John McAfee, a pioneer in computer security, is on the run in Belize, where he is a person of interest in his neighbor’s murder. On Nov. 8, three days before his neighbor was found dead, Mr. McAfee appeared at a ceremony at the San Pedro Police Station in Ambergris Caye, Belize.
Ericsson seeks U.S. import ban on Samsung products
Label: TechnologySTOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Swedish telecoms gear maker Ericsson has filed a request with the U.S. International Trade Commission to ban U.S. imports of products made by South Korean group Samsung,
The request from Ericsson, which said on Monday the products infringe on its patents, came after it sued Samsung for patent infringement in a U.S. court last week.
“The request for an import ban is a part of the process. An import ban is not our goal. Our goal is that they (Samsung) sign license agreements on reasonable terms,” spokesman Fredrik Hallstan said.
Ericsson said last week it was suing Samsung after talks failed to reach agreement on terms that were fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory (FRAND) over patents.
Samsung said it would defend itself against the lawsuit, adding that Ericsson had asked for “prohibitively higher royalty rates to renew the same patent portfolio”.
(Reporting by Sven Nordenstam; Editing by Dan Lalor)
Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News
Parents Learn of Daughter's Suspicious Death Via Facebook
Label: LifestyleOn the evening of Nov. 18, Judith and James Jackson logged onto Facebook to find a horrifying message. Their daughter's college friend posted on their wall, consoling them about the loss of their daughter, Jasmine.
Until that moment, the Jacksons thought their daughter was alive and well, enjoying her freshman year at Valdosta State University in southern Georgia.
Jasmine Benjamin, a 17-year-old nursing student, was found dead in her dorm's common study area around noon that day. Authorities soon determined that the she had been dead for at least 12 hours but her roommates thought she was simply sleeping on the study room couch. Because the body had been moved, Valdosta police suspect foul play.
The news has left her parents reeling.
"That's the most disturbing part of it. Aren't there RAs?" her mother, Judith Jackson tells CBS. "What kind of school is this that they don't know someone's laying on the couch – to go check on them after a certain amount of hours?"
Valdosta State University released a statement saying it was "continuing to work with law enforcement agencies in their ongoing investigation into the death of Jasmine Benjamin."
Police are still investigating. Autopsy and toxicology results are not back yet.
"We want answers," says Jasmine's stepfather, James Jackson. "This family needs closure. It's extremely tough when you don't know, and you have no answers."
Wall Street sours on weak domestic factory data
Label: BusinessNEW YORK (Reuters) - Stocks struggled to extend the previous week's gains, dropping on Monday as disappointing U.S. factory numbers dampened optimism about China's economic growth.
The declines broke a three-day streak of gains for the S&P 500, keeping it shy of its 50-day moving average of about 1,420, a level that the index has been below since October 22, and now serving as a key resistance point for investors.
Manufacturing activity in the United States surprisingly contracted in November, the Institute for Supply Management said, dropping to its lowest level in more than three years. Economic data has been mixed in recent months, fanning worries about the pace of growth at a time when investors are already concerned about the "fiscal cliff" issue in Washington.
The ISM number "was below expectations that were already conservative, and that puts an exclamation point on the concern many of us have about the cliff's impact on the economy," said Leo Grohowski, chief investment officer at BNY Mellon Wealth Management in New York.
Markets had opened higher as output by China's factories grew in November for the first time in more than a year, data showed. Investors look to strength from China, the world's second-largest economy, to offset weak growth in the United States and Europe.
Still, the fiscal cliff remains investors' primary focus, with political haggling continuing over how to deal with large automatic spending cuts and tax hikes scheduled to kick in next year. The worry is that the combination of reduced spending and higher taxes could tip the U.S. economy back into recession.
While off its highs for the year, the S&P 500 is still up 12.1 percent for 2012.
"This could be the last opportunity for investors to take profits" after an unexpectedly strong year, said Grohowski, who helps oversee about $170 billion in assets.
Materials were the weakest sector on Monday, led lower by Newmont Mining
The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> fell 59.98 points, or 0.46 percent, to 12,965.60 at the close. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> declined 6.72 points, or 0.47 percent, to 1,409.46. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> dropped 8.04 points, or 0.27 percent, to end at 3,002.20.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner pushed Republicans on Sunday to offer specific ideas to cut the deficit. He predicted that they would agree to raise tax rates on the rich to obtain a year-end deal to avoid the fiscal cliff.
Among other factors serving to offset the ISM report on U.S. factories were two developments in the euro zone: Spain formally requested the disbursement of more than $50 billion of European funds to recapitalize its crippled banking sector, while Greece said it would spend 10 billion euros ($13 billion) to buy back bonds in a bid to reduce its ballooning debt.
The PHLX Europe sector index <.xex> added 0.1 percent.
Dell
Advanced Micro Devices was the S&P's top gainer, rising 7.3 percent to $2.36. Options traders appeared to be betting on further gains ahead. Early options order flow was focused on upside April calls, including a sweep of 3,594 April $3.50 strike calls for 16 cents per contract when the market was 14 cents to 16 cents, said WhatsTrading.com options strategist Frederic Ruffy.
Retail stocks were among the weakest of the day, with J.C. Penney Co
Volume was light, with about 5.58 billion shares traded on the New York Stock Exchange, the Nasdaq and the NYSE MKT, well below last year's daily average of 7.84 billion.
Decliners outnumbered advancers on the NYSE by a ratio of 3 to 2, while on the Nasdaq, about 14 stocks fell for every 11 that rose.
(Additional reporting by Doris Frankel; Editing by Jan Paschal)
Egyptian Court Postpones Ruling on Constitutional Assembly
Label: World
Wissam Nassar
Egyptian police officers stood guard outside Egypt's Supreme Constitutional Court on Sunday, while supporters of President Mohamed Morsi protested near the entrance of the building.
CAIRO — Egypt’s highest court on Sunday postponed its much-awaited ruling on the legitimacy of the legislative assembly that drafted a new charter last week, accusing a crowd of Islamists of blocking judges from entering their building on what it called “a dark black day in the history of the Egyptian judiciary.”
Although hundreds of security officers were on hand to ensure that judges of the Supreme Constitutional Court could get into the court, and civilians came and went without any problems, the accusations intensified a standoff between the judges appointed under former President Hosni Mubarak and Egypt’s new Islamist leaders that has thrown the political transition into a new crisis 22 months after Mr. Mubarak’s ouster.
Upon approaching the court on Sunday morning, the judges said in a statement that they saw crowds “closing the entrances of the roads to the gates, climbing the fences, chanting slogans denouncing its judges and inciting the people against them.”
The judges were prevented from entering “because of the threat of harm and danger to their safety,” the statement said, calling it “an abhorrent scene of shame and disgrace.”
As a result, the judges announced that they were “suspending the court’s sessions” until they could resume their work without “psychological and physical pressures.”
Anticipation of the court’s decision on the new constitution had set off the latest political crisis. Fear that the court would dissolve the assembly and undo months of work led President Mohamed Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood’s political party, to announce 10 days ago that his edicts were not be subject to judicial review until the completion of the constitution.
Despite Mr. Morsi’s attempt, the same anticipation of dissolution drove the Islamist-dominated assembly to rush out a hurried constitution before the court could act and against the objections of Egypt’s secular parties and the Coptic Christian Church. Judges appointed by Mr. Mubarak have previously dissolved the elected Parliament and the first constitutional assembly.
The sudden effort by the president and his Islamist allies to push through a constitution over any objections from their secular factions or the courts has unified the opposition, prompted hundreds of thousands of protesters to take to the streets and set off a wave of attacks on a dozen offices of the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party. A judicial trade association has urged judges across the country to go on strike, and some of the highest courts have joined it.
Over the weekend, Mr. Morsi continued to push his plans for the new constitution, setting a national referendum on it for Dec. 15.
“I pray to God and hope that it will be a new day of democracy in Egypt,” he said in a nationally televised speech, calling for a “national dialogue.”
But his recent tone and actions reminded critics of the autocratic ways of his predecessor, and have aroused a new debate here about his commitment to democracy and pluralism at a time when he and his Islamist allies dominate political life.
Mr. Morsi’s advisers call the tactics a regrettable but necessary response to genuine threats to the political transition from what they call the deep state — the vestiges of the autocracy of former President Mubarak, especially in the news media and the judiciary.
But his critics say they hear a familiar paranoia in Mr. Morsi’s new tone that reminds them of talk of the “hidden hands” and foreign plots that Mr. Mubarak once used to justify his authoritarianism.
“I have sent warnings to many people who know who they are, who may be committing crimes against the homeland,” Mr. Morsi declared in an interview with state television on Thursday night, referring repeatedly to secret information about a “conspiracy” and “real and imminent threats” that he would not disclose. “If anybody tries to derail the transition, I will not allow them.”
Angry Birds Star Wars updated with 20 additional levels, Princess Leia cameo
Label: TechnologyRovio on Thursday updated its immensely popular Angry Birds Star Wars game to include 20 additional levels. The latest game in the bird-slinging franchise was released earlier this month and was an instant hit, topping the iTunes App Store in less than three hours. In the most recent update, gamers must help the birds escape from the AT-ATs and Pigtroopers on the remote ice world of Hoth. Luckily, the rebel birds have a secret weapon — Princess Leia.
“It is a dark time for the Rebellion,” Rovio wrote on its website. ”Evading the dreaded Imperial Starfleet, a group of freedom fighters has established a new secret base on the remote ice world of Hoth. Unfortunately the evil Lord Vader discovers their hideout, and the desperate Rebel birds must escape the AT-ATs and Pigtroopers hot on their trail. But the Rebels have an ace up their sleeve with the debut of PRINCESS LEIA and her attractive new power!”
Angry Birds Star Wars is available for Android, iOS, Macs and PCs. The Hoth trailer follows below.
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Gaming News Headlines – Yahoo! News
Governors Awards Brings Out the Oscar Hopefuls in Hollywood
Label: LifestyleSure, the presidential election season may be long over, but the spirit of democracy is still in full-swing in Hollywood, where some familiar faces are campaigning for the industry version of a spot in the White House: a gold Oscar statuette.
You'll have to wait until February to see which of your favorite scene-stealers will take home honors at the 85th Academy Awards. Until then, the industry's top contenders arrived in head-to-toe red carpet form Saturday at the Academy's Governors Awards, which serves as an unofficial venue for potential nominees to convince Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences members to rock the vote (in their favor, of course).
The 4-year-old Hollywood & Highland Center event, which hands out lifetime achievement Oscars, comes just weeks before nomination voting is due to begin Dec. 17. So who will make it onto the ballot? (Readers on desktop computers can flip through the five photos above to see which attendees left us dazzled – and itching to see their movies.)
• Leslie Mann and husband Judd Apatow, who team up for a little adult fun – literally – in This Is 40, a comedic update to Knocked Up that arrives in theaters Dec. 21.
• Kristen Stewart, who ditches her vampire boyfriend to transform into a belle of the Beat Generation for On the Road, which hits theaters Dec. 21.
• Amy Adams, who brings the drama as the headstrong wife of a charming cult leader in September's The Master.
• Tom Hanks and Will Smith, who celebrated Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award winner Jeffrey Katzenberg, the head of DreamWorks Animation.
• Bradley Cooper, who takes a vulnerable turn on the big screen opposite Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook.
Cliff fight may knock out December rally
Label: BusinessNEW YORK (Reuters) - In normal times, next week's slew of U.S. economic data could be a springboard for a December rally in the stock market.
December is historically a strong month for markets. The S&P 500 has risen 16 times in the past 20 years during the month.
But the market hasn't been operating under normal circumstances since November 7 when a day after the U.S. election, investors' focus shifted squarely to the looming "fiscal cliff."
Investors are increasingly nervous about the ability of lawmakers to undo the $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts that are set to begin in January; those changes, if they go into effect, could send the U.S. economy into a recession.
A string of economic indicators next week, which includes a key reading of the manufacturing sector on Monday, culminates with the November jobs report on Friday.
But the impact of those economic reports could be muted. Distortions in the data caused by Superstorm Sandy are discounted.
The spotlight will be more firmly on signs from Washington that politicians can settle their differences on how to avoid the fiscal cliff.
"We have a week with a lot of economic data, and obviously most of the economic data is going to reflect the effects of Sandy, and that might be a little bit negative for the market next week, but most of that is already expected - the main focus remains the fiscal cliff," said Peter Cardillo, chief market economist at Rockwell Global Capital in New York.
Concerns about the cliff sent the S&P 500 <.spx> into a two-week decline after the elections, dropping as much as 5.3 percent, only to rally back nearly 4 percent as the initial tone of talks offered hope that a compromise could be reached and investors snapped up stocks that were viewed as undervalued.
On Wednesday, the S&P 500 gained more than 20 points from its intraday low after House Speaker John Boehner said he was optimistic that a budget deal to avoid big spending cuts and tax hikes could be worked out. The next day, more pessimistic comments from Boehner, an Ohio Republican, briefly wiped out the day's gains in stocks.
On Friday, the sharp divide between the Democrats and the Republicans on taxes and spending was evident in comments from President Barack Obama, who favors raising taxes on the wealthy, and Boehner, the top Republican in Congress, who said Obama's plan was the wrong approach and declared that the talks had reached a stalemate.
"It's unusual to end up with one variable in this industry, it's unusual to have a single bullet that is the causal factor effect, and you are sitting here for the next maybe two weeks or more, on that kind of condition," said Sandy Lincoln, chief market strategist at BMO Asset Management U.S. in Chicago.
"And that is what is grabbing the markets."
BE CONTRARY AND MAKE MERRY
But investor attitudes and seasonality could also help spur a rally for the final month of the year.
The most recent survey by the American Association of Individual Investors reflected investor caution about the cliff. Although bullish sentiment rose above 40 percent for the first time since August 23, bearish sentiment remained above its historical average of 30.5 percent for the 14th straight week.
December is a critical month for retailers such as Target Corp
With consumer spending making up roughly 70 percent of the U.S. economy, a solid showing for retailers during the holiday season could help fuel any gains.
Ryan Detrick, senior technical strategist at Schaeffer's Investment Research in Cincinnati, believes the recent drop after the election could be a market bottom, with sentiment leaving stocks poised for a December rally.
"The concerns on the fiscal cliff - as valid as they might be - could be overblown. When you look at a lot of the overriding sentiment, that has gotten extremely negative," said Detrick.
"From that contrarian point of view with the historically bullish time frame of December, we once again could be setting ourselves up for a pretty nice end-of-year rally, based on lowered expectations."
SOME FEEL THE BIG CHILL
Others view the fiscal cliff as such an unusual event that any historical comparisons should be thrown out the window, with a rally unlikely because of a lack of confidence in Washington to reach an agreement and the economic hit caused by Sandy.
"History doesn't matter. You're dealing with an extraordinary set of circumstances that could very well end up in the U.S. economy going into a recession," said Phil Orlando, chief equity market strategist at Federated Investors in New York.
"And the likelihood of that is exclusively in the hands of our elected officials in Washington. They could absolutely drag us into a completely voluntary recession."
(Wall St Week Ahead runs every Friday. Questions or comments on this column can be emailed to: charles.mikolajczak(at)thomsonreuters.com )
(Reporting by Chuck Mikolajczak; Editing by Jan Paschal)
Alarm as China Issues Rules for Disputed Sea
Label: World
Kham/Reuters
Fishing boats off Vietnam’s coast in the South China Sea. One Chinese official said the new rules applied to disputed islands, too.
HAIKOU, China — New rules announced by a Chinese province last week to allow interceptions of ships in the South China Sea are raising concerns in the region, and in Washington, that simmering disputes with Southeast Asian countries over the waters will escalate.
The move by Hainan Province, which administers China’s South China Sea claims, is being seen by some analysts outside the country as another step in its bid to solidify its control of much of the sea, which includes crucial international shipping lanes through which more than a third of global trade is carried.
As foreign governments scrambled for clarification of the rules, which appeared vague and open to interpretation, a top Chinese policy maker on matters related to the South China Sea tried to calm worries inspired by the announcement.
Wu Shicun, the director general of the foreign affairs office of Hainan Province, said Saturday that Chinese ships would be allowed to search and repel foreign ships only if they were engaged in illegal activities (though these were not defined) and only if the ships were within the 12-nautical-mile zone surrounding islands that China claims.
While Mr. Wu’s assertions may calm some fears about possible disruptions of shipping lanes, they nonetheless suggest that China is continuing to actively press its claim to wide swaths of the sea, which includes dozens of islands that other countries say are theirs. And top Chinese officials have not yet clarified their intent, leaving room for speculation.
The laws, passed by the provincial legislature, come less than a month after China named its new leader, Xi Jinping, and as China remains embroiled in a serious dispute with Japan in the East China Sea over islands known in China as the Diaoyu and as the Senkaku in Japan.
The laws appear to have little to do with Mr. Xi directly, but they reinforce fears that China, now the owner of an aircraft carrier and a growing navy, is plowing ahead with plans to enforce its claims that it has sovereign rights over much of the sea.
If China were to enforce these new rules fully beyond the 12-mile zones, naval experts say, freedom of navigation would be at stake, a principle that benefits not only the United States and other Western powers but also China, a big importer of Middle Eastern oil.
An incomplete list of the laws passed in Hainan was announced in the state-run news agency, Xinhua, last week.
In an interview here Saturday, Mr. Wu said the new regulations applied to all of the hundreds of islands scattered across the sea, and their surrounding waters, including islands claimed by several other countries, like Vietnam and the Philippines.
“It covers all the land features inside the nine-dash line and adjacent waters,” Mr. Wu said. The nine-dash line refers to a map that China drew up in the late 1940s that demarcates its territorial claims — about 80 percent of the South China Sea.
That map forms the basis for China’s current claims. Some neighboring countries were outraged when China recently placed the nine-dash map on its new passports. Vietnam has refused to place its visa stamps in the passports as they are, insisting a separate piece of paper be added for the stamp.
Mr. Wu, who also heads a government-sponsored institute devoted to the study of the South China Sea, said the immediate intention of the new laws was to deal with what he called illegal Vietnamese fishing vessels that operate in the waters around Yongxing Island, where China recently established an expanded army garrison.
The island, which has a long airstrip, is part of a group known internationally as the Paracels that is also claimed by Vietnam. China is using Yongxing Island, and its tiny city of Sansha, as a kind of forward presence in a bid for more control of the South China Sea, neighboring countries say.
The Chinese Foreign Ministry said last week that China was within its rights to allow the coast guard to board vessels in the South China Sea. “Management of the seas according to the law is a sovereign nation’s legitimate right,” the ministry spokesman, Hong Lei, said at a briefing.
The new rules go into effect on Jan. 1. According to a report in an English-language state-run newspaper, China Daily, the police and coast guard will be allowed to board and seize control of foreign ships that “illegally enter” Chinese waters and order them to change course.
Mr. Wu acknowledged that the new rules had aroused alarm in Asia, and the United States, because they could be interpreted as a power grab by China.
Brad Pitt & Angelina Jolie's Wedding Will Be 'All About Family'
Label: LifestyleBrad Pitt recently told PEOPLE he has a "good feeling" his wedding with Angelina Jolie will happen "soon."
"One thing for sure, he says it's going to be all about family: a simple affair with Angie and the kids," PEOPLE senior writer Jennifer Garcia says, adding that the official "I do" date is still being kept a secret.
But a "jovial" Pitt, who was "in a great mood throughout the interview" (which is this week's revealing cover story) shared other personal details aside from just his upcoming walk down the aisle.
Garcia says that the Killing Them Softly star "talked to PEOPLE about a range of topics – everything from the kids and the holidays, to politics." Not to mention his thoughts on turning the big 5-0.
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