, including the Ahlawy, expected further confrontations after the verdict.


But as the crowd moved inside the complex, holding a rally on the club's main soccer pitch, it became clear that no fighting would take place that day.


"I feel satisfied that some of those who committed what we suffered a year ago are going to face what they deserve," said Ahmed, another founding member of the Ahlawy who believed that the right decision had been made.


"It's a strong verdict but they don't deserve less than a strong verdict. Nobody ever wants to see someone dying but when someone kills he deserves a death sentence. He deserves that his life is taken. I don't see a way the police can get away with this."


Port Said ignited


Not everyone was happy, especially those who saw the verdict as a potential springboard to challenge Morsy, whom many of the Ahlawy view as no different from Hosni Mubarak, the former dictator who ruled Egypt for almost 30 years.


"They are giving us something of a painkiller to take out the anger from the young lads -- for me it is not enough," said Hassan, an Ahly fan standing on the training ground pitch.









Egypt unstable after days of protest











































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"All the other political movements and parties were looking at what was going to happen today. Everyone had their hopes for the ultras and now they have given us this painkiller and it has lost its momentum of something really happening against the new regime," he added.


But what had -- if only temporarily -- calmed the Ahlawy, it ignited Port Said.


The verdicts were greeted with astonishment, disbelief, and anger by Al Masry's fans and the families of the 73 accused who had gathered outside the prison in Port Said where the suspects were held.


Like the Ahlawy supporters in Cairo, they too had come prepared. Two policemen were shot dead as the relatives tried to storm the prison. The police fired back. At least 30 people were killed in clashes. Among them was a former Al Masry player.


President Morsy addressed the nation and announced a 30-day curfew, from 9 p.m. until 6 a.m. in the cities worst effected by the violence.


A few hours before the first curfew was due to fall, a storm rolled into Port Said. The streets were empty, the skies dark and pregnant with rain as 9 p.m. approached.


The only sound was the faint, periodic burst of gunfire. It emanated from near the Al Arab police station by the sea.


Smoldering barricades


On approaching it, the dead streets suddenly came alive, as if the entire energy of the city had been focused on one point. Barricades made from burning tires separated the police from groups of young men, exchanging rocks for gunfire.


The clashes had followed the funeral of more protesters, killed the day after the violence outside the prison.


"There are some injuries here," a member of the Red Crescent said as he sheltered from the gunfire in a side street. Ambulances flew by, their sirens blaring.


"We've seen gun bullets from the government. In four days we have seen more than 450 (injured)."


The prospects of a hastily arranged march to defy Morsy's curfew, looked bleak.


But at 8.30 p.m. a crowd of thousands gathered near the same spot the Red Crescent had been waiting to ferry the injured to hospital. They marched through the smoldering barricades towards where the gunfire had previously come from.


Now the army, not the police, was in charge.


Armored personnel carriers and armed troops were stationed on street corners and outside important military and civilian buildings.


At its core were the fans of Al Masry ultras group the Green Eagles. But they were by no means alone. The marchers had come from all sections of Port Said. Several hundred women marched together, denouncing Morsy and Cairo.


The curfew came and went, the crowd mocking its passing. "It's 9 o'clock!" they chanted as they passed the stationed troops.


But there was no animosity towards the army. The police was the enemy. Protesters took it in turns to hug and kiss the young soldiers.


Few would readily admit to being Al Masry fans, nor say whether they were there on that fateful night almost a year ago that set in motion this chain of deadly events.


Vendetta


What they would say is that they believed a miscarriage of justice had taken place, that Morsy had sacrificed Port Said to prevent chaos in Cairo, that traditional antipathy towards Port Said was at play.


"People are truly sure that these people (the 21 sentenced to death) didn't kill anyone. We didn't do it and they (the Ahlawy) don't believe we didn't do this," said Tariq Youssef, a 32-year-old accountant who was on the march with a friend.


"Al Masry will not be back for five years. I'm a big Masry fan. But I can't go anywhere. All the supporters for the big teams in Cairo or anywhere believe that Al Masry supporters did this."


For Tariq, admitting to being an Al Masry supporter outside of Port Said was impossible.


"They say, 'You killed them the Ahly supporters. You are like a terrorist.' Nobody believes us we didn't do anything here. There will be no football in the next five years."


As the march moved back towards the place it had started, machine gun fire rang out once again.


This time it was all around the march, front and back. The crowd scattered. A protester had been shot dead at the back of the march, next to the Al Arab police station.


"In three days we have lost 21 people, judged to be executed, and also about 39 murdered and many injured so there is no family which have not lost a friend, a colleague, a neighbor.


"You can consider this a sort of vendetta between the people and the police," said Muhammad el Agiery, an English tutor who had stayed until the end.


"People are going to stay out all of the night, every day for a month. They reject and refuse the curfew imposed by Morsy," he added.


The next morning the storm was gone and the sun was shining. But the cycle of violence continues. Another funeral march will begin, another barricade will likely be set on fire, and another curfew broken.







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ABC orders drama pilots from Martin Campbell, Maria Maggenti






LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) – “Casino Royale” director Martin Campbell is taking on another intrigue-filled project, this time with ABC.


The network has ordered a pilot for the drama “Reckless,” which Campbell, left, will executive produce.






The pilot involves David, a resourceful problem-solver whose wife is unjustly imprisoned during a political uprising overseas. Desperately to rescue her, he tries every legal option, but after being stymied by the U.S. government in the name of diplomacy, David moves outside of the law — and enters “a world of political intrigue, dangerous alliances and high emotional stakes.”


Chris Black (“Star Trek: Enterprise”) is writing the ABC Studios project.


ABC has also ordered a pilot for the dramedy “Murder in Manhattan.” Written by Maria Maggenti (“Monte Carlo”), the hour-long project follows a mother and daughter who team up as amateur sleuths in New York City.


ABC Studios and DarkFire TV are producing.


TV News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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FRC proposes tougher accounting test on banks’ health






LONDON (Reuters) – Accountants will have to determine more thoroughly if a bank can stand on its own two feet for well over a year without taxpayer help under draft changes from the Financial Reporting Council.


The FRC said auditors such as KPMG, PwC, Deloitte and Ernst & Young would have to examine threats to a company’s business model and capital adequacy through the economic cycle for the sector a company is in.






The planned reform stems from anger among UK policymakers that auditors gave banks a clean bill of health just before taxpayers had to shore them up in the 2007-09 financial crisis.


Currently auditors only attest to a company as a “going concern” for the following 12 months, but an inquiry by Lord Sharman recommended a longer period and wider criteria.


KPMG said the proposals represented a high hurdle as the duration of an economic cycle was long and may be open to debate. “My concern is that it will be difficult for many companies to meet what appears to be such a tough test,” said Tony Cates, KPMG’s head of audit.


The FRC said on Wednesday auditors would also have to be sure a company’s solvency and liquidity can be managed for at least a year, disclose any significant risks posed by this, and demonstrate there has been a “robust going-concern assessment”.


Currently audits of banks look at solvency and liquidity but in other sectors typically only liquidity is looked at in any depth. There is no requirement at present to show there has been any in-depth examination of going concern issues in an audit.


GOING CONCERN


The reform is part of efforts to end the perception in markets that banks would not be allowed to fail and taxpayers would always ultimately step in to rescue them.


Saying a bank is a going concern based on this assumption won’t be acceptable any longer.


“We make it clear it’s not possible or appropriate to rely on banks not being allowed to fail. They would have ensure they have appropriate facilities for as long as they needed,” said Marek Grabowski, head of audit policy at the FRC.


The changes would apply to all listed companies who must be audited, not just banks.


The FRC’s draft changes have been put out to public consultation until April and follow an inquiry chaired by Lord Sharman who said on Wednesday the reforms will be radical for many companies.


“If implemented effectively, they will support better risk decision taking, ensure that investors, creditors and other stakeholders are well protected and informed about going concern risks,” Sharman said in a statement.


Directors would also be forced to recognise, acknowledge and respond to economic and financial distress sooner rather than later, he added.


The FRC wants to introduce the changes in annual reports for 2013 onwards.


(Editing by David Holmes)


Economy News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Wall Street flat after GDP shock, Fed awaited

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were little changed on Wednesday as data showing the economy unexpectedly contracted in the fourth quarter was offset by upbeat parts of the report and strong results from Boeing and Amazon.


Economists stressed that the 0.1 percent contraction in U.S. gross domestic product, caused partly by a plunge in government spending and lower business inventories, is not an indicator of recession.


"Inventories came down and that subtraction is actually positive for the private sector," said Jim Russell, chief equity strategist for U.S. Bank Wealth Management in Cincinnati.


"A lot of the important components going forth are there, like consumption by individuals and capital spending, and they are looking strong."


Wall Street opened slightly higher despite the GDP data, with traders awaiting a statement from the Federal Reserve after its two-day policy-setting meeting. The Fed is expected to keep monetary policy on a steady, accommodative path, though debate continues over when it should curtail its bond-buying program.


The S&P 500 held above 1,500, seen by technical analysts as an inflection point that will determine the overall direction in the near term. The index is on track to post its best month since October 2011 and its best January since 1997.


"This is a very modest pullback after a steep run," said Paul Zemsky, head of asset allocation at ING Investment Management in New York.


"It is too soon for the Fed to start talking about the end of (their bond buying program); the economy needs stimulus to sustain this recovery."


The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> rose 0.27 points or 0 percent, to 13,954.69, the S&P 500 <.spx> lost 1.04 points or 0.07 percent, to 1,506.8 and the Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> dropped 0.11 points or -0 percent, to 3,153.55.


Both Boeing Co and Amazon.com shares gained after earnings beat expectations, continuing a trend this quarter of high-profile names advancing after results.


Amazon rose 5.4 percent to $274.40 and Boeing rose 1.2 percent to $74.54.


Thomson Reuters data showed that of the 192 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings this season 68.8 percent have been above analyst expectations, which is a higher proportion than over the past four quarters and above the average since 1994.


Chesapeake Energy rose 6.5 percent to $20.20 a day after it said Aubrey McClendon would step down as chief executive. The last year has been marked by civil and criminal probes into the second-largest U.S. natural gas producer.


Research In Motion shares fell 5.7 percent to $14.76 after the company, which is changing its name to BlackBerry, unveiled a long-delayed line of smartphones in hopes of a comeback into a market it once dominated.


Giving the market extra support, private sector employment topped forecasts with the ADP National Employment report showing 192,000 jobs added in January, higher than the 165,000 expectation.


(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Kenneth Barry and Nick Zieminski)



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