Google's ultrafast Internet draws startups to KC

KANSAS CITY, Kan. (AP) — Inside a small bungalow on the street separating Kansas City, Kan., from its sister city in Missouri, a small group of entrepreneurs are working on their ideas for the next high-tech startup, tapping Google Inc.'s new superfast Internet connection that has turned the neighborhood into an unlikely settlement dubbed the "Silicon Prairie."
The home on State Line Road is one of several startup-friendly locations that have sprouted up in Kansas City in recent months. The catalyst is Google Fiber, the search-engine giant's fiber-optic network being tested in the Kansas City area that advertises speeds of up to a gigabyte per second — a rate that massively exceeds the average Internet speeds at homes hooked up with cable modems.
The advantage here for startups is simple: A fast Internet pipe makes it easier to handle large files and eliminates buffering problems that plague online video, live conferencing or other network-intensive tasks. Though the Kansas City location presents challenges for startups, including the ability to raise money outside the traditional Silicon Valley venture capital scene, entrepreneurs like Synthia Payne believe it's the place to be right now for up-and-coming tech companies.
Payne is one of those entrepreneurs hoping to launch her startup dream — an Internet subscription service for musicians who want to collaborate online — on the cheap. She shares the State Line Road house, known as the "Home for Hackers," with other startups under a deal that allows them to live rent-free while they develop their business plans.
Google's network was attractive, Payne said, because her business plan "is dependent upon really good, really fast Internet."
"Without this on-ramp here I probably would have found it very difficult to come here," said Payne, who in December moved from Denver to develop CyberJammer.
Residents here were thrilled when Google announced last year that Kansas City, Kan., and neighboring Kansas City, Mo., would be its test bed for Google Fiber. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company spent months and unknown sums installing optical fiber around the area. Google provides the full gigabit service for $70 a month and its own cable-TV like service for another $50. A slower Internet connection is free on a monthly basis after a $300 installation fee.
The first homes were installed with fiber optics in the fall, with more "fiberhoods" planned in stages over the next several months. Kansas City, Mo., and Kansas City, Kan., remain Google's only fiber market, though the company has said it plans additional roll-outs. Many in the tech industry believe Google's move could ultimately force broadband providers to accelerate their networks to compete. Making Internet access faster would give the company more opportunities to attract traffic and sell more advertising — the main way Google makes money.
The "Home for Hackers" and its unique business pitch is the brainchild of local web developer Ben Barreth, whose property was among the first wave of houses to be fiber-wired and is a block away from the Google Fiber offices. "Hackers" who pass Barreth's application process and show a real intention to work on a viable project can live there rent-free for three months. Since starting the home in October after cashing in his Roth IRA and putting a down payment on the $48,000 home, Barreth has gotten applications from nearly 60 people seeking a spot in the home.
"The whole startup thing in Kansas City is like this huge growing beast," he said. "It's got this crazy momentum."
The house has been full since mid-December with Payne and two others. One of the rooms also is reserved for fiber tourists who want a place for a day or two where they can download anything faster than they could elsewhere.
"The hope is that these startups will move their operations to Kansas City and this will really bless Kansas City, bring jobs and taxes and we'll build a really cool tech scene," Barreth said.
A few homes away from the "Home for Hackers" is the headquarters of the Kansas City Startup Village, which was started by local entrepreneur Matthew Marcus and where Mike Farmer, founder of mobile search app Leap2.com, has his offices. Farmer said Google Fiber brought attention to Kansas City's startup culture, "because it sort of ignites the imagination about what you can do with that sort of bandwidth capability."
"Most every week I meet one or two or three people that are looking to come in from out of town," he said.
Despite the growth, it remains a challenge for startups to raise money from Kansas City, Farmer said. Silicon Valley venture capital groups in particular want startup entrepreneurs to be nearby in California, he said.
"I've had some really incredible conversations with some big name VCs, and their first statement is that when you're in this early stage you have to be here, right next to us," he said. "That is a hurdle."
Andy Kallenbach recently launched FormZapper.com, an online forms management site, and also has offices near the "Home for Hackers." He said Kansas City has no aspirations to be the next Silicon Valley and may never have a "Facebook or a giant consumer-level company that takes over the world."
He said it may also be "better for us" that it's more difficult to raise money in Kansas City.
"The hardest thing about a startup is execution, OK? A lot of people can go out and raise money and get money for an idea or for some product or they can come up with some awesome presentation. But it doesn't matter if you can't build something that people will use," Kallenbach said. "I think here in Kansas City you have to at some point put your money where your mouth is. You have to 'do.'"

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New Corvette bursts onto the road after 9 years

DETROIT (AP) — When General Motors engineers and designers started work on the next-generation Corvette, they drew up the usual requirements for the star of American muscle cars.
Killer looks. Big engine. Handles like a race car.
But topping the list back was something at odds with the roar of the car's big V-8: Gas mileage.
The new Corvette could not be a gas guzzler. Stricter government rules were forcing a leap in fuel economy. If the car burned too much gas, it would trigger fines from regulators and never get built.
"There won't be a Corvette if we don't care about fuel economy," said Tadge Juechter, the car's chief engineer.
But the 2014 Corvette is here, the first all-new version in nine years. The king of American sports cars, driven by astronauts and celebrated in a Prince song, rolled out Sunday night in Detroit. It will arrive in showrooms this fall.
To many fans, the new Corvette symbolizes the rebirth of America's auto industry after its near death in 2009, showing the world that it again can lead in technology, styling and performance — at a lower cost that European competitors.
Getting there was tough for the 1,000-member Corvette team, which gave the car the code name "C7." GM's bankruptcy slowed development twice. With each delay, new safety and gas mileage regulations forced changes. The Corvette team overhauled the car: aluminum replaced steel, super-light rivets held parts together, and the V-8 engine kicked down to four cylinders at highway speeds, saving fuel.
All the changes helped it overcome nine years of government crash safety requirements that could have bloated the car. But even with the lighter materials, the regulations have pushed its weight to a little more than the current base model's 3,200 pounds. Still, it's an engineering achievement. The Corvette is so new that it only shares two parts with the current model.
GM said testing is still being done on the car's fuel economy, but it'll be better than the current base model's 16 mpg in the city and 26 on the highway. Juechter said the window sticker highway mileage won't reach 30 mpg, but he wouldn't be surprised to see some drivers get that or more.
The car's usual buyers — men in their mid-50s — will also notice dramatic changes on the outside of the two-seat car. The hood slopes low to slice through the wind. All the vents and scoops have functional purposes like cooling the brakes or transmission.
On the back, designers took cues from the1963 Corvette, with a sloping roof that tapers toward the bottom. The car has a small Stingray badge on each side, complete with gills. And there's a more modern rendition of the Corvette's crossed-flag logo.
A 6.2-liter small-block V-8 with 450 horsepower takes the car from zero to 60 mph in under four seconds. That's at least a few tenths of a second faster than the current base model.
Engineers also redesigned the somewhat-chintzy interior, giving it a jet cockpit look with leather, carbon fiber and soft plastics.
GM hopes the styling, performance and updated dashboard electronics will expand the car's appeal to younger buyers. The Corvette's been a favorite of adrenaline junkies for 60 years. Mercury astronaut Alan Shepard owned one from the first year — 1953.
The company won't quote a price on the 2014 model. But Juechter said someone who bought the current version can afford the new one. The Corvette starts at $49,600. That is more than $30,000 below what GM considers its chief competitor, the Porsche 911. The car makes a decent profit for GM despite relatively low sales, Juechter said.
GM wouldn't give sales targets for the new car. Last year it sold only 14,000 of the aging Corvettes, down from over 30,000 the first few years after the current version was rolled out. Porsche sold about 8,500 911s last year.
The prospect of a new 'Vette has fans waiting anxiously, browsing the Internet for unauthorized photos or drawings. Thousands of aficionados live in the U.S., and even Europe and the Middle East.
John Browning, 70, president of the Renegade Corvette Club of Hollywood, Fla., one of 600 such clubs in the U.S, said some Corvette lovers can't contain themselves.
"I've got one member, he just sold his '13 in anticipation, to wait for the '14," said Browning. "I think the Corvette is the icon. As far as I'm concerned you can't get a better deal."

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U.S. stake sale of GM to revive image

DETROIT (Reuters) - The sale of the U.S. Treasury's stake in General Motors and a possible credit rating upgrade of the U.S. automaker in 2013 will help distance the company from the stigma of its 2009 bankruptcy restructuring.
"We lose the stigma of 'Government Motors'," GM Treasurer James Davlin said on Sunday during a speech at a conference of automotive analysts. "People will be more focused on the things that they should, which is our underlying operations."
The U.S. Treasury outlined plans last month to sell its GM stake over the next 12 to 15 months. Last week, Chief Executive Dan Akerson said he expects GM to earn an investment-grade credit rating in 2013.
GM is already "trending toward investment grade," Davlin said. He pointed to GM's eleven-quarter streak of profits, its large financial cushion and its strong position in the world's two largest automotive markets, the United States and China.
"We want to ensure we have the liquidity to make it through the cyclicality of the industry," Davlin said, speaking to reporters and analysts a day before the Detroit auto show.
Until recently, uncertainty over when and how the U.S. Treasury would sell its 26-percent stake hurt GM's overall market value, Davlin said. But GM shares have risen nearly 20 percent since the U.S. government announced its exit strategy.
GM shares are ended at $30.36 per share on Friday.
Still GM has a number of challenges ahead, most prominently of which is Europe. GM is struggling to stem years of losses in the depressed and highly competitive European market where its core brands are Opel and UK-based Vauxhall.
It has made inroads in restructuring its European operations, including announcing plans to close its assembly plant in Bochum, Germany. But Akerson said he is not yet satisfied with GM's current position.
"That's probably my greatest concern -- how quickly can we turn that around," Davlin said, of Europe.
He also predicted that the U.S. dollar would rise against the Japanese yen and the euro this year. This would represent a "slight headwind" to GM, which must convert its earnings overseas into U.S. dollars. GM is also expecting a stable U.S. economy in 2013.
"We don't see a big rebound in the economy or a return to financial doldrums," Davlin said, of 2013.

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NHL-League owners approve new labor deal

Jan 9 (Reuters) - The National Hockey League's (NHL) board of governors ratified the tentative labor deal on Wednesday, bringing players one step closer to playing after a four-month lockout that threatened to wipe out the entire season.
Requiring a simple majority to pass, league owners voted unanimously to approve the tentative agreement that was agreed to early on Sunday after a marathon 16-hour bargaining session.
The NHL Players' Association are expected to vote on the deal on Friday and Saturday.
If the players approve the deal it will remove the final obstacle standing in the way of what is expected to be a 48-game regular season that would open on Jan. 19. (Reporting by Steve Keating in Toronto; Editing by Frank Pingue)

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UPDATE 1-NHL-Maple Leafs fire Brian Burke as general manager

* Maple Leafs failed to make playoffs during Burke's tenure
* Toronto placed 13th in the Eastern Conference last season (Adds quotes, detail)
TORONTO, Jan 9 (Reuters) - The Toronto Maple Leafs fired President and General Manager Brian Burke on Wednesday in a shock move just days before the National Hockey League returns to action following a bitter labor dispute with players.
Assistant General Manager Dave Nonis will replace Burke, who is remaining with the Maple Leafs team as a senior advisor.
"This is a decision the board and myself made collectively," Tom Anselmi, president of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment told a packed news conference at the team arena. "It's not the product of any one incident or any one thing.
"The leadership change is more about a tone, a voice of leadership, than it is about changing gears and going in a different direction."
Burke arrived in Toronto to great fanfare in 2008, heralded as the architect who would rebuild the storied franchise to its former glory and bring the hockey-mad city its first Stanley Cup since 1967.
But in four seasons under Burke's watch the Maple Leafs failed to make the playoffs.
The Maple Leafs, who last year were rated by Forbes as the first ice hockey team to be worth $1 billion, have not made the playoffs since 2004 and are coming off a 13th place finish in the 15-team Eastern Conference.
Burke, who was also general manager for the United States national men's ice hockey team that won the silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics, won a Stanley Cup as general manager of the Anaheim Ducks in 2007.
He also served as general manager of the Hartford Whalers and Vancouver Canucks.
Unafraid to speak his mind, Burke brought a swagger and fondness for a physical, hard-nosed brand of hockey saying his teams would play with truculence and be held accountable.
CONTROVERSIAL TRADES
His managerial style was characterized by bold signings and controversial trades but ultimately could not build the winner he promised.
Burke's time in Toronto was also punctuated by feuds with the media and personal tragedy, as he dealt with the death of his 21-year-old son Brendan, who was killed in a car accident in 2010 shortly after revealing he was gay.
In the following years, Burke became an advocate for anti-bullying and gay rights committing more and more of his time to those causes.
With his team continuing to lose, Burke came under attack for a lack of focus that reached a peak two years ago when he paid a visit to troops in Afghanistan during the crucial trade deadline.
Anselmi made it clear that Burke's personal life played no part in his departure.
"The news is coming as a shock but the decision didn't happen overnight," said Anselmi. "This is a conversation myself and the board have been having for several months.
"Did the four years of missing the playoffs factor into the discussion with the shareholders? Sure it did ... but at the end of the day it was really looking for a different voice."
Despite Anselmi's insistence that the discussion had been ongoing for awhile the news came as surprise to everyone, including Burke, who learned of his firing as he was preparing to fly to New York for a Board of Governors meetings.
"It's a shock for a lot of people," said Nonis, who was general manager of the Canucks for four years prior to being brought in by Burke as his assistant in 2008. "We're not going to spend a lot of time grieving ... we have things to do."

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Maple Leafs fire Brian Burke as general manager

TORONTO (Reuters) - The Toronto Maple Leafs fired President and General Manager Brian Burke on Wednesday in a shock move just days before the National Hockey League returns to action following a bitter labor dispute with players.
Assistant General Manager Dave Nonis will replace Burke, who is remaining with the Maple Leafs team as a senior advisor.
"This is a decision the board and myself made collectively," Tom Anselmi, president of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment told a packed news conference at the team arena. "It's not the product of any one incident or any one thing.
"The leadership change is more about a tone, a voice of leadership, than it is about changing gears and going in a different direction."
Burke arrived in Toronto to great fanfare in 2008, heralded as the architect who would rebuild the storied franchise to its former glory and bring the hockey-mad city its first Stanley Cup since 1967.
But in four seasons under Burke's watch the Maple Leafs failed to make the playoffs.
The Maple Leafs, who last year were rated by Forbes as the first ice hockey team to be worth $1 billion, have not made the playoffs since 2004 and are coming off a 13th place finish in the 15-team Eastern Conference.
Burke, who was also general manager for the United States national men's ice hockey team that won the silver medal at the 2010 Winter Olympics, won a Stanley Cup as general manager of the Anaheim Ducks in 2007.
He also served as general manager of the Hartford Whalers and Vancouver Canucks.
Unafraid to speak his mind, Burke brought a swagger and fondness for a physical, hard-nosed brand of hockey saying his teams would play with truculence and be held accountable.
CONTROVERSIAL TRADES
His managerial style was characterized by bold signings and controversial trades but ultimately could not build the winner he promised.
Burke's time in Toronto was also punctuated by feuds with the media and personal tragedy, as he dealt with the death of his 21-year-old son Brendan, who was killed in a car accident in 2010 shortly after revealing he was gay.
In the following years, Burke became an advocate for anti-bullying and gay rights committing more and more of his time to those causes.
With his team continuing to lose, Burke came under attack for a lack of focus that reached a peak two years ago when he paid a visit to troops in Afghanistan during the crucial trade deadline.
Anselmi made it clear that Burke's personal life played no part in his departure.
"The news is coming as a shock but the decision didn't happen overnight," said Anselmi. "This is a conversation myself and the board have been having for several months.
"Did the four years of missing the playoffs factor into the discussion with the shareholders? Sure it did ... but at the end of the day it was really looking for a different voice."
Despite Anselmi's insistence that the discussion had been ongoing for awhile the news came as surprise to everyone, including Burke, who learned of his firing as he was preparing to fly to New York for a Board of Governors meetings.
"It's a shock for a lot of people," said Nonis, who was general manager of the Canucks for four years prior to being brought in by Burke as his assistant in 2008. "We're not going to spend a lot of time grieving ... we have things to do."

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Samsung forced to reveal Galaxy sales data to Apple

Samsung (005930) was found to have infringed upon six of Apple’s patents this past August and ordered to pay the company $1.05 billion in damages. Apple (AAPL) is also seeking additional damages after its bid to blocks sales of eight Samsung devices failed. In order to asses the damages, Apple requested that Samsung hand over its sales data for its popular Galaxy line of smartphones and tablets. The company refused, however, in an effort to protect its confidential pricing details and profit margins.
[More from BGR: ‘iPhone 5S’ to reportedly launch by June with multiple color options and two different display sizes]
U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh recently ruled that Samsung must file an exhibit listing the total number of units of sold during certain time periods, Bloomberg reported. In a separate order, the Judge granted Samsung its request to delay the publication of part of a sealed document that showed per-unit operating profit for two of its phones.
[More from BGR: Nokia predicted to abandon mobile business, sell assets to Microsoft and Huawei in 2013]
Koh denied most of Apple’s and Samsung’s other requests to seal documents, noting that here isn’t a “compelling reason” that would require them to be sealed.

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Apple may have sold up to 4 million iPhones to businesses in Q4

As we’ve mentioned countless times, it’s a good thing that RIM (RIMM) will release BlackBerry 10 soon, because otherwise Apple (AAPL) and Android will continue to wreck its market share among enterprise users. Benzinga reports that Trip Chowdhry, a managing director at Global Equities Research, has put out a research note estimating that Apple sold between 3 million and 4 million iPhones to businesses over the past quarter, some of whom have switched over from BlackBerry.
[More from BGR: ‘iPhone 5S’ to reportedly launch by June with multiple color options and two different display sizes]
“This figure emerges from a combination of new purchase of iPhones and users switching to iPhones from Blackberry,” Chowdhry writes. “After the two-year contract expiration on Apple iPhone[s], [the] majority of the enterprises have replaced their employees’ current phones with the new iPhone 5.”
[More from BGR: Nokia predicted to abandon mobile business, sell assets to Microsoft and Huawei in 2013]
As for reasons why more companies are switching to the iPhone, Chowdhry says that salespeople for key enterprise apps such as Salesforce, Workday and VMware are increasingly “demonstrating their enterprise offering on iPhones, which is also acting as a trigger for enterprises to purchase iPhones for their employees.” Chowdhry also thinks that the advent of mobile device management software has boosted the iPhone’s security capabilities and has made it less risky for companies to adopt.

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Everything You Need to Know About Steubenville High's Football 'Rape Crew'

In the past 24 hours, the story of an alleged rape in the small, football-driven Ohio town of Steubenville has transformed from a local controversy with a curious social-media angle to an all-out Internet crusade, with potential cover-ups, allegations of prosecutors colluding with coaches, disgusting new video, and hackers to the rescue. Here's a primer on what looks like it may become one of the most emotional and controversial news narratives of the new year:
RELATED: Inside the Anonymous Hacking File on the Steubenville 'Rape Crew'
So there was a rape in this small town?
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Well, it's not that simple, but allegedly yes: Two 16-year-old boys from Steubenville High are each facing a rape charge for the assault in August of a 16-year-old girl apparently from across the Ohio River in Weirton, West Virginia.
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How come we're only hearing about this now?
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Because a lengthy New York Times story on the case last month got lost in the spotlight on the Newtown school shootings, maybe, or because the Anonymous hacking collective started calling major attention to it this week.
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But what makes this rape case different?
You see, Steubenville is the stuff of Friday Night Lights. The 19,000-person eastern Ohio town is a giant football community, and this alleged rape involves member of their storied Big Red team. "Everybody around here goes to games on Friday nights, and I mean everybody — people come for miles," a local told the Times's Juliet Macur and Nate Schweber. "It's basically the small-town effect. People live and die based on Big Red because they usually win and it makes everybody feel good about themselves when times are tough."
So how did this assault take place?
Well, back on the night of August 11, the alleged victim was at an end-of-summer party and had a lot to drink, police said, when Trent Mays and Malik Richmond allegedly approached her: "Richmond was behind her, with his hands between her legs, penetrating her with his fingers, a witness said," reported the The Times.
And how is that different from all the other assaults against young women in this country?
Here's the chilling part: the alleged victim didn't know she was assaulted until she started to find out about it on social media the next day.
Really? That's pretty gross. How did she find out?
Instagram, YouTube, and some pretty disgusting tweets. And the girl's mother told The Times that her daughter didn't even know the full extent of the attack until a local paper wrote about it the next day. On August 22, Mays and Richmond (right) were arrested on charges of rape and kidnapping. (Defense attorneys did not respond to requests for comment from The Atlantic Wire.)
Why only those two? They were at a party, right? And there were all those tweets?
Well, word spread among the students at or around the party quickly, and as the Cleveland Plain-Dealer reported, "Before the 16-year-old girl’s parents reported the crime to Steubenville police, many of the online posts had been deleted — or so students thought."
We live in an age when social media exists as evidence that can't just disappear, and Alexandria Goddard, who runs a crime blog called Prinniefied.com, turned up those deleted pictures from the night in question. Like this one:

What happened when that got out?
Goddard started posting on August 26, and attorneys for Mays and Richmond filed a defamation lawsuit October 25 — it was dismissed on December 27. But the local press had already picked up the story, and Goddard's site now carries the student Instagram photographer's apology:
“I deeply regret my actions on the night of August 11, 2012. While I wasn’t at the home where the alleged assault took place, there is no doubt that I was wrong to post that picture from an earlier party and tweet those awful comments. Not a moment goes by that I don’t wish I would have never posted that picture or tweeted those comments. I want to sincerely apologize to the victim and her family for these actions. I also want to acknowledge the work of several bloggers, especially Ms. Goddard at Prinniefied.com, in their efforts to make sure the full truth about that terrible night eventually comes out. At no time did my family mean to stop anyone from expressing themselves online – we only wanted to correct what we believed were misstatements that appeared on Ms. Goddard’s blog. I am glad that we have resolved our differences with Ms. Goddard and that she and her contributors can continue their work.” – Cody Saltsman
How come the other kids at the party didn't get in trouble? Isn't that aiding and abetting?
It's not like the cops didn't try: "The thing I found most disturbing about this is that there were other people around when this was going on," Steubenville Police Chief William McCafferty told the Times. "Nobody had the morals to say, 'Hey, stop it, that isn’t right.' ... If you could charge people for not being decent human beings, a lot of people could have been charged that night."
So what happened to the social media evidence? Isn't this supposed to be a case of our times?
That's where the investigation — a preliminary trial is scheduled for February 13 — runs into problems. Despite all the Instagramming and social media sharing, Chief McCafferty told the Times that witnesses failed to come forward:
The city’s police chief begged for witnesses to come forward, but received little response. In time, the county prosecutor and the judge in charge of handling crimes by juveniles recused themselves from the case because they had ties to the football team.
And, well, some of the evidence went "missing":
That player told the police that he was in the back seat of his Volkswagen Jetta with Mays and the girl when Mays proceeded to flash the girl’s breasts and penetrate her with his fingers, while the player videotaped it on his phone. The player, who shared the video with at least one person, testified that he videotaped Mays and the girl “because he was being stupid, not making the right choices.” He said he later deleted the recording.
Is anyone questioning the two boys' guilt?
Yes. About half the town of Steubenville, actually. Five months later, local students are still blaming the alleged victim for bringing the attack upon herself — she has been referred to on Facebook as "train whore":

And some, like one of Steubenville High's 19 football coaches, are blaming her for shaming the storied program:
"The rape was just an excuse, I think," said the 27-year-old Hubbard, who is No. 2 on the Big Red’s career rushing list.
"What else are you going to tell your parents when you come home drunk like that and after a night like that?” said Hubbard, who is one of the team’s 19 coaches. "She had to make up something. Now people are trying to blow up our football program because of it."
If not everyone believes the rape happened, aren't the town's football allegiances going to get in the way of a fair trial?
Well, yes, there's this from the Times report: "the county prosecutor and the judge in charge of handling crimes by juveniles recused themselves from the case because they had ties to the football team."
Wait, is this some sort of cover-up?
Well, that's why the hacktivist collective known as Anonymous — and, more specifically, one of its  cells known as Knightsec — got involved. The hackers, and their partners at the site LocalLeaks, are "giving a voice to the victim of this horrible crime" by rounding up new information that the police haven't been able to — or at least that hasn't been made publicly available in advance of next month's trial. They seem to believe that there are more people involved, that there are more victims, that the accused are getting special treatment because they are football players, and that there's a bigger group of boys involved, which Anonymous has dubbed the "Rape Crew." Oh, and they've set up Occupy Steubenville protests too.
Why do they think there's a cover-up, exactly?
For starters, Steubenville High head coach Reno Saccoccia didn't even bench the players involved. The Times wrote:
Saccoccia, pronounced SOCK-otch, told the principal and school superintendent that the players who posted online photographs and comments about the girl the night of the parties said they did not think they had done anything wrong. Because of that, he said, he had no basis for benching those players.
....
Approached in November to be interviewed about the case, Saccoccia said he did not "do the Internet," so he had not seen the comments and photographs posted online from that night. When asked again about the players involved and why he chose not to discipline them, he became agitated.
"You made me mad now," he said, throwing in several expletives as he walked from the high school to his car.
Nearly nose to nose with a reporter, he growled: "You're going to get yours. And if you don't get yours, somebody close to you will."
So is the country prosecutor trying to get her son and his teammates off the hook?
That's one of many new alleged details Anonymous and Local Leaks claim they have evidence of, in a document dump that started Wednesday, which they're calling The Steubenville Files. We detailed the findings already, and we're not sure of their sourcing, but their leaks suggest that the football coach and the country Sheriff are friends. And even though the boys will now be tried as juveniles, they allege that Saccoccia has ties in the juvenile court system.
Wait, how many moer people are involved in the assault?
The hackers allege that there are more than two boys who perpetrated the alleged crime. They also suggest that one of the parties that the unconscious girl was dragged to actually took place at the county prosecutor's house. The leaks read:
When the family of the victim went to file the charges, Jane Hanlin [the prosecutor] was present. She strongly discouraged them from filing. Hanlin frightened not only the victim, but the parents as well. Telling them that her name was going to be dragged through the mud, she will be in and out of court for well over two years, the press wouldn’t leave any of the family alone once the crime was made public. Scared out of their wits, the parents said they didn’t want that and Hanlin then said not to worry just leave it up to her and the detectives on the case.
And the hackers even dug up this video that had been deleted, which we showed and warned you about yesterday, of a former Steubenville student laughing about the attack:
Should we trust this new info?
Anonymous is notorious for doing borderline criminal fact-finding with good intentions. Just by bringing more Internet attention to the case, they've already pushed it forward. They continue to ask for the witness accounts that the town police chief has been asking for.
But the kid in that video up there will have his name attached to this case for years to come. And while he might deserve it, there's also a question of vigilanteism, since Anonymous has already published the personal information of certain other students it's convinced belong to this "Rape Crew":

How emotional should everyone get about all this before the trial?
Well, just this week Congress failed to pass the Violence Against Women Act, which is supposed to help protect women against assault and encourage them to come out in public when assaults do happen. The bill's failure, for the first time since 1994, is sort of poetic.

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Storm leaves Gaza man dead, Jerusalem snowed in

Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2013. In Gaza, civil defense spokesman Mohammed al-Haj Yousef said …more
JERUSALEM (AP) — A Gaza health official says a Palestinian man was electrocuted after being struck by a power cable snapped loose by ferocious winter winds, while a rare snowstorm paralyzed traffic in Jerusalem, its suburbs and the nearby West Bank.
Ashraf al-Kidra says the 24-year-old died late Wednesday in the accident, which left four others injured. While heavy rains have subsided, wind gusts continue to wreak havoc with the territory's electrical supply, and power has been cut off this week for up to 14 hours a day.
On Thursday, several inches of snow piled up in Jerusalem, its environs and the West Bank for the first time in five years, shuttering schools and crippling transportation.

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Iraqi officials say car bomb near bus stop kills 5

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iraqi police say a car bomb explosion near a bus stop has killed five people and wounded 15 others in the capital, Baghdad.
The officials say the blast took place on Thursday morning near a bus stop in the mainly Shiite neighborhood of Hurriyah as commuters were gathering to catch rides to different parts of Baghdad. Five minibuses were damaged or burnt in the attack.
Medics in a nearby hospital confirmed the causality figures. All officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to talk to the media.
Violence has ebbed in Iraq, but deadly attacks are still frequent.

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Bad weather strands released Iranians at airport

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — Bad weather has stranded Iranians freed by Syrian rebels at an airport in Damascus.
A Syrian official says the Iranians left the Damascus Sheraton hotel early Thursday. But the plane to take them home after months in captivity could not take off because of strong winds from a fierce winter storm that has hit the Middle East in recent days.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to give information to the media.
The rebels freed 48 Iranians on Wednesday in exchange for more than 2,000 prisoners held by Syrian authorities. It was the first major prisoner swap since the uprising began against President Bashar Assad nearly 22 months ago.

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Soccer-Krasnozhan sacked as Kuban Krasnodar coach

MOSCOW, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Yuri Krasnozhan has been fired as coach of Kuban Krasnodar following a "strategic" disagreement with the club's bosses, the Russian Premier League side said on Tuesday.
Krasnozhan's sacking came as a shock to most soccer experts after he had led modest Kuban to fourth place midway through the season - their best position in Russia's top flight.
"It was a tough decision but we have agreed to end our collaboration with Yuri Krasnozhan," Kuban's chief investor Oleg Mkrtchan told the club's website (www.fckuban.ru).
"The opinions of our sporting director and the head coach have become incompatible. The club is much more than just a line in the standings. We have strategic goals, and in this case, they're much more important than a place in the table."
Krasnozhan, 49, was appointed Kuban coach in August when he replaced former Romania and Chelsea defender Dan Petrescu, who left to coach fellow Russian Premier League club Dynamo Moscow.
Krasnozhan has now been sacked by three Premier League clubs in the past 18 months for reasons other than on-field performances.
He was hired by Lokomotiv Moscow before the 2011 campaign after guiding unfashionable Spartak Nalchik to a respectable sixth-place finish the previous season but they fired him a few months later despite being among the leaders at the time.
Lokomotiv said he was fired for "negligence in his job" following a controversial defeat by Anzhi Makhachkala.
Last December, Krasnozhan was named Anzhi coach but this time he lasted only five weeks before being sacked by the wealthy club from the volatile North Caucasus region.

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Soccer-Buonanotte spares Malaga's blushes against lowly Eibar

MADRID, Jan 8 (Reuters) - Diego Buonanotte saved Malaga from a potential King's Cup humiliation when he scored twice and created another in a 4-1 comeback win at home to third-tier Eibar that put them through to the last eight on Tuesday.
Eibar, who are second in their regional section of the Segunda B division and have never played in the top flight, took a surprise lead in the 12th minute of the last 16, second leg at Malaga's Rosaleda stadium for a 2-1 aggregate advantage.
Ruben Arroyo was quickest to the rebound from a long-range Mikel Arruabarrena effort and Malaga goalkeeper Carlos Kameni could only deflect his weak shot into the roof of the net.
The lowly Basque club held on comfortably until the 74th minute when Buonanotte exchanged passes with Javier Saviola and struck the ball high past Eibar keeper Xabi Iruretagoiena.
Two minutes later, Buonanotte set up Seba Fernandez to make it 2-1 on the night and substitute Francisco Portillo glanced a header into the net from a Nacho Monreal centre in the 82nd minute as Eibar's defences crumbled.
Their misery was complete when Guillermo Roldan was shown a straight red card four minutes from time and Buonanotte scored his second in added time to make it 5-2 on aggregate and set up a quarter-final meeting with holders Barcelona or Cordoba.
Barca have a comfortable 2-0 advantage from last month's first leg in Cordoba when they host the second-division side at the Nou Camp on Thursday.
Valencia will play 2011 winners Real Madrid or Celta Vigo in the quarter-finals if they can protect a 2-0 advantage at home to Osasuna in Tuesday's other last 16, second leg.
Real need to overturn a 2-1 deficit when Celta visit the Bernabeu on Wednesday.
Sevilla are virtually assured of a place in the last eight after they won their first leg at Real Mallorca 5-0 and host the Balearic Islanders on Wednesday before Real Zaragoza seek to maintain a 1-0 advantage at home to Levante.
Atletico Madrid have a 3-0 advantage over Getafe when they play their second leg on Thursday, while Real Betis and Las Palmas, another second-division side, drew 1-1 in the first leg and also meet on Thursday.

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Soccer-South African morale dented by loss ahead of Nations Cup

CAPE TOWN, Jan 8 (Reuters) - African Nations Cup hosts South Africa suffered a morale-deflating 1-0 defeat at home to a young Norway side on Tuesday in their penultimate warm-up international.
Norway, with a team of inexperienced home-based players, scored the only goal from captain Tarik Elyounoussi four minutes before half-time.
Elyounoussi took advantage of some slopping defending to net from close range in the only real attack of the first half for the visitors, who are using their off-season to expose younger players to international football.
The result will not help the crisis of confidence affecting Bafana Bafana, who were hoping for a change in fortunes but failed to deliver on pre-match promises of attacking play and flair from their coach Gordon Igesund.
Instead they were stymied by a well-organised Norway side and after a show of poor finishing they will have more to contemplate some 10 days before the Nations Cup kick off.
It will also leave the home public sceptical about the team's chances at the 16-team tournament, which South Africa kick off against Cape Verde Islands at Soccer City in Johannesburg on Jan. 19 (1600 GMT).
"I'm disappointed we lost the game, but we created a lot of good chances. We have to work now on using the possession better and not overelaborating so much on the ball," said Igesund.

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Fleetwood Mac Tickets Take Off Online at BuyAnySeat.com

Tickets to Fleetwood Mac’s upcoming 34-city North American Tour are creating traffic spikes in search traffic online for seats, said Felina Martinez at ticket marketplace BuyAnySeat.com. The tour kicks off April 4, 2013 in Columbus, Ohio and is the band’s first trek since 2009.

Denver, CO (PRWEB) January 03, 2013
It’s hard to believe that it has been 45 years since Fleetwood Mac’s first album, and 35 years since they band released their best-selling Rumours album, which has sold over 20 million copies in the U.S. to date.
But like other iconic 60’s bands lately, Fleetwood Mac is heading back out on the road again. The group’s 34-city North American tour kicks off April 4, 2013 in Columbus, Ohio. The tour stops in numerous cities including New York, Chicago, Boston, Las Vegas and Los Angeles. The trek’s final concert is slated for June 12, 2013 in Detroit.
“Traffic for Fleetwood Mac tickets has been spiking,” said Felina Martinez at online ticket marketplace BuyAnySeat.com. “Part of this surge of new traffic may be related to the Holiday season and gift giving, but we believe it’s also due to the band’s legions of loyal followers of all ages around the globe.”
“Since Fleetwood Mac fans span all nationalities and age groups from pre-teens to those in their 70’s and 80’s, we’re proud to be able to offer buyers a complete selection of Fleetwood Mac tickets, with a worry-free guarantee to protect their purchase,” said Martinez.
“To access the continuously updated selection of tickets we have available, fans can go to BuyAnySeat.com and search for Fleetwood Mac – then select their tickets,” said Martinez.
Fleetwood Mac is a British-American rock band formed in London in 1967 by Peter Green, who had been playing in the blues band John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers. He named the band in an attempt to entice Mick Fleetwood and John McVie to join him. While Fleetwood joined right away, McVie did not join for several weeks.
After years of member additions and departures, and tumultuous times within the band, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined the group – and the band finally found mainstream success with the 1975 release of a second self-titled album. The album became the band's first number one album in any country and their first multiplatinum album. This newfound success was repeated two years later with Rumours, which has become their best selling album thus far.
The next two albums, Tusk and Mirage, were not as successful as Rumours, despite an 18-month worldwide promotional tour. The albums still reached number four and number one respectively, and both reached double-platinum status.
The album Tango in the Night was released in 1987 and became the band’s best-selling album since Rumours, and ranked 3x platinum in the U.S. and 8x platinum in the U.K. The 90’s decade was one of limited success for the band, with the two albums released either failing to chart very high in the U.S. The band's fortunes improved again with the release of the 1997 live album The Dance, which reached number one in the U.S. and 5x platinum status. The band also saw a modest success with 2003's Say You Will. (Sources: Official Website, fleetwoodmac.com and Wikipedia.com)
Both Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham released solo albums and toured last year. The band itself hasn’t released an album since 2003, but did tour together in 2009. Insiders say Christine McVie unfortunately will not be joining the tour this time. But for fans, there’s always hope.
To shop for Fleetwood Mac tickets, visit BuyAnySeat.com.
About BuyAnySeat.com: An online ticket marketplace, BuyAnySeat.com connects sports, theater and other live entertainment fans to an extensive worldwide network of ticket sellers. The site’s simplified listings and navigational tools enable fans to easily locate, compare and purchase inexpensive, discounted or lower-priced tickets to virtually all advertised sports and entertainment events around the globe. The site, which is PCI-compliant and Norton Secured, also provides customers with a complete Worry-Free Guarantee on all ticket purchases. Based in Denver, Colorado, BuyAnySeat.com is a subsidiary of Denver Media Holdings. For more information, please visit http://buyanyseat.com.

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CTIA-The Wireless Association® Selects WMC Global to Provide Short Code Management in Latin America

WASHINGTON, Jan. 3, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- CTIA–The Wireless Association® announces the addition of WMC Global to provide key technology services for its Latin American short code registry. WMC Global, a trusted provider of innovative solutions that deliver digital confidence to the mobile marketplace, brings additional firepower to registry services with their unique ability to develop and manage the backend search and payment transaction functionalities.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20100629/DC28223LOGO-a )
By facilitating centralized services for wireless operators, major brands and service providers, the adoption of mobile marketing in Latin America will accelerate since these mobile campaigns are available to nearly 100 percent of the population. In the United States this registry model has enabled the provisioning of nearly 5,000 short codes, running more than 25,000 campaigns and driving revenues estimated between $8-12 billion.
The Latin American short code registry offers five- and six-digit codes, and addresses a long-term need of brands and marketers to create a unified and centralized approach to systematically interact with over the more than 400 million wireless subscribers across 17 Latin American countries.
"By adding WMC Global to the team, the adoption of mobile short codes in Latin America will accelerate as we continue making the process to secure and provision codes for all participants more efficient. As marketers around the world can attest, short codes are an extremely effective and trusted solution to raise brand awareness through customer participation," said Steve Largent, president and CEO of CTIA. "Exporting the tremendously successful model from the U.S. to Latin America will help support operators and brands eager to establish messaging campaigns in the country, especially for upcoming events such as the Confederations Cup, World Cup and 2016 Summer Olympics."
"By partnering with CTIA, we will be able to address the needs of the growing Latin American short code market," stated Colin Matthews, CEO of WMC Global. "As the growth of mobile messaging in Latin America continues to outpace many other geographic regions, the short code registry for Latin America will serve the demands for short codes used in advertising, television voting, sweepstakes, mobile coupons or any service through which information needs to be transmitted to and from a large number of users."
For more information, visit www.latinshortcodes.com and www.codigoscortos.com.
About WMC Global
With headquarters in Washington, DC, operational centers in London and Sydney, and regional offices in major cities including Mexico and Brazil,  WMC Global is a trusted name in providing mobile data products that bring compliance, growth, and security to the mobile marketplace. Our competencies in the mobile ecosystem include analytics reporting and In-market monitoring for carriers, partner validation and billing inaccuracies reports for corporations, short code procurement in Latin America for CTIA-The Industry Association® and more.
About CTIA
CTIA-The Wireless Association® (www.ctia.org) is an international organization representing the wireless communications industry. Membership in the association includes wireless carriers and their suppliers, as well as providers and manufacturers of wireless data services and products. CTIA advocates on behalf of its members at all levels of government. The association also coordinates the industry's voluntary best practices and initiatives, and sponsors the industry's leading wireless tradeshows. CTIA was founded in 1984 and is based in Washington, D.C.

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Vt. health exchange gets conditional federal OK

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) -- Vermont has won conditional federal approval for its plan to build a consumer-friendly health insurance marketplace, or exchange.
Vermont is now one of 17 states to have gotten word from a division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that they are on track to have a health exchange ready for business by Oct. 1.
Robin Lunge, Gov. Peter Shumlin's director of health reform, says much work remains to get the exchange up and running.
Insurance companies are to submit bids shortly for what kinds of products they want to offer through the exchange and at what prices.
The state also will be requesting proposals for organizations that want to provide navigators — people who will guide consumers through the process of shopping for insurance in the exchange.

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Cricket-Clarke's Australia far from the finished article

SYDNEY, Jan 7 (Reuters) - Australia wrapped up a home series sweep over supine sub-continental opposition for the second season in a row on Sunday but captain Michael Clarke admits they are a work in progress as they embark on their toughest ever year of test cricket.
Fragility in the top order, the retirement of Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey from the middle order and injuries to the pace bowling unit mean there is plenty to ponder ahead of a tour to India and back-to-back Ashes series.
Clarke, ever the realist, was more than aware that any joy at the 3-0 triumph over Sri Lanka, which Australia secured at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday, had to be tempered by memory of the 1-0 defeat to South Africa that preceded it.
"It probably sums up where we are as a team," he told reporters after the five-wicket victory at the SCG.
"On our good days, we're very good and we can cut it with the best, the number one team in the world, South Africa.
"But on our poor days there's a lot of areas we need to improve, both individually and as a team, so I think what you've seen of the Australian cricket team this summer probably sums up where we're at.
"We're fighting to get better every day, that's the positive. I think we are improving slowly as a group but we know the next 12 months is huge for us.
"We've got a lot of tough cricket in conditions that are generally tough to play in, so we need to keep trying to get better."
The loss of Hussey, who retired after Sunday's victory, will probably be more keenly felt than that of Ponting, who had not been at the peak of his powers for a couple of years.
"I don't think someone will be able to come in and replace him," Clarke said of Hussey.
"He hasn't played as many tests as Ricky Ponting but for the time he's been here he's been unbelievable like Punter was his whole career.
"He's won a lot of games for Australia ... we'll never be able to replace him but what it does do is present an opportunity to somebody else."
Australia could conceivably start the first Ashes test at Trent Bridge in July with a top and middle order in which only Clarke and Phil Hughes have any experience of Ashes cricket.
Shane Watson is the other more experienced batsman likely to play a part but his test season was wrecked by injury and his status further clouded by the continuing debate over whether he is an all-rounder or just a top order batsman.
Before the double-header against England, Australia will first embark on the always tricky trip to India to face a team desperate to show that last year's humiliating 4-0 defeat Down Under was an aberration.
Although Australia's batsmen saw off Sri Lanka's pop-gun pace attack easily enough, the way they struggled sometimes against spinner Rangana Herath did not augur well for the four-test series in February and March.
"It will be really tough, especially in the second innings in the subcontinent, where it is generally very tough to play spin bowling," said Clarke.
"I think we're improving. There are areas we need to continually get better at.
"Spin bowling is probably one of those areas. In a couple of months time we're going to be faced with conditions that do spin a lot so there's no better place to get better than in the subcontinent."
MCGRATH COMPARISONS
The pace bowling department is in ruder health after test returns for 2009 ICC Cricketer of the Year Mitchell Johnson and Mitchell Starc as well as the emergence of another new talent in Jackson Bird.
Bird was named Man of the Match for the Sydney test and has earned comparisons with Glenn McGrath after taking 11 wickets at an average of 16.18 in his first two tests.
Those comparisons may be premature but the 26-year-old did not look out of place on the test stage and joins young guns Pat Cummins and James Pattinson, who both missed the Sri Lanka series through injury, as a genuine contenders for a test place.
Clarke backed his pace bowlers by naming four against Sri Lanka in the final test and they vindicated his decision by bowling out the tourists twice.
"I'm really happy with the way we finished this summer in regard to the test format and I was really proud of the boys the way we fought it out against the number one test side in the world," said Clarke.

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Officials search for casualties in Australia fires

HOBART, Australia (AP) — Officials are searching for bodies among the charred ruins of more than 100 homes and other buildings destroyed by wildfires in the island state of Tasmania.
Acting Police Commissioner Scott Tilyard said Monday no casualties had yet been reported. But it would take time before officials were certain that no one had died in the blazes that have razed 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres) of forests and farmland across southern Tasmania since Friday.
Police have concerns for about 100 people reported missing. Tilyard said 11 teams were searching ruins in places including the small town of Dunalley, east of the state capital of Hobart, where around 70 homes were destroyed.
"Until we've had the opportunity to do all the screening that we need to do at each of those premises, we can't say for certain that there hasn't been a human life or more than one human life lost as a result of these fires," Tilyard told reporters.
Three fires continued to burn out of control in southern Tasmania and in the northwest Monday.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who flew to Tasmania on Monday, warned that New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, was about to move into a period of extreme heat Tuesday when the wildfire risk would be high.
"We live in a country that is hot and dry and where we sustain very destructive fire periodically," Gillard told reporters. "Whilst you would not put any one event down to climate change ... we do know over time that as a result of climate change we are going to see more extreme weather events and conditions."
New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said more than 90 wildfires were blazing across the state Monday and warned that conditions would worsen on Tuesday. No homes were currently under threat.
"It is going to be very hot and very dry. Couple that with the dryness of the vegetation, the grassland fuels, the forest fuels and those strong winds that are expected tomorrow," he said.
The temperate across much the state was expected to reach 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) while winds were expected as high as 80 kilometers an hour ( 50 miles an hour).
Wildfires are common during the Australian summer. In February 2009, hundreds of fires across Victoria state killed 173 people and destroyed more than 2,000 homes.

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Officials can't rule out casualties after Australian wildfires destroy 100 homes and buildings

HOBART, Australia - Officials are searching for bodies among the charred ruins of more than 100 homes and other buildings destroyed by wildfires in the island state of Tasmania.
Acting Police Commissioner Scott Tilyard said Monday no casualties had yet been reported. But it would take time before officials were certain that no one had died in the blazes that have razed 20,000 hectares (50,000 acres) of forests and farmland across southern Tasmania since Friday.
Police have concerns for about 100 people reported missing. Tilyard said 11 teams were searching ruins in places including the small town of Dunalley, east of the state capital of Hobart, where around 70 homes were destroyed.
"Until we've had the opportunity to do all the screening that we need to do at each of those premises, we can't say for certain that there hasn't been a human life or more than one human life lost as a result of these fires," Tilyard told reporters.
Three fires continued to burn out of control in southern Tasmania and in the northwest Monday.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard, who flew to Tasmania on Monday, warned that New South Wales, Australia's most populous state, was about to move into a period of extreme heat Tuesday when the wildfire risk would be high.
"We live in a country that is hot and dry and where we sustain very destructive fire periodically," Gillard told reporters. "Whilst you would not put any one event down to climate change ... we do know over time that as a result of climate change we are going to see more extreme weather events and conditions."
New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said more than 90 wildfires were blazing across the state Monday and warned that conditions would worsen on Tuesday. No homes were currently under threat.
"It is going to be very hot and very dry. Couple that with the dryness of the vegetation, the grassland fuels, the forest fuels and those strong winds that are expected tomorrow," he said.
The temperate across much the state was expected to reach 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) while winds were expected as high as 80 kilometres an hour ( 50 miles an hour).
Wildfires are common during the Australian summer. In February 2009, hundreds of fires across Victoria state killed 173 people and destroyed more than 2,000 homes.

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NHL-Vanderbeek gains sole ownership of Devils after refinancing

 New Jersey Devils majority owner Jeff Vanderbeek completed a refinancing of the team's debt on Thursday, assuming full control of the National Hockey League club.
Vanderbeek, a former Lehman Brothers executive who purchased the team in 2004, made the announcement as NHL officials and locked out players were meeting in New York trying to thrash out a new collective bargaining agreement in an effort to keep the entire 2012-2013 season from being cancelled.
Players have been locked out since mid-September and the league has cancelled games through Jan. 14, more than 50 percent of the regular season which was scheduled to start in October.
"Today's announcement is good news for Devils fans though I fully recognize fans' frustration with the work stoppage," Vanderbeek said in a statement. "Our future is now secure and we can be confident of continued on-ice success.
"Our team has gone to the Stanley Cup final five times in the last 17 years and following the most recent run to the Stanley Cup final last year, we are excited about our future."
The Devils said that the CIT Group acted as lead arranger of the refinancing with Vanderbeek also acquiring the stakes of his co-owners, Brick City Hockey and its related entities.

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Vanderbeek gains sole ownership of Devils after refinancing

 New Jersey Devils majority owner Jeff Vanderbeek completed a refinancing of the team's debt on Thursday, assuming full control of the National Hockey League club.
Vanderbeek, a former Lehman Brothers executive who purchased the team in 2004, made the announcement as NHL officials and locked out players were meeting in New York trying to thrash out a new collective bargaining agreement in an effort to keep the entire 2012-2013 season from being cancelled.
Players have been locked out since mid-September and the league has cancelled games through January 14, more than 50 percent of the regular season which was scheduled to start in October.
"Today's announcement is good news for Devils fans though I fully recognize fans' frustration with the work stoppage," Vanderbeek said in a statement. "Our future is now secure and we can be confident of continued on-ice success.
"Our team has gone to the Stanley Cup final five times in the last 17 years and following the most recent run to the Stanley Cup final last year, we are excited about our future."
The Devils said that the CIT Group acted as lead arranger of the refinancing with Vanderbeek also acquiring the stakes of his co-owners, Brick City Hockey and its related entities.

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NHL, union stay apart much of Thursday

Any momentum gained from a long night of negotiations between the NHL and the players' association seemed to have been lost Thursday when the sides remained mostly apart.
A meeting that Commissioner Gary Bettman said would begin at 10 a.m. EST didn't start until several hours later, and then ended quickly.
That one hour of talks centered on the reporting of hockey-related revenues by teams, and both sides signing off on the figures at the end of the fiscal year. The problem was resolved.
The key issues that are still threatening the hockey season weren't addressed then, but a small group of players and other union staff returned to the NHL office shortly before 6 p.m., to hold another meeting regarding the contentious pension plan.
Union head Donald Fehr didn't take part in either of the two sessions Thursday and it wasn't known if a full bargaining meeting would take place Thursday night.
The players' association held a conference call at 5 p.m. to discuss starting another vote among union membership that would give the executive board the power to invoke a disclaimer of interest and dissolve the union.
Members gave overwhelmingly approval last month, but the union declined to disclaim before a self-imposed deadline Wednesday night. It wasn't immediately known when a new authorization would expire. Players are expected to have 48 hours to vote, as opposed to the five days they were given the first time.
With the lockout in its 110th day, both sides understand the urgency to save a shortened season. They have several key issues to work out — pensions and salary cap limits, among them.
Bettman has said a deal needs to be in place by next week so a 48-game season can begin Jan. 19. All games through Jan. 14 along with the All-Star game have been canceled, claiming more than 50 percent of the original schedule.
The sides met in small groups throughout the day Wednesday. They held a full bargaining session with a federal mediator at night that lasted nearly five hours and ended about 1 a.m. Thursday.
The biggest detail to emerge was that Fehr remained as union executive director after players passed on their first chance to declare a disclaimer that would turn the union into a trade association. The disclaimer would allow individual players to file antitrust lawsuits against the NHL.
Fehr wouldn't address the issue Wednesday, calling it an "internal matter," but added that the players were keeping all options open.
"The word disclaimer has yet to be uttered to us by the players' association," Bettman said Wednesday. "It's not that it gets filed anywhere with a court or the NLRB. When you disclaim interest as a union, you notify the other side. We have not been notified and it's never been discussed, so there has been no disclaimer."
It was believed the union wouldn't take action Wednesday if it saw progress being made. Neither side would characterize the talks or say if there was any movement toward common ground.
"There's been some progress but we're still apart on a number of issues," Bettman said. "As long as the process continues I am hopeful."
In a related move, the NHLPA filed a motion in federal court in New York on Thursday seeking to dismiss the league's suit to have the lockout declared legal. The NHL sued the union in mid-December, figuring the players were about to submit their own complaint against the league and possibly break up their union to gain an upper hand.
But the union argued that the NHL is using this suit "to force the players to remain in a union. Not only is it virtually unheard of for an employer to insist on the unionization of its employees, it is also directly contradicted by the rights guaranteed to employees under ... the National Labor Relations Act."
The court scheduled a status conference for the sides on Monday morning.
That still gives them time to get back to the table to try to reach a deal. There won't be one, however, if they don't resolve the differences regarding the players' pension.
Bettman called the pension plan a "very complicated issue."
"The number of variables and the number of issues that have to be addressed by people who carry the title actuary or pension lawyer are pretty numerous and it's pretty easy to get off track," Bettman said. "That is something we understand is important to the players."
The union's proposal Wednesday makes four offers between the sides since the NHL restarted negotiations Thursday with a proposal. The league presented the players with a counteroffer Tuesday night in response to one the union made Monday.
Fehr believed an agreement on a players-funded pension had been reached before talks blew up in early December. That apparently wasn't the case, or the NHL has changed its offer regarding the pension in exchange for agreeing to other things the union wanted.
The salary-cap number for the second year of the deal — the 2013-14 season — hasn't been established, and it is another point of contention. The league is pushing for a $60 million cap, while the union wants it to be $65 million.
In return for the higher cap number players would be willing to forgo a cap on escrow.
"We talk about lots of things and we even had some philosophical discussions about why particular issues were important to each of us," Bettman said. "That is part of the process."
The NHL proposed in its first offer Thursday that pension contributions come out of the players' share of revenues, and $50 million of the league's make-whole payment of $300 million will be allocated and set aside to fund potential underfunding liabilities of the plan at the end of the collective bargaining agreement.
Last month, the NHL agreed to raise its make-whole offer of deferred payments from $211 million to $300 million as part of a proposed package that required the union to agree on three nonnegotiable points. Instead, the union accepted the raise in funds, but then made counterproposals on the issues the league stated had no wiggle room.
"As you might expect, the differences between us relate to the core economic issues which don't involve the share," Fehr said of hockey-related revenue, which likely will be split 50-50.
The NHL is the only North American professional sports league to cancel a season because of a labor dispute, losing the 2004-05 campaign to a lockout. A 48-game season was played in 1995 after a lockout stretched into January.

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DUD: The Nightmarish Dangers of Drowsy Driving

Driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs is known to increase the chances of causing an accident. For instance, marijuana can impair drivers' reaction time. But what about drowsiness? As many as a third of all fatal car crashes might involve fatigued drivers, according to research by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
And a new study finds that driving while under the influence--of drowsiness--is exceedingly common.
More than one in 25 people report actually having fallen asleep behind the wheel at least once within the past month, according to a new study from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Unsurprisingly, drivers who are at risk of dozing are more likely to cause crashes that result in injuries or death than are alert drivers. "Drowsiness slows reaction time, makes drivers less attentive and impairs decision-making skills," the report authors noted.
The researchers, led by Anne Wheaton, an epidemiologist at the CDC, analyzed responses from more than 147,000 adults who participated in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System phone survey. Respondents hailed from 19 states and the District of Columbia; within these areas, Texas--with its 3,200-plus miles of interstates-had the highest rate of severely tired drivers, with 6.1 percent of respondents saying they had slumbered at the wheel, and Oregon had the lowest, with just 2.5 percent.
Not surprisingly, people who reported having zonked out while driving were more likely to say they most often got six or fewer hours of shuteye and/or snored, which can be a sign of sleep apnea. Older drivers--those 65 and up--were the least likely to report having caught some winks while driving (just 1.7 percent had), whereas those ages 25 to 34 and 35 to 44 were the most likely (6.3 percent and 5.5 percent, respectively). Those in these age categories might be more likely to be working shifts or slogging through long commutes, while those who are retired were by far the least likely to have reported falling asleep (1 percent), suggesting they might be getting ample rest and not feel compelled to drive when they are not up for it.
These numbers are likely to be below the actual rate of somnolent automobilists because they rely on self-reported responses; many people who nod off for just a second or so don't even realize it has happened. Additionally, these stats represent those who have actually dozed at the wheel; more than a quarter of adults report driving while they feel bushed in a given month, according to a recent poll by the National Sleep Foundation.
Those most at risk for being severely sleepy at the wheel included commercial drivers, people with sleep disorders who are not being properly treated, people who take sedatives, people who generally do not get enough sleep, and people who work long or night shifts.
Shift workers often operate short on sleep. Research published last year by the CDC also showed that those working in dangerous industries--including transportation jobs such as commercial driving. In fact, that study found that nearly 70 percent of people who worked overnight shifts in transportation or warehousing industries often got fewer than six hours of z's.
Most fatigue-induced accidents occur in the afternoon and nighttime. The best thing to do to avoid dangerous drowsiness is to pull over and rest. Common "techniques to stay awake while driving, such as turning up the radio, opening the window, and turning up the air conditioner, have not been found to be effective," the authors of the new CDC study reported. It remains to be seen whether new car technology to sense and alert drowsy drivers can help. In the meantime, hopefully the road safety worries aren't enough to cause any more lost sleep.

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Budget battles threaten to limit Obama's second-term agenda

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - After a brutal "fiscal cliff" battle, President Barack Obama's looming budget confrontation with Congress threatens to sharply curtail his second-term agenda and limit his ambitions on priorities such as immigration reform and gun control.
Obama has vowed to push ahead with other legislative priorities during the fiscal fight, but faces the likelihood that they will be elbowed aside in a fierce struggle with Republicans over approaching deadlines to raise the limit on federal borrowing, cut spending and fund government operations.
Obama and Congress must agree by the end of March on increasing the $16.4 trillion debt ceiling, the fate of $85 billion in delayed automatic spending cuts and passage of a bill to fund the government after a temporary measure expires.
Those budget battles could be even more intense than the weeks-long "fiscal cliff" fight that ended on New Year's Day with an agreement to raise taxes on the wealthy, leaving divided Republicans itching for revenge and a fractured relationship between Obama and Republican House Speaker John Boehner.
"We always felt that a bipartisan and amicable conclusion to the fiscal cliff would lead to a very positive agenda for the next two years, and the opposite occurred. It bodes poorly for Obama's other major priorities," said Jim Kessler, senior vice president for policy at the centrist think tank Third Way.
"There is a high level of dysfunction. They haven't cracked the code yet on how to work with each other," Kessler said of Obama and congressional Republicans.
The fiscal cliff fight overwhelmed nearly everything else at the White House for two months. A similar result in the budget battle would be bad news for Obama, cutting into the narrow one-year to 18-month window when second-term presidents traditionally still have the political clout to achieve their most significant legislative victories.
"From a Republican standpoint, if you don't want Obama to get any oxygen on these other issues, focusing on the fiscal cliff and all these budget issues is a very good way to run out the clock on him," said Republican strategist John Feehery, a former Capitol Hill aide.
Obama has promised to pursue a broad second-term agenda focused on comprehensive immigration reform, bolstering domestic energy production, fighting climate change and gun control. After the "fiscal cliff" deal, he said he would not curtail his agenda because of the looming budget fights.
"We can settle this debate, or at the very least, not allow it to be so all-consuming all the time that it stops us from meeting a host of other challenges that we face," Obama said on New Year's Day before boarding a flight to Hawaii to resume a holiday interrupted by the fiscal cliff fight.
"It's not just possible to do these things; it's an obligation to ourselves and to future generations," he said.
PRIMED FOR A FIGHT
Republicans are primed for the coming fight, believing they have more leverage against Obama than during the fiscal cliff battle. Failure to close a deal on the debt ceiling could mean a default on U.S. debt or another downgrade in the U.S. credit rating like the one after a similar showdown in 2011.
A failure to reach agreement on a government funding bill could mean another federal shutdown like brief ones in 1995 and 1996.
Republicans say they will not back an increase in the federal debt ceiling without significant spending cuts opposed by many Democrats, particularly to popular "entitlement" programs such as the government-funded Medicare and Medicaid healthcare plans for the elderly and poor.
"When you look at what's coming down the pike, it will make the fiscal cliff look like a day in Sunday school," said Democratic strategist Chris Kofinis.
"You're talking about a battle that's going to last weeks or months. If they get a deal, it's going to be ugly, it's going to be brutal. Once you get past that, where do you find the will to address other issues? It's going to be very hard," he said.
Administration officials promise to move quickly in January in pursuit of new legislation on gun control and immigration. The gun control effort will be led by Vice President Joe Biden, who was appointed to develop a response to the deadly Connecticut school shootings in December.
But what seemed to be fresh momentum for new measures such as a ban on assault rifles after the mass killing in Connecticut could be stalled by a protracted focus on the seemingly never-ending budget showdowns.
Obama also plans to introduce comprehensive immigration legislation this month. Republicans will have fresh incentive on the issue after Hispanics soundly rejected Republican presidential contender Mitt Romney in the November election, giving Obama more than 70 percent of their vote.
But a Senate Republican leadership aide said economic issues would be the prime concern of Congress for months, pushing back consideration of gun control and immigration. The aide blamed Obama.
"The lack of leadership on spending and debt has put us behind on a number of other issues. That is not something that can be resolved quickly," the aide said.
When blocked in Congress, Obama has shown a willingness to use executive orders and agency rules to make policy changes. During last year's campaign, Obama ordered an end to deportations of young undocumented immigrants who came to the country as children and had never committed a crime.
This week, the Department of Homeland Security changed its rules to make it easier for undocumented immigrants to get a waiver allowing them to stay in the country as they seek permanent residency.
With Republicans motivated to improve their standing with Hispanics, there is a chance Congress will work with the White House to pass an immigration bill that both bolsters border security and offers a pathway to legal status for undocumented immigrants who pay their back taxes and fines.
Finding the rare sweet spot where Obama and Republicans actually agree on an issue could be the key to second-term legislative success.
"The only thing that gets done outside of the economy are things that Republicans decide they have to get done for their own political futures," Feehery said.
But Kessler said he was skeptical that Obama and Congress can find common ground on a comprehensive immigration measure that provides a long-term solution for the country's 12 million illegal immigrants.
"Will something get done on immigration? Probably. But a major deal that addresses all undocumented immigrants in a comprehensive way? We're much less confident than we were two weeks ago," Kessler said.
"The question now is, do they even know how to make deals with each other?" he said.

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2012 was worst year for whooping cough since 1955

The nation just suffered its worst year for whooping cough in nearly six decades, according to preliminary government figures.
Whooping cough ebbs and flows in multi-year cycles, and experts say 2012 appears to have reached a peak with 41,880 cases. Another factor: A vaccine used since the 90s doesn't last as long as the old one.
The vaccine problem may continue to cause higher than normal case counts in the future, said Dr. Tom Clark of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"I think the numbers are going to trend up," he said. The agency provided the latest figures on Friday.
Last year, cases were up in 48 states and outbreaks were particularly bad in Colorado, Minnesota, Washington state, Wisconsin and Vermont.
The good news: Despite the high number of illnesses, deaths didn't increase. Eighteen people died, including 15 infants younger than 1.
Officials aren't sure why there weren't more deaths, but think that the attention paid to bad outbreaks across the nation resulted in infected children getting diagnosed faster and treated with antibiotics.
Also, a push last year to vaccinate pregnant women — a measure designed to pass immunity to infants — may have had some small measure of success, Clark said.
The final tally will be higher but unlikely to surpass the nearly 63,000 illnesses in 1955, he said.
Whooping cough is a highly contagious disease that can strike people of any age but is most dangerous to children. Its name comes from the sound children make as they gasp for breath.
It used to be a common threat, with hundreds of thousands of cases annually. Cases gradually dropped after a vaccine was introduced in the 1940s.
For about 25 years, fewer than 5,000 cases were reported annually in the U.S. But case counts started to climb again in the 1990s although not every year. Numbers jumped to more than 27,000 in 2010, the year California saw an especially bad epidemic.
Experts looking for an explanation have increasingly looked at a new vaccine introduced in the 1990s, and concluded its protection is not as long-lasting as was previously thought.
Children are routinely vaccinated with five doses beginning at 2 months, and a booster shot is recommended at around 11 or 12. Health officials are considering recommending another booster shot, strengthening the vaccine or devising a brand new one.

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Poll: Fight obesity crisis but keep the junk food

WASHINGTON (AP) — Everyone could use a little help keeping those New Year's resolutions to slim down. But if it means the government limiting junk food, the response is an overwhelming, "No."
Americans call obesity a national health crisis and blame too much screen time and cheap fast food for fueling it. But a new poll finds people are split on how much the government should do to help — and most draw the line at attempts to force healthier eating.
A third of people say the government should be deeply involved in finding solutions to the epidemic. A similar proportion want it to play little or no role, and the rest are somewhere in the middle, according to the poll by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Require more physical activity in school, or provide nutritional guidelines to help people make better choices? Sure, 8 in 10 support those steps. Make restaurants post calorie counts on their menus, as the Food and Drug Administration is poised to do? Some 70 percent think it's a good idea.
"That's a start," said Khadijah Al-Amin, 52, of Coatesville, Pa. "The fat content should be put up there in red letters, not just put up there. The same way they mark something that's poisonous, so when you see it, you absolutely know."
But nearly 6 in 10 people surveyed oppose taxes targeting unhealthy foods, known as soda taxes or fat taxes.
And when it comes to restricting what people can buy — like New York City's recent ban of supersized sodas in restaurants — three-quarters say, "No way."
"The outlawing of sugary drinks, that's just silly," said Keith Donner, 52, of Miami, who prefers teaching schoolchildren to eat better and get moving.
"People should just look at a Big Gulp and say, 'That's not for me.' I think it starts when they are young and at school," he added.
Despite the severity of the problem, most of those surveyed say dealing with obesity is up to individuals. Just a third consider obesity a community problem that governments, schools, health care providers and the food industry should be involved in. Twelve percent said it will take work from both individuals and the community.
That finding highlights the dilemma facing public health experts: Societal changes in recent decades have helped spur growing waistlines, and now a third of U.S. children and teens and two-thirds of adults are either overweight or obese. Today, restaurants dot more street corners and malls, regular-sized portions are larger, and a fast-food meal can be cheaper than healthier fare. Not to mention electronic distractions that slightly more people surveyed blamed for obesity than fast food.
In the current environment, it's difficult to exercise that personal responsibility, said Jeff Levi of the nonprofit Trust for America's Health, which has closely tracked the rise in obesity.
"We need to create environments where the healthy choice becomes the easy choice, where it's possible for people to bear that responsibility," he said.
The new poll suggests women, who have major input on what a family eats, recognize those societal and community difficulties more than men do.
More than half of women say the high cost of healthy food is a major driver of obesity, compared with just 37 percent of men. Women also are more likely than men to blame cheap fast food and to say that the food industry should bear a lot of responsibility for helping to find solutions.
Patricia Wilson, 53, of rural Speedwell, Tenn., says she must drive 45 minutes to reach a grocery store — passing numerous burger and pizza joints, with more arriving every year.
"They shouldn't be letting all these fast-food places go up," said Wilson, who nags her children and grandchildren to eat at home and watch their calories. She recalls how her own overweight grandmother lost both her legs and then her life to diabetes.
More than 80 percent of people in the AP-NORC poll said they had easy access to supermarkets, but just as many could easily get fast food. Another 68 percent said it was easy for kids to purchase junk food on their way to school, potentially foiling diet-conscious caregivers like Wilson, who doesn't allow her grandchildren to eat unhealthy snacks at home.
"If they say they're hungry, they get regular food," she said.
Food is only part of the obesity equation; physical activity is key too. About 7 in 10 people said it was easy to find sidewalks or paths for jogging, walking or bike-riding. But 63 percent found it difficult to run errands or get around without a car, reinforcing a sedentary lifestyle.
James Gambrell, 27, of Springfield, Ore., said he pays particular attention to diet and exercise because obesity runs in his family. He makes a point of walking to stores and running errands on foot two to three times a week.
But Gambrell, a fast-food cashier, said he eats out at least once a day because of the convenience and has changed his order at restaurants that already have begun posting calorie counts. He's all for the government pushing those kinds of solutions.
"I feel that it's a part of the government's responsibility to care for its citizens and as such should attempt to set regulations for restaurants that are potentially harmful to its citizens," he said.
On the other side is Pamela Dupuis, 60, of Aurora, Colo., who said she has struggled with weight and has been diagnosed as pre-diabetic. She doesn't want the government involved in things like calorie-counting.
"They should stay out of our lives," she said.
The AP-NORC Center survey was conducted Nov. 21 through Dec. 14. It involved landline and cellphone interviews with 1,011 adults nationwide and has a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 4.2 percentage points.

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Massachusetts governor seeks tighter rules on compounding pharmacies

BOSTON (Reuters) - Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick on Friday proposed new state rules to more closely regulate the type of pharmacy at the heart of a U.S. meningitis outbreak that has killed 39 people.
The proposed legislation would require special licenses for compounding pharmacies, allow the state Board of Pharmacy to fine companies that violate its rules and require out-of-state pharmacies that ship drugs to Massachusetts to be licensed by the state.
The aim is to more closely monitor companies that cross the line from mixing the raw materials of drugs for individual prescriptions and those that begin to operate more like large-scale manufacturers.
An injectible steroid produced by the Framingham, Massachusetts-based New England Compounding Center (NECC) was linked to an outbreak of bacterial meningitis that has sickened 656 people in 19 states, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"The regulations that we have in place and governing authority hasn't kept up with an industry that's changed," Patrick told reporters on Friday. "It's really built around the corner drug store, but we've seen and experienced with NECC that businesses that call themselves pharmacies are actually doing a form of manufacturing."
Federal investigators have found multiple violations of standard sterility practices at NECC, which has closed and, on December 21, filed for bankruptcy protection.
Companies registered as pharmacies are regulated by the individual states, while drug manufacturers face the tighter oversight of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Patrick's legislation calls on Massachusetts to more closely work with the FDA to ensure that larger pharmacies do not escape oversight.
The state has since ordered the temporary shutdown of four other compounding pharmacies where investigators found problems.
The FDA last month urged states to crack down on loopholes that allowed compounding pharmacies to produce drugs on an industrial scale without drawing FDA scrutiny.

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Short and social workouts led fitness trends in 2012

NEW YORK (Reuters) - From mud races to sweat parties to CrossFit competitions, workouts turned smarter, shorter and more social in 2012, experts say, as fitness was sweetened with a little help from smart phones and friends.
"Everything is about making fitness fun," said Jenna Autuori-Dedic, senior fitness editor at Fitness Magazine.
Even those grueling indoor cycling classes were a chance to mingle.
"I truly think that spinning was one of the biggest things to come out of 2012," said Autuori-Dedic. "They (fitness studios) made it fun. You can go with your friends, match your workout to the music. When you work out with friends, you don't realize you're working out."
She said 2012 also saw the rise of the sweat party.
"Instead of hitting the bars for that bachelorette party or night out with the girls, women are going in groups to fitness studios," she explained. "You don't have to choose between working out and meeting your friends, you can do both."
Working women have begun treating clients to boot camp classes in lieu of happy-hour, she added, and more co-workers host conference room workouts at lunchtime.
Mud runs were another 2012 trend that Autuori-Dedic expects to grow in the new year, along with fun obstacle-type races in general, during which participants can get blasted with paint or chased by "zombies," often for charity.
Donna Cyrus, senior vice president of programming at the Crunch national chain of fitness centers, said dance classes and short, results-driven workouts dominated group fitness.
"Going into 2012 everybody was looking for the next Zumba," said Cyrus of the Latin-based dance fitness craze. "We find that people are looking for fun easy-to-follow dance moves."
Crunch created 2FLY, a dance class based on music of the ‘80's and ‘90's that strives to feel more like a house party than a workout.
The other big trend from 2012, according to Cyrus, is the 30-minute workout.
"Everybody is realizing that you can get results in 30 minutes," she said, so this year was also about hard core, body-sculpting, CrossFit-type classes.
CrossFit is an intense, constantly varied, strength and conditioning program.
Autuori-Dedic said the CrossFit games, which are competitions that grew out of the workout regimen, mushroomed from only 4,000 participants to nearly 70,000 this year.
Richard Cotton, national director of certification programs for the American College of Sports Medicine, said 2012 signaled a welcome shift back to the basics of training people to be prepared for daily living.
"We're finally getting smart about what functional exercise actually is," Cotton said. "Simpler and basic, easier to do at home, there are fewer silly ball exercises, (such as) balancing on a ball while doing bicep curls."
Cotton said personal trainers increasingly apply troubleshooting, motivational interviewing and coaching techniques to their sessions with clients.
Autuori-Dedic said 2013 will see more trainers displaying their wares online.
"Trainers are live-streaming workouts and putting things on Twitter, iTunes, everywhere," she said.
And sophisticated tracking apps are here to stay.
Autuori-Dedic cited a study showing that people lost an average of 15 pounds and kept it off for at least a year just by tracking their statistics with an app.
"It used to be that stepping on a scale once a week would tell you how far you've come," she said. "Now with our smartphones we can log in at any time and see how we're doing every step of the way.

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Olympics, elections and horsing around in odd 2012

Presidential preening, golden Olympic gaffes, a royal windfall for a skydiving British queen on her diamond jubilee and the endless end of days marked the odd stories in 2012 which pranced across the news in Gangnam Style.
The year opened with a tale that flocks of magpies and bears had been spotted in mourning for North Korea's "Dear Leader", Kim Jong-il who died in December 2011 and was succeeded by his 20-something son Kim Jong-un.
Winter weather was so cold in Brussels that the Manneken-Pis, a bronze statue of a young boy urinating had to stop peeing because of sub-zero temperatures.
There was slightly warming news about Mondays in Germany, where crematoriums are struggling to adapt to an increasingly obese population and a boom in extra-large coffins.
"We burn particularly large coffins on Monday mornings when the ovens are cold," one crematorium said.
In March Polish media reported that kite surfer Jan Lisewski fought off repeated shark attacks and overcame thirst and exhaustion in a two-day battle of survival on the Red Sea with just his trusty knife as protection.
"I was stabbing them in the eyes, the nose and gills."
In other animal news, dairy cows across the world mourned the loss of "Jocko", the world's third most-potent breeding bull and Yvonne the German cow who evaded helicopter searches and dodged hunters landed a film deal: "Cow on the Run".
A Nepali man who was bitten by a cobra snake bit it back and killed the reptile after it attacked him in his rice paddy.
"I could have killed it with a stick but bit it with my teeth instead because I was angry," Mohamed Salmo Miya said.
A scathing resignation letter of a Goldman Sachs executive published in the New York Times inspired a sheaf of online spoofs, including Star Wars villain Darth Vader.
"The Empire today has become too much about shortcuts and not enough about remote strangulation. It just doesn't feel right to me anymore," Vader wrote in a published letter.
Austerity in Europe saw a once-thriving Greek sex industry become the latest victim of the country's debt crisis with Greeks spending less on erotic toys, pornography and lingerie.
But lust appeared to be in the rudest of health elsewhere.
Turkish emergency workers rescued an inflatable sex doll floating in the Black Sea and a German disc jockey vowed to press charges against a woman who locked him in her apartment and ravaged him for hours until he rang the police.
"She was sex mad and there was no way out of the flat," Dieter S. told police.
@ROYALFETUS
Britain's Queen Elizabeth celebrated her 60th year on the throne with Diamond Jubilee celebrations that saw a 1,000-ship rain-sodden flotilla sail down the River Thames, a massive party in front of Buckingham Palace, street parties across the country and a spoof incarnation of her majesty on Twitter.
"OK, fire up the Bentley. Let's rock," tweeted "Elizabeth Windsor", the comic online alter ego of the British monarch in a typical tweet from the spoof Twitter account @Queen_UK, a virtual monarch with a razor-sharp wit and a penchant for gin.
And Twitter positively exploded with spoof royal accounts later in the year when Elizabeth's grandson William and his wife Kate announced she was pregnant with a future monarch.
"I may not have bones yet, but I'm already more important than everyone reading this," was the tweet from @RoyalFetus.
Leadership and change was a theme which ran through a year in which socialist Francois Hollande defeated incumbent Nicolas Sarkozy and Mimi the clown to become French president, Vladimir Putin was elected Russian president again and U.S. President Barack Obama won re-election over Republican Mitt Romney.
Amid the tight election race, Obama met a gaffe-prone Romney for an exchange at a charity dinner ahead of the November poll, where America's first black president poked fun at Hollywood actor Clint Eastwood for lecturing an empty chair as if it were Obama during the Republican convention.
"Please take your seats," Obama told the crowd, "or else Clint Eastwood will yell at them."
"THE MODFATHER"
Sporting news was dominated by the London Olympics during the summer, where the opening ceremony included a vignette of Queen Elizabeth being escorted by James Bond before apparently skydiving into the Olympic stadium for her arrival.
"Good evening Mr. Bond," was her only line.
Olympic embarrassments were few, but they began early with organizers forced into apologies for displaying the South Korean flag on a video screen for North Korea's women's soccer team.
British cycling sensation Bradley "the Modfather" Wiggins became the first Briton to win the Tour de France, sparking a craze among fans for cutout cardboard sideburns modeled on his own and shouting "here Wiggo" as he raced to Olympic gold.
London's eccentric and loquacious Mayor Boris Johnson fell rather awkwardly silent when he got stuck dangling from a zip wire, waving two Union flags in drizzling rain.
Olympic chiefs urged youthful athletes to drink "sensibly".
But there was anything but restraint for Jamaican sprinter Usain Bolt, who declared an early night at one point only to be photographed later with three members of the Swedish women's handball team. Early one Sunday morning Bolt also dazzled dancers at a London night club with a turn in the DJ booth.
"I am a legend," Bolt shouted out to a packed dance floor from the decks with his arms raised in the air.
Towards the close of the year, tens of thousands of mystics, hippies and tourists celebrated in the shadow of ancient Maya pyramids in southeastern Mexico as the Earth survived a day billed by doomsday theorists as the end of the world.
"It's pure Hollywood," said Luis Mis Rodriguez, 45, a Maya selling obsidian figurines and souvenirs.
Finally, a chubby, rapping singer with slicked-back hair and a tacky suit became the latest musical sensation to burst upon the world from South Korea, via a YouTube music video that has been seen more than a billion times.
Decked out in a bow tie and suit jackets varying from pink to baby blue, as well as a towel for one sequence set in a sauna, Psy busts funky moves based on horse-riding in venues ranging from playgrounds to subways.
The video by Psy has been emulated by everyone from Chinese dissident artist Ai Weiwei to students at Britain's elite Eton College, gurning politicians, spotty teens and embarrassing dads worldwide.
"My goal in this music video was to look uncool until the end. I achieved it," Psy told Reuters.

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