"Great Rotation"- A Wall Street fairy tale?

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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


MOM AND POP STILL WARY


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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



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NFL's Goodell aims to share blame on player safety


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


Also:


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


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


___


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


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The Untold Story: Columbia Shuttle Disaster and Mysterious ‘Day 2 Object’






A decade has passed since the ill-fated Columbia space shuttle orbiter and its seven-person crew ended their journey in catastrophe. During its Feb. 1, 2003 plunge back to Earth, the vehicle broke apart, with wreckage strewn across east Texas and western Louisiana.


Painstaking work by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) later identified the physical cause of the disaster as damage to Columbia‘s left wing that occurred just 81.9 seconds after launch.






A piece of insulating foam separated from the left “bipod ramp” that connected the shuttle’s fuel tank to the orbiter, gouging a hole in a reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) panel on the leading edge of Columbia’s left wing.


Now, 10 years later, new information is coming to light on an event early in Columbia’s mission, often termed the “Flight Day 2 Object.”


When added to the wealth of information already known about how the Columbia accident occurred, this story reinforces a picture of technical slip-ups, a lack of effective communications and a failure of early detection and reaction to anomalies, all of which contributed to the disaster. [Video: Astronaut Jerry Ross Remembers Columbia]


Panel 8


About a day after launch on Jan. 16, 2003, with Columbia’s crew settling into its mission, an object roughly the size of a notebook computer drifted away from the orbiter out into space.


According to a source that asked not to be named, “due to a procedural issue” the object was not recognized during Columbia’s 16-day mission by the Air Force Space Command (AFSPC). That AFSPC procedure was later corrected.


The Flight Day 2 object, according to a source then working with the CAIB to help discern the cause of the Columbia calamity, was a fragment of the RCC panel on the orbiter’s wing. A team of experts concluded that the departing piece had been lodged within the left wing by aerodynamic forces on Columbia’s liftoff. It was set adrift after the orbiter reached space.


The CAIB made the final conclusion that the foam-shedding incident on Columbia’s takeoff affected panel 8 of the RCC heat-shielding, which was located on the orbiter’s leading edge. That foam strike punctured a hole in the RCC panel roughly 16 inches (41 centimeters) by 16 inches. Analysts estimated that a hole as small as 10 inches (25 cm) across could have caused the orbiter to be destroyed on re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere.


That left-wing damage permitted the penetration of hot, re-entry gases, which led to the loss of Columbia and its crew. Superheated air entered the leading-edge insulation and progressively melted the aluminum structure of the left wing, until increasing aerodynamic forces led to loss of control, failure of the wing and disintegration of the orbiter.


From a re-entry standpoint, Columbia broke up very late,  at a low altitude, roughly 30 to 35 miles (50 to 55 kilometers) above Earth, where heating had almost ceased. The breakup was primarily mechanical, due to localized heating that occurred earlier in the re-entry process.


Serendipitous observations


A number of experts who studied the loss of Columbia and its crew shared their theories on the cause of the Flight Day 2 incident with SPACE.com.


Early on, experts had thought that perhaps a piece of orbital debris hit the shuttle.


In post-disaster work, an Air Force Space Command Space Analysis Center team worked with the Space Surveillance Network (SSN), a worldwide system of U.S. Army, Navy and Air Force-operated ground-based radars and optical sensors.


That team and SSN operators went back after Columbia’s demise to see if there had been any serendipitous observations taken the orbiter during its mission by accident, among the wealth of photos of the sky during that period.


Indeed, that team did find some observations and noted there was another piece of debris in orbit with Columbia starting on Day 2 of its flight. Aiding in this identification was the fact that Columbia had been in a unique orbit, for not only the shuttle but virtually any other satellite, so there wasn’t much else in the orbit.


After noting the Day 2 object, researchers began an investigation to determine the object’s separation velocity and its time of release from Columbia.


Investigators hoped to see if the object departed the orbiter at high velocity, indicating a possible collision, or if it came off at low velocity, signifying something drifting away, perhaps out of Columbia’s cargo bay.


Radar information


With radar information on hand concerning the object’s size, and measurements of how quickly it decayed in Earth orbit, analysts could tell it was something with the dimensions of a notebook computer. Best estimates are that the Flight Day 2 object decayed from orbit on Jan. 20, disintegrating as it fell down through Earth’s atmosphere. The item was never given a satellite catalogue number since it decayed before its discovery.


The Air Force and SSN analysts worked closely with Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) specialists, all focused on understanding the object’s makeup and attempting to tag likely materials that had the right density. A final determination, according to a SPACE.com source, was that it was a piece of Columbia’s carbon-carbon leading edge.


“That determination encouraged NASA to continue their testing of firing foam at the leading edge … finally getting a result that very closely matched our analysis,” the source, who asked not to be named, said.


A post-disaster review of Columbia’s movements on Day 2 showed the detached object appeared to separate after the orbiter undertook a couple of maneuvers to change its orientation.


The Space Analysis Center team believed that aerodynamic forces on ascent had pushed the Day 2 object back into the wing and Columbia’s maneuvers subsequently shook the object loose.


Foam impact


Another view of the situation at the time is offered by a Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) member, Scott Hubbard, then director of the NASA Ames Research Center and currently professor of aeronautics and astronautics at Stanford University.


Hubbard played an instrumental role in spotlighting the cause of Columbia’s demise. To do so, he relied on computational modeling, reinforced by experimental testing with a large compressed-gas gun done by Southwest Research Institute (SwRI) scientists and engineers in San Antonio, Texas. During the tests, scientists fired a piece of foam at a target at speeds comparable to what a falling piece of debris from the shuttle would have experienced. Researchers then observed the damage.


Hubbard oversaw those tests, which showed that a chunk of falling insulating foam from the large, exterior fuel tank could indeed punch a hole in the leading edge of the orbiter’s left wing — panel 8 of the RCC thermal protection system, to be exact.


“My decision to direct as definitive a test as possible of the foam impact on Columbia was driven by the desire to provide the crew and shuttle program with a clear, physical cause so that ‘return to flight’ could be carried out without hesitation,” Hubbard told SPACE.com.


While there was a significant collection of circumstantial evidence — film of launch, “black box” data and collected debris — Hubbard said he had the strong sense that NASA was not converging on an answer to such basic parameters as the size of the falling foam.


Uncertainty of observations


“During the CAIB deliberations, the radar data and analysis by AFRL was occasionally presented to the board, but the uncertainty of the observations and myriad initial interpretations did little to convince us that the mysterious ‘second day’ object was part of the orbiter,” Hubbard said. [Columbia Shuttle Disaster Explained (Infographic)]


“I can state quite unequivocally that the AFRL examination of the radar profile had no influence on the selection of the SwRI test parameters. Computational fluid dynamics analysis, the 35mm film data and emerging debris information had already convinced my team and me to aim at Panel 8 of the RCC.”


The AFRL did not issue their final summary report until July 20, 2003, nearly two weeks after the definitive SWRI tests, Hubbard said.


“It is worth noting that the SWRI tests did produce a large section of RCC that, had it floated away from the orbiter, may have resembled the 2nd day piece,” Hubbard said. “However, this observation is definitely post hoc and was not a test prediction.”


Air Force Space Command response


According to CAIB report findings, the Day 2 object was discovered after the accident during Air Force processing of space surveillance network data, which yielded 3,180 separate radar or optical observations from Air Force and Navy sensors. It was the post-accident, detailed examination of these observations that revealed the Day 2 object.


After SPACE.com requested help in clarifying why the Day 2 object was not recognized during the mission, and what procedural error had since been fixed, an Air Force Space Command spokesperson responded with a statement.


“The Space Control Center (now Joint Space Operations Center) did change a


space situational awareness process involving space shuttle missions after the space shuttle Columbia accident,” the AFSC statement notes. “Before the Columbia accident, the Space Control Center did conjunction analysis (collision avoidance) during space shuttle missions using NASA positional data which better modeled the predicted position of Columbia for the conjunction screenings since it was more accurate than the data from AF sensors.”


Determined in hindsight


The AFSC statement explains that the NASA positional data came from their sensors, which could more accurately detect and model small orbital adjustments of the shuttle during missions than could other methods. Since NASA provided this positional data, the Space Control Center processed AF sensor data for Columbia using only basic astrodynamic algorithms and models. These, however, failed to provide high enough fidelity to definitely separate potential debris from the space shuttle orbiter.


“After the space shuttle Columbia investigation, the Space Control Center, in conjunction with NASA, decided to add additional analyst time to search for objects in close proximity to the shuttle, using both NASA positional data and Air Force sensor data,” the statement explains.


“It was determined in hindsight that while the previous process of using NASA positional data made space shuttle collision avoidance better, it degraded the possibility of cataloguing debris near the space shuttle during missions. Changing the process to use both NASA positional data and Air Force sensor data improved the ability to possibly detect debris near the space shuttle during missions,” the statement concludes.


Leonard David has been reporting on the space industry for more than five decades. He is former director of research for the National Commission on Space and has written for SPACE.com since 1999. He reported on the Columbia accident in 2003 and subsequent hearings of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board.


Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Science News Headlines – Yahoo! News




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Hillary: Secretary of empowerment




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




STORY HIGHLIGHTS


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

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

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

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




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


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


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


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



CNN Contributor Donna Brazile

CNN Contributor Donna Brazile



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


On the road with Hillary Clinton


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


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


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


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


Rothkopf: President Hillary Clinton? If she wants it



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


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








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


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


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


Ghitis: Hillary Clinton's global legacy on gay rights


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


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


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


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


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


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


Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion


Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion


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






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Convicted killer back in custody

A convicted murderer from Indiana is on the loose because of some bad paperwork in Cook County. (WGN - Chicago)









Convicted murderer Steven Robbins was arrested late Friday in Kankakee, two days after he was mistakenly released from the Cook County Jail after being brought to Chicago to dispose of an old case against him, according to the Cook County sheriff's office.


Saturday morning, Robbins is being held at the Cook County Sheriff's police lockup in Maywood until he can be taken back to Indiana, said Frank Bilecki, a spokesman for Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart.


Robbins, 44, who was serving a 60-year sentence for murder in Indiana, was apprehended "without incident" about 10:55 p.m. in the 400 block of Fraser Avenue in Kankakee, according to Bilecki.








Bilecki said Dart was on the scene and helped assist in the arrest. 


 Authorities tracked Robbins through interviews with family and friends who helped provide his location, according to the sheriff's office. 


Earlier, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart took responsibility for mistakenly letting Robbins walk out of County Jail after a local charge against him was dismissed.


“We let people down, no mistake about it,” Dart said in an interview at sheriff’s offices in Maywood. “Our office did not operate the way it should have, clearly.”


The FBI, the U.S. Marshals Service and Cook County Crimestoppers raised $12,000 as a reward for information leading to Robbins’ capture, he said.


Dart said his office is still looking at where and how the system broke down to allow Robbins’ mistaken release from the jail,  but he said that officials at the  jail had no paperwork showing he was serving time in an Indiana prison for murder.


Like other indigent people, Robbins was outfitted with clothing from Goodwill – a long-sleeve brown shirt and brown pants – before being released out the front entrance, Dart said. He also likely was given bus fare.


Dart said the sheriff’s office uses an archaic system – entirely paper-driven – in handling the movement of an average of about 1,500 inmates every day. Some are entering the jail after their arrest and others are being bused to courthouses around the county for court appearances.


The sheriff said the warrant for Robbins’ arrest should have been quashed by prosecutors when armed violence charges were dismissed against him in 2007. In addition, he said prosecutors signed off on the sheriff’s office traveling to Indiana to pick up Robbins at the prison in Michigan City and bring him back on the outstanding warrant.


“We were able to get an extradition warrant on a case that didn’t exist,” Dart said. “That’s the first problem.”


Earlier, documents reviewed by the Tribune showed that paperwork filled out by Cook County sheriff’s officers this week made it clear that Robbins was serving a 60-year sentence for murder in Indiana and was to be returned to authorities there after being brought to Chicago to dispose of an old case against him.

“Please be advised that this subject is in our custody under the temporary custody provision of the interstate agreement on detainers,” a sheriff’s order accompanying Robbins’ paperwork read. The order noted Robbins’ murder conviction and 60-year sentence and then stated he “must be returned to the custody of Indiana DOC.”

In addition, Judge Rickey Jones, assigned to the Leighton Criminal Court Building, ordered the Illinois case dismissed on Wednesday and wrote on paperwork that Robbins was to be released for “this case only,” the records show.
 
Yet Robbins was allowed to walk free out of the Cook County Jail Wednesday evening after his court appearance. Authorities today were reviewing the paperwork in Robbins’ file to see how the mistake was made and who was responsible, sources told the Tribune.


Also under investigation was why Robbins – whose 1992 charges of armed violence and drug possession had been dismissed by prosecutors nearly six years ago – was even brought to Chicago in the first place.

Robbins spent the night in the Cook County Jail on Tuesday to attend a court date Wednesday on a warrant issued when he skipped bail in his 1992 case, Frank Bilecki, a spokesman for the Cook County sheriff’s office, said on Thursday.


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Spain's Rajoy says corruption allegations are false


MADRID (Reuters) - Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy strongly denied on Saturday allegations in the media that he and other leaders of his centre-right People's Party had for years received payments out of a secret slush fund.


"I need only two words: it's false," Rajoy said in a televised address after an extraordinary meeting of party leaders to discuss the allegations.


Rajoy welcomed a full investigation into the affair and said that the party would be fully transparent and that he would publish on the internet all of his tax declarations to clear up the scandal.


Last week El Pais newspaper published extracts from what it said were ledgers maintained by party treasurers to register cash contributions from business leaders that were then distributed to party leaders.


"It is not true that we (in this party) received cash that we hid from tax officials," Rajoy said in the brief speech. He did not take questions from the media.


Dozens of police in riot gear guarded PP headquarters in central Madrid on Saturday, cutting off neighboring streets. A small gathering of demonstrators shouted "resign" outside the building after several hundred people protested there on Thursday and Friday nights.


The growing scandal over alleged cash payments to People's Party leaders from a slush fund fed by construction industry executives has damaged Rajoy's credibility during a profound economic crisis in Spain.


Both right-leaning El Mundo newspaper and left-leaning El Pais have reported details of the scandal, citing sources within the PP and copies of the alleged secret accounts kept by party treasurers.


Rajoy, 57, has asked Spaniards for sacrifices as he slashes spending to trim a dangerously high public deficit that last year threatened to bankrupt the state and force him to seek a humiliating international bailout.


His popularity has plummeted during his 13 months in office as his austerity measures aggravate a deep recession and 26 percent unemployment.


The PP has an absolute majority in Parliament and so far the party has not shown signs of a split that would allow opponents to carry a vote of no confidence.


The PP has already said it will commission an external audit of its accounts.


The anti-corruption prosecutor's office said on Friday it is investigating the alleged payments. If the prosecutor finds evidence of a crime he will make a report to Spain's High Court, which will then decide whether it opens a judicial investigation, the first step to a possible criminal trial.


(Additional reporting by Iciar Reinlein and Rodrigo de Miguel; Writing by Fiona Ortiz)



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Stock futures point to higher open after payrolls data


NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stock futures were poised to open higher Friday as a slight disappointment in the January payroll report was offset by a strong upward revision for jobs in December.


Employment grew modestly in January, with 157,000 added in the month, slightly below expectations for 160,000. Still, the December report was revised upward to 196,000 from 155,000, supporting views the U.S. economic recovery remained on track despite a surprise contraction in fourth-quarter gross domestic product.


"Nice revision upward, and this month came in right at the sweet spot where job growth is picking up, but not at the point where the Fed's quantitative easing program is threatened," said Mark Luschini, chief investment strategist at Janney Montgomery Scott in Philadelphia.


The market may be vulnerable to a pullback at recent levels, and may see the S&P 500 coming off its best monthly performance since October 2011. However, declines may be limited, with investors having bought on dips over the past four weeks; the biggest daily drop on the S&P so far this year was just 0.39 percent.


"The market may be at something of a top here, but we are rising on improved economic fundamentals so the rally has been rational," said Luschini, who helps oversee $55 billion in assets.


Corporate earnings were also a focus for investors, with a trio of Dow components reporting profits that beat expectations.


Exxon Mobil Corp rose 0.7 percent to $90.60 in premarket trading after its results, and drugmaker Merck & Co fell 2.9 percent to $42. While Merck's profit was ahead of forecasts it gave a cautious outlook on 2013.


Chevron Corp rose 3 cents to $115.18 before the bell as its profit beat expectations.


S&P 500 futures rose 10.7 points and were above fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures added 116 points and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 21.5 points.


The S&P advanced 5.1 percent in January, with gains driven by a sturdy start to the earnings season and a compromise in Washington that postponed the impact of a "fiscal cliff" of automatic spending cuts and tax hikes that were due to take effect early this year.


Of the 231 companies in the S&P 500 reporting earnings so far, 69.3 percent have exceeded expectations, according to Thomson Reuters data through Thursday morning. That is a higher proportion than over the past four quarters and above average since 1994.


Overall, S&P 500 fourth-quarter earnings rose 3.7 percent, according to the data, above a 1.9 percent forecast at the start of the earnings season but well below a 9.9 percent profit growth forecast on October 1.


Other data due Friday include consumer sentiment, U.S. manufacturing, construction spending and car sales. January sentiment is seen edging slightly higher in the month while construction spending rises 0.6 percent in December.


U.S. stocks closed lower on Thursday amid investor caution ahead of the payroll report.


(Editing by Bernadette Baum)



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Few surprises in Super Bowl ads


NEW YORK (AP) — So much for surprises.


The majority of the 30-plus Super Bowl advertisers have been releasing their spots in the days leading up to the game. So it's unlikely there'll be lots of action off the football field to make viewers drop their jaws on Sunday.


Advertising fans already can catch a glimpse of "Spider-Man" actor Willem Dafoe in a Mercedes-Benz ad. They can watch a baby Clydesdale grow up in an Anheuser-Busch commercial. They even can spot old people partying in a Taco Bell ad.


Gone are the days when Super Bowl spots were closely-guarded secrets. With the growth of social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, it's no surprise that more advertisers are releasing ads online up to a week or more before Game Day.


In recent years, more advertisers have been making their spots public before the Big Game. This year, 26 of the 35 or so advertisers have released their spots, with more reveals expected, according to YouTube.com.


Companies have good reason for doing this. Last year, Super Bowl ads released early were watched 600 percent more times — with 9.1 million average views — than ones released after the game, according to YouTube.com, which hosts advertisers' commercials on its site.


"The conversation has gone from Monday morning around the water cooler to social media, so basically what that means is there's no downside in showing your cards early and getting people to talk about it and starting up some buzz," said Charlie Warzel, staff writer at Adweek Magazine.


Still, Warzel said not everyone likes seeing ads early. "There are a lot of people who want to be surprised and can't help but see these things floating around the Internet or picked up by news agencies. So the element of surprise is taken away."


To be sure, a few companies are betting that there's still cachet in making the "big reveal." The few advertisers that are staying mum this year are hoping they can accomplish what Chrysler did last year — its two-minute halftime spot featuring Clint Eastwood was so unexpected that it was one of the most memorable ads of the game.


"Last year, Chrysler shocked everyone with a Clint Eastwood ad no one knew about," said Barbara Lippert, a columnist at mediapost.com. "This year, no one knows what Chrysler is doing."


Besides Chrysler, companies that haven't revealed their spots yet include Mondelez' Oreo and Research In Motion's BlackBerry. All the companies have so far declined to discuss their plans for Super Bowl publicly.


"Oreo has developed this ad for the Super Bowl and, as such, it's only fitting that it debuts during the Super Bowl," according to an Oreo statement.


That hasn't stopped ad experts from speculating. "Oreo's advertising might really hit the mark because people are tired of sex and beer," Lippert, the columnist, said. "Blackberry's commercial is coming from a British agency so I have high hopes for it."


Procter & Gamble's Tide also hasn't released its ad, but it has given some details. For instance, the company said that the ad will include both teams in the Super Bowl — the San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens — and discuss stains that might be worth keeping.


"We feel that the magic of the ad would be lost if we revealed it before its slot in the game," said Chris Lillich, the company's associate marketing director.


There might also be some surprises from advertisers that have already released ads. Experts say some companies may tinker with their plans.


Something to watch for, Lippert said: Whether Volkswagen changes its Game Day spot that features a Minnesotan man with a Jamaican accent, which faced some criticism in the days leading up to the Super Bowl from some people who deemed it culturally insensitive.


"There might be some surprises and last-minute changes," Lippert said.


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Refining margins boost 4Q profit at Exxon Mobil






DALLAS (AP) — Exxon Mobil Corp. said Friday that fourth-quarter earnings rose 6 percent to $ 9.95 billion with help from higher refining profit margins.


The company still makes most of its money by producing oil and gas, but that end of the business was less profitable than a year ago because of lower prices and production. Exxon made up the difference in the refining business.






The nation’s biggest oil company said Friday that net income equaled $ 2.20 per share, compared with $ 9.4 billion, or $ 1.97 per share, a year earlier.


Revenue fell 5 percent to $ 115.17 billion, a drop of $ 6.44 billion.


Analysts surveyed by FactSet expected profit of $ 1.99 per share on revenue of $ 115.22 billion.


Profit from exploration and production of oil and gas fell 12 percent but still totaled $ 7.76 billion, more than three-fourths of Exxon Mobil’s income for the quarter. Production fell 5 percent, oil prices dipped, and the company took in less money from asset sales.


Exxon Mobil produces most of its oil outside the United States. Profit from overseas production tumbled by nearly one-fifth, but Exxon partly offset that by boosting its profit from U.S. production by more than one-third.


Outside of exploration and production, most of Exxon’s other profit comes from refining and selling petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel and jet fuel. That business did very well in the fourth quarter, earning $ 1.8 billion, an increase of more than $ 1.3 billion from a year earlier, mainly due to higher refining margins.


Other oil refiners have also reported better margins this earnings season as they switched from foreign crude to cheaper U.S. oil.


Irving, Texas-based Exxon Mobil said it spent $ 5 billion during the quarter buying back its own shares.


In trading before Friday’s opening bell, the shares were up 54 cents to $ 90.51. They gained 4 percent in January.


Energy News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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Hillary: Secretary of empowerment




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




STORY HIGHLIGHTS


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

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

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

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




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


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


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


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



CNN Contributor Donna Brazile

CNN Contributor Donna Brazile



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


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


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


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


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


Rothkopf: President Hillary Clinton? If she wants it



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


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








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


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


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


Ghitis: Hillary Clinton's global legacy on gay rights


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


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


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


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


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


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


Follow us on Twitter @CNNOpinion


Join us on Facebook/CNNOpinion


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






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Woman shot to death on Lake Shore Drive ramp




















A woman was found shot dead in a van riddled with bullets near Lake Shore Drive and Stevenson Expy. CBS 2's Susanna Song reports. (CBS Chicago)




















































A woman was shot to death while driving a van on the ramp from Lake Shore Drive to Interstate 55 when someone pulled alongside her and fired 10 to 14 times Friday morning, police said.

The woman, 32 and from Chicago, was hit at least once and died at the scene. A woman in the van escaped unharmed and was being questioned by police, officials said.






“A brown full-sized van approached in the left lane,” Illinois State Police Capt. Luis Gutierrez said at a press conference on the scene. “That vehicle shot at our victim approximately 10 to 14 rounds. One round struck our driver, who is now deceased at Northwestern (Memorial Hospital).”

Gutierrez declined to speculate on what led to the shooting.

“At this time we don’t want to comment on the investigation, it’s still ongoing,” he said.

Illinois State Police learned of the shooting about 4:20 a.m. from Chicago police, who got to the scene after the van crashed.

Police closed access to interstates 94 and 55 from southbound Lake Shore Drive. Flares were laid out to keep vehicles off the ramp but they were quickly extinguished by wind.

pnickeas@tribune.com
Twitter: @peternickeas




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Suicide bomber kills guard at U.S. embassy in Turkey


ANKARA (Reuters) - A suicide bomber killed a Turkish security guard at the U.S. embassy in Ankara on Friday, blowing the door off a side entrance and sending smoke and debris flying into the street.


Ankara Governor Alaaddin Yuksel said the attacker was inside U.S. property when the explosives were detonated. The blast sent masonry spewing out of the wall of the side entrance, but there did not appear to be any more significant structural damage.


The bomber was also killed.


U.S. Ambassador Francis Ricciardone emerged through the main gate of the building, which is surrounded by high walls, shortly after the explosion to address reporters, flanked by a security detail as a Turkish police helicopter hovered overhead.


"We are very sad of course that we lost one of our Turkish guards at the gate," Ricciardone he said, thanking the Turkish authorities for a prompt response.


A Reuters witness saw one wounded person being lifted into an ambulance as police armed with assault rifles cordoned off the area.


"It was a huge explosion. I was sitting in my shop when it happened. I saw what looked like a body part on the ground," said travel agent Kamiyar Barnos whose shop window was shattered around 100 meters away from the blast.


One witness said the blast was audible a mile away.


There was no immediate claim of responsibility. The British Consulate-General to Turkey said the blast a "suspected terrorist attack".


Islamist radicals, far-left groups, far-right groups and Kurdish separatist militants have all carried out attacks in Turkey in the past.


The main domestic security threat comes from the separatist Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), deemed a terrorist group by the United States, European Union and Turkey, but the PKK has focused its campaign largely on domestic targets.


Turkey has led calls for international intervention in neighboring Syria and is hosting hundreds of NATO soldiers from the United States, Germany and the Netherlands who are operating a Patriot missile defense system along its border with Syria, hundreds of kilometers away from the capital.


The U.S. Patriots were expected to go active in the coming days.


The most serious attacks of this kind in Turkey occurred in November 2003, when car bombs shattered two synagogues, killing 30 people and wounding 146. Authorities said the attack bore the hallmarks of al Qaeda.


Part of the HSBC Bank headquarters was destroyed and the British consulate was damaged in two more explosions that killed a further 32 people a week later.


(Writing by Nick Tattersall and Daren Butler; Editing by Jon Hemming)



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Stock futures flat as earnings roll in; data on tap

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks were poised for a modestly lower open on Thursday as economic data continued to paint a mixed picture of the economy and as investors sifted through a host of corporate earnings reports.


Data showed the number of Americans filing new claims for unemployment benefits increased to 368,000 last week, bouncing off five-year lows in the prior week and exceeding an estimated 350,000, pointing to modest improvement in the labor market.


The claims data comes ahead of Friday's payrolls report, which is expected to show employers added 160,000 jobs in January after an increase of 155,000 in December.


A separate report showed incomes rose by 2.6 percent in December, the most in eight years, in a positive sign that could propel the economy forward.


Facebook Inc shares lost 6.4 percent to $29.23 in premarket trading. The company doubled its mobile advertising revenue in the fourth quarter but that growth trailed some of Wall Street's most aggressive estimates.


The S&P 500 <.spx> is up 5.3 percent for the month, after legislators in Washington temporarily sidestepped a "fiscal cliff" of automatic tax increases and spending cuts that could have derailed the economic recovery, and amid improving economic data and better-than-expected corporate earnings.


But the benchmark index has stalled recently and is virtually flat for the week, hovering near the 1,500 mark, as investors look for more catalysts to justify further gains.


"Unfortunately it's still a mixed picture, it appears we are just getting a lot of conflicting data right now," said Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank in Chicago.


"There is certainly a lot of information coming out this week - a lot of economic data, a lot of earnings and of course we have the employment number looming Friday, so with 1,500 right here, my guess is there is just not enough conviction to push us substantially higher yet."


United Parcel Service Inc lost 1.8 percent to $79.75 in premarket trading after the world's largest parcel delivery reported fourth-quarter earnings below analysts' estimates on Thursday and forecast weaker-than-expected profit for 2013.


S&P 500 futures fell 0.4 point and were slightly below fair value, a formula that evaluates pricing by taking into account interest rates, dividends and time to expiration on the contract. Dow Jones industrial average futures dipped 2 points, and Nasdaq 100 futures lost 9.25 points.


Later in the session at 9:45 a.m. (1445 GMT), the Institute for Supply Management Chicago releases January index of manufacturing activity. Economists in a Reuters survey forecast a reading of 50.5 compared with 50.0 in December.


Qualcomm Inc gained 6.5 percent to $67.66 in premarket trading after the world's leading supplier of chips for cellphones beat analysts' expectations for quarterly profit and revenue and raised its financial targets for 2013.


Thomson Reuters data through Wednesday morning shows that of the 192 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings this season, 68.8 percent have exceeded expectations, a higher proportion than over the past four quarters and above the average since 1994.


Overall, S&P 500 fourth-quarter earnings are forecast to have risen 3.8 percent. That's above the 1.9 percent forecast from the start of the earnings season, but well below a 9.9 percent fourth-quarter earnings growth forecast on October 1, the data showed.


WMS Industries Inc surged 55.7 percent to $25.48 in premarket after the company agreed to be acquired by Scientific Games Corp for $26 per share in cash. Scientific Games advanced 15.9 percent to $10.35.


(Editing by Bernadette Baum)



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2 NFL seasons since agreement, still no HGH tests


NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Baltimore Ravens defensive end Arthur Jones is among those NFL players who want the league and the union to finally agree on a way to do blood testing for human growth hormone.


"I hope guys wouldn't be cheating. That's why you do all this extra work and extra training. Unfortunately, there are probably a few guys, a handful maybe, that are on it. It's unfortunate. It takes away from the sport," Jones said.


"It would be fair to do blood testing," Jones added. "Hopefully they figure it out."


When Jones and the Ravens face the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl on Sunday, two complete seasons will have come and gone without a single HGH test being administered, even though the league and the NFL Players Association paved the way for it in the 10-year collective bargaining agreement they signed in August 2011.


Since then, the sides have haggled over various elements, primarily the union's insistence that it needs more information about the validity of a test that is used by Olympic sports and Major League Baseball. HGH is a banned performance-enhancing drug that is hard to detect and has been linked to health problems such as diabetes, cardiac dysfunction and arthritis.


"If there are guys using (HGH), there definitely needs to be action taken against it, and it needs to be out of (the sport)," Ravens backup quarterback Tyrod Taylor said. "I'm pretty sure it'll happen eventually."


At least two members of Congress want to make it happen sooner, rather than later.


House Oversight and Government Reform Committee chairman Darrell Issa, a California Republican, and ranking Democrat Elijah Cummings of Maryland wrote NFLPA head DeMaurice Smith this week to chastise the union for standing in the way of HGH testing and to warn that they might ask players to testify on Capitol Hill.


Smith is scheduled to hold his annual pre-Super Bowl news conference Thursday.


"We have cooperated and been helpful to the committee on all of their requests," NFLPA spokesman George Atallah said. "If this is something they feel strongly about, we will be happy to help them facilitate it."


Several players from the Super Bowl teams said they would be willing to talk to Congress about the issue, if asked.


"I have nothing to hide. I can't speak for anyone else in football, but I would have no problem going," said Kenny Wiggins, a 6-foot-6, 314-pound offensive lineman on San Francisco's practice squad.


But Wiggins added: "There's a lot more problems in the U.S. they should be worried about than HGH in the NFL."


That sentiment was echoed by former New York Giants offensive lineman Shaun O'Hara, who now works for the NFL Network.


"Do I think there is an HGH problem in the NFL? I don't think there is. Are there guys who are using it? I'm sure there are. But is it something Congress needs to worry about? No. We have enough educated people on both sides that can fully handle this. And if they can't, then they should be fired," said O'Hara, an NFLPA representative as a player. "I include the union in that, and I include the NFL. There is no reason we would need someone to help us facilitate this process."


Issa and Cummings apparently disagree.


In December, their committee held a hearing at which medical experts testified that the current HGH test is reliable and that the union's request for a new study is unnecessary. Neither the league nor union was invited to participate in that hearing; at the time, Issa and Cummings said they expected additional hearings.


"We are disappointed with the NFLPA's remarkable recalcitrance, which has prevented meaningful progress on this issue," they wrote in their recent letter to Smith. "We intend to take a more active role to determine whether the position you have taken — that HGH is not a serious concern and that the test for HGH is unreliable — is consistent with the beliefs of rank and file NFL players."


Atallah questioned that premise.


"To us, there is no distinction between players and the union. ... The reason we had HGH in our CBA is precisely because our players wanted us to start testing for it," Atallah said. "We are not being recalcitrant for recalcitrance sake. We are merely following the direction of our player leadership."


Wiggins and other players said no one can know for sure how much HGH use there is in the league until there is testing — but that it's important for the union's concerns about the test to be answered.


"The union decides what is best for the players," said Ravens nose tackle Ma'ake Kemoeatu, who said he would be willing to go to Capitol Hill.


"I feel like some guys are on HGH," said 49ers offensive lineman Anthony Davis, who would rather not speak to Congress. "I personally don't care if there is testing. It's something they have to live with, knowing they cheated, and if they get (outplayed) while they're on it, it's a hit on their pride."


___


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


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Venus Can Have’Comet-Like’ Atmosphere






The planet Venus sometimes looks less like a planet and more like a comet, scientists say.


Scientists with the European Space Agency have discovered that a part of the upper atmosphere of Venus — its ionosphere — acts surprisingly different depending on daily changes in the sun’s weather. The side of Venus’ ionosphere that faces away from the sun can billow outward like the tail of a comet, while the side facing the star remains tightly compacted, researchers said.






The discovery was made using ESA’s Venus Express spacecraft, which observed Venus’s ionosphere during a period of low solar wind in 2010 to see exactly how the sun affects the way the planet’s atmosphere functions. In 2013, the sun is expected to reach the peak of its 11-year solar activity cycle.


“As this significantly reduced solar wind hit Venus, Venus Express saw the planet’s ionosphere balloon outwards on the planet’s ‘downwind’ nightside, much like the shape of the ion tail seen streaming from a comet under similar conditions,” ESA officials said in a statement today (Jan. 29).


It only takes 30 to 60 minutes for the planet’s comet-like tail to form after the solar wind dies down. Researchers observed the ionosphere stretch to at least 7,521 miles (12,104 kilometers) from the planet, said Yong Wei, a scientist at the Max Planck Institute in Katlenburg, Germany who worked on this research.


Earth’s ionosphere never becomes comet-like largely because the planet has its own magnetic field that balances out the sun’s influence on the way the atmospheric layer is shaped. Venus, however, doesn’t have its own magnetic field and is therefore subject to the whims of the sun’s solar wind.


Researchers think that Mars behaves in much the same way. The Red Planet doesn’t have a magnetic field to mitigate the influence of the sun’s wind either.


The Venus Express spacecraft launched in 2005 and has been orbiting the second planet from the sun since 2006. The spacecraft is equipped with seven instruments to study the atmosphere and surface of Venus in extreme detail. The spacecraft is currently in an extended mission slated to last until 2014 .


Follow Miriam Kramer on Twitter @mirikramer or SPACE.com @Spacedotcom. We’re also on Facebook & Google+.


Copyright 2013 SPACE.com, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Space and Astronomy News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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BlackBerry must remember strengths






STORY HIGHLIGHTS


  • BlackBerry sales have slumped in the U.S. but is still strong in emerging markets

  • New models launched should remember why they are popular in developing world

  • In places like Brazil and South Africa, the 10 is the update to their current phone

  • in Sub-Saharan Africa there is expected to be 175 million new customers in the next 3 years




Watch Jim Clancy on CNN International's "The Brief" at 4p.m. ET GMT Friday.


(CNN) -- BlackBerry's loss of market share in the U.S. is the stuff of legends. Last fall, it was estimated only about 2% of American phone users were still carrying their BlackBerry mobile with its iconic keypad.


But consider this: sub-Saharan Africa is expected to add 175 million new mobile users in just the coming 3 years. That's according to the GSMA, which represents the world's mobile operators.


"Mobile has already revolutionized African society and yet demand still continues to grow by almost 50 percent a year," said Tom Phillips, Chief Government and Regulatory Affairs Officer, GSMA.


That could be good news indeed for BlackBerry. Research in Motion, the maker of BlackBerry, estimates it holds a 70% market share in countries like South Africa.


The company's new phones, announced this week, are not the ones some of its best customers in emerging markets would like to buy. They're too expensive. But Research in Motion -- which also this week changed its company name to BlackBerry -- is pledging some of its six new models will address that.


While millions in China, Europe and the U.S. have adopted Android or iOS smartphones with a vengeance, millions more users in emerging markets are enthused about what's in store for the new BlackBerry 10. It's the update for what many of them are already using.










They live in countries like Brazil, Malaysia, Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa. They have embraced the BlackBerry for a combination of factors that all point to the different way mobile devices are used.


Unlike their counterparts in Europe and America, the mobile in their pocket is more likely to be their primary link to the internet.


BlackBerry Messenger is the connection that allows these users unlimited conversations without paying charges for SMS data. While young, brand-conscious Chinese may be willing to part with several months' salary to buy the latest iPhone, African users are looking for more practical (and cheaper) connections.


What separates developed countries from their developing counterparts at street level can be summed up in a single word: infrastructure.


Isobel Coleman, senior fellow and Director of the Civil Society, Markets and Democracy Initiative at the Council on Foreign Relations, says mobile technology has proved it can bridge the gap where infrastructure is lacking.


"It's a culture, it's an economy, it's innovation, education, healthcare, it's all of these things," says Coleman.


You can take that to the bank. For many Africans, their cell phone account is the first bank account they've ever owned.


In emerging markets, mobile phone banking is growing because of the lack of infrastructure. Fewer bank branches often mean long distances to travel and long lines once you've arrived.


Africans are expected to transfer more than $200 billion per year or 18% of the continent's GDP by 2015.


Oh, and that keyboard. No matter where you are in the world, there will always be a demand for a keyboard that clicks. The company appears to understand that as BlackBerry 10 models come with both soft keypads and the traditional BlackBerry buttons.


I asked some of my Twitter followers to weigh in on the BlackBerry 10 roll out. While some said Android or Apple's iOS were in their future plans, many others expressed continued enthusiasm for the BlackBerry.


Soji, a pianist and teacher in Nigeria tweeted back "I'm falling in love with this BB. Cheaper to own."


From Kuala Lumpur, Amir wrote "I need a physical keyboard to type while also having a touch-screen for photos etc. Security factor also important."


Hans-Eric from South Africa reinforced the sentiments of many mobile users in emerging markets: "The cost of data is simply too high without it (BlackBerry.)"


The voices from emerging markets couldn't have been clearer. What they expect from BlackBerry 10 is a stronger, longer lasting battery, durability and continued low cost connectivity.


CFR's Coleman agrees that BlackBerry (and anyone else) trying to win and hold this mobile device sector has to understand how these devices are being used and give the customers what they want.


"Cheap. Rugged. Not too many bells and whistles. Practical."


There is little doubt smartphones are changing the way people use the internet, how they bank, shop and interact socially.


But it's worth keeping in perspective that in a world where there are now an estimated 1 billion smartphones, there are 5 billion feature phone users. That's a lot of upside growth potential for BlackBerry and all the other players out there.







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6 wounded in overnight shootings









Two men were shot in the South Austin neighborhood on the West Side late Wednesday, police said, and four others were wounded across the city.

The 19-year-old and 37-year-old in Austin were in a car in the 5000 block of West Madison Street when someone approached on foot and started shooting, Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Hector Alfaro said.

The pair drove to a “residence” in the 1500 block of North Long Avenue and police were called, Alfaro said. The older man was taken to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County with multiple gunshot wounds and the younger man, shot in the leg, was taken to Loyola University Medical Center.

Nobody is in custody and Area North detectives are investigating.

Also on the West Side, a man in his 30s was shot and found in the 1200 block of South Racine Avenue, outside the ABLA-Roberts Brooks Homes housing complex in the University Village / Little Italy neighborhood. It's not clear if he was shot there - police responded to a single call of a person shot and found the man shot in the leg about 2:45 a.m. 

On the Northwest Side about 10:45 p.m., a 56-year-old man was shot in the head in what police first believed to be an attempted suicide. He was shot in the 1800 block of North Natchez Avenue in the Galewood neighborhood, police said. Detectives later determined that someone had shot the man, Chicago Police News Affairs Officer Amina Greer said. He's at Loyola hospital, Greer said. 

A 23-year-old man was shot in the leg and groin in the 3400 block of West Walnut Street just before 8 p.m. in the East Garfield Park neighborhood. He was on a porch when three men, one with a gun, approached and told him and one other person not to move. 

They moved, and one of the three shot the 23-year-old, police said. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital and he’s in good condition.

About an hour later, a 43-year-old man was shot by another person inside a silver car in the 8500 block of South Hermitage Avenue in the Gresham neighborhood. He’s in stable condition at Little Company of Mary Hospital.

pnickeas@tribune.comTwitter: @peternickeas



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Syrian rebels make slow headway in south


AMMAN (Reuters) - The revolt against President Bashar al-Assad first flared in Deraa, but the southern border city now epitomizes the bloody stalemate gripping Syria after 22 months of violence and 60,000 dead.


Jordan next door has little sympathy with Assad, but is wary of spillover from the upheaval in its bigger neighbor. It has tightened control of its 370-km (230-mile) border with Syria, partly to stop Islamist fighters or weapons from crossing.


That makes things tough for Assad's enemies in the Hawran plain, traditionally one of Syria's most heavily militarized regions, where the army has long been deployed to defend the southern approaches to Damascus from any Israeli threat.


The mostly Sunni Muslim rebels, loosely grouped in tribal and local "brigades", are united by a hatred of Assad and range from secular-minded fighters to al Qaeda-aligned Islamists.


"Nothing comes from Jordan," complained Moaz al-Zubi, an officer in the rebel Free Syrian Army, contacted via Skype from the Jordanian capital Amman. "If every village had weapons, we would not be afraid, but the lack of them is sapping morale."


Insurgents in Syria say weapons occasionally do seep through from Jordan but that they rely more on arsenals they seize from Assad's troops and arms that reach them from distant Turkey.


This month a Syrian pro-government television channel showed footage of what it said was an intercepted shipment of anti-tank weapons in Deraa, without specifying where it had come from.


Assad's troops man dozens of checkpoints in Deraa, a Sunni city that was home to 180,000 people before the uprising there in March 2011. They have imposed a stranglehold which insurgents rarely penetrate, apart from sporadic suicide bombings by Islamist militants, say residents and dissidents.


Rebel activity is minimal west of Deraa, where military bases proliferate near the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.


Insurgents have captured some towns and villages in a 25-km (17-mile) wedge of territory east of Deraa, but intensifying army shelling and air strikes have reduced many of these to ruin, forcing their residents to join a rapidly expanding refugee exodus to Jordan, which now hosts 320,000 Syrians.


However, despite more than a month of fighting, Assad's forces have failed to winkle rebels out of strongholds in the rugged volcanic terrain that stretches from Busra al-Harir, 37 km (23 miles) northeast of Deraa, to the outskirts of Damascus.


Further east lies Sweida, home to minority Druze who have mostly sat out the Sunni-led revolt against security forces dominated by Assad's minority, Shi'ite-rooted Alawite sect.


"KEY TO DAMASCUS"


As long as Assad's forces control southwestern Syria, with its fertile, rain-fed Hawran plain, his foes will find it hard to make a concerted assault on Damascus, the capital and seat of his power, from suburbs where they already have footholds.


"If this area is liberated, the supply routes from the south to Damascus would be cut," said Abu Hamza, a commander in the rebel Ababeel Hawran Brigade. "Deraa is the key to the capital."


Fighters in the north, where Turkey provides a rear base and at least some supply lines, have fared somewhat better than their counterparts in the south, grabbing control of swathes of territory and seizing half of Aleppo, Syria's biggest city.


They have also captured some towns in the east, across the border from Iraq's Sunni heartland of Anbar province, and in central Syria near the mostly Sunni cities of Homs and Hama.


But even where they gain ground, Assad's mostly Russian-supplied army and air force can still pound rebels from afar, prompting a Saudi prince to call for outsiders to "level the playing field" by providing anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons.


"What is needed are sophisticated, high-level weapons that can bring down planes, can take out tanks at a distance," Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former intelligence chief and brother of the Saudi foreign minister, said last week at a meeting in Davos.


Saudi Arabia and its fellow Gulf state Qatar have long backed Assad's opponents and advocate arming them, but for now the rebels are still far outgunned by the Syrian military.


"They are not heavily armed, properly trained or equipped," said Ali Shukri, a retired Jordanian general, who argued also that rebels would need extensive training to use Western anti-tank or anti-aircraft weapons effectively even if they had them.


He said two powerful armored divisions were among Syrian forces in the south, where the rebels are "not that strong".


It is easier for insurgents elsewhere in Syria to get support via Turkey or Lebanon than in the south where the only borders are with Israel and Jordan, Shukri said.


Jordan, which has urged Assad to go, but seeks a political solution to the crisis, is unlikely to ramp up support for the rebels, even if its cautious policy risks irritating Saudi Arabia and Qatar, financial donors to the cash-strapped kingdom.


ISLAMIST STRENGTH


"I'm confident the opposition would like to be sourcing arms regularly from the Jordanian border, not least because I guess it would be easier for the Saudis to get stuff up there on the scale you'd be talking about," said a Western diplomat in Amman.


A scarcity of arms and ammunition is the main complaint of the armed opposition, a disparate array of local factions in which Islamist militants, especially the al Qaeda-endorsed Nusra Front, have come to play an increasing role in recent months.


The Nusra Front, better armed than many groups, emerged months after the anti-Assad revolt began in Deraa with peaceful protests that drew a violent response from the security forces.


It has flourished as the conflict has turned ever more bitterly sectarian, pitting majority Sunnis against Alawites.


Since October, the Front, deemed a terrorist group by the United States, has carried out at least three high-profile suicide bombings in Deraa, attacking the officers' club, the governor's residence and an army checkpoint in the city centre.


Such exploits have won prestige for the Islamist group, which has gained a reputation for military prowess, piety and respect for local communities, in contrast to some other rebel outfits tainted by looting and other unpopular behavior.


"So far no misdeeds have come from the Nusra Front to make us fear them," said Daya al-Deen al-Hawrani, a fighter from the rebel al-Omari Brigade. "Their goal and our goal is one."


Abu Ibrahim, a non-Islamist rebel commander operating near Deraa, said the Nusra Front fought better and behaved better than units active under the banner of the Free Syrian Army.


"Their influence has grown," he acknowledged, describing them as dedicated and disciplined. Nor were their fighters imposing their austere Islamic ideology on others, at least for now. "I sit with them and smoke and they don't mind," he said.


The Nusra Front may be trying to avoid the mistakes made by a kindred group, Al Qaeda in Iraq, which fought U.S. troops and the rise of Shi'ite factions empowered by the 2003 invasion.


The Iraqi group's suicide attacks on civilians, hostage beheadings and attempts to enforce a harsh version of Islamic law eventually alienated fellow Sunni tribesmen who switched sides and joined U.S. forces in combating the militants.


Despite the Nusra Front's growing prominence and its occasional spectacular suicide bombings in Deraa, there are few signs that its fighters or other rebels are on the verge of dislodging the Syrian military from its southern bastions.


Abu Hamza, the commander in the Ababeel Hawran Brigade, was among many rebels and opposition figures to lament the toughness of the task facing Assad's enemies in the south: "What is killing us is that all of Hawran is a military area," he said.


"And every village has five army compounds around it."


(Writing by Alistair Lyon; Editing by Alastair Macdonald)



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