President Obama Pardons Two Virginia Turkeys

People Pets

By Nancy Mattia

11/21/2012 at 03:10 PM EST

President Barack Obama with daughters Sasha and Malia Obama

Olivier Douliery/Abaca

Two young turkeys are breathing a sigh of relief right about now, thanks to President Barack Obama, who spared their lives in a gesture of executive poultry power.

As First Daughters Malia and Sasha looked on this afternoon, the President spared the 4-month-old male birds from becoming Thanksgiving dinner in a White House ceremony known as the turkey pardon.

The lucky birds, named Cobbler and Gobbler, were both born on July 13 and raised on a Rockingham Country, Va., farm. In a nod to democracy or the public appetite for reality-TV competitions, the social-savvy White House took to Facebook and asked the public to vote on which bird would be named the official 2012 National Thanksgiving Turkey.

Cobbler, the lighter of the two at 40 lbs., keeps his feathers fanned out and has a strut when he walks. Forty-three-lb. Gobbler, meanwhile, keeps his feathers down and has a "patient but proud" walk.

The vote count was neck and turkey neck, but Cobbler was the victor after earning 2,789 likes to Gobbler's 2,554. With Gobbler the stand-in waiting in the wings, white-feathered Cobbler took center stage at the event.

Before pardoning the turkeys, Obama encouraged his daughters to pet Cobbler. Sasha seemed willing to interact with the bird, but Malia looked horrified and refused, causing her dad – and the press in attendance – to laugh out loud.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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US abortions fall 5 pct, biggest drop in a decade

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. abortions fell 5 percent during the recession and its aftermath in the biggest one-year decrease in at least a decade, perhaps because women are more careful to use birth control when times are tough, researchers say.

The decline, detailed on Wednesday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, came in 2009, the most recent year for which statistics are available. Both the number of abortions and the abortion rate dropped by the same percentage.

Some experts theorize that some women believed they couldn't afford to get pregnant.

"They stick to straight and narrow ... and they are more careful about birth control," said Elizabeth Ananat, a Duke University assistant professor of public policy and economics who has researched abortions.

While many states have aggressively restricted access to abortion, most of those laws were adopted in the past two years and are not believed to have played a role in the decline.

Abortions have been dropping slightly over much of the past decade. But before this latest report, they seemed to have pretty much leveled off.

Nearly all states report abortion numbers to the federal government, but it's voluntary. A few states — including California, which has the largest population and largest number of abortion providers — don't send in data. While experts estimate there are more than 1 million abortions nationwide each year, the CDC counted about 785,000 in 2009 because of incomplete reporting.

To come up with reliable year-to-year comparisons, the CDC used the numbers from 43 states and two cities — those that have been sending in data consistently for at least 10 years. The researchers found that abortions per 1,000 women of child-bearing age fell from about 16 in 2008 to roughly 15 in 2009. That translates to nearly 38,000 fewer abortions in one year.

Mississippi had the lowest abortion rate, at 4 per 1,000 women of child-bearing age. The state also had only a couple of abortion providers and has the nation's highest teen birth rate. New York, second to California in number of abortion providers, had the highest abortion rate, roughly eight times Mississippi's.

Nationally since 2000, the number of reported abortions has dropped overall by about 6 percent and the abortion rate has fallen 7 percent.

By all accounts, contraception is playing a role in lowering the numbers.

Some experts cite a government study released earlier this year suggesting that about 60 percent of teenage girls who have sex use the most effective kinds of contraception, including the pill and patch. That's up from the mid-1990s, when fewer than half were using the best kinds.

Experts also pointed to the growing use of IUDs, or intrauterine devices, T-shaped plastic sperm-killers that a doctor inserts into the uterus. A study released earlier this year by the Guttmacher Institute, a nonprofit organization that does research on reproductive health, showed that IUD use among sexually active women on birth control rose from less than 3 percent in 2002 to more than 8 percent in 2009.

IUDs essentially prevent "user error," said Rachel Jones, a Guttmacher researcher.

Ananat said another factor may be the growing use of the morning-after pill, a form of emergency contraception that has been increasingly easier to get. It came onto the market in 1999 and in 2006 was approved for non-prescription sale to women 18 and older. In 2009 that was lowered to 17.

Underlying all this may be the economy, which was in recession from December 2007 until June 2009. Even well afterward, polls showed most Americans remained worried about anemic hiring, a depressed housing market and other problems.

You might think a bad economy would lead to more abortions by women who are struggling. However, John Santelli, a Columbia University professor of population and family health, said: "The economy seems to be having a fundamental effect on pregnancies, not abortions."

More findings from the CDC:

— The majority of abortions are performed by the eighth week of pregnancy, when the fetus is about the size of a lima bean.

— White women had the lowest abortion rate, at about 8.5 per 1,000 women of child-bearing age; the rate for black women was about four times that. The rate for Hispanic women was about 19 per 1,000.

— About 85 percent of those who got abortions were unmarried.

— The CDC identified 12 abortion-related deaths in 2009.

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Wall Street gains after Gaza truce in light holiday trade

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks rose on Wednesday after a ceasefire was declared to end the flare-up in violence between Israel and the Palestinians, though the lack of a deal to release emergency aid for Greece limited the market's advance.

Investors also remained anxious about the mandatory tax increases and spending cuts that would go into effect in the new year if a deal is not reached to prevent it - known as the "fiscal cliff" - though policymakers are not expected to get back to negotiations until after Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday.

Trading volume was light ahead of the holiday on Thursday, when the U.S. stock market will be closed. With less than an hour left to trade until the closing bell, about 3.6 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE MKT, compared with year-to-date daily average volume of 6.5 billion shares. On Friday, the U.S. stock market will close early at 1 p.m. (1800 GMT).

"Usually on patriotic holidays, which I think Thanksgiving is one, we often see a rally on a light volume. So I wouldn't be surprised if we see that on Friday, if there is no major news," said J.J. Kinahan, chief derivatives strategist at TD Ameritrade in Chicago.

"So far this week, we have heard good news in terms of (the) fiscal cliff. Both sides seem to be playing nice, but we will start to see big day-to-day swings (in the market) from next week, when we get more details."

Greece's international lenders failed again to reach a deal to release emergency aid to the debt-saddled country. Lenders will try again next Monday, but Germany signaled that significant divisions remain.

A truce between Israel and Hamas gave stocks some support around midday after Egypt announced a ceasefire will come into effect later in the day.

Fears that the fiscal cliff discussions in Washington could be drawn out or yield no resolution have been at the forefront of investors' minds in recent weeks. Combined with concerns over the euro zone's continued debt problems, the worries had driven a sell-off that has taken more than 5 percent off the S&P 500 since Election Day in early November.

Positive comments from U.S. politicians that they will work to find common ground have helped the S&P 500 recoup some of that loss in recent sessions.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> gained 49.60 points, or 0.39 percent, to 12,838.11. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> added 2.64 points, or 0.19 percent, to 1,390.45. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> rose 10.10 points, or 0.35 percent, to 2,926.78.

St Jude Medical shares tumbled 12.1 percent to $31.38 after an inspection report from health regulators raised new safety concerns about one of the company's leads that are used with implantable defibrillators, analysts said.

A small gain in International Business Machines helped the Dow outperform the other indexes. IBM was up 0.8 percent at $190.73.

Salesforce.com Inc jumped 8.4 percent to $158.20 after the business software provider beat Wall Street's expectations for the third quarter and maintained its outlook for the rest of the year.

But Deere & Co dragged on the S&P 500 after the world's largest farm equipment maker reported a weaker-than-expected quarterly profit. Its stock lost 3.7 percent to $82.78.

The market did not derive much direction from the day's economic data, with initial jobless claims falling last week, as expected.

Other data showed manufacturing picked up at its quickest pace in five months in November, while consumer sentiment improved only slightly.

The focus will likely turn to retailers on Friday as analysts try to assess how strong the holiday shopping season will be this year, according to Kurt Brunner, portfolio manager at Swarthmore Group in Philadelphia. Holiday shopping traditionally kicks off the day after Thanksgiving, known as Black Friday, as stores offer deals and discounts to lure consumers.

(Editing by Jan Paschal)

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Egyptian-brokered Hamas-Israel ceasefire takes hold

CAIRO/GAZA (Reuters) - Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement ruling the Gaza Strip agreed on Wednesday to an Egyptian-sponsored ceasefire to halt an eight-day conflict that killed 162 Palestinians and five Israelis.

Both sides fought right up to 9 p.m. (1900 GMT) when hostilities were due to stop, with several explosions shaking Gaza City and rockets hitting the Israeli city of Beersheba.

Even after the deadline passed, a dozen rockets from Gaza landed in Israel, all in open areas, a police spokesman said.

If it holds, the truce will give 1.7 million Gazans respite from days of ferocious air strikes and halt rocket salvoes from militants that unnerved a million people in southern Israel and reached Tel Aviv and Jerusalem for the first time.

"Allahu akbar, (God is greatest), dear people of Gaza you won," blared mosque loudspeakers in the enclave as the truce took effect. "You have broken the arrogance of the Jews."

Fifteen minutes later, wild celebratory gunfire echoed across the darkened streets of Gaza, which gradually filled with crowds waving Palestinian flags. Ululating women leaned out of windows and fireworks lit up the sky.

Hamas leaders welcomed the agreement, calling it a triumph for armed resistance, and thanking Egypt for its role.

Some Israelis staged protests against the deal, notably in the southern town of Kiryat Malachi, where three Israelis were killed by a Gaza rocket during the conflict, army radio said.

Announcing the agreement in Cairo, Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr said mediation had "resulted in understandings to cease fire, restore calm and halt the bloodshed".

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, standing beside Amr, thanked Egypt's Islamist President Mohamed Mursi for peace efforts that showed "responsibility, leadership" in the region.

"SEVERE MILITARY ACTION"

The Gaza conflict erupted in a Middle East already shaken by last year's Arab uprisings that toppled several veteran U.S.-backed leaders, including Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, and by a civil war in Syria, where Bashar al-Assad is fighting for survival.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had agreed to "exhaust this opportunity for an extended truce", but told his people a tougher approach might be required in the future.

"I know there are citizens expecting a more severe military action, and perhaps we shall need to do so," he said.

The Israeli leader, who faces a parliamentary election in January, delivered a similar message earlier in a telephone call with U.S. President Barack Obama, his office said.

Obama in turn reiterated his country's commitment to Israel's security and promised to seek funds for a joint missile defense program, the White House said.

Hamas leaders taunted Israel, with the movement's exiled chief Khaled Meshaal saying in Cairo that the Jewish state had failed in its military "adventure". But he pledged to uphold the truce if the Israelis complied with it.

Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas's chief in Gaza and its prime minister there, said: "We are satisfied and proud of this agreement and at the steadfastness of our people and their resistance."

According to a text of the agreement seen by Reuters, both sides should halt all hostilities, with Israel desisting from incursions and targeting of individuals, while all Palestinian factions should cease rocket fire and cross-border attacks.

BUS BOMBING

The deal also provides for easing Israeli restrictions on Gaza's residents, who live in what British Prime Minister David Cameron has called an "open prison".

The text said procedures for implementing this would be "dealt with after 24 hours from the start of the ceasefire".

Israeli sources said Israel would not lift a blockade of the enclave it enforced after Hamas, which rejects the Jewish state's right to exist, won a Palestinian election in 2006.

The ceasefire was forged despite a bus bomb explosion that wounded 15 Israelis in Tel Aviv earlier in the day and despite more Israeli air strikes that killed 10 Gazans.

The Tel Aviv blast, near the Israeli Defence Ministry, touched off celebratory gunfire from militants in Gaza and had threatened to complicate truce efforts. It was the first serious bombing in Israel's commercial capital since 2006.

In Gaza, Israeli warplanes struck more than 100 targets, including a cluster of Hamas government buildings. Medical officials said a two-year-old boy was among the dead.

Israel has carried out more than 1,500 strikes since the offensive began with the killing of a top Hamas commander and with the declared aim of deterring Hamas from launching rocket attacks that have long disrupted life in southern Israeli towns.

Gaza medical officials said 162 Palestinians, more than half of them civilians, including 37 children and 11 women, were killed in Israel's assault. Nearly 1,400 rockets were fired into Israel, killing four civilians and a soldier, the military said.

Egypt, an important U.S. ally now under Islamist leadership, took centre stage in diplomacy to halt the bloodshed, using its privileged ability to speak directly to both sides.

"CRITICAL MOMENT"

Israel, the United States and the European Union designate Hamas as a terrorist organization. It seized the Gaza Strip from the Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in 2007 in a brief but bloody war with his Fatah movement.

"This is a critical moment for the region," Clinton said. "Egypt's new government is assuming the responsibility and leadership that has long made this country a cornerstone for regional stability and peace."

She also promised to work with partners in the region "to consolidate this progress, improve conditions for the people of Gaza, provide security for the people of Israel".

Egypt has walked a fine line between its sympathies for Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood to which Mursi belongs, and its need to preserve its 1979 peace treaty with Israel and its ties with Washington, its main aid donor.

"Egypt calls on all to monitor the implementation of what has been agreed under Egypt's sponsorship and to guarantee the commitment of all the parties to what has been agreed," its foreign minister said at the news conference in Cairo.

Israel, the top recipient of U.S. assistance, agreed to stop fighting after having gathered troops and armor on the border with Gaza in preparation for a high-risk ground assault.

In Amman, U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon urged both sides to stick to their ceasefire pledges. "There may be challenges implementing this agreement," he said, urging "maximum restraint".

Israel withdrew unilaterally from the Gaza Strip in 2005, but maintained control over its borders. The United Nations says it remains an occupied territory, along with the West Bank.

The Palestine Liberation Organisation, led by Abbas, wants the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem for an independent state.

(Additional reporting by Noah Browning in Gaza, Ori Lewis, Allyn Fisher-Ilan and Crispian Balmer in Jerusalem, Yasmine Saleh, Shaimaa Fayed and Tom Perry in Cairo, Suleiman al-Khalidi in Amman and Margaret Chadbourn in Washington; Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Alastair Macdonald and David Stamp)

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New York Athletes Use Twitter to Gain Cult Hero Status

If you’re one of the over 20.6 million Americans who has a Twitter account, chances are you’ve stumbled across the official SoccerGirlProblems Twitter handle, @SoccerGrlProbs, at least once while using the popular social media networking site.

SoccerGirlProblems, a feed spawned by three New York-based athletes, is a Twitter handle dedicated to the true-life outrageous complaints about everyday life as a high school or college soccer player.

The simple concept was started as a joke, but it has grown to startling dimensions.

SoccerGirlProblems has over 148,000 Twitter followers, and its explosive popularity led to the creation of a spinoff blog, a well-known YouTube account, a custom-made T-shirt business, and an official website.

Since opening in the beginning of 2012, the SoccerGirlProblems YouTube account has racked up over 3.2 million video views, and T-shirts have been selling like hotcakes. The SoccerGirlProblems Twitter page is also busier than ever, as it gained 50,000 new followers between May and November.

Punch #SGP or #SoccerGrlProbs into the Twitter search box on any given day, and you’ll immediately get a slew of hilarious tweets like “Took a long, hard stare at a pair of jeans this morning…Almost felt bad for neglecting them for so long. SWEATS IT IS,” along with other comedic gems like “family dreads thanksgiving if…i’m not on their team for flag football. Come on people what’s wrong with a little ‘friendly’ competition??”

With the SoccerGirlProblems brand finding so much success, one would expect the girls behind it to be household names by now, much like other Twitter/YouTube personalities like Jenna Marbles and Tay Zonday.

In fact, the founders of SoccerGirlProblems were afraid to reveal their identities until recently, as they feared retribution from conservative school administrators at their current school, Fairfield University.

The SoccerGirlProblems ladies believed that school officials from Fairfield would possibly find some of their hilarious tweets to be offensive or inappropriate. The founders did not want their tweets to bring negative exposure to their current or former schools.

It took over a year for the SoccerGirlProblems girls to reveal their identities publicly, but two of the three founders finally decided it was time to come out and detail how they became cult heroes via Twitter.

Carly Beyar, a South Hempstead, New York, resident and graduate of South Side High School in Rockville Centre, New York, along with Alanna Locast of Wantagh, New York, revealed that they are among the core group of tweeters handling the SoccerGirlProblems Twitter and YouTube accounts.

Locast, a graduate of Long Island’s Seaford High School, was an attacking offensive option for Fairfield until her graduation in 2011, while Beyar is still playing for the Fairfield Stags.

“It is still a shock to us that all of these girls relate to what we are saying,” Beyar said of her dedicated legion of Twitter followers in an exclusive online interview in May. “The soccer world is evidently a small one. It is comforting to know that we are not the only women soccer players out there dealing with these problems every day. Also, don’t get us wrong, we love soccer and will do anything for it; sometimes you just need to complain to keep you sane. ‘With training comes complaining.’”

Beyar and Locast, both standout high school soccer players on Long Island, think they can take SoccerGirlProblems to new heights due to the power of online marketing.

“I think it is easy to relate to our tweets when we are sarcastic and humorous,” Beyar said. “We try to take bothersome problems every day and turn it into something to just sit back and laugh about. We appreciate all of the support that our fans have given us since August. They are the best fans any Twitter account can ask for. Originally, we made this Twitter account for fun. We wanted to make it a team-based thing where everyone would tweet a problem from our team to get a laugh out of it. Little did we know how powerful the Web can be.”

Eric Holden covered the South Side Lady Cyclones girls’ soccer team in the 2010-11 season and has reported on Long Island soccer events since 2009. Follow him on Twitter @ericholden.

Social Media News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Kelly Clarkson: I'm Not Engaged - But Am Waiting for That Ring

By Mike Fleeman

11/20/2012 at 03:30 PM EST

Brandon Blackstock and Kelly Clarkson

Rick Diamond/Getty

As hints go, this one wasn't too subtle, seeing as Kelly Clarkson dropped it on national television.

Appearing Tuesday on The Ellen DeGeneres Show, the pop star says she isn't engaged to her boyfriend of nine months, Brandon Blackstock, but just give it a little time.

"We are totally going to get married," says Clarkson. "We love each other. We are totally going to get married one day."

She then holds up her hand and says, "I mean, he's got to put a ring on at some point." She adds: "But I'll wait it out."

Asked by DeGeneres what kind of ceremony she envisions, Clarkson, 30, acknowledges, "Honestly I've never been the girl to plan a wedding."

"We will totally, probably elope," she adds.

No matter when the day comes, Clarkson is just enjoying her relationship with the 35-year-old Nashville-based talent manager (who is also the son of Clarkson's own manager), especially during the holidays.

"This is going to sound like I'm making a joke but it is so not. It is serious," she says. "I am not alone for the first time for Thanksgiving and Christmas – and I am very happy."

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New push for most in US to get at least 1 HIV test

WASHINGTON (AP) — There's a new push to make testing for the AIDS virus as common as cholesterol checks.

Americans ages 15 to 64 should get an HIV test at least once — not just people considered at high risk for the virus, an independent panel that sets screening guidelines proposed Monday.

The draft guidelines from the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force are the latest recommendations that aim to make HIV screening simply a routine part of a check-up, something a doctor can order with as little fuss as a cholesterol test or a mammogram. Since 2006, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also has pushed for widespread, routine HIV screening.

Yet not nearly enough people have heeded that call: Of the more than 1.1 million Americans living with HIV, nearly 1 in 5 — almost 240,000 people — don't know it. Not only is their own health at risk without treatment, they could unwittingly be spreading the virus to others.

The updated guidelines will bring this long-simmering issue before doctors and their patients again — emphasizing that public health experts agree on how important it is to test even people who don't think they're at risk, because they could be.

"It allows you to say, 'This is a recommended test that we believe everybody should have. We're not singling you out in any way,'" said task force member Dr. Douglas Owens of Stanford University and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health Care System.

And if finalized, the task force guidelines could extend the number of people eligible for an HIV screening without a copay in their doctor's office, as part of free preventive care under the Obama administration's health care law. Under the task force's previous guidelines, only people at increased risk for HIV — which includes gay and bisexual men and injecting drug users — were eligible for that no-copay screening.

There are a number of ways to get tested. If you're having blood drawn for other exams, the doctor can merely add HIV to the list, no extra pokes or swabs needed. Today's rapid tests can cost less than $20 and require just rubbing a swab over the gums, with results ready in as little as 20 minutes. Last summer, the government approved a do-it-yourself at-home version that's selling for about $40.

Free testing is available through various community programs around the country, including a CDC pilot program in drugstores in 24 cities and rural sites.

Monday's proposal also recommends:

—Testing people older and younger than 15-64 if they are at increased risk of HIV infection,

—People at very high risk for HIV infection should be tested at least annually.

—It's not clear how often to retest people at somewhat increased risk, but perhaps every three to five years.

—Women should be tested during each pregnancy, something the task force has long recommended.

The draft guidelines are open for public comment through Dec. 17.

Most of the 50,000 new HIV infections in the U.S. every year are among gay and bisexual men, followed by heterosexual black women.

"We are not doing as well in America with HIV testing as we would like," Dr. Jonathan Mermin, CDC's HIV prevention chief, said Monday.

The CDC recommends at least one routine test for everyone ages 13 to 64, starting two years younger than the task force recommended. That small difference aside, CDC data suggests fewer than half of adults under 65 have been tested.

"It can sometimes be awkward to ask your doctor for an HIV test," Mermin said — the reason that making it routine during any health care encounter could help.

But even though nearly three-fourths of gay and bisexual men with undiagnosed HIV had visited some sort of health provider in the previous year, 48 percent weren't tested for HIV, a recent CDC survey found. Emergency rooms are considered a good spot to catch the undiagnosed, after their illnesses and injuries have been treated, but Mermin said only about 2 percent of ER patients known to be at increased risk were tested while there.

Mermin calls that "a tragedy. It's a missed opportunity."

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Wall Street sags after Bernanke's "fiscal cliff" comments

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks fell on Tuesday following a two-day rally, after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank lacks tools to cushion the economy from the impact of the "fiscal cliff."

Bernanke, in comments before the Economic Club of New York, said the Fed does not have the tools to offset the damage that would result if politicians fail to strike a deal to prevent going off the fiscal cliff. If a solution isn't approved in time, then mandatory tax increases and spending cuts will go into effect early next year.

Bernanke also said he does not believe the possible benefits of cutting the interest it pays on bank reserves are sufficient to outweigh the risk of trouble in money markets.

"This is a more realistic and pragmatic picture of where we are, compared to what we've been hearing for the past couple of days from politicians that are mostly PR stunts," said James Dailey, portfolio manager at TEAM Asset Strategy Fund in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

Stocks had rallied for the last two sessions on optimism that Washington politicians could agree on a deal to avoid the U.S. fiscal cliff. But the gains followed two weeks of sharp losses.

The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was down 22.73 points, or 0.18 percent, at 12,773.23. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was down 1.38 points, or 0.10 percent, at 1,385.51. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was down 6.49 points, or 0.22 percent, at 2,909.58.

Hewlett-Packard Co shares sank 11.9 percent to a 10-year low at $11.72 as the computer and printer maker swung to a fourth-quarter loss. The company said it took an $8.8 billion charge in the quarter, with $5 billion related to its acquisition of software firm Autonomy, citing "serious accounting improprieties.

Best Buy Co shares fell 12.7 percent to $12 after the consumer electronics retailer reported a net loss of $13 million for the third quarter on weaker-than-expected sales at its established stores.

Another factor weighing on stocks was Moody's Investors Service's reduction of France's sovereign rating by one notch to Aa1 after the market's close on Monday. Moody's cited an uncertain fiscal outlook as a result of the weakening economy.

"This brings forward a whole new set of problems to the euro -zone issue. When the lifeguards, in this case, Germany and France, are in trouble, when they need to save people like Greece and Spain, that could be a big concern," Dailey said.

(Reporting by Angela Moon; Editing by Jan Paschal)

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Hamas says Gaza truce agreed; Israel, Egypt say no deal yet

GAZA/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in Jerusalem for talks on Tuesday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as expectations rose of a ceasefire soon to end a week of fighting around the Gaza Strip.

However, Gaza's rulers, the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, revised a statement that a truce would start overnight, saying it was still waiting for an Israeli response to proposals and did not now expect an announcement until Wednesday.

An official in the Egyptian government, whose new, Islamist leadership has been playing peace broker in Cairo, had also said a ceasefire could begin on Tuesday. But Israeli officials continued to say that discussions were still continuing.

Israel pressed on with its strikes in the coastal enclave on the seventh day of its offensive and Palestinian rockets still flashed across the border as Clinton arrived in Jerusalem. She was due to meet Netanyahu around 11 p.m. (17:00 EDT).

One Hamas official had said a truce might start at 9 p.m. But after that moment passed, a senior figure in the movement, Ezzat al-Rishq, told Reuters in Cairo: "The truce is now held up because we are waiting for the Israeli side to respond.

"We ... must wait until tomorrow."

The Jewish state launched the campaign last week with the declared aim of halting the rocketing of its towns from the Palestinian enclave, ruled by the Hamas militant group that does not recognize Israel's right to exist.

Medical officials in Gaza said 27 Palestinians were killed on Tuesday. An Israeli soldier and a civilian died when rockets exploded near the Gaza frontier, police and the army said.

Gaza medical officials say 134 people have died in Israeli strikes, mostly civilians, including 34 children. In all, five Israelis have died, including three civilians killed last week.

Netanyahu said earlier on Tuesday that Israel was open to a long-term deal aimed at ending Palestinian rocket attacks that have plagued its southern region for years.

Khaled Meshaal, exile leader of Hamas, said on Monday that Israel must halt its military action and lift its blockade of the Palestinian coastal enclave in exchange for a truce.

Both Netanyahu, favored to win a January national election, and U.S. President Barack Obama have said they want a diplomatic solution, rather than a possible Israeli ground operation in the densely populated territory, home to 1.7 million Palestinians.

Israel's military on Tuesday targeted more than 130 sites in Gaza, including ammunition stores and the Gaza headquarters of the National Islamic Bank. Israeli police said more than 150 rockets were fired from Gaza by the evening.

"No country would tolerate rocket attacks against its cities and against its civilians. Israel cannot tolerate such attacks," Netanyahu said with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who arrived in Jerusalem from talks in Cairo, at his side.

"If a long-term solution can be put in place through diplomatic means, then Israel would be a willing partner to such a solution," he said. "But if stronger military action proves necessary to stop the constant barrage of rockets, Israel will do what is necessary to defend our people."

HAMAS TARGETS JERUSALEM AGAIN

After nightfall, Israel stepped up its Gaza bombardment. Artillery shells and missiles fired from naval gunboats slammed into the territory and air strikes came at a frequency of about one every 10 minutes.

In an attack claimed in Gaza by Hamas's armed wing, a longer-range rocket targeted Jerusalem on Tuesday for the second time since Israel launched the air offensive.

The rocket, which fell harmlessly in the occupied West Bank, triggered warning sirens in the holy city about the time Ban arrived for truce discussions. Another rocket damaged an apartment building in Rishon Lezion, near Tel Aviv.

Rockets fired at the two big cities over the past week were the first to reach them in decades, a sign of what Israel says is an increasing threat from Gaza militants.

In the Gaza Strip on Tuesday, Hamas executed six alleged collaborators, whom a security source quoted by the Hamas Aqsa radio said "were caught red-handed" with "filming equipment to take footage of positions". The radio said they were shot.

Militants on a motorcycle dragged the body of one of the men through the streets.

Along Israel's sandy, fenced-off border with the Gaza Strip, tanks, artillery and infantry massed in field encampments awaiting any orders to go in. Some 45,000 reserve troops have been called up since the offensive was launched.

A delegation of nine Arab ministers, led by the Egyptian foreign minister, visited Gaza in a further signal of heightened Arab solidarity with the Palestinians.

Egypt has been a key player in efforts to end the most serious fighting between Israel and Palestinian militants since a three-week Israeli invasion of the enclave in the winter of 2008-9. Egypt has a 1979 peace treaty with Israel seen by the West as the cornerstone of Middle East peace, but that has been tested as never before by the removal of U.S. ally Hosni Mubarak as president last year in the Arab Spring uprisings.

Mohamed Mursi, elected Egyptian president this year, is a veteran of the Muslim Brotherhood, spiritual mentors of Hamas, but says he is committed to Egypt's treaty with Israel.

Mursi has warned Netanyahu of serious consequences from an invasion of the kind that killed more than 1,400 people in Gaza four years ago. But he has been careful so far not to alienate Israel, or Washington, a major aid donor to Egypt.

(Additional reporting by Cairo bureau; Writing by Jeffrey Heller and Alastair Macdonald)

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Nintendo’s Wii U: First Impressions

GamePad

The Wii U GamePad has a 6.2-inch touchscreen.

Click here to view this gallery.

[More from Mashable: Meet the Super Fan Who Waited in Line for a Month for a Wii U [VIDEO]]

Nintendo‘s newest console has only been available for one day, but that’s still enough time for early-bird consumers to get their hands on the Wii U, and test out its features and games.

We spent the last 24 hours playing with the Wii U, and have organized our early thoughts on the system. Read on if you’re on the fence about buying one.

[More from Mashable: Toys ‘R’ Us Says Wii U Pre-Order Shipments May Be Delayed]

Out of the Box

Setting up the Wii U is easy, but installing the software is more of a process. Nintendo issued a day-one patch to activate features such as MiiVerse, the company’s social features; this means users will spend between one to three hours (depending on connection speed) downloading and installing a patch that bricks their system. Not a great way to greet consumers excited to play your games. But there’s a chance that servers won’t be as busy in the coming weeks, so download times may improve. Each game I inserted had its own patch too, which users have to install on the second playthrough.

After getting through the patch, user still face an involved setup. They have to create their Mii avatar before they start playing, and create a Nintendo Network ID for network play. Users must also set up the GamePad’s universal remote functionality, which is thankfully the easiest part of the process. They only have to pick their TV manufacturer (the Wii U knows what to do next). The GamePad controls volume, input source and channels.

Look and Feel

The GamePad is the Wii U’s main portal, so users need it to access all the relevant menus (the console shows a different menu from the television); here, users can launch applications by touch. The default view includes apps such as Netflix, Hulu Plus, Amazon Video Services and YouTube; but only Netflix is available now, which seems a bit like false advertising. Loading other options, such as the Nintendo eShop, requires pressing the Home button on the controller, which is unintuitive at first. But soon, the button quickly becomes a handy way to navigate to other parts of the Wii U, like the upcoming Nintendo TVii.

The most troublesome thing about the console is that everything moved slowly; launching games and apps took a long time. I felt like I spent awhile looking at a spinning blue circle.

Wii U games definitely take advantage of the console’s ability to support high-definition graphics. Cartoony games, such as Scribblenauts Unlimited or Nintendo Land look beautiful. For games such as ZombiU, which are supposed to appear more realistic, users might be disappointed. This system is supposed to be the next-generation of gaming consoles — meant to outshine the Xbox 360 — but I can’t say it achieves that.

The GamePad

Pre-launch, Nintendo has spent much of its time crowing about the features of the GamePad, a hybrid touch screen and controller that’s central to the Wii U. The first thing I noticed is its large size; but after spending a few hours with the GamePad, I’ve concluded that it won’t weigh you down like an iPad, yet is substantial enough that it doesn’t feel like a toy (though the glossy finish makes it look like one.)

Unfortunately, the GamePad takes some getting used to as an actual controller, especially for games that require more than simple controls or the gyroscope. My biggest complaint is that Nintendo bucked all gaming-controller tradition by swapping the position of the right analog stick and the four letter buttons. Anyone who has played any other modern console (including Nintendo’s own GameCube) knows instinctively that the analog stick goes below the buttons; but Nintendo flipped them on both the GamePad and the Pro Controller. If the company is only targeting non-gamers, they won’t notice; but this will be a difficult change for many others. Despite this drawback, the buttons, and especially triggers, feel good.

The GamePad is mostly dominated by the 6.2-inch touch screen with a passable resolution: 854 x 480. The most appealing feature of the Wii U — that users can play games or watch movies entirely on the GamePad — may be spoiled for some looking for HD crispness. Still, I watched a whole episode of Portlandia from Netflix on the GamePad, and also spent time playing New Super Mario Bros. U with the television off. Being able to isolate your gameplay to a smaller screen is very novel, and one of my favorite parts of the system.

Games

Nintendo’s Wii U has a better launch lineup coming out, compared to other consoles — but only a few titles stick out. Almost everyone I talked to in line at the Nintendo World store during the Wii U launch wanted New Super Mario Bros. U or ZombiU, both of which are fun titles. Nintendo Land, which is a pack-in if users purchase the Deluxe model, is going to be a huge hit at parties; from what I’ve seen so far, it has some engrossing minigames. I haven’t cracked open Scribblenauts Unlimited yet, but in demos it looks like a very promising title that would go well with a touch screen.

Some non-exclusive titles on other consoles are also appealing. I’m looking forward to digging in to Epic Mickey 2 and Tekken Tag Tournament 2. While the system had 24 launch titles, many more are expected to debut in the coming months.

I plan to spend Thanksgiving week exploring the Wii U, and will write a more detailed report on whether it’s the right console for gamers, families or casual users.

This story originally published on Mashable here.

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