Stock index futures point to higher start (Reuters)

NEW YORK (Reuters) ? Stock index futures pointed to a higher open on Wall Street on Tuesday, with futures for the S&P 500, the Dow Jones and Nasdaq 100 indexes up 0.5-0.6 percent.

At 7:45 a.m. ET ICSC/Goldman Sachs release chain store sales for the week ended January 28, versus the prior week. In the previous week, sales fell 1.4 percent.

Redbook releases at 8:55 a.m. ET its Retail Sales Index of department and chain store sales for January versus December. In the prior period, sales fell 1.6 percent.

McGraw-Hill, the textbook publisher and owner of credit rating agency Standard & Poor's, reports financial results and is likely to update Wall Street on its steps to split the company in two. Analysts surveyed by Reuters expect earnings per share of $0.57 dollar, compared with $0.55 a year earlier.

Other key companies due to report fourth-quarter results include Exxon Mobil (XOM.N), Pfizer (PFE.N), Mattel (MAT.O), Anadarko Petroleum (APC.N), Mastercard (MA.N) and Aon (AON.N).

At 10 a.m. ET, Standard & Poor's releases its S&P Case/Shiller Home Price Index for November. Economists expect a fall of 0.5 percent, versus a 0.6 percent drop in the previous month.

A California judge has dismissed a fraud claim brought by Oracle Corp (ORCL.O) against Hewlett-Packard Co (HPQ.N) in the bitter legal battle between the two companies over the Itanium platform.

The Institute of Supply Management Chicago releases at 9:45 a.m. ET its January index of manufacturing activity. Economists forecast a reading of 63.0, compared with 62.2 in December.

RadioShack Corp (RSH.N) issued a disappointing fourth-quarter earnings forecast with "significant declines" in its Sprint wireless business. The shares of the struggling electronics retailer tumbled more than 18 percent on Monday.

The Conference Board releases at 10 a.m. ET January consumer confidence data. Economists in a Reuters survey expect a reading of 68.0 compared with 64.5 in December.

Just a week before futures brokerage MF Global (MFGLQ.PK) filed for bankruptcy, the firm's chief financial officer told analysts at Standard & Poor's that its capital position had "never been stronger," according to the ratings agency.

The Treasury Department is investigating a report that Freddie Mac (FMCC.OB), the mortgage giant, bet against homeowners' ability to refinance their loans even as it was making it more difficult for them to do so, the New York Times reported, citing White House spokesman, Jay Carney.

CIT Group Inc (CIT.N) will again stop providing loans to suppliers of Sears Holdings Corp (SHLD.O) after Tuesday as the business lender awaits more information on the retailer's financial health, two retail sources told Reuters on Monday.

Pharmaceutical wholesaler McKesson Corp (MCK.N) on Monday reported higher-than-expected quarterly earnings, fuelled by growth in its core drug distribution business. Its shares rose 3 percent in late trading.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel cemented her political ascendancy in Europe on Monday when 25 out of 27 EU states agreed to a German-inspired pact for stricter budget discipline, even as they struggled to rekindle growth from the ashes of austerity.

Greek Prime Minister Lucas Papademos said negotiators had made "significant progress" in talks to strike a restructuring deal for Greek government debt, with the aim of having a definitive agreement by the end of this week.

European shares (.FTEU3) rose 0.6 percent in early trade on hopes Greece was nearing a debt swap deal needed to avoid a messy default.

On Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average (.DJI) dropped 6.74 points, or 0.05 percent, to 12,653.72. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index (.SPX) lost 3.31 points, or 0.25 percent, to 1,313.02. The Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC) fell 4.61 points, or 0.16 percent, to 2,811.94.

(Reporting By Francesco Canepa)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/stocks/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120131/bs_nm/us_markets_stocks

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Death toll from cold spell in Ukraine reaches 30 (AP)

KIEV, Ukraine ? Ukrainian authorities say that the number of people who died of hypothermia in recent days has reached 30 as the country grapples with an unusually severe cold spell.

The Emergency Situations Ministry said on its website Tuesday that most of the victims were found frozen on the streets. On Monday officials put the death toll at 18 people.

Temperatures plunged to minus 23 C (minus 10 F) in the capital Kiev and elsewhere in Ukraine as schools and kindergartens closed and authorities set up hundreds of heated tents for the homeless.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/weather/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120131/ap_on_re_eu/eu_europe_weather

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HBT: Burrell likely to retire, didn't fulfill No. 1 hype

No official word yet, but Tim Dierkes of MLB Trade Rumors reports that Pat Burrell will announce his retirement following a 12-year career.

Burrell got back on track after a miserable one-and-a-half season stint with the Rays, returning to the NL with the Giants while hitting .259 with 25 homers and an .827 OPS in 560 plate appearances.

Those numbers basically match his career marks, but Burrell?s foot problems made staying in the lineup difficult and his lack of defensive value likely would have made it tough to land a full-time job anyway.

Burrell never quite developed into the superstar many projected from the No. 1 overall pick in the 1998 draft, as his offense was very good rather than great and his defense dragged down his overall value, but he smacked 20-plus homers nine times and among all active right-handed hitters with at least 5,000 plate appearances his .834 OPS ranks 11th.

And now Burrell?or at least his alter ego ?The Machine??will have plenty of time to play dress-up with Brian Wilson.

Source: http://hardballtalk.nbcsports.com/2012/01/30/pat-burrell-expected-to-retire-at-age-35/related/

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Libya: Justice Ministry to take over prisons

TRIPOLI, Libya (AP) ? Libyan judicial police have started taking control of makeshift prisons in the country after human rights organizations complained of rampant torture of inmates, the country's deputy justice minister said on Sunday.

The deputy minister, Khalifa Ashour, said uniformed police have been dispatched to some prisons where former rebels have been holding people accused of being loyalists of deposed ruler Moammar Gadhafi.

During last year's civil war, former rebels trying to protect their neighborhoods held anyone deemed suspicious of being a Gadhafi loyalist or mercenary, locking them up in makeshift prisons in schools, homes and empty government buildings.

According to the U.N., various former rebel groups are holding as many as 8,000 prisoners in 60 detention centers around the country.

Bringing all the prisons under control of the new government illustrates the challenge of reuniting Libya after the ouster of Gadhafi.

Ashour said that on Sunday his ministry took over one prison in Misrata and another in Tripoli, but didn't have information on any other prisons which were taken over.

"Some of the prisoners are loyalists of the former regime detained during the revolution, and others were captured after liberation for murder and drug or alcohol possession," Ashour told The Associated Press.

The move comes after the U.N.'s top human rights official said Friday that Libya's transitional government must take control of all makeshift prisons to prevent further atrocities against detainees.

"There's torture, extrajudicial executions, rape of both men and women," said U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Friday.

Pillay said she was particularly concerned about sub-Saharan African detainees whom the brigades automatically assume to be fighters for former Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

Aid group Doctors Without Borders suspended its work in prisons in the Libyan city of Misrata on Thursday because it said torture was so rampant that some detainees were brought for care only to make them fit for further interrogation and abuse.

Amnesty International said Thursday it had recorded widespread prisoner mistreatment in other cities that led to the deaths of several inmates.

The allegations, which come more than three months after Gadhafi was captured and killed, were an embarrassment to the governing National Transitional Council, which is struggling to establish its authority in the splintered nation.

Ashour said that the Justice Ministry has sent letters to revolutionary brigades guarding makeshift prisons across Libya, setting target dates for handing over the prisons to the ministry, at which point a group of judicial police will take charge.

He didn't have information on how many notices were sent out or if there was a final deadline for handing over prisons to government control.

In November, Libya's leaders acknowledged that some prisoners held by revolutionary forces were abused, but insisted the mistreatment was not systematic and pledged to tackle the problem.

Libya's new leaders have struggled to stamp their authority on the country since toppling Gadhafi's regime. One of the greatest challenges still facing the leadership is how to rein in the dozens of revolutionary militias that arose during the war and now are reluctant to disband or submit to the central authority.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-29-ML-Libya/id-f1ea8720fd4f431599a1a5048f065fa7

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Detroit Children's Museum Reopens For Detroit Public Schools, District Severs Contract With Science Center

Just three weeks after the Detroit Children's Museum abruptly announced it would close due to lack of funding, the museum is once again open -- but only to Detroit Public Schools students.

The school district, which owns the Children's Museum but has not managed it since 2009, severed its contract with the debt-ridden Detroit Science Center, which had been operating the museum since 2010.

Student groups from DPS will now be able to use the museum 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. The district is still working to make the institution available to the public, though DPS Chief Communications Officer Steve Wasko said the first priority was making the museum available for students. He hopes the museum will resume public programming by summer, but there is no set timeline.

Federal funding goes to DPS to support DPS's use of the Children's Museum, roughly $400,000 yearly. The district has received that funding since before DCS controlled the museum, and it is the funding that will support student programming at the museum going forward.

The district's own financial difficulties led DPS to close the museum in 2009. A year later, the district sought an arrangement with the Detroit Science Center to operate the museum. An agreement gave DSC the authority to manage the Children's Museum for 10 years, and was supposed to save the school district nearly $12 million.

But DSC faced its own share of financial problems and closed its doors in September. There are currently no plans to reopen, though U.S. State Representative Hansen Clarke is currently seeking federal funds to keep the Science Center out of foreclosure.

DSC had been using federal dollars to keep the Children's Museum open, but ran out of cash. When DSC announced it would close the Children's Museum, DPS objected saying that as the museum's owner, only the district had the authority to close it.

The Children's Museum will continue to be staffed by its original employees, who are now contracted with DPS.

"These are very dedicated individuals who know the museum very well and went above and beyond the call of duty in the last few months," Wasko said.

When the museum closed earlier this month, supporters took to Twitter to share their disappointment:

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/01/27/detroit-childrens-museum-detroit-public-schools-detroit-science-center_n_1237420.html

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Three Kazakh activists detained after rally for change (Reuters)

ALMATY (Reuters) ? A Kazakh court ordered the arrest and detention of three opposition activists Saturday for holding an unauthorised rally, at which protesters condemned the recent election as fraudulent and demanded the release of jailed colleagues.

The three were arrested hours after about 300 people, opposed to long-serving President Nursultan Nazarbayev, gathered in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, calling for democratic change.

At the rally, Bolat Abilov and Amirzhan Kosanov, leaders of the opposition All-National Social Democratic Party, had demanded a transparent investigation into riots last month in the oil-producing region of Zhanaozen, the Central Asian state's deadliest violence in decades.

"After the rally, Abilov and Kosanov were brought to an administrative court in Almaty," an aide to Abilov told Reuters, requesting anonymity. "Abilov was given 18 days in custody and Kosanov 15 days for holding the unauthorised rally."

Amirbek Togusov, the head of the Social Democrats' Almaty headquarters, was put under arrest for 15 days, he said.

"We saw them off right to the threshold of the detention center. They appeared to be in good spirits and were confident in their actions," Abilov's aide said. The court could not be reached for comment because it had closed.

Abilov and Kosanov, addressing the rally, had demanded that their colleagues jailed on charges of inciting the oilmen's riots in Zhanaozen, western Kazakhstan, be freed.

It was the second peaceful protest since the January 15 parliamentary election gave Nazarbayev's Nur Otan party an overwhelming victory. After denouncing the election as rigged and faulty during an unauthorised rally on January 17, Abilov and Kosanov were fined and warned they could be arrested next time.

"WE WANT PEACEFUL CHANGE"

Saturday, the protesters had originally planned to gather at a monument to the 19th century Kazakh poet and philosopher Abai but city authorities, who denied permission for the rally, fenced off the square and unarmed police stood guard. The demonstrators gathered instead outside a nearby hotel.

"We want change, peaceful change and democratic change. We want to be reckoned with," Abilov, co-chairman of the All-National Social Democratic Party, told the crowd.

A solitary Kazakh flag waved among a crowd that was swollen by the presence of journalists and plain-clothes police. A succession of speakers took the megaphone over nearly two hours, before Muslim prayers ended the rally.

Nazarbayev, a former Soviet Communist Party boss, has ruled Kazakhstan since before independence with little tolerance for dissent. This month's election admitted three parties to parliament for the first time, but Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) observers said it lacked any genuine opposition presence.

"The election wasn't legitimate. We want them to hear us," said Ravilya, a pensioner who stood in the crowd in temperatures of minus 10 degrees Celsius. "There are more police than people. It's a good thing they're armed only with sticks," she said.

Nazarbayev, 71, is popular among most of Kazakhstan's 16.7 million population for bringing stability that has made the country's economy the most successful in ex-Soviet Central Asia.

But the riots in the oil town of Zhanaozen, which officials say killed 16, shook that image of stability. Police fired live rounds at crowds who set buildings ablaze in the town. Another person was killed in a nearby village the next day.

"We demand a just and large-scale investigation into the tragedy," Abilov said. "The president should promise that never again will weapons be used against citizens of Kazakhstan."

The prosecutor-general's office said this week that police generally acted within legal bounds when resorting to the use of weapons on December 16, but four senior officers are being prosecuted for using excessive force.

Opposition leader Vladimir Kozlov and newspaper editor Igor Vinyavsky have been detained for two months pending trial on charges of fomenting social hatred and trying to overthrow the constitutional order.

"We demand that authorities stop fighting against their opponents with such methods," Abilov said.

(Additional reporting by Mariya Gordeyeva; Editing by Tim Pearce)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/asia/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120128/wl_nm/us_kazakhstan_protest

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Justice unit to probe mortgage-backed securities (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Federal and state law enforcement officials announced Friday they have launched a fraud-fighting unit, starting with 55 prosecutors and investigators, to root out wrongdoing in the market for residential mortgage-backed securities.

Attorney General Eric Holder told a news conference the team will benefit from existing probes and disclosed that investigators have issued civil subpoenas to 11 financial institutions in recent days, with the prospect that "more will follow." He said bringing full enforcement resources to bear will help expose abuses and hold violators accountable.

Residential mortgage-backed securities are the huge investment packages of what turned out to be near-worthless mortgages that bankrupted many investors and contributed to the nation's financial crisis.

The new effort was disclosed Tuesday night in the State of the Union address by President Barack Obama. The president has been criticized by some in his own party who have said that, despite a federal bailout of large Wall Street institutions begun under President George W. Bush, no Wall Street executives have gone to prison for fraudulent conduct in the mortgage meltdown and financial crisis.

Appearing with Holder, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, a co-chair of the initiative, held out the prospect that information sharing between federal and state investigators will produce more far-reaching results. He pointed out that New York state securities law is more flexible than federal securities law, which can make it easier to assemble cases.

As for those who engaged in misconduct in the financial industry, "we know what they did, they know what they did and, we know they know we know what they did," said Schneiderman. Last August, because of his tough stance opposing any deal that would end investigations of wrongdoing, Schneiderman was removed from a committee of state attorneys general negotiating a nationwide foreclosure settlement with U.S. banks.

"Mortgage products were in many ways ground zero for the financial crisis," said Robert Khuzami, director of the enforcement division at the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

The collapse in value of mortgage-backed securities resulted in unprecedented losses, and "all of us" in law enforcement are dedicated to holding accountable financial institutions that lied and cheated and misled investors, said Khuzami.

Asked about the financial crisis in a CBS "60 Minutes" interview in December, Obama said that "some of the most damaging behavior on Wall Street ? in some cases some of the least ethical behavior on Wall Street ? wasn't illegal. That's exactly why we had to change the laws." Obama obtained a major new financial regulation law from Congress in July 2010.

In Friday's news conference at the Justice Department, reporters were handed a two-page list of 13 successful criminal prosecutions and civil cases involving the Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force, which the new unit is part of. Prison terms ranged from five years to 30 years for criminal activity at hedge funds, a mortgage company and a bank. The longest prison term was 50 years, for a lawyer in a $1.2 billion Ponzi scheme.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/business/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_financial_probers

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Explaining Modern Finance And Economics Using Booze And Broke ...

Courtesy of reszatonline, who brings us the following allegory by way of Tim Coldwell, we are happy to distill (no pun intended) all of modern economics and finance in a narrative that is 500 words long, and involved booze and broke alcoholics: in other words everyone should be able to understand the underlying message. And while the immediate application of this allegory is to explain events in Europe, it succeeds in capturing all the moving pieces of modern finance.

From reszatonline

Helga is the proprietor of a bar.

She realizes that virtually all of her customers are unemployed alcoholics and, as such, can no longer afford to patronize her bar.

To solve this problem, she comes up with a new marketing plan that allows her customers to drink now, but pay later.

Helga keeps track of the drinks consumed on a ledger (thereby granting the customers? loans).

Word gets around about Helga?s ?drink now, pay later? marketing strategy and, as a result, increasing numbers of customers flood into Helga?s bar. Soon she has the largest sales volume for any bar in town.

By providing her customers freedom from immediate payment demands, Helga gets no resistance when, at regular intervals, she substantially increases her prices for wine and beer, the most consumed beverages. Consequently, Helga?s gross sales volume increases massively.

A young and dynamic vice-president at the local bank recognizes that these customer debts constitute valuable future assets and increases Helga?s borrowing limit.

He sees no reason for any undue concern, since he has the debts of the unemployed alcoholics as collateral!!!

At the bank?s corporate headquarters, expert traders figure a way to make huge commissions, and transform these customer loans into DRINKBONDS.These ?securities? then are bundled and traded on international securities markets.

Naive investors don?t really understand that the securities being sold to them as ?AA? ?Secured Bonds? really are debts of unemployed alcoholics.

Nevertheless, the bond prices continuously climb!!!, and the securities soon become the hottest-selling items for some of the nation?s leading brokerage houses.

One day, even though the bond prices still are climbing, a risk manager at the original local bank decides that the time has come to demand payment on the debts incurred by the drinkers at Helga?s bar.

He so informs Helga.

Helga then demands payment from her alcoholic patrons, but being unemployed alcoholics they cannot pay back their drinking debts.

Since Helga cannot fulfil her loan obligations she is forced into bankruptcy.

The bar closes and Helga?s 11 employees lose their jobs.

Overnight, DRINKBOND prices drop by 90%. The collapsed bond asset value destroys the bank?s liquidity and prevents it from issuing new loans, thus freezing credit and economic activity in the community.

The suppliers of Helga?s bar had granted her generous payment extensions and had invested their firms? pension funds in the BOND securities. They find they are now faced with having to write off her bad debt and with losing over 90% of the presumed value of the bonds.

Her wine supplier also claims bankruptcy, closing the doors on a family business that had endured for three generations, her beer supplier is taken over by a competitor, who immediately closes the local plant and lays off 150 workers. Fortunately though, the bank, the brokerage houses and their respective executives are saved and bailed out by a multibillion dollar no-strings attached cash infusion from the government.

The funds required for this bailout are obtained by new taxes levied on employed, middle-class, non-drinkers who have never been in Helga?s bar.

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Source: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/explaining-modern-finance-and-economics-using-booze-and-broke-alcoholics

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Packers still stinging from playoff loss to Giants

/

By JAYMES SONG

updated 9:10 p.m. ET Jan. 26, 2012

HICKAM AIR FORCE BASE, Hawaii - When Packers coach Mike McCarthy left frigid Green Bay, the temperature was in the single digits. When he landed in Honolulu, it was a balmy 80 degrees.

The Green Bay Packers are thawing out in the islands, relishing every minute of their Pro Bowl experience. They would gladly trade in their floral leis, beach chairs and mai tais, however, to be preparing for the Super Bowl.

"Just like every team in the NFL, there's only one team that's going to be satisfied when the season is completed. We won't be that team this year," said McCarthy, who is coaching the NFC squad for Sunday's game.

As a reflection of their stunning season, the Packers have six players in the Pro Bowl ? second only to the seven members of the San Francisco 49ers. Green Bay sailed through the regular season with a 15-1 record before coming apart at home in a 37-20 loss to the New York Giants in the NFC divisional playoffs.

"I'm not one to publically display the disappointment, but I am personally disappointed the season didn't go as we had planned," McCarthy said. "Give credit to the teams that are in the Super Bowl. It's just another reminder of how difficult it is to get there and even more so to win it.

"But we're a good football team. We'll make the adjustments we feel we need to make and add new players ... we'll forge ahead and we look forward to being a better team next year."

When asked what the Packers needed to improve on, cornerback Charles Woodson didn't hesitate to answer: "Personnel."

"I think the last game, our entire organization saw the same thing out on the field," he said. "There were some things we just weren't able to do, so hopefully we'll bring some guys in to accomplish the same goal we achieved last year."

Woodson, an eight-time Pro Bowl selection, keeps replaying the playoff loss in his mind, including Eli Manning's desperation Hail Mary pass to a leaping Hakeem Nicks as time expired in the first half to give the Giants a 20-10 lead and a load of confidence heading into the locker room.

"If you watch that game, my feeling is that they just wanted it more than we did," Woodson said. "I think about one play, and I think about that Hail Mary. I go over it in my head and see the clips on ESPN and different sports shows and see the lack of effort from our team to get that ball intercepted or knock it down."

It's clear the Packers are still scratching their Cheeseheads, trying to figure out what went wrong after so much went right earlier in the season. McCarthy said he's still in the middle of an evaluation process.

"I had a chance to spend the full week back in Green Bay, talking to all the players the first two days," he said. "We're still working through the coaching evaluations. We'll go about it like we always have and head our compass pointing toward next year."

Quarterback Aaron Rodgers said he hasn't had time to look back at what the team was able to accomplish, nor to reflect on a season in which he passed for 4,463 yards with 45 touchdowns and just six interceptions. His quarterback rating of 122.5 set an NFL record.

"I think that's going to happen once I leave here and the offseason really starts, it'll be time to reflect on that," he said.

Rodgers is making his first trip to Hawaii. He was also selected two years ago when the game was in Miami, so he never got the full aloha experience. After practice Thursday at this military base, he signed autographs and shook as many hands as he could for the service members and their families before running off for the NFC bus.

He even asked a little boy holding a mini Cowboys helmet and staring at the Packers' star, "Do you want me to sign that?"

"No," the boy replied.

Of the roughly 2,000 watching practice, many were Packers fans, wearing Green Bay jerseys and waving flags with the "G" logo. "I love you, man!" howled one fan as Rodgers signed a helmet for him.

"It's great. It's a fun experience. A lot of us would like to be in our home cities getting ready for the Super Bowl, but this is a great opportunity, a great vacation, good guys, good times," Rodgers said.

Linebacker Clay Matthews said the practice was special. There were three large Air Force cargo jets parked on the runway just south of the practice field.

"To be able to get to interact with some of them is truly fantastic," he said. "They're the real heroes and they represent courageousness. What we do on the field pales in comparison to what they do every day."

Center Scott Wells is making his first trip to Hawaii in his eighth season in the league. He brought his wife and kids. After the Pro Bowl, he's going to spend some time on Maui.

"It's no secret we're disappointed in the way our season ended, but at the same time I'm excited to be here and looking forward to taking everything in," he said.

Receiver Greg Jennings said the Pro Bowl isn't his bowl of choice, but he'll take it.

"Obviously, it's not where you want to be, but if there's a crystal ball and you knew you weren't going to be in the big dance, this will be the consolation prize," he said.

Jennings said he hasn't had an opportunity to look back or look ahead to next season.

"Probably once everything slows down, I'll take a deep breath and kick my feet up and I'll have a chance to really reflect on the special regular season we had and then the unfortunate letdown we had the in the playoffs," he said. "You can't really do that until the offseason."

___

Follow Jaymes Song at http://twitter.com/JaymesSong

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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Source: http://nbcsports.msnbc.com/id/46156846/ns/sports-nfl/

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FACT CHECK: Debate over 'ghetto language' ad (AP)

WASHINGTON ? Mitt Romney accuses Newt Gingrich of calling Spanish a "ghetto language." Close, but not quite.

Gingrich denies doing so and said he merely promoted the use of English, "period." That's even more of a stretch.

The last Republican presidential debate before the GOP Florida primary Thursday brought viewers a blitz of charges and countercharges over immigration, the financial lives of the candidates and more. Here are how some of the claims compare with the facts:

GINGRICH: "It's taken totally out of context.... I did not say it about Spanish. I said in general about all languages. We are better for children to learn English in general, period."

THE FACTS: At issue is Romney's Spanish-language radio ad running in Florida that says Gingrich branded Spanish a ghetto language in a 2007 speech. In the contentious remarks in question, much more came after Gingrich's "period."

In his speech to the National Federation of Republican Women, Gingrich advocated making English the official language, a position he still holds, and added: "We should replace bilingual education with immersion in English so people learn the common language of the country and they learn the language of prosperity, not the language of living in a ghetto."

He did not explicitly call Spanish a ghetto language. But at the time, the remark was widely taken to mean Spanish, overwhelmingly the main foreign language spoken in the United States and the primary language of many immigrants.

Gingrich recognized as much when, in response to a Hispanic backlash against his remark, he made an online video days after the speech in which he more or less apologized for his choice of words and for producing "a bad feeling within the Latino community."

___

ROMNEY on the same topic: "I doubt that's my ad, but we'll take a look and find out."

THE FACTS: It's his ad.

___

RICK SANTORUM: "You had a president of the United States that held (up) a Colombian free trade agreement. Colombia, who's out there on the front lines working with us against the narco-terrorists, standing up to Chavez in South America ? and what did we do? ... The president of the United States sided with organized labor and the environmental groups and held Colombia hanging out to dry for three years."

THE FACTS: When President Barack Obama took office, he actually tried to revive a free-trade deal with Colombia that had been negotiated by his Republican predecessor but left to languish without congressional approval, just as he tried to make similar progress with South Korean and Panamanian free-trade pacts. He bucked considerable opposition from organized labor and fellow Democrats in doing so.

Obama did hold off on submitting the three deals to Congress as his administration tried to negotiate more palatable terms to Democrats. He finally submitted them in 2011 and Congress approved them in the fall ? with substantial GOP support and a fair amount of Democratic opposition.

___

ROMNEY: Fannie and Freddie are "offering mortgages again to people who can't possibly repay them. We're creating another housing bubble, which will hurt the American people."

THE FACTS: If there is another housing bubble forming, most homebuilders, mortgage lenders and real estate agents would like to find it. Instead, the housing market remains depressed, with sales low and home prices falling.

Fannie and Freddie don't sell or offer any mortgages. Their function has always been to support the housing market by purchasing mortgages from banks, packaging them into bonds and guaranteeing the bonds against default. This proved costly when the housing bubble burst: The two entities were formally taken over by the government in 2008 and have since cost taxpayers $150 billion.

The two mortgage giants are still functioning under government receivership, and now own or guarantee nearly all new mortgages, because banks are reluctant to make loans without the agencies' support. But banks have significantly toughened their credit standards since the housing bubble and are requiring higher credit scores and bigger down payments. That is causing an increasing number of home sales contracts to fall through as would-be buyers are unable to get mortgage loans.

___

SANTORUM: Criticized the Obama administration for its "abysmal treatment" of allies in Latin America, and said Obama has a "consistent policy of siding with the leftists, siding with the Marxists, siding with those who don't support democracy."

THE FACTS: Obama has not sided with the leading leftists, such as those ruling Cuba and Venezuela, and instead has roundly criticized them.

It's true that Latin America has been on the back burner for much of Obama's tenure, as he concentrated on other parts of the world, including the Middle East. But Obama visited three countries in Latin America last year, and the Panamanian and Colombian trade agreements were part of the biggest round of trade liberalization since the North American Free Trade Agreement and other pacts of that era.

___

ROMNEY: "My investments are not made by me. My investments for the last 10 years have been in a blind trust, managed by a trustee."

THE FACTS: Not all of his investments have been in a blind trust. Romney's personal financial disclosure forms show he owned between $250,001 and $500,000 in the Federated Government Obligation Fund, which contained mutual-fund notes of politically sensitive Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. An addendum to Romney' disclosure forms says that certain assets ? including the federated fund ? were outside the scope of his blind trust.

The investment was not on Romney's 2007 financial form, making it a relatively new one ? just as the housing and financial crises were hitting Americans full force.

___

RON PAUL: Obama "promises to end the wars, but the wars expand."

THE FACTS: By the most obvious measures, the wars are shrinking. Last month, the U.S. pulled its last troops out of Iraq, fulfilling a pledge by Obama to end the war there.

Obama did escalate America's fight in Afghanistan, announcing in December 2009 that he was sending an additional 33,000 troops.

The U.S. and its NATO partners in late 2010 agreed to end the combat mission in Afghanistan by the end of 2014. As part of that plan, Obama fulfilled his promise to bring 10,000 troops home from Afghanistan by the end of last year, and is moving ahead with plans to pull an additional 23,000 out by this fall. There are now about 90,000 U.S. troops in Afghanistan.

___

Associated Press writers Tom Raum, Lolita C. Baldor, Jim Drinkard, Christopher S. Rugaber and Jack Gillum contributed to this report.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/politics/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120127/ap_on_el_pr/us_republicans_debate_fact_check

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Gingrich: Romney self-deportation plan a fantasy (AP)

DORAL, Fla. ? Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich on Wednesday ridiculed rival Mitt Romney's call for self-deportation of illegal immigrants as an "Obama-level fantasy" that would be inhumane to long-established families living in America. Romney, for his part, accused Gingrich of pandering to a Hispanic audience and said Gingrich himself had supported self-deportation in the past.

Discussing immigration in state where 13 percent of registered voters are Hispanic, the former House speaker criticized Romney's immigration policy during a forum with the Spanish-language television network Univision, saying the idea of self-deportation would never work. Romney snapped back at him later in the day at the same forum.

During a debate earlier this week, Romney said he favors self-deportation over policies that would require the federal government to round up millions of illegal immigrants and send them back to their home countries. Advocates of Romney's approach argue that illegal immigration can be curbed by denying public benefits to them, prompting them to leave the United States on their own.

"You have to live in a world of Swiss bank accounts and Cayman Island accounts and automatically $20 million income for no work to have some fantasy this far from reality," Gingrich said, alluding to details in Romney's income tax returns made public Tuesday. "For Romney to believe that somebody's grandmother is going to be so cut off that she is going to self-deport, I mean this is an Obama-level fantasy."

But Gingrich's campaign has spoken of the self-deportation policy he ridiculed Wednesday.

"I recognize that it's very tempting to come out to an audience like this and pander to the audience," Romney said, pointing out that Gingrich has previously made comments supporting the idea of self-deportation. "I think that was a mistake on his part."

In debates, Gingrich has defended a proposal to allow some illegal immigrants to stay in the U.S. if they've lived here for more than 25 years and have a local sponsor.

Romney's campaign directed reporters to past comments by Gingrich spokesman R.C. Hammond, who said that only a small percent of illegal immigrants would likely be allowed to stay in the U.S. under Gingrich's plan. Hammond went on to say that the vast majority of them would likely "self-deport."

Gingrich also ran into trouble over a radio ad calling Romney "anti-immigrant." Florida Sen. Marco Rubio called the ad "inaccurate" and "inflammatory." Romney's campaign also asked Gingrich in a letter to pull the ad. Gingrich's campaign had no immediate comment on whether it would comply with the request to pull the ad. The Miami Herald reported that the campaign planned to remove the ad based on Rubio's comments.

Romney called the anti-immigrant label an "epithet" and "inappropriate."

At the forum, Gingrich spoke instead about other elements of his immigration plan, including controlling the border and establishing a guest-worker program to better manage the influx of immigrants. Gingrich said he favors a path to citizenship for illegal immigrant children who serve in the military but not for simply completing college.

Romney defended his opposition to allowing the children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at American universities. He said there are inexpensive options that will allow them to go to college.

Gingrich told Univision he believes states should charge in-state tuition rates for students who were born in the U.S. to illegal immigrant parents, but that he favors charging out-of-state tuition for children who were brought to this country illegally.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry's support of a Texas policy to allow children of illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition proved to be problematic with conservatives nationwide. Perry dropped out of the race last week.

Gingrich began the interview by speaking a few halting phrases of welcome in Spanish ? "Buenos Dias estudiantes" ? but begged off when moderator Jorge Ramos pressed him to go further. Romney did not speak any Spanish during his interview.

Romney was asked about family members he has living in Mexico. Romney's father, George Romney, was born in Mexico but moved back to the U.S. as a young child.

Ramos asked Romney if he had a claim to being Mexican American.

"I don't think people would think I was being honest with them if I said I was Mexican American but I'd appreciate it if you'd get that word out," Romney said, smiling.

Florida is home to many Hispanics of Puerto Rican or Cuban descent who don't view immigration as a priority but are more interested in the issue than the general public.

After the interview, Romney railed against Fidel Castro's Cuba in a speech before several hundred Cuban-American democracy activists. Romney has significant support from the Cuban-American political establishment in Miami.

"It is time for us to strive for freedom in Cuba, and I will do so as president," he said. "We must be prepared to support the voices for democracy in Cuba."

While the interview questions asked of both candidates were mostly about Hispanic concerns, Ramos asked Gingrich whether it was hypocritical for him to criticize then-President Bill Clinton and pursue his impeachment in the 1990s when Gingrich was being unfaithful to his second wife.

Gingrich snapped at the premise of the question and said it was Clinton's false testimony under oath that bothered him the most.

"The fact is I've been through two divorces. I've been deposed both times under oath. Both times I told the truth in the deposition," Gingrich said. "I have never lied under oath. I have never committed perjury."

Ramos asked Romney to declare his wealth, to which Romney replied that he's worth between $150 million and "200-and-some-odd million dollars."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120125/ap_on_el_pr/us_campaign_hispanics

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World's only iridescent mammal is a shiny accident

Animals from butterflies to birds have iridescent colours to draw the eye. But why golden moles? They spend most of their lives in near-darkness - and they're blind.

Now a study of the structure of the hairs shows that they may be designed to streamline the moles or repel water, rather than attract a mate.

Matthew Shawkey of the University of Akron in Ohio took samples from four golden mole species, all with blue or green iridescence. Electron microscopes revealed that the hairs were flattened into paddle shapes, giving a greater surface area to reflect light.

Unusually, the scales on each hair contained alternating light and dark layers. Each layer bent the rays of light just like oil on water (Biology Letters, DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2011.1168). Shawkey says this is the first example of a multilayer reflector in hair.

The iridescence is an evolutionary accident, he believes. The hairs' structure may make them more sturdy, repel water, or streamline the moles so they can move quickly through dirt and sand. "Penguin feathers are flattened like this," he points out.

Most iridescent animals probably evolved it for communication, but golden moles are a rare exception, says St?phanie Doucet of the University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada. Some burrowing snakes and beetles are also iridescent, probably for similar reasons, she adds.

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State of Union: Obama to take on economic anxiety

FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2012, file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington. President Barack Obama commands center stage in a political year so far dominated by Republican infighting, preparing to deliver a State of the Union address that will go right to the heart of Americans' economic anxiety and try to sway voters to give him four more years in office. He is expected to urge higher taxes on the wealthy, propose steps to make college more affordable and offer new remedies for the still worrisome housing crisis. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, File)

FILE - In this Jan. 13, 2012, file photo, President Barack Obama speaks in the East Room of the White House in Washington. President Barack Obama commands center stage in a political year so far dominated by Republican infighting, preparing to deliver a State of the Union address that will go right to the heart of Americans' economic anxiety and try to sway voters to give him four more years in office. He is expected to urge higher taxes on the wealthy, propose steps to make college more affordable and offer new remedies for the still worrisome housing crisis. (AP Photo/Haraz N. Ghanbari, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Eager to command center stage in a year dominated by Republican infighting, President Barack Obama is polishing a State of the Union address that will go to the heart of Americans' economic anxiety and try to sway voters to give him four more years. He will speak Tuesday to a nation worried about daily struggles and unhappy with his handling of the economy.

Obama's 9 p.m. EST address before a politically divided Congress will be built around ideas meant to appeal to a squeezed middle class. He is expected to urge higher taxes on the wealthy, propose ways to make college more affordable, offer new steps to tackle a debilitating housing crisis and try to help U.S. manufacturers expand hiring.

Designed as a way for a president to update the nation and recommend ideas to Congress, the State of the Union address has become more than that, especially during that one window when the address falls during the re-election year of an incumbent. It is televised theater ? and Obama's biggest, best chance so far to offer a vision for a second term.

He will frame the campaign to come as a fight for fairness for those who are struggling to keep a job, a home or college savings and losing faith in how the county works.

The speech will be principally about the economy, featuring the themes of manufacturing, clean energy, education and American values.

No matter whom Obama faces in November, the election is likely to be driven by the economy, and determined by which candidate wins voters' trust on how to fix it. More people than not disapprove of Obama's handling of the economy.

The overarching political goal is to give voters a contrast between his vision of a government that tries to level the playing field and those office-seekers who, in his view, would leave people on their own. Without naming them, Obama has in his sights those after his job, including Republicans Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich.

The presidential campaign sets an unmistakable context for the speech, right down to the nation's income gap between haves and have-nots. Obama will speak on a few hours after Romney, a former governor and businessman whose wealth is the hundreds of millions of dollars, will release tax records for 2010 and 2011.

The lines of argument between Obama and his rivals are already stark, with America's economic insecurity and the role of government at the center.

The president has offered signals about his speech, telling campaign supporters he wants an economy "that works for everyone, not just a wealthy few." Gingrich, on the other hand, calls Obama "the most effective food stamp president in history." Romney says Obama "wants to turn America into a European-style entitlement society."

Obama's tone will be highly scrutinized given that his address falls smack in the middle of a fierce and frenzied Republican presidential nomination process. He will make bipartisan overtures to lawmakers but will leave little doubt he will act without opponents when it's necessary and possible, an approach his aides say has let him stay on offense.

The public is more concerned about domestic troubles over foreign policy than at other any time in the past 15 years, according to a new survey by the Pew Research Center. Some 81 percent want Obama to focus his speech on domestic affairs, not foreign ones; just five years ago, the view was evenly split.

On the day before Obama's speech, his campaign released a short Web ad showing monthly job losses during the end of the Bush administration and the beginning of the Obama administration, with positive job growth for nearly two Obama years. Republicans assail him as failing to achieve a lot more.

House Speaker John Boehner, responding to reports of Obama's speech themes, said it was a rehash of unhelpful policies. "It's pathetic," he said.

Obama will offer economic proposals for this year, despite long odds against getting the help he would need from Republicans.

Presidential spokesman Jay Carney said Monday that Obama is not conceding the next 10 months to "campaigning alone" when people need economic help. On the goals of helping people get a fair shot, Carney said: "There's ample room within those boundaries for bipartisan cooperation and for getting this done."

For three days following his speech, Obama will promote his ideas in five states key to his re-election bid: Iowa, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado and Michigan. He speaks on Friday about college affordability at the University of Michigan.

Meanwhile, the Republican race is suddenly a race again, given Gingrich's resounding win in the South Carolina primary over the weekend. Romney, who appeared the strong front-runner coming into that primary, is now focusing on Gingrich more than Obama as the GOP contest unfolds in Florida.

Vice President Joe Biden, in an interview with radio host Ryan Seacrest, said Monday there is no ideological difference between any of the Republicans seeking to challenge Obama. He said the campaign will offer the clearest choice in which direction to take the country since the era of the Great Depression.

Polling shows Americans are divided about Obama's overall job approval but unsatisfied with his handling of the economy.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2012-01-23-US-State-of-the-Union/id-e7eaa87777d04ee384a3bdbd13a17853

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GOP debate casts light on US sugar policy (AP)

TAMPA, Fla. ? The Republican presidential race waded, at least for one night, into the grainy details of U.S. policy toward sugar.

Newt Gingrich's answer to a question about it during a GOP debate Monday night stood out in part for its wonkiness and downright oddity.

"I found out one of the fascinating things about America, which was that cane sugar hides behind beet sugar," the former college professor said, launching into a lecture of sorts on the U.S. industry when asked about subsidies for the sweet ingredient. "And there are just too many beet sugar districts in the United States. It's an amazing side story about how interest groups operate. In an ideal world, you would have an open market."

Mitt Romney, the former Massachusetts governor, followed up by saying "we ought to get rid of subsidies and let markets work properly." The other two candidates, Rick Santorum and Ron Paul, weren't given a chance to reply.

Blogs and Twitter feeds lit up with the exchange, with some observers using it to highlight similarities between Gingrich and beet farmer Dwight Schrute on "The Office." Gingrich, in his younger years, has been compared to the sitcom character.

Pop culture aside, the exchange shed light on a largely unknown facet of American policy: Congress' role in sugar dates to the birth of the country.

Import tariffs were imposed on sugar beginning in 1789 to give incentive to American-grown product. An added layer of complexity came in 1934, when controls on domestic sugar production were put in place.

In short, current sugar policies favor beet sugar growers in the Great Plains and Upper Midwest and cane sugar growers in Florida and Louisiana, keeping the prices of U.S.-grown sugar artificially high and limiting the amount of foreign sugar that can be imported.

"It's a Soviet system what we have for sugar," said Chris Edwards, director of tax policy studies at the libertarian Cato Institute. "It's not a market system."

The Government Accountability Office last looked into the issue in 2000 and found that U.S. sugar prices, at times, were three times the world market price. Critics say that fact hurts much larger industries such as cereal companies, bakers and candy companies, who rely on sugar for their products.

Those industries cheered at the mere mention of existing policy during the debate.

"I think it's time has come and gone," said Susan Smith, a spokeswoman for the National Confectioners Association, which represents candy, gum and chocolate makers and opposes current policy. "Sometime, 80 years ago, there might have been a reason. But now, not only does it hurt companies who have sugar as an ingredient but there's also a huge consumer cost."

The GAO estimated U.S. sugar policy cost consumers $1.9 billion in 1998 and resulted in $900 million in net losses to the U.S. economy. Nearly all the benefits, the report argued, went to the wealthy owners of U.S. sugar companies.

Both Republicans and Democrats have squandered chances to change the policy. An analysis by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington-based research group, shows the sugar industry has given about $2.1 million in campaign contributions in the 2012 election cycle.

"It's very much a bipartisan racket," Edwards said.

Judy Sanchez, a spokeswoman for U.S. Sugar Corp., the nation's largest cane sugar grower, said the policies in place keep American companies from going out of business. She said sugar policy has "zero cost" to taxpayers.

"Face it: Sugar is given away for free in restaurants, where they charge you for water, they charge you for an extra slice of cheese on your hamburger," Sanchez said. "The sugar is so affordable that it's given away for free. That's because American sugar policy works."

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/gop/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20120124/ap_on_el_pr/us_florida_sugar_politics

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Yemeni president departs, en route to US

SANAA, Yemen?? Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh left his battered nation Sunday on his way to the U.S. for medical treatment after passing power to his deputy and asking for forgiveness for any "shortcomings" during his 33-year rein.

But in a sign that Saleh's role as Yemen's top power broker is likely far from over, he said he would return to Yemen before the official power transfer next month to serve as the head of his ruling party.

Saleh's departure marks a small achievement in the months of diplomatic efforts by the U.S. and Yemen's powerful Gulf neighbors to ease the nearly year-old political crisis in the Arab world's poorest country. An active al-Qaida branch there has taken advantage of the turmoil, stepping up operations and seizing territory.

After months of diplomatic pressure and mass protests calling for his ouster, Saleh signed a deal in November to transfer authority to his vice president in exchange for immunity from prosecution. Still, Saleh continued to exercise power behind the scenes, sparking accusations he sought to scuttle the deal and cling to power.

His departure could help the deal go forward.

Presidential spokesman Ahmed al-Soufi told The Associated Press that Saleh left Yemen's capital Sanaa late Sunday on a plane headed for the Gulf sultanate of Oman. He did not say how long Saleh would remain there, but added that he would make "another stop before heading to the United States of America."

A senior administration official said Ali Abdullah Saleh would travel to New York this week, and probably stay in the U.S. until no later than the end of February. U.S. officials believe Saleh's exit from Yemen could lower the risk of disruptions in the lead-up to presidential elections planned there on Feb. 21.

The Obama administration faced a dilemma in deciding whether to let Saleh enter the U.S. after he requested a visa last month. It has long seen getting Saleh out of Yemen as an important step in ensuring the power transfer goes forward.

But some in the administration worried that welcoming Saleh would spark charges from the Arab world that the U.S. was harboring an autocrat responsible for deadly crackdowns on protesters.

To protect against this, the administration has sought assurances that Saleh will not seek to remain in the U.S.

An official close to Saleh said Sunday the president would undergo medical exams in Oman before heading to the U.S. The U.S. has forbidden him from any political activity in the U.S., the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorize to disclose diplomatic talks.

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Saleh is likely seeking treatment for injuries sustained in a blast in his palace mosque last June 3 that left him badly burned. After the attack, Saleh traveled to Saudi Arabia for treatment, leaving many to suspect his power was waning. A few months later, however, he made a surprise return to Yemen and resumed his post.

Under the power transfer deal signed in November, Vice President Abed Rabbo Mansour Hadi is to be rubber-stamped as the country's new leader in presidential elections. The political parties that signed the deal agreed not to nominate any other candidates.

In a farewell speech Friday reported by Yemeni state media, Saleh said he was passing his powers to Hadi, whom he promoted to the rank of marshal.

Saleh portrayed himself as a patriot who "gave his life in the service of the nation," called for reconciliation and apologized for any mistakes.

"I ask for forgiveness from all sons of the nation, women and men, for any shortcomings during my 33 years in office," Saleh said according to Yemen's state news agency.

He also called on Yemen's youth, who have spearheaded the mass protests calling for his ouster and often faced deadly crackdowns by Saleh's security forces, to go home.

"I feel for you and call on you to return to your homes and turn a new page with a new leadership," he said.

Yemen expert Gregory Johnsen of Princeton University said Saleh's departure could help the power transfer deal progress, though it will do little to address protesters' demands for a fundamental change of how politics in Yemen works.

Throughout his rule, Saleh has put close members of his family and tribe in charge of key state institutions and security forces, Johnsen said. Leaving that network intact could allow Saleh to continue to shape events in Yemen, even without the title of president.

"I don't think we have seen the last of President Saleh," Johnsen said.

Inspired by popular uprisings elsewhere in the Arab world, Yemenis took to the streets nearly a year ago to demand Saleh's ouster and call for democratic reforms. Saleh's security forces have met them with often deadly crackdowns, killing more than 200 protesters. Many others have been killed in violent clashes between armed groups that support the protesters and security forces.

Al-Qaida's active Yemeni branch has also taken advantage of the security collapse to seize territory in the country's south, even taking control of a town 100 miles from the capital Sanaa earlier this month.

The protests have continued despite the power transfer deal, which many say falls far short of their demands. They also reject the immunity clause, saying they want to see Saleh tried for his alleged role in the protester deaths.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/46091792/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/

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U.S. has made no decision on Taliban prisoner transfer (Reuters)

KABUL (Reuters) ? The United States has not decided whether or not to satisfy a request from the Taliban to release five prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay, the U.S. special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan said on Sunday.

"We haven't made any decisions... We have to meet the requirements of our law," Marc Grossman told reporters on a visit to Kabul, after two days of talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and senior advisors.

The Taliban this month announced that they would open a political office in Qatar as a prelude to holding peace talks with the United States and its allies.

(Reporting by Rob Taylor, writing by Amie Ferris-Rotman)

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/world/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20120122/wl_nm/us_afghanistan_guantanamo

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Flags and flowers on Lunar New Year in North Korea

North Koreans gather to lay flowers on a stage in front of a large portrait of the late Kim Jong Il as they pay their respects on the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. Pyongyang residents said they were encouraged to celebrate the traditional holiday as they usually do, despite the death of Kim Jong Il, only the second leader North Koreans have known since the nation was founded in 1948. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

North Koreans gather to lay flowers on a stage in front of a large portrait of the late Kim Jong Il as they pay their respects on the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. Pyongyang residents said they were encouraged to celebrate the traditional holiday as they usually do, despite the death of Kim Jong Il, only the second leader North Koreans have known since the nation was founded in 1948. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

North Korean soldiers gather to lay flowers on a stage in front of a large portrait of the late Kim Jong Il as they pay their respects on the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. Pyongyang residents said they were encouraged to celebrate the traditional holiday as they usually do, despite the death of Kim Jong Il, only the second leader North Koreans have known since the nation was founded in 1948. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

A North Korean guard walks up a platform towards a large portrait of the late Kim Jong Il and bouquets of flowers placed in front of it as people pay their respects on the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. Pyongyang residents said they were encouraged to celebrate the traditional holiday as they usually do, despite the death of Kim Jong Il, only the second leader North Koreans have known since the nation was founded in 1948. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

North Koreans gather in front of a large portrait of the late Kim Jong Il as they pay their respects on the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. Pyongyang residents said they were encouraged to celebrate the traditional holiday as they usually do, despite the death of Kim Jong Il, only the second leader North Koreans have known since the nation was founded in 1948. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

North Koreans gather to lay flowers on a stage in front of a large portrait of the late Kim Jong Il as they pay their respects on the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday at Kim Il Sung Square in Pyongyang Monday, Jan. 23, 2012. Pyongyang residents said they were encouraged to celebrate the traditional holiday as they usually do, despite the death of Kim Jong Il, only the second leader North Koreans have known since the nation was founded in 1948. (AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)

PYONGYANG, North Korea (AP) ? Soldiers and children, bundled up against the freezing cold, lined up Monday at Pyongyang's main plaza to pay their respects again to late North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on the first day of the Lunar New Year holiday.

A massive portrait of a smiling Kim that had been removed after a mourning period following his Dec. 17 death was restored at Kim Il Square. People scurried across the vast plaza to get in line to bow and place flowers, including his namesake "kimjongilia" begonias, in piles beneath the portrait. The song "It's Snowing" blared from loudspeakers, a reminder of Kim's solemn funeral procession through the capital's snowy streets late last month.

For several weeks after Kim's funeral, Pyongyang was barren and somber. But almost overnight the city has filled with color again. North Korea's red, white and blue national flag fluttered from signposts. Banners celebrating "Juche 101" ? the current year, according to the North Korean calendar, which begins with the 1912 birth of national founder Kim Il Sung ? and posters marking the holiday were pinned to buildings and walls.

One sign read, "The power of single-hearted unity ? congratulations on New Year's Day."

At the plaza in front of the Pyongyang Grand Theater, hundreds of children scampered and shouted as they played traditional Korean games. Signs in front of the theater spelled out "We are happy" in big, bold letters. In a large square, groups of children from the surrounding district gathered to jump rope, fly kites and practice taekwondo, their breaths steaming in the cold weather.

"Our great general gave instructions to bring up children educated with national character from their childhood by encouraging folk games," teacher Yu Un Ju told AP.

Pyongyang residents said they were encouraged to celebrate the traditional holiday as they usually do, despite the death of Kim Jong Il, only the second person to lead North Korea since it was founded in 1948. State television aired a segment late Sunday on making rice cake soup, a traditional New Year's meal in both Koreas.

The holiday comes as new leader Kim Jong Un, Kim Jong Il's son, visits military units.

Outside observers have questioned whether Kim Jong Un ? who's believed to be in his late 20s ? is ready to rule a country of 24 million with a nuclear program and chronic food shortages.

But the North has dismissed such worries, and state media have produced reports and images meant to show that Kim has strong military and governing experience. Late last week, North Korea credited Kim Jong Un with spearheading past nuclear testing and said he was "fully equipped" with the qualities of an extraordinary general.

Kim Jong Un, anointed his father's successor at least three years ago, was declared "supreme leader" of the North Korean people, party and military after his father's death. He has pledged to uphold his father's "military first" policy.

The new era of leadership comes as North Korea prepares to celebrate the 100th anniversary in April of the birth of Kim's grandfather, late President Kim Il Sung.

___

Follow AP's North Korea coverage on Twitter at twitter.com/newsjean and twitter.com/dguttenfelder.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2012-01-23-AS-NKorea-New-Year/id-235ea5522b9f490bba164cdd2ac32ad2

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Rams to play NFL games in London for next 3 years

FILE - In this Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011 file photo Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Chicago Bears play during the first half of an NFL football game at Wembley Stadium in London. The NFL said Friday Jan. 20, 2012, the Rams and Patriots will play on Oct. 28, 2012 at Wembley Stadium, the sixth year in a row the league will play regular-season games in the British capital. (AP Photo/David Azia, File)

FILE - In this Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011 file photo Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Chicago Bears play during the first half of an NFL football game at Wembley Stadium in London. The NFL said Friday Jan. 20, 2012, the Rams and Patriots will play on Oct. 28, 2012 at Wembley Stadium, the sixth year in a row the league will play regular-season games in the British capital. (AP Photo/David Azia, File)

New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady takes questions from reporters at the NFL football team's facility, in Foxborough, Mass., Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012. The Patriots are scheduled to host the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC championship game on Sunday, Jan. 22, in Foxborough. (AP Photo/Steven Senne)

LONDON (AP) ? The St. Louis Rams took the first step to becoming Britain's "home" team Friday, agreeing to play a regular-season NFL game in London in each of the next three seasons.

And first up are the New England Patriots, who are two wins from another Super Bowl title.

The Rams and Patriots meet at Wembley on Oct. 28, about two months after the closing ceremony of the London Olympics. That will be followed by games at Wembley against undetermined opponents in 2013 and 2014.

The Rams are owned by Stan Kroenke, who is also the majority shareholder in the English soccer club Arsenal. The team will give up home games in St. Louis for the three seasons they are in London.

"We've seen first-hand the increased popularity of the NFL not only in London but throughout Europe," Kroenke said in a statement. "To play a role in that growth over the next three years will be incredible and is a testament to the many good things happening not only in the NFL but also in the St. Louis Rams organization."

This year's contest will be the sixth regular-season game at Wembley. But despite plans to bring a second game to Britain starting next season, the NFL said the Rams-Patriots date would be the only one in 2012.

"This year is a very competitive year for sport in the UK, especially with the Olympics in London," NFLUK managing director Alistair Kirkwood said. "Also, with the Rams having made an unprecedented commitment to playing in the UK for the next three years, we wanted to focus on them as our 'home' team without another game taking place.

"We would like to increase beyond one game per year as soon as possible and the five-year commitment by the owners to playing in the UK allows us to make that decision when we feel it is appropriate."

NFL owners agreed last year to play regular-season games in the UK for the next five seasons. The league said Friday all the games would be played at Wembley. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has repeatedly spoken of the possibility of a full-time franchise in the UK one day.

The Rams finished 2-14 this season, tied for the NFL's worst, and have won only 15 games the last five seasons. Last week, the team hired Jeff Fisher as coach to replace the fired Steve Spagnuolo.

The NFL first played at Wembley in 2007, with the New York Giants beating the Miami Dolphins 13-10. Since then, seven other teams have visited Britain, with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers making the trip twice.

The Patriots have already been to London, beating the Bucs 35-7 in 2009. The Bucs returned this season, losing to the Chicago Bears 24-18 in October ? the first of the Wembley games that wasn't a sellout.

This season, the Patriots have been one of the best teams in the league. Led by Tom Brady, they will face the Baltimore Ravens on Sunday in the AFC championship with a chance to reach their fifth Super Bowl in the last 11 years.

And Patriots owner Robert Kraft is already looking forward to coming back to London, especially since they again don't have to give up a home game.

"For us in a way it is like, I think, having another home game, we have such a large fan base there," Kraft said. "We have had a group of fans come over from the UK and come here to a game each year and it is a tremendous fan base. Happy we will be able to go over there."

In the NFC championship, the San Francisco 49ers host the New York Giants.

(This version CORRECTS Updates with fresh Kraft quotes. Corrects 49ers to home team against Giants.)

Associated Press

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