7 hostages reported dead in 'final assault' on Algerian refinery

CAIRO — Algerian troops raided a remote natural gas refinery Saturday, killing 11 Islamic militants but not before extremists executed seven hostages who for days had been trapped in a deepening international crisis, according to media reports.

Algerian state media described the army mission as the “final assault” to end a hostage ordeal that began in the predawn Wednesday at a gas compound on the Algerian-Libyan border. It was not clear if the hostages killed were Algerians or foreigners.

"It is over now, the assault is over, and the military are inside the plant clearing it of mines," a local source familiar with the operation told Reuters.

The fate of as many as 30 foreign hostages, including an estimated seven Americans, remained unknown. Algerian forces discovered 15 burned bodies as they swept through the compound Saturday to rout heavily armed militants. The militants threatened to blow up the facility and a number of hostages were reported earlier to have been forced to wear explosive belts.  

The Algerian government had refused to negotiate with the extremists, who were linked to Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and appear to include Algerians, Libyans, Egyptians and at least one commander from Niger.

Algeria’s state-run media earlier reported that 12 refinery workers, including Algerians and foreigners, had been killed since a government operation to retake the plant began Thursday. Unconfirmed media reports suggested that as many as 35 foreign captives may have been killed, including some struck by gunfire from the Algerian military.

The militants, some dressed in fatigues, were armed with machine guns and rocket launchers. The compound is encircled by army tanks, troops and special forces. A Mauritanian news agency that has been in contact with the extremists said the captors were holding two American, three Belgians, one Japanese and one Briton.

The Algerian government on Friday said 573 Algerians and nearly 100 of an estimated 132 foreign hostages had been freed or had escaped. But the chaotic scene at the gas compound at In Amenas has frustrated international officials who complained they were not consulted about the Algerian military’s operations at the plant.   

The natural gas refinery at In Amenas is also jointly operated by BP; Statoil, a Norwegian firm; and Sonatrach, the Algerian national oil company.

ALSO:

Bolshoi artistic director attacked with acid

Pentagon planning to ferry more French troops, gear to Mali

Algeria: Accounts emerge as nearly 100 foreigners reported freed

jeffrey.fleishman@latimes.com

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Social media dispute resolution stumps some companies

(Reuters) – If HBO cuts out on you in the middle of the latest “Girls” episode, and you have Charter Communications Inc as your cable provider, don’t try tweeting your dismay to their customer service department. Nobody will hear your lament.

Charter, the fourth largest cable provider in the U.S. with 5.2 million customers across 25 states, closed up its social-media based customer service team in December. “Umatter2Charter,” as it was known, had been taking customer complaints over Twitter and Facebook and trying to resolve them, but the company says it is now done with working out customer service issues in social media forums.

The move, which might seem to conflict with the growth of social media, highlights the difficulty some businesses are having with free-flowing, round-the-clock social media, its public nature and the expectation of immediate responses.

With Facebook users numbering about a billion and Twitter drawing 200 million, it might be hard to believe that any retail enterprise would drop out of the fray, but Charter isn’t the only major company to announce such a move. Also in December, the largest single grocery store in New England – the Wegmans in Northborough, Massachusetts – shuttered its Facebook page despite having some 8,000 fans.

“It’s a tough sport,” says J.D. Peterson, vice president of product marketing for San Francisco-based Zendesk, which helps companies manage customer service. “The real-time nature of it – at times the volume that can come from it – it’s very new and different for businesses.”

While Peterson’s company recommends going where the customers are – and a big chunk are clearly on social media – Peterson says not all businesses share the same philosophy or have the ability to engage those consumers in these open forums. But any company that has a significant online presence doesn’t really have a choice, he says, working with consumers through social media is expected of them.

Advocates for the use social media say the challenge actually presents an opportunity for businesses – showing they are responsive to complaints and care about their customers can bring in revenue.

“I have seen this time and time again, and the end result is that the interaction often turns an irate customer into an advocate for the brand. And that is worth it’s weight in gold,” says Mike Rowan, chief marketing office for Atlanta-based Swarm, which manages social media for companies.

That’s certainly the way retailer Lands’ End, a division of Sears Holdings Corp, sees it.

“When we started using social media tools like Facebook and Twitter in early 2009, it gave us a new opportunity to do what we’ve done for 50 years, which is connect with our customers,” says Michele Casper, Lands’ End’s senior director of public relations. “Whether it is through social media, our call centers or online, we offer the same level of customer service through each channel.”

DIVERTING COURSE

Charter says it is not walking away completely from social media – just the idea of providing customer service via Twitter. The company says it has ample other avenues for consumers to get help – including telephone, customer service counters and live chat on its web page.

“We communicate with thousands of customers each day on the phone and in person, and that’s where we’ll focus our efforts,” says Charter spokeswoman Anita Lamont. “While social media is a method some consumers choose to seek help, Charter offers phone and web-based contact solutions where all customers can access resources to provide assistance.”

The abandonment of the Facebook page at the Massachusetts Wegmans store, which caused a great fuss among the store’s “fans,” was, in large part, due to the inability to respond quickly enough to consumers. Store personnel couldn’t break off enough time from their other roles to constantly monitor the page, Wegmans spokeswoman Jo Natale says, allowing comments to sit unanswered – a no-no in the world of social media.

“Our top priority has always been, and will continue to be, providing incredible service to customers who shop in our stores,” she says. “And it isn’t as though there aren’t other avenues for folks to connect with us if they have a question or concern.”

As much as customers expressed surprise and dissatisfaction at the decision, Natale says, it came down to a decision that if the store couldn’t serve the Facebook page at a level it felt was expected that it shouldn’t do it at all.

“They quickly discovered, once the store opened and got very, very busy, that it wasn’t so easy to stay on top of comments or to find the time to post,” Natale says. “In a retail operation like ours, there isn’t anyone sitting at a PC or checking a mobile device throughout the day. It’s a fast-paced business that requires our people to be on the floor serving customers.”

(The author is a Reuters contributor. The opinions expressed are his own)

(Follow us @ReutersMoney or at http://www.reuters.com/finance/personal-finance; Editing by Beth Pinsker and Tim Dobbyn)

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Alicia Keys first Sundance as producer, composer

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — It's a busy week for Alicia Keys.

The singer-songwriter is set to perform at three events during Barack Obama's presidential inauguration on Monday. She'll sing the National Anthem at the Super Bowl on Feb. 3. And meanwhile, she popped over to Park City, Utah, to debut her first film as executive producer and composer.

The 32-year-old entertainer is attending her first Sundance Film Festival to support "The Inevitable Defeat of Mister and Pete," which premiered Friday. Directed by George Tillman, Jr., the film tells the story of two young boys who survive the streets of Brooklyn on their own.

Keys said she was drawn to the film because of its "authentic" story and its setting in her hometown of New York City.

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Business Briefing | Medicine: F.D.A. Clears Botox to Help Bladder Control

Botox, the wrinkle treatment made by Allergan, has been approved to treat adults with overactive bladders who cannot tolerate or were not helped by other drugs, the Food and Drug Administration said on Friday. Botox injected into the bladder muscle causes the bladder to relax, increasing its storage capacity. “Clinical studies have demonstrated Botox’s ability to significantly reduce the frequency of urinary incontinence,” Dr. Hylton V. Joffe, director of the F.D.A.’s reproductive and urologic products division, said in a statement. “Today’s approval provides an important additional treatment option for patients with overactive bladder, a condition that affects an estimated 33 million men and women in the United States.”

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Cases of celebrities accused of financial crimes adding up

Call it the Securities and Exchange Commission's most wanted celebrities list.

Daniel Ruettiger, the Notre Dame football player made famous by the movie "Rudy," was on it. Baseball legends Eddie Murray and Doug DeCinces as well as football great Willie Gault made the list. Even good guy actor Larry Wilcox, better known as the motorcycle-riding officer in the TV series "CHiPs."

They are among the athletes and actors who have butted up against the nation's top securities cops in recent years. Experts say such high-profile cases send a message that nobody is above the law.

"Going after celebrities reinforces the view that our laws are being applied fairly, that the small investor has a champion to watch after him or her, and that those who cross the line will pay a heavy price if they do," said Harvey Pitt, a former SEC chairman who is now a private securities lawyer.

Since homemaking guru Martha Stewart's five-month stint in jail in 2004, there has been a steady stream of celebrities accused of financial chicanery. And most of the cases have played out in the media.

In November, DeCinces was indicted by a federal grand jury in California for alleged insider trading.

His troubles began in 2009 when a neighbor, James V. Mazzo, gave the former Angels third baseman a hot stock tip, authorities said. Mazzo, the chief executive of Advanced Medical Optics, allegedly told DeCinces that the Santa Ana company was going to be acquired by Abbott Laboratories.

Shares of the medical device maker skyrocketed 143% after the deal was announced. DeCinces pocketed more than $1.7 million in profit when the stock he snapped up soared.

Along the way, DeCinces also shared the inside information with friend and former teammate Murray, who used it to make more than $235,000 on the stock, the SEC said.

Both men denied wrongdoing and settled their cases with the SEC. They declined to comment for this story.

"Celebrities have developed the mentality that they're above the crowd and the rules don't apply to them," said Boyd Page, a partner at Atlanta law firm Page Perry, which represents investors in litigation. "Think about these guys, Eddie Murray, Doug DeCinces, to their entourage, they're gods. No one questions them."

Daniel M. Hawke, chief of the SEC's market abuse unit, said that celebrity status plays no role in the agency's decision to pursue charges.

He said the agency pursues cases based on an analysis of the evidence, and if the regulator would have a good case.

"We do not single people out based on their profile," he said. "We go where the evidence leads."

In August, the agency accused former football coach Jim Donnan of helping run an $80-million Ponzi scheme that involved other college coaches and former players as victims. The former University of Georgia coach allegedly promised investors they could earn substantial profits by buying leftover merchandise from retailers and then reselling it to discount retailers.

However, the SEC alleged, Donnan and his business partner pocketed a majority of the money, and the remaining cash was used to pay fake returns to early investors.

Gault, the former NFL wide receiver and Olympic sprinter, was accused of a "pump-and-dump" scheme in 2011. The SEC contended that he took part in a plan to artificially inflate the stock of a medical-device company at which he served as an executive.

The agency said in a complaint that Gault hyped millions of dollars in fake sales orders for Studio City-based Heart Tronics from 2006 to 2008. That good news sent the stock skyrocketing, and Gault was accused of sharing part of an $8-million profit from stock transactions. He denied wrongdoing in the case.

The agency went after Wilcox a few years ago for allegedly paying kickbacks to investors in classic pump-and-dump schemes: The cooperating investors would buy shares of the promoters' thinly traded penny stocks, with the goal of driving up the prices in hopes of luring other investors into the shares.

Wilcox, who lives in the West Hills area of L.A., eventually settled with the SEC. He declined to comment.

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Obama aides launch Organizing for Action to back his agenda

WASHINGTON -- Leaders of President Obama's reelection campaign announced Friday that they are launching a permanent advocacy organization called Organizing for Action that will enlist his supporters to fight for his policy agenda.
 
Calling it "the next phase of this movement," former campaign manager Jim Messina described the new group as an extension of Obama's successful bid for a second term, which used technology to engage volunteers at a new level in their communities.
 
"If we can take the enthusiasm and passion that people showed throughout the campaign and channel it into the work ahead of us, we will be unstoppable," Messina, who will be the chairman of the new group, wrote in an email to campaign donors early Friday morning.
 
The launch, which the Los Angeles Times wrote about Thursday, was the subject of chatter among Democratic activists and strategists, who predicted that it could upend the party's power structure.
 
If it is able to sustain the intensive volunteer effort that propelled Obama twice into the White House, Organizing for Action could outstrip the role played by traditional interest groups, such as organized labor and the environmental movement -- and challenge the party itself as a center of influence.
 
To accomplish that, however, the organization must avoid the fate of a similar effort Obama officials made in 2009 to extend his first presidential campaign into a permanent advocacy force. That project, Organizing for America, largely failed to turn grass-roots support into a political force from within its confines at the Democratic National Committee.
 
On Friday, Messina wrote that the new organization would be driven by supporters  and would hew to the campaign's principles: "respect, empower, include."
 
"We'll work on the key battles of our generation, train the next generation of grassroots organizers and leaders, and organize around local issues in our own communities," Messina wrote. "We'll continue to support the President in creating jobs and growing the economy from the middle out, and in fighting for issues like immigration reform, climate change, balanced deficit reduction, and reducing gun violence."
 
The new group is being organized under the tax code’s section 501(c)4 as a nonprofit social welfare organization, which cannot have politics as its primary purpose, limiting its ability to coordinate with the party or candidates.
 
In setting the group up as a 501(c)4, Obama aides chose the same structure as conservative advocacy groups, such as Crossroads GPS and Americans for Prosperity, which the president has lambasted for not disclosing their donors. It remains to be seen whether Organizing for Action will voluntarily reveal information about its financial backers.

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matea.gold@latimes.com

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Why Won’t the NRA Say Anything About Its (Possibly Fake) New Video Game?

If this app is, in fact, an unlicensed kind of hoax using the NRA acronym without permission, you’d think the NRA might want to squash the brand association quickly. Despite the gun lobby’s slow response to the Newtown massacre, the NRA isn’t afraid of issuing cease and desists or suing President Obama, the District of Columbia, or the Department of Justice.

RELATED: One Month After Newtown, NRA Releases First-Person Shooter Game with AK-47

What’s more, as ArsTechnica’s Kyl Orland points out, the NRA’s earlier efforts at officially licensed video games have been successful in the lobby’s seemingly unending efforts to the turn gun-violence debate away from guns and toward other industries accused of stoking violence. Orland writes:

So Practice Range fits right into the NRA’s arguments about video games’ insidious effects on our society. “There’s nothing wrong with guns in video games per se,” the organization seems to be saying; “the problem is the way those guns are used by most of the big-money game industry in service of ultra-violent revenge fantasies. If only the game industry could use its immense influence and power to promote responsible, safe use of guns, as we have with our humble app, the world might be a different place!”

If the app isn’t the NRA’s, then the app and the controversy surrounding it would seem to present an opportune time for NRA CEO Wayne LaPierre to hammer home his point about violence in video games. In his notorious post-Newtown press conference, LaPierre in the days following blamed the gaming industry for mass violence:

And here’s another dirty little truth that the media try their best to conceal: There exists in this country a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells, and sows, violence against its own people.

The video-game industry has been reeling as it struggles to put together a lobbying defense of its own. Of course, all these theories would be moot if the app is indeed the NRA’s. As of today, the app is still up in the iTunes Store.

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Playwright Anna Deavere Smith wins Gish Prize

NEW YORK (AP) — Anna Deavere Smith has won one of the largest and most prestigious awards in the arts.

The committee that awards the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize announced Friday that the actress and playwright known for pioneering a form of theatrical journalism is this year's winner.

"Anna opens our eyes, ears and minds to some of the most challenging aspects of our lives, and in so doing helps give others the courage to do the same," said Darren Walker, of the Ford Foundation, who was on the selection committee.

The Gish Prize, now in its 19th year, recognizes leading artists in such fields as drama, music and dance, as well as literature. Smith joins past winners including Bob Dylan, Arthur Miller, Chinua Achebe and Robert Redford. The prize, from silent film stars Dorothy and Lillian Gish, comes with $300,000.

In a statement, Smith said: "I am deeply honored and can't imagine a greater honor than having my name linked with the incomparable Dorothy and Lillian Gish."

Smith creates one-woman documentary-style works such as "Fires in the Mirror" about a 1991 riot in New York and "Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992," about the 1992 Rodney King case. She recently tackled health care in "Let Me Down Easy."

As an actress, Smith has appeared on TV in "Nurse Jackie" and "The West Wing" and in films including "The American President," ''The Human Stain," ''Life Support" and "Rachel Getting Married."

Among her other honors are a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant," two Tony Award nominations, an Obie and a Drama Desk Award. Her writings include the book "Talk to Me: Listening Between the Lines and Letters to a Young Artist."

___

Online:

http://www.gishprize.com

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The Neediest Cases: Medical Bills Crush Brooklyn Man’s Hope of Retiring

Andrea Mohin/The New York Times

John Concepcion and his wife, Maria, in their home in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. They are awaiting even more medical bills.

Retirement was just about a year away, or so John Concepcion thought, when a sudden health crisis put his plans in doubt.

For the past 100 years, The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund has provided direct assistance to children, families and the elderly in New York. To celebrate the 101st campaign, an article will appear daily through Jan. 25. Each profile will illustrate the difference that even a modest amount of money can make in easing the struggles of the poor.

Last year donors contributed $7,003,854, which was distributed to those in need through seven New York charities.

2012-13 Campaign

Previously recorded:

$6,865,501

Recorded Wed.:

16,711

*Total:

$6,882,212

Last year to date:

$6,118,740

*Includes $1,511,814 contributed to the Hurricane Sandy relief efforts.

“I get paralyzed, I can’t breathe,” he said of the muscle spasms he now has regularly. “It feels like something’s going to bust out of me.”

Severe abdominal pain is not the only, or even the worst, reminder of the major surgery Mr. Concepcion, 62, of Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, underwent in June. He and his wife of 36 years, Maria, are now faced with medical bills that are so high, Ms. Concepcion said she felt faint when she saw them.

Mr. Concepcion, who is superintendent of the apartment building where he lives, began having back pain last January that doctors first believed was the result of gallstones. In March, an endoscopy showed that tumors had grown throughout his digestive system. The tumors were not malignant, but an operation was required to remove them, and surgeons had to essentially reroute Mr. Concepcion’s entire digestive tract. They removed his gall bladder, as well as parts of his pancreas, bile ducts, intestines and stomach, he said.

The operation was a success, but then came the bills.

“I told my friend: are you aware that if you have a major operation, you’re going to lose your house?” Ms. Concepcion said.

The couple has since received doctors’ bills of more than $250,000, which does not include the cost of his seven-day stay at Beth Israel Medical Center in Manhattan. Mr. Concepcion has worked in the apartment building since 1993 and has been insured through his union.

The couple are in an anxious holding pattern as they wait to find out just what, depending on their policy’s limits, will be covered. Even with financial assistance from Beth Israel, which approved a 70 percent discount for the Concepcions on the hospital charges, the couple has no idea how the doctors’ and surgical fees will be covered.

“My son said, boy he saved your life, Dad, but look at the bill he sent to you,” Ms.  Concepcion said in reference to the surgeon’s statements. “You’ll be dead before you pay it off.”

When the Concepcions first acquired their insurance, they were in good health, but now both have serious medical issues — Ms. Concepcion, 54, has emphysema and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and Mr. Concepcion has diabetes. They now spend close to $800 a month on prescriptions.

Mr. Concepcion, the family’s primary wage earner, makes $866 a week at his job. The couple had planned for Mr. Concepcion to retire sometime this year, begin collecting a pension and, after getting their finances in order, leave the superintendent’s apartment, as required by the landlord, and try to find a new home. “That’s all out of the question now,” Ms. Concepcion said. Mr. Concepcion said he now planned to continue working indefinitely.

Ms. Concepcion has organized every bill and medical statement into bulging folders, and said she had spent hours on the phone trying to negotiate with providers. She is still awaiting the rest of the bills.

On one of those bills, Ms. Concepcion said, she spotted a telephone number for people seeking help with medical costs. The number was for Community Health Advocates, a health insurance consumer assistance program and a unit of Community Service Society, one of the organizations supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund. The society drew $2,120 from the fund so the Concepcions could pay some of their medical bills, and the health advocates helped them obtain the discount from the hospital.

Neither one knows what the next step will be, however, and the stress has been eating at them.

“How do we get out of this?” Mr. Concepcion asked. “There is no way out. Here I am trying to save to retire. They’re going to put me in the street.”

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Stocks flat; GE, Morgan Stanley up

A mixed batch of earnings reports from some of Corporate America's biggest names kept the stock market treading water in early trading Friday. General Electric and Morgan Stanley rose after turning in better report cards, while a 27 percent drop in earnings sank Intel's stock.

The Dow Jones industrial average edged down two points to 13,593 as of 10:33 a.m. EST.

GE led the 30 stocks in the Dow after the conglomerate reported stronger quarterly earnings, helped by orders from Brazil, Angola and other developing countries. Profits increased at all seven of its industrial segments, including oil and gas, energy management, aviation and transportation. GE rose 55 cents to $21.85.

The Standard & Poor's 500 index fell one point to 1,479 and the Nasdaq composite fell seven to 3,129.

The Dow and the S&P 500, a widely used benchmark for investment funds, are headed for their third straight week of gains. The Dow is up 0.8 percent and the S&P 0.5 percent.

Morgan Stanley's earnings surged across its many business lines, as more companies hired the investment bank to help it raise money and line up mergers. Morgan Stanley jumped 6 percent, rising $1.16 to $21.91.

Intel fell 6 percent, the biggest drop in the Dow. The world's biggest chipmaker said late Thursday that fourth-quarter net income fell 27 percent. A growing preference for smartphones and tablets, instead of personal computers and laptops powered by Intel chips, have made investors wary of the company's stock. It dropped $1.44 to $21.24.

American Express fell $1.73 to $59.01. Hefty charges tied to the credit card issuer's plan to cut jobs and reorganize some business lines hurt results, and revenue fell short of estimates.

Analysts forecast that companies in the S&P 500 will report a 3.2 percent increase in fourth-quarter earnings over the same period the year before. They expect banks and other financial firms along with consumer-discretionary companies to have the strongest profit growth of any industry, according to S&P Capital IQ.

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60 Freeway reopens after fatal accident involving 2 big-rigs

By Nicole Santa Cruz

January 17, 2013, 7:38 a.m.

The westbound 60 Freeway, which was closed for nearly three hours Thursday morning in Montebello after a fatal accident involving two big-rigs, has reopened, California Highway Patrol officials said.

The freeway was cleared at 5:40 a.m. near the off-ramp for north Garfield and Wilcox avenues, said CHP Officer Ed Jacobs.

The crash killed the driver of a car that rear-ended a big-rig around 2:50 a.m. The vehicles came to a stop, blocking a lane, and another big-rig rear-ended the car. The driver was pronounced dead at the scene.

Officers diverted traffic from the Garfield/Wilcox off-ramp. Traffic was backed up for about three miles.

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PlayStation 4 and Xbox 720 could cost just $350, expected to launch this fall

Sony (SNE) and Microsoft (MSFT) are both expected to announce their next-generation gaming consoles at the Electronics Entertainment Expo in June, or even a little before then. While we have seen rumored specs for both the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox 720, one thing that has escaped us is a possible price tag. In a research note to investors on Monday, Colin Sebastian of Baird Equity Research suggested that both consoles could retail for between $ 350 and $ 400 in the U.S., Games Industry International reported. The analyst revealed that during the Consumer Electronics Show last week he spent time “with a number of companies involved in video game development and distribution,” who informed him that the next-generation consoles will be “largely built from ‘off the shelf’ high-end PC components, along with hybrid physical/digital distribution models, enhanced voice controls and motion sensing, and broad multi-media capabilities.”

[More from BGR: HTC One SV review]

Sebastian believes that “a PC-based architecture (Intel chips in the case of Xbox) should have a number of advantages over custom-developed silicon.” In his opinion, there will be less of a “learning curve” for software developers compared to completely new technology, and the cost of production and retail price points should be lower than prior console launches.

[More from BGR: Dell’s bold plan to reinvent itself: A USB-sized PC that gives access to Windows, Mac OS, Chrome OS]

Microsoft launched the Xbox 360 in 2005 with a top end price of $ 399, while Sony released the PlayStation 3 a year later for $ 499 and $ 599 respectively.

“It will be easier to build online services around PC chip architecture, including flexible business models (free-to-play, subscriptions) and multi-media (over the top) content offerings,” the analyst added. “For Microsoft, this design will also allow for more integration with Windows 8 and Windows Mobile devices.”

Sebastian expects Sony to launch the PlayStation 4 in October and Microsoft to launch the Xbox 720 in November.

This article was originally published on BGR.com

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Lance Armstrong left it 'all on table' with Oprah

All the speculation is about to end. In a matter of hours, viewers can judge for themselves whether Lance Armstrong told the truth this time.

Armstrong's confession to Oprah Winfrey about using performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour de France a record seven times in a row will be televised at 9 p.m. Thursday, the first segment of a two-part special on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Since word of his confession during Monday's taping in Austin, Texas, was first reported by The Associated Press, there has been no shortage of opinions or advice on what Armstrong should say.

The International Olympic Committee didn't wait to listen.

The IOC on Wednesday stripped Armstrong of his 2000 bronze medal, sending him a letter asking him to return it, according to officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because the decision had not been announced.

For others who will tune in Thursday, it's not just what Armstrong said that matters. How he said it, whether angry, tearful or matter-of-fact, will be judged as well.

"I left it all on the table with her and when it airs the people can decide," Armstrong said of his interview in a text sent to the AP on Wednesday. He dismissed a story earlier in the day that described him as "not contrite" when he acknowledged doping while dominating the cycling world.

Livestrong, the cancer charity Armstrong founded in 1997 and was forced to walk away from last year, said in a statement it expected him to be "completely truthful and forthcoming." A day earlier, World Anti-Doping Agency director general David Howman said nothing short of a confession under oath — "not talking to a talk-show host" — could prompt a reconsideration of Armstrong's lifetime ban from sanctioned events. And Frankie Andreu, a former teammate that Armstrong turned on, said the disgraced cyclist had an obligation to tell all he knew and help clean up the sport.

"I have no idea what the future holds other than me holding my kids," Armstrong said in the text.

Armstrong has held conversations with officials from the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, including a reportedly contentious face-to-face meeting with USADA chief executive Travis Tygart near the Denver airport. It was USADA's 1,000-page report last year, including testimony from nearly a dozen former teammates, that portrayed Armstrong as the leader of a sophisticated doping ring that propelled the U.S. Postal Service team to title after title at the Tour de France. In addition to the lifetime ban, Armstrong was stripped of all seven wins, lost nearly all of his endorsements and was forced to cut ties with Livestrong.

According to a person with knowledge of the situation, Armstrong has information that might lead to his ban being reduced to eight years. That would make him eligible to compete in elite triathlons, many of which are sanctioned under world anti-doping rules, in 2020, when Armstrong will be 49. He was a professional athlete in the three-discipline sport as a teenager, and returned to competition after retiring from cycling in 2011.

That person also said the bar for Armstrong's redemption is higher now than when the case was open, a time during which he refused to speak to investigators. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing a confidential matter.

Armstrong, who always prized loyalty on his racing teams, now faces some very tough choices himself: whether to cooperate and name those who may have aided, abetted or helped cover up the long-time use of PEDs.

Armstrong left his hometown of Austin, where the interview was taped at a downtown hotel, and is in Hawaii. He is named as a defendant in at least two pending lawsuits, and possibly a third. The Justice Department faces a Thursday deadline on whether to join a whistle-blower lawsuit filed by former teammate Floyd Landis, who was stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title for doping.

That suit alleges Armstrong defrauded the U.S. government by repeatedly denying he used performance-enhancing drugs. Armstrong could be required to return substantial sponsorship fees and pay a hefty fine. The AP reported earlier that Justice Department officials were likely to join the lawsuit.

___

Jim Litke reported from Chicago, Jim Vertuno from Austin.

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The New Old Age Blog: Officials Say Checks Won't Be in the Mail

The jig is up.

Two years ago, the Treasury Department initiated its Go Direct campaign to persuade people still receiving paper checks for their Social Security, Veterans Affairs, S.S.I. and other federal benefits to switch to direct deposit.

“At that point, we were issuing approximately 11 million checks each month,” or about 15 percent of the total, Walt Henderson, director of the campaign, told me.

After putting notices in every monthly check envelope, circulating public service announcements and putting the word out through banks, senior centers, the Red Cross, AARP and other organizations, the Treasury Department has since shrunk that number to five million monthly checks.

That means 93 percent of those getting federal benefits are using direct deposit or, if they prefer or lack a bank account, a Direct Express debit card that gets refilled each month and can be used anywhere that accepts MasterCard.

“So people have been getting the word and making the switch,” Mr. Henderson said. Now, federal officials are pushing the last holdouts to convert to direct deposit by March 1.

Although officials say the change is not optional, the jig isn’t entirely up. If you or your older relative does not respond to their pleading, “we’re not going to interrupt their payments,” Mr. Henderson said. But the department will start sending letters urging people to switch.

The major motive is financial: shifting the last paper checks to direct deposit or a debit card (only 2 percent of recipients go that route) will save $1 billion over the next decade, the department estimates.

But safety enters the picture, too. One reason some beneficiaries resist direct deposit, Mr. Henderson said, is that they fear their electronic deposits can be hacked or diverted. Having grown up in a predigital age, perhaps they feel safer with a check in their hands.

But they probably aren’t. In 2011, the Treasury Department received 440,000 reports of lost or stolen benefits checks. With direct deposit, “there’s no check lingering unattended in a mailbox,” Mr. Henderson noted.

The greater reason for sticking with paper is probably simple inertia. “It’s human nature to procrastinate,” he said.

But unless you or your relatives want a series of letters from the Treasury Department, it is probably time for the last fence-sitters to get with the program.

They don’t need to use a computer. People can switch to direct deposit, or get the debit card, at their banks or the local Social Security office. More simply, they can call a toll-free number, (800) 333-1795, and have agents walk them through the change. Or they can sign up online at www.GoDirect.org.

They will need:

1. Their Social Security number.
2. The 12-digit federal benefit number found on their checks.
3. The amount of the most recent check.
4. And, for direct deposit, a bank or credit union routing number, usually found on the front of a check. They can have direct deposit to a savings account, too.

A caution for New Old Age readers: If you think your relative has not switched because he or she is cognitively impaired and can no longer handle his finances, you can be designated a representative payee and receive monthly Social Security or S.S.I. payments on your relative’s behalf. This generally requires a visit to your local Social Security office, documentation in hand.

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Paula Span is the author of “When the Time Comes: Families With Aging Parents Share Their Struggles and Solutions.”

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Initial jobless claims plunged last week to lowest level in 5 years

WASHINGTON -- Initial jobless claims fell sharply last week to 335,000, the lowest level in five years in a hopeful sign for the labor market as the new year begins.

The number of people filing the first time for unemployment benefits  dropped by 37,000 in the week ending Saturday from the previous week's revised figure of 372,000, the Labor Department said Thursday.

Economists say initial claims below 350,000 a week indicate strong job growth. But the numbers can vary widely from week to week.

Analysts had expected a more modest decrease last week, to 369,000, and the sharp drop could reflect the difficulty in making seasonal adjustments to the figures after the holidays.

The less-volatile four-week average fell to 359,250, down 6,750 from the previous week, a level consistent with the recent moderate job growth. The economy added 155,000 net new jobs in January and the unemployment rate remained at 7.8%.

But last week's figure was a positive sign.

The last time there had been fewer jobless claims in a week was in January 2008, just a month after the Great Recession began and well before the global financial crisis.

After the crisis hit, Claims surged to more than 500,000 a week for more than a year starting in November 2008. During the depths of the recession, in March 2009, weekly jobless claims peaked at 667,000.

ALSO:

JPMorgan, Goldman profits rise sharply

FAA grounds entire fleet of Boeing 787s

U.S. finalizes rules for financial firms to avoid foreclosures

Follow Jim Puzzanghera on Twitter and Google+.

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Helicopter crashes in central London, killing at least two people

A helicopter crash near a busy train station in London caused a huge fireball on the ground and killed two people. CBS News' Elizabeth Palmer reports.

LONDON -- A helicopter apparently crashed into a crane atop a high-rise building in central London during the morning rush hour Wednesday, falling to earth and killing at least two people, police said.

Video footage showed flaming debris on the ground where the chopper came down in the Vauxhall district of south London, close to the headquarters of MI6, Britain's spy agency.

Scotland Yard said two people were confirmed dead at the scene, with two others taken to the hospital. A fire official told the BBC that one of the dead had been aboard the helicopter. Authorities quickly cordoned off the area and shut down Vauxhall rail station.

PHOTOS: Helicopter crashes in central London

[Update, 4:26 a.m. Jan 16: Later Wednesday morning, police said one of the dead was the chopper's pilot. The other victim has not been identified, but the helicopter was not believed to be carrying passengers, police said. 

"At this stage, it appears a commercial helicopter on a scheduled flight was in collision with a crane on top of a building under construction," Scotland Yard said in a statement. 

Police said seven people were treated on the scene for minor injuries. Six people were taken to local hospitals, all for minor injuries except for one person who suffered a broken leg.

The crash occurred on a gray morning with thick clouds or fog lying low in the sky. Police did not speculate as to the cause of the crash, but the BBC reported that terrorism did not appear to be likely.

Nicky Morgan, a member of Parliament who was walking toward Vauxhall, told the broadcaster that she heard a huge explosion shortly before 8 a.m., a time when commuters and schoolchildren were going about their usual routine.

"I did wonder if it was a bomb explosion, because it was just such a loud bang," she said. "It was the thick black smoke that really meant that this is not right."

Helicopters are common in London, particularly around the city's financial district where many tall buildings are clustered.

The crash site is near the Nine Elms neighborhood south of the Thames, where the U.S. is planning to build a large new embassy.

ALSO:

Blue plaques that pay tribute to London's past may be history

Israeli soldiers kill Palestinian teen in West Bank confrontation

Egyptian lawyer gets 5 years, 300 lashes for Saudi drug conviction

 

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Leaked BlackBerry 10 sales manual reveals new images and details

The buzz continues to mount leading up to the January 30th unveiling of Research In Motions’s (RIMM) next-generation BlackBerry 10 platform, but we’re not sure how much is left to learn. Many BlackBerry 10 features have already been announced, we’ve seen RIM’s first two next-generation handsets — the BlackBerry Z10 and the BlackBerry X10 — a number times, and now Rogers’ internal sales manual for BlackBerry 10 devices has leaked thanks to CrackBerry. The manual is packed full of images and it also confirms some specs reported a few months ago, and the full document is embedded at the source link below. RIM’s next-generation operating system and handsets will be unveiled during a press conference on January 30th, and BGR will be on hand reporting live.

[More from BGR: Dell’s bold plan to reinvent itself: A USB-sized PC that gives access to Windows, Mac OS, Chrome OS]

This article was originally published on BGR.com

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Director defends 'Zero Dark Thirty' torture scenes

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Director Kathryn Bigelow defends torture scenes in her Oscar-nominated film "Zero Dark Thirty," saying torture was an undeniable part of the hunt for Osama bin Laden after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

The film opens by declaring it's based on firsthand accounts of actual events.

But Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and other lawmakers criticized the film as misleading for suggesting torture led to the location of bin Laden. Lawmakers asked Sony Pictures to attach a disclaimer that the film is fictional.

"Experts disagree sharply on the facts and particulars of the intelligence hunt, and doubtlessly that debate will continue," Bigelow wrote in the Los Angeles Times on Wednesday.

The comments were Bigelow's most explicit reaction to the controversy so far.

"As for what I personally believe, which has been the subject of inquiries, accusations and speculation, I think Osama bin Laden was found due to ingenious detective work," she continued. "Torture was, however, as we all know, employed in the early years of the hunt. That doesn't mean it was the key to finding bin Laden. It means it is a part of the story we couldn't ignore."

"War, obviously, isn't pretty, and we were not interested in portraying this military action as free of moral consequences," she added.

Bigelow wrote that torture was part of the story and the backlash may be misdirected.

"I do wonder if some of the sentiments alternately expressed about the film might be more appropriately directed at those who instituted and ordered these U.S. policies, as opposed to a motion picture that brings the story to the screen," she wrote.

Last week, Sony Pictures co-chair Amy Pascal responded forcefully to a "Zero Dark Thirty" anti-Oscar campaign waged by Ed Asner and other Hollywood actors, saying "to punish an artist's right of expression is abhorrent."

Bigelow and "Zero Dark Thirty" screenwriter Mark Boal had said previously that they "depicted a variety of controversial practices and intelligence methods that were used in the name of finding bin Laden.

"The film shows that no single method was necessarily responsible for solving the manhunt, nor can any single scene taken in isolation fairly capture the totality of efforts the film dramatizes," they said.

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Phys Ed: Exercise Can Boost Flu Shot's Potency

Phys Ed

Gretchen Reynolds on the science of fitness.

As this year’s influenza season continues to take its toll, those procrastinators now hurrying to get a flu shot might wish to know that exercise may amplify the flu vaccine’s effect. And for maximal potency, the exercise should be undertaken at the right time and involve the right dosage of sweat, according to several recent reports.

Flu shots are one of the best ways to lessen the risk of catching the disease. But they are not foolproof. By most estimates, the yearly flu vaccine blocks infection 50 to 70 percent of the time, meaning that some of those being inoculated gain little protection. The more antibodies someone develops, the better their protection against the flu, generally speaking. But for some reason, some people’s immune systems produce fewer antibodies to the influenza virus than others’ do.

Being physically fit has been found in many studies to improve immunity in general and vaccine response in particular. In one notable 2009 experiment, sedentary, elderly adults, a group whose immune systems typically respond weakly to the flu vaccine, began programs of either brisk walking or a balance and stretching routine. After 10 months, the walkers had significantly improved their aerobic fitness and, after receiving flu shots, displayed higher average influenza antibody counts 20 weeks after a flu vaccine than the group who had stretched.

But that experiment involved almost a year of dedicated exercise training, a prospect that is daunting to some people and, in practical terms, not helpful for those who have entered this flu season unfit.

So scientists have begun to wonder whether a single, well-calibrated bout of exercise might similarly strengthen the vaccine’s potency.

To find out, researchers at Iowa State University in Ames recently had young, healthy volunteers, most of them college students, head out for a moderately paced 90-minute jog or bike ride 15 minutes after receiving their flu shot. Other volunteers sat quietly for 90 minutes after their shot. Then the researchers checked for blood levels of influenza antibodies a month later.

Those volunteers who had exercised after being inoculated, it turned out, exhibited “nearly double the antibody response” of the sedentary group, said Marian Kohut, a professor of kinesiology at Iowa State who oversaw the study, which is being prepared for publication. They also had higher blood levels of certain immune system cells that help the body fight off infection.

To test how much exercise really is required, Dr. Kohut and Justus Hallam, a graduate student in her lab, subsequently repeated the study with lab mice. Some of the mice exercised for 90 minutes on a running wheel, while others ran for either half as much time (45 minutes) or twice as much (3 hours) after receiving a flu shot.

Four weeks later, those animals that, like the students, had exercised moderately for 90 minutes displayed the most robust antibody response. The animals that had run for three hours had fewer antibodies; presumably, exercising for too long can dampen the immune response. Interestingly, those that had run for 45 minutes also had a less robust response. “The 90-minute time point appears to be optimal,” Dr. Kohut says.

Unless, that is, you work out before you are inoculated, another set of studies intimates, and use a dumbbell. In those studies, undertaken at the University of Birmingham in England, healthy, adult volunteers lifted weights for 20 minutes several hours before they were scheduled to receive a flu shot, focusing on the arm that would be injected. Specifically, they completed multiple sets of biceps curls and side arm raises, employing a weight that was 85 percent of the maximum they could lift once. Another group did not exercise before their shot.

After four weeks, the researchers checked for influenza antibodies. They found that those who had exercised before the shot generally displayed higher antibody levels, although the effect was muted among the men, who, as a group, had responded to that year’s flu vaccine more robustly than the women had.

Over all, “we think that exercise can help vaccine response by activating parts of the immune system,” said Kate Edwards, now a lecturer at the University of Sydney, and co-author of the weight-training study.

With the biceps curls, she continued, the exercises probably induced inflammation in the arm muscles, which may have primed the immune response there.

As for 90 minutes of jogging or cycling after the shot, it probably sped blood circulation and pumped the vaccine away from the injection site and to other parts of the body, Dr. Kohut said. The exercise probably also goosed the body’s overall immune system, she said, which, in turn, helped exaggerate the vaccine’s effect.

But, she cautions, data about exercise and flu vaccines is incomplete. It is not clear, for instance, whether there is any advantage to exercising before the shot instead of afterward, or vice versa; or whether doing both might provoke the greatest response – or, alternatively, be too much and weaken response.

So for now, she says, the best course of action is to get a flu shot, since any degree of protection is better than none, and, if you can, also schedule a visit to the gym that same day. If nothing else, spending 90 minutes on a stationary bike will make any small twinges in your arm from the shot itself seem pretty insignificant.

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Dunkin' Donuts planning to expand into Southern California

Dunkin’ Donuts is returning to Southern California, planning to open franchises in Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, San Bernardino, Ventura and Orange counties starting in 2015.

The Canton, Mass.-based company said an initial push will likely involve about 150 Southland stores but that the state could someday see as many as 1,000.

[Updated, 7:45 a.m.: The chain had a small presence in the state at one point, but closed down all its California shops by the late 1990s. A brief comeback attempt in Sacramento in 2002 didn’t last.

In July 2011, Dunkin’s initial public offering reignited hopes from analysts and fans that the chain – half of whose locations are in “fortress markets” of New England and New York – would head back west.]

Dunkin’ Donuts also said it opened 291 net new stores in the U.S. in 2012 and plans to open as many as 360 new outlets this year. The company said it is looking for more openings in venues such as colleges and universities, casinos, military bases, supermarkets and airports.

The company said it intends to eventually have more than 15,000 Dunkin’ Donuts stops nationwide. Already, the business sells 1.7 billion cups of coffee every year, according to the NPD Group, a research firm.

Executives on a conference call with reporters said they expect competition from national brands such as McDonald’s and Starbucks, regional convenience store chains and more local brands such as Winchell’s.

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Dunkin' Donuts heads west, but not to California

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Big rig accident closes 5 Freeway near Elysian Park

By Nicole Santa Cruz

January 15, 2013, 6:10 a.m.

All lanes of 5 Freeway near Elysian Park are expected to be closed until at least 9 a.m. as the result of a big rig crash, officials said early Tuesday.

At about 3:16 a.m., a driver lost control of a big rig, which hit the center divider and caught fire near the 2 Freeway, said Officer Ed Jacobs of the California Highway Patrol. No injuries were reported in the accident.

Traffic was backed up for miles in both directions as a result of the freeway closure. All lanes in both directions are expected to be closed for hours, Jacobs said.

Traffic is being diverted off the freeway at Fletcher Drive on the southbound side and at Stadium Way on the northbound side, officials said. Jacobs urged drivers to use an alternate route.

"You don't want to go in that area in general," he said. "It will affect traffic through the morning commute."

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Tata Consultancy says demand in U.S. strong across segments

MUMBAI/BANGALORE (Reuters) – India’s top software services provider Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) said demand in the key U.S. market is strong across its business segments, with regional banks stepping up spending on technology.

The Mumbai-based company said on Monday that profit jumped 23 percent in the quarter ended December, beating analysts‘ expectations. TCS also gave an upbeat growth outlook, sending its shares up the most in more than eight months and prompting analyst upgrades on the stock.

Economic uncertainty in the United States had fuelled investor worry that clients may keep their IT budgets tight and postpone decision-making on technology spending.

“The U.S. is still a growth market,” Chief Financial Officer S Mahalingam told Reuters in an interview at his Mumbai office on Tuesday. “If it sneezes then we have got a big problem. (But) the demand is very good across all segments.”

The United States accounts for about half of TCS’ revenue, compared with more than 60 percent overall for India’s $ 100 billion outsourcing industry.

Banks, insurers and other financial services clients usually account for more than a third of the revenue at companies such as TCS’ rival Infosys Ltd , where better-than-expected results on Friday and an increased revenue outlook powered a 20 percent rise in its shares over two sessions.

“(The) U.S. economy has regional banks as well, and they are starting to spend. So there is growth,” Mahalingam said.

While Monday’s results prompted analysts from HSBC and CLSA to increase their ratings on TCS stock, some analysts said volume growth was not especially impressive.

Volumes, or billable hours, rose 1.25 percent on a sequential basis, while revenue in dollar terms increased 3.3 percent over the September quarter.

“The key disappointment was soft volume growth of 1.25 percent quarter-on-quarter. However, we remain assured by management’s optimistic outlook on FY14 growth,” Nomura analysts wrote in a note to clients.

(Editing by Tony Munroe and Ryan Woo)

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AP NewsBreak: Rewrite for National Book Awards

NEW YORK (AP) — The National Book Awards are getting a rewrite.

New rules announced Tuesday include a "long list" of 10 nominees to be offered for each of the four competitive categories before being narrowed to the traditional five finalists. And the pool of judges will be expanded beyond writers to include critics, booksellers and librarians.

The changes are the most extensive since the mid-1990s for the awards, presented each fall by the National Book Foundation, as the major New York publishers attempt to broaden their appeal. The publishers have been unhappy with the selection of fiction finalists in recent years and the omission of such high-profile works as Jonathan Franzen's "Freedom" and Marilynne Robinson's "Gilead."

The expansion to 10 mirrors a recent change in the Oscars, but foundation board members said they had been looking to Britain's popular Man Booker Prize as a model.

"We just basically borrowed some of their ideas," said foundation board vice president and Grove/Atlantic CEO Morgan Entrekin, citing the Bookers' use of long lists and non-writers as judges. "The Bookers do a fantastic job at getting a conversation going about good books. With the long list, for instance, you get this conversation bubbling up about what made it and then about what doesn't get on the short list."

Entrekin said that some of the recent National Book Award fiction lists, which usually get the most attention, had been "very eccentric" and that allowing critics and booksellers as judges could open up the process. The results, he thinks, will be a "little more mainstream," and less likely to include "a collection of stories by a university press."

"I think there are plenty of awards that recognize those kinds of books," Entrekin said. "If one of those books is truly the best book of the year, that's no problem. But it seemed like the judges had been recognizing lesser-known authors for the sake of choosing lesser-known authors."

The revisions cap a year-long process during which the book foundation hired an independent consulting firm to discuss the awards with booksellers, editors, writers and others in the literary community. Some ideas were rejected, such as allowing celebrities to be judges. The board also voted not to limit the number of books a publisher could submit, a suggested solution to the complaint that the time commitment needed to read hundreds of new works had made it difficult to find judges.

"We're asking people to read a lot of books, but some of these librarians and booksellers we hope to bring in are reading a lot of books anyway," Entrekin said.

"Our mission is to celebrate literature and expand its audience and we chose the path most consistent with our mission," said David Steinberger, chairman of the foundation's board and CEO of the Perseus Books Group.

This fall's long list will be announced Sept. 12, followed by the short list on Oct. 15 and the winners on Nov. 20.

The National Book Awards have changed several times since being founded in 1950. Winners, who have included William Faulkner, Ralph Ellison and Saul Bellow, were originally announced in advance of the ceremony. The number of categories and nominees have expanded and contracted, with 17 finalists for nonfiction in 1957 and more than 20 competitive categories in the early 1980s.

Awards for translation, "contemporary thought" and first novel have been added, then dropped. For a brief time, even the awards' name was changed, to the American Book Awards.

The format had been stable in recent years: competitive awards given for fiction, nonfiction, poetry and young people's literature, and five finalists announced for each category, picked by five-judge panels of writers that change annually. Over the past two decades, the National Book Foundation has attempted to draw more attention to the actual ceremony, bringing in such celebrities as Steve Martin and Andy Borowitz to host and moving the venue from a Marriott hotel ballroom to the more upscale Cipriani Wall Street.

Like the Academy Awards or the Grammys, the National Book Awards ceremony is an industry's showcase for itself, a balance between rewarding excellence and increasing sales that ideally achieves both. Major publishers are directly invested. They're represented on the board of the National Book Foundation and pay thousands of dollars for tables at the ceremony.

Ironically, publishers were happy with the fiction nominees of 2012, the last group to be voted on under the old rules. The finalists included a mix of well-known writers (Louise Erdrich, Junot Diaz, Dave Eggers) and debut novelists (Ben Fountain and Kevin Powers).

For years, foundation executive director Harold Augenbraum has issued oral instructions to judges that they should not pick books based on the publisher or commercial success or the author's reputation. In 2012, the point was reinforced in written guidelines that stated "fame or obscurity, small press or large, should have no bearing" on their decisions.

"I have no idea if that made any difference," Augenbraum said. "In fact, one judge thought the rules meant not to overlook the smaller presses."

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