The Lede Blog: Bulgarian Politician Faces Off With Gunman During Televised Conference

A man climbed onstage and attempted to fire a gas pistol Saturday at the leader of the country’s ethnic Turkish political party while he was giving a speech at his party’s annual conference in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria.

The gun misfired, according to a BBC report citing Bulgarian officials, and Ahmed Dogan, the leader of the Movement for Rights and Freedoms, was not harmed. Video of the incident shows Mr. Dogan pushing the gunman’s hand, then diving away as other people at the conference wrestle the man to the floor, then punch and kick him repeatedly. The gun, a small gas pistol, lies nearby at the feet of shocked onlookers.

“A gas pistol is a nonlethal weapon used for self-defense,” The Associated Press reported, “but experts say when fired from close range it can cause life-threatening injuries.”

The gunman was arrested, the news agency said, identifying him as “25-year-old Oktai Enimehmedov, a Bulgarian national and ethnic Turk, from the coastal city of Burgas.” The motive for the attack was not immediately clear. The report said the assailant was also carrying two knives.

Mr. Dogan’s party represents ethnic Turks and other Muslims, according to Reuters, who make up “12 percent of Bulgaria’s 7.3 million-strong population.”

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Nintendo’s Wii U problems turn into a crisis

In just a week, the problems Nintendo’s (NTDOY) new home console is facing have cascaded into something sinister. The traditional post-New Year slump hit Nintendo’s home market in the week ending January 12 and exposed cruelly how weak the consumer interest in Wii U truly is. According to Famitsu, Wii U sales slumped from a pace of 70,000 per week to just 21,000. The ancient PlayStation 3 sold the exact same number of units, which is nothing short of a debacle for Nintendo. The hot portable console 3DS saw its sales slow down from 305,000 units to 106,000 units.  This means that Nintendo’s portable machine is now outselling the brand new home console by a 5-to-1 margin in Japan.

[More from BGR: BlackBerry 10 browser smokes iOS 6 and Windows Phone 8 in comparison test [video]]

No matter how weak the Wii U sales are now, they are likely to get worse. The launch dates of key games seem to be slipping from March quarter to June quarter, including the important Pikmin, Wario and Wii Fit franchises. The Wii U now must depend on Rayman and Lego City in coming months.

[More from BGR: Paid apps are history]

This is a scary prospect, because it now seems that Sony (SNE) is planning to unveil the PlayStation 4 in May and Microsoft (MSFT) is expected to announce the Xbox 720 in June. Nintendo rushed its console out in late 2012 to get a running start before the big guns of the home console industry grab the consumer interest with their new machines. That gambit may now be about to backfire in a spectacular manner. As demand for Wii U is already fizzling in Japan and key games slip from the first quarter of 2013, Wii U faces a very hard January-March period. Sony and Microsoft are then inevitably going to start leaking information about their new consoles in April-May time frame in the run-up to their big unveilings in the second half of the spring quarter.

The clock is ticking for Wii U. If consumers start smelling the scent of the grave emanating from the console just when Sony and Microsoft roll out their new gear, Wii U could face a sudden rejection in the market place by early summer. Nintendo needs some big new titles to revive its home machine very soon.

This article was originally published on BGR.com

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The Wanted's Nathan Sykes Sends Sad Message About His Dog

People Pets

01/19/2013 at 02:10 PM EST

The message, short and sweet, says it all.

"R.I.P Harry dog," Tweeted Nathan Sykes, of the English-Irish boy band The Wanted, along with a pic of himself with the photogenic prized pooch.

"Thanks for all of the memories, smiles and love. We're gonna miss you," said the 19-year-old musician.

Fans clearly responded appropriately. An hour after Sykes's original post went up on Saturday, he Tweeted again.

"Thanks for all of your lovely tweets :)," he said, "making me smile."

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Lilly drug chosen for Alzheimer's prevention study

Researchers have chosen an experimental drug by Eli Lilly & Co. for a large federally funded study testing whether it's possible to prevent Alzheimer's disease in older people at high risk of developing it.

The drug, called solanezumab (sol-ah-NAYZ-uh-mab), is designed to bind to and help clear the sticky deposits that clog patients' brains.

Earlier studies found it did not help people with moderate to severe Alzheimer's but it showed some promise against milder disease. Researchers think it might work better if given before symptoms start.

"The hope is we can catch people before they decline," which can come 10 years or more after plaques first show up in the brain, said Dr. Reisa Sperling, director of the Alzheimer's center at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.

She will help lead the new study, which will involve 1,000 people ages 70 to 85 whose brain scans show plaque buildup but who do not yet have any symptoms of dementia. They will get monthly infusions of solanezumab or a dummy drug for three years. The main goal will be slowing the rate of cognitive decline. The study will be done at 50 sites in the U.S. and possibly more in Canada, Australia and Europe, Sperling said.

In October, researchers said combined results from two studies of solanezumab suggested it might modestly slow mental decline, especially in patients with mild disease. Taken separately, the studies missed their main goals of significantly slowing the mind-robbing disease or improving activities of daily living.

Those results were not considered good enough to win the drug approval. So in December, Lilly said it would start another large study of it this year to try to confirm the hopeful results seen patients with mild disease. That is separate from the federal study Sperling will head.

About 35 million people worldwide have dementia, and Alzheimer's is the most common type. In the U.S., about 5 million have Alzheimer's. Current medicines such as Aricept and Namenda just temporarily ease symptoms. There is no known cure.

___

Online:

Alzheimer's info: http://www.alzheimers.gov

Alzheimer's Association: http://www.alz.org

___

Follow Marilynn Marchione's coverage at http://twitter.com/MMarchioneAP

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Teacher who starred in porn film fight for job, money

The
Oxnard teacher who was fired for appearing in porn movies has until Feb. 13 to decide
whether to appeal a decision dismissing her from the classroom, school officials said.

The
Commission on Professional Competence, in a 47-page report dated Jan. 3, found that Stacie Halas, 32, was unfit to
teach eighth-grade science at Haydock Intermediate School and ordered her
dismissal.

Although Halas filmed the scenes between 2005 and 2006, before she was employed at the middle school, the ongoing availability of the videos will continue to hamper her ability to be an effective teacher, Judge Julie Cabos-Owen wrote.

Halas
can appeal the dismissal order to Ventura County Superior Court, her attorney Richard Schwab told The Times. He didn’t know if Halas would ask
for an appeal.

On
Wednesday, the Oxnard School District Board of Trustees moved to terminate her
administrative pay as of Feb. 13. The board fired Halas in April after students
discovered her pornographic films.

Halas
then appealed the board’s decision to the Commission on Professional Competence, which ruled against her.

That’s
“the last day for her to file an appeal in Superior Court, which runs for 30
days from the ruling,” said Tom DeLapp, school district spokesman.

“We have no
indication whether she will pursue this option.”

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Natalie Wood death probe found new evidence, sources say

Son of 'Barney' co-creator arrested on attempted murder charge

Manti Te'o hoax: Scandal has been 'nightmare,' family member says

-- Adolfo Flores

Photo: Stacie Halas. Credit: KTLA

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As Rescue Operation Continues in Algeria, Fate of Hostages Remains Unclear

British Petroleum, via European Pressphoto Agency

The remote In Amenas natural gas field in Algeria, the site of a terrorist attack and the taking of hostages on Wednesday.

BAMAKO, Mali — Dozens of foreign hostages may still be held by Islamist extremists who have defied demands to surrender in a besieged Algerian gas-field complex, Algeria’s state-run news agency reported Friday, and the United States said for the first time that American citizens were among them.

Twelve Algerian and foreign workers have been killed since Algerian special forces began an assault against the kidnappers, the state news agency reported, citing an unnamed security official. It was the highest civilian death toll Algerian officials have provided in the aftermath of the assault, which freed captives and killed kidnappers but also left some hostages dead.

Previous estimates of the foreign casualties have ranged from 4 to 35.

The Algerian news agency said that the country’s special forces were still seeking to reach a “peaceful solution” with the remnants of a “terrorist group” that was still holding hostages in the refinery area of the gas field in remote eastern Algeria. It also gave a new sense of how many people may have been at the facility when the militants seized it on Wednesday, asserting that nearly 650 had managed to leave the site since then, including 573 Algerians and most of the 132 foreigners it said had been abducted.

But that still left many people unaccounted for, adding to the global concern about the fate of the hostages, who come from as many as 10 different nations.

In Washington, the State Department spokeswoman, Victoria Nuland, said that not all Americans had been freed and that Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton had spoken for the third consecutive day by telephone with top Algerian leaders about American concerns for their safety.

“We have American hostages,” Ms. Nuland told reporters, offering the government’s first update on what is known about the Americans since officials confirmed on Thursday that seven or eight Americans had been inside the gas-field complex.

Ms. Nuland also said the United States would not consider a reported offer made by the kidnappers to exchange two Americans for two prominent figures imprisoned in the United States — Omar Abdel Rahman, a sheik convicted of plotting to bomb New York landmarks, and Aafia Siddiqui, a Pakistani woman convicted of shooting two American soldiers in Afghanistan. It was impossible to confirm that offer, which was reported by the Washington-based SITE Intelligence Group, a service that tracks jihadist activity on the Internet.

Intensifying the uncertainties, a spokesman for the militants, who belong to a group called Al Mulathameen, said Friday that they planned further attacks in Algeria, according to a report by the Mauritanian news agency ANI, which maintains frequent contact with militant groups in the region. The spokesman called upon Algerians to “keep away from the installations of foreign companies, because we will suddenly attack where no one would expect it,” ANI reported.

A Pentagon official said an Air Force C-130 had left Algeria for an unidentified base in Europe, carrying a number of the rescued hostages but no Americans. The official said a second, larger evacuation plane, a C-17, was still on the ground in Algeria, and it was unclear how many rescued hostages would be boarded or when it would depart.

A separate hostage situation of sorts appeared to be evolving at a village in Mali, the neighboring country where a French military intervention to stop radical Islamists may have been the catalyst for the Algerian gas-field seizure by the Al Mulathameen group.

A senior French official in Paris said Malian Islamist fighters, threatened by French and Malian soldiers, had occupied the village, Diabaly, and were threatening to use residents as human shields if attacked.

“We do not want a blood bath,” the French official said, and the troop commanders had chosen not to engage so far in house-to-house fighting.

The Algerian military operation at the gas field began on Thursday without consultation with the foreign governments whose citizens worked at the gas field facility. It has been marked by a fog of conflicting reports, compounded by the remoteness of the facility, near a town called In Amenas hundreds of miles across the desert from the Algerian capital, Algiers, and close to the Libyan border.

Algeria’s state radio, citing an official source, reported on Friday that 18 militants had been killed, the first precise death count offered by state media. The state news agency also suggested that hundreds of civilians “had been freed,” though many of the employees inside the sprawling facility may have simply been on site at the time of the militant assault and were not necessarily being held by the kidnappers.

Adam Nossiter reported from Bamako and Alan Cowell and Scott Sayare from Paris. Reporting was contributed by Rick Gladstone from New York; Elisabeth Bumiller, Julia Werdigier and John F. Burns from London; Steven Erlanger from Paris, Eric Schmitt, Thom Shanker, David E. Sanger and Michael R. Gordon from Washington; Martin Fackler and Hiroko Tabuchi from Tokyo; and Mayy El Sheikh from Cairo.

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With an air kiss or empty hug, Te’oing is Twitter craze

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Manti Te’o, the Notre Dame linebacker entangled in a girlfriend hoax that gives a whole new meaning to the term “air kiss,” is inspiring a new fad racing through social media: Te’oing.

An avalanche of pictures of people hugging empty chairs or puckering up to an otherwise empty room were posted to Twitter with the hashtag #Te’oing days after the college football star’s story about his girlfriend’s cancer death was exposed as a fraud. Not only did she never have leukemia, she never existed.

Notre Dame officials said Te’o told them he had been duped into believing he had an online relationship with the fictitious woman.

“Te’oing – Mile High Club edition” read one tweet with a photo of a man hugging the air in an airplane bathroom, an apparent reference to the whispered practice of having sex in mid-flight.

Clint Eastwood was hailed in several tweets as a “Te’oing” pioneer for the actor’s interlude with an empty chair at the 2012 Republican Convention. Other tweets showed Ronald McDonald Te’oing on his cozy bench and President Barack Obama spending quality time Te’oing with a vacant seat.

“Just some afternoon bubbly with my baby” said one Te’oing tweet with a photo of a man clinking his champagne flute against another that appeared to be suspended in mid-air.

The snarky social media frenzy recalled another similar trend called the “Tebowing,” named for New York Jets quarterback Tim Tebow, who frequently kneeled for on-field prayers and inspired copy-cat poses by people whose pictures flooded social media last year.

In its own riff on emptiness and romance, a Kentucky minor league baseball team, the Florence Freedom, has announced it will give away Manti Te’o Girlfriend Bobblehead dolls – actually empty boxes – to the first 1,000 fans at the May 23 game.

One section of the Florence, Kentucky, stadium has been reserved “for fans to sit with their imaginary friends, girlfriends/boyfriends or spouses” who may be caught on the “pretend kiss cam” and are invited to compete in an air guitar contest or an imaginary food fight.

(Writing by Barbara Goldberg; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Vicki Allen)

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Channing Tatum & Jenna Dewan-Tatum Share a Fresh, Healthy Lunch Date

Caught in the Act

01/18/2013 at 01:35 PM EST

Jenna Dewan-Tatum and Channing Tatum

FameFlynet

Eating for three!

Parents-to-be Jenna Dewan-Tatum and husband Channing, fresh from a beach holiday in St. Barts, enjoyed a casual lunch date together on Wednesday.

The couple, who wed in 2009 and announced their happy baby news in mid-December, shared their meal at Greenleaf Gourmet Chopshop in Beverly Hills.

Jenna, 32, went with healthy eating, dining on the restaurant's seasonal salad (kale, tangerine, dried blueberry, almonds and citrus vinagrette) while PEOPLE's Sexiest Man Alive, also 32 – and an Alabama native – chose more hearty Southern fare, specifically a barbecue chicken sandwich.

"They were a sweet couple and she's got a little bump too," said an onlooker.
– Jennifer Garcia

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Man molested girls, gave them tattoos, police allege

Authorities were looking Thursday for more possible victims of a Mission Viejo tattoo artist arrested for allegedly molesting two teenage girls after giving them free tattoos and alcohol in his apartment, deputies said.

Edder Giovani Nieves-Vera, 29, met one of the 14-year-olds through Facebook and promised to give her a tattoo, alcohol and drugs, said Jim Amormino, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

In December, authorities believe the girl and a 14-year-old friend went to the man’s apartment, where he supplied them with alcohol and gave them tattoos.

He is suspected of making “sexual advances” toward the teenagers and engaging in “highly inappropriate conduct,” Amormino told the Times.

The girls told authorities, who then posed as one of the 14-year-olds by chatting with him on Facebook, said Gail Krause, a spokeswoman with the Sheriff’s Department.

Nieves-Vera allegedly said he wanted to meet the girl Tuesday at Dana Point Harbor, then take her to his apartment to finish the tattoo and enjoy his Jacuzzi. Instead, Nieves-Vera was met by investigators and taken into custody.

Several years ago, he was deported after serving three years in state prison in connection with a 2004 arrest in a child annoyance case in Riverside County. Investigators do not know when Nieves-Vera re-entered the United States.

The Sheriff’s Department, along with several other agencies, including the Orange County district attorney’s office, the FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, investigated the case.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Sheriff’s Department at (714) 647-7000. Anonymous tippers may call OC Crime Stoppers at (855) TIP-OCCS.

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Reward offered for 'AK-47 Bandit' who shot Chino officer

Robert Citron, treasurer at center of O.C. bankruptcy, dies

Environmental group pushes for hearing on San Onofre restart

-- Robert J. Lopez and Nicole Santa Cruz

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Algeria Confirms Hostage Deaths in Rescue Raid

BAMAKO, Mali — Kidnappers and at least some of their hostages were killed on Thursday as Algerian forces assaulted a heavily armed group of Islamist extremists holding dozens of captives, including Americans and other foreigners, in a remote gas field facility in the Algerian desert, the Algerian government announced.

Kjetil Alsvik/Statoil, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

An undated photo of the In Amenas gas field in Algeria, where Islamist militants took dozens of foreign hostages on Wednesday.

In a statement on national radio, the communications minister, Mohand Saïd Oublaïd, said that many of the hostages had been freed, but he warned that the military assault was not yet complete and that some captives remained trapped inside the facility.

“The operation resulted in the neutralization of a large number of terrorists and the liberation of a considerable number of hostages,” Mr. Oublaïd said. “Unfortunately, we deplore also the death of some, as well as some who were wounded. We do not have final numbers.”

He also said “the operation is ongoing, given the complexity of the site, to liberate the rest of the hostages and those who are trapped inside.”

The announcement was the most detailed official information given by Algeria on the crisis. It began more than 24 hours earlier when Islamist militants seized the hostages at the internationally managed gas field in the Sahara near the Libyan border, in what they called retaliation for the French military intervention in neighboring Mali. The seizure of the gas field was one of the boldest abductions of foreign workers in recent years.

Unconfirmed news reports earlier on Thursday, quoting a statement reportedly from the hostage takers, said the Algerian military assault had left 35 hostages and 15 kidnappers dead. One Algerian government official called those numbers “exaggerated.”

The communications minister said the military assault force sent to end the gas-field siege had first sought a peaceful end.

“But confronted with the determination of the heavily armed terrorist group, our armed forces were forced to surround the site and fire warning shots,” he said. “In front of the stubborn refusal of these terrorists to heed these warnings and confronted with their evident desire to leave Algeria with the foreign hostages to then use them as a bargaining chip, an assault was launched this Thursday at the end of the morning.”

The minister’s announcement came as foreign governments, including the United States, were seeking clarity on the fate of their citizens trapped inside the gas-field facility. There was no sign that the Algerians had given prior notice to any of the countries whose citizens were among the hostages.

A senior American official said Pentagon aides traveling in London with Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta were struggling to obtain basic information about the Algerian raid, and there were unconfirmed reports that an American Predator drone was monitoring the gas-field site.

The senior official said that perhaps seven to eight Americans were among the hostages — the first official confirmation of the number of Americans held captive — and that he did not know if any had been killed in the rescue operation.

David Cameron, the prime minister of Britain, said through a spokesman that his office had not been told ahead of time, an implicit criticism of the Algerian government. “The Algerians are aware that we would have preferred to have been consulted in advance,” the spokesman said.

Japan expressed even stronger concern, saying Algeria had not only failed to advise of the operation ahead of time, but that Japan had also asked Algeria to halt the operation because it was endangering the hostages.

“We asked Algeria to put human lives first and asked Algeria to strictly refrain,” the chief Cabinet secretary, Yoshihide Suga, quoted Prime Minister Shinzo Abe as telling his Algerian counterpart, Abdelmalek Sellal, by telephone late Thursday.

The situation is “very confused,” President François Hollande of France said at a news conference in Paris and was “evolving hour by hour.” Mr. Hollande confirmed for the first time officially that French citizens were among the captives.

The kidnapping in Algeria was a retaliation for the continuing French military assault on Islamist extremists in Mali that has escalated into a much broader conflict, now enmeshing the United States and other countries with citizens held hostage. Reuters said the survivors of the Algerian assault included hostages from the United States, Belgium, Japan and Britain. The full extent of the casualties was not immediately clear.

News agencies in Algeria and neighboring Mauritania said the helicopters may have attacked when the kidnappers sought to move their hostages from one part of the installation to another.

Adam Nossiter reported from Bamako, and Alan Cowell and Scott Sayare from Paris. Reporting was contributed by Clifford Krauss from Houston, Rick Gladstone from New York, Elisabeth Bumiller and John F. Burns from London, Steven Erlanger from Paris, Hiroko Tabuchi from Tokyo and Clifford Krauss from Houston.

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Amazon holiday results to show sales tax impact

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Acting as a tax collector may have hurt Amazon.com, Inc’s holiday sales analysts and industry executives said, but they expect to know more when the internet retailer reports its fourth-quarter results on January 29.

Best Buy Co., an archrival of Amazon in consumer electronics, saw holiday online sales increase in three states where Amazon started collecting sales tax ahead of the period.

“There was a little softness in states where Amazon is now collecting sales tax,” said R.J. Hottovy, an equity analyst at Morningstar. “That isn’t surprising to me. It levels the playing field for brick-and-mortar retailers.”

Critics of Amazon argued it had an unfair advantage because most retailers have had to collect state sales tax on online sales for years because they have stores and other physical operations in these locations.

But many states, hungry for extra tax revenue in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, introduced new laws requiring that Internet-only retailers also collect sales tax. Brick-and-mortar retailers hope the requirement will reduce Amazon’s price advantage and help them recoup lost sales.

CHANNELADVISOR DATA

Amazon, the world’s biggest Internet retailer, began collecting sales tax of 7.25 percent to 9.75 percent in California on Sept 15, about two weeks before the start of the fourth-quarter. Third-party sellers on Amazon.com saw a drop in sales during the quarter, compared to other states, according to an analysis by e-commerce firm ChannelAdvisor.

It also started collecting sales tax in Pennsylvania in September and in Texas in July.

Amazon’s fourth-quarter results should provide clues on whether consumers changed their shopping habits when faced with higher taxes on their purchases from the company’s website.

ChannelAdvisor, which helps merchants sell more online, analyzed its clients’ sales on Amazon.com in California, and compared them to other states before and after the sales tax kicked in.

Before Amazon began collecting the tax in California, ChannelAdvisor client sales were 5 percent to 10 percent above other states. The week before the September 15 start of the tax, sales spiked as high as 70 percent compared to other states.

“The surge before the tax went into effect was much larger than I thought it would be,” said Scot Wingo, chief executive of ChannelAdvisor. “Californians definitely bought a lot in the three or four days before the tax went into effect.”

After Amazon began collecting tax, its California sales leveled with other states. Then, in early November, they slipped as much as 10 percent below other states, ChannelAdvisor data showed.

During one of the busiest holiday periods, in late November and early December, sales dipped further in California vs other states. Toward the end of the holiday period, client sales in California recovered, the data showed.

“There was a sales impact of about 10 percent at the worst point of the dip,” Wingo said. EBay, another Amazon rival, is an investor in ChannelAdvisor. Wingo also owned Amazon shares, but sold them in the fourth quarter for personal tax-related reasons.

Amazon’s tax collection in California had the most impact on fourth-quarter sales of more expensive items priced at $ 200 to $ 250, Wingo said.

PRICES, PROFIT

Amazon probably lowered prices by 8 percent to 9 percent on items most affected by this, although it is tricky to separate such reductions from the usual holiday season promotions that were also happening, Wingo said.

The extra price competition may dent Amazon’s profitability in the fourth quarter, Morningstar’s Hottovy said.

Amazon is expected to make 52 cents a share in the fourth quarter, on revenue of $ 22.3 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. In late October, the company forecast operating results ranging from a profit of $ 310 million to a loss of $ 490 million.

Hottovy expects $ 22.4 billion in revenue and an operating loss of $ 210 million, or a $ 135 million loss after excluding stock-based compensation and other operating expenses.

BEST BUY

In California, Texas and Pennsylvania, Best Buy said it saw a 4 percent to 6 percent increase in online sales during the holiday versus the rest of its chain.

The retailer also saw an increase of 6 percent to 9 percent in online orders that are picked up in its stores in those three states compared with the rest of its chain.

Overall, Best Buy reported better-than-expected holiday sales last week, sending its shares up more than 10 percent.

“This makes Amazon equal to everyone else. They no longer have that sales tax advantage,” said Anne Zybowski, vice president of retail insights at Kantar Retail. “If this had happened to Amazon when they were just a bookseller years ago, they may not be as big as they are now.

Despite the tax changes, Amazon’s consumer electronics prices were still at least 5 percent below Best Buy’s during the holiday season, Zybowski said. But Best Buy may have benefited from even a small change in this area.

“Particularly in consumer electronics, any narrowing of Amazon’s price advantage at the margin is important because Best Buy brings service and other shopper benefits to the category,” she said.

Best Buy will take away people’s old TVs when they buy a new one and the company’s Geek Squad service will install devices in shoppers’ homes, services Amazon does not provide, she noted.

An Amazon spokesman declined to comment when asked if the company saw an impact on fourth-quarter sales from the collection of sales taxes in the three states.

In the past, Amazon executives have said there was little or no impact from such changes in other regions.

Several analysts have argued that shoppers use Amazon for its vast product selection and convenient, fast shipping and returns, and not just its low prices.

“While not great for Amazon, it’s just one of many consumer benefits its service offers,” said Ken Sena, an analyst at Evercore Partners. “And while there may be early effects from this change, I still see usage trends remaining in Amazon’s favor.”

(Editing by Leslie Gevirtz)

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Holly Madison Is Ready to Get Daughter's Nursery Started

Mom & Babies
Celebrity Baby Blog

01/17/2013 at 01:00 PM ET

AKM-GSI

As usual, Holly Madison was all smiles on Wednesday. But don’t let her look deceive you — due in seven weeks, the former E! star is feeling a bit petulant.

Though she’s been preparing for the arrival of her daughter, Madison tells PEOPLE at the grand opening of Andrea’s at the Wynn in Las Vegas that she’s “stressing out because I’m supposed to be moving.”

“I need to get the nursery together, so I’m getting really impatient,” she explains.

“It’s going to be Alice In Wonderland-themed and I’m painting all these big murals so you feel like Alice when you walk in — all the tall flowers and all the caterpillar leaves. It’s going to take days to do it.”

Following a dispute about her doghouse with her current homeowners association, Madison, 33, is hoping to be settled in her new home sooner rather than later.

“I’m so antsy to get it done because I feel like the baby is going to come before I get a chance to get in there,” she says. “I’m supposed to be due the first week of March but she’s just going to come whenever she wants to come, so I don’t pay attention to that. I’m ready anytime.”

Luckily, the pregnancy has been smooth sailing overall, and Madison only craves fruit juices.

“I’m eating healthier than I normally would,” she notes. “I’ve been really lucky and feeling good. No problems.”

– Mark Gray

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Study: NYC better than LA at cutting kids' obesity

NEW YORK (AP) — A new study shows New York City is doing better than Los Angeles in the battle against childhood obesity, at least for low-income children.

From 2003 to 2011, obesity rates for poor children dropped in New York to around 16 percent. But they rose in Los Angeles and ended at about 20 percent.

The researchers focused on children ages 3 and 4 enrolled in a government program that provides food and other services to women and their young children.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention released the study Thursday.

The authors noted that the Los Angeles program has many more Mexican-American kids. Obesity is more common in Mexican-American boys than in white or black kids.

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Woman repeatedly raped inside Nordstrom, police allege

Prosecutors said one of the five people charged in connection with the
take-over robbery at a Nordstrom Rack department store in Westchester raped one of the female hostages.

Prosecutors offered no details. But a district attorney's office spokeswoman said the victim was sexually assaulted "multiple times."

Raymond Sherman Jr., 34, who authorities said was the most violent in the group, was charged with two counts
of forcible rape, one count of
oral copulation, one count of kidnapping for rape, one count of assault
with a
deadly weapon and 14 counts of second-degree robbery.

DOCUMENT: Read the criminal complaint 

Troy Marsay Hammock, 29, and Everett Oneal Allen, 24, face 14 counts
each of second-degree robbery and one count each of assault with a
deadly weapon, identified as a knife, according to the Los Angeles
County district attorney's office.

Rochelle Monique Sherman, 33; and Paula Roneshia Bradley, 29, were charged with one count each of accessory after the fact.

The complaint also alleges Sherman, who is awaiting extradition from Phoenix, where he was
arrested Saturday, used a handgun in the commission of the crimes.

Police have not detailed the roles of the suspects in the
robbery and hostage situation. But those in law enforcement familiar with
the investigation said there is strong evidence linking the crimes to those charged, including physical evidence and security video.

The incident began about 11 p.m. Thursday at the Promenade at Howard
Hughes Center, near the 405 Freeway. Sherman, Hammock and Allen
allegedly confronted the employees as they were leaving the store, which
had just closed.

As the incident was unfolding, one of the employees called her
husband and told him to call 911. The LAPD called a tactical alert and
closed off the area around the shopping center. When the police
department's SWAT officers arrived, they surrounded the store.

At one point, one of the suspected burglars exited, saw the police and ran back inside. A
second suspected burglar walked out with an unidentified woman, saw police and
also headed back inside. The officers entered the store at 3:30 a.m. and
freed the captives.

At least three of the employees were injured, including at least one
woman who was sexually assaulted. Another woman was stabbed in the neck
and sustained non-life-threatening injuries, and a third employee was
pistol-whipped, police said. LAPD Chief Charlie Beck praised the
employees for their bravery and composure.

Beck would not discuss whether the robbers hid in the store or gained
entrance after it closed. Nor would he say how long they remained in the
store before fleeing in a white SUV, or discuss how much cash was taken
in the robbery.

ALSO:

House catches fire during East L.A. SWAT standoff

Galt police mourn officer fatally shot responding to burglary

Talk back: Can clinicians help pedophiles quell their desires?

--Andrew Blankstein

Photo: Police officers stand outside Nordstrom Rack in Westchester following take-over style robbery. Credit: Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times

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Deepening Crisis for the Dreamliner

Noboru Tomura/Asahi Shimbun, via Associated Press

An All Nippon Airways flight in Takamatsu, Japan, after an emergency landing on Wednesday.

TOKYO — The two largest Japanese airlines said Wednesday that they would ground their fleets of Boeing 787 aircraft after one operated by All Nippon Airways made an emergency landing in western Japan.

The latest episode elevates the safety concerns about Boeing’s new flagship airliner.

The emergency landing followed a string of problems in the past month with the Boeing 787, known as the Dreamliner, including a battery fire, fuel leaks and a cracked cockpit window. All Nippon said the problems Wednesday involved the same lithium-ion batteries that caught fire last week in Boston on a Dreamliner operated by Japan Airlines.

Last week, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration ordered a comprehensive review of the Dreamliner’s manufacturing and design, with a focus on the plane’s electrical systems. During a news conference last Thursday, the U.S. transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, made no mention of grounding Dreamliners. But if the problems continue, tougher measures could presumably be taken.

Boeing executives declined to comment Wednesday on the Japanese groundings. The company’s shares were down 3.7 percent in afternoon trading Wednesday in New York.

Eight airlines now fly the Dreamliner. All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines in Japan own 24 of the 50 delivered by Boeing since November 2011. The other operators are Air India, Ethiopian Airlines, LAN Airlines of Chile, LOT of Poland, Qatar Airways and United Airlines of the United States. Orders for about 800 additional 787s are in the pipeline.

In the episode in Japan early Wednesday, the 137 passengers and crew members aboard Flight NH692 from Yamaguchi Ube Airport, in western Japan, to Tokyo used emergency slides to leave the aircraft early after battery trouble and an “unusual smell” in the cockpit prompted its pilots to land instead at Takamatsu airport, according to All Nippon. The jet’s main battery in the front of the plane was later found to have become discolored and to be seeping electrolyte fluid, All Nippon said.

Ryosei Nomura, a spokesman for All Nippon, said Wednesday that the airline was temporarily grounding all 17 of its Dreamliners for inspections, leading to the cancellation of 38 domestic and international flights. Japan Airlines also said it would ground the five Dreamliners it was operating; two other aircraft were already undergoing safety checks.

Akihiro Ota, the Japanese transportation minister, said that the emergency landing had raised concerns about the Dreamliner’s safety and that he would dispatch officials to investigate. “I see this as a serious incident which could have led to a serious accident,” Mr. Ota said in Tokyo.

All Nippon and Japan Airlines said the planes would return to the air after safety checks, although it was unclear how soon that might be. All Nippon said it would keep its Dreamliner fleet grounded Thursday, canceling 35 domestic flights and using other types of aircraft for its international routes.

The review by the U.S. aviation administration is unusual, just 15 months after the plane entered service following a lengthy certification process by the agency. That review is in addition to a formal investigation by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board of what caused a battery fire on a Japan Airlines plane that flew to Boston from Tokyo last week.

The safety board said Wednesday it was “currently in the process of gathering information about the B-787 emergency landing in Japan earlier today.”

Boeing has sought to ease concerns about the plane’s design and reliability, and has said it is no more trouble-prone than other new commercial airplane programs.

Updesh Kapur, a spokesman for Qatar Airways, affirmed on Wednesday the airline’s view that the Dreamliner was safe but declined to comment on the decisions by the Japanese carriers. Qatar Airways operates three Dreamliners and has orders and purchase options for 57 more.

Last week, Akbar Al Baker, the Qatar Airways chief executive, played down the recent string of Dreamliner incidents as “teething issues with various components” and expressed confidence that Boeing would resolve any problems. He added that his airline was taking “every precaution” to ensure its fleet was safe to fly.

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Facebook search to generate revenue, no rival to Google: analysts

(Reuters) – Facebook Inc’s new search tool has strong potential to generate revenue for the social networking company, though it is unlikely to challenge Google Inc as the world’s dominant search engine, Wall Street analysts said on Wednesday.

Facebook’s “graph search” tool, rolled out on Tuesday, lets its more than 1 billion users trawl their network of friends to find everything from restaurants to movie recommendations and is the company’s biggest foray into online search.

Graph search contains some category suggestions that can be easily monetized, BofA Merrill Lynch analysts said in a note.

“It should be easy to incorporate commercial search results via Facebook’s partnership with Bing,” they added.

Facebook currently has a partnership with Microsoft Corp, whose Bing search engine provides search results for external websites. Microsoft also integrates certain Facebook results into its Bing search results.

BofA Merrill Lynch analysts estimated Facebook could add $ 500 million in annual revenue if it can generate just one paid click per user per year, and raised its price target on the stock by $ 4 to $ 35.

Facebook’s shares were flat at $ 30.10 in early trading on Wednesday. They have jumped about 50 percent since November to Tuesday’s close after months of weakness following its bungled Nasdaq listing in May.

However, analysts at J.P. Morgan Securities said the lack of a timeline for the possible launch of graph search on mobile devices may weigh on the tool’s prospects.

The success of the graph search, which will rely heavily on local information, depends on Facebook launching a mobile product, the analysts said. Half of all searches on mobile devices seek local information, according to Google.

Graph search also lacks the depth of review content of Yelp Inc, the analysts added.

Pivotal Research Group analyst Brian Wieser said monetization potential would be largely determined by Facebook’s ability to generate a significant portion of search query share volumes and he expects that quantity to be relatively low.

“Consumers are likely to continue prioritizing other sources, i.e. Google. Advertisers would consequently only use search if they can, or are perceived to, satisfy their goals efficiently with Facebook,” Wieser said.

NO GOOGLE KILLER

Analysts mostly agreed that Facebook’s search tool was unlikely to challenge Google’s dominance in web search at least in the near term.

“As of now, we do not see Graph Search as a threat to Google Web search. Looking forward, Facebook Graph searches could be competitive with certain categories of Google searches, such as Places and Maps,” BofA Merrill said.

Internet search, social networking tools and e-commerce are among the biggest weapons that companies such as Facebook, Google and Amazon.com Inc have in their battle for supremacy. A successful combination of the three could win the day for them.

Google has been trying to combine social networking and search for more than a year by integrating Google+ into its search engine.

“Overall, Graph Search offers users a unique view to information not available on Google, but does not replace Google. We view the relationship between Facebook Graph Search and Google as both competitive and complementary,” Piper Jaffray & Co analysts said.

The brokerage said users looking to buy a cellphone, for example, could search for friends’ reviews on Facebook and expert reviews on Google.

(Reporting by Sayantani Ghosh in Bangalore; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)

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Which Oscar Nominee Might Carry a Puppy Purse on the Red Carpet?

Stylewatch
Style News Now

01/15/2013 at 06:00 PM ET

The answer to the question above? Not Jessica Alba, who carried a poodle purse to the Golden Globe Awards, but rather a fashion-forward red carpet newbie.

Quvenzhané Wallis, star of Beasts of the Southern Wild, made headlines for being the youngest person ever to be nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress. And now the 9-year-old has gained the attention of the fashion world, too, thanks to the adorable sparkly purple dress she wore while accepting the Best Young Actress trophy at the Critics’ Choice Awards last week.

In an interview with Vogue‘s André Leon Talley, the starlet stays tight-lipped about what she will wear to this year’s Academy Awards (see minute-mark 1:15 for her genius way of deflecting Talley’s question), but she does divulge some hints. Here’s what we know:

It’s possible her dress might be pink because it’s her favorite color, and it will almost definitely not be floor length. “I might step on it and trip on it,” she explains. “And I don’t want to humiliate myself!”

And if her Critics’ Choice Awards accessory selection is any indication, she might not only be the first 9-year-old to win an Oscar, but also the first person to attend the show carrying a pink furry dog purse with a color-coordinating bow and sequin onesie.

Watch the above video to find out more about Wallis, including what she got for Christmas (hint: it’s pink), the celeb whose style she loves and to listen to her sing a line from “Fashion Is My Kryptonite.” Tell us: Do you think Wallis should go pink and girlie or totally sophisticated for the Oscars?

–Jennifer Cress

PHOTOS: SEE RED CARPET STYLE IN ‘LAST NIGHT’S LOOK’

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ER visits tied to energy drinks double since 2007

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A new government survey suggests the number of people seeking emergency treatment after consuming energy drinks has doubled nationwide during the past four years, the same period in which the supercharged drink industry has surged in popularity in convenience stores, bars and on college campuses.

From 2007 to 2011, the government estimates the number of emergency room visits involving the neon-labeled beverages shot up from about 10,000 to more than 20,000. Most of those cases involved teens or young adults, according to a survey of the nation's hospitals released late last week by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration.

The report doesn't specify which symptoms brought people to the emergency room but calls energy drink consumption a "rising public health problem" that can cause insomnia, nervousness, headache, fast heartbeat and seizures that are severe enough to require emergency care.

Several emergency physicians said they had seen a clear uptick in the number of patients suffering from irregular heartbeats, anxiety and heart attacks who said they had recently downed an energy drink.

More than half of the patients considered in the survey who wound up in the emergency room told doctors they had downed only energy drinks. In 2011, about 42 percent of the cases involved energy drinks in combination with alcohol or drugs, such as the stimulants Adderall or Ritalin.

"A lot of people don't realize the strength of these things. I had someone come in recently who had drunk three energy drinks in an hour, which is the equivalent of 15 cups of coffee," said Howard Mell, an emergency physician in the suburbs of Cleveland, who serves as a spokesman for the American College of Emergency Physicians. "Essentially he gave himself a stress test and thankfully he passed. But if he had a weak heart or suffered from coronary disease and didn't know it, this could have precipitated very bad things."

The findings came as concerns over energy drinks have intensified following reports last fall of 18 deaths possibly tied to the drinks — including a 14-year-old Maryland girl who died after drinking two large cans of Monster Energy drinks. Monster does not believe its products were responsible for the death.

Two senators are calling for the Food and Drug Administration to investigate safety concerns about energy drinks and their ingredients.

The energy drink industry says its drinks are safe and there is no proof linking its products to the adverse reactions.

Late last year, the FDA asked the U.S. Health and Human Services to update the figures its substance abuse research arm compiles about emergency room visits tied to energy drinks.

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's survey was based on responses it receives from about 230 hospitals each year, a representative sample of about 5 percent of emergency departments nationwide. The agency then uses those responses to estimate the number of energy drink-related emergency department visits nationwide.

The more than 20,000 cases estimated for 2011 represent a small portion of the annual 136 million emergency room visits tracked by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The FDA said it was considering the findings and pressing for more details as it undertakes a broad review of the safety of energy drinks and related ingredients this spring.

"We will examine this additional information ... as a part of our ongoing investigation into potential safety issues surrounding the use of energy-drink products," FDA spokeswoman Shelly Burgess said in a statement.

Beverage manufacturers fired back at the survey, saying the statistics were misleading and taken out of context.

"This report does not share information about the overall health of those who may have consumed energy drinks, or what symptoms brought them to the ER in the first place," the American Beverage Association said in a statement. "There is no basis by which to understand the overall caffeine intake of any of these individuals — from all sources."

Energy drinks remain a small part of the carbonated soft drinks market, representing only 3.3 percent of sales volume, according to the industry tracker Beverage Digest. Even as soda consumption has flagged in recent years, energy drinks sales are growing rapidly.

In 2011, sales volume for energy drinks rose by almost 17 percent, with the top three companies — Monster, Red Bull and Rockstar — each logging double-digit gains, Beverage Digest found. The drinks are often marketed at sporting events that are popular among younger people such as surfing and skateboarding.

From 2007 to 2011, the most recent year for which data was available, people from 18 to 25 were the most common age group seeking emergency treatment for energy drink-related reactions, the report found.

"We were really concerned to find that in four years the number of emergency department visits almost doubled, and these drinks are largely marketed to younger people," said Al Woodward, a senior statistical analyst with the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration who worked on the report.

Emergency physician Steve Sun said he had seen an increase in such cases at the Catholic hospital where he works on the edge of San Francisco's Golden Gate Park.

"I saw one young man who had mixed energy drinks with alcohol and we had to admit him to the hospital because he was so dehydrated he had renal failure," Sun said. "Because he was young he did well in the hospital, but if another patient had had underlying coronary artery disease, it could have led to a heart attack."

___

Follow Garance Burke on Twitter at http://twitter.com/garanceburke

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L.A. councilman seeks ban on large-capacity gun magazines

Los Angeles City Councilman Paul Krekorian wants the city to explore the feasibility of banning the possession of high-capacity gun magazines, the first step toward instituting stricter city gun and ammunition laws.

Although the California penal code now prohibits the manufacture and sale of magazines that hold more than 10 bullets, Krekorian said in a council motion Tuesday that a ban on the possession of the magazines within city limits could further improve public safety.

"The element missing from the state prohibition on high-capacity magazines is possession," Krekorian said in an interview with The Times

---

FOR THE RECORD:
High-capacity gun magazines: An earlier online version of this article, and its headline, incorrectly stated that Councilman Paul Krekorian has asked the city to consider banning ammunition for high-capacity gun magazines. Krekorian has requested that the city research a ban on the high-capacity magazines themselves, not their ammunition.

---

Although gun rights advocates frequently describe high-capacity magazine bans as "feel-good" steps, Krekorian said prohibiting their possession would give police a way to stop potential mass shooters before a tragedy can take place.

"I'm not interested in doing something that will have no effect," Krekorian said. "I'm interested in doing something that will prevent the kinds of slaughters we experience too often -- whether it's school shootings, shootouts with the police or drive-bys by gangbangers."

Krekorian's motion cited the 1997 North Hollywood shootout -- during which two bank robbers fired thousands of automatic weapon rounds at responding officers -- as well as the recent Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings in Newtown, Conn.

The motion asks that the Los Angeles Police Department, the city attorney and the city legislative analyst look into the feasibility, effectiveness and benefits of such a ban.

It marks the first formal request by a council member to look into a potential ban, according to Krekorian's spokesperson.

Second Amendment advocates have widely decried city, state and federal high-capacity magazine bans. Representatives from both the Gun Owners of America and National Rifle Assn. have previously said the bans restrict the ability of law-abiding gun owners from defending themselves.

"If the city of Los Angeles is looking to find new ways to waste taxpayer money, a proposal along the lines of banning the possession of instruments currently legal to own would certainly be one way to do it," said Brandon Combs, executive director of Calguns Foundation, a California-based 2nd Amendment advocacy group.

Although Combs said it's reasonable to consider bans on "true high-capacity magazines" holding more than 30 bullets, bans on 10- to 20-bullet magazines being pushed into law across the country are infringing on the rights of gun owners to protect themselves.

Meanwhile, a ban would do nothing to curb the behavior of criminals, who probably will continue to use high-capacity magazines even where they are illegal, he said.

"These criminals who commit mass shootings are not interested in listening to the Los Angeles City Council," Combs said. "I'd like to see some evidence that suggests a ban on high-capacity magazines has any effect on crime at all."

He noted that other California cities -- including San Francisco and San Jose -- have also pushed new gun and ammunition restrictions in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting.

While other Los Angeles City Council members have supported a national ban on assault weapons and called for city investment funds to sell any stock they might hold in companies that make or sell such guns, the request for this report is the first step toward curbing high-capacity magazine possession at the city level since the mass shooting in Connecticut.

The December shooting in Newtown, which left 27 dead, including 20 children and the gunman, and last week's shooting at Taft Union High School in Kern County have re-energized discussions of gun control measures among Los Angeles politicians.

Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and LAPD Chief Charlie Beck bumped up the annual gun buyback program and have increased the police presence in schools. The mayor has also scheduled a news conference Wednesday to further address gun violence.

Meanwhile, all four mayoral hopefuls -- including current council members Jan Perry and Eric Garcetti -- have called for the renewal of the federal assault weapons ban.

Combs said if there was going to be a renewed conversation about gun control, he hopes the politicians who have added gun safety measures to their platforms and stump speeches open the discussion to 2nd Amendment advocates.

"Are these city officials going to invite us to the table? Or is this just going to be them passing restrictive gun laws they've already decided they want to see pass?" Combs said. "Hopefully, our elected officials are reaching out to gun rights organizations if they're truly interested in having a conversation."

wesley.lowery@latimes.com

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The Lede Blog: Video of Aleppo University Bombing

Video posted online by Syrian opposition activists appeared to show the moment one in a series of deadly explosions struck the campus of Aleppo University on Tuesday.

Video said to capture an explosion on the campus of Aleppo University in Syria on Tuesday, uploaded to the Web by opposition activists.

The brief clip, uploaded to the YouTube channel of the ANA New Media Association (formerly the Syrian Activists News Association), begins with a view of smoke rising from a university building as students mill about. Moments later, following a very loud explosion close to the camera, students run for cover and a much larger plume can be seen above the building.

A description of the video posted on YouTube by ANA, which is run from Cairo by the British-Syrian activist Rami Jarrah, said that the video was filmed by an activist just after the university was hit by a missile fired from a Syrian Air Force MIG fighter jet, and captured the impact of a second airstrike.

Another video clip, uploaded to the Web earlier in the day, appeared to offer a more distant view of the plumes of smoke above the campus. Mr. Jarrah, who blogs as Alexander Page, suggested that one part of the video showed the fighter jet’s contrail in the sky over the damaged buildings.

NEW FOOTAGE: Shows trail of Jet Fighter seconds after Airstrike on University of #Aleppo http://t.co/CRk3C8wb Syrian state TV Lie

— Alexander Page (@AlexanderPageSY) 15 Jan 13

While opposition activists insisted that the blasts, which killed at least 50 people, were the result of airstrikes by the government of President Bashar al-Assad, state-controlled television channels claimed that “terrorists” had fired rockets at the campus.

The pro-Assad satellite channel al-Ikhbaria broadcast video of the aftermath, showing extensive damage to the campus and victims being rushed from the scene as on-screen text blamed the attack on rebel forces.

Video from the pro-government Syrian satellite channel al-Ikhbaria showed the aftermath of bombings at Aleppo University on Tuesday

A blogger in Aleppo who supported peaceful protests against the Assad government but has been fiercely critical of the armed rebellion, Edward Dark, described the carnage as a result of an air attack that was “probably a mistake, not an intentional bombing.”

just now: regime jet bombs Aleppo Uni faculty of architecture as students are taking tests. this is in a peaceful regime held area #Syria

— edward dark (@edwardedark) 15 Jan 13

@APHClarkson no, I think it was probably a mistake, not an intentional bombing

— edward dark (@edwardedark) 15 Jan 13

Restrictions on independent reporting in Syria make it hard to confirm who was responsible for the explosions, but the university is in a government-controlled area of the city and large anti-Assad demonstrations there last May were harshly dealt with by the security forces, despite the presence of United Nations observers.

Another series of video clips, posted on YouTube shortly after the bombings, showed extensive damage to what was described as the university’s architecture, and dazed students making their way through shattered glass, carrying a wounded man on a table.

Video said to show the badly damaged Aleppo University on Tuesday.

Video of a wounded man being evacuated from a damaged building at Aleppo University on Tuesday.

Another pro-Assad satellite channel, Addounia, broadcast a report blaming “a terrorist group” for the bombings — which was uploaded, with English subtitles, to YouTube.

A video report on bombings at Aleppo University from Addounia, a pro-Assad satellite channel.

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Apple supplier sees big Q4 boost, likely a good sign for iPhone 5 demand

Shares of Apple (AAPL) have been hit hard over the last few days. Investors continue to worry about the company’s profit margins, demand for its popular line of smartphones and tablets, and its future endeavors. With upcoming competition from Research in Motion (RIMM) and Microsoft (MSFT), and an ongoing battle with Google’s (GOOG) Android operating system, analysts fear that Apple’s mobile dominance may be a thing of the past. While we won’t officially know anything until the company reports its holiday earnings on January 23rd, a small German company has painted a calming picture for Apple shareholders.

[More from BGR: HTC One SV review]

Dialog Semiconductor announced last week that it expects to report a significant increase in sales for its December quarter. The company noted that the increase was due to “a stronger than anticipated end of year, underpinned by a strong late surge in demand for smartphone and tablet products.” Dialog Semiconductor now expects to report revenues of $ 268 million, an increase from between $ 215 million and $ 235 million.

[More from BGR: Extensive BlackBerry Z10 demo video posted by German website [video]]

The important thing to note is that, as of this past fall, Apple is Dialog’s largest customer and accounts for 60% of its total revenue.

Logic dictates that solid demand for Apple’s iPhone and iPad during the holidays helped boost Dialog’s performance. This could also mean that the iPhone-maker will report not only a strong December quarter, but a better-than-expected March quarter as well.

It looks like all this talk about customers losing interest in Apple may indeed be premature.

This article was originally published on BGR.com

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Tears & Outrage: Adamari López's Shocking Tell-All Explained in 5 Clicks

The Puerto Rican TV star accuses her ex, singer Luis Fonsi, of betrayal while she battled breast cancer

Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris/Wireimage

Updated: Monday Jan 14, 2013 | 06:00 AM EST

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Experts: Proposed NY gun law might hinder therapy

NEW YORK (AP) — Mental health experts say a new tougher New York state gun control law might interfere with treatment of potentially dangerous people and even discourage them from seeking help.

The law would require therapists, doctors, nurses and social workers to tell government authorities if they believe a patient is likely to harm himself or others. That could lead to revoking the patient's gun permit and seizing any guns.

In interviews Tuesday, one expert called the new law meaningless and said he expects mental health providers to ignore it, while others said they worry about its impact on patients.

Dr. Paul Appelbaum at Columbia University said the prospect of being reported to local mental health authorities and maybe the police might discourage people from revealing thoughts of harm to a therapist, or even from seeking treatment at all.

"The people who arguably most need to be in treatment and most need to feel free to talk about these disturbing impulses, may be the ones we make least likely to do so," said the director of law, ethics and psychiatry at Columbia. "They will either simply not come, or not report the thoughts that they have."

"If people with suicidal or homicidal impulses avoid treatment for fear of being reported in this way, they may be more likely to act on those impulses," he said.

Currently a mental health professional has a duty to protect potential victims of a patient, but there are several ways to do that, he said. The patient can be committed to an institution, voluntarily or not, or his medication can be changed to reduce the risk, or the intended victim can be warned, he said.

The patient's family can be asked to lock up any guns in the house, or to keep an eye on the patient to see if he's doing something that could bring on violence, like drinking or skipping his medications, Appelbaum said. The family could then notify the mental health professional.

This flexibility allows a therapist to deal with a risk of violence without breaching confidentiality in all cases, he said. And even if those steps are enough to blunt the danger, the proposed law would still require that the patient be reported to mental health authorities, he noted.

"It undercuts the clinical approach to treating these impulses, and instead turns it into a public safety issue," Appelbaum said.

He also noted that in many mass shootings in the past, the gunman had not been under treatment and so would not have been deterred by a law like the proposed measure.

Dr. Steven Dubovsky, chairman of the psychiatry department at the University at Buffalo, called the new measure meaningless. "It's pure political posturing" and a deceptive attempt to reassure the public, he said.

The intent seems to be to turn mental health professionals into detectives and policemen, he said, but "no patient is going to tell you anything if they think you're going to report them."

A therapist who took the measure seriously would have to warn patients about revealing anything incriminating, which would destroy the doctor-patient relationship, he said.

At the same time, he said the law can't be taken seriously because therapists won't be held liable if they don't report a patient they think is dangerous.

He thinks most therapists will ignore the law and continue to handle cases as they do now.

Dr. Mark Olfson, a psychiatry professor at Columbia, said that if the new law is "crudely applied," it could "erode patient trust in mental health care professionals," essential for effective care. Yet, he said, "if the law is implemented in a clinically well-informed manner, it holds the promise of helping to protect patients and the general public."

Eric Neblung, president of the New York State Psychological Association and a psychologist in Nyack, NY, called the new measure "a helpful step" but said it doesn't address a more fundamental need — improved access to mental health services.

---

Medical writer Lindsey Tanner reported from Chicago.

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Man kills wife, leave her body in casino, police allege

About L.A. Now

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Leon Panetta Says U.S. Has Pledged to Help France in Mali

LISBON — In a move that could draw the United States into another conflict in North Africa, the Obama administration has pledged to help the French in their fight against Islamist militants in Mali, Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta said Monday. He said the assistance could include air and other logistical support.

Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta boards a plane bound for Portugal on Monday.

The United States was already sharing intelligence with the French when their warplanes struck camps, depots and other militant positions deep inside Islamist-held territory in northern Mali on Sunday. Defense officials said that no decisions had been made about whether the United States would also offer help with midflight refueling planes and air transport, but that those options were under review.

Defense officials would not rule out the possibility that American military transport planes might land in Mali, where the United States has been conducting an ambitious counterterrorism program for years. The officials would not discuss whether the United States has deployed drone aircraft, either armed or unarmed, over Mali.

Mr. Panetta, who spoke to reporters on his plane en route to Portugal for a weeklong trip in Europe, said that the chaos in Mali was of deep concern to the administration, and he praised the French for their actions. He also said “what we have promised them is that we would work with them, to cooperate with them, to provide whatever assistance we can to try to help them in that effort.”

Mr. Panetta said that the Obama administration was deeply worried about the two extremist groups that hold large swaths of territory in northern Mali, Ansar Dine and Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM. “We’re concerned that any time Al Qaeda establishes a base of operations, while they might not have any immediate plans for attacks in the United States and in Europe, that ultimately that still remains their objective,” he said.

For that reason, he said, “we have to take steps now to make sure that AQIM does not get that kind of traction.”

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Facebook shares rise in buildup to mystery event, earnings

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) – Facebook Inc’s stock opened on Monday above $ 32 for the first time since July as anticipation about upcoming products and financial results underscored Wall Street’s renewed confidence in the online social network.

Facebook will on Tuesday host its first major press event at its headquarters in Menlo Park, California, since its troubled initial public offering in May, triggering a guessing game among technology observers and online blogs about what it could unveil – everything from a smartphone to a search engine.

“There’s a lot of speculation. Nothing to me seems to be that certain,” Jefferies & Co analyst Brian Pitz said.

“If I were to bet, I’d think it was something that was ad-platform related. I’m not convinced on the phone,” said Pitz, citing previous comments by Facebook’s leaders including CEO Mark Zuckerberg that making a smartphone would be the “wrong strategy” for Facebook.

In an email to reporters last week, Facebook invited the media to “come and see what we’re building” without providing details.

Some analysts said the stock’s recent gains – shares are up roughly 17 percent since the start of the year – may have more to do with the company’s upcoming fourth-quarter financial results, slated for January 30.

“The stock is up because they have driven a dramatic increase in the ad load of their mobile app which is giving investors hope that they exceeded expectations,” BTIG analyst Richard Greenfield said.

Shares were down about 1.3 percent to $ 31.30 in mid-afternoon trading.

The world’s No.1 social network with 1 billion users, Facebook became the first U.S. company to debut on stock markets with a value of more than $ 100 billion. Its value subsequently plunged by more than 50 percent on mounting concerns about slowing revenue growth and the challenges of making money as users shift from personal computers to mobile devices.

Facebook surprised Wall Street in the third quarter by announcing that mobile ads accounted for 14 percent of its total ad revenue. Some analysts expect the company to report further growth in its nascent mobile ad business for the fourth quarter.

Zuckerberg, who founded Facebook in his Harvard dorm room, has said that mobile is the “most misunderstood aspect” of Facebook. But he has repeatedly poured cold water on rumors that Facebook would build its own smartphone to compete against Apple Inc’s iPhone and smartphones based on Google Inc’s Android operating system.

During an on-stage interview at a conference in September, Zuckerberg said that he believed search could be a ripe area of growth for Facebook.

“Facebook is really uniquely positioned to answer a lot of the questions that people have,” Zuckerberg said, such as finding a good restaurant or learning more about a job opportunity.

Still, many technology observers believe that Facebook is more likely to improve the search capabilities within Facebook than to develop a full-fledged search engine that indexes all the Web’s content and competes head-on with search leader Google.

Among the other items that technology blogs and analysts speculate might be unveiled on Tuesday were new standalone apps for Apple’s iPad tablet, new features to display video ads and even a new wing of corporate headquarters.

Some cautioned that expectations of a game-changing new product were likely to cause disappointment.

“There’s no way they’re announcing anything that has financial impact, or they wouldn’t do it now, they’d wait two weeks,” said Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter, citing Facebook’s upcoming earnings.

“Why would you announce something that has a financial impact during the quiet period?,” he said.

(Reporting By Alexei Oreskovic; Editing by Paul Simao)

Internet News Headlines – Yahoo! News

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Justin Timberlake's New 'Suit & Tie:' Review

By PEOPLE Music Critic Chuck Arnold

01/14/2013 at 02:45 PM EST

Inset:Joe Scarnici/Wireimage

At last Justin Timberlake is back to music, with Jay-Z in tow, on "Suit & Tie," his first new song since 2006 – and it sure is good to hear that falsetto croon again.

After the spacey beats of his last album, the multiplatinum FutureSex/LoveSounds, JT goes for a more retro vibe on this suave single, which previews his much-anticipated third solo album, The 20/20 Experience, due out later this year. With its smooth, horn-kissed lushness, it recalls the '70s R&B of Marvin Gaye as well as Robin Thicke's modern-day take on old-school soul.

While "Suit & Tie" does bring sexy back again, the lyrics find Timberlake, 32 this month, ready to sweep you – or perhaps his new wife, Jessica Biel – off your feet with old-fashioned romance.

"Let me show you a few things, show you a few things about love," he coos. Then, when Jay-Z swoops in for his rap, it's clear that wedded bliss is in the air: "Tell your mother that I love her cause I love you/ Tell your father we go farther as a couple/ They ain't lose a daughter, got a son."

Although the track once again finds Timberlake collaborating with producer Timbaland, it represents a sonic departure from previous hits like "Cry Me a River," "My Love" and "What Goes Around ... Comes Around."

"Suit & Tie" doesn't pack the same wallop as those songs, but it shows a more sophisticated side to the former boy-band member – all grown up now as a thirty-something married man.

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Flu more widespread in US; eases off in some areas

NEW YORK (AP) — Flu is now widespread in all but three states as the nation grapples with an earlier-than-normal season. But there was one bit of good news Friday: The number of hard-hit areas declined.

The flu season in the U.S. got under way a month early, in December, driven by a strain that tends to make people sicker. That led to worries that it might be a bad season, following one of the mildest flu seasons in recent memory.

The latest numbers do show that the flu surpassed an "epidemic" threshold last week. That is based on deaths from pneumonia and influenza in 122 U.S. cities. However, it's not unusual — the epidemic level varies at different times of the year, and it was breached earlier this flu season, in October and November.

And there's a hint that the flu season may already have peaked in some spots, like in the South. Still, officials there and elsewhere are bracing for more sickness

In Ohio, administrators at Miami University are anxious that a bug that hit employees will spread to students when they return to the Oxford campus next week.

"Everybody's been sick. It's miserable," said Ritter Hoy, a spokeswoman for the 17,000-student school.

Despite the early start, health officials say it's not too late to get a flu shot. The vaccine is considered a good — though not perfect — protection against getting really sick from the flu.

Flu was widespread in 47 states last week, up from 41 the week before, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said on Friday. The only states without widespread flu were California, Mississippi and Hawaii.

The number of hard-hit states fell to 24 from 29, where larger numbers of people were treated for flu-like illness. Now off that list: Florida, Arkansas and South Carolina in the South, the first region hit this flu season.

Recent flu reports included holiday weeks when some doctor's offices were closed, so it will probably take a couple more weeks to get a better picture, CDC officials said Friday. Experts say so far say the season looks moderate.

"Only time will tell how moderate or severe this flu season will be," CDC Director Dr. Thomas Frieden said Friday in a teleconference with reporters.

The government doesn't keep a running tally of adult deaths from the flu, but estimates that it kills about 24,000 people in an average year. Nationally, 20 children have died from the flu this season.

Flu vaccinations are recommended for everyone 6 months or older. Since the swine flu epidemic in 2009, vaccination rates have increased in the U.S., but more than half of Americans haven't gotten this year's vaccine.

Nearly 130 million doses of flu vaccine were distributed this year, and at least 112 million have been used. Vaccine is still available, but supplies may have run low in some locations, officials said.

To find a shot, "you may have to call a couple places," said Dr. Patricia Quinlisk, who tracks the flu in Iowa.

In midtown Manhattan, Hyrmete Sciuto got a flu shot Friday at a drugstore. She skipped it in recent years, but news reports about the flu this week worried her.

During her commute from Edgewater, N.J., by ferry and bus, "I have people coughing in my face," she said. "I didn't want to risk it this year."

The vaccine is no guarantee, though, that you won't get sick. On Friday, CDC officials said a recent study of more than 1,100 people has concluded the current flu vaccine is 62 percent effective. That means the average vaccinated person is 62 percent less likely to get a case of flu that sends them to the doctor, compared to people who don't get the vaccine. That's in line with other years.

The vaccine is reformulated annually, and this year's is a good match to the viruses going around.

The flu's early arrival coincided with spikes in flu-like illnesses caused by other bugs, including a new norovirus that causes vomiting and diarrhea, or what is commonly known as "stomach flu." Those illnesses likely are part of the heavy traffic in hospital and clinic waiting rooms, CDC officials said.

Europeans also are suffering an early flu season, though a milder strain predominates there. China, Japan, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Algeria and the Republic of Congo have also reported increasing flu.

Flu usually peaks in midwinter. Symptoms can include fever, cough, runny nose, head and body aches and fatigue. Some people also suffer vomiting and diarrhea, and some develop pneumonia or other severe complications.

Most people with flu have a mild illness. But people with severe symptoms should see a doctor. They may be given antiviral drugs or other medications to ease symptoms.

Some shortages have been reported for children's liquid Tamiflu, a prescription medicine used to treat flu. But health officials say adult Tamiflu pills are available, and pharmacists can convert those to doses for children.

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Associated Press writers Dan Sewell in Cincinnati, Catherine Lucey in Des Moines, and Malcolm Ritter in New York contributed to this report.

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Online:

CDC flu: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/index.htm

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