Beyoncé's Lip-Syncing Controversy: PEOPLE Readers Weigh In















01/23/2013 at 03:55 PM EST







Beyoncé at the presidential inauguration in 2013 and Whitney Houston at Super Bowl XXV


Justin Sullivan/Getty; George Rose/Getty


There's no question that Beyoncé can sing. But did she? That's still the question on everyone's lips.

Following the singer's stellar rendition of the "Star-Spangled Banner" at the presidential inauguration, a spokesperson for the U.S. Marine Corps Band initially said that the singer's performance wasn't live – but was "pre-recorded."

Later, though, a media officer from the Pentagon said that the singer and the band never had the opportunity to rehearse live together, but added, "No one in the Marine Band is in a position to assess whether it was live or pre-recorded." (According to an NPR analysis, it appears that singer may have performed live – to a backing track.)

While Beyoncé has yet to speak out (live or otherwise) on the topic, it's not the first time the national anthem has been lip-synced: Whitney Houston's performance at the 1991 Super Bowl – arguably one of the best renditions of all time – was pre-recorded. But still, the revelation that Beyoncé put a tape on it didn't sit well with 63% of PEOPLE readers, who voted on Twitter that they were bothered by her seemingly pre-taped performance.


But not everyone was frustrated with the apparent lip-sync. Beyoncé's Destiny's Child mate Michelle Williams defended the singer to Entertainment Tonight, saying, "It's their personal preference. With big crowds and echoes, you know when it's a big historical moment, you don't want any room for any mistakes so I can understand why it was done."

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Scientists to resume work with lab-bred bird flu


WASHINGTON (AP) — International scientists who last year halted controversial research with the deadly bird flu say they are resuming their work as countries adopt new rules to ensure safety.


The outcry erupted when two labs — in the Netherlands and the U.S. — reported they had created easier-to-spread versions of bird flu. Amid fierce debate about the oversight of such research and whether it might aid terrorists, those scientists voluntarily halted further work last January — and more than three dozen of the world's leading flu researchers signed on as well.


On Wednesday, those scientists announced they were ending their moratorium because their pause in study worked: It gave the U.S. government and other world health authorities time to determine how they would oversee high-stakes research involving dangerous germs.


A number of countries already have issued new rules. The U.S. is finalizing its own research guidelines, a process that Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Health said should be completed within several weeks.


In letters published in the journals Science and Nature this week, scientists wrote that those who meet their country's requirements have a responsibility to resume studying how the deadly bird flu might mutate to become a bigger threat to people — maybe even the next pandemic. So far, the so-called H5N1 virus mostly spreads among poultry and other birds and rarely infects people.


"The risk exists in nature already. Not doing the research is really putting us in danger," said Yoshihiro Kawaoka of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He and Ron Fouchier of Erasmus University in the Netherlands separately created the new virus strains that could spread through the air.


The controversy flared just over a year ago, when U.S. officials, prompted by the concerns of a biosecurity advisory panel, asked the two labs not to publish the results. They worried that terrorists might use the information to create a bioweapon. More broadly, scientists debated whether creating new strains of disease is a good idea, and if so, how to safeguard against laboratory accidents.


Ultimately, the flu researchers prevailed: The government decided the data didn't pose any immediate terrorism threat after all, and the two labs' work was published last summer.


Fouchier said that within weeks, he will begin new research in the Netherlands, with European funding, to explore exactly which mutations are the biggest threat. He said the work could enable scientists today to be on the lookout as bird flu continually evolves in the wild.


U.S.-funded scientists cannot resume their studies until the government's policy is finalized.


But the NIH had paid for the original research — and it would have been approved under the soon-to-come expanded policy as well, Fauci told The Associated Press. That policy will add an extra layer of review to higher-risk research, to ensure that it is scientifically worth doing and that safety and bioterrorism concerns are fully addressed up-front, he said.


Had that policy been in place over a year ago, it could have averted the bird flu debate, Fauci said: "Our answer simply would have been, yes, we vetted it very carefully and the benefit is worth any risk. Period, case closed."


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Wall Street up on tech earnings, S&P index knocks on 1,500

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks advanced on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 inching up for a sixth day in a row, as stronger-than-expected profits at IBM and Google helped alleviate investor concerns about the tech sector.


IBM's and Google's earnings, released after Tuesday's close, come on the heels of stronger U.S. economic data, which have pushed the Dow and S&P 500 to five-year highs, and as worries about tackling the U.S. budget deficit have been put off for now.


Shares in IBM Corp , the world's largest technology services company, climbed 4.9 percent to $205.65, in their largest advance since July, providing the biggest boost to the Dow.


Also helping the tech sector was a 6.2 percent jump in Google Inc to $746.69. The Internet search company reported its core business outpaced expectations and revenue was higher than expected.


The S&P technology sector <.splrct> rose 1.3 percent.


Worries about the profit potential in the tech sector had grown on concerns of waning demand for Apple Inc's products and a weak outlook from Intel Corp last week.


"Company fundamentals are improving, but no one wants to be too aggressive. It's like we're waiting for another shoe to drop with earnings, but the shoe isn't dropping," said David Porter, managing partner at Baystate Financial in Boston.


LED maker Cree Inc jumped 22.8 percent to $41.11 after it forecast a higher-than-expected third-quarter profit, and reported results above analysts' estimates.


The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> rose 71.61 points or 0.52 percent, to 13,783.82, the S&P 500 <.spx> gained 2.62 points or 0.18 percent, to 1,495.18 and the Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> added 12.68 points or 0.4 percent, to 3,155.86.


The S&P 500 index is on track to rise for a sixth straight day and is nearing 1,500, a level last reached December 12, 2007.


Thomson Reuters data through Wednesday showed that of the 99 S&P 500 companies that have reported earnings so far, 67.7 percent have topped expectations, above the 65 percent average beat over the past four quarters.


McDonald's edged up 0.6 percent to $93.52 after reporting a rise in fourth-quarter earnings, lifted by an increase in same-store sales. Fellow Dow component United Technology Corp's earnings fell from the prior year, hurt by large restructuring charges. Its shares rose 0.6 percent to $87.99.


Upscale leather goods maker Coach Inc plunged 15.7 percent to $51.18 as the S&P's worst performer after reporting sales that missed expectations.


After the market closes, investors will scour Apple's results, with the options market bracing for a big move in Apple shares after its earnings amid a dramatic plunge in recent weeks of shares of the world's most valuable publicly traded company. Apple shares rose on Tuesday 1.1 percent to $510.54.


Overall, S&P 500 fourth-quarter earnings rose 2.8 percent, according to Thomson Reuters data. That estimate is above the 1.9 percent forecast at the start of earnings season.


Clearing a market hurdle, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a Republican-led plan to extend the country's borrowing authority until May 19. This delays a confrontation in Congress similar to one in 2011, which generated a stalemate that triggered the first ever U.S. debt rating downgrade.


(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos, additional reporting by Ryan Vlastelica; Editing by Kenneth Barry)



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Cameron promises Britons vote on EU exit


LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron promised Britons a vote on quitting the European Union, rattling London's biggest allies and some investors by raising the prospect of uncertainty and upheaval.


Cameron announced on Wednesday that the referendum would be held by the end of 2017 - provided he wins a second term - and said that while Britain did not want to retreat from the world, public disillusionment with the bloc was at "an all-time high".


"It is time for the British people to have their say. It is time for us to settle this question about Britain and Europe," Cameron said in a speech, adding that his Conservative party would campaign for the 2015 parliamentary election on a promise to renegotiate the terms of Britain's EU membership.


"When we have negotiated that new settlement, we will give the British people a referendum with a very simple in or out choice to stay in the European Union on these new terms; or come out altogether. It will be an in-out referendum."


A referendum would mark the second time British voters have had a direct say on the issue. In 1975, they decided by a wide margin to stay in, two years after the country had joined.


Most recent opinion polls have shown a slim majority would vote to leave amid bitter disenchantment, fanned by a hostile press, about the EU's perceived influence on the British way of life. However, a poll this week showed a majority for staying.


Cameron's position is fraught with uncertainty. He must come from behind to win the next election, secure support from the EU's 26 other states for a new British role, and hope those countries can persuade their voters to back the changes.


He also avoided saying exactly what he would do if he failed to win concessions in Europe, as many believe is likely.


Critics, notably among business leaders worried about the effect on investment, say that for years before a vote, Britain may slip into a dangerous and damaging limbo that could leave it adrift or effectively pushed out of the EU.


The United States, a close ally, is also uneasy about the plan, believing it will dilute Britain's international clout. President Barack Obama told Cameron last week that Washington valued "a strong UK in a strong European Union" and the White House said on Wednesday it believed Britain's membership of the EU was mutually beneficial.


Some of Britain's European partners were also anxious and told Cameron on Wednesday his strategy reflected a selfish and ignorant attitude. However, Angela Merkel, the leader of EU paymaster Germany, was quick to say she was ready to discuss Cameron's ideas.


FRENCH "NON"


French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius was less diplomatic: "If Britain wants to leave Europe, we will roll out the red carpet," he quipped, echoing words Cameron used recently to urge France's rich to escape high taxes and move to Britain.


French President Francois Hollande repeated his refusal of special deals: "What I will say, speaking for France, and as a European, is that it isn't possible to bargain over Europe to hold this referendum," he said. "Europe must be taken as it is.


"One can have it modified in future but one cannot propose reducing or diminishing it as a condition of staying in."


Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti was more positive. He said he agreed with Cameron on the need to make the EU more innovative and welcomed the idea of a British referendum, saying he thought Britons would ultimately vote to stay in the bloc.


Billed by commentators as the most important speech of Cameron's career, his referendum promise ties him firmly to an issue that has bedeviled a generation of Conservative leaders.


In the past, he has been careful to avoid bruising partisan fights over Europe, an issue that undid the last two Conservative prime ministers, John Major and Margaret Thatcher.


His speech appeared to pacify a powerful Euroskeptic wing inside his own party, but deepen rifts with the Liberal Democrats, the junior partners in his coalition. Their leader, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, said the plan would undermine a fragile economic recovery.


Sterling fell to its lowest in nearly five months against the dollar on Wednesday as Cameron was speaking.


"BREXIT"?


Cameron said he would take back powers from Brussels, saying later in parliament that, when it came to employment, social and environmental legislation, "Europe has gone far too far".


But such a clawback - still the subject of an internal audit to identify which specific powers he should target for repatriation to London - is likely to be easier said than done.


If Cameron wins re-election but then fails to renegotiate Britain's membership of the EU, a 'Brexit' could loom.


Business leaders have warned that years of doubt over Britain's EU membership would damage the $2.5 trillion economy and cool the investment climate.


"Having a referendum creates more uncertainty and we don't need that," Martin Sorrell, chief executive of advertising giant WPP, told the World Economic Forum in Davos. "This is a political decision. This is not an economic decision.


"This isn't good news. You added another reason why people will postpone investment decisions."


Cameron has been pushed into taking such a strong position partly by the rise of the UK Independence Party, which favors complete withdrawal from the EU and has climbed to third in the opinion polls, mainly at the expense of the Conservatives.


"All he's trying to do is to kick the can down the road and to try and get UKIP off his back," said UKIP leader Nigel Farage.


Euroskeptics in Cameron's party, who have threatened to stir up trouble for the premier, were thrilled by the speech.


Conservative lawmaker Peter Bone called it "a terrific victory" that would unify 98 percent of the party. "He's the first prime minister to say he wants to bring back powers from Brussels," Bone told Reuters. "It's pretty powerful stuff".


Whether Cameron holds the referendum remains as uncertain as the Conservatives' chances of winning the election. They trail the opposition Labour party in opinion polls, and the coalition is grappling with a stagnating economy as it pushes through unpopular public spending cuts to reduce a large budget deficit.


Labour leader Ed Miliband said on Wednesday his party did not want an in-or-out referendum.


EU REFORM


Cameron said he would campaign for Britain to stay in the EU "with all my heart and soul", provided he secured the reforms he wants. He made clear the Union must become less bureaucratic and focus more on free trade.


It was riskier to maintain the status quo than to change, he said: "The biggest danger to the European Union comes not from those who advocate change, but from those who denounce new thinking as heresy," he said.


Asked whether, if he did not succeed in his renegotiation strategy, would recommend a vote to take Britain out, he said only: "I want to see a strong Britain in a reformed Europe.


"We have a very clear plan. We want to reset the relationship. We will hold that referendum. We will recommend that resettlement to the British people."


Cameron said the euro zone debt crisis was forcing the bloc to change and that Britain would fight to make sure new rules were fair to the 10 countries that do not use the common currency, of which Britain is the largest.


Democratic consent for the EU in Britain was now "wafer thin", he said:


"Some people say that to point this out is irresponsible, creates uncertainty for business and puts a question mark over Britain's place in the European Union. But the question mark is already there: ignoring it won't make it go away."


A YouGov opinion poll on Monday showed that more people wanted to stay in the EU than leave it, the first such result in many months. But it was unclear whether that result was a blip.


Paul Chipperfield, a 53-year-old management consultant, said he liked the strategy: "Cameron's making the right move because I don't think we've had enough debate in this country," he said.


"We should be part of the EU but the EU needs to recognize that not everybody's going to jump on the same bandwagon."


Asked after the speech whether other EU countries would agree to renegotiate Britain's membership, Cameron said he was an optimist and that there was "every chance of success".


"I don't want Britain to leave the EU," he told parliament later. "I want Britain to reform the EU."


In the 1975 referendum, just over 67 percent voted to stay inside with nearly 33 percent against.


(Additional reporting by Paul Taylor in Davos, Alexandra Hudson in Berlin, Brenda Goh in London, Jeff Mason in Washington and James Mackenzie in Rome; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge, David Stamp and Alastair Macdonald)



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Why the Future of TV Still Isn’t Here Yet






As content providers continue to intimidate tech companies with a seemingly endless couch-potato conundrum, the latest innovation in the war to win your living room isn’t some new gadget from Apple or Netflix, or even that exciting à la carte content delivery system from Intel — it’s a protocol that helps our screens better communicate with one another. YouTube and Netflix have teamed up to create something called DIAL, a competitor of sorts to Apple’s AirPlay, which, as GigaOm’s Janko Roettgers describes it, ”helps developers of second-screen apps to discover and launch applications on smart TVs and connected devices.” Basically, it turns your phone into a kind of wireless super-remote for your TV, as Roettgers explains: 



With DIAL, the Netflix app on your phone will automatically discover that there is a device with a Netflix app connected to your TV. It will fire up that app, and then the two apps are free to do whatever they want — which presumably involves some healthy binge-viewing.







This solves a “big problem” because it makes using those apps on your smart television a lot easier.  As of right now, controlling the Netflix app on a PlayStation still requires the console remote to open up the app on your television before controlling it from a phone or tablet. This eliminates a step — and that, ladies and gents, is the biggest thing actually happening in TV tech right now. Instead of letting us pay just for the content we want, the cable industry’s aging model is still forcing tech companies to help us sift through all the extras were forced to buy. Because with the big media companies refusing to budge on innovative content deals so far this year, “content discovery” tools like GIAL and AirPlay remain one of the only ways everyone can get along. 


RELATED: Netflix Is Winning the Internet


It wasn’t supposed to be this way, of course. Many expected hardware like a supped-up Apple TV or the Roku streaming stick to “fix” television — instead of some protocol that makes finding stuff on our TVs easier. But, as Netflix discovered when it tried to get in the hardware business, the total package can alienate the other key players. Back in 2007, the streaming company had a set-top box in the works that would transform Netflix into a cable competitor, reports Fast Company’s Austin Carr. But CEO Reid Hastings scrapped the idea because it was too competitive. “We could not be competing against Sony, LG, and Samsung,” says Steve Swasey, then the company’s VP of communications. On top of the potential loss of support from hardware makers, this separate Netflix box scared away the content owners, with which Netflix has worked so hard to get streaming TV deals. 


RELATED: The Future of Streaming Video Looks Like TV Reruns


The old-school media industry’s fear of tech-world competition has driven the future of television in a spiraling direction. When one of the too-many entities gets offended, the future falls apart, as we saw with Google TV in an experiment that ultimately scared off content providers as well. A protocol like DIAL is the politically correct solution: It doesn’t change how we pay for content — but it sure does work within the comfortable way we’re used to sitting down and watching TV!


Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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See Jana Kramer's 5-Carat Sparkler







Style News Now





01/22/2013 at 03:29 PM ET











Engagement Ring Jana KramerCourtesy of Jana Kramer (2)


When country star Brantley Gilbert proposed to his girlfriend of one year, country singer and One Tree Hill actress Jana Kramer, the one thing on his mind was making the day perfect for his bride-to-be.


That (of course) included getting on bended knee at Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium, prepared with the ultimate engagement ring. Gilbert, 28, worked with Giador Fine Jewelry, a local jeweler in midtown Nashville, to create a custom diamond sparkler for Kramer, 29.


“I’m in love with it,” Kramer tells PEOPLE exclusively. “I can’t stop looking at it!” The five-carat round-cut ring, set in white gold with diamonds embedded in the band, was just the icing on the cake for the singer/actress, who accepted the proposal with an enthusiastic “Yes!” The couple are both nominated in the “best new vocalist” category at this year’s Academy of Country Music awards. Tell us: What do you think of Kramer’s ring?
–Jen Garcia


PHOTOS: SEE MORE MEMBERS OF THE GINORMOUS CARAT CLUB HERE!




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Flu season fuels debate over paid sick time laws


NEW YORK (AP) — Sniffling, groggy and afraid she had caught the flu, Diana Zavala dragged herself in to work anyway for a day she felt she couldn't afford to miss.


A school speech therapist who works as an independent contractor, she doesn't have paid sick days. So the mother of two reported to work and hoped for the best — and was aching, shivering and coughing by the end of the day. She stayed home the next day, then loaded up on medicine and returned to work.


"It's a balancing act" between physical health and financial well-being, she said.


An unusually early and vigorous flu season is drawing attention to a cause that has scored victories but also hit roadblocks in recent years: mandatory paid sick leave for a third of civilian workers — more than 40 million people — who don't have it.


Supporters and opponents are particularly watching New York City, where lawmakers are weighing a sick leave proposal amid a competitive mayoral race.


Pointing to a flu outbreak that the governor has called a public health emergency, dozens of doctors, nurses, lawmakers and activists — some in surgical masks — rallied Friday on the City Hall steps to call for passage of the measure, which has awaited a City Council vote for nearly three years. Two likely mayoral contenders have also pressed the point.


The flu spike is making people more aware of the argument for sick pay, said Ellen Bravo, executive director of Family Values at Work, which promotes paid sick time initiatives around the country. "There's people who say, 'OK, I get it — you don't want your server coughing on your food,'" she said.


Advocates have cast paid sick time as both a workforce issue akin to parental leave and "living wage" laws, and a public health priority.


But to some business owners, paid sick leave is an impractical and unfair burden for small operations. Critics also say the timing is bad, given the choppy economy and the hardships inflicted by Superstorm Sandy.


Michael Sinensky, an owner of seven bars and restaurants around the city, was against the sick time proposal before Sandy. And after the storm shut down four of his restaurants for days or weeks, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars that his insurers have yet to pay, "we're in survival mode."


"We're at the point, right now, where we cannot afford additional social initiatives," said Sinensky, whose roughly 500 employees switch shifts if they can't work, an arrangement that some restaurateurs say benefits workers because paid sick time wouldn't include tips.


Employees without sick days are more likely to go to work with a contagious illness, send an ill child to school or day care and use hospital emergency rooms for care, according to a 2010 survey by the University of Chicago's National Opinion Research Center. A 2011 study in the American Journal of Public Health estimated that a lack of sick time helped spread 5 million cases of flu-like illness during the 2009 swine flu outbreak.


To be sure, many employees entitled to sick time go to work ill anyway, out of dedication or at least a desire to project it. But the work-through-it ethic is shifting somewhat amid growing awareness about spreading sickness.


"Right now, where companies' incentives lie is butting right up against this concern over people coming into the workplace, infecting others and bringing productivity of a whole company down," said John A. Challenger, CEO of employer consulting firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas.


Paid sick day requirements are often popular in polls, but only four places have them: San Francisco, Seattle, Washington, D.C., and the state of Connecticut. The specific provisions vary.


Milwaukee voters approved a sick time requirement in 2008, but the state Legislature passed a law blocking it. Philadelphia's mayor vetoed a sick leave measure in 2011; lawmakers have since instituted a sick time requirement for businesses with city contracts. Voters rejected a paid sick day measure in Denver in 2011.


In New York, City Councilwoman Gale Brewer's proposal would require up to five paid sick days a year at businesses with at least five employees. It wouldn't include independent contractors, such as Zavala, who supports the idea nonetheless.


The idea boasts such supporters as feminist Gloria Steinem and "Sex and the City" actress Cynthia Nixon, as well as a majority of City Council members and a coalition of unions, women's groups and public health advocates. But it also faces influential opponents, including business groups, Mayor Michael Bloomberg and City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, who has virtually complete control over what matters come to a vote.


Quinn, who is expected to run for mayor, said she considers paid sick leave a worthy goal but doesn't think it would be wise to implement it in a sluggish economy. Two of her likely opponents, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio and Comptroller John Liu, have reiterated calls for paid sick leave in light of the flu season.


While the debate plays out, Emilio Palaguachi is recovering from the flu and looking for a job. The father of four was abruptly fired without explanation earlier this month from his job at a deli after taking a day off to go to a doctor, he said. His former employer couldn't be reached by telephone.


"I needed work," Palaguachi said after Friday's City Hall rally, but "I needed to see the doctor because I'm sick."


___


Associated Press writer Susan Haigh in Hartford, Conn., contributed to this report.


___


Follow Jennifer Peltz at http://twitter.com/jennpeltz


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Cyclical sectors lift S&P 500 to 5-year high

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Cyclical sectors led the Standard & Poor's 500 to a five-year intraday high on Tuesday as traders gobbled up bank and commodity shares on hopes the global economy continues to mend.


The market also gained on signals that Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives aim on Wednesday to pass a nearly four-month extension of the U.S. debt limit. The White House welcomed the move on Tuesday, saying it defuses fears of a U.S. default on its debt.


Adding to the upbeat sentiment, Portuguese 10-year debt yields fell below 6 percent for the first time since late 2010 on news that the country was set to tap the bond market this week for the first time since it was bailed out in 2011.


"Cyclicals underperformed late last year because of the fear of the fiscal cliff and the debt ceiling," said Jack de Gan, chief investment officer at Harbor Advisory Corp, in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.


He said overall better economic numbers in the United States and China, as well as more stabilization in Europe, were driving buyers into sectors associated with economic growth.


Gains were limited, however, as investors were cautious ahead of an increase in earnings reports and the S&P 500 was rising for the fifth straight day.


"Not very often do you go very far beyond that in the short term," De Gan said, "so any (bearish) news could turn us down for a day or so."


The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> rose 47.43 points or 0.35 percent, to 13,697.13. The S&P 500 <.spx> gained 4.18 points or 0.28 percent, to 1,490.16. The Nasdaq Composite <.ixic> added 0.25 of a point, or 0.01 percent, to 3,134.96.


Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold led gains in the materials sector after it reported a 16 percent rise in fourth-quarter profit on higher production. Shares gained 5.4 percent to $35.44.


Technology shares underperformed as concerns about Apple's ability to continue to grow at hyper speed and a weak outlook from Intel Corp have diminished optimism about the sector's prospects. The S&P technology index <.splrct> was off 0.2 percent.


Major tech companies scheduled to report results after the market's close on Tuesday include Google Inc , IBM and Texas Instruments . Tech bellwethers Apple and Microsoft Corp are set to report earnings later this week.


"Any one of those, if there is a big surprise up or down, could shift the balance in the markets. So investors are being far more cautious than normal, especially with the market averages having broken out to five-year highs," said Fred Dickson, chief market strategist at D.A. Davidson & Co, in Lake Oswego, Oregon.


Four Dow components have already reported earnings Tuesday, and three rose on the results. Insurer Travelers was the standout, climbing 2.1 percent to $77.93.


Blue chips DuPont


, the largest U.S. chemical company by market capitalization, and Verizon Communications also posted revenue that beat forecasts.

DuPont's shares gained 1.6 percent to $47.74 while Verizon's rose 0.4 percent to $42.73.


On the downside, shares of Johnson & Johnson , the diversified health company, slipped 0.8 percent to $72.66 after it forecast 2013 earnings below expectations.


Thomson Reuters data through Tuesday morning showed that of the 74 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings so far, 62.2 percent have topped expectations, roughly even with the 62 percent average since 1994, but below the 65 percent average over the past four quarters.


Overall, S&P 500 fourth-quarter earnings are forecast to have risen 2.6 percent. That estimate is above the 1.9 percent forecast from the start of earnings season, but well below the 9.9 percent fourth-quarter earnings forecast from October 1, the data showed.


U.S.-listed shares of Research in Motion jumped 11.3 percent to $17.63 a day after its chief executive said the Canadian company may consider strategic alliances with other companies after the launch of devices powered by RIM's new BlackBerry 10 operating system.


(Reporting by Rodrigo Campos and Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Jan Paschal)

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Netanyahu tops Israel vote despite losses: exit polls


JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu emerged the bruised winner of Israel's election on Tuesday, with his hawkish bloc unexpectedly losing ground to resurgent center-left challengers, exit polls showed.


They suggested the Israeli leader's Likud party, yoked with the ultra-nationalist Yisrael Beitenu group, would still be the biggest bloc in the 120-member assembly with 31 seats, 11 fewer than the 42 they held in the previous parliament.


If the exit polls compiled by three Israeli television channels prove correct, Netanyahu would be on course to secure a third term in office, perhaps leading a hardline coalition that would promote Jewish settlement on occupied land.


But his weakened showing in an election he himself called earlier than necessary could complicate the struggle to forge an alliance with a stable majority in parliament.


The projections showed right-wing parties with a combined strength of 61-62 seats against 58-59 for the center-left.


"According to the exit poll results, it is clear that Israel's citizens have decided that they want me to continue in the job of prime minister of Israel and to form as broad a government as possible," Netanyahu wrote on his Facebook page.


But the mood was subdued at his Likud party's election headquarters, with only a couple of hundred party activists and supporters in a venue that could house thousands.


The 63-year-old Israeli leader promised during his election campaign to focus on tackling Iran's nuclear ambitions if he won, shunting Palestinian peacemaking well down the agenda despite Western concern to keep the quest for a solution alive.


After a lackluster campaign, Israelis voted in droves on a sunny winter day, registering the highest projected turnout since 1999 when Netanyahu, serving his first term as prime minister, was defeated by then-Labour Party leader Ehud Barak.


The strong turnout buoyed center-left parties which had pinned their hopes on energizing an army of undecided voters against Netanyahu and his nationalist-religious allies.


The centrist Yesh Atid (There is a Future) party, led by former television talk show host Yair Lapid, came second with 18 or 19 seats, exit polls showed - a stunning result for a newcomer to politics in a field of 32 contending parties.


Lapid won support amongst middle-class, secular voters by promising to resolve a growing housing shortage, abolish military draft exemptions for Jewish seminary students and seek an overhaul of the failing education system.


The once dominant Labour party led by Shelly Yachimovich was projected to take third place with 17 seats.


A stream of opinion polls before the election had predicted an easy win for Netanyahu. The final opinion polls on Friday showed his Likud-Beitenu group still on top, but losing some ground to the Jewish Home party, which opposes a Palestinian state and advocates annexing chunks of the occupied West Bank.


The exit polls projected 12 seats for Jewish Home.


COALITION BUILDING


Full election results are due by Wednesday morning and official ones will be announced on January 30. After that, President Shimon Peres is likely to ask Netanyahu, as leader of the biggest bloc in parliament, to try to form a government.


The former commando has traditionally looked to religious, conservative parties for backing and is widely expected to seek out self-made millionaire Naftali Bennett, who heads the Jewish Home party and stole much of the limelight during the campaign.


Political sources said before the election that Netanyahu might approach center-left parties in an effort to broaden his coalition and present a more moderate face to worried allies.


British Foreign Secretary William Hague warned Israel on Tuesday it was losing international support, saying prospects for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict were almost dead because of expanding Jewish settlements.


U.S.-brokered peace talks broke down in 2010 amid mutual acrimony. Since then Israel has accelerated construction in the West Bank and east Jerusalem - land the Palestinians want for their future state - much to the anger of Western partners.


Tuesday's vote is the first in Israel since Arab uprisings swept the region two years ago, reshaping the Middle East.


Netanyahu has said the turbulence, which has brought Islamist governments to power in several countries long ruled by secularist autocrats, including neighboring Egypt, shows the importance of strengthening national security.


He views Iran's nuclear program as a mortal threat to the Jewish state and has vowed not to let Tehran enrich enough uranium to make a single nuclear bomb - a threshold Israeli experts say could arrive as early as mid-2013.


Iran denies it is planning to build the bomb, and says Israel, widely believed to have the only nuclear arsenal in the Middle East, is the biggest threat to the region.


The issue barely registered during the election campaign, with a poll in Haaretz newspaper on Friday saying 47 percent of Israelis thought social and economic issues were the most pressing concern, against just 10 percent who cited Iran.


One of the first problems to face the next government, which is unlikely to take power before the middle of next month at the earliest, is the stuttering economy.


Data last week showed the budget deficit rose to 4.2 percent of gross domestic product in 2012, double the original estimate, meaning spending cuts and tax hikes look certain.


(Reporting by Jerusalem bureau; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)



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Apple slips, BlackBerry slides and Windows Phone stalls in December






Kantar Worldpanel’s December smartphone market share numbers are out. And they are as fascinating as ever. Kantar pegs the BlackBerry market share in America as 1.1% last month, down from 1.4% in November. Surprisingly, Windows Phone’s market share also ticked down to 2.6% in December from 2.7% in November. That might be a statistical artifact, but it is surprising not to see a substantial boost in Windows share considering the marketing support and new devices from AT&T (T).


[More from BGR: BlackBerry 10 OS walkthrough, BlackBerry Z10 pricing]






In Europe, Windows Phone is rapidly picking up steam. Its market share soared to 13.9% in Italy from 11.8% in November. In the UK, Windows Phone’s share moved to 5.9% from 5.1% in a month.The EU average share of Windows Phone bloomed to 5.4% from 4.7% between November and December.


[More from BGR: Verizon Q4 loss doubles to nearly $ 2 billion despite record subscriber adds]


At the same time, BlackBerry dipped to 4.0% from 4.4%. The stage is set for the spring battle between Windows Phone and BlackBerry camps.


Interestingly, Apple’s (AAPL) share in the UK slipped to 32.4% in December from 36.1% in November. The massive popularity of Samsung (005930) models in the British market was undoubtedly the main reason; Android’s share hit 54.4% in the UK.


This is the latest sign that Apple’s market share problems outside the U.S. market are not limited to emerging markets and Southern Europe. The UK has traditionally been the second most loyal market to the Apple brand, right after the United States. According to Kantar, Apple slipped 2.1 percentage points in America between November and December, ending up with 51.2% share of the smartphone market.


This article was originally published on BGR.com


Gadgets News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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