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Label: LifestyleAfter early start, worst of flu season may be over
Label: HealthNEW YORK (AP) — The worst of the flu season appears to be over.
The number of states reporting intense or widespread illnesses dropped again last week, and in a few states there was very little flu going around, U.S. health officials said Friday.
The season started earlier than normal, first in the Southeast and then spreading. But now, by some measures, flu activity has been ebbing for at least four weeks in much of the country. Flu and pneumonia deaths also dropped the last two weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
"It's likely that the worst of the current flu season is over," CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said.
But flu is hard to predict, he and others stressed, and there have been spikes late in the season in the past.
For now, states like Georgia and New York — where doctor's offices were jammed a few weeks ago — are reporting low flu activity. The hot spots are now the West Coast and the Southwest.
Among the places that have seen a drop: Lehigh Valley Hospital-Cedar Crest in Allentown, Pa., which put up a tent outside its emergency room last month to help deal with the steady stream of patients. There were about 100 patients each day back then. Now it's down to 25 and the hospital may pack up its tent next week, said Terry Burger, director of infection control and prevention for the hospital.
"There's no question that we're seeing a decline," she said.
In early December, CDC officials announced flu season had arrived, a month earlier than usual. They were worried, saying it had been nine years since a winter flu season started like this one. That was 2003-04 — one of the deadliest seasons in the past 35 years, with more than 48,000 deaths.
Like this year, the major flu strain was one that tends to make people sicker, especially the elderly, who are most vulnerable to flu and its complications
But back then, that year's flu vaccine wasn't made to protect against that bug, and fewer people got flu shots. The vaccine is reformulated almost every year, and the CDC has said this year's vaccine is a good match to the types that are circulating. A preliminary CDC study showed it is about 60 percent effective, which is close to the average.
So far, the season has been labeled moderately severe.
Like others, Lehigh Valley's Burger was cautious about making predictions. "I'm not certain we're completely out of the woods," with more wintry weather ahead and people likely to be packed indoors where flu can spread around, she said.
The government does not keep a running tally of flu-related deaths in adults, but has received reports of 59 deaths in children. The most — nine — were in Texas, where flu activity was still high last week. Roughly 100 children die in an average flu season, the CDC says
On average, about 24,000 Americans die each flu season, according to the CDC.
According to the CDC report, the number of states with intense activity is down to 19, from 24 the previous week, and flu is widespread in 38 states, down from 42.
Flu is now minimal in Florida, Kentucky, Maine, Montana, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
___
Online:
CDC: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/
Stocks end higher for sixth straight week, tech leads
Label: BusinessNEW YORK (Reuters) - The Nasdaq composite stock index closed at a 12-year high and the S&P 500 index at a five-year high, boosted by gains in technology shares and stronger overseas trade figures.
The S&P 500 also posted a sixth straight week of gains for the first time since August.
The technology sector led the day's gains, with the S&P 500 technology index <.splrct> up 1.0 percent. Gains in professional network platform LinkedIn Corp
Shares of LinkedIn jumped 21.3 percent to $150.48 after the social networking site announced strong quarterly profits and gave a bullish forecast for the year.
AOL Inc shares rose 7.4 percent to $33.72 after the online company reported higher quarterly profit, boosted by a 13 percent rise in advertising sales.
Data showed Chinese exports grew more than expected, a positive sign for the global economy. The U.S. trade deficit narrowed in December, suggesting the U.S. economy likely grew in the fourth quarter instead of contracting slightly as originally reported by the U.S. government.
"That may have sent a ray of optimism," said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co in Lake Oswego, Oregon.
Trading volume on Friday was below average for the week as a blizzard swept into the northeastern United States.
The U.S. stock market has posted strong gains since the start of the year, with the S&P 500 up 6.4 percent since December 31. The advance has slowed in recent days, with fourth-quarter earnings winding down and few incentives to continue the rally on the horizon.
"I think we're in the middle of a trading range and I'd put plus or minus 5.0 percent around it. Fundamental factors are best described as neutral," Dickson said.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> ended up 48.92 points, or 0.35 percent, at 13,992.97. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 8.54 points, or 0.57 percent, at 1,517.93. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 28.74 points, or 0.91 percent, at 3,193.87, its highest closing level since November 2000.
For the week, the Dow was down 0.1 percent, the S&P 500 was up 0.3 percent and the Nasdaq up 0.5 percent.
Shares of Dell
Dell's largest independent shareholder, Southeastern Asset Management, said it plans to oppose the buyout of the personal computer maker, setting up a battle for founder Michael Dell.
Signs of economic strength overseas buoyed sentiment on Wall Street. Chinese exports grew more than expected in January, while imports climbed 28.8 percent, highlighting robust domestic demand. German data showed a 2012 surplus that was the nation's second highest in more than 60 years, an indication of the underlying strength of Europe's biggest economy.
Separately, U.S. economic data showed the trade deficit shrank in December to $38.5 billion, its narrowest in nearly three years, indicating the economy did much better in the fourth quarter than initially estimated.
Earnings have mostly come in stronger than expected since the start of the reporting period. Fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies now are estimated up 5.2 percent versus a year ago, according to Thomson Reuters data. That contrasts with a 1.9 percent growth forecast at the start of the earnings season.
Molina Healthcare Inc
The CBOE Volatility index <.vix>, Wall Street's so-called fear gauge, was down 3.6 percent at 13.02. The gauge, a key measure of market expectations of short-term volatility, generally moves inversely to the S&P 500.
"I'm watching the 14 level closely" on the CBOE Volatility index, said Bryan Sapp, senior trading analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research. "The break below it at the beginning of the year signaled the sharp rally in January, and a rally back above it could be a sign to exercise some caution."
Volume was roughly 5.6 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE MKT, compared with the 2012 average daily closing volume of about 6.45 billion.
Advancers outpaced decliners on the NYSE by nearly 2 to 1 and on the Nasdaq by almost 5 to 3.
(Additional reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by Bernadette Baum, Nick Zieminski, Kenneth Barry and Andrew Hay)
Israel's Lieberman says Palestinian peace accord impossible
Label: WorldJERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel has no chance of signing a permanent peace accord with the Palestinians and should instead seek a long-term interim deal, the most powerful political partner of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Saturday.
The remarks by Avigdor Lieberman, an ultranationalist whose joint party list with Netanyahu narrowly won a January 22 election while centrist challengers made surprise gains, seemed designed to dampen expectations at home and abroad of fresh peacemaking.
A spring visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories by U.S. President Barack Obama, announced this week, has stirred speculation that foreign pressure for a diplomatic breakthrough could build - though Washington played down that possibility.
In a television interview, ex-foreign minister Lieberman linked the more than two-year-old impasse to pan-Arab political upheaval that has boosted Islamists hostile to the Jewish state.
These include Hamas, rivals of U.S.-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who control the Gaza Strip and spurn coexistence with Israel though they have mooted extended truces.
"Anyone who thinks that in the center of this socio-diplomatic ocean, this tsunami which is jarring the Arab world, it is possible to arrive at the magic solution of a comprehensive peace with the Palestinians does not understand," Lieberman told Israel's Channel Two.
"This is impossible. It is not possible to solve the conflict here. The conflict can be managed and it is important to manage the conflict ... to negotiate on a long-term interim agreement."
Abbas broke off talks in late 2010 in protest at Israel's settlement of the occupied West Bank. He angered Israel and the United States in November by securing a U.N. status upgrade that implicitly recognized Palestinian independence in all the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza.
Israel insists it will keep East Jerusalem and swathes of West Bank settlements under any eventual peace deal. Most world powers consider the settlements illegal because they take up land seized in the 1967 Middle East war.
Lieberman, himself a West Bank settler, said the ball was "in Abu Mazen's (Abbas') court" to revive diplomacy.
Abbas has demanded Israel first freeze all settlement construction. With two decades gone since Palestinians signed their first interim deal with Israel, he has ruled out any new negotiations that do not solemnize Palestinian statehood.
Netanyahu's spokesman Mark Regev noted that Lieberman, in the Channel Two interview, had said he was expressing his own opinion.
Asked how Netanyahu saw peace prospects for an accord with the Palestinians, Regev referred to a speech on Tuesday in which the conservative prime minister said that Israel, while addressing threats by its enemies, "must also pursue secure, stable and realistic peace with our neighbors".
Netanyahu has previously spoken in favor of a Palestinian state, though he has been cagey on its borders and whether he would be prepared to dismantle Israeli settlements.
Lieberman's role in the next coalition government is unclear as he faces trial for corruption. If convicted, he could be barred from the cabinet. Lieberman denies wrongdoing and has said he would like to regain the foreign portfolio, which he surrendered after his indictment was announced last year.
(Writing by Dan Williams; Editing by Stephen Powell)
Sue Paterno Breaks Her Silence, Defends Late Husband Joe
Label: LifestyleSue and Joe Paterno in 2010
Nabil K. Mark/Centre Daily Times/MCT/Getty
Nearly one year after Joe Paterno's death amid scandal, his widow is speaking out.
The football coach – whose heralded 61-year career at PSU ended amid speculation that he did not do enough to prevent former employee Jerry Sandusky from sexually abusing young boys – was "scrupulously honest, rigidly moral and absolutely unafraid of the consequences of doing the right thing," his widow, Sue, says in a letter sent to former Penn State football players Friday.
On Sunday morning, Sue Paterno will release the results of an investigation she ordered into her husband's conduct during the period when Sandusky was bringing his young victims to the university campus, and later when a witness to one of Sandusky's crimes came to the Paternos' home to report some of what he had seen.
She did not give the results of the report in her letter to the players, instead urging them to go to paterno.com on Sunday to read it themselves. The investigation, carried out by experts hired by her lawyers, was a response to a report commissioned by Penn State's board of directors and conducted by former FBI Director Louis Freeh last July. The report alleged that Paterno and other top school officials had shown "shocking disregard for child victims" and tried to cover up the scandal.
"I did not recognize the man Mr. Freeh described," she wrote. "I am here to tell you as definitively and forcefully as I know how that Mr. Freeh could not have been more off base in his assessment of Joe."
"I knew Joe Paterno as well as one human being can know another. Joe was exactly the moral, disciplined and demanding man you knew him to be."
In an exclusive at-home interview with PEOPLE, Sue, 73, goes on to say that "Joe lived his values every day, on and off the field, and he instilled those values in his players. Honesty was paramount."
In October, Sandusky, 69, was sentenced to 30 to 60 years in prison on 45 counts of child sexual abuse.
For Sue Paterno's complete interview, pick up next week's PEOPLE, on newsstands next Friday
Health officials: Worst of flu season may be over
Label: HealthNEW YORK (AP) — The worst of the flu season appears to be over.
The number of states reporting intense or widespread flu dropped again last week, U.S. health officials said Friday.
The season started earlier than normal, spiking first in the Southeast and then spreading. But now, by some measures, flu activity has been ebbing for at least four weeks in much of the country. Flu and pneumonia deaths have been dropping for two weeks, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
"It's likely that the worst of the current flu season is over," CDC spokesman Tom Skinner said in an email.
It's been nine years since a conventional flu season started like this one. That was the winter of 2003-04 — one of the deadliest in the past 35 years, with more than 48,000 deaths. Like this year, that season had the same dominant flu strain, one that tends to make people sicker.
But back then, the flu vaccine didn't protect against that bug, and fewer people got flu shots. The vaccine is reformulated each year, and the CDC has said this year's vaccine is a good match to the types that are circulating. A preliminary CDC study showed this year's version is about 60 percent effective.
So far, the season has been labeled moderately severe.
The government does not keep a running tally of flu-related deaths in adults, but has received reports of 59 such deaths in children. The most — nine — were in Texas, where flu activity was still high last week.
On average, about 24,000 Americans die each flu season, according to the CDC.
Flu vaccinations are recommended for everyone 6 months or older.
Wall Street jumps; Nasdaq near 12-year high
Label: BusinessNEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks climbed on Friday, pushing the S&P 500 to a fresh five-year high and putting the Nasdaq within a hair of a 12-year intraday high, following a batch of encouraging domestic and international economic reports.
Data showing stronger international trade in China and Germany, and a report indicating the U.S. trade deficit had narrowed in December, pointed to improving global demand.
"That may have sent a ray of optimism," said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co in Lake Oswego, Oregon.
The technology sector led the day's gains, with the S&P 500 technology index <.splrct> up 1 percent. Gains in LinkedIn Corp
The benchmark S&P 500 <.spx>, up more than 6 percent for the year, is on track for six straight weeks of gains for the first time since August 2012.
But an advance has been tougher in recent days as investors await strong trading incentives to drive the index further upward.
"I think we're in the middle of a trading range and I'd put plus or minus 5 percent around it. Fundamental factors are best described as neutral," Dickson said.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 40.94 points, or 0.29 percent, at 13,984.99. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 7.72 points, or 0.51 percent, at 1,517.11. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 27.94 points, or 0.88 percent, at 3,193.08.
The Nasdaq was just 3 points shy of its highest level since November 2000.
Shares of LinkedIn jumped 21.1 percent to $150.31 after announcing quarterly profits and giving a bullish forecast for the year.
AOL Inc shares rose 7.5 percent to $33.77 after the online company reported higher quarterly profit, boosted by a 13 percent rise in advertising sales.
The CBOE Volatility index <.vix>, Wall Street's so-called fear gauge, was down 4.2 percent at 12.94. The gauge, a key measure of market expectations of short-term volatility, generally moves inversely to the S&P 500.
"I'm watching the 14 level closely" on the CBOE Volatility index, said Bryan Sapp, senior trading analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research. "The break below it at the beginning of the year signaled the sharp rally in January, and a rally back above it could be a sign to exercise some caution."
Data showed Chinese exports grew more than expected in January, while imports climbed 28.8 percent, highlighting robust domestic demand, while German data showed a 2012 surplus that was the nation's second highest in more than 60 years, an indication of the underlying strength of Europe's biggest economy.
Separately, U.S. economic data showed the trade deficit shrank in December to $38.5 billion, its narrowest in nearly three years, indicating the economy did much better in the fourth quarter than initially estimated.
(Additional reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by Bernadette Baum and Nick Zieminski)
EU leaders approve budget, and everyone wins - at least politically
Label: WorldAfter a vigorous all-nighter of horse-trading, European Union leaders in Brussels overcame what appeared to be unsalvageable differences and on Friday approved a 960 billion euro ($1.3 trillion), seven-year budget for the 27-member block.
But while the new 2014-2020 budget allows the leaders involved to claim victory to their constituents back home, the agreement's significance is mostly political, rather than practical – and could still be subject to a veto from the EU Parliament.
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The core divide at the summit was a familiar one, once again pitting the French-led block, backed by Italy and Spain, that wanted to secure funds to spur economic growth, against the British-led block, backed by richer and smaller northern European nations, that demanded more austerity and shrinking of what they see as an giant EU bureaucracy.
The ultimate broker was – not surprisingly – Germany's Angela Merkel, who supported cuts, but prioritized clinching a deal in order to avoid exposing the EU as a dysfunctional block unable to agree on common policies: a scenario that could have undermined its credibility when it comes to economic recovery policies.
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Ultimately, all parties agreed on a 45 billion euro ($60 billion) reduction from the current budget cycle, and a symbolic 12 billion euro ($16 billion) less than a November proposal that Britain and its allies rejected, raising worries that a deal was not forthcoming. The cuts will come mostly from energy and transport projects.
"Deal done!" EU President Herman Van Rompuy said in Twitter. "We simply could not ignore the extremely difficult economic realities across Europe, so it had to be a leaner budget," he said in a press conference.
EVERYONE WINS
The apparently irreconcilable positions among Europe's leaders are driven by domestic politics and opposing visions of what the EU should be, rather than actual number-crunching. Those contrasting visions are not easily smoothed over, as the budget must be unanimously approved by country leaders.
In addition, the EU Parliament has veto power and it has threatened to still block approval if the cuts are too big.
But EU President Herman Van Rompuy, who is responsible for proposing compromises to bridge the budget differences, designed a budget that allowed all major participants to claim victory with their constituencies.
British Prime Minister David Cameron, who threatened multiple times to veto the budget in order to placate growing euroskepticism from his coalition partners, imposed the symbolic austerity. France's Francois Holland can claim he blocked an overly thrifty budget to show his citizens that he would defend French interests.
Ultimately, it appears that every nation can claim victory. The UK can claim the EU yielded to its demands; Denmark will get the bigger rebate it asked for; Germany will reaffirm its leadership role, and France will not lose its agriculture subsidies.
Italy and Spain secured little change to their net receipts, though Spain will be the main beneficiary of a 6 billion euro fund aimed at cutting youth unemployment.
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING?
But for all the political significance, the practical implications of the agreement are limited, as the EU budget is not designed to finance national expenditure. Every country has to contribute to the budget, depending on numerous factors, especially the size of its population and economy. But every country also received rebates toward specific policies, the biggest being agricultural subsidies, rural development, and infrastructure projects, that mostly benefit France, Poland, Spain, Italy, and Eastern Europe.
The budget is designed to bridge the economic and development differences in Europe. Rich northern European countries, and France, are net contributors, while southern and eastern European countries are net receivers. The logic is that rich countries ultimately benefit from having a more balanced EU.
No member country actually depends on the EU budget, though. The headline EU budget is equivalent to around 1 percent of the EU's gross domestic product. The net benefit of each is minute, as a share of overall government expenditure. And the 12 billion in additional cuts, equivalent to less than 2 billion annually, are insignificant.
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Ex-cop hunted over California vendetta killings
Label: TechnologyBIG BEAR LAKE, California (Reuters) – A fugitive former police officer accused of declaring war on law enforcement in an Internet manifesto and wanted as a suspect in three murders eluded a manhunt for a second day on Friday in the snow-swept mountains east of Los Angeles.
Search teams combed hillsides and homes around a ski area through the night and past daybreak for Christopher Dorner, 33, a former Navy officer presumed by police to be heavily armed and intent on carrying out a vendetta against those he blames for his 2008 dismissal from the Los Angeles Police Department.
“We did not find any additional evidence, and we certainly did not locate him,” San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon told a news briefing, adding that investigators were pressing ahead despite heavy snow that complicated the manhunt.
“We’re going to continue searching until either we determine that he’s left the mountain or we find him,” McMahon said at the Big Bear Lake resort, about 80 miles northeast of Los Angeles.
Snowfall forced authorities to ground helicopters used on Thursday to scour the area with infrared cameras. But a team of more than 100 law enforcement officers, some of them riding on “snow cat” tractor vehicles, kept up an intense ground search with dogs.
The search was focused on a wooded area near where Dorner‘s pickup truck was found burning in the snow on Wednesday, and in nearby higher elevations dotted with abandoned cabins, McMahon said.
Search teams had followed footprints found in the snow near Dorner’s truck on Thursday “around the forest … until we lost them where the ground got frozen and we couldn’t continue to track,” he said.
By Friday morning, sheriff’s deputies had gone door to door to several hundred vacation homes without finding signs of forced entry, and no vehicles were reported stolen. Area schools shut on Thursday as a precaution remained closed due to snow, McMahon said.
Police have said they believe Dorner was carrying multiple weapons, including an assault-style rifle, though the manifesto attributed to the suspect suggested he might be more heavily armed.
“Do not deploy airships or gunships. SA-7 Manpads will be waiting,” the message said, in a reference to a Russian-made shoulder-launched missile system.
“The violence of action will be high…I will bring unconventional and asymmetrical warfare to those in LAPD (Los Angeles Police Department) uniform whether on or off duty,” he allegedly wrote.
Police said they had taken steps to protect about 40 potential targets mentioned in the online declaration, but the LAPD canceled a citywide tactical alert, where officers are held over on their shifts and work overtime for as long as needed.
DOUBLE HOMICIDE
Dorner first came to public attention on Wednesday when he was named as a suspect in the weekend killings of a university security officer and his fiancée, college basketball coach Monica Quan, 28, in Irvine, about 40 miles south of Los Angeles. They were found shot to death on Sunday in a car at the top of a parking structure.
Quan was the daughter of a retired Los Angeles police captain who represented Dorner in disciplinary action that led to his firing in 2008. Police say Dorner was dismissed for making false statements accusing another officer of using excessive force.
Two Los Angeles police officers assigned to a search detail traded gunfire with him early on Thursday in the city of Corona, east of Los Angeles, police said.
About 20 minutes later, two other officers were ambushed and one of them was killed. They had been sitting in their patrol car at a traffic light near Corona in the town of Riverside.
The officer who died, and whose name has not been released by authorities in an effort to protect his family from Dorner, was an 11-year Riverside police veteran. His wounded partner is expected to make a full recovery, police said.
Former Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton warned on CBS television that the burned-out truck was “possibly a diversionary tactic to draw people into that area while he’s actually heading south.”
The FBI said its agents had searched a Las Vegas residence owned by Dorner, who joined the Navy in 2002 and the LAPD in 2005. He was discharged from the Navy Reserves last Friday, two days before Quan and her fiance were found slain.
Dorner, who once played college football, blamed the police department not just for firing him but also for ending his Navy career and the loss of close relationships.
He listed other grievances as well, such as encountering racism both at the LAPD and as an African-American boy growing up in Southern California.
But it remained unclear what led to the violence nearly five years after his firing and three years after his petition to be reinstated to the LAPD was denied by a judge.
(Additional reporting by Nichola Groom; Writing by Alex Dobuzinskis; Editing by Daniel Trotta, Alden Bentley, Cynthia Johnston and Leslie Gevirtz)
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Jessica Simpson Takes Her Bump For a Workout!
Label: LifestyleJessica Simpson
Bruja/Juan Sharma/Pacific Coast News
Now that's a bump!
While heading to the gym on Wednesday, an expectant Jessica Simpson was photographed in Los Angeles wearing a form-fitting black top that showed off her growing belly.
Shielded by sunglasses, Simpson, 32, looked relaxed in comfy green sweatpants and her hair up in a high ponytail.
The Weight Watchers spokeswoman is expecting her second child with fiancé Eric Johnson. The couple are already parents to 9-month-old daughter, Maxwell Drew.
But the mommy mogul is doing more than just expanding her family, she's also taking on a maternity-focused business venture. Simpson recently partnered with Destination Maternity to feature her designs at over 800 stores.
Southern diet, fried foods, may raise stroke risk
Label: HealthDeep-fried foods may be causing trouble in the Deep South. People whose diets are heavy on them and sugary drinks like sweet tea and soda were more likely to suffer a stroke, a new study finds.
It's the first big look at diet and strokes, and researchers say it might help explain why blacks in the Southeast — the nation's "stroke belt" — suffer more of them.
Blacks were five times more likely than whites to have the Southern dietary pattern linked with the highest stroke risk. And blacks and whites who live in the South were more likely to eat this way than people in other parts of the country were. Diet might explain as much as two-thirds of the excess stroke risk seen in blacks versus whites, researchers concluded.
"We're talking about fried foods, french fries, hamburgers, processed meats, hot dogs," bacon, ham, liver, gizzards and sugary drinks, said the study's leader, Suzanne Judd of the University of Alabama in Birmingham.
People who ate about six meals a week featuring these sorts of foods had a 41 percent higher stroke risk than people who ate that way about once a month, researchers found.
In contrast, people whose diets were high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and fish had a 29 percent lower stroke risk.
"It's a very big difference," Judd said. "The message for people in the middle is there's a graded risk" — the likelihood of suffering a stroke rises in proportion to each Southern meal in a week.
Results were reported Thursday at an American Stroke Association conference in Honolulu.
The federally funded study was launched in 2002 to explore regional variations in stroke risks and reasons for them. More than 20,000 people 45 or older — half of them black — from all 48 mainland states filled out food surveys and were sorted into one of five diet styles:
—Southern: Fried foods, processed meats (lunchmeat, jerky), red meat, eggs, sweet drinks and whole milk.
—Convenience: Mexican and Chinese food, pizza, pasta.
—Plant-based: Fruits, vegetables, juice, cereal, fish, poultry, yogurt, nuts and whole-grain bread.
—Sweets: Added fats, breads, chocolate, desserts, sweet breakfast foods.
—Alcohol: Beer, wine, liquor, green leafy vegetables, salad dressings, nuts and seeds, coffee.
"They're not mutually exclusive" — for example, hamburgers fall into both convenience and Southern diets, Judd said. Each person got a score for each diet, depending on how many meals leaned that way.
Over more than five years of follow-up, nearly 500 strokes occurred. Researchers saw clear patterns with the Southern and plant-based diets; the other three didn't seem to affect stroke risk.
There were 138 strokes among the 4,977 who ate the most Southern food, compared to 109 strokes among the 5,156 people eating the least of it.
There were 122 strokes among the 5,076 who ate the most plant-based meals, compared to 135 strokes among the 5,056 people who seldom ate that way.
The trends held up after researchers took into account other factors such as age, income, smoking, education, exercise and total calories consumed.
Fried foods tend to be eaten with lots of salt, which raises blood pressure — a known stroke risk factor, Judd said. And sweet drinks can contribute to diabetes, the disease that celebrity chef Paula Deen — the queen of Southern cuisine — revealed she had a year ago.
The National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, drugmaker Amgen Inc. and General Mills Inc. funded the study.
"This study does strongly suggest that food does have an influence and people should be trying to avoid these kinds of fatty foods and high sugar content," said an independent expert, Dr. Brian Silver, a Brown University neurologist and stroke center director at Rhode Island Hospital.
"I don't mean to sound like an ogre. I know when I'm in New Orleans I certainly enjoy the food there. But you don't have to make a regular habit of eating all this stuff."
___
Marilynn Marchione can be followed at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP
Wall Street dips on renewed euro zone fears
Label: BusinessNEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell on Thursday as comments by the ECB president on the euro raised worries about Europe's outlook and curbed investors' appetite for risky assets.
The euro currency dropped against the safe-haven dollar and yen after European Central Bank President Mario Draghi said the exchange rate was important to growth and price stability, which investors took as a sign the bank is concerned about the euro's advance in recent days.
Materials shares were among the weakest performers on the S&P 500, with the S&P 500 materials index <.splrcma> down 0.7 percent, while housing stocks also declined. A housing sector index <.hgx> was off 1.4 percent.
Despite the day's decline and weakness earlier this week, the stock market has been in an almost uninterrupted uptrend for most of the year, with the S&P 500 gaining more than 5 percent for 2013.
Many investors could see buying opportunities in the decline.
"I don't think there's the systemic risk that we had some time ago of bank failures in Europe and so forth. They seem to be ahead of that sort of crisis," said Dan Veru, chief investment officer of Palisade Capital Management, in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was down 67.95 points, or 0.49 percent, at 13,918.57. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was down 6.31 points, or 0.42 percent, at 1,505.81. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was down 16.76 points, or 0.53 percent, at 3,151.72.
Top U.S. retailers reported strong January sales after offering compelling merchandise that drew in shoppers facing a hit to their take-home pay from higher payroll taxes.
Macy's Inc
But Ann Inc dropped 6.7 percent to $30.59 after forecasting fourth-quarter sales below analysts' expectations.
Fund manager David Einhorn's Greenlight Capital on Thursday said it has sued Apple Inc and said the company needs to do more to unlock value for shareholders. Apple shares gained 0.6 percent to $457.43.
Akamai Technologies Inc lost 15.6 percent to $35.06 as the worst performer on the S&P 500 after the Internet content delivery company forecast current-quarter revenue below analysts' expectations.
(Additional reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by Kenneth Barry and Nick Zieminski)
Iran's Khamenei rebuffs U.S. offer of direct talks
Label: WorldDUBAI (Reuters) - Iran's highest authority, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Thursday slapped down an offer of direct talks made by U.S. Vice President Joe Biden last week, saying they would not solve the problem between them.
"Some naive people like the idea of negotiating with America, however, negotiations will not solve the problem," Khamenei said in a speech to officials and members of Iran's air force carried on his official website.
"If some people want American rule to be established again in Iran, the nation will rise up to face them," he said.
"American policy in the Middle East has been destroyed and Americans now need to play a new card. That card is dragging Iran into negotiations."
Khamenei made his comments just days after Biden said the United States was prepared to meet bilaterally with the Iranian leadership. "That offer stands but it must be real and tangible," Biden said in Munich on Saturday.
With traditional fiery rhetoric, Khamenei lambasted Biden's offer, saying that since the 1979 revolution the United States had gravely insulted Iran and continued to do so with its threat of military action.
"You take up arms against the nation of Iran and say: 'negotiate or we fire'. But you should know that pressure and negotiations are not compatible and our nation will not be intimidated by these actions," he added.
Relations between Iran and the United States were severed after the overthrow of Iran's pro-Western monarchy in 1979 and diplomatic meetings between officials have since been very rare.
ALL OPTIONS STILL 'ON THE TABLE'
Currently U.S.-Iran contact is limited to talks between Tehran and a so-called P5+1 group of powers on Iran's disputed nuclear program which are to resume on February 26 in Kazakhstan.
In Washington, U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland brushed off Khamenei's remarks and urged Iran to show up in Almaty "prepared to discuss real substance" either in a group setting or in bilateral talks.
"As the Iranians well know, the ball is in the Iranians' own court," she told reporters.
"We've always said that action on the Iranian side would be matched by action on our side, so it's really up to Iran to engage if it wants to see sanctions eased," said Nuland, adding that failure to address the nuclear concerns would bring more pressure on Tehran.
Israel's Deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor said he was skeptical the negotiations in Almaty could yield a result, telling Israel Radio that the United States needed to demonstrate to Iran that "all options were still on the table".
Israel, widely recognized to be the only nuclear power in the Middle East, has warned it could mount a pre-emptive strike on Iranian atomic sites. Israel says the prospect of a nuclear-armed Iran threatens its existence, given Tehran's refusal to recognize the Jewish state.
"The final option, this is the phrasing we have used, should remain in place and be serious," said Meridor.
"The fact that the Iranians have not yet come down from the path they are on means that talks ... are liable to bring about only a stalling for time," he said.
Iran maintains its nuclear program is entirely peaceful but Western powers are concerned it is intent on developing a weapons program.
Many believe a deal on settling the nuclear issue is impossible without a U.S.-Iranian thaw. But any rapprochement would require direct talks addressing many sources of mutual mistrust that have lingered since Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution and the subsequent U.S. embassy hostage crisis in Tehran.
Moreover, although his November re-election may give President Barack Obama a freer hand to pursue direct negotiations, analysts say Iran's own presidential election in June may prove an additional obstacle to progress being made.
(Additional reporting by Dan Williams, and Paul Eckert in Washington; Editing by William Maclean, Jon Boyle and Mohammad Zargham)
Father Gives Daughter $200 to Quit Facebook
Label: TechnologySpending too much time on Facebook? More than half of Facebook users say they’ve taken vacations from the site. Now comes the story of a 14-year-old who did better — she managed to get paid for quitting.
Rachel Baier, a high school freshman in Massachusetts, went to her dad with a deal: no Facebook for the rest of the school year in exchange for cash.
“She approached me. She has been frustrated she hasn’t been able to find a babysitting job and she has been looking for ways to get cash,” Baier told ABC News. “So she asked, ‘If I didn’t use Facebook for so long would you pay me?’”
RELATED: Facebook Vacation: 61 Percent of Users Take Breaks From Site
Baier, knowing that his daughter spends hours and hours on the site every day, thought she was joking at first. “I said, ‘Go away, you can’t live without Facebook!’” But Rachel was serious. Her dad drew up the paperwork. “I went back and thought about it, and said if you are going to do it, we are going to sign a contract. And she said okay.”
The contract says that from Feb. 4, 2013 through June 26, 2013, Rachel will have her Facebook account deactivated. She will receive $ 50 halfway through and the remaining $ 150 on June 26, which is the last day of ninth grade.
Baier says that he thinks his daughter will keep her part of the bargain. “She has deactivated a few times for the weekend,” he said “She has spent two to three years on Facebook for 24/7, she realizes there is a lot of talk and noise.”
RELATED: Mom Has Son Sign 18-point Agreement for iPhone
Rachel, who was at school when we spoke to her father, told him she doesn’t worry about being left out by friends.
“I asked her about that. She said, ‘Dad, I see my friends at school. I am in the loop and I can still text them,’” Baier said.
But even if Rachel does have a moment of weakness and yearn to see her Newsfeed, her dad now holds the keys to the castle. “Part of the agreement,” he says “was that she allowed me to change the password. She can’t get back in and turn it back on.”
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Miley Cyrus: My Short Hair Is Here to Stay - Forever!
Label: Lifestyle
Stylewatch
Style News Now
02/06/2013 at 03:45 PM ET
Getty; WireImage (2)
Hope you weren’t too attached to Miley Cyrus‘s long hair, because she has a message for you: “I could never see myself having long, long hair again.”
“I’m feeling it!” the star tells E! News of her close crop. “My fiancé [Liam Hemsworth] loves it. It’s so much easier to go shave the sides once a week, rather than getting your roots done and all this stuff.”
And it’s not just that she prefers the low maintenance of her new do: she actually hates the way she looks with long locks. “I do not like looking back at [photos of my long hair],” she says. “I wished somebody would have ripped those [extensions] out of my head. I do not miss that in any way.”
Though we initially found the chop surprising, it’s definitely growing on us (no pun intended) — and we love that Cyrus keeps finding new, fun ways to style her shorter do. Tell us: Do you love Cyrus’s awesome attitude about her hair as much as we do?
–Alex Apatoff
PHOTOS: VOTE ON MORE CELEB HAIRCUT AND COLOR CHANGES HERE!
Critics seek to delay NYC sugary drinks size limit
Label: HealthNEW YORK (AP) — Opponents are pressing to delay enforcement of the city's novel plan to crack down on supersized, sugary drinks, saying businesses shouldn't have to spend millions of dollars to comply until a court rules on whether the measure is legal.
With the rule set to take effect March 12, beverage industry, restaurant and other business groups have asked a judge to put it on hold at least until there's a ruling on their lawsuit seeking to block it altogether. The measure would bar many eateries from selling high-sugar drinks in cups or containers bigger than 16 ounces.
"It would be a tremendous waste of expense, time, and effort for our members to incur all of the harm and costs associated with the ban if this court decides that the ban is illegal," Chong Sik Le, president of the New York Korean-American Grocers Association, said in court papers filed Friday.
City lawyers are fighting the lawsuit and oppose postponing the restriction, which the city Board of Health approved in September. They said Tuesday they expect to prevail.
"The obesity epidemic kills nearly 6,000 New Yorkers each year. We see no reason to delay the Board of Health's reasonable and legal actions to combat this major, growing problem," Mark Muschenheim, a city attorney, said in a statement.
Another city lawyer, Thomas Merrill, has said officials believe businesses have had enough time to get ready for the new rule. He has noted that the city doesn't plan to seek fines until June.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other city officials see the first-of-its-kind limit as a coup for public health. The city's obesity rate is rising, and studies have linked sugary drinks to weight gain, they note.
"This is the biggest step a city has taken to curb obesity," Bloomberg said when the measure passed.
Soda makers and other critics view the rule as an unwarranted intrusion into people's dietary choices and an unfair, uneven burden on business. The restriction won't apply at supermarkets and many convenience stores because the city doesn't regulate them.
While the dispute plays out in court, "the impacted businesses would like some more certainty on when and how they might need to adjust operations," American Beverage Industry spokesman Christopher Gindlesperger said Tuesday.
Those adjustments are expected to cost the association's members about $600,000 in labeling and other expenses for bottles, Vice President Mike Redman said in court papers. Reconfiguring "16-ounce" cups that are actually made slightly bigger, to leave room at the top, is expected to take cup manufacturers three months to a year and cost them anywhere from more than $100,000 to several millions of dollars, Foodservice Packaging Institute President Lynn Dyer said in court documents.
Movie theaters, meanwhile, are concerned because beverages account for more than 20 percent of their overall profits and about 98 percent of soda sales are in containers greater than 16 ounces, according to Robert Sunshine, executive director of the National Association of Theatre Owners of New York State.
___
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Wall Street pulls back after recent gains
Label: BusinessNEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks drifted lower on Wednesday as investors pulled back after the recent push to five-year highs on the S&P 500 and as worries about political problems in Europe weighed on sentiment.
Transportation stocks were among the worst performers, pressured by a 9.7 percent drop in CH Robinson Worldwide
The benchmark S&P 500 index has advanced 6 percent this year and reached to its highest since December 2007. The Dow industrials <.dji> have risen above 14,000 recently, making it a challenge for investors to push stocks higher in the absence of strong positive catalysts.
"The market is starting to feel a little tired, though we're holding together. I think a lot of people are wondering whether this (up trend) continues," said Frank Lesh, a futures analyst and broker at FuturePath Trading LLC in Chicago.
Also, investors have been speculating about leadership changes in Spain and Italy, as well as watching for comments from European leaders. European Central Bank policymakers are due to meet Thursday.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was down 27.37 points, or 0.20 percent, at 13,951.93. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was down 3.66 points, or 0.24 percent, at 1,507.63. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was down 12.27 points, or 0.39 percent, at 3,159.31.
Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose more than 1 percent on Tuesday.
The Dow Jones Transportation average <.djt> was down 0.4 percent after hitting another record high on Tuesday. The average is up 10.4 percent for the year so far and has made a series of new highs since mid-January.
Among shares trading higher, Time Warner Inc
Walt Disney Co
According to Thomson Reuters data, of 301 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings, 68.1 percent have exceeded analysts' expectations, above a 62 percent average since 1994 and 65 percent over the past four quarters. In terms of revenue, 65.8 percent of companies have topped forecasts.
Fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are estimated to have risen 4.7 percent, according to the data, above a 1.9 percent forecast at the start of the earnings season.
(Editing by Bernadette Baum, Kenneth Barry and Nick Zieminski)
Tunisian leader to form new government after activist shot
Label: WorldTUNIS (Reuters) - The killing of an outspoken critic of Tunisia's Islamist-led government on Wednesday sparked street protests by thousands who fear religious radicals are stifling freedoms won two years ago in the first of the Arab Spring uprisings.
Chokri Belaid was shot at close range as he left for work by a gunmen who fled on the back of a motorcycle; crowds poured on to the streets of Tunis and other cities, attacking offices of the main ruling party Ennahda, and by the end of the day the Islamist prime minister promised a national unity government.
There was no immediate local reaction to the plan by Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali of Ennahda to dissolve his coalition and bring in a wider range of political groups. After dark, hundreds of demonstrators were still fighting running battles with police in the capital, throwing rocks amid volleys of teargas.
Jebali, whose party has dismissed any suggestion it might be behind the assassination, said he would shortly announce the formation of a new government of non-partisan technocrats.
World powers, alarmed in recent months at the extent of radical Islamist influence and the bitterness of the political stalemate, urged Tunisians to reject violence and see through the move to democracy they began two years ago, when the Jasmine Revolution ended decades of dictatorship and inspired fellow Arabs in Egypt and across North Africa and the Middle East.
As in Egypt, the rise to power of political Islam through the ballot box has prompted a backlash among less organized, more secular minded political movements in Tunisia. Belaid, a 48-year-old left-wing lawyer who made a name challenging the old regime of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, led a party with little electoral support but his vocal opinions had a wide audience.
The day before his death he was publicly lambasting a "climate of systematic violence". He had blamed tolerance shown by Ennahda and its two, smaller secularist allies in the coalition government toward hardline Salafists for allowing the spread of groups hostile to international culture.
(Additional reporting by John Irish in Paris; Writing by Alison Williams and Alastair Macdonald; Editing by Giles Elgood)
Twitter acquires social TV analytics company Bluefin Labs
Label: TechnologySAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Twitter Inc said on Tuesday it has agreed to acquire advertising analytics company Bluefin Labs.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
Twitter Chief Operating Officer Ali Rowghani said in a blog post announcing the deal: “Bluefin‘s data science capabilities and social TV expertise will help us create innovative new ad products and consumer experiences in the exciting intersection of Twitter and TV.”
The deal was reported first by Business Insider.
In the past year the privately held microblogging service has made the integration of Twitter and television the centerpiece of its growth strategy.
Under Chief Executive Dick Costolo, the company has encouraged marketers to incorporate Twitter “hashtags” into their TV ads to generate online chatter, while also nudging its 200 million monthly users to discuss ads that are being aired.
(Reporting by Gerry Shih; Editing by Eric Walsh)
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Sandra Bullock's Son Louis: Was He the Baltimore Ravens's Lucky Charm?
Label: LifestyleSandra Bullock and son Louis with Leigh Ann Tuohy (inset)
Splash News Online; Inset: Getty
The Baltimore Ravens won Super Bowl XLVII – and they may have gotten an assist from Sandra Bullock's son Louis who was watching in the stands.
"The 3-year-old had the lucky No. 3 jersey on! He wore it all through playoffs,” Leigh Ann Tuohy, Bullock's real-life Blind Side inspiration, tells PEOPLE. (Tuohy was at the game with Bullock, her son and the rest of Baltimore Raven Michael Oher's adoptive family.)
"My comment was, 'It better make it to New Orleans!' And it did," she says.
And it seems the blackout in the stadium following Beyoncé's half-time performance was of no concern to the toddler.
"I think Louis was a little more interested in the little lights that would go on your finger [that were passed out in the stands] verses the game, but that is OK,” Tuohy says.
Not wanting to divert attention from the players on the field, Tuohy and Bullock took special care not to be photographed or televised together during the game.
"It wasn't about us. Sandy and I knew that," Tuohy says. "It was about celebrating a young man who worked tremendously hard for the last 11 years to overcome every kind of adverse situation – and [Sunday] he achieved his dream. We're still giddy. We really are."
Critics seek to delay NYC sugary drinks size limit
Label: HealthNEW YORK (AP) — Opponents are pressing to delay enforcement of the city's novel plan to crack down on supersized, sugary drinks, saying businesses shouldn't have to spend millions of dollars to comply until a court rules on whether the measure is legal.
With the rule set to take effect March 12, beverage industry, restaurant and other business groups have asked a judge to put it on hold at least until there's a ruling on their lawsuit seeking to block it altogether. The measure would bar many eateries from selling high-sugar drinks in cups or containers bigger than 16 ounces.
"It would be a tremendous waste of expense, time, and effort for our members to incur all of the harm and costs associated with the ban if this court decides that the ban is illegal," Chong Sik Le, president of the New York Korean-American Grocers Association, said in court papers filed Friday.
City lawyers are fighting the lawsuit and oppose postponing the restriction, which the city Board of Health approved in September. They said Tuesday they expect to prevail.
"The obesity epidemic kills nearly 6,000 New Yorkers each year. We see no reason to delay the Board of Health's reasonable and legal actions to combat this major, growing problem," Mark Muschenheim, a city attorney, said in a statement.
Another city lawyer, Thomas Merrill, has said officials believe businesses have had enough time to get ready for the new rule. He has noted that the city doesn't plan to seek fines until June.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other city officials see the first-of-its-kind limit as a coup for public health. The city's obesity rate is rising, and studies have linked sugary drinks to weight gain, they note.
"This is the biggest step a city has taken to curb obesity," Bloomberg said when the measure passed.
Soda makers and other critics view the rule as an unwarranted intrusion into people's dietary choices and an unfair, uneven burden on business. The restriction won't apply at supermarkets and many convenience stores because the city doesn't regulate them.
While the dispute plays out in court, "the impacted businesses would like some more certainty on when and how they might need to adjust operations," American Beverage Industry spokesman Christopher Gindlesperger said Tuesday.
Those adjustments are expected to cost the association's members about $600,000 in labeling and other expenses for bottles, Vice President Mike Redman said in court papers. Reconfiguring "16-ounce" cups that are actually made slightly bigger, to leave room at the top, is expected to take cup manufacturers three months to a year and cost them anywhere from more than $100,000 to several millions of dollars, Foodservice Packaging Institute President Lynn Dyer said in court documents.
Movie theaters, meanwhile, are concerned because beverages account for more than 20 percent of their overall profits and about 98 percent of soda sales are in containers greater than 16 ounces, according to Robert Sunshine, executive director of the National Association of Theatre Owners of New York State.
___
Follow Jennifer Peltz at http://twitter.com/jennpeltz
Wall Street climbs on results; Dow above 14,000
Label: BusinessNEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks climbed on Tuesday, pushing the Dow above 14,000 a day after the market's biggest sell-off since November, as stronger-than-expected earnings brightened the profit picture.
All 10 S&P sectors were higher, and the S&P 500 and Nasdaq gained more than 1 percent.
Dell Inc's
The market's bounce follows a sell-off on Monday that gave the S&P 500 its biggest percentage decline since mid-November. Still, the benchmark is up about 5 percent since the start of the year and is less than 5 percent away from its all-time intraday high of 1,576.09 in October 2007.
Analysts said fourth-quarter results have been among the positives for the market. On Tuesday, Archer Daniels Midland reported revenue and adjusted fourth-quarter earnings that beat expectations, boosted by strong global demand for oilseeds. Shares rose 3.4 percent to $29.40.
"This quarter was one that had relatively low expectations coming into it, but the beats on the earnings and on the revenue side have been pretty good, particularly on the revenue side," said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia.
"And in the aggregate so far, the earnings growth is just under 5 percent, and that's relieved those who thought maybe the earnings picture was deteriorating to the point where we would see surprisingly poor earnings."
The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was up 121.49 points, or 0.88 percent, at 14,001.57. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was up 16.95 points, or 1.13 percent, at 1,512.66. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 40.79 points, or 1.30 percent, at 3,171.96.
Also in earnings, Estée Lauder Cos Inc
With results in for more than half of the S&P 500 companies, 69 percent have beaten profit expectations, compared with the 62 percent average since 1994 and the 65 percent average over the past four quarters.
Fourth-quarter earnings for S&P 500 companies are expected to rise 4.5 percent, according to the data, above the 1.9 percent forecast at the start of earnings season.
On the down side, McGraw-Hill
On Monday, the stock suffered its worst one-day decline since the 1987 market crash.
(The story corrects year of S&P 500 all-time intraday high to 2007 from 2011. The error occurred in earlier updates. In final paragraph removes word "market")
(Additional reporting By Angela Moon; Editing by Kenneth Barry)
Iran's Ahmadinejad kissed and scolded in Egypt
Label: WorldCAIRO (Reuters) - Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was both kissed and scolded on Tuesday when he began the first visit to Egypt by an Iranian president since Tehran's 1979 Islamic revolution.
The trip was meant to underline a thaw in relations since Egyptians elected an Islamist head of state, President Mohamed Mursi, last June. But it also highlighted deep theological and geopolitical differences.
Mursi, a member of the Sunni Muslim Brotherhood, kissed Ahmadinejad after he landed at Cairo airport and gave him a red carpet reception with military honors. Ahmadinejad beamed as he shook hands with waiting dignitaries.
But the Shi'ite Iranian leader received a stiff rebuke when he met Egypt's leading Sunni Muslim scholar later at Cairo's historic al-Azhar mosque and university.
Sheikh Ahmed al-Tayeb, head of the 1,000-year-old seat of religious learning, urged Iran to refrain from interfering in Gulf Arab states, to recognize Bahrain as a "sisterly Arab nation" and rejected the extension of Shi'ite Muslim influence in Sunni countries, a statement from al-Azhar said.
Visiting Cairo to attend an Islamic summit that begins on Wednesday, Ahmadinejad told a news conference he hoped his trip would be "a new starting point in relations between us".
However, a senior cleric from the Egyptian seminary, Hassan al-Shafai, who appeared alongside him, said the meeting had degenerated into an exchange of theological differences.
"There ensued some misunderstandings on certain issues that could have an effect on the cultural, political and social climate of both countries," Shafai said.
"The issues were such that the grand sheikh saw that the meeting ... did not serve the desired purpose."
The visit would have been unthinkable during the rule of Hosni Mubarak, the military-backed autocrat who preserved Egypt's peace treaty with Israel during his 30 years in power and deepened ties between Cairo and the West.
"The political geography of the region will change if Iran and Egypt take a unified position on the Palestinian question," Ahmadinejad said in an interview with Al Mayadeen, a Beirut-based TV station, on the eve of his trip.
He said he wanted to visit the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian territory which neighbors Egypt to the east and is run by the Islamist movement Hamas. "If they allow it, I would go to Gaza to visit the people," Ahmadinejad said.
Analysts doubt that the historic changes that brought Mursi to power will result in a full restoration of diplomatic ties between states whose relations were broken off after the conclusion of Egypt's peace treaty with Israel in 1979.
OBSTACLES TO FULL TIES
At the airport the two leaders discussed ways of improving relations and resolving the Syrian crisis "without resorting to military intervention", Egyptian state media reported.
Egypt is concerned by Iran's support for Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who is trying to crush an uprising inspired by the revolt that swept Mubarak from power two years ago. Egypt's overwhelmingly Sunni Muslim population is broadly supportive of the uprising against Assad's Alawite-led administration.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr sought to reassure Gulf Arab allies - that are supporting Cairo's battered state finances and are deeply suspicious of Iran - that Egypt would not jeopardize their security.
"The security of the Gulf states is the security of Egypt," he said in remarks reported by the official MENA news agency.
Mursi wants to preserve ties with the United States, the source of $1.3 billion in aid each year to the influential Egyptian military.
"The restoration of full relations with Iran in this period is difficult, despite the warmth in ties ... because of many problems including the Syrian crisis and Cairo's links with the Gulf states, Israel and the United States," said one former Egyptian diplomat.
Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi said he was optimistic that ties could grow closer.
"We are gradually improving. We have to be a little bit patient. I'm very hopeful about the expansion of the bilateral relationship," he told Reuters. Asked where he saw room for closer ties, he said: "Trade and economics."
Egypt and Iran have taken opposite courses since the late 1970s. Egypt, under Mubarak's predecessor Anwar Sadat, concluded a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 and became a close ally of the United States and Europe. Iran from 1979 turned into a center of opposition to Western influence in the Middle East.
Symbolically, Iran named a street in Tehran after the Islamist who led the 1981 assassination of Sadat.
Egypt gave asylum and a state funeral to Iran's exiled Shah Reza Pahlavi, who was overthrown in the 1979 Iranian revolution. He is buried in a mosque beside Cairo's mediaeval Citadel alongside his ex-brother-in-law, Egypt's last king, Farouk.
(Additional reporting by Ayman Samir, Marwa Awad and Alexander Diadosz; Writing by Paul Taylor and Tom Perry; Editing by Andrew Roche and Robin Pomeroy)
EU wants to tackle money laundering on gaming sites
Label: TechnologyBRUSSELS (Reuters) – The European Union may try to counter money laundering through online betting sites by extending legislation beyond casinos to include Internet gambling.
The executive European Commission formally proposed on Tuesday to include online gaming in EU-wide legislation that seeks to combat fraud. It could become law within two years if approved by the EU’s 27 member countries.
The Commission said by currently only monitoring casinos, “other areas of gambling (are) vulnerable to misuse by criminals”.
The Commission also proposed reducing the permitted maximum for cash payments for goods and services to 7,500 euros ($ 10,200) from 15,000 euros and submitting shops and traders to a series of checks if they make or receive large payments.
About $ 1.6 trillion was laundered worldwide in 2009 – about 4 percent of the world’s economic output, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
Online gambling is growing in popularity and companies such as Britain’s largest bookmaker, William Hill, and rivals SportingBet and Stanleybet, have benefited from the rise in demand, particularly for betting on sporting events.
But gaming firms have also protested against stricter regulation, with some countries such as Germany having increased controls on advertising, as well as limiting the amounts customers can gamble and increasing taxes on betting.
(Reporting by Robin Emmott; editing by Rex Merrifield)
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Sesame Street Spoofs Downton Abbey
Label: LifestyleThere's been plenty of drama on Downton Abbey this season but nothing compared to the challenges facing the residents of Upside Downton Abbey.
In a Sesame Street spoof of the hit PBS show, a Dowager Countess of Grantham lookalike requests several items from her butler, Carson, including tea, crumpets and a steak and kidney pie.
"I live to serve," he says, bringing her the food and drink. But each time the items fall to the ceiling because, the puppets discuss, everything is upside down on Upside Downton Abbey.
"Perhaps you can change the name from Upside Downton Abbey to Rightside Upton Abbey," Carson suggests.
"Then we could be right-side up and have our steak and kidney pie," the countess says, before officially changing the name and the direction of things in the home.
Then, of course, the steak and kidney pie comes crashing down on her head.
What would Maggie Smith say?
Bullying study: It does get better for gay teens
Label: HealthCHICAGO (AP) — It really does get better for gay and bisexual teens when it comes to being bullied, although young gay men have it worse than their lesbian peers, according to the first long-term scientific evidence on how the problem changes over time.
The seven-year study involved more than 4,000 teens in England who were questioned yearly through 2010, until they were 19 and 20 years old. At the start, just over half of the 187 gay, lesbian and bisexual teens said they had been bullied; by 2010 that dropped to 9 percent of gay and bisexual boys and 6 percent of lesbian and bisexual girls.
The researchers said the same results likely would be found in the United States.
In both countries, a "sea change" in cultural acceptance of gays and growing intolerance for bullying occurred during the study years, which partly explains the results, said study co-author Ian Rivers, a psychologist and professor of human development at Brunel University in London.
That includes a government mandate in England that schools work to prevent bullying, and changes in the United States permitting same-sex marriage in several states.
In 2010, syndicated columnist Dan Savage launched the "It Gets Better" video project to encourage bullied gay teens. It was prompted by widely publicized suicides of young gays, and includes videos from politicians and celebrities.
"Bullying tends to decline with age regardless of sexual orientation and gender," and the study confirms that, said co-author Joseph Robinson, a researcher and assistant professor of educational psychology at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. "In absolute terms, this would suggest that yes, it gets better."
The study appears online Monday in the journal Pediatrics.
Eliza Byard, executive director of the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, said the results mirror surveys by her anti-bullying advocacy group that show bullying is more common in U.S. middle schools than in high schools.
But the researchers said their results show the situation is more nuanced for young gay men.
In the first years of the study, gay boys and girls were almost twice as likely to be bullied as their straight peers. By the last year, bullying dropped overall and was at about the same level for lesbians and straight girls. But the difference between men got worse by ages 19 and 20, with gay young men almost four times more likely than their straight peers to be bullied.
The mixed results for young gay men may reflect the fact that masculine tendencies in girls and women are more culturally acceptable than femininity in boys and men, Robinson said.
Savage, who was not involved in the study, agreed.
"A lot of the disgust that people feel when you bring up homosexuality ... centers around gay male sexuality," Savage said. "There's more of a comfort level" around gay women, he said.
Kendall Johnson, 21, a junior theater major at the University of Illinois, said he was bullied for being gay in high school, mostly when he brought boyfriends to school dances or football games.
"One year at prom, I had a guy tell us that we were disgusting and he didn't want to see us dancing anymore," Johnson said. A football player and the president of the drama club intervened on his behalf, he recalled.
Johnson hasn't been bullied in college, but he said that's partly because he hangs out with the theater crowd and avoids the fraternity scene. Still, he agreed, that it generally gets better for gays as they mature.
"As you grow older, you become more accepting of yourself," Johnson said.
___
Online:
Pediatrics: http://www.pediatrics.org
It Gets Better: http://www.itgetsbetter.org
___
AP Medical Writer Lindsey Tanner can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/LindseyTanner
Wall Street pulls back after recent gain; data disappoints
Label: BusinessNEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks dropped on Monday, pulling back from gains in the prior session that left the S&P 500 at a five-year high and the Dow above 14,000, as factory orders data disappointed and worries about the euro zone crisis resurfaced.
The S&P 500 was on track for its biggest daily percentage decline since December 28. Chevron and Wal-Mart were among the biggest drags on the Dow after analyst downgrades.
"The market is due for a pullback. That's not really a surprise. I think people are looking for an excuse to make sales," said Michael James, senior trader at Wedbush Morgan in Los Angeles.
Spanish and Italian bond yields rose, renewing worries about the euro zone's sovereign debt crisis. Spain's prime minister faced calls to resign over a corruption scandal, while a probe of alleged misconduct involving an Italian bank was expected to widen three weeks before a national election.
Data from the Commerce Department showed overall factory orders for December were below economists' expectations.
The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was down 120.19 points, or 0.86 percent, at 13,889.60. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was down 14.65 points, or 0.97 percent, at 1,498.52. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was down 40.53 points, or 1.27 percent, at 3,138.57.
The benchmark S&P 500 rose on Friday, leaving it roughly 60 points away from its all-time intraday high of 1,576.09, while the Dow's march above 14,000 was the highest for the index since October 2007.
The S&P index <.spx> is up 5.5 percent for the year, with nearly half of the gains coming after U.S. legislators temporarily sidestepped the "fiscal cliff" of automatic tax increases and spending cuts.
The CBOE Volatility index VIX <.vix>, Wall Street's so-called fear gauge, jumped more than 10 percent to 14.48 by afternoon trade.
Chevron Corp
Shares of household products company Clorox
According to Thomson Reuters data, of the 256 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings through Monday morning, 68.4 percent have reported earnings above analyst expectations compared with the 62 percent average since 1994 and the 65 percent average over the past four quarters.
S&P 500 fourth-quarter earnings are expected to rise 4.4 percent, according to the data. That estimate is above the 1.9 percent forecast at the start of earnings season, but well below the 9.9 percent fourth-quarter earnings forecast on October 1.
Herbalife Ltd
(Additional reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by Kenneth Barry and Nick Zieminski)
North Korea nuclear test would face "firm" U.N. action: South Korea
Label: WorldUNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The U.N. Security Council is united on North Korea's nuclear arms program and will undoubtedly approve tough measures against Pyongyang if it carries out a new atomic test as expected, South Korean U.N. Ambassador Kim Sook said on Monday.
"The North Korean nuclear test seems to be imminent," Kim, who is president of the Security Council this month, told reporters. "Obviously there are very busy activities going on at the (North Korean) nuclear test site, and everybody's watching."
"Everybody is unified and they are firm and resolute," he said. "I would expect very firm and strong measures to be taken ... once they go ahead with such provocation."
(Reporting By Louis Charbonneau; Editing by Sandra Maler)
Kuwait says backs free speech but must protect ruling emir
Label: TechnologyKUWAIT (Reuters) – Kuwait supports free speech but must act against illegal comments made about the Gulf state’s ruler, the government said on Monday, after a Twitter user was jailed for five years.
A Kuwaiti court sentenced a man to prison on Sunday for insulting the emir on the social networking site, a rights lawyer and news websites said, in the latest prosecution for criticism of authorities via social media.
“Kuwait has a longstanding proud tradition of open debate and free speech,” the Ministry of Information, which regulates the media, said in a statement to Reuters addressing the case.
“We are a country led by the rule of law and our constitution holds our Emir to be inviolable. If our citizens wish to amend the constitution there is a straightforward legal way to do this, but we will not selectively enforce our laws.”
In recent months Kuwait has penalized several Twitter users for criticizing the emir, who is described as “immune and inviolable” in the constitution.
Kuwait allows the most dissent in the Gulf Arab region and boasts a lively press and critical political debate. But the U.S. ally and OPEC member has been clamping down on politically sensitive comments aired on the internet in recent months.
Twitter is extremely popular in the country of 3.7 million inhabitants and well-known figures can have hundreds of thousands of followers.
In January, a court sentenced two men in separate cases to jail time for insulting the emir on Twitter.
In June last year, a man was sentenced to 10 years in prison after he was convicted of endangering state security by insulting the Prophet Mohammad and the Sunni Muslim rulers of Saudi Arabia and Bahrain on social media.
Two months later, authorities detained a member of the ruling family over remarks on Twitter in which he accused authorities of corruption and called for political reform.
Kuwait has avoided the kind of mass unrest that has spread across the Arab region in the past two years but in 2012 tension escalated between authorities and opposition groups ahead of a parliamentary election.
(Reporting by Sylvia Westall; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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