Senate Approves Kerry for Secretary of State





WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday confirmed Senator John Kerry as secretary of state, filling a key job in President Obama’s second-term national security team.




The nomination was approved by a vote of 94 to 3. Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, Republicans of Texas, and Senator James M. Inhofe, Republican of Oklahoma, opposed the nomination. Mr. Kerry voted “present.”


Mr. Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat who has served in the Senate since 1985, had strong support on both sides of the aisle. Earlier in the day, the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, the panel he has led for the past four years, gave his nomination unanimous approval.


Mr. Kerry, 69, a decorated Vietnam War veteran who was the 2004 Democratic presidential nominee, is the son of a Foreign Service officer. He will succeed Hillary Rodham Clinton, whose last day at the State Department is Friday.


Mr. Obama has also named former Sen. Chuck Hagel, Republican of Nebraska, to succeed Leon E. Panetta as secretay of defense, and John O. Brennan, currently his counterterrorism adviser, as director of the Central Intelligence Agency. Both will face more questions than Mr. Kerry did from senators of both parties when their confirmation hearings are held, though their nominations are expected to be approved. Mr. Hagel’s hearing is scheduled for Thursday, and Mr. Brennan’s for Feb. 7.


Mrs. Clinton, who was participating in a global forum at the State Department, expressed her hope that Mr. Kerry could make headway on the Middle East.


Taking note of the recent Israeli parliamentary elections, in which a centrist coalition made significant gains, Mrs. Clinton said that the shifting political landscape might facilitate progress.


“I actually think that this election opens doors, not nails them shut,” she said. “I know that President Obama, my successor, soon to be Secretary of State John Kerry, will pursue this.”


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TSX little changed, RIM positioning offsets banks






TORONTO (Reuters) – Canada‘s main stock index finished little changed on Monday, as gains in the financial group were partially offset by Research In Motion Ltd shares, which sagged ahead of its critical BlackBerry 10 launch this week.


The Toronto Stock Exchange‘s S&P/TSX composite index <.gsptse> was down 0.72 of a point at 12,815.91. Half of the index’s 10 key sectors climbed higher.</.gsptse>






(Reporting by Solarina Ho)


Wireless News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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'Lily' from Modern Family: A Precious Pose on SAG Red Carpet









01/28/2013 at 05:30 PM EST



Aubrey Anderson-Emmons – all of 5 years old – is barely bigger than the statue she'd later win Sunday night at the SAG Awards.

But the girl who plays Lily on Modern Family was right out there on the red carpet Sunday night, posing ever so delicately, almost too tiny small for all the hoopla.

Backstage, after the cast won for best ensemble for a TV comedy, Aubrey's proud mom Amy Anderson told PEOPLE what went into getting the pint-sized actress ready for such a big night.

"She borrowed this dress from a neighbor," says Anderson. "The neighbor has a first-grader and she said she kept everything. I asked if she had a dress we could use for the SAG Awards. So she brought over a bunch, and [Aubrey] loved the ruffles."

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Soldier who lost 4 limbs has double-arm transplant


The first soldier to survive after losing all four limbs in the Iraq war has received a double-arm transplant.


Brendan Marrocco had the operation on Dec. 18 at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, his father said Monday. The 26-year-old Marrocco, who is from New York City, was injured by a roadside bomb in 2009.


He also received bone marrow from the same dead donor who supplied his new arms. That novel approach is aimed at helping his body accept the new limbs with minimal medication to prevent rejection.


The military is sponsoring operations like these to help wounded troops. About 300 have lost arms or hands in the wars.


"He was the first quad amputee to survive" from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and there have been four others since then, said Brendan Marrocco's father, Alex Marrocco. "He was really excited to get new arms."


The Marroccos want to thank the donor's family for "making a selfless decision ... making a difference in Brendan's life," the father said.


Surgeons plan to discuss the transplant at a news conference with the patient on Tuesday.


The 13-hour operation was led by Dr. W.P. Andrew Lee, plastic surgery chief at Johns Hopkins, and is the seventh double-hand or double-arm transplant done in the United States. Lee led three of those earlier operations when he previously worked at the University of Pittsburgh, including the only above-elbow transplant that had been done at the time, in 2010.


Marrocco's "was the most complicated one" so far, Lee said in an interview Monday. It will take more than a year to know how fully Marrocco will be able to use the new arms, Lee said.


"The maximum speed is an inch a month for nerve regeneration," he explained. "We're easily looking at a couple years" until the full extent of recovery is known.


While at Pittsburgh, Lee pioneered the novel immune suppression approach used for Marrocco. The surgeon led hand transplant operations on five patients, giving them marrow from their donors in addition to the new limbs. All five recipients have done well and four have been able to take just one anti-rejection drug instead of combination treatments most transplant patients receive.


Minimizing anti-rejection drugs is important because they have side effects and raise the risk of cancer over the long term. Those risks have limited the willingness of surgeons and patients to do more hand, arm and even face transplants. Unlike a life-saving heart or liver transplant, limb transplants are aimed at improving quality of life, not extending it.


Quality of life is a key concern for people missing arms and hands — prosthetics for those limbs are not as advanced as those for feet and legs.


Lee has received funding for his work from AFIRM, the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine, a cooperative research network of top hospitals and universities around the country that the government formed about five years ago. With government money, he and several other plastic surgeons around the country are preparing to do more face transplants, possibly using the new minimal immune suppression approach.


Marrocco expects to spend three to four months at Hopkins, then return to a military hospital to continue physical therapy, his father said. Before the operation, he had been living with his older brother in a handicapped-accessible home on New York's Staten Island built with the help of several charities.


The home was heavily damaged by Superstorm Sandy last fall.


Despite being in a lot of pain for some time after the operation, Marrocco showed a sense of humor, his father said. He had a hoarse voice from a tube in his throat during the long surgery, decided that he sounded like Al Pacino, and started doing movie lines.


"He was making the nurses laugh," Alex Marrocco said.


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AP writer Alex Dominguez contributed to this report.


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S&P 500 eases, ends longest winning run in eight years

NEW YORK (Reuters) - The S&P 500 eased slightly on Monday after an eight-day run of gains, while the Nasdaq edged higher as Apple shares rebounded.


The index remained above 1,500, however, after closing above that level on Friday for the first time in more than five years. The S&P 500's eight sessions of gains was its longest winning streak in eight years.


Caterpillar shares helped cap losses in the Dow industrials even as the company posted a 55 percent drop in quarterly profit due to a charge connected with accounting fraud at a Chinese subsidiary and weak demand among its dealers. Caterpillar's shares, down 2.2 percent in the past three sessions, rose 2 percent Monday to $97.45.


"I think this multi-year high is really something that's in play both for shorter-term traders and with folks with money on the sidelines," said Bucky Hellwig, senior vice president at BB&T Wealth Management in Birmingham, Alabama.


Bargain hunters lifted Apple after the tech giant's stock dropped 14.4 percent in the previous two sessions. With Apple's stock up 2.3 percent at $449.83, the iPad and iPhone maker regained the title as the largest U.S. company by market capitalization as Exxon Mobil fell 0.7 percent to $91.11 and slipped back to second place.


On the down side, Boeing fell 1.4 percent to $74 on worries about the potential hit from delays in its 787 Dreamliner program.


The Dow Jones industrial average <.dji> was down 14.05 points, or 0.10 percent, at 13,881.93. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index <.spx> was down 2.78 points, or 0.18 percent, at 1,500.18. The Nasdaq Composite Index <.ixic> was up 4.59 points, or 0.15 percent, at 3,154.30.


Investors poured $55 billion in new cash into stock mutual funds and exchange-traded funds in January, the biggest monthly inflow on record, research provider TrimTabs Investment Research said.


"What we have seen this year is, it appears the individual investor is allocating some 401(k) money to equities. Hopefully that's a decision that will be with us for a while," Hellwig said.


Data on Monday pointed to growing economic momentum as companies sensed improved consumer demand.


U.S. durable goods orders jumped 4.6 percent in December, a pace that far outstripped expectations for a rise of 1.8 percent. Pending home sales, however, unexpectedly dropped 4.3 percent. Analysts were looking for an increase of 0.3 percent.


Corporate earnings so far have mostly been stronger than expected. Thomson Reuters data showed that of the 150 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings so far, 67.3 percent have beaten analysts' expectations, which is a higher proportion than over the past four quarters and above the average since 1994.


Stocks have also gained support from a recent agreement in Washington to extend the government's borrowing power. On Monday, Fitch Ratings said that agreement removed the near-term risk to the country's 'AAA' rating.


Hess Corp shares shot up 6.1 percent to $62.48 after the company said it would exit its refining business, freeing up to $1 billion of capital. Separately, hedge fund Elliott Associates is looking for approval to buy about $800 million more in Hess stock.


(Additional reporting by Rodrigo Campos; Editing by Jan Paschal and Nick Zieminski)



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At War Blog: On the Job in Afghanistan, Female Soldiers Reflect

KABUL, Afghanistan — In the shadow of transport aircraft, rows of helicopters and supply pallets, women in uniform are a well-established part of the fabric of military life on bases and near the front lines in Afghanistan — a minority, to be sure, but one so common on the job that it’s hardly seen as an issue.

For active-duty military women in Afghanistan, the news of the end of the combat exclusion for women seemed far less momentous than it may have back in the United States. Not that it wasn’t seen as good news, and an important moment, but the talk here quickly turned to practicalities: what the change might mean for them, for their friends, for the women who will come after them.

The one thing soldiers wanted to make clear was that women had been there already — doing at least some of the jobs that they will now be able to do as full members of combat units rather than in external groups attached to them. And no doubt there will gradually be more of them making the shift.

“The biggest issue that America needs to understand is that we have been out there in the field, on the front lines,” said Sgt. Natasha Nelson, 23, a signal communications specialist. “There’s one of my best friends, and she’s a medic and she’s been out there on the front lines forever. From my experience, now I’ve only been in for four years, but it’s not new to us, it’s new to them,” she said, referring to the American public.

Capt. Jessica Kirkendall, 32, an intelligence officer, echoed that thought: “To an extent, it’s a reflection of what’s already on the battlefield.”

And, said Sgt. Maj. Micheal Horton, 48, it’s a natural progression. When she entered the military 24 years ago, the job of being a sapper had just opened to women. Sapper, a term popularly associated with demining, actually covers most combat engineering tasks that are done in support of combat infantry units.

“They had just opened up engineering work to females, so I got to be a heavy equipment operator,” she said. Then a few years ago the job of being a bridge crew member opened, and “that was a major thing.”

So the next step – opening all combat units to women –  seems logical, especially since the realities of the 21st-century battlefield demand that women work alongside their male counterparts. Sergeant Major Horton pointed to members of “female engagement teams,” who are attached to infantry units and tasked with gathering intelligence from female civilians, among other things, as examples of women who are already in combat situations.

“The female engagement teams are embedded with infantry — they can talk it, they can walk it, they can carry their load,” she said.

Sergeant Major Horton did, however, sound a bit regretful that the exclusion had not been lifted sooner so that she could have risen to be a commander in a combat unit. Will she benefit? “Not at my echelon – I can’t apply for any more jobs,” she said. “I could be nominated probably for some of the positions, but I still wouldn’t have had the experience as a junior commander.”

The change will make the greatest difference for young women who are just now choosing their military occupational field or are still at a fairly junior level and could switch into a combat unit and still have time to build a career.

For Sergeant Nelson, who loves her work as a signal communications specialist, there’s the opportunity to become part of an infantry unit now and go to the front lines. She’s not sure she will do that, but finally it’s at least a real prospect.

These women played down the numbers of women who would be likely to take advantage of the new opportunity. “Do I think the floodgates will open? No,” Captain Kirkendall said.

Lt. Cmdr. Laura Reshetar, 33, who formerly served as a naval surface warfare officer and is now a future operations planner at the International Security Assistance Force headquarters in Kabul, sounded palpably excited about the decision. But she agreed with Captain Kirkendall that only a small number of women would seek combat slots at first.

“Personally I think it’s awesome, but I don’t think there will be tons of women rushing to do those jobs,” she said. “It will be the alpha females: highly athletic, highly motivated.” She added that she would not choose a combat specialty in part because she eventually wants to be a mother and would worry that she would not be able to give her all to the job if she were worrying about a child.

Above all, these women felt that at last, military policy was catching up with women’s aspirations.

“It seems very undemocratic of us to say, ‘Hey you want to serve your country, great, but you can only do these certain jobs because of your gender,’” Captain Kirkendall said. “In a country that espouses this whole idea of choosing your path in life and pursuing that path to the best of your ability, it just doesn’t seem very American to say ‘except for 20 percent of you.’”

She added, “As time progresses, people will see that women are very proficient in these roles.”

Related Coverage:


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Twitter launches advertising services in Middle East






DUBAI (Reuters) – Twitter Inc launched advertising services in the Middle East and North Africa on Sunday as the social media firm seeks to exploit a tripling of its regional subscriber base following its widespread use during the Arab Spring protests.


Digital advertising is relatively undeveloped in the region, accounting for an estimated 4 percent of its total advertising spending, but a young, tech-savvy population and rising Internet penetration points to significant potential for growth.






“The two are interconnected – the rapid growth of our user base with the timing of why we want to help brands connect with that audience,” said Shailesh Rao, Twitter vice-president for international operations.


Twitter does not provide a regional breakdown of its more than 200 million users worldwide, but Rao said its MENA subscriber base had tripled in the past 12 months.


The company has recruited Egypt’s Connect Ads, which is ultimately owned by Cairo-listed Orascom Telecom Media and Technology, to launch advertising initially in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates.


Pepsi and Saudi telecom operator Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) are among its confirmed clients, the company said.


Twitter says the products it promotes typically have an audience response rate of 1 to 3 percent, significantly higher than traditional advertising rate of 0.1 to 0.5 percent.


“Social media advertising is totally different because it relies on what people say. It’s about two-way, not one-way, communication,” said Mohamed El Mehairy, Connect Ads managing director.


(editing by Jane Baird)


Tech News Headlines – Yahoo! News





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SAG Nominees' Best Style Moments





See the best dressed baby bump on TV, the most badass aviators on the big screen and the sexiest movie wardrobe of 2013








Credit: ABC/Peter "Hopper" Stone



Updated: Wednesday Jan 16, 2013 | 12:00 PM EST
By: Zoë Ruderman




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CDC: Flu seems to level off except in the West


New government figures show that flu cases seem to be leveling off nationwide. Flu activity is declining in most regions although still rising in the West.


The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says hospitalizations and deaths spiked again last week, especially among the elderly. The CDC says quick treatment with antiviral medicines is important, in particular for the very young or old. The season's first flu case resistant to treatment with Tamiflu was reported Friday.


Eight more children have died from the flu, bringing this season's total pediatric deaths to 37. About 100 children die in an average flu season.


There is still vaccine available although it may be hard to find. The CDC has a website that can help.


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


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Fed waits for job market to perk up


LONDON (Reuters) - The Federal Reserve's ultra-loose monetary policy is a root cause of the "currency wars" that some see as a looming threat to the world economy, but don't expect the U.S. central bank to signal a shift back to normal any time soon.


The Fed, whose policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee concludes a two-day meeting on Wednesday, said just last month that it expects to keep short-term interest rates exceptionally low until the U.S. unemployment rate falls to 6.5 percent, inflation permitting.


That goal is still distant. Figures on Friday are likely to show that the jobless rate was unchanged in January at 7.8 percent, while the economy created 155,000 jobs, the same as in December, according to economists polled by Reuters.


So it would be a huge surprise if the Fed were to do anything other than reaffirm last month's decision to anchor short-term interest rates in a range of zero to 0.25 percent and to keep buying $85 billion of bonds each month to hold down long-term rates.


The only question mark is whether the FOMC vote will be unanimous now that Richmond Fed President Jeffrey Lacker, who opposes the current round of bond-buying, has rotated off the panel, said Harm Bandholz, an economist with UniCredit Bank in New York.


Most economists polled by Reuters expect the Fed to keep its open-ended bond-buying program in place well into next year, even though the economic news flow and market confidence are improving markedly.


True, Wednesday's preliminary report on fourth-quarter GDP is likely to show that growth slowed to an annualized rate of 1.2 percent from 3.1 percent in the July-September period.


And the current quarter will also be soft as the expiry of a 2 percent payroll tax cut is dampening consumer spending.


But then Bandholz expects an average growth rate of 2.8 percent over the rest of the year. That would be the strongest three-quarter period of the recovery so far, he said.


"The outlook has improved a lot in the U.S. I've been on the cautious side for the last three years, but this time I'm a bit more bullish," he said.


THE FED BIDES ITS TIME


The recovery in housing would add at least half a percentage point to GDP growth in 2013, while capital spending was likely to revive now that uncertainty over budget talks in Washington had been largely allayed, Bandholz said.


"There's a lot of pent-up demand in the system. I don't think all these investments have been abandoned; they've just been postponed," he said.


At some point, investors' exuberance over the super-easy stance of the world's major central banks will give way to worries that they are about to take away the punch bowl.


Gustavo Reis, an economist with Bank of America Merrill Lynch in New York, said concerns about the costs of money-printing were likely to spread but would be offset by uncertainty over the impact on growth of fiscal tightening in the United States and Europe.


"All told, although global activity seems more robust now than at any point in 2012, we expect policymakers to continue to worry predominantly about downside risks," he said in a note.


The bank does not expect the Fed to consider halting asset purchases before 2014, while the latest episode of monetary easing announced by the Bank of Japan is likely to be ‘long-lived and significant'.


Many economists argue that bold monetary action is long overdue in Japan, whose nominal output has not grown in 20 years, saddling the government with a debt-to-GDP ratio of more than 220 percent.


But Douglas McWilliams, who heads the Centre for Economics and Business Research, a London consultancy, fears Japan's decision will lead the global economy into unpredictable currency wars.


"It's a bit like if someone's rude to you, you're rude to them back. You get tit-for-tat behavior," McWilliams said.


CURRENCY FRICTION, BUT NO WAR


Olivier Blanchard, the chief economist of the International Monetary Fund, last week called talk of currency wars overblown and said countries had to pull the right policy levers to get their economies back on track, with corresponding consequences for exchange rates.


However, McWilliams said the problem was that it was difficult to get countries to agree NOT to wage currency wars.


Tellingly, Chancellor Angela Merkel voiced German concerns last week that Japan might be deliberately seeking to cheapen the yen to give its exporters a competitive edge.


"So we may well find that there is a period of very heavy volatility before the authorities involved try and get some kind of agreement," McWilliams said.


In a relatively quiet week for economic data in the euro zone - money supply figures and confidence surveys from the European Commission are the highlights - the focus is likely to remain squarely on the euro, which has been rising briskly as traders price in the policy shifts that Blanchard had in mind.


While the Fed and the Bank of Japan are expanding their balance sheets, the European Central Bank is starting to soak up some of the emergency cash it lent to banks a year ago.


The central bank said on Friday that banks would repay early 137 billion euros of cheap borrowed money.


"I'm not sure if we have too strong a euro for the moment but certainly we would not want to see a currency war of competitive devaluations which would have a negative effect on the euro," the European Union's top monetary official, Olli Rehn, told Reuters.


(Additional reporting by Paul Taylor in Davos; editing by Jason Neely)



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